During a taping of Tuesday’s show, Stewart told those in the audience that he’s retiring, according to sources who were there.
— Comedy Central (@ComedyCentral) February 10, 2015
Stewart began hosting the late-night news satire show on Comedy Central in 1999. The show has won 18 Primetime Emmy Awards.
After a three-year hosting stint by comedian Craig Kilborn, the show under Stewart started to focus more on politics and the national media, eventually becoming a cultural powerhouse. The Stewart-hosted version of the show is Comedy Central’s second-longest-running program.
It also has sparked multiple careers, including that of Stephen Colbert, a former Daily Show correspondent who went on to launch "The Colbert Report," which enjoyed similar success. Colbert ended his show late last year to take over for David Letterman as host of “The Late Show” on CBS.
John Oliver also got his start as a writer and on-air correspondent on "The Daily Show" before fetching his own gig, "Last Week Tonight," on HBO.
Despite the show's comic underpinnings, on "The Daily Show" Stewart discussed hard-hitting topics like the war in Iraq and the CIA's torture program, and the host was known for pulling no punches and never letting his guests off easy.
He also became known for frequently lambasting what had become his competition: the mainstream cable news media.
In 2009, voters in a TIME magazine online poll named Stewart "America's most trusted newscaster," ahead of Katie Couric, Charlie Roberts and the now-suspended Brian Williams.
Stewart will continue hosting the show "until later this year," according to a tweet by Comedy Central. It is unclear what his next move will be.
He wrote and directed "Rosewater," a 2014 film about Iranian-Canadian journalist Maziar Bahari, who was detained by Iranian security personnel on suspicion of being a spy.
