During a recent panel discussion, Trevor Noah revealed why Jon Stewart decided to renounce his duties as host of The Daily Show. The South African comedian recalls walking into Stewart's office and probing him as to why he's leaving. "Hey, what’s going on? Are you being pushed out? What’s happening? You need my help, let me know, man. We’ll fight," Noah admits.
In response, Stewart notes how he was not being pushed out, but rather chose to abandon his critically-acclaimed gig. "He said ‘I’m leaving because I’m tired.’ And he said, ‘I’m tired of being angry.’ And he said, ’I’m angry all the time. I don’t find any of this funny. I do not know how to make it funny right now, and I don’t think the host of the show, I don’t think the show deserves a host who does not feel that it is funny."
Noah also remembers Stewart telling him to "relish the fact that you can make jokes about these things, because there will come a day when you are too angry to laugh. But don’t rush to get there."
Stewart spoke with The Guardian shortly after his departure from The Daily Show. "These things are cyclical. You have moments of dissatisfaction, and then you come out of it and it’s OK,” he admits. "But the cycles become longer and maybe more entrenched, and that’s when you realize, ‘OK, I’m on the back side of it now."