Roy Wood Jr. leaving The Daily Show without offer to host
October 05, 2023 12:33 PM
Comedian Roy Wood Jr. will not be returning to The Daily Show next season.
Wood has been a correspondent on the news talk show for eight years, which he referred to as “a good run” in an interview with NPR. He had not informed his network Comedy Central of his decision at the time of the interview but claimed he would still consider the job of host, as the show has yet to announce a permanent replacement for Trevor Noah, who left last year. Wood previously served as guest host.
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“The job of correspondent … it’s not really one where you can juggle multiple things,” Wood said. “I think eight years is a good run.”
Wood hosted the 2023 White House Correspondents’ Association dinner, following Noah, who hosted the year before. Now Noah is on a comedy tour and has released a special on Netflix. With The Daily Show’s 29th season set to premiere on Oct. 16, Wood will be moving on to a national stand-up tour of his own, set to begin Oct. 14 and go through February.
In May, The Daily Show’s 28th season was interrupted by the Writers Guild of America strike. Since then, fellow correspondent Hasan Minhaj has been floated as a possible host, but the show will continue with guest hosts, with plans to announce the permanent host in 2024. Minhaj has reportedly embellished some of his stand-up material to the point of lying about going to the hospital after a suspected anthrax package arrived at his door.
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Previous correspondents have found success outside of the show. John Oliver, who worked under the previous host Jon Stewart, launched his own series Last Week Tonight. Samantha Bee, a 12-year veteran of the show, jumped to launch her own series, Full Frontal with Samantha Bee, which was ultimately canceled last year after a seven-year run. Bee has since hosted the 2023 Canadian Screen Awards.
The Daily Show garnered a Peabody Award and five consecutive Emmy nominations for best variety talk series since Noah and Wood started at the program in 2015. In 2017, Noah won the Emmy for outstanding short-form variety series.