Archive link: https://archive.ph/cSHZa

Comic Roy Wood Jr. says he will not return to his position as a correspondent on Comedy Central’s The Daily Show when the show resumes new episodes later this month, ending a job he first started eight years ago.

The reason: Since he hasn’t been offered the job as permanent host of the show, Wood wants some time to figure out his next act.

Wood says he doesn’t know if his name is under consideration for the top job and he has already informed Comedy Central of his intention not to return. (“What could they really say?” he adds when asked how the cable channel responded. [They’re] not going to give me the job just to keep me.") But if Comedy Central offered him the permanent host job now, the comic says he would still consider it.

The show began presenting a succession of guest hosts starting in January after South African comic Trevor Noah left the job

According to figures provided by Comedy Central in April, Wood had the second-best ratings of the show’s first 11 guest hosts, second only to Al Franken and beating Minhaj.

  • comicallycluttered@beehaw.org
    3·
    9 months ago

    Personal opinion here, they should keep the rotation for all correspondents. They all shined in their own way (although we barely got to see Dulce because of the strike and Ronny didn’t get to host at all, since he was scheduled for mid-June after it had begun).

    However, if I had to pick one, after watching them all, I have the slimmest of preferences:

    First pick: Desi Lydic. By a slim margin, but still. I enjoyed her as the host and she wasn’t afraid to just let it all out (I know there are a bunch of writers, but the hosts were given a fair amount of control to focus on things important to them during their hosting week, especially their last day).

    Second pick: difficult one here for a single reason… Jordan Klepper is fantastic and my initial choice, but if he takes on the hosting role, his “Fingers the Pulse” segment will be gone which would be a huge loss (although it would guarantee him a bit of physical safety). I think he’s better in the field, even though I really liked him as host.

    So, since Jordan is out for that reason, second pick is a very close Roy Wood Jr.

    Other than that, I enjoyed Sarah Silverman and Hasan Minhaj, but Silverman really feels like a guest because she doesn’t have the same rapport with the correspondents. That could change, but I don’t see it working longterm.

    I also enjoyed some of the rest, but some just felt… off.

    Franken was okay, but the “look, we can be friends” thing with bringing Lindsay Graham on as his first guest wasn’t a great look. Leguizamo was surprisingly entertaining as well, but doesn’t feel like a permanent thing.

    No one else really caught my attention.

    It’s unfortunate Roy doesn’t want to do it unless he gets the permanent gig, but understandable and I can respect his decision, especially if he’s not happy there.