In the 16 years that Jon Stewart hosted "The Daily Show," the Comedy Central program had an undeniable impact on our culture. But the 52-year-old funnyman wasn't measuring the show's success by the number of viewers who tuned in every night or the headlines he inspired the next day.
"I try not to be too self-examining in terms of things I can't control," Stewart told Oprah on a 2010 episode of "The Oprah Winfrey Show." "The thing that I most examine on the show is the standard to which we execute, in terms of the material."
Focusing on execution rather than the reaction it may elicit is a philosophy that Stewart says he learned during his early years as a stand-up comedian.
"You'd have nights where you would just bomb on stage and you would feel like the biggest loser in the world. And then you'd have other nights with the same material where you would crush," Stewart said. "What it begins to teach you is [that] the reaction is not necessarily the barometer of the quality of something.
"I think there are people out there who like me too much, and there are people out there who hate me too much," Stewart continued. "It's like figure skating: I just toss out the high score and the low score, and I go, 'I'm probably somewhere in there.'"
Stewart has vowed to continue working after bidding farewell to "The Daily Show" and also reportedly bought an animal sanctuary in New Jersey, but at the forefront of it all is the plan to spend more time with his wife, Tracey, and their two children. "I will have dinner on a school night with my family, who I have heard from multiple sources are lovely people," Stewart joked during his farewell announcement.
Oprah's 2010 interview also gave audiences got a glimpse into that family life and Jon and Tracey's marriage.
"He's nothing like this at home," Tracey told Oprah, smiling. "He never talks about politics or world events. I forget how smart he is until I see him on television!"
When Oprah asked Jon about his best piece of marriage advice, he gave a response that had both humility and his trademark wit. "Know your value on the market without a television show," he deadpanned. "She's out of my league. Like, I had to get a show just to meet her."
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