The Daily Show Announces New Replacement Hosts

By Renee Hansen | Published

trevor noah the daily show

Trevor Noah will make his final host appearance on the late-night talk show, The Daily Show, on December 8, requiring Comedy Central to find a replacement. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Comedy Central and Paramount+ have announced that when the show returns on January 17, 2023, many celebrities like Al Franken, Chelsea Handler, and D.L. Hughley have been scheduled to serve as guest hosts until a permanent replacement can be found. 

The additional list of guest hosts for The Daily Show is impressive as well. The additional guest hosts include Leslie Jones, John Leguizamo, Hasan Minhaj, Kal Penn, Sarah Silverman, Wanda Sykes, and Marlon Wayans. 

In September 2022, Noah would announce that after seven years of hosting The Daily Show, he would be moving on to new experiences.  This was a shock to his fans as well as the crew of the show. If you listen closely to the segment, you can hear audible gasps from the studio audience and the show’s staff.  

Noah decided to make this announcement without anyone’s knowledge so that he was the one to let everyone know at once. He believes all things must end, and before he becomes too burnt out, he needs to make this change.

Paramount Media Networks CEO Chris McCarthy has publicly thanked Noah for his contribution to the show. He stated that Noah had transformed the series, as did his predecessor, Stewart. McCarthy is excited to see what’s to come in the next stage of reimagining with the incredible lineup of guest hosts and The Daily Show team. 

Noah has gone on the record to state that hosting something like The Daily Show is a much larger commitment than he initially thought. Instead of just showing up to host, this position requires input on many levels, from HR to set design. And being a news show, satire or not, the host is required to keep up on all the news, and in the age of technology, that is a full-time job. 

Many of the guest hosts know what it takes to host a show like this, as they have experience on their own shows. Handler, Silverman, Minhaj, and Penn have been hosts of series on E!, Hulu, Netflix, and more. The Hollywood Reporter states that the guest hosts have varying interests in hosting The Daily Show full-time, though a permanent host might not be among them. 

Many celebrity guests have hosted the show throughout the show’s long run. John Oliver leads with 33 episodes, Stephen Colbert has hosted 11 episodes, and Steve Carell has hosted 7. Other familiar guest hosts include Nancy Walls, Mo Rocca, and Rob Corddry.

The Daily Show premiered in 1996 with Craig Kilborn as a host, who would then turn things over to Jon Stewart, who then, in turn, handed the reigns to Noah. The series began with comedy and satire drawn from popular news stories, mostly in pop culture. When Stewart took over, he would alter the content to see a strong focus on political and news satire, a trend Noah would carry on. As the longest-running show on Comedy Central, The Daily Show has won 24 Primetime Emmys.