I don’t know who is on the Daily Show host selection committee over at Paramount and Comedy Central, but it really feels like the people want Roy Wood Jr and that he’s the best person for the job.
Every (E-V-E-R-Y) conversation I have about the subject ends in the same place: “but they gotta give it to Roy.” On social, all I saw around reports that the search was going “back to square one” with another round of guest hosts when it comes back on October 16 were posts that asked a variation on, “Why don’t they just give to Roy?” And yet…
The decision-makers hear the chatter and see the tweets too. They know Wood Jr. crushed it as guest host and as host of The White House Correspondents Dinner (WHCD). They know the resume too: the eight years spent becoming a Hall Of Fame level Daily Show correspondent, the three stand-up specials (specifically Imperfect Messenger, an absolute clinic on cooking a something-for-everyone feast of social commentary, pop culture, and observational comedy). They know about the stirring documentary he produced on the fight over racist statues (The Neutral Ground).
Those decision-makers also know that the guest host experiment has worked really, really well, but the carousel can’t spin forever. And it probably shouldn’t spin up until early 2024 (when a new permanent host is set to take over), either.
The case for Wood Jr. to be the final pick has always been strong, but he’s not the only one. During the strike, the rumor was that Hasan Minhaj was leading the field for the permanent host chair. Then he got called out in Clare Malone’s stunning article in The New Yorker for exaggerating certain elements from his comedy specials. Since then, there have been reports that Minhaj is still in the running, an article from The Wrap where former Daily Show staffers talked about why he shouldn’t be, and a Variety story pointing to the scandal as a reason the Daily Show is starting “from square one” with the search while also indicating that he is still a candidate. With everything that’s happened, though, it’s hard to imagine Minhaj getting the job, especially with the reputational damage he’s taken on over the last couple of weeks and the unique expectations that come with hosting The Daily Show.
The ‘Daily Show’ Needs A Fake News Truth Teller
In 2004, Rolling Stone ran a Jon Stewart profile titled, “The Most Trusted Name In News.” In 2008, a New York Times headline doubled down, asking, “Is Jon Stewart The Most Trusted Man In America?” Perhaps proving the point of these articles (and others), Stewart was tabbed by Time Magazine’s online readers in 2009 as America’s most trustworthy anchor. It wasn’t very close. Stewart scored a 44% with NBC’s Brian Williams getting 29%. This was before Williams’ 2015 scandal for exaggerating the events of a helicopter flight in Iraq, something that dimmed his star power and irrevocably tainted his trustworthiness.
Like Stewart (a “fake journalist” before the term became corrupted), Roy Wood Jr. would probably bristle if you were to call him a journalist. His father, Roy Wood Sr., was a journalist, an iconic one, so he knows the difference between that job and what he, Stewart, and other Daily Show alums do and have done with their “fake news” work. I think he also knows that there is high value in the way The Daily Show contextualizes the news through the lens of satire and comedy — cutting through the noise in ways that others either will not or cannot do.
“We’re also kind of guiding people through the news, and in some cases, it’s bad news, Sometimes it’s good news,” Wood Jr. told us earlier this year when discussing his stint guest hosting the show. “I think the first night, I jokingly called myself Uncle Roy, just kind of on some, ‘That’s what your uncle does. Your uncle helps you, the good uncle. The good uncles help you through tragedies and problems and issues in the world.’”
We’re stuck in a moment where a more literal and dangerous breed of fake journalists work to gaslight the audience, muddying the difference between true and false. There’s no wink and nod, just a chaotic glint in their eyes. Thank God we’ve got real journalists doing their jobs and pushing back on that within the well-established and necessary parameters of their profession. But it’s not enough, we also need trusted “fake journalists” in the Stewart mold who can operate outside of those boundaries and throw a few elbows while calling out the absurdity of it all; making us laugh while making it all make sense.
Telling Truth To Power
The moment that made me believe completely in Roy Wood Jr. as host of The Daily Show came during the White House Correspondents Dinner when he got groans for a joke about nonsense drag queen groomer conspiracy theories and inaction on gun control.
Roy Wood Jr.: 'Drag queens are not at a school to groom your kids. Stop it. And even if they were, most of them kids are going to get shot up at school — Don’t groan, pass legislation.' #WHCD pic.twitter.com/13wJQcjFC8
— NowThis Impact (@nowthisimpact) April 30, 2023
“Don’t groan, pass legislation!”
At another point during the dinner, Wood Jr. said, “Everybody knows how you do politics, we don’t pass laws. You make a promise to voters and then you don’t do it. That’s what the great leaders in this room understand. You know how to make things not happen.”
Wood Jr. has a healthy amount of skepticism when it comes to politicians. He’s impatient with politics as usual. His give-a-damn is always showing, even when he’s going for the laugh. It never feels heavy-handed or condescending. His week as guest host offered several proof points.
Look at the Cop City in Atlanta segment and his Long Story Short segment on whether it’s time to retire four-year colleges. Or the interview with Senator Corey Booker (NJ-D), which was particularly noteworthy for how Roy pushed on Democrat efforts to stifle Senator Tim Scott’s police reform bill, demonstrating (as he did during the WHCD) that he’ll call out Democrats too. All this and a world-class blow job for coupons joke in a segment about Bed Bath & Beyond the week prior. I don’t know what more evidence is needed, but I’ll drop this cut of his best food segments to make it a rout. Clearly, there’s an aptitude for all of it.
And yet…we’re “back to square one” with the host search.
I’d guess that when the next round of guest hosts is announced, Roy Wood Jr. will be on it and he will, predictably, crush the opportunity. Again. And then we’ll wait. For a sign, a decision, or for someone else to make an offer because they can also see what we see.
Wood Jr. has never been shy about saying he’d look at other opportunities. To be honest, I’ve been as shocked as I am impressed by how honest he’s been about that (and his reverence and ambition for The Daily Show) when I’ve interviewed him over the last few years. But I’ll remind you that CBS has an opening at 12:35, that there are 165 streamers out here still trying to stand out with an election on the horizon. Maybe it’ll be an acting job. He was great in Confess, Fletch. Talent doesn’t sit on a shelf for long.
I’ll wrap on this thought: the flood of distractions and general election nonsense is rising. We need someone who can credibly call out the bullshit in ways unique, impactful, and too hilarious and smart to be mistaken for preaching. We need someone real in an era of unrealness, essentially. We need Roy Wood Jr. as the host of The Daily Show before he takes another job.