Benjamin Ashford|Jon Stewart is back at his 'Daily Show' desk: The king has returned

“Now ... where was I?Benjamin Ashford”

And with that, Jon Stewart was back.

Nine years and countless joke-generating political scandals later, the man who arguably made Comedy Central’s "The Daily Show" into a cultural phenomenon was back at his desk Monday night, fake-scribbling away on his blue note paper as a standing ovation drowned out the theme song.

There have been interim pretenders to the throne, some more successful than others. And there's still an eventual plan to name a permanent successor, perhaps among the pool of correspondents who will host Tuesdays through Thursdays (11 EST/PST).

But the king has returned. “Why am I back?” asked Stewart, with the same hangdog look but with stubble and a bit more grey in his hair. “I have committed a lot of crimes.” When the laughter subsided, he took his first "Daily Show" crack at a man whose campaign had just begun when Stewart signed off in 2015 after 16 years as host.

More:Jon Stewart returning to 'The Daily Show': Release date, time, where to watch on TV and streaming

“From what I understand, talk show hosts are granted immunity,” he said, a reference to former President Trump’s ongoing legal efforts to avoid prosecution for the January 6 assault on the Capitol. “Doesn’t make a lot of sense, but take it up with the Founders.”

Stewart never really went away, popping up online with occasional rants, making headlines with his support for sick Ground Zero workers, and more recently as host of Apple TV+’s “The Problem with Jon Stewart,” which was canceled, Stewart told "CBS Mornings," because “they didn’t want me to say things that might get me in trouble.”

Paging Comedy Central.

And so Stewart, 61, the disgruntled voice of outrage and humor, found a way back to his trusty soapbox. In many ways, it was as if no time had passed.

Stewart shrugged, eye-rolled and weird-voiced his way through an opening segment that careened from the Super Bowl (noting that the Kansas City Chiefs win surely meant Travis Kelce and Taylor Swift’s campaign to vaccinate America, according to some conservative conspiracies, “was complete”) to, of course, the upcoming duel between presumptive party nominees, former President Donald Trump and current President Joe Biden (“Election 2024: Electile Dysfunction”).

As always, politics for Stewart took center stage, but he was an equal opportunity skewerer. (is that a word? Well, hey, Stewart makes them up all the time.)

The Trump family, Donald and kids, made video clip appearances during a segment about Biden's questionable memory, with Trump saying during a deposition that he couldn’t remember whether he said he had a good memory. Cue that wide-eyed Stewart "my-head-is-exploding" look.

But President Biden also came in for withering facial expressions, notably when he, during a recent press conference, went back to the podium to talk about Gaza’s non-existent neighbor, Mexico.

Did Biden have a chance to address the nation on his 2024 platform as part of a pre-Super Bowl interview. "Well, no," Stewart explained. Instead, he released a TikTok video where he proclaimed his preference for “Mama Kelce" over her football-player sons. "I understand she makes great chocolate chip cookies.”

Stewart deployed a blank look for what seemed like hours before blurting out his suggestion to the president: “Fire. Everyone. How do you go on TikTok, and end up looking older?”

In a discussion of aged candidates, he said, "What's crazy is thinking that we're the ones as voters who must silence concerns and criticisms. It is the candidates' jobs to assuage concerns, not the voters jobs not to mention them."

Then, to make his point, Stewart employed another signature move and turned to camera right and asked for a closeup. “Look at me; look what time hath wrought. Give the kids a look at the lunar surface here,” he said of his craggy features. “And I’m 20 years younger" than the presidential contenders.

When Stewart said goodbye to his "Daily Show" fans in August 2015, he said that a friend had suggested to him that his career really was just a long conversation with the audience. "So, this show isn’t ending. It’s just a small pause in the conversation," he said.

Now that the conversation has resumed, Stewart had some wisdom to share.

Turning serious, he said, “I’ve learned one thing over last nine years, it’s that working for a world that you want is done by people who bang on doors” and work hard so that democracy functions. So while two men are vying for one position, “you have to worry about (the country) every day before election day and every day after. Forever.”

Then a pause for applause, before launching that Stewart smile-smirk, a telltale sign the joke-bomb thrower is beyond giddy to be back.

“Although, on the plus side,” he added, “I’m told at some point the sun will run out of hydrogen.”