Jon Stewart Says He’s ‘Working on Staying’ at ‘The Daily Show’ Amid Paramount-Skydance Merger: ‘You Don’t Compromise on What You Do, and You Do It Until They Tell You to Leave’

Jon Stewart got candid about his future at “The Daily Show” at the New Yorker Festival on Sunday, telling editor David Remnick that he’s “working on staying.”

Stewart’s current contract at Comedy Central — which is now owned by the newly-merged Paramount Skydance Corporation — expires in December. Especially after the company announced that CBS’ “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert” would be ending in May 2026, many have been questioning Stewart’s future at “The Daily Show.” Both Colbert and Stewart have been critical of the merger and President Donald Trump on their shows, including Paramount’s settlement with Trump over Kamala Harris’ “60 Minutes” interview.

However, Stewart confirmed to Remnick that he is looking to extend his “Daily Show” contract. “We’re working on staying,” Stewart said (via the Daily Beast). “Look, the other thing to remember is it’s not as clear cut as all that… 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 it and keep fighting in the foxhole.”

Stewart added: “You don’t compromise on what you do, and you do it until they tell you to leave.”

During the interview with Remnick, Stewart also sounded off on Trump’s administration. “There’s a reason Donald Trump came to power, and that is that in the general populous mind, government no longer serves the interests of the people it purports to represent,” Stewart said. “That’s a broad-based, deep feeling, and that helps when someone comes along and goes, the system is rigged, and people go, ‘Yeah, it is.’”

Though late-night hosts such as Stewart, Colbert and Jimmy Kimmel — who was suspended from his ABC show in September after comments he made in the wake of Charlie Kirk’s assassination — are under scrutiny, Stewart insisted that they are not “victims of this administration.”

“We are a visible manifestation of certain things, but the victims are the people that are struggling to have any voice and are being forcibly removed from streets by hooded agents,” Stewart said. “Those are the victims of this administration.”