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Despite the fact that it’s been over a year since Trevor Noah announced the end of his tenure as the host of The Daily Show, Comedy Central has yet to find a permanent replacement for the 39-year-old South African.
Ever since Noah officially walked away in December 2022, The Daily Show has been deploying a rotation of guest hosts such as Hasan Minhaj, Al Franken, Wanda Sykes, Leslie Jones, Sarah Silverman, Chelsea Handler, John Leguizamo, Marlon Wayans, Kal Penn, and D.L. Hughley.
Back in August, it was reported that Minhaj was the network’s top choice and was on the verge of landing the gig on a full-time basis.
A new report from Puck News, however, has revealed that the reason Minhaj ultimately didn’t land the gig — which was “all but done” — was due to a September 15th New Yorker story that revealed he embellished stories in his standup routines.
Specifically, the 38-year-old was found to have fabricated stories about his daughter receiving a piece of mail with anthrax in it and a racist encounter with a homecoming date.
“Minhaj would have been announced as the new The Daily Show host this summer had the strike not intervened. Instead, both sides sat on the announcement, and then… disaster,” Matthew Beloni of Puck News reported.
Interestingly enough, it was reported just this week that Jon Stewart, who iconically hosted The Daily Show from 1999 to 2015, was walking away from his AppleTV+ series The Problem with Jon Stewart due to pushback from Apple about planned episodes focused on China and artificial intelligence.
With an election year right around the corner and the possibility of (another) Joe Biden vs. Donald Trump matchup, it’s safe to assume that Comedy Central has certainly considered trying to get Stewart back in the host’s chair, even if it’s only for a year or so.