Trevor Noah’s Fast Track To Replace Jon Stewart On ‘The Daily Show’

Lisa de Moraes
Updated

Finally! Someone who wants to replace Jon Stewart on The Daily Show. Trevor Noah, the relatively new correspondent added to Comedy Central’s The Daily Show, now is considered the most likely candidate to replace Stewart as show host, a source told Deadline today.

Contacted for comment, Comedy Central reiterated, “We are not commenting or providing guidance on any speculation about any individuals.”

The news about Noah is welcome for those who, like us, are exhausted covering the skyrocketing list of people who don’t want/aren’t getting the gig.

That list includes:

  • former Comedy Central star Stephen Colbert, who instead is taking over David Letterman’s CBS late-night show (CBS started running Colbert promos today in its basketball coverage);

  • former Comedy Central star John Oliver, who decided instead to sign a contract extension to continue hosting Last Week Tonight at HBO;

  • former Daily Show correspondent Jason Jones, who said so long to the show last night as he heads to TBS to star and produce a comedy series and also exec produce a planned topical talker that would star…

  • his wife, fellow Daily Show correspondent Samatha Bee – also on the list of People Not Hosting The Daily Show – that’s expected to be a late-night vehicle; and

  • current Daily Show correspondent Jessica Williams, who declared herself “underqualified” for the gig in February in response to a petition calling for Comedy Central to give her the host’s chair.

And on and on and on. It’s comforting to know someone actually wants the job, though we hear Comedy Central still is having conversations with others about the gig.

Noah’s been on the shortlist of likely contenders since early February – shorter than the list of people who aren’t going to replace Stewart, anyway – though he’d only debuted on The Daily Show as senior international correspondent on December 4:

In Noah’s appearances on The Daily Show to date, Stewart had accepted the role in his appearances to date as the semi-clueless American with little knowledge of international politics and current events:

But Noah’s well known in other markets and in comedy circles, and appeared on Letterman’s CBS show in 2013:

and on The Tonight Show in January 2012, becoming the first African-born comic to appear on Jay Leno’s program, among his better -viewed American TV appearances.

According to one industry source, Comedy Central wanted to have a host who was not another white guy. The genre has taken a lot of criticism for homogeneity in its ranks.

Some industry pundits, in today’s coverage, have referred to Noah as African-American. He is from South Africa; his mother is South African and his father is Swiss. Here’s what he has to say about that:

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