- Jon Stewart says he would be game to have Elon Musk on “The Daily Show.”
- The interview can go for as long as Musk likes, Stewart said in his Monday monologue.
- Stewart’s invitation follows his criticism of Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency.
Jon Stewart says he’d be game to have Elon Musk on “The Daily Show” completely unedited — and they can keep rolling for as long as the Tesla chief likes.
The possibility of a Stewart-Musk showdown was first floated after Stewart’s February 24 monologue on the Department of Government Efficiency. During that segment, Stewart criticized DOGE’s cost-cutting measures — and got so worked up that he smashed a ceramic mug and cut his hand.
“After the show, Gov. Musk tweeted — or X’d, I guess — that he would like to come on here and talk to me as long as the show airs unedited,” Stewart said on Monday night about Musk, who is not an elected official.
“After thinking about his offer, I thought, ‘Hey, that’s actually how the in-studio interviews normally are. It’s unedited,” Stewart said. “So sure, we’d be delighted.”
Stewart said he would “sweeten the pot” and keep the cameras rolling for as long as Musk wants their dialogue to last.
“The interview can be 15 minutes. It can be an hour. It can be two hours, whatever,” Stewart said.
It would not be out of character for a Musk interview to run long. He’s done hourslong podcast appearances on shows hosted by Joe Rogan and Lex Fridman.
Stewart, Musk, and the DOGE of it all
Stewart said in his Monday night monologue that he has seen Musk’s critiques of him on social media.
Musk initially said on X he would be open to going on Stewart’s show if the segment aired unedited.
“@elonmusk we’d be delighted,” The Daily Show wrote on its X account in response.
But in separate X posts on February 25, Musk called Stewart “too set in his ways” and “very far left.”
Musk followed that criticism up with another post on March 1, calling Stewart a “propagandist.”
“Look, Elon, I do have some criticisms about DOGE. I support, in general, the idea of efficiency and delivering better services to the American public in cheaper and more efficient ways,” Stewart said on Monday.
“And if you want to come on and talk about it on the show, great. If you don’t want to, sure,” the late-night show host added. “But can we just drop the pretense that you won’t do it because I don’t measure up to the standards of neutral discourse that you demand and display at all times?”
Musk first pitched the idea for DOGE to President Donald Trump during a livestreamed conversation on X back in August. At the time, Musk said he’d be “happy to help out” with a government-efficiency commission.
Since taking office, Trump has focused on trimming the size of the federal government. In addition to offering federal workers buyout offers and limiting federal hiring, the Trump administration has also asked federal workers to provide a list of their work accomplishments every week.
Musk did not respond to a request for comment from Business Insider, sent outside regular office hours.
