After 7 years on The Daily Show, Trevor Noah announced he would be stepping down as host and leaving the program. Noah took over for Jon Stewart, who had hosted the show for 16 years before departing. This leaves the host’s chair open for someone new, and apparently Comedy Central might already have a candidate in mind.
Noah was promoted to host after being a correspondent on The Daily Show. According to TMZ we could see something like this happen again. Sources told the site that current correspondent Roy Wood Jr. is in the running to take over Noah’s seat.
Wood joined The Daily Show in 2015, which was the same year Noah took over after Stewart. Over the last 7 years, fans have grown to love him and he’s one of the show’s leading correspondents. The article said Comedy Central executives see Wood as a “natural fit” for host. Doing this would also follow the precedent of Noah's promotion by choosing a host out of the current correspondents rather than hiring someone new.
The article also explained that Wood’s contract is set for renewal soon. He has also been in demand as a stand-up comedian, and he has appeared in movies like “Confess, Fletch.”
It was also mentioned in the article that their sources said the network executives let Wood know they want to meet with him about contract renewal. However, the process of finding Noah’s successor is just getting started and no decisions have been made. The article also mentioned the possibility of choosing a woman to take over Noah’s position.
If the show were to promote a current correspondent they would be choosing from comedians like Wood, Desi Lydic, Ronny Chieng, Michael Kosta and Dulcé Sloan. No matter what, any of these correspondents would likely make a good host, especially looking back at The Daily Show’s history of correspondents turned talk show hosts.
The two most prominent examples of this are Stephen Colbert and John Oliver.
Colbert hosted The Colbert Report on Comedy Central for a while after leaving The Daily Show. He was then dubbed David Letterman’s successor, and moved over to CBS to host The Late Show, where he has now been for almost about 8 years. He’s also maintained a great relationship with his former boss, as Jon Stewart show’s up on Colbert’s show from time to time.
Meanwhile, John Oliver left The Daily Show to start Last Week Tonight with John Oliver at HBO. Since starting the hit show in 2014, Last Week Tonight has become wildly popular. It has also dominated the Outstanding Variety Talk Series category at the Emmys since 2016, which includes its name on the 2022 list of Emmy winners.
Noah’s announcement adds to the list of hosts leaving late-night this year. James Cordon announced he would be leaving the Late, Late Show after 8 years. On top of that, Daily Show alum Samantha Bee’s show Full Frontal got canceled after seven seasons. With all this change, it’s safe to say the late-night landscape will look very different soon.
I see The Daily Show as one of the iconic shows of late-night, and I’d imagine they will pick from their current crop of correspondents for their next host. If that host ends up being Wood, I’m sure he’ll do a fantastic job. While we wait for this announcement, you can check out the 2022 TV schedule for late-night updates, and you can watch Noah in his last months on The Daily Show at 11 p.m. Monday through Thursday on Comedy Central.
