NEW YORK (AP) – The Emmy-winning executive producer of “The Daily Show” and “The Colbert Report,” Comedy Central’s two satirical news shows, will leave his jobs with the network at the end of the month.

Ben Karlin, who joined Jon Stewart on “The Daily Show” in 1999, decided that the grind of working on both shows was too much after seven years, said Doug Herzog, the president of Comedy Central.

Karlin announced his decision to leave the two shows on Thursday. Herzog said the parting was amicable.

“Ben has been doing this a long time,” Herzog told The New York Times in Saturday’s editions. “Four nights a week. Forty-some odd weeks a year.”

Karlin, 35, shared the 2005 Thurber Prize for American Humor with his successor, David Javerbaum, and Stewart for their book, “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart Presents America (The Book): A Citizen’s Guide to Democracy Inaction.”

Karlin announced his decision to leave the two shows on Thursday. Herzog said the parting was amicable.

The two programs are the anchors of Comedy Central’s nightly programming. “The Daily Show” draws about 1.6 million viewers, while “The Colbert Report” attracts about 1.2 million.


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