‘The Daily Show’ at the DNC: Why the Show Is More Nimble Than Ever Ahead of Jon Stewart’s Live Episode

The last time “The Daily Show” was physically at the Democratic National Convention was in 2016 — two presidents, a global pandemic and many hosts ago. So going into the DNC this week, head writer Dan Amira felt a bit like he was “learning it all over again.” But few shows on television are better suited to adapt on the fly than Comedy Central’s late night gem.

“We’ve gotten very used to adjusting. I don’t think we’ve had a normal period at ‘The Daily Show’ for quite a while now,” Amira said.

Starting in 2020, the series filmed from Trevor Noah’s home due to the COVID-19 pandemic. That was followed by a period when the show returned without a studio audience before last year’s unconventional season. In the wake of Noah’s departure as host, “The Daily Show” tried out new guest hosts weekly, a challenge that required the writers, who are nominated for Outstanding Writing for a Variety Series this year among the show’s seven nominations, to adjust to vastly different comedic voices on the fly. Now the series is facing another major challenge: four shows on the road, including a live show from Jon Stewart tonight at 11:30 p.m. ET.

“I almost feel like we are so nimble now,” Amira said. “It’s a challenge, but it’s a fun challenge as a writer to have to adjust to that stuff.”

Going into the DNC, Jon Stewart, who returned to executive produce the series through 2025 and host it one night a week through the election, was adamant about making “the most” of being at the Chicago event in person. During his first go-round as host, “The Daily Show” became known for its on-the-ground coverage at both the DNC and RNC. Former correspondent John Oliver even met his wife while covering the RNC for the show.

“We’ve been talking a lot about going full coverage of it … ‘Let’s get on the floor of the convention and get our correspondents involved and talking to people. Let’s go around town and do field pieces,’ ” Amira said, pointing to this week’s pieces with governors Wes Moore and Gretchen Whitmer as well as correspondent pieces talking to delegates . “Let’s not just go to Chicago and then make a show there. Let’s make the most out of out of being here. I think we’ve done a good job at that.”

Switching to this on-the-ground show didn’t come without its challenges. A big one was adjusting to the size of the Athenaeum Center. The Chicago staple can hold up to 950 occupants, a venue that is more than twice the size of the show’s studio home in New York.

“I would liken it to if you’re playing an acoustic set in a coffee shop, and then you’re playing an arena show. You’re going to play that song differently,” Amira said. “That was something we found out on the first night, and that’s part of remembering. Again, it’s been eight years.”

To account for the “high-energy” crowds, the team adjusted how they wrote their jokes, adding in more time for laughter and applause breaks than a typical “Daily Show” episode. “The hosts have done a great job in calibrating their delivery a little bit — waiting for that huge applause or that huge laughter to subside before you do the next joke. Otherwise, they’re not even going to hear the next thing you say. [The crowd] is literally too loud in there,” Amira said.

“The Daily Show” has an even bigger challenge ahead of it tonight, given it’ll be airing a live episode hosted by Stewart. The series will air at 10:30 p.m. CT/8:30 p.m. PT, a mere 30 minutes after the DNC is expected to conclude its fourth night with Kamala Harris accepting the Democratic nomination. To prep for the show, the “Daily Show” plans to incorporate “themes and takeaways of the week” with commentary about what happens onstage.

Amira admitted that writing a live show can get “pretty hectic at times.” Logistically, there are two rooms that exist during a live show: a room with Stewart and some of the “top people” and the writers room. When the first room decides on a topic they want to cover during the episode, they will typically write up a temporary joke before throwing it to the writers room for a punch up.

“The writers will be incredibly fast, because they know it’s a time crunch, and send back 30 jokes in the next two minutes or something,” Amira said. The strongest joke then gets chosen, and the team moves on. “There’s not a lot of time to sit there and reflect on what you have,” Amira said.

The team is typically writing up until the last second, “and sometimes even beyond that. We can’t help ourselves,” Amira added. It’s not uncommon for the team to look up and realize they only have five minutes left on the clock before they need to conclude an act.

“Then, as soon as it’s over, you feel this wave of relief, and now it’s in Jon’s hands,” Amira said. “He’ll do a great job with it, obviously, just as he’s done before, but it’s a high pressure situation, for sure.”

As for what fans can specifically expect tonight, Amira suspects there will be a lot of correspondent segments.

“Jon loves getting the correspondents involved, especially on a special show like a live show. So I’m sure we’ll have even more correspondent involvement than usual, hopefully,” Amira said. “”Whatever comes tonight, we have to be nimble and work those into the script pretty much in real time. So that’ll be a fun challenge for us.”

As high-stress as writing a live show on the fly may be, it’s one of the parts of this job that Amira loves. “Over 10 years now, I’ve done like a billion shows. If you don’t mix things up once in a while — even a great job like this and a great show — it can run the risk of delving into becoming monotonous,” Amira said.

That desire for a challenge is also why he appreciates the current formula of “The Daily Show.” While Stewart consistently hosts on Mondays, each week the series alternates between senior correspondents Michael Kosta, Desi Lydic, Ronny Chieng and Jordan Klepper as its hosts.

“They bring a lot of their own preferences to the table, and they’re involved in the process, from start to finish. We might cover a story for Dessi that we wouldn’t cover for Ronny, or vice versa,” Amira said. “It’s very cool to have the ability to write all these different viewpoints and styles, and you’re not getting stuck in one ritual of how you write.”

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