Comedy Central’s Jon Stewart was in a good mood to begin Thursday’s episode of The Weekly Show podcast as he claimed Tuesday’s midterms were “an exciting repudiation of cruelty and shittiness.” However, by the time it came for the audience Q&A, Stewart and his producers demanded that the number one thing Democrats need to do is remove Sen. Chuck Schumer as majority leader, and their favorite reason for why was his original support of Rep. Haley Stevens.While The Weekly Show is released on Thursday, it is taped on Wednesday, a fact Stewart mentioned when he began the show by explaining, “On this Wednesday morning, November 4th, you may hear in my voice a slight rasp, a slight hoarseness, but also an inflection of, some would call it, enthusiasm, excitement.”Stewart also claimed, “I don't know if you've been paying attention, there was an election last night, the midterm elections, and I'm left with a feeling, as I watch the results up until, I want to say three in the morning, something along those lines. But it fills me with, it's a hard to describe feeling, one that is a little bit alien to me within these times.” Jon Stewart hails the midterm results "I believe it's referred to as hope, or that might be its ancient name, you know. The Egyptians referred to it as hope, what an exciting feeling of opportunity, what an exciting repudiation of cruelty and shittiness in our politics. The… pic.twitter.com/FWVu0m0Ica— Alex Christy (@alexchristy17) November 6, 2026 He further added, “I believe it's referred to as hope, or that might be its ancient name, you know. The Egyptians referred to it as hope. What an exciting feeling of opportunity, what an exciting repudiation of cruelty and shittiness in our politics.”Additionally, Stewart gushed over the Democrats who won and compared Tuesday to his beloved New York Knicks winning the NBA Finals, “The Democrats ran actual good candidates who seem in it for virtuous and non-political salesman reasons. It was an incredible night. It was — I was watching it. The — I can only liken it, you know, you're seeing, ‘They haven't had a Democratic Senator in a hundred years.’ This was like the Knicks championship. This was ‘Knicks in five.’ This was watching result after result. Each result was like OG Anunoby, just tipping in another one, just up there hanging in here with old Wemby, representing the Republican Congress. Sorry to do that to you, Wemby.”However, Stewart’s good mood didn’t last forever. Sometime later, producer Brittany Mehmedovic kicked off the Q&A portion of the show by wondering, “Well, first, Jon, for all that is good and righteous, could you please ask George Clooney to write an op-ed calling on Chuck Schumer to step down as majority leader?”After joking that he thought she was going to ask if Clooney could ask Joe Biden to run again, Stewart got serious and said dumping Schumer was job number one for Democrats, “Boy, if they don't take — and by the way, that's job one of this opportunity. Job one of this opportunity is to tear down the obstacles and old way of thinking that got us into this mess. Someone has to meet this moment and they have got to show and this moment is not, ‘Oh, we get to impeach everybody,’ like, fuck that. Like, you have an opportunity to actually govern, do it, take it.” Later, Stewart says ditching Chuck Schumer is "Job one of this opportunity is to tear down the obstacles and old way of thinking that got us into this mess...Chuck Schumer deserves a no Chuck Schumer fought tooth and nail against half of these fucking people. And even if he… pic.twitter.com/SOvXsiK2id— Alex Christy (@alexchristy17) November 6, 2026 He also asserted, “One of the first things you need to do is remove that system of seniority from Democratic politics. It is a bullshit system, and it needs to go. And by the way, they're already like, ‘Chuck Schumer deserves a lot of credit for putting together this—‘ Chuck Schumer deserves no — Chuck Schumer fought tooth and nail against half of these fucking people. And even if he didn't, he does not understand the urgency of the moment and what the future demands. I truly believe that.Producer Gillian Spear naturally agreed, “Yeah, from the fucking genius that brought you Haley Stevens, like, let's move on.”After everyone cracked themselves up, Stewart parroted the idea that Schumer’s original support for Stevens was proof he has to go, “Yeah, you never see that on the movie poster, do you? ‘From the director of Haley Stevens.’Stevens endorsed Mike Rogers out of concerns about Abdul El-Sayed and anti-Semitism. Schumer, the man who wrote a book about the danger of rising anti-Semitism in America, responded to the news with a full-fledged attack on Stevens. El-Sayed repaid the favor by endorsing Chris Van Hollen for majority leader. It is hard to feel bad for Schumer, but Stevens’s concerns about El-Sayed don’t become invalid just because he won or because Stewart insists him being Jewish gives him the credibility to say there’s nothing to see there.Here is a transcript for the November 5 show:Comedy Central The Daily Show11/5/2026JON STEWART: On this Wednesday morning, November 4th, you may hear in my voice a slight rasp, a slight hoarseness, but also an inflection of, some would call it, enthusiasm, excitement. I don't know if you've been paying attention, there was an election last night, the midterm elections, and I'm left with a feeling, as I watch the results up until, I want to say three in the morning, something along those lines. But it fills me with, it's a hard to describe feeling, one that is a little bit alien to me within these times.I believe it's referred to as hope, or that might be its ancient name, you know. The Egyptians referred to it as hope. What an exciting feeling of opportunity, what an exciting repudiation of cruelty and shittiness in our politics.The Democrats ran actual good candidates who seem in it for virtuous and non-political salesman reasons. It was an incredible night. It was — I was watching it. The — I can only liken it, you know, you're seeing, “They haven't had a Democratic Senator in a hundred years.” This was like the Knicks championship. This was “Knicks in five.” This was watching result after result. Each result was like OG Anunoby, just tipping in another one, just up there hanging in here with old Wemby, representing the Republican Congress. Sorry to do that to you, Wemby.…BRITTANY MEHMEDOVIC: Well, first, Jon—STEWART: Yeah.MEHMEDOVIC: — for all that is good and righteous.STEWART: Yes!MEHMEDOVIC: Could you please ask George Clooney to write an op-ed calling on Chuck Schumer to step down as majority leader?STEWART: Oh my God, that's hilarious. I thought they were going to say, can you ask George Clooney to write an op-ed to get Biden to run again?He just — write an op-ed that is a total apologia, and just say, “Hey, man, I don't know what I was thinking. Now is your time that the torch has been passed to the old generation. Let's do that again.”GILLIAN SPEAR: Yeah, let’s run it back.STEWART: Boy, if they don't take — and by the way, that's job one of this opportunity. Job one of this opportunity is to tear down the obstacles and old way of thinking that got us into this mess. Someone has to meet this moment and they have got to show and this moment is not, “Oh, we get to impeach everybody,” like, fuck that. Like, you have an opportunity to actually govern, do it, take it.And one of the first things you need to do is remove that system of seniority from Democratic politics. It is a bullshit system, and it needs to go. And by the way, they're already like, “Chuck Schumer deserves a lot of credit for putting together this—”Chuck Schumer deserves no — Chuck Schumer fought tooth and nail against half of these fucking people. And even if he didn't, he does not understand the urgency of the moment and what the future demands. I truly believe that.SPEAR: Yeah, from the fucking genius that brought you Haley Stevens, like, let's move on.STEWART: Yeah, you never see that on the movie poster, do you? SPEAR: Yeah.STEWART: “From the director of Haley Stevens.”