Trevor Noah’s Final ‘Daily Show’ Season Grabs Variety Talk Series Emmy: “We Got Rid of John Oliver!”

The Daily Show With Trevor Noah took home the Emmy Award for best variety talk series on Monday, the first win for the show since Jon Stewart’s final year as host. As it happens, 2023 was also Noah’s final year as host of the Comedy Central show.

“This story has been so long, so crazy, so wonderful,” Noah said in accepting the award. “Thank you so much to the team and the person I always thank, the crazy genius, Jon Stewart. Thank you for calling me up and asking me to come join you on this crazy journey.”

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Noah also joked about breaking the win streak of HBO’s Last Week Tonight With John Oliver in the variety talk category. A rules change this year moved Last Week Tonight into the scripted variety category (which it also won), clearing the path for a new winner in the talk category for the first time since 2016.

“I told you!” Noah exclaimed. “I told you we would beat John Oliver if he wasn’t in our category. We did it! We got rid of John Oliver!”

Noah is the first person of color to front a winner for variety talk series and its predecessor category — outstanding variety, music or comedy series — since In Living Color, created by and starring Keenen Ivory Wayans, won the award in 1990.

Noah wrapped up his tenure at The Daily Show back in December 2022. But since the Emmys were delayed several months due to writers and actors strikes, the Television Academy is only now honoring the best in TV from the 2022-23 season. The Daily Show has still not named a permanent host and has been rotating through guest hosts for the past year.

The search for a host is apparently on Noah’s mind too: “When they announced that we had won, I was like ah, who is going to replace me?” he said in the Emmy press room. “That’s the second thing I thought of as well. I’m still thinking about that, and I will continue to think about it as I celebrate this amazing achievement.”

The other nominees for best variety talk series were The Late Show With Steven Colbert, Late Night With Seth Meyers, Jimmy Kimmel Live and The Problem With Jon Stewart.

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