It’s being reported that Jon Stewart has announced that he will be retiring as host of The Daily Show, a job he’s been doing since 1999 when he took over for the departed Craig Kilborn.

This news is just breaking so there’s pretty much no details at the moment. The news comes from those who attended a live taping of the show, and have shared their sadness at the announcement via social media.

Whether Stewart is retiring completely and trying to disappear for a while, or if his recent directorial debut Rosewater ignited a passion in him for filmmaking that he will now pursue is not yet known.

If the news proves to be true, you can surely bet that Comedy Central is weeping right about now, as this comes hot on the heels of Stephen Colbert’s exit from Daily Show tag-team partner The Colbert Report, and Fox News is likely already half in the bag celebrating.

The news becomes even more depressing when you think about the upcoming 2016 presidential election. One of the only pros of the mind-numbing madness that comes with a presidential campaign, was The Daily Show‘s “Indecision” coverage. Whether the show goes on without Stewart or not, it just won’t be the same without him. Can we delay this retirement a year or so, Jon?

You can see the episode for yourself when it airs tonight at 11PM on Comedy Central. Of the show, The Daily Show Twitter account tweeted out “Tonight! For once, you wanna stay through the interview.”

UPDATE: Comedy Central sent out this tweet confirming that Stewart will be retiring later this year. Sad face.

Thank you Jon. pic.twitter.com/yPdxjnkuLw

— Comedy Central (@ComedyCentral) February 10, 2015

UPDATE #2: According to Mashable, sources close to The Daily Show have said that the show will continue without Stewart. This was hinted at in the Comedy Central tweet above, and is good news…depending of course on who they decide to replace him with.

Who do you want to see take over as host of The Daily Show?

[Source: via A.V. Club]