Sweet sixteen, it's not, at least for his fans.
After taking over The Daily Show on Comedy Central in 1999, and turning a marginal late-night series into must-see news TV, Jon Stewart signed off on Thursday night with an extended segment.
"I want to thank my wife Tracey and my kids Nate and Maggie -- I'm not going to look over there -- for teaching me what joy looks like," he said towards the close of the broadcast.
Stewart waxed, if not poetic, then philosophical. "This show isn't ending. We're merely taking a small pause in the conversation – a conversation that, by the way, I have hogged. I've been dominating this in a very selfish way," he said.
He had no plans to provide a drawn-out, tearful exit. "Rather than saying goodbye or goodnight, I'm going to get a drink. I'm sure I'll see you guys before I leave," he said.
In typical Stewart fashion, he refused to grandstand, turning his final episode into an ode to the people who made his show what it was, including some standout correspondents."When you look through the talent that's passed through these doors, it would have been hard to screw the show up," said Stewart.
He closed the show with a reference to what his monologues and news segments were great at: calling out the idiocies, fallacies and hypocrisies of our world. Feces, said Stewart, using another term for it, is everywhere. "The best defense against (expletive) is vigilance. If you smell something, say something," said Stewart.
Some reporters and staffers watched a live stream of the taping in the nearby studios of Comedy Central's companion The Nightly Show, which was preempted. A host of Daily Show vets showed up for the finale, including Samantha Bee, Jason Jones, Steve Carell, Mo Rocca, Rob Corddry, and Larry Wilmore.
"I got nothing else to do tonight. The Nightly Show got bumped," Wilmore groused. "Black shows matter, Jon."
Stephen Colbert, as his blowhard alter ego, then sat next to Stewart, first offering up a zinger. "You're Frodo," said Colbert. "One of us is adult-sized and doesn't have hairy toes."
And then, things got emotional. Colbert, as himself, recounted how Stewart had always told staffers they owed him nothing. But he was wrong.
"We owe you because we learned from you. You're infuriatingly good at your job. We are better people for having known you. You are a great artist and a good man," said Colbert, in a seemingly unscripted bit that apparently left Stewart mortified.
Wyatt Cenac, who recently caused a media ruckus when he recounted an argument with Stewart, had a taped bit. "Yeah I'm good. You're good?" he said to Stewart.
And then every correspondent who was there in person rushed on set into a big group hug.
Stewart's departure has been grieved so heavily that seven-time guest President Barack Obama joked about issuing an executive order that would force Stewart to stay. He'll be replaced by Trevor Noah on Sept. 28.
Those expecting anything maudlin or melodramatic were watching the wrong show. Stewart, who has railed against everything from gestation crates for pigs to the mess in the Middle East, wasn't ever one to evoke fake outrage, or cry crocodile tears.
And there was no glitzy goodbye tribute. Instead, it was an episode filled with barbs and insults. Noah walked on and took some measurements of the set, since it's soon to be his. Olivia Munn brought a cake to celebrate his 70th birthday. Bill O'Reilly and Hillary Clinton provided taped bits, with the Democratic presidential contender saying of his retirement: "Just when I'm running for president, what a bummer."
Stewart half-heartedly riffed on the GOP debate that took place after the taping in Cleveland, calling it "so articulate."
"I thought Jeb did well," said correspondent Jessica Williams, as part of the show's faux full team debate coverage.
His next move remains unclear, but as he stated on air, he's leaving to spend more time with his wife Tracey and their two kids.
"What we've built here is a monument to evisceration. We here at the show left no target disemboweled," said Stewart during his "penultimate" episode, on Wednesday. "We annihilated things."
Among the show's favorite targets, all of whom remain firmly entrenched: ISIS, racism, Fox News and Wall Street. The only pet topic of Stewart's that's seen an improvement: His beloved baseball team, the perennial underdogs the Mets.
Fittingly, Stewart called on his favorite musician, Bruce Springsteen, who performed Land of Hope and Dreams and Born to Run.
