Jon Stewart returns to host ‘The Daily Show’ on part-time basis

For more than a year, guest hosts have tried their hand at “The Daily Show.”

Now the Comedy Central show is welcoming back a giant.

Jon Stewart is returning to the desk one day a week.

The Jersey talent who turned “The Daily Show” into an institution will take the helm once again — on Mondays. “Daily Show” correspondents will preside over the show on other days.

“Jon Stewart is the voice of our generation, and we are honored to have him return to Comedy Central’s The Daily Show to help us all make sense of the insanity and division roiling the country as we enter the election season,” said Chris McCarthy, president and CEO of Showtime/MTV Entertainment Studios, in a statement. “In our age of staggering hypocrisy and performative politics, Jon is the perfect person to puncture the empty rhetoric and provide much-needed clarity with his brilliant wit.”

“Here it is, your Moment of Zen,” the X (formerly Twitter) account for “The Daily Show” posted Wednesday, sharing a photo of Stewart kicking up his feet at the host desk.

He is slated to return Monday, Feb. 12 and stay through the 2024 election.

Previous “Daily Show” host Trevor Noah, who took over for Stewart in 2015, left in 2022.

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Stewart, 61, who grew up in Lawrenceville, took over the political comedy talk show from Craig Kilborn in 1999 (Kilborn launched the show in 1996) and remained host until 2015, winning 20 Emmys. In his return as host, he will also return as executive producer.

“Friends,” Stewart posted on X, “After much reflection I have decided to enter the transfer portal for my last year of eligibility. Excited for the future!”

The writer-comedian and director and his wife, Tracey Stewart, own Hockhockson Farm, an animal sanctuary in Colts Neck.

Stewart hosted current affairs series “The Problem with Jon Stewart” on Apple TV+ from 2021 to 2023 before it was canceled, reportedly because of creative differences with Apple.

Since Noah’s exit, “Daily Show” celebrity guest hosts have included Leslie Jones, Wanda Sykes, (Livingston’s) Chelsea Handler, D.L. Hughley, Sarah Silverman, Charlamagne Tha God, Hasan Minhaj, (Freehold Township’s) Kal Penn, Al Franken and John Leguizamo.

Regular cast members and correspondents, including Roy Wood Jr., Desi Lydic, Dulcé Sloan and Ronny Chieng, have also hosted the show during that time.

At the Emmys on Jan. 15, “The Daily Show” won the award for outstanding talk series. As Noah and the cast went onstage to accept the Emmy, Wood Jr. mouthed “please hire a host.”