Jon Stewart Talks Reuniting with ‘Remarkable’ Steve Carell, Plus: His Thoughts on Current Politics

Former “Daily Show” host Jon Stewart is back with a new political movie, “Irresistible,” starring Steve Carell, and he's telling “Extra's” Billy Bush all about it.

Carell plays a Democratic political consultant who helps a retired Marine colonel run for mayor in a small Wisconsin town.

Stewart explained, “I was just trying to look at the way it seemed that the system that we have in place to elect people doesn't seem very responsive to the actual needs of people, so it was merely about that.”

Jon loved working with Steve again. When Billy commented on how talented Carell is, Jon replied, “I said that to him every day. I said, 'If I would have known just what a talented actor you are, I would have fired you from the 'Daily Show' like a month in and said, 'Just go, go do that.'”

Stewart continued, “He's really something. What was so nice for me, I wrote it for him, with him in mind, and when I would get in the edit room and watch it, he'd given me so many nuanced options to play with in edit that I never saw when I was on set, mostly because I was drunk, but his range of everything is remarkable.”

What is his take on politics today? Jon said, “We just never get out of the election cycle, and I think it's slowly eroding people's energy and enthusiasm and optimism. It's just exhausting… and corrosive.”

Taking some jabs at the media in the film, he added, “Part of the issue is the news media has misunderstood the rhythm of Twitter as the rhythm of actual news, so they are responding to the immediacy and urgency of Twitter in that regard.”

He added, “To make change and to move forward, you kind of have to be able to escape the churn for a moment… You hope that's what leadership is, governance is.”