Jon Stewart predicts America’s “joyful noise” in 2028

Jon Stewart told Stephen Colbert that once the Trump administration ends, he expects the country to erupt in a “joyful noise” in 2028—his vision delivered during Stewart’s appearance on the third-to-last episode of The Late Show before it ends on May 21.

Jon Stewart didn’t just wave goodbye to Stephen Colbert’s era of late-night hosting—he pointed to a future moment he clearly wants to hear.

Speaking to Colbert as his friend prepared to leave The Late Show, Stewart leaned into a prediction for America once the Trump administration ends. He imagined an outcome driven by voters, and described it in vivid, celebratory terms the audience clearly loved.

“The day, the day — oh people, close your eyes and dream — the day that the electorate in this great nation we call home repudiates this putrid administration, the day that happens, my brother!” Stewart exclaimed as The Late Show audience cheered.

He followed with a promise of sound and release: “There will be — and I mean this — the day that happens. there will be a joyful noise from the bowels of this great country that will make Hungary’s repudiation of Orban look like an Amish sabbath. ” adding that he was referring to Hungary ousting its strongman dictator Viktor Orban last month.

Stewart, 63, didn’t deliver the message in isolation. Colbert, 62, was a longtime beneficiary of Stewart’s comedy world—Stewart helped launch Colbert’s career. Colbert was a regular correspondent on Stewart’s The Daily Show before getting his own series, The Colbert Report.

Stewart appeared on the third-to-last edition of The Late Show, which ends on May 21 after being shockingly canceled by CBS parent company Paramount last July. The appearance was staged as Stewart came to bid adieu to his friend.

Colbert has also been unusually candid about what the cancellation has meant. He was critical of Paramount settling a lawsuit with Donald Trump to clear the way for a merger with Trump-aligned company Skydance. Shortly after, Paramount announced it was cancelling The Late Show for “financial reasons”—though few believe that excuse is genuine.

In an interview with People, Colbert wondered whether CBS had inadvertently “saved his life” by cancelling The Late Show.

“It takes a lot of bone marrow to do the show every day, and now I’ll be stepping down with enough time, enough energy to do other things that I want to do,” he observed.

“There’s so much to think about to do the show,” he added. “So I don’t have much better of an answer [about what’s next] than most college seniors do. which is I’ve got to finish this first. because it takes almost the entirety of my brain to do this show. So we’ll land this plane and we’ll check out the view from there.”.

Colbert, a Lord of the Rings buff, is slated to write a new Lord of the Rings movie with Peter Jackson. For everything else, he told People his schedule is open.

The timing of Stewart’s prediction—set against Colbert’s final stretch—lands with its own kind of urgency: as The Late Show gets closer to May 21, Stewart is already talking about what could be heard after the country moves on from what he calls the “putrid administration.”

Jon Stewart Stephen Colbert The Late Show CBS Paramount Trump administration 2028 prediction Viktor Orban Hungary Peter Jackson Lord of the Rings Skydance late-night television