Jimmy Kimmel worked in an amusing criticism of Jon Stewart’s return to ‘The Daily Show’ while otherwise honoring the late Bob Newhart at the 2024 Emmy Awards
Jimmy Kimmel has some strong words for Jon Stewart.
After Stewart, 61, and the team behind The Daily Show won the award for outstanding talk series at the 2024 Emmy Awards, Kimmel, 56, jokingly called out host Stewart for returning to the Comedy Central series nine years after he initially stepped away.
“And the Emmy for deceased industry professional we will miss most goes to,” Kimmel said as he took the stage following the ceremony’s In Memoriam segment, at which the late Bob Newhart’s picture was displayed for the audience.
“Bob was a humble, politely hilarious man,” Kimmel then said of the late comedian, in particular. “He got his first Emmy nomination in 1962 and did not win one until 2013, 51 years later, which is a great lesson.”
From there, Kimmel jokingly jabbed, “And that lesson is: Jon Stewart, you should be ashamed of yourself. You said you were retiring.”
Kimmel’s ABC talk show was up against The Daily Show, Late Night with Seth Meyers and The Late Show with Stephen Colbert for outstanding talk series. Stewart’s win marked his first Emmy since he won the award for outstanding live variety special in 2021 and his 23rd Emmy overall.
Despite Kimmel’s barb sent in Stewart’s direction, the talk show host and former Oscars host otherwise used his time on stage to salute Newhart, whom Kimmel said he “was lucky to know”
“Those of you who knew Bob, who knew him personally knew he was exactly who you thought he was and who you hoped he would be. He did not have range,” Kimmel joked. “He didn’t need to have range. Bob had what very few comedians have, especially today — a degree in accounting.”
