An extended opening featured all of the correspondents/cast members, culminating in an appearance by, and poignant tribute from, Stephen Colbert – the ultimate grad made good who moved on to “The Colbert Report” and will soon replace David Letterman as host of CBS’ “The Late Show“.

Viewers can watch the final Daily Show episode online and see Jon Stewart say his goodbye to the show that took him from a B-list actor and stand-up comedian to one of the sharpest satirists on television.

At the end, he offered: “Rather than saying goodbye, or goodnight, I’m just going to say I’m gonna’ go get a drink”.

“All of us who were lucky enough to work with you for 16 years…are better people for having known you”, he added. Stewart never passed up a chance to make fun of the fast-food chain, and one of the ads showed a series of the comedian’s insults, along with the song “Thank You For Being A Friend”.

“On behalf of so many people whose lives you changed over the past 16 years, thank you”, Colbert concluded. Stewart joked that he felt a responsibility to devote the entire show to coverage of Jeb Bush, Donald Trump and the rest of the Republican field.

“I don’t prepare for these things very well”, Stewart admitted to her after she called him out on his line of questioning.

But in an interview earlier this week, Ganeless said Stewart has had no second thoughts about leaving the anchor desk. During his tenure on the show, he developed a corresponding character who frequently demonstrated a lack of knowledge of the topics he discussed.

“The best defense against bulls*** is vigilance”, he said. Even more so when the show finally went to commercial Stewart was swarmed by all the night’s special guests for a giant group hug.

Fans started lining up here outside the Daily Show’s Manhattan studio at 2am hoping to score a seat for Stewart’s last laugh.

Before musical fave Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band played him off, For his sign-off, a choked-up Stewart said, “Nothing ends; it’s just a continuation”.