Done well, comedy can be truthful and a satirical news show can have real influence. That's part of why news media nationwide presented serious coverage about Jon Stewart's departure after 16 years of hosting "The Daily Show" on Comedy Central, where he skewered hypocritical politicians and silly news coverage. His final episode, seen by 3.5 million viewers last Thursday, included appearances by Hillary Clinton, John Kerry, John McCain, Chris Christie and Bruce Springsteen. "I've made peace with it," Stewart said earlier in the week of his decision to move on to . . . whatever. (He isn't saying yet, though he teased viewers Thursday: "I'm sure I'll see you guys.")

"You were infuriatingly good at your job,” past colleague Stephen Colbert told Stewart during the one-hour farewell. "All of us who were lucky enough to work with you for 16 years are better at our jobs because we got to watch you do yours." His impact on public affairs and television was widely discussed in editorials, columns, articles and newscasts during the days before a transition to new host Trevor Noah. "His funny, but tough take on events was a major source of news for young people," The New York Times says on its editorial page.

President Obama was a guest on the cable show seven times – most recently last month, when he said: "I'm going to issue an executive order: Jon Stewart cannot leave the show." A New York media publication, the Columbia Journalism Review, praises him as "the most interesting journalist on television." It adds: “If you watched Comedy Central four times a week, you learned more that mattered than you ever could from the straight network news shows." On the opposite coast, a commentator writes in The Hollywood Reporter that America "is losing the most focused, fiercest and surely funniest media critic of the past two decades."

Critic says: "[He] didn't really comprehend the conservatives on the other side of the divide. Worse, he didn't help his liberal viewers better understand themselves." – Gerard Alexander, University of Virginia politics professor

Senator says: "He used the format of fake news to talk about everything and anything, and do it brilliantly." – U.S. Sen. Al Franken, D-Minn.

Past TV reporter says: "There are a lot of journalists who watch Stewart and envy the freedom he has. You can't go on television when you’re a journalist and say, 'Senator X is a bald-faced liar.' " – Jeff Greenfield, former CBS commentator