Jon Stewart Admits New Paramount Owners Have Done Things He’s “Upset” About, But He Says He’s “Working on Staying” at ‘The Daily Show’

Jon Stewart and The Daily Show are sticking around—so long as he can help it.

While sitting down with The New Yorker editor David Remnick at the 26th annual New Yorker Festival on Sunday night (Oct. 26), which was attended by DECIDER, Stewart was asked about the fate of his late-night Comedy Central show in the midst of shake-ups at its parent company, Paramount Skydance.

“You don’t compromise on what you do, and you do it till they tell you to leave,” he explained. “That’s all you can do.”

Remnick reminded Stewart of what he said following The Late Show with Stephen Colbert‘s cancellation at CBS, which is also owned by Paramount Skydance.

“So, I think the line that you gave before was, ‘I’m not giving in. I’m not going anywhere, I think,’” he told Stewart, who teased that he’s “neurotic.”

When asked about his contract coming up in December, Stewart told Remnick that they’re “working on staying,” confirming that if the decision is up to him, he will keep his job.

The merger between Paramount and Skydance Media under Paramount CEO David Ellison was completed on Aug. 7. Variety reported that mass layoffs at the company would be taking place this week. Earlier this month, the company announced their acquisition of The Free Press, and named its co-founder and CEO, Bari Weiss, the editor-in-chief of CBS News.

Later on in their conversation, on the topic of the controversial Riyadh Comedy Festival, Stewart noted that “we all have our lines that we are willing to cross,” citing his own experience working at Apple and the fact that “there’s a lot of people who believe that Apple is exploitative in a way that’s horrific.” Remnick then turned this idea toward Stewart’s future with Paramount, asking him, “But if you see something else happening in the company, do you know where those lines are? Like with the news?”

Stewart replied, “Yeah, that’s a great point. Yeah, they’ve already done things that I’m upset about. But then if I had integrity, maybe I would stand up and go, I’m out. Or maybe the integrity thing to do would be to stay in and keep fighting in the foxhole.”

After nine years away, Stewart returned to The Daily Show in 2024 ahead of the presidential election to helm episodes on Monday nights. Stewart returns to The Daily Show tonight at 11 p.m. ET/PT on Comedy Central.