Gheorghe Explains and Predicts

Trevor Noah surprised his audience (and, as it turns out, his colleagues) when he announced on September 29, 2022 that he was stepping down as the host of The Daily Show.

After Noah's last show in early December, the program took a brief hiatus, and resumed in January with a serious of guest hosts, beginning with Leslie Jones and featuring a range of talented comedians and actors, including Sarah Silverman, John Leguizamo, Kal Penn, Al Franken, D.L. Hughley, Chelsea Handler, and Hassan Minhaj. More recently, Daily Show regulars like Roy Wood, Desi Lydic, and Jordan Klepper have taken their turn behind the desk.

A cottage industry has sprung up to predict the show's next host. Pretty small cottage, really. More of a tiny house. There's a lot of speculation that the showrunners intend to tap a woman to replace Noah, which makes a lot of sense. Ever since Jon Stewart's era, The Daily Show has featured a diverse roster of ensemble players. Noah's hiring broke the color barrier for the host, but as yet there's never been a woman at the helm.

Initial betting odds had Samantha Bee at better than 1:1 to get the job, with Wood (+350), Minhaj (-400) and Klepper (+500) trailing. TDS alum Stephen Colbert weighed in on behalf of Wood and Jessica Williams. In terms of ratings, Franken's driven more eyeballs than any other guest host (though that's before we've got numbers for Klepper, Wood, and Lydic), which surprised me a bit. The producers have just announced the next round of guest hosts, which includes Desus Nice, Michelle Wolf, Ronny Chieng, and Lewis Black. That'll take us through the week of June 26. 

Interestingly, Samantha Bee's name hasn't shown up anywhere on the guest hosting list. Yet.

I've seen at least a little bit of most of the guest hosts. Qualitatively (and we recognize the peril in trying to rank humor), the Daily Show vets have been better in my mind, possibly because they have a better sense of the vibe and are comfortable in the chair. Silverman wasn't as good as I wanted her to be. Hughley was smooth and deft and cool (is it possible to be too cool?), but he wasn't a great interviewer. Minhaj was slick, maybe too much so. Penn really wasn't very good. Leguizamo had a different and compelling energy.

But for me, based on what I've seen so far, it's down to Wood, Klepper, and (perhaps surprisingly) Lydic. Klepper is a massive talent - if he doesn't get this job, he's gonna get something big soon. Wood's charisma doesn't jump off the screen, but he delivers the funny with regularity. Lydic was a revelation to me during her recent week. She's an excellent interviewer, a very funny comic, and slips the knife in cleanly when skewering the bad actor of the day.

You can get Desi for +2000. Might be worth a flier. There's also an increasingly loud whisper that the producers might pair Wood and Lydic up for at least an interim period and see if one stands out (or if a pair of hosts works in the format). I'd sign up for that. 

But it's gonna be Samantha Bee. And that's just fine with me.