Jon Stewart already looked dour during The Daily Show's live election special — then a guest canceled on him

As electoral votes piled up for Donald Trump in the presidential election against Vice President Kamala Harris, Jon Stewart was just starting his terrible, horrible, no good, very bad election day special on The Daily Show. And then it got worse.

Stewart announced early in the show that Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.), who had been scheduled to join him virtually at the news desk, had canceled "30 seconds" before his airtime.

But Katie Hobbs, the Democratic governor of battleground state Arizona, did show up via video call. She was all smiles and said she didn't expect the final tally of the state's votes on Tuesday.

Stewart jokingly said that Hobbs was one of his new best friends. He later said the same about his next guest, Garlin Gilchrist II, the upbeat lieutenant governor of another battleground state, Michigan. Gilchrist, a Democrat, suggested early on in his appearance by video that Stewart relax.

"Let's take a deep breath," Gilchrist advised.

At the end of The Daily Show Presents A Live Election Night Special With Jon Stewart: Indecision 2024: Nothing We Can Do About It Now, which aired live across Paramount's networks, Stewart offered a few words of hope in the election, which, at the time, appeared to be leaning in the former president's direction with more results to come.

"Here's what we know: Is that we don't really know anything, and that we're going to come out of this election, and we're going to make all kinds of pronouncements about what this country is and what this world is, and the truth is we're not really going to know s---," Stewart said in his Election Night Takeaway.

Stewart then also played a reel of past years' election pundits who made false predictions and spoke of "lessons" that have been largely ignored.

"My point is this: f---!" he said. "But this isn't the end, I promise you. This is not the end. And we have to regroup, and we have to continue to fight and continue to work day in and day out to create the better society — for our children, for this world, for this country — that we know is possible. It's possible."

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