Shocker: Roy Wood Jr. Quits The Daily Show After 8 Years

Rebecca Iannucci
·2 min read
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When The Daily Show comes back with new episodes later this month, Roy Wood Jr. won’t be returning with it.

The longtime Daily Show correspondent is exiting the late-night series, TVLine has confirmed.

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“Roy Wood Jr. is a comedic genius and beloved teammate,” a spokesperson for The Daily Show said in a statement. “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 Jr. joined The Daily Show in 2015 when the show kicked off its Trevor Noah era. As the show looks for someone to permanently replace Noah at the desk, Wood Jr. told NPR — which first reported the news of his departure — that it’s become infeasible to remain a correspondent while simultaneously planning the next step in his career.

“I can’t come up with Plan B… while still working with Plan A,” he said. “The job of correspondent… it’s not really one where you can juggle multiple things. [And] I think eight years is a good run.”

That said, even though Wood Jr. won’t continue as a Daily Show correspondent, he said he would certainly consider hosting the show full-time, should he be offered the position as Noah’s successor.

“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 added. “The next question becomes, ‘What does The Daily Show look like in 2024? And what does late night look like in 2024?'”

Comedy Central’s flagship late-night program will return with new episodes post-WGA strike on Monday, Oct. 16. Guest hosts will continue to fill the void left by Noah until a permanent successor is named in 2024.

Wood Jr. had emerged as one of the odds-on favorites to replace Noah, particularly after perceived frontrunner Hasan Minhaj found himself embroiled in controversy for embellishing elements of his standup act.

Following Noah’s departure, Comedy Central enlisted more than a dozen comedians — including Wood Jr. and Minhaj — to guest-host The Daily Show. Between January and May, Leslie Jones, Wanda Sykes, D.L. Hughley, Chelsea Handler, Sarah Silverman, Marlon Wayans, Kal Penn, Al Franken, John Leguizamo, Jordan Klepper, Desi Lydic and Dulce Sloan all took turns as headliner.

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