When Jon Stewart left The Daily Show last summer, many people wondered howhe could step down the year before a presidential election, when his show wasalways at its most vital. Now that the political contest has turned into the HungerGames with Super Pacs, he’s probably kicking himself. Luckily Stewart has somefriends in high places, so he can come out of seclusion and get a few things aboutthe election off his chest. He did just that last night on The Late Show, where hetook over Steven Colbert’s desk to lambast Donald Trump and rip Fox News a newone.

Sporting a “hiatus beard” and looking a bit thinner than usual (some extra timefor the gym and staying away from the writers’ room donuts sure helps), Stewartliterally popped up from behind the desk where he jokes he’s been sleeping sinceleaving The Daily Show. This is part of a gag that Stewart and Colbert started onMonday night where they make it seem as though Stewart has been in completeseclusion for months. This got tired very quickly, especially when he pretendednot to know who Taylor Swift and Kim Kardashian were.

Even so, it was still wonderful to hear Stewart expound on the election and he didit in a way that he always did on The Daily Show, by holding Fox Newsaccountable for being a den of hypocrites who doesn’t really bother with the truthand whose opinions seem to be as disposable as Justin Bieber’s Snapchats. Hismain argument was that conservative pundits always called Barack Obama adivisive, thin-skinned narcissist with little political experience and now they’vehad to change course on all of those stances now that Trump is their nominee.

It was a solid thesis and one borne out with copious examples of Sean Hannity(who he repeatedly referred to as “Lumpy”) flip-flopping on his stance oneverything from Obama’s use of teleprompters to his elitism. But, if I’m beinghonest, he seemed a little bit rusty. It was like he was an all-star pitcher who cameout of retirement to play in a local charity game and who still has a killer arm, justone that needs a bit more warming up before he’s really throwing fastballs.

But to replace his adroitness at delivering scathing criticism Stewart had a certainamount of anger. Usually on The Daily Show his attitude was snarkybewilderment at the hypocrisy of those in power. Here he was just mad as helland not going to take it anymore. I don’t know if it’s because this isn’t his show, ifhe kept that anger at bay during his decade on Comedy Central, or because thiselection will drive even the most rational person to spew rabid invective, butthere was an emotion here that seemed unusual for Stewart.

It was a good look for him and he summed up many American’s feelings when hesaid to Fox News and Trump supporters: “You just want that person to give youyour country back because you feel like you are this country’s rightful owners.But there’s only one problem with that: this country isn’t yours. You don’t ownit.”

It was a welcome blast of real feeling, so much so that the word “bullshit” had tobe bleeped out (this is CBS after all), and Colbert reminded Stewart they were live.“I’ve never been on a show that had stakes before,” he joked. Oddly, it isn’t theLate Show that really has stakes. CBS isn’t axing the show any time soon andthey’re going to give Colbert plenty of time to grow. (And he has been the shiningstar of the glut of late-night coverage the convention got this past week.)

The show that really has stakes is The Daily Show, which continues to strugglewith Trevor Noah behind the desk. If Stewart wanted to give his old home a bumpin the ratings and some sorely needed authority, his presence could have given itthe stamp of approval. Sure that’s like revisiting your high school aftergraduation, but Noah could have used the bump way more that Colbert did.

Still it was great to see Stewart give us the old magic that we’ve been lacking this entire election cycle. Hopefully this will be a regular bit between now andNovember, and I can see plenty of viewers tuning in every night if they know thatJon Stewart could pop up from under the desk at any given moment. And if this keeps going on, by Halloween he’ll be well-oiled and back in prime condition.