Jon Stewart said his final "Daily Show" adios on Thursday with a near-record audience.
An average of 3.5 million total viewers watched Stewart bid goodbye to the Comedy Central perch that he turned into a late-night comedy institution over the last 17 years.
The finale far outpaced typical "Daily Show" ratings, which usually landed below 2 million per night.
But the last show was watched by just shy of the 3.6 million who in October 2008 tuned in to see Barack Obama, then a candidate for the White House, appear on the program," in what remains its best-ever showing in the ratings.