“Now, where was I?” Jon Stewart deadpanned on his Monday re-debut as host of Comedy Central's The Daily Show, as if no time had passed since he stepped down from the show back in August of 2015. Stewart, who made The Daily Show appointment viewing every night during the Clinton, Bush, and Obama administrations, returned to the seat behind the desk like a superstar athlete returning to the field of play after a retirement change of heart.

Why don't we, then, as a sports and entertainment news website review Jon Stewart's first Daily Show back in comparison to the comeback debuts of some of his pro sports superstar equivalents? Because if Stewart's first show proved anything, it's that his superstar status remains very much in tact, and he clearly belongs in the same breath with Michael Jordan, Tom Brady and Magic Johnson.

Fittingly enough, Stewart started off talking about the Super Bowl in an inspired bit about how the game was a no-win situation for Republicans. If the Chiefs won, he quipped, it would validate “the decades-long plot in which Travis and Taylor brainwash Americans into getting routine vaccinations,” a reference to the absurd conspiracy theories proliferating on the right these days.

On the other hand, if the 49ers had won, Stewart pointed out, that would have meant that in Republicans' disturbed logic the victors would have been “the People's Communist Republic of Gay Pelosi-stan,” a shoutout to the plethora of Fox News word vomit spewed upon San Francisco regularly.

Stewart's opening drive scored a touchdown and then also nailed the two point conversion with the priceless topper, “It's almost like the right's ridiculous obsession with politicizing every aspect of American life ruins everything.” Indeed it does, Jon, indeed it does.

Stewart then went on to anticipate and counter what felt like every possible critique the right could throw at him in this comeback attempt. He joked about the irony of finding fault with the ages of Joe Biden and Donald Trump, when Stewart himself had clearly aged quite a bit these past twenty years as well.

His correspondents justifiably furthered the analogy, barbing their new boss for being an old white man coming back to reclaim a job he had already done that could rather have been filled by their capable, younger, more diverse hands (to which he reminded his news team that he is only hosting on Mondays).

He hemmed and hawed over what to call the Daily Show's Indecision 2024 coverage, with numerous amusing possibilities along the way, before ultimately settling on “Indecision 20/24 Antiques Roadshow”.

He exposed the wonderful hypocrisy of Republicans blasting Biden for his faulty memory and old age through one of Stewart's signature video montages of Donald Trump and his family exhibiting all the exact same traits.

And he built to a moment of what he does best — combining biting political humor with genuine heart and moral outrage at the failings of Washington, reminding viewers that above all it's not Election Day on Nov. 5th that's important, it's what comes before and after.

“I've learned one thing over these past nine years. And I was glib at best and probably dismissive at worst about this,” Stewart admitted, building to the final crescendo of his opening segment. “The work of making this world resemble one that you would prefer to live in is a lunch pail f–king job day in and day out,” Stewart stressed, before going on to praise the thousands of committed anonymous, dedicated people who do the door-to-door grunt work of fighting for positive change.

The goosebumps moment culminated with the warning, “So the good news is, I'm not saying you don't have to worry about who wins the election. I'm saying you have to worry about every day before it, and every day after, forever.”

He then couldn't resist going out on the gallows humor punchline, “Although, on the plus side, I am told that at some point, the sun will run out of hydrogen.”

All in all, the performance was akin to pitching a perfect game. In doing so, Stewart actually topped the professional returns of Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson and Tom Brady combined (excuse the mixed sports metaphor).

Granted, Stewart just had to retrain his mental muscles to pull this comeback off, while Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson and Tom Brady had to retrain those and then all the physical muscles of their sports as well.

But still, look at the debuts of MJ, Magic and TB12 after coming out of retirement. The Jordan analogy might be most apropos since his brief foray into minor league baseball was reminiscent of Stewart's unglamorous detour into the streaming world of AppleTV+'s The Problem with Jon Stewart.

However, timing is everything, and Michael Jordan announced “I'm back” just one day before he retook the court for the Chicago Bulls against the Indiana Pacers on March 20, 1995. Jordan was understandably rusty as a result. Stewart, on the other hand, gave himself many weeks to prepare for reentry into late night's atmosphere, which clearly paid off.

Magic Johnson's first game back with the Lakers in 1996 after being retired for four years was more Stewart-like, as Johnson scored 19 points in 27 minutes, while leading the Lakers to victory. Magic's debut also carried with it the emotional impact of Johnson returning to the NBA following his HIV diagnosis.

However, it didn't take long for his rival Michael Jordan to downplay Magic's first game back with a snide quip about his opponent that night — the Golden State Warriors — not being much of a team back then, and thus to temper excitement over Johnson's debut. Ouch. Stewart thus far has received no such harsh reality checks from his comedic colleagues.

Finally, Tom Brady's first game back on the Bucs after returning from his six week retirement, was a harbinger of the inglorious season to follow. He played decently in a 19-3 snooze fest of a victory against the Dallas Cowboys, but it was all downhill from there as first Brady's marriage to Gisele dissolved, followed on the field by a lackluster offensive season for the Bucs. Brady got them to the playoffs (just barely), and this time found his team beaten handily by those same Cowboys.

Hence the proclamation that Jon Stewart‘s return to the spotlight was better than that of two GOATs and the greatest point guard of all time combined. Stewart's first episode back to The Daily Show was a huge success and played like one long moment of zen for his fans. With any luck, he can help save democracy a bit this election season as well.