Jon Stewart will examine ‘current events through his unique prism’ for HBO. Sound familiar?

As host of Comedy Central’s “Daily Show,” Jon Stewart processed the day’s news through his comedic lens.

Three months after an emotional sign-off from that gig, HBO on Tuesday announced that it had signed Stewart to a four-year production deal that’ll start with an arrangement whereby he’ll examine “current events through his unique prism.”

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So what’s the difference?

For starters, platforms. Whereas “The Daily Show” was a cable TV thing, Stewart’s new vids will go online, via HBO Now and HBO Go. For a great many fans of the acclaimed comedian, however, the switch-up is a mere formality, because Stewart’s Comedy Central work had a huge day-after following on the Internet. And whereas Stewart’s news analysis segments on “The Daily Show” might last six minutes or so, his stuff for HBO could be much snappier.

“Jon Stewart led a revolution that changed the face of TV comedy on the ‘Daily Show,’ ” said Michael Lombardo, president of HBO programming, in a prepackaged quote. “He graced our network nearly 20 years ago, so we’re thrilled to welcome back his immense talents in this next chapter of his career.” And in his quote, Stewart said that “[a]ppearing on television 22 minutes a night clearly broke me. I’m pretty sure I can produce a few minutes of content every now and again.”

The question is whether those few minutes of content will distinguish themselves from everyone else’s few minutes of content. Consider that Stewart’s TV comedy “revolution” occurred by dint of a remarkable collaboration between himself and a meaty staff of writers and researchers and other helpers, who together produced a large volume of scripted material. Asked what kind of support Stewart would get at HBO, a network rep responded that “he will have some staff,” though details are not yet available.

In any case, the short-form pieces appear to be a lead-up to bigger things. “Additional projects will be announced as they are confirmed,” notes the HBO release, which also states that the deal includes a “first-look option for other film and TV ventures.” In 2013, Stewart took a leave of absence from his “Daily Show” hosting duties to direct the film “Rosewater,” about a journalist who was imprisoned for more than 100 days in Iran in 2009.

If Stewart is fishing for material in his HBO work, he may want to reoccupy the void that he left at “The Daily Show.” Successor Trevor Noah doesn’t appear to share Stewart’s obsession with the stupidities of cable news.