comedy central

Jon Stewart’s biting satire may have made his new bosses squirm, but they went ahead and extended the comedian’s run on Comedy Central through December 2026.

The channel’s parent company, Paramount, announced Monday that Stewart will continue to host “The Daily Show” on Monday nights and serve as an executive producer through the end of next year.

Members of the show’s news team will continue to share Tuesday through Thursday hosting duties. Terms of the contract were not disclosed.

“Jon Stewart continues to elevate the genre he created. His return is an ongoing commitment to the incisive comedy and sharp commentary that define The Daily Show,” Ari Pearce, Comedy Central’s manager said in a prepared statement. “We’re proud to support Jon and the extraordinary news team.”

Stewart’s contract was re-upped nearly four months after Paramount-owned sister network CBS notified Stephen Colbert, who rose to fame on “The Daily Show,” that it was dumping his late night show at the end of the season. The cancelation was revealed days after Colbert lambasted a $16 million settlement Paramount agreed to pay President Trump to end a lawsuit over edits to “60 Minutes.” Colbert called the arrangement “a big fat bribe.”

Paramount settled the Trump suit to win approval from the Trump administration of its sale to David Ellison’s Skydance Media and RedBird Capital Partners. CBS has said the reason for Colbert’s cancellation was financial, not political, although many people have expressed doubts.

Ellison took ownership of Paramount in August. Stewart has joked that he, too, might be tossed as the company tries to reposition itself to the political center.

Last week, the company began a deep round of layoffs, cutting 1,000 employees with plans to terminate another 1,000 in the coming weeks, in an effort to trim its workforce by 10%.

After a nine-year absence, Stewart returned as a host in February 2024. He had helmed the show for 16 years before taking a break in 2015. His current contract was expiring.

The show was hosted by Trevor Noah until 2022, when he stepped down. That prompted a rotation of guest hosts, including Kal Penn, Charlamagne tha God, Sarah Silverman and Michelle Wolf.

Last month, during a conversation with the New Yorker at a cultural festival, Stewart was asked whether he might stick around longer. “We’re working on staying,” Stewart told the New Yorker’s David Remnick.

The rotation of “The Daily Show” hosts also will include Ronny Chieng, Josh Johnson, Jordan Klepper, Michael Kosta, and Desi Lydic with Troy Iwata and Grace Kuhlenschmidt.

“South Park” is bidding adieu to its short-lived but buzzy Season 27.

The sixth episode of the year, which airs Wednesday on Comedy Central, marks the first episode of Season 28, a spokesperson from the network confirmed to The Times. (The episode will stream on Paramount+ Thursday.)

The reason behind the decision to end Season 27, which was originally expected to have 10 episodes, is unclear. But fans of the long-running satire will still get four additional episodes this year, if “South Park” co-creator Matt Stone and Trey Parker stick to the schedule they outlined. Fans had been speculating about the start of a new season after seeing television listings that coded Wednesday’s episode as the first of Season 28.

The new episode, titled “Twisted Christian,” follows a possessed Cartman, who “may be the key to stopping the Antichrist,” according its brief description. A short teaser also shows the students of South Park Elementary engaging with the viral “67” slang, an essentially meaningless phrase that has taken over Generation Alpha.

The recent episodes have been drawing strong viewership and have, as always, poked fun at topical issues and political figures including President Trump, immigration raids, tariffs and the FCC. Even Paramount, which bought the global streaming rights to “South Park” this summer in a $1.5-billion deal, has been the butt of several jokes.

Season 27 had an unusual cadence of episodes, with the first two arriving on a weekly schedule, then biweekly before the arrival of the most recent episode (and the apparent finale of the season), which aired three weeks later on Sept. 25.

The second episode drew criticism for its parody of Charlie Kirk, the slain political influencer, despite the episode airing weeks before his death. Comedy Central, which is owned by Paramount, announced it will not air reruns of the second episode of the latest season after Kirk was fatally shot Sept. 10 in Utah. The episode can still be found on Paramount+.

The final episode of Season 27 was the first to air after Kirk’s death, but Parker and Stone told the Denver Post the delay was unrelated to its content: “No one pulled the episode, no one censored us, and you know we’d say so if true.” The pair issued a statement on Sept. 17 saying the episode wasn’t finished in time.

Future episodes of “South Park” will air every two weeks through Dec. 10.

Times TV editor Maira Garcia contributed to this report.

Comedy Central’s “South Park” continues to target President Trump, and viewers appear to be loving it.

Ratings for the 27th season of the irreverent and often ribald animated series have surged, according to data from Nielsen and Comedy Central. The second episode, which premiered Aug. 6, scored 6.2 million viewers across the cable network and Paramount+, now the exclusive streaming home for the series, over the first three days.

The figure is 49% higher than the first three days for the season premiere, which debuted on July 23. The second episode scored 1.56 million viewers on Comedy Central, making it the highest rated episode since 2018, with nearly all of them in the 18 to 49 age group coveted by advertisers.

The new season of “South Park” launched amid the tensions between Comedy Central’s parent Paramount and the Trump White House. It also arrived after the show’s co-creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone scored a massive $1.5-billion five-year deal with Paramount for the streaming rights, which previously belonged to HBO Max.

Paramount paid $16 million to settle a lawsuit over Trump’s claim that “60 Minutes” deceptively edited an interview with former Vice President Kamala Harris to aid her in the 2024 Election. First Amendment experts said the suit had no merit. But the settlement was seen as necessary for Skydance Media to get federal regulatory approval of its $8-billion acquisition of Paramount, which closed on Aug. 7.

“Late Show” host Stephen Colbert joked that the settlement was a bribe. Days later he was told by CBS that his program was being canceled at the end of the 2025-26 season due to financial losses.

But “South Park” has not held anything back in its comedic takes on Trump, presenting him naked and in bed with the devil. Trump’s boast that Paramount is giving him $20 million in public service announcements as part of the “60 Minutes” settlement was also lampooned. (The company has not confirmed that such a deal was made for free ad time).

Cartman the podcaster in Comedy Central’s “South Park.”

(Comedy Central)

The second episode showed the president dressed in a white “Fantasy Island”-style suit with Vice President J.D. Vance as his diminutive sidekick. U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem was portrayed with a melting face and a trigger-happy response to puppy dogs. Both were were running gags throughout the espisode.

“South Park” regular Cartman became a conservative podcaster in the second episode and was seen sporting a hairstyle similar to that of right-wing activist Charlie Kirk.

Parker and Stone will take a break this week as Comedy Central will air the very first “South Park” episode — 1997’s “Cartman Gets an Anal Probe” — on Wednesday as part of a marathon for the series.

David Ellison finally clinched his prize Thursday, completing Skydance Media’s $8-billion takeover of the historic Paramount.

But the tech scion immediately faced questions about President Trump’s boast that he expects $20 million in free advertising and programming as part of a settlement to end Trump’s lawsuit over CBS “60 Minutes” edits. The settlement cleared the way for Skydance’s takeover of the company that, in addition to CBS, includes MTV, Comedy Central and the storied Paramount Pictures.

Last month, Paramount paid $16 million to settle the lawsuit, which 1st Amendment experts said had no merit. Three weeks later, Ellison’s acquisition of Paramount was approved by federal regulators.

If Skydance participated in such a deal to give free public service announcements to Trump to settle his “60 Minutes” lawsuit, viewers are going to have to watch CBS to find out.

The first question Ellison, the newly minted chairman and chief executive of Paramount, fielded from reporters during a news briefing Thursday was about the purported PSAs. Ellison would not directly answer it.

“We are not going to politicize anything today,” Ellison said at the event held at Paramount headquarters in Times Square in New York.

Paramount Global handled the settlement and Skydance was not involved “in any way,” Ellison said. But Trump — who has a friendly relationship with Ellison’s father, Larry — has proclaimed numerous times that he’s been promised $20 million in free air time for public service announcements that promote causes favored by the White House. Trump’s former agent Ari Emanuel also helped Ellison make its case to the president to allow the deal to go forward.

Ellison and the other top executives stated their support for the news division at the news conference. Ellison said CBS News and “60 Minutes” were among the first stops on his tour of the company’s offices after the deal was closed.

As for the news ombudsman that Skydance agreed to as part of the terms to get approval, Paramount’s new president, Jeff Shell, said the position should not be viewed as a censor.

“The ombudsman is meant to be a transparency vehicle, not an oversight vehicle,” Shell said. “We do believe in transparency.”

Asked how Skydance will handle the ongoing attacks on mainstream media that continue to come from the White House, Ellison said the company will stand its ground.

“We’re obviously going to be fierce defenders of our talent,” Ellison said. “We always have been.”

Before the news conference, Ellison put out a mission statement for the merged company, promising to combine the company’s storied movie and TV properties with technological prowess. Paramount is also the home of several iconic but aging cable brand names, including MTV, Nickelodeon and Comedy Central.

“Moving forward, we will work with conviction and optimism to transform Paramount into a tech-forward company that blends the creative heart of Hollywood with the innovative spirit of Silicon Valley,” Ellison wrote.

The immediate challenge facing Skydance will be building the scale of Paramount+, which, despite a decent number of popular shows, has lagged in the streaming competition led by Netflix and Amazon Prime.

Ellison promised the direct-to-consumer offering can be “a leading global streaming service.”

The mogul is taking over the most-watched television network in CBS, but like the rest of the legacy media industry, it’s fighting the migration of viewers to streaming.

Ellison’s note made a point of praising “60 Minutes,” saying it has “a long tradition of impactful reporting led by seasoned journalists committed to accuracy, integrity, and public trust” and expressed thanks to the news division for continuing to toil through the controversy.

“We take immense pride in CBS News’ legacy of impactful journalism and look forward to continuing to foster a newsroom culture where journalists are empowered, trusted, and equipped to do their best work,” Ellison wrote.

The new company is now called Paramount, a Skydance Corp, with its stock trades under the PSKY ticker. Shares were trading down about 3%, to $11.25, in midday trading.

According to Ellison and his private equity Paramount investors, RedBird Capital Partners, the company will soon be positioned to reach new heights.

Ellison’s play for the studio began nearly two years ago during Hollywood’s summer of labor unrest, when then-controlling shareholder Shari Redstone’s family enterprise, National Amusements, found itself in a cash crunch after Paramount halted its dividend to its investors.

In December 2023, Redstone turned to Paramount’s board to approve the Skydance transaction. That triggered another fraught process as board members agonized over the structure of a deal that would reward rank-and-file shareholders — not just the Redstones.

The deal was finally signed July 7, 2024. As part of the Skydance buyout, the Redstones’ National Amusements Inc. was paid $2.4 billion. After the firm’s considerable debts are paid, the family should come away with about $1.75 billion.

Paramount shareholders will receive $4.5 billion. Skydance and RedBird Capital Partners also agreed to inject $1.5 billion into Paramount’s balance sheet to help pay down debt.

“Our investment in Paramount and long-term partnership with the Ellison family reflects our deep conviction in the value of world-class intellectual property and the potential to unlock substantial growth,” RedBird founder Gerry Cardinale said in a statement.

The creators of Comedy Central’s “South Park” reached a breakthrough Monday in the tense negotiations over the streaming rights of the long-running satirical cartoon.

Paramount agreed to buy the global streaming rights for “South Park” to bring the show to the company’s digital service, Paramount+, for the first time in the U.S., according to three people close to the negotiations who were not authorized to comment.

The deal with Trey Parker and Matt Stone, through their Park County production company, values the global streaming rights at $300 million a year, according to two of the people close to the agreement, who could not discuss the matter publicly because the deal is not final.

The five-year deal means the show will fetch $1.5 billion for streaming alone.

The sum preserves the show’s status as one of the world’s most valuable TV franchises.

Both sides were motivated to reach a deal before Wednesday, when Paramount’s Comedy Central channel kicks off the 27th season of “South Park.”

Paramount also wanted to avoid any public relations fiascoes when Stone and Parker take the stage Thursday at fan-fest Comic-Con in San Diego.

Separately, the two sides have been negotiating an overall deal for Parker and Stone, to renew their previous $900-million pact that kept the show on Comedy Central with new episodes through 2027. Parker and Stone’s team are seeking a higher valuation in order to produce new seasons.

This is a developing story.

Jon Stewart took aim at his network’s parent firm Paramount Global for paying $16 million to settle President Trump’s lawsuit against CBS News, calling the move a payoff for approval of a pending merger.

On the Monday edition of Comedy Central’s “The Daily Show,” Stewart and guest and former “60 Minutes” correspondent Steve Kroft laid out the details of the legal skirmish, which they agreed felt like an organized crime shakedown.

“I’m obviously not a lawyer, but I did watch ‘Goodfellas,’” Stewart said. “That sounds illegal.”

Last week, Paramount Global agreed to pay $16 million to settle the legal volley from Trump, who claimed “60 Minutes” edited an interview with his 2024 election opponent, then-Vice President Kamala Harris, to make her look better and bolster her chances in the election. CBS denied the claims, saying the edits were routine.

But the suit — described as frivolous by 1st Amendment experts — was seen as an obstacle to Paramount Global’s proposed $8-billion merger with David Ellison’s Skydance Media. The deal requires approval from the Federal Communications Commission, led by Trump acolyte Brendan Carr.

Stewart rhetorically asked Kroft if this settlement was “just a payment so this merger can go through and not be challenged by Trump’s FCC?”

Kroft, who noted that Paramount Global majority shareholder Shari Redstone wants the sale to go through, confirmed Stewart’s assessment.

Kroft noted that “60 Minutes” never said it screwed up, “they just paid the money.”

“So just flat-out protection money,” Stewart said.

“Yeah, it was a shakedown,” Kroft said.

Comedy Central, the cable network that serves as the home of “The Daily Show,” will be included in the Skydance deal. But Stewart remained relentless throughout the segment.

“It doesn’t feel like scrutiny on news networks — it feels like fealty,” Stewart said. “They are being held to a standard that will never be satisfactory to Donald Trump. No one can ever kiss his ass enough.”

Stewart has always spoken his mind on “The Daily Show,” delivering mostly harsh assessments of Trump. It remains to be seen if he’ll have that freedom when Skydance, led by Trump supporter Larry Ellison and his son David, eventually takes over.

Stewart returned to Comedy Central after parting ways with Apple TV in 2023. His last program, “The Problem With Jon Stewart,” ended after Apple executives reportedly expressed concerns over the comedian’s handling of potential show topics related to China and artificial intelligence.

Apple has deep ties to China and has launched an artificial intelligence product incorporated into its operating systems.

Stewart demonstrated the shakiness of the Trump lawsuit’s claims with an edited Fox News interview with Trump from last year.

Trump appeared to give a simple yes when asked on “Fox & Friends Weekend,” if he would de-classify government files on convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein. However, Trump equivocated in a longer version of the answer that aired later on the network.

With the Harris interview, CBS News split an answer on Israel that she gave to “60 Minutes” presenting one portion on its Sunday round table program on “Face the Nation.” A different portion aired on the actual program, which led Trump supporters to cry foul.

“I would like to know why the ’60 Minutes’ edit was worthy of a $16-million acquiescence of what is considered the Tiffany news, gold standard network … when very clearly, Fox just did what seems to me a more egregious edit,” Stewart said.

A representative for Paramount Global had no comment on Stewart’s remarks.

Kroft said the the mood is bleak at “60 Minutes” in the aftermath of the settlement.

“I think there is a lot of fear over there,” he said. “Fear of losing their jobs. Fear of losing their country. Fear of losing the 1st Amendment.”