Jon Stewart signs off from The Daily Show after 16 years

Stewart, 52 hosted the Comedy Central show since 1999. In his last episode, he made an impassioned final speech warning his audience against falsehood that is “designed to obscure and distract”.

“So, whenever, something’s been titled Freedom Family Fairness Health America take a good long sniff. Chances are it’s been manufactured in a facility that may contain traces of bull***t,” he said.

But before the final goodbye, came a moment that celebrated the many achievements of the man, who, as StephenColbert put beautifully, was “infuriatingly good at his job”. Former correspondents, including Oscar-nominated actor Steve Carell, of the <g data-gr-id="21">show</g> lined up to bid him farewell while recalling his debt to their careers and the legacy that he leaves behind.

“You said to me and many other people here years ago ‘never thank you because we owe you nothing’. That’s the few times I have known you to be dead wrong. We owe you not just what you did to our careers by employing us on this tremendous show that you made. We owe you because we learnt from you,” Colbert said, bringing Stewart to tears. “We learnt from you... how to work with clarity, how to treat people with respect. You were infuriatingly good at your job.