Jon Stewart brings John Oliver to tears on ‘Daily Show’ sendoff

It’s a rare thing to see a comedian get turned into a blubbering mess of tears on national TV, but that’s exactly what happened Thursday night as “The Daily Show” bid farewell to one of their own.

Longtime correspondent (and recent fill-in host) John Oliver left the show this week to start his own comedy show on HBO. And as a way of sending him off in style, Stewart faked Oliver into thinking he was doing a comedy bit on nuts left around Buckingham Palace for the queen to snack on and then pulled a switcheroo and presented him with a “greatest hits” tribute.

Oliver joined “The Daily Show” in July 2006 as a correspondent, but his stardom really grew when he sat in for Stewart for eight weeks while the usual “Daily Show” host went off to the Middle East to make his feature film directing debut.

Over the years, Oliver has done a variety of remote pieces from places as diverse as the Republican National Convention, South Africa and Barack Obama’s presidential inauguration. He’s also done characters -- unfortunately, they were all variations on the same Dickensian street urchin.

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While Stewart was clearly having a blast taking Oliver down memory lane, the departing correspondent apparently became overwhelmed with emotion. When they cut back from the clip package, watch as tears stream down his face. And he can barely bring himself to perform his signature “Carlos Danger” dance to the cheers and standing ovation of the studio audience.

Oliver’s new show on HBO will be weekly and is expected to air on Sunday nights.

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