Trevor Noah Exits The Daily Show After 7 Years: 'My Time Is Up'

It's the end of an era at The Daily Show.

Longtime host Trevor Noah, 38, announced Thursday in a clip shared on Twitter before that evening's episode that he is leaving the late-night talk show after seven years.

"One of the overriding feelings I found myself experiencing … was a feeling of gratitude," he began, reflecting on his time on The Daily Show.

"There are so many people who make this thing come together, and I want to say thank you to the audience for an amazing seven years," he continued. "It's been wild. I remember when we first started, so many people didn't believe in us. It was a crazy bet to make. I still think it was a crazy choice… What a journey it's been."

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He then discussed some of the monumental events that happened during his run.

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"It's something that I never expected, and I found myself thinking throughout the time, everything we've gone through — the Trump presidency, the pandemic, just the journey, the more pandemic," said Noah. "And I realized that after these seven years, my time is up. But in the most beautiful way, honestly."

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Noah added, "I've loved hosting the show. It's been one of my greatest challenges. It's been one of my greatest joys. I've loved trying to figure out how to make people laugh even when the stories are particularly s----- on the worst days. We've laughed together, we've cried together. But after seven years, I feel like it's time."

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Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images Trevor Noah

"I'm really grateful to a network who believed in this random comedian nobody knew on this side of the world," he concluded. "I never dreamed that I would be here. I sort of felt like Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. I came in for a tour of what the previous show was, and then the next thing I knew, I was handed the keys. I couldn't have done it without [the audience], and I wouldn't have wanted to do it without you."

The Daily Show premiered in 1996 with Craig Kilborn as host. Jon Stewart, now 59, took over from 1999 to 2015, when he handed the reigns to Noah.

In 2020, Stewart opened up about how the The Daily Show had evolved since Noah stepped in as host.

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"It's not meant as a denigration of me," said Stewart while on SiriusXM's The Howard Stern Show at the time. "The evolution of show was also about opening our eyes to some of the realities of business around us."

Reflecting on the show's early years, Stewart said "it was — like pretty much everything in late-night comedy — that sort of Harvard Lampoon school of pasty white guys sitting in a room."

"Evolving the show past that took a really long time," he admitted. "It was a lot of work and often times it came with defensiveness."

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Stewart added that "it took 16 years to change it at a glacial pace."

"Because that kind of mindset, to me, because I didn't grow up in it ... it's not a part of me," he continued. "For Trevor, it's a part of him. It flows from him naturally. You don't do it because necessarily it's the right thing to do — it makes it better. The show is better."

The Daily Show with Trevor Noah airs weeknights at 11 p.m. ET on Comedy Central.