Roy Wood Jr. is leaving The Daily Show
Longtime Daily Show correspondent Roy Wood Jr. has decided to leave instead of waiting for someone else to get the host gig
Aux News Roy Wood Jr.
Roy Wood Jr., a longtime correspondent on The Daily Show and someone viewed as a potential candidate to take over the desk from Trevor Noah, is leaving Comedy Central’s flagship show. Wood shared this decision in a conversation with NPR, revealing that although he didn’t know if he was still in the running to host the series, he didn’t want to stick around as a correspondent waiting for someone else to be hired in the top spot.
“There’s no sense in me doing what I’ve been doing for the last eight years while concurrently trying to think of a new thing to do,” he told the outlet. “The job of correspondent, it’s not really one where you can juggle multiple things. And after eight years, I think I’ve earned the right to just, you know, take a quick break before January.”
According to NPR, Wood had already told Comedy Central his decision and bears no grudge against the network, with whom he partnered on several opportunities outside The Daily Show. It doesn’t sound like Comedy Central did much to convince him to stay—“What could they really say?” Wood said, “[They’re] not going to give me the job just to keep me.” However, he’s still open to the possibility if he was, indeed, offered the hosting gig. “If you’re offered the chance to host The Daily Show at any point in your life…you have to stop for a second and consider that,” he explained. “The next question becomes, ‘What does The Daily Show look like in 2024? What does late night look like?’ That is a huge question that I believe, personally, has to be answered.”
A spokesperson for The Daily Show gave a statement to NPR on Wood’s departure, saying, “Roy Wood Jr. is a comedic genius and beloved teammate. His insights and hilarity helped us make sense of the 2016 election, the pandemic, and countless hours of Fox News. We thank him for his time with us and can’t wait to see what he does next.”
Wood was one of several guest hosts who took over the desk for a week at a time after Noah exited the political comedy series. Comedy Central is still seeking a new permanent host; Hasan Minhaj was at one point thought to be the frontrunner for the position. However, after a New Yorker exposé revealing Minhaj had fabricated some of his more personal stand-up material, the search was reportedly sent “back to square one.”
For his part, Wood told NPR that Minhaj still “checks a lot of boxes that the network would want and people would want,” noting that “Hasan’s young, he’s global and he has the political I.Q.” With the lack of people of color in prominent positions in the late-night comedy space, though, Wood says he doesn’t “believe diversity to be the paramount priority [anymore].” That may be part of the reason why Wood has decided to chart his own course forward now.
42 Comments
I left the Daily Show decades ago, but you don’t see me putting out a press release about it.
You didn’t have to. Your departure was well covered by several wire services.
A year from now it’ll have been two decades since you left The Late Late Show.
No, but the NYPD did put out a mug shot, at the time.
There’s really no excuse for diversity to be anybody’s “paramount priority [anymore].” Obsession over diversity has messed things up enough already.
“Wood says he doesn’t “believe diversity to be the paramount priority [anymore].”WHAT? So they are hiring based on merit instead of race? Outrageous! That is disgusting and unacceptable in 2023
Eh, likely more the case that for the execs, diversity not being the paramount priority just means not bothering to look any farther than the most convenient pool of homogenous-looking folks. Hiring should always be on merit, diversity in doing so ideally would mean it’s just that the pool of applicants should be bigger than just the suburbs, so to speak.
Because surely there’s no merit in having a unique voice and perspective developed by existing as a minority in this country. Surely diversity of thought and experience isn’t important. Surely racial and ethnic diversity has no merit in terms of attracting a bigger and different audience who find that perspective relatable. Surely white people haven’t been receiving things just on the basis of being white since before the beginning of this country. Surely.
Ah yes it’s just merit that put a bunch of white dudes in the top late night comedy shows
I’m not shocked when I see a lot of white people in stuff. There are a lot of white people in the US.
This, exactly. “Just hire the best person for the job” presupposes that, by hiring a person of color, they’re not doing that.
I could say a lot of things in response to this glib response, but how exactly do you determine “merit”?
He means “white”. If a POC gets hired for a position it’s because of diversity, if a white person gets hired for a position it’s because of merit. That’s the way these douchenozzles all think.
it goes without saying that he’s already qualified for the position.
The name and opinion perfectly paired
Craig Kilborn. James Corden. Gutfeld!. You know, “Merit.”
Define “merit” in this situation.
The definition to any word you could ask a conservative to define is “minorities hurty my feelys.”
Name checks out
Why not both?
I know you’re being hyperbolic (intentionally or unintentionally) but instead of hiring “based on race” think of it as hiring based on a different cultural perspective that an existing organisation may be lacking.
When you’re trying to sell your product to the world, having perspectives from all over the world is undeniably logical.
It’s common sense that diversity is the only time execs don’t default to an underqualified white guy for every position. It’s why white people at every level of employment in every industry other than tech and medicine have less education than their non-white peers and why white high school dropouts have lower unemployment rates and higher wealth than non-white college graduates.When that stops being a priority, well, you get underqualified white guys.
“Hasan’s young, he’s global and he has the political I.Q.”Is “global” what black people call immigrants? Globalist Hasan gotta high IQ from sniffin that white powder off his daughter’s butt
We’ve got a new edgelord here people! He’s the commenter his brain says the world needs!
Not even sure if it is a new one. It sounds a lot like the old ones. Of course, that could just be because people like that are always too feeble minded to develop distinguishing characteristics in their writing, so they all sound the same.
He’s dropping turds all over the comments section!
Oh man, may I please formally invite you to fuck off and never post here again, you blatantly racist waste of skin cells.
Hasan Minhaj is not an immigrant, he was born in fucking California
I sincerely hope you die a horrible sex death at the hands of Agent Orange.
From Wood’s perspective I’m sure it’s a bummer – Daily Show is great exposure and money, and I think he’d be pretty good at it. But he’s really talented and has a unique voice and I think he’d be hemmed in by the show. As a fan I think it’ll be more fun to see what he does on his own, and I think he’ll probably be more successful in the long run.
It also sounds like he’d be happy to host, but Comedy Central seems to have wanted it to be Minhaj. Likely the only reason that hasn’t been announced is because of the recent lying and toxicity allegations leading to second guessing that one. I’m sure Wood is partly of the mindset of put up or shut up when it comes to Comedy Central. He doesn’t want to wait around for them to make a decision and I don’t blame him.
“Wood says he doesn’t ‘believe diversity to be the paramount priority [anymore].’” Shout it. They got their “diversity cred” with Noah, and now they can rest on that laurel. Kind of like we had a Black President so now racism is over and we can go back to our regularly scheduled white programming.
holy sh!t, i think you’re onto something…you think someone could get Trump to host TDS??
I think they should have given it to Ronny Chieng. His angry sarcastic schtick would be a change of pace for a main host. But maybe just for a year.
He’s probably too busy for a full time gig like that, considering he’s been doing a lot more movies and acting lately.
It took 100 years to get an Asian late night host, you think they’re going to allow two of them this quickly?Right now they’re in their pat-themselves-on-the-back mode and in a couple decades you’ll get the Fresh off the Boat to that All-American Girl.
“ “Roy Wood Jr. is a comedic genius and beloved teammate.”Is that a little bit of shade thrown by Comedy Central there?
At this point they’ll have no other option but to pull Lewis Black out of the nursing home and making him host.