‘The Daily Show’ Have Finally Picked Their New Host
Meet Trevor Noah: your new favourite political comedian.
In February, Jon Stewart announced that — after 16 years as host — he would be quitting The Daily Show. In that time, his show won 18 Primetime Emmys, launched the careers of Stephen Colbert and John Oliver, and informed a new genre of news-based political satire that soon crept its way into Australia with shows like The Roast and Mad As Hell.
But 16 years is a long time to do any one thing — and while the initial reactions to his departure were clouded in a widespread sense of loss, this soon gave way to something altogether more exciting: it was time for someone new to take the helm.
Praying that @ComedyCentral is able to find another straight white man to host that show
— billy eichner (@billyeichner) February 11, 2015
The internet was flooded with suggestions, before rallying behind Jessica Williams: a 25-year-old actress and comedian who had worked the show for around three years. Although she had expressed no interest whatsoever in hosting it (“thankyou but I’m extremely underqualified for the job”, she tweeted), #JessicaWilliams4DailyShow began trending on Twitter, a Change.org petition started circulating, and a bunch of op-eds were published explaining why she needed to man up and take a role she didn’t want.
It got a little messy.
@shorterstory @TheBillfold This is incredibly insulting.
— Jessica R. Williams (@msjwilly) February 17, 2015
This morning, we can all finally stop speculating: Comedy Central have announced their new Daily Show host, and it’s THIS GUY:
Trevor Noah — a 31-year-old South African comedian who speaks six languages — made his first appearance on The Daily Show in December. Reports began surfacing over the weekend that he was the frontrunner (allegedly surpassing a few bigger names, including Louis C.K and Amys Schumer and Poehler), before being confirmed overnight. “You don’t believe it for the first few hours,” Mr. Noah told the New York Times, who interviewed him after the announcement. “You need a stiff drink, and then unfortunately you’re in a place where you can’t really get alcohol.” He’s currently on a stand-up tour in Dubai.
Growing up during Apartheid, with a black mother and a white father, Noah’s comedy regularly touches on race relations and international affairs — so he’s picked the right time in America to host his own talk show.
He also does an excellent drunk Nelson Mandela impersonation.
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John Stewart’s exact departure date has not yet been confirmed, but until then there’s a whole library of excellent stand-up bits for you to check out on YouTube. Like this one, from the 2013 Melbourne Comedy Festival.
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