It’s a shock, but the rumors appear to be true. After 7 years of hosting The Daily Show, Trevor Noah is on the way out. According to Decider, the announcement — which happened at a taping of tonight’s show — also came as a surprise to the staff.
Admittedly, this isn’t the same size earthquake as when Jon Stewart left in 2015, but that’s only because Stewart made an indelible mark on the show after taking over from Craig Kilborn. Stewart was synonymous with The Daily Show, and his spirit will always be there casting a nostalgic shadow over it. Yet Noah made the show his own, delivering comedy and trenchant political jabs with a trademarked coolness that defied the divisive and sometimes forehead-smackingly insipid guests he had on. It’s true that ratings dropped when Noah took over, and have dropped again as of 2020 following a period of growing popularity for the comedian and the new style of the show, but it’s unclear whether that’s a factor in his exit. His contract with the show and Comedy Central is up this year, and it remains to be seen whether Comedy Central believes that a new host will change the trajectory of the show, or whether The Daily Show has a future at all.
If it does, the big question is who will take over behind the desk? If they pull from in-house (as they did with Noah), the current list of contributors includes Roy Wood, Jr., Desi Lydic, Ronny Chieng, Michael Kosta, and Dulce Sloan, but viral hitmaker Jordan Klepper hasn’t been away from the show that long. If they pull from outside, the possibilities are endless.
For now, we’ll have to wait and see what we get for Noah’s final moment of Zen. You can watch Noah’s announcement in the video above.
(via Decider)