Tear Jerker / The Daily Show with Jon Stewart

This is the page for tearjerking moments from Jon Stewart's run. For examples from Trevor Noah's run, please see here.

In general:

• In general, all versions of the I Give Up segment. While Jon does his best to be funny, its really horrifyingly depressing to watch at times.

2001

• September 20th: Jon Stewart in The Daily Show's first episode after September 11th. The Moment of Zen from that episode probably is heartwarming in its own right.

2005

• December 13, 2005: The Moment of Zen for Billy Clarey, a Daily Show employee who was a victim of suicide.

2010

• September 29th: Jon's eulogy to Greg Giraldo.
• December 16th: Jon lamented the Senate blocking a bill to provide health insurance for 9/11 first responders and the complete lack of coverage on the issue by the media including Fox, who regularly takes pride in playing the 9/11 card. After spending the entire first segment chewing them out, he spends the entire second segment interviewing first responders who are suffering serious health problems brought on by their efforts and now can't afford care.

2013

• December 19, 2013. John Oliver's final episode. After a montage of some of his best moments, Oliver is pretty clearly teary-eyed.

2014

• February 3, 2014: The Moment of Zen in honor of Philip Seymour Hoffman.
• December 3, 2014: After the Eric Garner case, where the cop who strangled Garner in New York City was let free with no charges, just a little bit after a grand jury found Officer Darren Wilson innocent of murder charges after his controversial shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, MO, Jon Stewart is so upset and frustrated by the case and how far our society hasn't gone.
  Jon: If comedy is tragedy plus time, I need more time. But really, I could do with less fucking tragedy.

2015

• February 10, 2015: Jon announces that he'll retire from hosting The Daily Show by the end of the year.
  • And by "the end of the year", he meant by August.
• March 9, 2015: Congressman and Civil Rights leader John Lewis visits the Daily Show and retells his story of the Selma March.
• April 30, 2015: Samantha Bee, the longest-serving cast member, visibly tears up during her sendoff.
• June 18, 2015: Jon's reaction to the Charleston shooting.
  • Some people theorize that the main reason for Jon's departure was because of how the news was getting even worse than usual, especially with news like that, and felt like he no longer had the mental capacity to make light of them anymore, and with his demeanor throughout the video, it's not hard to see that.
    Jon: And I'm confident, though, that by acknowledging it, by staring into that and seeing it for what it is... we still won't do jack shit.
• August 6, 2015: Jon's last show.
  • After Stephen Colbert came on at the end of the opening segment (where most every correspondent over the years showed up), he surprised Jon as he tried to throw to commercial by thanking him on behalf of all the lives and careers he has influenced over the years. Jon was so overcome by the sincerity that all the correspondents in the studio rushed over to Jon's desk to give him a group hug as the show went to commercial — and a visibly teary Jon just buried his face in Stephen's shoulder and cried.
  • As strange as it sounds, the Arby's commercial, which also appears in the Awesome, Heartwarming, and Funny sections of this page, also counts as this. The restaurant showed remarkable class and offered up a video montage of him ripping on them, set to the tune of "Thank you for being a friend". Many a fan considered it not just classy, but fitting, as many viewers had come to see Jon as like a friend who could always get a laugh and smile out of them. The fact that they got the joke and wanted to send him off with one of their own while showcasing some his own at their expense was treated like a pat on the back from the company, celebrating their "Arch-Enemy" as he prepared to ride off into the sunset.
  • At the end, Jon's Moment of Zen is Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band performing "Land of Hope and Dreams" and "Born to Run", with Jon, his family, and Daily Show correspondents dancing during the latter. After which, Jon signs off by saying "Thank you, good night."

2024

• February 27th: Jon's show-closing reveal of the unfortunate news that Dipper — the Stewart family's pit bull and a member of the "OG Daily Show dog crew" — had passed away on the 26th, with all of Jon's family family present to see him go. The moment of Zen is simply a video of Jon playing with Dipper in the snow.
  Jon: He was ready. He was tired. But I wasn't.