American comedian Jon Stewart has bowed out as host of the satirical news programme The Daily Show, presenting a final episode that featured famous guests and a video message from Hilary Clinton.
Stewart has helmed the "fake" news programme for more than 16 years, becoming one of the most influential satirists and liberal voices in the US. On his final Daily Show for Comedy Central, he invited back past contributors including Stephen Colbert and Steve Carell, and received video messages from a range of prominent politicians including Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, US Secretary of State John Kerry and Republican senator John McCain. He also received a send-off performance from Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band.
Fittingly, the first debate of leading Republican presidential hopefuls ended just moments before Stewart's show aired, providing some ideal material for Stewart's send-off.
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Commentators reflected on Stewart's farewell show and how he has become one of America's most trusted news commentators whose witty and insightful comments on current affairs will be sorely missed.
Ken Tucker, critic-at-large for Yahoo called the show a "funny long goodbye". Tucker said the show began with the gradual introduction of just about every "correspondent" the Daily Show ever had, and culminated in "a superb speech from Colbert that was both hilarious and moving enough to bring a tear to Stewart's eye".
Stewart reserved a final address to us, the troops he's trained to be suspicious of anyone in power or, as he calls them, "bulls******s", says Tucker. He closed his last sermon by reminding viewers: "If you smell something, say something".
Jennifer Keishin Armstrong on the BBC says that Stewart's final sign-off revealed "the gaping hole" he will leave in the cultural landscape. New host Trevor Noah will present his version of The Daily Show in September, but he faces the daunting task of trying to fill Stewart's shoes. "It just might be that no one can," she warns.
Under Stewart's leadership, says Keishin Armstrong, The Daily Show evolved from an obviously tongue-in-cheek parody of TV news, "to a show that seriously critiqued the underlying messages of news progammes themselves and truly skewered those in power".
Stewart's legacy "isn't that he did 'more than comedy', it's that comedy is more", says The Verge. "Laughter is healing, but it's also surprising, condemning, inciting, and sometimes infuriating. It makes change in the world."
Trevor Noah's version of The Daily Show debuts 28 September. But first, let's look back on a few of Jon Stewart's best moments:
When Jon Stewart brings out the choir to tell Fox News: 'Go f**k yourselves'
Jon Stewart after September 11
Jon Stewart critiques Chicago's deep dish pizza in his Chicago v New York pizza sketch
Jon Stewart mocks Fox commentator Glenn Beck
Jon Stewart's post-election coverage - Indecision 2004
Jon Stewart blasts the GOP Response to Pope's Climate Change message
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