“The Daily Show” is reportedly expected to ditch the single-host model and fillTrevor Noah’s vacant seat with a team of correspondents.
Fresh off its Emmy Awards win earlier this month, the comedy-news talk show plans to use its cast of correspondents to lead the show when it returns from hiatus later this year, according to Variety, which cited several anonymous sources close to the matter.
On Monday, a spokesperson for Comedy Central and parent company Paramount Global, which heads production on the series, told The Times that the cable network would announce “our plans for The Daily Show’s next chapter” later this week. But the spokesperson declined to comment on how correspondents will be used in the upcoming episodes.
Since Noah’s sudden departure in 2022, “The Daily Show” has been utilizing a diverse, rotating list of dozens of guest hosts, including Leslie Jones, Sarah Silverman, Wanda Sykes, Charlamagne Tha God, Marlon Wayans, Desus Nice and Kal Penn, who hosted the most recent episode on Dec. 14.
There was talk of Hasan Minhaj, a former correspondent on the show and who hosted Netflix’s “Patriot Act,” potentially filling Noah’s seat too. However, the comedian’s reputation took a hit last year after a September New Yorker profile accused him of embellishing some details from his stand-up sets, embellishments that he later argued were rooted in “emotional truth.”
The show has also leaned on its correspondents as hosts. Before leaving the show in October after eight years as a writer and correspondent, Roy Wood Jr. hosted four episodes last year. Correspondents Ronny Chieng, Dulcé Sloan, Desi Lydic and Michael Kosta, who are still on the show, also hosted several episodes in 2023.
“The Daily Show,” like other popular talk shows, had been on a hiatus between May and October amid Hollywood‘s dual writers’ and actors’ strikes.
In September 2022, Noah announced during a live broadcast that he was departing the late-night series after taking the helm from former host Jon Stewart in 2015. The move seemed amicable, with Noah calling his time on the show “amazing” and with Comedy Central saying that it was “grateful to Trevor for our amazing partnership over the past seven years.”
Since leaving “The Daily Show,” Noah has dropped his “I Wish You Would” Netflix special, hosted the 2023 Grammy Awards, signed on to host Amazon’s first South African original series, set out on a comedy tour and made a deal with Spotify to make a weekly podcast. He also wrote the children’s book “Into the Uncut Grass,” which will be published in October 2024.
Times staff writer Alexandra Del Rosario contributed to this report.
