Jon Stewart’s return to The Daily Show has been, on the metrics, a success. According to Comedy Central, his first episode back on February 12 was watched by 1.85 million total viewers across premiere simulcasts and encores, up 110 percent from Trevor Noah’s final episode in 2022. It’s also a major improvement on Stewart’s last show. The Problem with Jon Stewart, which ran on Apple TV from 2021 to 2023, was routinely drawing in audiences as low as 40,000 people.

“Jon Stewart” and “The Daily Show” on their own are flawed brands. “Jon Stewart on The Daily Show,” on the other hand? That’s a combination of such heady nostalgia that the viewers pour in.

Still, Stewart’s first episode proved that his appeal is not just pure nostalgia. There is some kind of alchemy that occurs when Jon Stewart gets behind that old Daily Show desk. He knows the format of the show so well; he plays it like a virtuoso.

He eases into his monologue with no rush, breaking out the same Borscht Belt voices and self-deprecating barbs he used to play with in 2015, talking in the same relaxed patter that builds to the same crescendo of righteousness. He is so delighted by the chance to play a gotcha reel (in this case, members of the Trump family repeating “I can’t recall” during depositions after a discussion of Biden’s allegedly failing memory) that he almost manages to make the old trick feel new again. He........

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