The year was 1993. David Letterman moved his tack to CBS after a decade plus run at NBC. Arsenio Hall didn't know it at the time, but he was entering his final season. Jay Leno was a year into The Tonight Show and a behind the scenes feud involving his manager and Hall.
Into the fray came MTV and Jon Stewart.
After a handful of appearances on The Half Hour Comedy Hour and similar shows, Stewart was tapped to host MTV's 1st foray into the late night forum. He didn't have a high budget set. He did have a geeky announcer in Howard Feller (billed only as Howard). It was a half hour show on MTV, as opposed to the others being the standard one hour show.
However, Paramount took notice, and after MTV's corporate parent, Viacom, acquired Paramount a year later, Stewart moved from MTV to national syndication, taking Feller with him, and replacing Hall, whose series had come to an end. Somewhere along the way, Stewart lost his audience, and Paramount dropped the axe the following spring.
We know the rest of the story. Four years after his show ended, Stewart returned to the Viacom umbrella, taking over Comedy Central's Daily Show from Craig Kilborn, and turned the satirical faux newscast into a destination for politicians and celebrities alike. Stewart retired from Daily after 14 years in 2013. These days, he's spending more time as an activist for 1st responders & veterans, as demonstrated with a fiery speech in Washington the other day, shredding the GOPers for killing a bill that would've helped vets.
From the MTV era, here's an interview with "Weird" Al Yankovic:
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