A Moment of Sad: Jon Stewart Leaving Daily Show

Jon Stewart has been nothing if not a reliable and very witty ally to LGBT folks, so it's with some sadness we report today's news: He's leaving The Daily Show.

At the taping of today's show, Stewart told the studio audience he's "retiring," and Comedy Central then issued a statement confirming his departure, The A.V. Club reports. There's no word on exactly when Stewart's leaving or what he'll do next; a tweet from Comedy Central says he'll continue to host the show until "later this year." He did take a leave of absence in 2013 to direct a film, Rosewater, raising the possibility that more movies are in the offing.

Stewart took over as Daily Show host from Craig Kilborn in 1999, and since then he's racked up multiple Emmy wins; made stars of Stephen Colbert, John Oliver, and Steve Carell; and interviewed top politicians and entertainers, all while calling attention to the most ridiculous among them.

He has lampooned right-wing figures most often but he has not hesitated to turn his satirical eye on liberals when he felt they deserved it. Many of his targets have been the nation's and world's most homophobic people and institutions: Louie Gohmert, Phil Robertson, Antonin Scalia, Liz Cheney, Mike Huckabee, Rick Santorum, proponents of "ex-gay" therapy, Chick-fil-A, and the government of Russia. You can click on those links for videos, but we'll offer a few "greatest hits" below:

• On the Texas Republican Party's endorsement of "ex-gay" therapy in its platform: "The state that can't even go a week without an oil pipeline spewing thinks it's the gays that need repairing? While the rest of the country is inching forward on gay rights, Texas is apparently hopping into Doc Brown's DeLorean and setting the dial to the 1950s."
• On Santorum's statement that calling a same-sex union a marriage is like calling a napkin a paper towel: "It's the slippery slope argument. If people start using paper towels as napkins, what's next? Sleeves, drapes, mouth-on-dog wiping? Moral chaos!"
• On Chick-fil-A Appreciation Day: "What better way to stand up and say I oppose gay people's right to get married than to head down to a Chick-fil-A, grab ahold of two buttery buns, split 'em open and gobble down some of that hot greasy cock. ... You don't want to swallow but you gots to!"

Comedy Central's Twitter statement said The Daily Show "will endure for years to come," but there's been no announcement as to who'll replace him as host. His departure comes on the heels of Stephen Colbert's ending The Colbert Report, which followed The Daily Show each evening. Colbert, also a reliable and hilarious LGBT ally, is scheduled to take over for David Letterman this year as host of CBS's Late Show.