Jon Stewart returns to take down Donald Trump with a reminder of another 'p***y' comment he might want to forget

Jon Stewart has kept a relatively low profile since retiring from his long-standing post as the acerbic and acutely funny stalwart of The Daily Show. But those who may have forgotten his ability to eviscerate his ideological foes were given a quick reminder during his Stand Up for Heroes performance on Tuesday evening.

Stewart took aim at Donald Trump a week before the US presidential elections and at a time when shifting polls are leaving both sides feeling jittery, particularly after an ABC poll showed the embattled Republican nominee creeping ahead of his Democratic rival Hillary Clinton with a one point lead. While such a narrow margin leaves the election too close to call at this stage, it also places the business mogul ahead for the first time since May.

Stewart urged the audience to use their vote carefully at the otherwise politically neutral fundraiser for wounded veterans in New York. His caution was preceded by a vignette about a time when Mr Trump began attacking Stewart on Twitter for being “overrated” and a “phoney”. In tweets Stewart described as “toxic”, Mr Trump suggested Stewart wasn’t proud of his Jewish heritage because he changed his name from Jonathan Leibowitz.

“It’s a little something I entitled ‘the day I woke up to find out somebody was tweeting weird s**t about me,” he explained. "So, on 24 April 2013, at 11am, somebody comes into my office and says, ‘Donald Trump just tweeted: “I promise you I’m much smarter than Jonathan Lebowitz, I mean Jon Stewart, who by the way is totally over rated.'

“So I start to think to myself, ‘oh, I think this guy is trying to let people know I’m a Jew,” Stewart continued, recalling how the tweets from Mr Trump’s account became increasingly bizarre.

Watch the full video below:

A tweet from Mr Trump's official account added:

Stewart eventually retaliated:

“The man who will more than likely, given the FBI’s preference, be our next president, then tweeted, ‘Amazing how the haters and losers keep tweeting the name F**k Face Von Clownstick.’

“What happened, as it turned out, was a lot of people had picked up on the name F**k Face Von Clownstick and began tweeting it at him.”

After four days of “radio silence“, Stewart said Mr Trump's account finally responded to his subsequent tweet about hitting a “von nerve stick” with a “p***y” comment, a response that now carries more significance in light of the lewd ”grab her by the p***y" remarks which threatened to derail his bid for president.

“I s**t you not," said Stewart. "Perhaps the next president of the greatest country in the world, at 1.30 in the morning, tweeted, ‘Little Jon Stewart (?) is a p***y and would be hopeless in a debate with me.’

Since Stewart's departure Mr Trump still has to contend with being mercilessly parodied by John Oliver, the host of Last Week Tonight, his satirical deconstruction of Mr Trump’s claims the election is being rigged being a recent case in point.

But Stewart had one final warning before leaving the stage on Tuesday evening: “Vote wisely this 8 November.”