Congratulations to Trevor Noah and The Daily Show team, who just celebrated their most-watched month since 16-year veteran host Jon Stewart left the show back in 2015.
It's been a slow climb, ratings-wise, for Comedy Central's snarky news show ever since Noah took over; a more or less unknown stand-up comic from South Africa, Noah was a surprise pick to replace beloved host Stewart, and his transition to the desk was met with a bit of a drop in viewership -- those used to tuning into Stewart's nightly Moments of Zen seemed unsure of the brightly smiling, properly accented Noah.
But unsurprisingly, during the height and surprise of this past election season, The Daily Show began to attract viewers back in droves; since the beginning of the year, the show has experienced its most successful quarter, and back in May, its most successful week ever.
And now, after eight months of steady upward growth The Daily Show has attracted its largest viewership so far (under Noah, at least).
There seems to be a correlation here -- as the world grows scarier and more uncertain, more viewers are tuning into news with a humorous slant, perhaps as an escape or, perhaps, because late night monologues and new weekly shows like Full Frontal with Samantha Bee are the few places to find up front, plainspoken critiques of current events.