Al Franken, John Leguizamo, and more scheduled as Daily Show guest hosts
Kal Penn, Hasan Minhaj, and Marlon Wayans will also move briefly into Trevor Noah's old chair
Aux News John Leguizamo
As Comedy Central’s The Daily Show continues to weather its post-Trevor Noah period—with no replacement host as yet announced to fill the vacant desk, which Noah departed late last year—the network continues to roll big-name guest stars (including several series alums) through the post. Now, per Vanity Fair, the series has announced the next several guys (it’s all guys, this time, after the initially announced run that handled January and most of February included Wanda Sykes, Chelsea Handler, Leslie Jones, and Sarah Silverman) who’ll be holding down the fort.
First up: Daily Show veteran Hasan Minhaj, who’s spent the last several years honing his direct talk to camera skills over on Netflix’s Patriot Act. Minhaj will host the week starting on February 27, and will be followed by Marlon Wayans on March 6.
Following Wayans will be Kal Penn, who audiences will know from tons of acting and comedy project, and also that weird time Kal Penn stopped acting for a while so he could be an aide in the Obama administration. (Remember that? Weird!) Penn will host on the week of March 13, before giving way to another comedian who veered into politics, late-night writer turned actual senator turned not-a-senator-anymore Al Franken. Franken, who worked for years on Saturday Night Live before becoming an author, radio host, and then elected official—and who left office in 2018 amidst allegations of sexual misconduct—has been touring as a stand-up in recent years, and so will presumably be pretty primed to take the hosting stint. Finally, John Leguizamo will finish out this latest slate of guest hosts, taking the desk on March 27.
Comedy Central’s long-term plans for The Daily Show remain unclear; it’s not obvious yet how many of these big names are actively auditioning for the job, and how many are just having a little fun; here’s hoping the network doesn’t totally Jeopardy! this thing up.
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Minaj seems like the obvious choice to take over (though I’ve heard whispers about him being a terrible boss on Patriot Act, which could crop up if he’s tapped), unless they decide to go in a more risky direction and get someone not guest-hosting (Amber Ruffin or Ziwe come to mind). Personally I’d love Robin Thede (who had Comedy Central connections when she was the head writer for the late, lamented The Nightly Show), but I don’t think that’ll happen. Or they could just do the other obvious thing and make Roy Wood Jr. the host (which would be fine as well – he’s been killing it as a correspondent for years now).That said, even as someone who thought the show took a major downturn after Stewart left, it’s hard to think of anything making me appreciate Noah’s hosting skills more than seeing Chelsea Handler in the chair. The other three recent guest hosts were okay (with Wanda Sykes predictably being a highlight), though all of them seemed to be trying to force the show to fit their own personal styles rather than molding themselves to the needs of the show. (I know a degree of that always happens, but it’s extreme here.) Handler, though, is just awful – she seems uncomfortable making any kind of joke that isn’t basically just insulting celebrities (and clearly would prefer to be mocking pop culture rather than politics) or talking about sex, and while I can see the writers came up with a bunch of decent jokes for her, they just get buried by awful delivery. It’s not that she’s necessarily an awful comedian (though I concede she’s not my taste), but she is simply bad for this job. If they wanted to make us all see how hard it is to make this stuff look natural, mission accomplished I suppose.
It does seem that more planning is needed on continuity for shows like this. Someone should be thinking strongly on “who would replace the current host”, comparing all of the various skills that the original “big one” had that drew audiences.
My cat Oscar would be a good host. He’s a huge long haired tabby and he’s got a very grouchy sounding meow despite being a big sweetheart.
Totally surprised to see Marlon Wayans interested in doing this.Also, what’s ol’ Kilby up to?
Al Franken FTW. Seems perfect if he wants the job permanently. Great comedic chops, and he knows how the sausage is made both in the world of politics and late night comedy. Seems like a dream candidate for the hosting job.
He’s in his 70s.
if he was 45 years younger, sure. i like franken a lot, but i’d rather see him on like…cnn or something.
I have a weird feeling Comedy Central will make guest hosting a permanent thing since everyone seems to be having fun taking a turn at it. SNL dabbles in Weekend Update week day editions from time to time. Perhaps SNL and The Daily Show can merge into a single comedy news concern.
i hope they try out more people.
I’ll do it.