Paramount Global/Skydance merger - Deadline: Will Skydance Cancel ‘The Daily Show’? Jon Stewart Weighs In On Future Of Late-Night Series

Story from Deadline:

The Daily Show’s Jon Stewart, who recently called Paramount Global’s settlement with President Donald Trump “shameful”, has weighed in on the future of the late-night show.

Asked whether Skydance, which is in the process of buying Paramount Global, parent company of his network Comedy Central, would cancel the irascible talk show, Stewart essentially shrugged his shoulders.

But he did reveal that he has not had any contact with David Ellison or others at Skydance and joked that he’s been “kicked out of shittier establishments than that” and the company may “sell the whole fucking place for parts”.

He also compared Comedy Central to muzak.

“Unfortunately, we haven’t heard anything from them,” he said on his podcast The Weekly Show with Jon Stewart. “They haven’t called me and said like ‘Don’t get too comfortable in that office, Stewart.’ But let me tell you something, I’ve been kicked out of shittier establishments than that. We’ll land on our feet.”

He said that he “honestly” doesn’t know if Skydance would axe The Daily Show, which has been on air since 1996 and just posted big ratings. “I’d like to believe that without The Daily Show… I don’t know. Comedy Central is kind of like muzak at this point. I think we’re the only sort of life that exists on a current basis other than South Park. But it’s the only thing on there. I’d like to think we bring enough value to the property. If they’re looking at it as purely a real estate transaction, I think we bring a lot of value. But that may not be their consideration. They may sell the whole fucking place for parts, I just don’t know. We’ll deal with it when we do.”

He also praised the staff, led by showrunner Jen Flanz, and the talent on the show, which includes his co-hosts Jordan Klepper, Desi Lydic, Ronny Chieng and Michael Kosta. “I’m so happy and proud of everybody that works over there. They want to do that? Knock themselves out. As Jay Leno would say about Doritos, go ahead, crunch all you want, we’ll make more. We’ll figure that out when the time comes.”

The Daily Show was just one of three shows nominated in Outstanding Talk Series in this week’s Emmy nominations and it scored 12 nominations overall, beating its own record of 7.