Roy Wood Jr. started his job as a correspondent at The Daily Show the same day as its most recent host, Trevor Noah. So when Noah surprised everyone—including Wood—by announcing his departure from the show after just seven years last fall, the Birmingham, Alabama-born comedian immediately became a frontrunner for the gig.
But now, with the Comedy Central series set to return on Monday, Oct. 16, Wood has announced that he is leaving as well, after not being offered the host seat.
“I can’t come up with Plan B is while still working with Plan A,” Wood told NPR’s Eric Deggans in a new interview Thursday. “The job of correspondent... it’s not really one where you can juggle multiple things. [And] I think eight years is a good run.”
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In a statement sent to The Daily Beast, Wood said, “After eight amazing years on The Daily Show, where I’ve been able to pursue my comedic and political curiosities with some of the best writers, producers, crew and correspondents anyone could hope for, I’ve made the decision to move on.”
He added that he’s “grateful to Trevor Noah, Paramount and especially Comedy Central for giving me the runway to also produce three one-hour stand-up specials, for letting me host two award winning podcasts, letting me write & shoot my own comedy pilot, write a film, and much, much more” and looks forward to “finding other ways to collaborate with them down the road.”
“Until then, I am excited to nurture new ideas and see what the future holds for me in the shifting sands of late night television, scripted comedy, and whatever else the comedy gods may have in store for me in 2024 and beyond,” concluded Wood, who recently raised his profile by hosting the White House Correspondents’ Dinner.
A spokesperson for The Daily Show similarly heaped praise on Wood, saying, “Roy Wood Jr. is a comedic genius and beloved teammate. His insights and hilarity helped us make sense of the 2016 election, the pandemic, and countless hours of Fox News. We thank him for his time with us and can't wait to see what he does next.”
Wood’s decision to leave the show after it became clear he was not getting the big chair echoes comments he made to The Daily Beast on The Last Laugh podcast shortly after Noah’s announcement. After saying that he would never “say no” to the opportunity himself, Wood admitted that it could be weird to stay on with someone else.
“It would depend on the host. It would depend on the creative direction of the show,” Wood said at the time. “What are you trying to do? How do I fit into that? And does that creative direction fit my comedic skill sets and give me an opportunity to show who I am?”
So with Wood out of the picture, who are the leading contenders to take over Comedy Central’s multi-decade late-night franchise?
The network has said that it plans to continue rotating guest hosts through the end of 2023 and introduce the new host in early 2024. Wood’s fellow former correspondent Hasan Minhaj was considered to be a strong candidate—until he came under fire for fabricating large portions of his stand-up act, and then bringing those lies out into the real world.
Comedian Chelsea Handler has made her desire to host The Daily Show clear, telling The Daily Beast in January that it would be a “perfect” job for her and that there were “definitely going to be conversations” about it after her guest-hosting run. And just last night, speaking to Jimmy Fallon on The Tonight Show, Handler reiterated her argument that a woman should be hosting The Daily Show, whether or not it’s her.
Asked directly by Fallon if she is in the running, Handler said, “What I will say about that is that I think we are in a very important cultural moment with women dominating culture,” citing Taylor Swift, Beyoncé, and the Barbie movie. “Whether it’s me or not, they should hire a woman. Wouldn’t you guys all like to see a woman behind the desk?!”
Of course, Comedy Central could do what it did eight years ago and hire a relatively unknown comedian to take over one of the biggest jobs in late-night. That decision worked out pretty well—until it didn’t.
At that time, in 2015, the network declined to lock down one of its most seasoned correspondents, John Oliver, who had just recently filled in for host Jon Stewart over the summer and was widely seen as his most obvious replacement. A free agent, Oliver decided to decamp for HBO—and has since won seven consecutive Emmy Awards in a category that used to be dominated by The Daily Show.
For more, listen to Roy Wood Jr. on The Last Laugh podcast.
