In just two days, The Daily Show hits the end of an era, with Trevor Noah departing the satirical news program after hosting for seven years following Jon Stewart’s exit. Needless to say that ever since it was announced that Noah was leaving The Daily Show on December 8, there’s been the question of who will succeed him as the Comedy Central series’ permanent host. As it turns out, we’ll have to wait to a lot longer than expected to learn that answer, because for a good chunk of the next year, SNL vets and a swarm of other talent will be filling in as guest hosts.
Just like the transition period between Craig Ferguson and James Corden on The Late Late Show, or how Jeopardy! brought in numerous fresh faces to fill in following Alex Trebek’s passing, The Daily Show will be moving ahead with guest hosts to fill in for Trevor Noah in 2023, starting with Leslie Jones, who was a Saturday Night Live cast member from 2014 to 2019, on January 17. Here’s the full list of the announced participating talent (in no particular order other than Jones being first):
- Leslie Jones
- Al Franken
- Sarah Silverman
- Chelsea Handler
- Wanda Sykes
- D.L. Hughley
- John Leguizamo
- Kal Penn
- Marlon Wayans
- Hasan Minhaj
Additionally, current Daily Show correspondents and contributors are set to be guest anchors on The Daily Show, with Roy Wood Jr. and Dulcé Sloan being specifically mentioned as in the mix (let’s also not forget that Hasan Minhaj is a former Daily Show correspondent). Executive producer and showrunner Jen Flanz told Vulture that while many, if not most, of these guest hosts will fill in for a week at a time, some may only appear for one night because of their busy schedules/previous commitments.
Chris McCarthy, president of Comedy Central and CEO of Paramount Media Networks, added that this guest host rotation will unfold between the beginning of 2023 to around June and allow the show “to really experiment and try different things,” meaning that more talent will be announced in the coming weeks. Then The Daily Show will “relaunch in the fall,” i.e. the permanent host will take over in September 2023 and have “a full year to settle in before the 2024 presidential election.”
This isn’t the first time that The Daily Show has had guest host, with one of the more notable examples being when John Oliver sat behind the desk for a few weeks when Jon Stewart took time off to direct Rosewater. That said, Jen Flanz noted that as far as she can remember, “This is the first time we’re really having outsiders into our house.” Flanz also noted that anyone who’s coming in to guest host The Daily Show shouldn’t be seen as candidates to be the permanent host. This is simply an opportunity for various celebrities to pop in and try out hosting The Daily Show for a spell rather than make a full commitment to the gig.
In October, a few weeks after Trevor Noah revealed he was leaving The Daily Show (which apparently ruffled some feathers behind the scenes), the exiting host said he was excited to travel around the world again to do stand-up comedy, as well as do more producing work and spend more time “back home” in South Africa. By November, it was announced that Trevor will begin his Off the Record tour on January 20, which will see him visiting 28 cities in the United States, and international dates will be unveiled later.
As far as picking a new permanent host for The Daily Show goes, Roy Wood Jr. has been rumored to be in contention for the job, and Chris McCarthy mentioned that these coming months will be a great time for them to “test out those ideas” on evolving the show. Speaking of the Daily Show format, McCarthy and Jen Flanz also said they’re exploring the possibility of transiting the series from the single-anchor format to having co-anchors or multiple co-hosts, i.e. along the lines of SNL’s “Weekend Update” or Good Morning America, but nothing has been decided yet.
For now, you have three more nights to enjoy Trevor Noah behind the desk at The Daily Show. After December 8, the series won’t return until Leslie Jones kicks off the guest hosting run in mid-January. Look through our 2023 TV schedule to learn what other programming there is to look forward to in the new year.
