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Jon Stewart, the ever-mocking fake-news anchor turned veritable, venerable news source, broke our collective hearts last night by announcing that, after 16 years of hosting, he would end his tenure at Comedy Central’s The Daily Show at the end of 2015. Over the years, Stewart has been many things to many people (at once satirical and trustworthy, silly and sharp-edged) but for New Yorkers, he’s a fellow native—albeit a smart-as-hell, balls-of-steel native. We know he’s not going anywhere anytime soon, but we’ll still miss Jon—and here’s why.
He made us laugh when we wanted to cry
Stewart has consistently displayed the uncanny ability to put a smile on our faces in the bleakest of situations, like when he used a kitten-on-kitten massage to add a little levity to the news of the Eric Garner grand-jury decision.
He wasn't afraid of anybody
Celebrities, sitting mayors (we're looking at you, De Blasio), hell, the leader of the freakin' free world—for Stewart, all were potential punchlines. No one person has called out more people more consistently, or more cheekily, than Stewart.
He channeled our feelings in the midst of crisis
Stewart's eight-minute-long, post-9/11 monologue not only signaled his politically-minded departure from his predecessor Craig Kilborn, but it was also one of the most deeply human, heartfelt moments on late-night television.
He made an entire generation give a shit about the news
New Yorkers think themselves a pretty clued-in group, but Stewart did a bang-up job of wrangling in millennials to not only pay attention to current events and political policy, but actually care about them. Young Gothamites are all the better for it.
He took his pizza mighty seriously
His diatribe against the travesty that is Chicago-style deep-dish pizza is damn-near Shakespearean.