John Oliver has a terrible idea for Jon Stewart's Daily Show replacement

Jon Oliver proposes The Daily Show replace Jon Stewart with a hologram

(Image credit: The Tonight Show)

John Oliver isn't on the market. After signing a two-year contract extension with HBO, he will not replace Jon Stewart on The Daily Show. Jimmy Fallon congratulated Oliver on the new contract on Tuesday night's Tonight Show, then asked him the obvious question: Who should replace Stewart?

"Like most people, I would love him to carry on," Oliver said, and since that isn't happening, "how about hologram Jon?" Oliver, who'd apparently given this some thought, noted that "he's said every word in the English language," and if they can put the late Tupac Shakur on stage, why not a very Daily Show–like cut-and-paste hologram Stewart? Fallon is enthusiastic, but the ridiculous idea gets sillier from there.

Oliver isn't exactly neutral when it comes to Stewart. "I owe that man everything — everything!" he told Fallon. "I could fact-check how much I owe him, and it will be everything." For everyone else, of course, depriving The Daily Show of a live human host is a terrible idea. You can read her for my initial guesses about Stewart's replacement, though now I'd add Jessica Williams to the list. Hologram Jon wouldn't make the Top 50. —Peter Weber

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Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.