Jon Stewart has said hes not going anywhere, and hes trying to put that in writing.

The comedian, whose contract to host The Daily Show is up in December, said were working on staying during a conversation with New Yorker editor David Remnick at Sundays New Yorker Festival, when Remnick asked if the Comedy Central host was going to sign another contract.

Beyond that, when asked by Remnick if he does indeed want to stay at the helm of the Comedy Central late night show he left in 2015 and returned to in early 2024, hosting on Mondays, Stewart agreed. If its up to him, he wants to stay. It was roughly a year ago when Stewart announced he was staying on at The Daily Show through December 2025, but since then Donald Trump has returned to the White House and Paramount has merged with David Ellisons Skydance.

Stewart even referred to Paramount Skydance CEO Ellison, the son of Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison, as his new boss.

In recent months, Stewarts Paramount colleague and former Daily Show co-worker Stephen Colbert announced that CBS The Late Show would be ending, and ABCs Jimmy Kimmel had his show suspended. CBS, which like Comedy Central is owned by Paramount, announced in July that Colberts The Late Show would come to an end in May 2026. Though the network claimed it was purely a financial decision, the move came just days after Colbert criticized Paramount for a $16 million settlement with Trump in a lawsuit he had filed over the editing of a 60 Minutes interview with his 2024 Democratic challenger Kamala Harris. ABCs Jimmy Kimmel Live! was suspended for less than a week after comments Kimmel made in a monologue about conservative activist Charlie Kirks assassin went viral, FCC commissioner Brendan Carr threatened ABCs affiliate licenses over the hosts remarks and at least two affiliate groups, Nexstar and Sinclair, planned to pre-empt Kimmels show.

Stewart too has criticized the 60 Minutes settlement and suggested that the Late Show cancellation was connected to Colberts critical comments about the lawsuit and President Trump. And he skewered the Kimmel suspension with a satirical, administration-compliant edition of The Daily Show.

The fact that CBS didnt try to save their No. 1 rated late night franchise thats been on the air for over three decades is part of whats making everybody wonder: Was this purely financial? Or maybe its the path of least resistance for your $8 billion merger to kill a show that you know rankled a fragile and vengeful president whos so insecure that hes suffering terribly from a case of chronic penis insufficiency, Stewart said on The Daily Show days after news broke of The Late Show cancellation.

He added, If youre trying to figure out why Stephens show is ending, I dont think the answer can be found in some smoking gun email or phone call from Trump to CBS executives or in CBS QuickBooks spreadsheets on the financial health of late night. I think the answer is in the fear and pre-compliance that is gripping all of Americas institutions at this very moment, institutions that have chosen not to fight the vengeful and vindictive actions of our commander-in-chief. To those corporations and advertisers and universities and law firms, all of them, if you still think that bending the knee to Trump will save you, I have one thing to say [breaking into song]: I know youre scared, I know youre weary, I know your plans dont include me, but these are troubled times, so sack the fuck up!

And he said at the time of his own late night future: Im not going anywhere. I think.

Paramount Skydance has also made changes at CBS News. The conglomerate has hired the former CEO of the conservative-leaning Hudson Institute, Kenneth Weinstein, as CBS News ombudsman and contrarian journalist Bari Weiss as the editor-in-chief of CBS News, with Paramount acquiring her The Free Press.

When Remnick asked specifically about the I think comment on Sunday, Stewart merely quipped, Im neurotic, but he indicated throughout the conversation which covered Trumps second term, Stewarts issues with the Democratic party and the dangers of social media algorithms that he plans to keep fighting and urges others to do the same.

You dont compromise on what you do, and you do it until they tell you to leave, he said

Stewart also spoke about his satirical approach to Kimmels suspension.

I think it rattled everyone to some extent, but it also presented great opportunity, and so I dont know that weve had as much fun as we did that Thursday morning, coming up with all the stupid little shit that you see, including, like, gold pictures and red ties. You know, it gave us some purpose.

That said, Stewart argued that comedians arent the victims of this administration.

We are a visible manifestation of certain things, but the victims are the people that are struggling to have any voice and are being forcibly removed from streets by hooded agents those are the victims of this administration, he said.

Stewart also spoke about the recent controversy over a number of comedians performing in Saudi Arabia, yet he took a more nuanced approach and seemed reluctant to attack those who performed at the Riyadh Comedy Festival.

I dont touch other peoples money, he said, Its hard, man.

I thought the only person who shouldve done it was Pete Davidson, because they owe him money, he quipped, alluding to how Davidsons firefighter father famously died responding to the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

He added, I want to fix my house. I want to operate with integrity, but I dont want to gatekeep. I think a lot of comics who came out and really shit on those guys, I know a couple of them, and I know them actually to be. like, garbage humans, so its hard for me to watch that sort of thing. I would prefer if they would have just come out and said, its money, and not, like, its a way to start a conversation. Like, would you have started the conversation for $2,500? Thats the difference. We all have our lines that we are willing to cross We get into a problem when were unforgiving in any way, when we offer no grace. And that doesnt mean that I dont have lines that I draw but I do try to not be so rigid in the way that I think society has become.

As for Trump, Stewart pointed to his ability to tap into a dissatisfaction with the government and harness the anger and catastrophizing of social media as explanations for his electoral victory.

Theres a reason Donald Trump came to power, and that is that in the general populous mind, government no longer serves the interests of the people it purports to represent, he said. Thats a broad-based, deep feeling, and that helps when someone comes along and goes, the system is rigged, and people go, yeah, it is.

Stewart was unsparing, though, in his critique of the Democratic party, condemning the partys passivity to stick with the status quo that most people felt was not working for their needs.

And though he praised Zohran Mamdanis candidacy for New York City mayor, comments that earned cheers and applause in Manhattans Webster Hall, Stewart struggled to name a national leader for the Democratic party.

After pausing when he was asked, audience members suggested that Stewart himself could be that leader, which he saw as a sign of desperation and frustration.

Have we really gotten to that point? Thats also a function of frustration, a cry of desperation. Im other; Im none of the above, he said, before later adding, The Democratic party is ripe for what happened to the Republican party in 2016. But hopefully it will be somebody who uses that power for good and not for self-aggrandizing and not for their own gratification.

Still, he did offer some indication of hope, pointing to the large attendance at the No Kings rallies last weekend.

When 7 million people show up in America on a weekend for anything, I mean, honestly, anything, he said. Were not Russia, and their history of autocracy or dictatorship is an alien culture to us, and it is uncomfortable, and that discomfort may be our saving grace. And dont think were going to wear that well. That doesnt mean were not going to be in some kind of soft autocracy where news is controlled, but we have a lot of different avenues, and suppression creates opportunity and a populace that is thirsty for inspiration and leadership and morality and integrity thats fertile ground for that opportunity.