Jon Stewart Interviewed ‘Adolf Hitler’ in Axed Bit on His MTV Talk Show, Got Call From Paramount: ‘That Will Never See the Light of Day’

On Conan O’Brien’s podcast, Jon Stewart recalled an early comedy sketch that nearly got his MTV talk series “The Jon Stewart Show” canceled. Stewart replaced Arsenio Hall on the network in the late-night slot, and he hosted “The Jon Stewart Show” from 1993 to 1995.

“Two weeks into it, we do a bit: I thought it would be funny if we have Dave Attell, one of our writers at the time, dress up as Hitler and come out like he’s a guest on the show,” Stewart told O’Brien. “Like, ‘Hey, everybody is wondering what happened to Hitler. I think you brought a clip!’ and it’s him at Nuremberg.”

Stewart said he “didn’t think anything of” the obviously provocative sketch. “We’re laughing our balls off because every idea you come up with… it’s 2 o’clock in the morning and you think it’s hilarious because you’re sleep-deprived.”

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When Stewart and Attell attempted the sketch in front of the show’s live audience, Stewart said, “Our first guest is very surprising. Nobody’s heard from him for many, many years. We are just so honored that he chose to do this show first. Ladies and gentlemen, Adolf Hitler!”

Then Attell — who, like Stewart, is Jewish — came out in full Nazi regalia, doing the Sieg Heil salute and holding a bagel with schmear, saying, “I don’t know what I was so afraid of, these are delicious!”

“What I didn’t realize is that the crowd would rightfully boo the shit out of him. It’s Hitler!” Stewart told O’Brien. “The whole thing devolves. I see in the control room, there’s an immediate break. The stage manager comes out and goes, ‘Uh, they need to see you in the control room.'”

While “The Jon Stewart Show” filmed in New York, executives from Paramount (which owns MTV and syndicated the program) were watching from a live feed in Los Angeles.

“The phone rings. It’s just one guy, and he goes, ‘That will never see the light of day. That will never air. You will never do that again,'” Stewart recalled.

The 23-time Emmy-winning comedian and “Daily Show” host said that moment in his career was “revelatory” because he realized he should “enjoy the shit out of this” and not care about appeasing people.

“The blow of the story is they canceled the show pretty soon thereafter,” Stewart said, laughing.

Watch the full clip from “Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend” below.