When Jason Jones scheduled his Thursday HuffPost Live interview, he thought he was coming on to talk only about his role in the upcoming "Hot Tub Time Machine 2," a sequel to 2010's wildly popular "Hot Tub Time Machine." Then Jon Stewart had to go and announce Tuesday that he's leaving "The Daily Show," where Jones is a correspondent.
"What do you mean?" Jones asked host Josh Zepps glibly when he asked about the news. "'The Daily Show with Jon Stewart'? Refresh me on that."
Jones said he found out the news of Stewart's departure about an hour or two before it went public. And, while maintaining that Stewart is the lifeblood of "The Daily Show," he had encouraging words to fans of the program:
Here's what I think a lot of people don't know, is that it's bigger than one person. With all due to respect to [Stewart], and he is the clear editorial vision of the show. And I mean, this with the most deference paid to him, but it is a show that is so inclusive of the people who work there. There are people just mining the trenches ... watching Fox News, having their eyes bleed so that they can come upstairs and show him what they found. Then there's writers providing context, all the producers that I go out into the field to work with. They're all such contributing members to that show, that that's not going to go away when the next person succeeds him.
No timetable has been set for Stewart's departure yet, and there has been no official statement on who will replace him, either. Jones has been mentioned as a possible replacement, along with his wife Samantha Bee and most everyone else who works at the show. Jones didn't speculate much on the candidates, but rather reflected on how the show has become such a part of his life, even before he worked there.
"We all went out [after the news was announced], and I was just reflecting back to when I was unemployed, living in Canada, and it was my favorite show," Jones said. "And it still continues to be my favorite show, and still will be my favorite show."
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