![\"Jon](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/stewartcolberttoss1500.jpg\")
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\t\t\t\t\t\tScreenshot: Comedy Central\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
In Origin Story, LateNighter digs into the people, ideas, and happy accidents behind some of late night\u2019s most memorable bits.<\/p>\n
When Stephen Colbert<\/a> left The Daily Show<\/a> in 2005 to launch The Colbert Report<\/a>, he already had a cult following as a clueless, over-eager correspondent and the strongest lead-in Comedy Central could offer: Jon Stewart<\/a>.<\/p>\n What he did not have was any guarantee viewers would stick around.<\/p>\n With Stewart at the helm, The Daily Show had become Comedy Central\u2019s flagship program. Two presidential election cycles had helped turn it into appointment viewing, and the show was coming off three consecutive Emmy wins for Outstanding Variety, Music or Comedy Series.<\/p>\n But The Colbert Report would have to hold its audience against late-night\u2019s network heavyweights\u2014Jay Leno<\/a>, David Letterman<\/a>, and Nightline<\/a>. Could Comedy Central keep viewers from flipping the channel once Stewart had delivered the night\u2019s Moment of Zen?<\/p>\n Stewart \u201cwanted to help Stephen get some traction with his show,\u201d remembers David Javerbaum<\/a>, head writer of The Daily Show when Colbert ventured out on his own. \u201cOf course, he wound up getting more than enough traction, but at the beginning, Jon wanted to keep the viewers tuned in.\u201d<\/p>\n The solution was \u201cthe toss,\u201d a short segment at the end of The Daily Show in which Stewart would engage Colbert in cross-show banter for a seamless transition between the two half-hours. The goal, according to Javerbaum: \u201cGet people a peek at Stephen being funny, right before our show ended.\u201d<\/p>\n The Daily Show-to-Colbert Report toss also parodied the then-ubiquitous handoffs between cable-news hosts\u2014the very ecosystem both shows were built to mock.<\/p>\n The toss was Javerbaum\u2019s favorite segment to write each day, in part because Stewart and Colbert rarely bothered to read the script before recording in front of live audiences. The two stars never rehearsed the exchange. As on a live cable news show, they just shouted whatever was on the prompter, lending the segment a loose, relaxed absurdity.<\/p>\n The tosses \u201cwere considered such an incidental thing,\u201d Javerbaum says of the lack of second-guessing. \u201cSo I got to express a little bit of my unabashed sense of humor.\u201d<\/p>\n As Colbert\u2019s Late Show came to an end in May, Stewart paid tribute to his old friend by replaying Javerbaum\u2019s personal favorite toss<\/a>: a playful exchange built around a children\u2019s alphabet game.<\/p>\n Colbert: A little alphabet game?<\/p>\n Stewart: But you promised we were through with this.<\/p>\n Colbert: Continue.<\/p>\n Stewart: Don\u2019t drag me into this, Stephen.<\/p>\n Colbert: Excellent.<\/p>\n And so on through the alphabet, until they reached the end of a toss that made \u201czero sense.\u201d It was a bit of inspired goofiness that provided a break from the show\u2019s heavier segments.<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s not something Jon would ever write,\u201d Javerbaum says, \u201cor Stephen would ever write.\u201d<\/p>\n But Javerbaum would. In fact, he scripted every one of them, though the tosses were often the last thing put on paper.<\/p>\n \u201cI didn\u2019t give them much thought,\u201d he says. \u201cI just kind of went on instinct.\u201d<\/p>\n Unlike the rest of The Daily Show, which relied on topical humor, the toss could reference just about anything, from Muppet Show homages<\/a> to half-hearted Earth Day celebrations<\/a>.<\/p>\n While Stewart was usually the straight man during the bits, Javerbaum says it was \u201creally satisfying\u201d when he could turn the tables and make The Daily Show host the silly one.<\/p>\n