A whole lot of people tuned in to pay their respects when Jon Stewart appeared on The Daily Show for what seemed like the last time in 2015, but apparently, just as many wanted to see whether he’d crumble under the weight of liberal backlash upon his return. Stewart’s second time behind the desk on Monday brought in a whopping 1.3 million viewers—the most for the series since his initial departure nine years ago—according to a press release from home network Comedy Central.
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That’s a 35% increase from the returning host’s first appearance, which already brought almost a million people back into the broadcast television fold. Important to note: these viewership numbers, sourced from Nielsen, are just for the live telecast of the episode on Comedy Central. Data isn’t yet available for other Paramount-owned channels and streaming services (i.e. MTV, CMT, Logo, etc.) that air the show during subsequent days, but Stewart’s first episode hit 3 million viewers after 3 days (via Deadline), so it’s safe to assume that this one will do similarly huge numbers. If this feels like a lot of math, the takeaway once again is that Comedy Central’s big gambit paid off: after a long and bumbling search, Stewart really seems like the right man for the job.
He certainly gave people something to talk about with his first show back, during which his critiques of both Trump and Biden’s fitness for the Oval Office incited staunch backlash from some corners of the Democratic internet. Addressing the concerns about his “bothsidesism” in episode two, Stewart insisted that “it is the candidates’ job to assuage concerns, not the voters’ job not to mention them,” and joked that conservative commentator Tucker Carlson could mentor him in “the particulars of unquestioning propaganda.” We’ll see whether this non-apology earns the same amount of love—or at least eyeballs—next week, or if the king’s triumphant return was just a flash in the pan.