Roy Wood Jr.
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While The Daily Show is out here rotating hosts, one of its former brightest stars, Roy Wood Jr., has finally gotten his own gig he doesn’t have to share.
Spotted on Variety, comedian Roy Wood Jr. will bring his flair for political comedy to CNN in hopes of helping the news network deliver the news with some laughs on Saturdays.
Republican nominee and disgraced former president Donald Trump supplies us with laughs it seems daily just from the dumb sh*t he says while trying to convince Americans, specifically Blacks, Latinos, and Caucasians who are not crazy and racist, to vote for him.
Now, we can look forward to Roy Wood Jr. taking those headlines made by Trump and his GOP cronies and whatever news Madame Vice President and hopefully future POTUS Kamala Harris make as we inch towards election day and making jokes out of them on the Have I Got News For You, the US version of the long-running BBC comedy series.
The show will kick off its 10-episode run on Saturday, September 14, at 9 p.m. Eastern on CNN. It will air regularly on the network before episodes make their way onto CNN’s parent company, Warner Bros. Discovery’s streaming app Max.
This Was A Long Time Coming For Roy Wood Jr.
Wood was a popular correspondent on The Daily Show and successfully hosted the White House Correspondents Dinner in 2017.
He left The Daily Show in 2023, expressing frustrations as Comedy Central began a search for Trevor Noah’s replacement. Fans were also unhappy because they felt Wood would have been the perfect replacement.
He expressed with Variety that he felt late at night had run its course.
“I do not believe late-night as we know it will be the way we continue,” Wood told the website. “Budgets are changing, and we are going into the age of some people, demographically, who did not necessarily always grow up with late night. So how do you engage those people and bring those people to the art form?”
Big congrats are to Roy Wood Jr.; hopefully, everyone who has been hoping for him to get his own show will faithfully tune in.
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Source: Brent N. Clarke / Getty
Jon Stewart is set to take over hosting The Daily Show once again, in a surprise move announced by Comedy Central.
On Wednesday (January 24), Comedy Central announced that veteran comic Jon Stewart would return to take the helm of The Daily Show. Stewart, who was the late-night program’s original host from 1999 until his departure in 2015, will be behind the desk through the end of the 2024 presidential election cycle. Stewart confirmed the news with a humorous post on X, formerly Twitter writing: “Friends. After much reflection, I have decided to enter the transfer portal for my last year of eligibility. Excited for the future!”
Stewart is slated to host the Monday episodes of The Daily Show, with other members of the news team rotating as hosts throughout the rest of the week. Stewart will also sign on as a producer of the show’s episodes. His last show was taped just hours before the first Republican presidential debate in 2016, which was the beginning of the rise of future President Donald Trump. “We are honored to have him return to Comedy Central’s ‘The Daily Show’ to help us all make sense of the insanity and division roiling the country as we enter the election season,” said Paramount Senior Executive Chris McCarthy in a statement.
The move ends swirling speculation as to who would take over as host of The Daily Show after Trevor Noah’s departure towards the end of 2022. Since then, the program has had numerous guest hosts, including correspondent Roy Wood Jr. who would also make his departure last year. The comedian was on stage at the Emmy Awards last week as The Daily Show took home the award for the best talk show, mouthing the words “Please hire a host”. Stewart’s own Apple TV+ show, The Problem, was one of the competitors who lost out. He exited the show before the third season was to go into production, citing differences with Apple executives when it came to covering issues such as artificial intelligence and the influence of China on world affairs.
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Roy Wood Jr. made his mark on The Daily Show as its resident correspondent, using his journalism background coupled with expert comedic timing that translated well in his other endeavors. In connection to those comedic chops, Roy Wood Jr. had a hilarious moment during the 2024 Primetime Emmy Awards that can’t be missed.
Roy Wood Jr., 45, joined Trevor Noah and others from The Daily Show cast to accept the Emmy for Outstanding Talk Series. As Noah was delivering his thanks to the audience, Wood could be seen standing behind him mouthing the words “Please hire a host.”
As fans of The Daily Show might know, the show has employed a rotating schedule of hosts to fill the seat vacated by Noah back in the fall of 2022. Throughout 2023, names such as Desus Nice, Chelsea Handler, Charlamagne Tha God, and Sarah Silverman all took temporary turns as hosts, among other notables.
On X, formerly Twitter, one user captured the viral moment and Wood responded as only he could. You can check out that video below.
According to reports, a permanent host may be announced this year but those whispers have not been widely confirmed.
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Photo: Getty
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Source: Alexi Rosenfeld / Getty
Comedian Roy Wood Jr. announced his departure from The Daily Show after serving as a writer and correspondent.
On Thursday, Roy Wood Jr. announced that he was leaving the Comedy Central late-night program in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter. In the post, he wrote: “After eight amazing years on The Daily Show, where l’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.”
In an interview with NPR, Roy Wood Jr. detailed his reasoning behind his decision, spurred by the fact that the show has not offered the open host’s seat to him. “I can’t come up with Plan B while still working with Plan A,” he said about deciding not to continue. “The job of correspondent…it’s not really one where you can juggle multiple things. [And] I think eight years is a good run.”
The Daily Show released a statement about Wood’s departure, 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 would speak about that statement. “What could they really say?”, he replied when asked about how he felt about Comedy Central’s words.” [They’re] not going to give me the job just to keep me.” He did go on to say that if officially offered the role, he would consider it. “If you’re offered the chance to host ‘The Daily Show’ at any point in your life … you have to stop for a second and consider that,” he said. “The next question becomes, ‘What does ‘The Daily Show’ look like in 2024? And what does late night look like in 2024?’”
The news leaves fans of The Daily Show wondering who will eventually fill the seat vacated by Trevor Noah last year as the show returns on October 16 after the hiatus caused by the Writers Guild of America strike. That strike, which began in May, ended last week. Comedian Hasan Minhaj was seen as a leading candidate to take over, but the network stated it was going back to “square one” after reports surfaced of Minhaj allegedly fabricating autobiographical elements of his routines.
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