NEW YORK — Jon Stewart said goodbye to The Daily Show on Thursday, America's foremost satirist of politicians and the media ushered out by Bruce Springsteen and a reunion of the many colleagues that he worked with during 16 years as host.
"Guess what?" Stewart said. "I've got big news. This is it."
Armed with a razor-sharp wit and research team adept at finding video evidence of hypocrisy or unintentional comedy among the nation's establishment, Stewart turned a sleepy basic-cable entertainment show into a powerful cultural platform. But the 52-year-old comic announced last winter that he was getting restless and it was time to move on.
For his finale, he pretended to report on Thursday's Republican presidential debate — which actually happened after the taping — but said he didn't have enough remaining correspondents to talk about all the candidates. That proved to be the vehicle to bring in a long succession of personalities whose careers were jump-started by Stewart when they were on the show, like Aasif Mandvi, Lewis Black, Stephen Colbert, Steve Carell, Rob Corddry, Samantha Bee and Wyatt Cenac.
He had been away from the show for more than a decade, but Carell said that "becoming an international superstar is just something I did while awaiting my next assignment."
Colbert, who begins in September as David Letterman's replacement on CBS' Late Show, offered the most heartfelt tribute, saying the accomplishments of Stewart's troupe members through the years was a testament to the example he set.
"You were infuriatingly good at your job," Colbert said.
Fellow New Jersey resident Springsteen provided Stewart's last "moment of Zen." He performed "Land of Hope and Dreams" at the host's request, and then "Born to Run," with guests clustered around like it was the band at a high school dance.