The opening segment of Jon Stewart’s Daily Show finale was a parade of former correspondents making one last appearance; at 27 minutes long, it alone could have been a show. Shortly past the halfway mark, a conversation with Ed Helms was cut short by a familiar disembodied voice: Wyatt Cenac’s. To many people, this was likely a surprise. Though Cenac was a popular Daily Show writer and correspondent from 2008 to 2012, he seemed to burn that bridge when he appeared on Marc Maron’s “WTF†podcast in July and revealed that he and Stewart had fought bitterly over the show’s handling of racial issues. The discussion went viral, and at that moment, it was safe to assume that Cenac would not be making an appearance on the finale despite reports that a contrite Stewart had extended an invitation.
Then there was his voice, and after it, Cenac himself, green-screened to appear as though he were standing a block down the street from the Daily Show studio. Stewart asked him if he was going to stop by; Cenac said he was thinking about it. Then, as you can see in the clip below, the two former colleagues, with convincing sincerity, put the past behind them — potentially with a knowing reference.