The Jon Stewart Show - 1995 final episode with guest David Letterman

Jon found out shortly before taping that this was to be his final show. To cheer him up, the show runners got David Letterman as his last guest. Look how sad Jon is! Little did he know, bigger and better successes were right around the corner for him!

[@Otselen]

Thank-you MTV...by cancelling this show you unknowingly gave the us The Daily and Colbert shows, and made our world a better place.

[@nikobatallones]

Apparently this is the last episode of the syndicated run.

[@Andrew-bj6ym]

Uh, the daily show existed before Jon stewart, dude. Craig Kilbourne was a superior host as well.

[@Andrew-bj6ym]

@mikedavis8008 imagine thinking ratings have any association with quality of programming lol

[@untexan]

Debatable, when you factor in that shows like those contributed to fear and outrage addictions which have stopped millennials from actually going out and doing the work to make the world a better place

[@browsertab]

The world became a worse place... but the shows were great!

[@jada5410]

"do not confuse cancellation with failure" you can tell this message really stuck with him because jon told this to larry wilmore when larry's show got canceled in 2016

[@DavidTa2]

Just won the Mark Twain Prize 🙂

[@BoycottChinaa]

Larry who

[@SayAhh]

27:32 It's funny because Tucker basically also said see you Monday but supposedly didn't know that he was going to get canned. Jon went on to become a legend, though, and was the first person to take down Tucker publicly.

[@jesusamaya8943]

Damn, I knew I heard that somewhere else before... you know what else? The Jon Stewart show had a helluva band!

[@Andrew-bj6ym]

Not surprised. Jon Leibowitz has always been a no-talent hack.

[@SuperAlanStevens]

Jon Stewart went on to bigger and better things

[@brewer921]

What happened?

[@jondunmore4268]

Who IS this Stewart guy? No wonder his show got cancelled. He won't amount to much.

[@blachubear]

And now he's a executive producer of "The Late Show With Stephen Colbert".

[@BoycottChinaa]

He also got the world he wanted

[@schtive81]

Letterman with a cigar is such an iconic image, for some reason.

[@Zig_Was_Here]

I was 20y/o and watched this show religiously while high as a kite!

[@jackiesmith9531]

I love that through KZbin you can see the evolution of Jon Stewart.

[@joediver7669]

The 90's...when you could still smoke a cigar as a late night talk show guest.

[@ExclusiveLM]

+Joe Diver ............what was Larry (Jack Tripper's buddy) from Three's Company doing singing on the Letterman morning show at 19:58. LOL !!

[@aresef]

When was it that Madonna did it...?

[@giraffedreams]

"See you in '98, I guess..." Close, Jon. January of '99. :)

[@withalittlehelpfrom3]

I absolutely love that Jon returned the favor when Comedy Central cancelled Larry Wilmore's show. He didn't want anyone else to go through what he went through on MTV, and comfort folks like Dave did to him. Way to go, Jon! You've influenced the media landscape just like your hero David Letterman did.

[@thejoshpresle]

I know this comment is 3 years old, but I just wanted to add that Tom Snyder basically did the same thing for David Letterman when his first morning talk show on NBC got cancelled. Letterman would go on to replace Snyder in the time slot after the Tonight Show, then hire Snyder to do the Late Late show on CBS.

[@assmane999]

"Often, it's the things we love the most that causes us the most pain" - Dave Letterman So true

[@f.gpluss7503]

The great irony is that Jon Stewart announced retirement the same year that Colbert is taking over David Lettermans spot. Even John Oliver has had major success on HBO. I love Jon Stewart, i hope he doesn't beat himself up that much over launching so many careers including Steve Carell.

[@chozenknight260]

Why would he beat eat himself up that much over launching so many careers? He's probably proud of that fact. 5

[@interwebpsychiosis]

Beat himself up... what?

[@11jupitercowboy8]

I remember this. I was in high school, but I loved the Jon Stewart show!

[@rexsexson5349]

11jupitercowboy8 I wasn't 18 until June of '95

[@prowlie]

Dave called it........ George Carlin called it......... legends just know

[@orbison]

"You are going to show us a lot, and I look forward to it"- George Carlin to Jon

[@withalittlehelpfrom3]

If you watch Mel Brooks’ episode of Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee, he talks that way about Chris Rock! Mel saw him doing standup in a club, and knew Chris was gonna go far.

[@Dazlidorne]

Even then, Jon had an adoriing audience!

[@DoomedandStoned]

Damn, I wish I could go back and relive the 90's again, just a little bit smarter and more aware than I was. Sigh.

[@alal039]

I wish I could go back and relive all my life again more aware and smarter

[@cromagn1n]

Billy Goate but that would take away from the blissful ignorance of the 90s 😉

[@marceloromero4515]

Blissful ignorance is the best!

[@steveditko1]

Wow, that Letterman morning show clip was pure gold.

[@jesusamaya8943]

The closing skit was a classic...so was Dave's!

[@halcyon_studio]

And tonight marks the final episode of "The Daily Show" -- Man I feel old.

[@krisnarefaagusta16]

+Troy Marrotte Who's the guests on the final episode of The Jon Stewart Show?

[@Schmidty1]

Trevor Noah is great! Still going!

[@ZacharyWill]

Jon is BACK on The Daily Show!

[@edrist]

The old Letterman was great!

[@sdne1959]

So true.....ESPECIALLY the NBC Dave. By this time though, he was already at CBS, and slowly beginning to change into the LESS daring, LESS cutting-edge, LESS funny (i.e., more BITTER) Dave. Once he lost out to Leno for "Tonight", and shipped out to CBS, it wasn't too many years before he just seemed to quit giving a crap (not completely, but DEFINITELY much more so than when he was still at NBC). Yeah, probably wasn't too much longer after this (if he hadn't already started), that he began devoting more time to chasing women around the office, than worrying about the quality of each night's show. As 'The Donald' would say..............SAD !!!

[@mejsmith1]

Wouldn't Donald be joining him in chasing women around the office?

[@jetpaq]

Wow..this interview was reversed 10 years later, when Jon was the academy awards host, and letterman was interviewing HIM..and now one of JOns protoge's"Stephen Colbert" is taking over for David Letterman, when he retires! This is such an interesting flashback.

[@ianhh6]

"cancellation should not be confused with failure"... I still miss Firefly :'(

[@midnightstudies]

ianhh6 *sniff* that was my first immediate thought

[@KnightShadey]

Dave should be the last guest on Jon's last Daily show again, that would be a nice touch. Be sad to see them both go later this year. For anyone wanting to see the Volvo Dave talks about in this video clip, it's highlighted in Seinfeld's interview with Dave on Comedians in Cars getting Coffee. Pretty nice car, and still runs about 20 years later.

[@zapfanzapfan]

The car Dave mentions is the car Jerry Seinfeld gets to drive when Dave is guest on Comedians In Cars Getting Coffee, see it! Jon went on to bigger and better and he did not screw up the Academy Awards :-)

[@HyborianAge]

That was cool of Dave passing on to Jon a few words of encouragement.

[@prowlie]

"I know the same is in store for you..." Dave called it........

[@reckz420]

wow, '95 looks so "back then" kinda time in history.

[@DownUFO]

yeah but part of it is the degraded tape quality. i used to wonder back in the 90's if the 70's and 80's TV was really as blurry and fuzzy as it seemed when seeing it in the present (90's), especially considering 90's TV looked so clear and normal. but now i see old clips of shows that looked perfectly normal at the time, and the video quality makes it looked like it's 50 years old. hell, even some clips of shows from the early 00's look fuzzy and old now even though they were crystal clear at the time.

[@mascadadelpantion8018]

I actually remember watching this............ I was God knows how old like I think I was 10 or something. My oldest brother had us all stay up late to watch this as a big event. He's a badass who always knew what was the real good shit. Not just what the media told us what to like. So knowing Jon Stewart's stand up he knew that his show was going to be badass!! He was right and he never missed an episode of this talk show. I was a freaking kid so of course I missed like almost all of his episodes. But I do remember the night I watched this whole episode

[@ec1385]

The Daily Show premiered the next year, hosted by Craig Kilborn, who then took over the Late Late Show following Dave, opening a spot for Stewart. He did OK over there.

[@johnydangerously1]

Thanks so much for sharing! I love seeing how Jon has grown as an entertainer and host.

[@danrodrigues3531]

I like the fact that he asked the audience at home to watch the credits so that his crew get their due credit...

[@jesusamaya8943]

That and the closing skit 👍

[@SuperLoveandfaith]

My favorite singer/songwriter Harve Mann doing his Lounge Singer Character (1953) Wow!

[@BritCanuck]

Greatly appreciate this upload. My VCR cut off the last five minutes because something on the network carrying the show at one in the morning overran earlier in the evening. Nice to finally see the end of that first Jon Stewart talk show after all these years. "So Jon ... do you think being cancelled is going to hurt our ratings?" :D

[@jondunmore4268]

The energy of youth.

[@DevSodDribble]

I have part of this on VHS but it has deteriorated over the years. Thanks so much for posting this!

[@orbison]

UPDATE: Jon Stewart will appear on the last episode of Larry Wilmore's The Nightly Show. This is clearly Stewart doing for Willmore what Letterman did for him, because as David let him know, "cancellation should not be confused with failure''

[@Rafesparza]

he even quoted the same advice Letterman gave him. such a classy way to end.

[@bruinsrulz]

Can't he be original? Jeez, what a schmuck!

[@waldo1967]

Great find! Thanks for posting this.

[@gregoryflynn9393]

at the 20 minute mark they show a clip of Letterman's other last show from his morning show days in 1980. The rabbit hole goes deeeeeeeep

[@Novastar6]

Jon looked absolutely crushed at the end there. Little did he know.

[@seananomie]

Thanks for posting this! The Letterman interview is classic!

[@MatthewTomich]

Perfect finale song from Buffalo Tom, unbelievable it was cut. Buffalo Tom, "Porchlight" Hey when the need becomes too strong or long And drawn out for me to take Like a cigarette burn to the fleshy turbines of my heart That faded afternoon floats breezily into my memory Cool shafts of light appear and I'm left here Standing naked on my own Your voice is small on my voice mail system A million miles away But if I turned it off I would not hear the little things you say The world must chill And like a king I ring up old acquaintances It's like the man says I ain't here on business It's all work anyway On any other day They say the light has got no equal On any other day The date's irrelevant but she was drunk In the heat of the June night The faces in the windows - shouts rang out Into dawn's early light The flailing arms and scrambling eggs I fled On my two shambling legs I gotta go I said - they both looked dead On any other day On any other day They say the light has got no equal On any other day On any other day On any other day They say the light has got no equal On any other day The fire blazed away The kitchen porch was all that remained And I'm out here alone - beat up and pissed Until this very day That old hotel rang back in fuzzy time And I was ravaged to the bone Your voice got smaller 'til I realized It was gone On any other day They'd say the light has got no equal On any other day On any other day I swear the light has got no equal On any other day I realize I realize It was gone

[@DannyMercer1993]

This sounds so painful, and hes so sad clearly, BUT GREAT THINGS ARE COMING FOR YOU JOHN!

[@jondavis2790]

This just makes me miss Dave so much already.

[@JD..........]

The only credits I've voluntarily viewed. Then again I would do anything Jon Stewart asked

[@linzzyy]

loved every minute of this! Blues Traveler was the cherry on top

[@davidstrickler5362]

I had just discovered this show during its final week and told myself, "I am going to be a lifelong fan of this program!" only to find out that it was being canceled.

[@improvmaniac]

It happened for a reason. Had he found success here we would of never had the Daily Show and The Colbert Report. Jon, you're a mench! Shalom!

[@sstaners1234]

Used to watch this all the time. The Jon Stewart Show had such awesome and incredible musical guests. Sad it ended.

[@jesusamaya8943]

Like I said before... the Jon Stewart show had a helluva band!

[@mn45s47]

Of course, the interesting post-script to this video is that, 19 years later, Jon Stewart could have taken over Dave's show had he wished.

[@chozenknight260]

And instead Colbert has run it into the toilet.

[@andrewflick1163]

not at all. it's doing great

[@jnnx]

@@andrewflick1163 He’s not talking ratings.

[@andrewflick1163]

Well he is a fucking moron

[@jetpaq]

<a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="1220">20:20</a> he makes a very prophetic statement."I lived through it" Jon did too.. Kudos david, you are a class act dear sir. !

[@APisceanSlant]

Ahh...so many 90's memories. And seeing Higgins at the end, was a trip

[@whateverman4945]

and Jon ends up farming Lettermans future replacement

[@mavenandrade5579]

That was wild from start to finish.

[@cainster]

I don't care about the poor quality. This is Jon freaking Stewart. He could be broadcasting from the middle of a screaming badger farm and be videotaped on 8mm silent film and it would still have been a great show. Throw Letterman in there and you have genius everywhere you look.

[@hal687]

David is 100% class

[@neildied26]

Thanks Jon

[@alexandersmirnov7851]

<a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="780">13:00</a> - Jon mentioned this episode in the video "The Best Advice Jon Stewart Ever Received Was From David Letterman - After the Cut | The Daily Show" "Cancellation and I'm going to tell you something you know cancellation should not be confused with failure" What a great advice! Also, it is strange seeing Dave with a cigar

[@CainXVII]

Ok that post-credit scene was gold

[@bigjilms]

Letterman, what a cool dude.

[@clownnookie]

I remember this exact period in time ... I thought Jon was good based on his stand-up ... and then I finally got around to watching his show and I watched one episode after another. By the tenth show in, I was hooked! Then, by the 11th show (this one) he was cancelled. Wish I'd seen them all!

[@AM2PMReviews]

Oh the cigar boom was happening! Love this!

[@BeachChrisBoy]

After his MTV show it was picked up for national syndication. Ran here in LA from 11-<a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="690">11:30</a> but never caught on enough to keep it alive. The rest is history. Since then with The Daily Show it has given star status to then-regulars Steve Carrell, Stephen Cobert, Ed Helms, Demetri Marin, and many others.

[@muarifsumahar9139]

funny, they both had final show in the exact next twenty years.

[@madfiat8932]

Smoking on TV... Wow times have changed.

[@jmitterii2]

Alvin Brinson For live shows it was actually rare in the 90's too.

[@pamelabonaparte9383]

Gold …hindsight is 20/20 …👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻❤️

[@evilashxero]

Wow, I forgot what Dave was like when he was younger.

[@kz1000ps]

Yeah, it's kinda shocking how much of a sourpuss he's turned into. He's always been prickly but at least back in the '80s and '90s he did it with a big old grin... nowadays he almost never smiles and it really drags down his schtick (and I say this as a huge fan of his).

[@evilashxero]

Well, getting old can dull you down in a lot of ways, unfortunately. It's good that he is retiring. He's still a legend though.

[@avedic]

evilashxero Agreed....he should have retired 5, maybe even 10, years ago. It's a shame that younger people only know of the curmudgeon he's become. But, that era aside, he's certainly a comedy and late-night legend. He's a cool complicated creative guy...as all the greats are. Leno not included _of course_. :P

[@BPB9973952]

I remember this guy

[@firecloud77]

Funny how we didn't realize at the time how badly Standard Definition analog TV sucks.

[@nickmartin749]

Standard definition analog didn't look this bad. This is just a bad vhs tape recording.

[@pierzing.glint1sh76]

How is the quality so bad when movies from this time period were pretty good quality compared to this

[@firecloud77]

Pierzing.glint1sh7 Because movies were shot on 35mm film, which has around 1400 to 2200 horizontal lines of resolution while analog TV had only about 300. The quality of analog TV was also hampered by the fact that analog is prone to losing much more quality each time it is copied or transmitted in an analog manner instead of digitally like it is today. vimeo.com/84135659 .

[@pierzing.glint1sh76]

Ahh k.. makes sense

[@KnightShadey]

firecloud77 Analogue transmission was still A LOT clearer than this recording. It broadcast @ 480 lines, and this being cable/MTV it was pumped rather cleanly into most homes, so this is definitely not indicative of SD quality of the day, and more indicative of the issues with standard VCRs. Having worked in TV at the time, I can tell you that 3/4" , BetaCam/SuperBeta 1/2", and M2 recordings were all far FAR cleaner than this, and suffered less issues with transfer between dedicated machines with good clean BNC connections. The weakest link in earlier recording would be a camera using tubes casting slight yellow tinge in studio or especially with WB tansitions, although by this era when Jon's show was on 3CCD had already spread to most studios, especially network size. You want to see the calibre of the analogue recordings, check-out a bunch of TV shows transfered to DVD or rebroadcast now that weren't shot on film, they don't look anywhere near this bad, despite being 480i analogue SD source material. You can still see the obvious shift from SD to HD, but it's nowhere near this bad.

[@elgerardoedwardio2498]

Letterman is actually more entertaining in the guest's chair.

[@prowlie]

whatever...... Dave is a legend......

[@HyborianAge]

You must be new.

[@kicrip3000]

WOW...

[@DeadeyesX311]

wow... most of these jokes still work today

[@AaronDidIt]

<a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="150">2:30</a> + love all the 90's name throw outs! Memories ...

[@MichaelEdwards]

I wonder if David Letterman will be the last guest on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart

[@TheAwesomeAjay]

Michael Edwards Most likely it will be one of Jon's really close friends (Colbert, Carrell, CK...) it would be nice to see Letterman show up though, as an homage to this.

[@Aaliyahchannel2024]

Hey I'm here from the future. He wasn't.... Also from 2020 to 2022 you'll be wearing a mask in public and not allowed to leave your house.

[@yuriydisman3689]

Before Jon took over The Daily show it SUCKED so it's a good thing this thing was cancelled

[@ingibingi2000]

It was good, but nothing special, he turned it into a cultural touchstone

[@chozenknight260]

I agree with you but I loved this show.

[@karen1.069]

The Daily Show isn't the same w/out Jon Stewart

[@klyanadkmorr]

When Dave had fire and spirit, he gotten so mellow and was ready to retire.

[@badad0166]

Tonight Show's Steve Higgins tends bar in the "flash forward" sketch at the very end. Small world, that showbiz...

[@pettypettywoodchuck2]

<a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="436">7:16</a> you can tell that pissed jon off lol

[@lednerg]

The Volvo station wagon Letterman was talking about was featured in his episode of Seinfeld's Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee: comediansincarsgettingcoffee.com/david-letterman-i-like-kettlecorn Still running all these years later.

[@felixthelmocevallosmorales41]

David Michael Letterman (12 de abril de 1947) es un presentador, comediante, escritor y productor de televisión estadounidense. 76 AÑOS.

[@collegeman1988]

I think Jon Stewart knew back then he’d land on his feet and everything would be okay 👍

[@jimjael252]

I think the Paul Newman car reference is the same one that he also talked about on Jerry Seinfeld's 'Comedians In Cars Getting Coffee."

[@whophd]

Wow I think Rove McManus in Australia somehow got copies of this to emulate it

[@CaptainGrimsdale]

I had no idea who he was and that he had his own late night show in 1995. Only Letterman was on late night on Australian television. The others were obscure unknowns.

[@nedwart]

Steve Higgins of SNL and The Tonight Show was the head writer of this show. He plays the bartender at the very end, after the credits.

[@BigSnipp]

Was this a passing of the torch before anyone knew it?

[@jnnx]

I think Viacom and Worldwide Pants knew it, that was the entire point of the interaction.

[@productplacementadz24-73]

That talk show jon sketch was hilarious. The original lego movie.

[@ScottMyersOfTheEarth]

Both of these dudes now have crazy Unabomber beards. Wild.

[@superpoof]

Great vid! Thanks. But... Leno would have known it was a "huffer" not puffer.The term came from 1960's top fuel dragsters.

[@joebaumgart1146]

is it me or does he look better now

[@wtf7476]

Letterman is smoking a cigar :D

[@last808]

Is the 1hr cut of this episode out there?

[@TheTheratfarmer]

Dave, we miss you.

[@klyanadkmorr]

Wow Bill Murray has been Letterman's bud for years then!

[@freddysociety]

Is that Steve Higgins, now announcer on Jimmy Fallons show, that's playing the bartender in the end bit?

[@claudiaklg270]

Yeah! he is!!! but how old is he? he looks exactly the same

[@OrphanSeasun]

Was this show national? Was it on in Canada? Because I watch TV like a nutcase for more years than I'd care to say and I had no idea Stewart had a show before his current comedy-news-thingy. Or did I just forget? Did I mention I'm craaa-zy?

[@sandelic1]

As I gathered, BusBoy is Jon Stewart production house. I think wiki has more info.

[@Howard007]

This man has more talent in his pinky than Jimmy Kimmel… never should have been canceled

[@SayAhh]

I miss Jon's previous 2 shows (and am enjoying his current podcast); I, however, will never miss any of Tucker Carlson's shows.

[@ronflatter1235]

Dave retold the Paul Newman car story on another show sometime after this was aired. He admitted that Newman was not happy that Dave used his name publicly in describing the car project. So when he retold the story, Dave left out Newman's name and simply referred to him as a celebrity friend. Apparently the friendship was maintained and I ruined by this, but it was amusing to have been in on the joke having seen this episode when it first aired.

[@daa589]

I can only see him as daily show John lol

[@ara9ond]

Geee, you really can see the genesis of the guy who would take over in 1999 from Kilborn.

[@jamesbranstutter9986]

I don't miss the 90s at all lol