Trevor Noah Salutes Jon Stewart In New ‘Daily Show’ Opening

The new season of The Daily Show premiered Monday night with new host Trevor Noah behind the desk and Noah quickly offered a gracious thank you to his famed, former late night host, John Stewart, and vowed to continue to fight the “war on bulls–t.”

“I can only assume this is as strange for you as it is for me. Jon Stewart was more than just a late night host. He was often our voice, our refuge, and in many ways, our political dad. And it’s weird because dad has left. And now it feels as if…the family has a new stepdad. And he’s black. … Which is not ideal.”

The excited crowd loved it.

Noah, from South Africa, is known to take on divisive political and social issues in his standup routines and the young host wasted little time before diving into Washington dysfunction.

The host tackled the news of House Speaker John Boehner resigning and likened the departure of one “John” to the departure of the other “Jon,” and how maybe people won’t really know what to think of “John’s” new replacement, but that maybe they ought to give him a chance. The segment is definitely worth a view.

And for those who may have turned off The Daily Show for good after Stewart’s departure, surmising that no host could ever come close to the level of inventive, political insight that Stewart had attained, Noah’s debut of course did not meet those standards, but it certainly was in no way bad. Noah is charismatic. He’s smart and witty. Yes, some of the jokes were forced, scripted. But Stewart didn’t turn The Daily Show into a powerhouse media source overnight.

We shouldn’t expect the same of Trevor Noah.