How fun was it to wake up today and read that Trevor Noah is taking over The Daily Show? Hooray!
Noah, a South African comedian, will take over for Jon Stewart when he steps down from the show at the end of 2015. The comedian has already been a fixture on the show, having appeared three times.
Stewart is, of course, pleased with Noah taking his spot (especially since I’m sure he had a hand in choosing his successor). “I’m thrilled for the show and for Trevor,” he said in a statement. “He’s a tremendous comic and talent that we’ve loved working with.”
Comedy Central president Michele Ganeless went into detail about how Noah was picked. “It’s a very specific job, and you need a very specific skill set,” she said to The Hollywood Reporter. “And when you start to think about hwo have all the right qualities to host The Daily Show, it becomes a very short list very quickly. Trevor was on that list from day one. The more time we spent with him, the more it became apparent he was the right person for the job.”
Ganeless also characterized Noah as “a citizen of the world” and that “it just became very clear that he could do this job better than anyone else.”
On the cynical side of things, some might think Noah was probably chosen not just for his international outlook and experiences, but because The Powers That Be figured he might fit in better with a post-Larry Wilmore/The Nightly Show nighttime schedule. But Ganeless goes to great lengths to say that hiring Noah was not just because he’d be another brown face. “This is not by design,” she said. “Trevor and Larry were hired becasue they are the right people for these jobs.”
In any event, it’s important to have both Noah and Wilmore on, telling the news how they (and a large portion of America) see it. To quote The Hollywood Reporter‘s Tim Goodman:
The fact is that it’s a significant moment: viewers will see Noah for a half hour and then Wilmore for a half hour, and not some kind of business-as-usual, white-guy-follows-white-guy scenario. It may annoy some that focusing on race is “still a thing,” but it is. In a television season marked by surprising movements and even more surprising successes for diversity, yes, two black late-night hosts on Comedy Central is going to get noticed as part of an encouraging pattern…The Noah hiring is another diversity success story, and it should be duly noted.
I’m excited to see Noah become the new host. What do you think about Noah taking the role? Give your opinions in the comments section below!
Photo credit: Byron Keulemans
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