Maybe Jon Stewart wasn't kidding when he described life without applause (aka off of TV) as a "barren wasteland" at the Emmys back in September. HBO just announced that Stewart has signed a four-year production deal with the cable network that will begin with "short-form digital content" pushed to HBO Now and HBO Go, along with a first-look development option for film and television projects.
Stewart, according to HBO's announcement, will be working with a cloud graphics company called OTOY Inc. to "allow him to produce timely short-form digital content, which will be refreshed on HBO Now multiple times throughout the day"—essentially filling the part of HBO's comedy landscape not taken by Jon Oliver's in-depth segments on Last Week Tonight.
The move is a very smart one for Stewart. For HBO, it's a play for more up-to-the-minute reactions to current events, something the cable network wasn't equipped to handle before HBO Go and HBO Now, and that Stewart couldn’t do with his afternoon tapings for The Daily Show on Comedy Central. It’s basically the fast-paced maneuverability of online sketch comedy and satire partnered with Stewart’s established voice. Expect cool things.
