Here are five things Barack Obama said in his last interview with Jon Stewart

Barack Obama made his final appearance on The Daily Show on Tuesday night before presenter Jon Stewart steps down in August.

In a 40-minute interview, the president was grilled on his record in office, the government's treatment of military veterans, his relationship with the media, the Iran nuclear deal and healthcare.

But there was also room for jokes, as is the Daily Show way:

I can't believe you're leaving before me! In fact, I'm issuing a new executive order: that Jon Stewart cannot leave the show.

• Obama

With just 18 months of his presidency remaining, Obama defended his legacy on a series of issues, explaining that "I do think the work we did early starts bearing fruit later".

Here are five things the president said:

On the difference between Democrat and Republican governments:

We ask our government to do things that other folk don't want to do. Because you can't make money out of it, because it's not profitable. So we want to make sure that kids get opportunities, and they have to reach the toughest to reach kids - the kids that the private schools generally screen out. We want to make sure we are serving our veterans, including the oldest, poorest veterans. There's not a lot of money in doing that.

When I came into office, my measure was: can we make things stuff a lot better than it has been. And it is a lot better.

On the efficiency of government:

Because government is a human enterprise, somebody somewhere is crewing up at any given time, because it a huge system. Overall, it works really well to help a lot of people. What is scandalous is that we're not making enough progress in areas where we know government should be doing.

On hitting targets:

You're always going to fall short, because if you're hitting your marks that means you didn't set them high enough.

On his record in office:

Here's the thing I can say, Jon. I can say this unequivocally: The [Veterans Affairs agency] is better now than when I came into office. Governments works better than when I came into office. The economy, by every metric, is better than when I came into office. And, so, the reason I can sleep at night is I can say to myself 'You know what, it's better'.

And, looking ahead to the 2016 presidential election, Obama left with a parting shot for his Republican opponents.

I'm sure the Republicans are enjoying Mr Trump's current dominance of their primary.

To which Stewart replied:

Anything which makes them look less crazy...

Watch an extended segment of the interview below:

More: Jon Stewart on who is really to blame for Donald Trump