What if Jon Stewart comes back and everybody just shrugs?

I can picture Jon Stewart's response to the commentary attending his impending return to The Daily Show for the election season: ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Throwing his arms up in mock disbelief was one of Stewart's go-to gestures throughout the 16-and-a-half years he hosted the show. Having watched him make it night after night from 1999 to 2015, I now think of him reflexively whenever I see the shrug emoji.

Comedy Central's announcement that he will helm the show again starting Feb. 12, albeit only on Mondays, has been greeted in some quarters with giddy optimism (CNN: Jon Stewart's return to 'The Daily Show' could shake up 2024 politics) and in others with dark pessimism (Time: Jon Stewart's Daily Show Return Is a Bad Omen for Late Night).

It pains me to say this as a fan, but I fear most Americans will respond with the signature Stewart shrug.

Consider how much has changed since he signed off, saying "I'm just going to go get a drink. And I'm sure I'll see you guys before I leave."

For starters, the comedy landscape has changed: Comedy Central is a husk of its former self, its ratings having gone the way of all cable TV in the era of streaming. It has not produced a significant hit show in years, and bringing Stewart back smacks of more than a little desperation. More broadly, late night TV has been losing ratings and revenues for years. An avid consumer of comedy, I get my yuks mostly from YouTube or clips on my social media feeds.

Others argue that it is more important than ever to laugh at our national political predicament. "Satire is always appropriate," says Richard Zoglin, culture critic and author of Comedy at the Edge: How Stand-up in the 1970s Changed America.

But finally, and perhaps most dishearteningly for his fans, Stewart has changed. Few comedians have returned from a long hiatus with their edge unblunted, and the glimpses we've had of Stewart in recent years allows for no optimism that he will be an exception to the rule.

Long before his Apple TV+ show The Problem with John Stewart was canceled — reportedly over creative differences on how to handle topics like China — critics had noted that it was only occasionally funny. Too often, he came across as a plain-vanilla scold. The classroom jokester turned into the disapproving teacher.

But so are those of us who laughed with him all those years, and many of us hope we can do so again. Since he will also be executive producer of The Daily Show, he has the opportunity to assemble a new supporting cast of smart writers and "reporters" — if age hasn't dimmed the eye for talent that spotted the likes of Stephen Colbert and John Oliver.

It won't save Comedy Central, though. In the very best-case scenario, we'll watch Stewart's comeback show, and maybe linger for a Monday or two afterward. Then, most of us will return to watching clips of the show on social media.

Even if Stewart gets back into the national conversation, whatever the medium, will it make a difference? Zoglin holds out some hope, pointing out that satire is the one thing that gets under Trump's otherwise impermeable skin: "Remember, he complained to Disney about Jimmy Kimmel's jokes. He cares about this stuff."

At least that's one person who won't be going ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

(COMMENT, BELOW)

Bobby Ghosh is an Indian-born American journalist and commentator. He is a columnist and member of the editorial board at Bloomberg Opinion, writing on foreign affairs, with a special focus on the Middle East and the wider Islamic world. Starting in 2016, Ghosh was editor-in-chief of the Hindustan Times and TIME Magazine's World Editor.

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• 06/26/23: Just slip a new Iran deal past Congress? Slow Joe, No!
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• 03/13/23: Turkey's Erdogan is poised for a third decade in power
• 03/13/23: Iran's regime is already a big loser at the World Cup
• 11/25/22: Iran's regime is already a big loser at the World Cup
• 10/07/22: What Biden should make of Erdogan's bluster
• 10/07/22: Iran's ruler faces a formidable new foe --- schoolgirls
• 08/15/22: Bolton plot should be a warning on Iran nuclear talks
• 07/06/22: Erdogan missed a big opportunity with NATO
• 06/13/22: Iran has overplayed its hand in nuclear talks
• 05/25/22: 'Slow Joe' is missing an opportunity to put pressure on Iran
• 05/12/22: Erdogan's outreach to neighbors has one problem: Erdogan
• 05/05/22: The U.S. risks paying a high price for a nuclear deal with Iran
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• 03/23/22: The world's deadliest war isn't in Ukraine, but in Ethiopia
• 03/11/22: The Dems just doesn't understand Iran's regime
• 03/11/22: In the nuclear face-off with Iran, Biden just blinked
• 01/20/22: So, Trump is responsible for Iran's aggressive behavior?
• 01/18/22: THE SECRET'S OUT: Iran's economic resilience is mostly a mirage
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• 12/29/21: Fraying Saudi-UAE ties put U.S. objectives at risk
• 11/30/21: Iran demonstrates it isn't serious about nuclear talks
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