Jon Stewart’s decades-old prediction about the future of late-night TV really hit the nail on the head.
In a 2004 60 Minutes interview, which was posted to Reddit this week, Stewart predicted the state of the industry with stunning accuracy. The then-40-year-old Daily Show host told the show, “We’re all gonna get fired by the same guy one day, and it’s gonna be like a freaky—it’s like a cross-breed genetic between like Dolly the Sheep and one of [Rupert] Murdoch’s kids, and it’ll just, rule—AOLTimeViacomWarner synergy.”
The clip, part of a segment highlighting the comedian’s biting Daily Show commentary, resonated with thousands of Redditors who engaged with the post, which circulated just after Stephen Colbert’s Late Show ended last week.
CBS’s parent company, Paramount, was awaiting approval from Donald Trump’s administration the week The Late Show was canceled to merge with yet another media conglomerate, Skydance. It was also the same week that Colbert called Paramount’s $16.5 million payout to Trump a “big, fat bribe.” As Skydance is headed by Trump-friendly billionaire David Ellison, and Colbert was one of Trump’s fiercest critics in late-night television, Paramount’s announcement drew criticism for appearing as a fealty move to the president.
Since then, Paramount Skydance has closed in on a pending merger with Warner Bros. Discovery, which would put Ellison—and his MAGA-friendly approach to revamping the properties he takes over—in control of even more of the industry’s news and entertainment.
CNN would join Ellison and his father Larry Ellison’s portfolio alongside CBS, which already had its MAGA-friendly rebrand in October following the Paramount merger. They’d also hold HBO, cable networks MTV, Nickelodeon, Comedy Central, TBS, TNT, Discovery, TLC, and the Food Network, as well as streaming services Paramount+, HBO Max, and Pluto TV.
Stewart, who still hosts his Daily Show on Paramount’s Comedy Central, opined that “just one guy controls all of the media” in October. “What could go wrong?” he asked, echoing his warning from 2004.
“He should have it all,” he continued sarcastically on his Weekly Show podcast. “My guy should have it all. He should be the leader of all… Why are there other media companies? Shouldn’t they all just be one? Shouldn’t we get to a point where we’re all just fired and hired by the same guy?”
