During his final regular episode of The Daily Show before the 2024 election, Jon Stewart joked that he had yet to decide who would get his vote. “Normally I just vote for whoever The Washington Post endorses,” he said—a reference to the Jeff Bezos–owned paper’s controversial decision not to endorse a presidential candidate, which led at least 200,000 people to cancel their Post (but perhaps not their Amazon Prime) subscriptions.
Stewart confirmed this week that he would continue hosting The Daily Show on Monday nights through December 2025, in addition to hosting a live, hour-long Election Day special that was previously announced. Then he unpacked some of the last major rallies from the presidential candidates. In regard to Beyoncé’s appearance at Kamala Harris’s event in Houston on Friday, he quipped, “No singing? Just a heartfelt statement of the importance of the election? Fuck it, I’m voting for Trump.”
Then there was Donald Trump’s Madison Square Garden rally, which included vitriolic speeches from Rudy Giuliani, Tucker Carlson, and Elon Musk. “Now, generally, that’s a lineup that you see outside Madison Square Garden, yelling at strangers as they try to get inside Madison Square Garden,” said Stewart. “And let me just say, how dare they desecrate the stage that the Piano Man has consecrated? How dare you? How fucking dare you? Listen to me: You know how many ‘Scenes From an Italian Restaurant’ he’s gonna have to play to exorcise the demons that were on that stage?” he continued, referring to Billy Joel’s longtime residency at the arena.
Stewart then turned his attention to comedian Tony Hinchcliffe, whose racist remarks (“I don’t know if you guys know this, but there’s literally a floating island of garbage in the middle of the ocean right now. I think it’s called Puerto Rico.”) have sparked criticism from both sides of the aisle. “In retrospect, having a roast comedian come to a political rally a week before Election Day and roasting a key voting demographic—probably not the best decision by the campaign politically,” Stewart said. “But, to be fair, the guy’s really just doing what he does.”
The host then played a clip of Hinchcliffe performing at Netflix’s roast of Tom Brady earlier this year, where he joked about Jews and enslaved people. “Yes, yes, of course, terrible, boo,” Stewart replied, stifling his laughter. “There’s something wrong with me. I find that guy very funny, so I’m sorry. I don’t know what to tell you. I mean, bringing him to a rally and [having] him not do roast jokes, that’d be like bringing Beyoncé to a rally and not hav—oh.”
However, Stewart maintained that while the Trump rally speakers brought “a real dark, apocalyptic version of America to the stage,” the focus should be kept on the man who has actual political power. Trump struck a similar tone in his own speech, repeating his mass deportation plans that he’ll enact on “day one” if he wins the election.
“Day one? Have a snack, meet the staff,” Stewart replied. “Day one is, typically we just read the syllabus. There’s generally no homework.” He then reminded viewers of the time Trump, during a deposition, wasn’t able to accurately identify his ex-wife Marla Maples in a photograph. “Right now, you think you’re safe ’cause the group Trump’s talking about, it’s not you,” Stewart added. “As if ‘Are you sure this isn’t my wife?’ Donald Trump can tell the fucking difference or even cares.”
