Pretty soon, it could be The Daily Show with Hasan Minhaj. At least it will be, if Comedy Central gets their wish.
It’s being reported that Hasan Minhaj is the reported favorite to take over the show, which is a seat that has been left vacant since Trevor Noah left the show after 7 years back in December. Noah’s departure was a complete surprise to the network, as he announced it on air without telling anyone last fall. A month and some change later, he was gone, and the scrambling started to find a replacement.
What's happened at The Daily Show since Trevor Noah left?
By January, they started having temporary hosts filling in. Names included Leslie Jones, Wanda Sykes, Al Franken, Sarah Silverman, Chelsea Handler, Roy Wood Jr., Jordan Klepper, and even Hasan Minhaj. Minhaj, of course, got his TV start on the show serving as a correspondent from 2014 until 2018.
At this point, there is no finalized deal in place, and it’s still in the discussions phase. It could easily fall through. But, Hasan Minhaj is currently the favorite for the position, and it sounds as if talks are ongoing. Hasan Minhaj even discussed the possibility on a podcast back in May.
What Hasan Minhaj has said about possible 'Daily Show' takeover.
“I’m definitely open to the conversation. It’s also a family conversation now. It’s a very different conversation then when I first got hired at the show when I was 29. My life is in a very different place. And so that’s a bigger life/family convo. It changes a lot of things,” he said on the Awards Circuit Podcast for Variety. “It’s an all encompassing, all consuming thing. And other people have to live with the consequences of what I say. And I just want to make sure everybody, if that were to ever come to fruition, ‘Hey, are we all on board with this?’”
It makes the most sense to have someone like Hasan Minhaj - who understands the inner workings of the show - take over. When you’ve got an outsider, there may be more of an adjustment period as opposed to having someone familiar with the format of the show. It will be interesting to see how this all plays out!
