Craig Kilborn's tenure (1996–1998) The Daily Show was created by
Lizz Winstead and Madeleine Smithberg and premiered on Comedy Central on July 22, 1996, having been marketed as a replacement for
Politically Incorrect (a successful Comedy Central program that had moved to
ABC earlier that year). Madeleine Smithberg was co-creator of
The Daily Show as well as the former
executive producer. A graduate of
Binghamton University, she was an executive producer of ''
Steve Harvey's Big Time and a talent coordinator for Late Night with David Letterman''.
Common segments Common segments included "This Day in
Hasselhoff History" and "Last Weekend's Top-Grossing Films, Converted into
Lira", in parody of entertainment news shows and their tendency to lead out to commercials with trivia such as celebrity birthdays. Another commercial lead-out featured Winstead's parents, on her answering machine, reading that day's "
Final Jeopardy!" question and answer. In each show, Kilborn would conduct celebrity interviews, ending with a segment called "Five Questions" in which the guest was made to answer a series of questions that were typically a combination of obscure fact and subjective opinion. These are highlighted in a 1998 book titled
The Daily Show: Five Questions, which contains transcripts of Kilborn's best interviews. Each episode concluded with a segment called "Your Moment of Zen" that showed random video clips of humorous and sometimes morbid interest such as visitors at a Chinese zoo feeding baby chickens to the alligators. Originally the show was recorded without a studio audience, featuring only the laughter of its own off-camera staff members. A studio audience was incorporated into the show for its second season, and has remained since.
Differences between Kilborn and Stewart versions The show was much less politically focused than it later became under Jon Stewart, having what Stephen Colbert described as a local news feel and involving more character-driven humor as opposed to news-driven humor. The show was slammed by some reviewers as being too mean-spirited, particularly towards the interview subjects of field pieces; a criticism acknowledged by some of the show's cast. Describing his time as a correspondent under Kilborn, Colbert says, "You wanted to take your soul off, put it on a wire hanger, and leave it in the closet before you got on the plane to do one of these pieces." One reviewer from
The New York Times criticized the show for being too cruel and for lacking a central editorial vision or ideology, describing it as "bereft of an ideological or artistic center... precocious but empty."
Kilborn's departure There were reports of backstage friction between Kilborn and head writer
Lizz Winstead. Winstead had not been involved in the hiring of Kilborn, and disagreed with him over what direction the show should take. "I spent eight months developing and staffing a show and seeking a tone with producers and writers. Somebody else put him in place. There were bound to be problems. I viewed the show as content-driven; he viewed it as host-driven", she said. In a 1997
Esquire magazine interview, Kilborn made a sexually explicit joke about Winstead.
Comedy Central responded by suspending Kilborn without pay for one week, and Winstead quit soon after. In 1998, Kilborn left
The Daily Show to replace
Tom Snyder on CBS's
The Late Late Show. He claimed the "Five Questions" interview segment as intellectual property, disallowing any future
Daily Show hosts from using it in their interviews. Correspondents Brian Unger and A. Whitney Brown left the show shortly before him, but the majority of the show's crew and writing staff stayed on. Kilborn's last show as host aired on December 17, 1998, ending a 386-episode tenure. Reruns were shown until Jon Stewart's debut four weeks later. Kilborn made a short appearance on Jon Stewart's final edition of the
Daily Show saying "I knew you were going to run this thing into the ground."
Jon Stewart's tenure (1999–2015) Shift in content Michael Mullen Comedian
Jon Stewart took over as host of the show, which was retitled
The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, on January 11, 1999. Stewart had previously hosted
Short Attention Span Theater on
Comedy Central, two shows on
MTV (
You Wrote It, You Watch It and
The Jon Stewart Show), as well as a syndicated late-night talk show, and had been cast in films and television. In taking over hosting from Kilborn, Stewart initially retained much of the same staff and on-air talent, allowing many pieces to transition without much trouble, while other features like "God Stuff", with
John Bloom presenting an assortment of actual clips from various televangelists, and "Backfire", an in-studio debate between Brian Unger and A. Whitney Brown, evolved into the similar pieces of "
This Week in God" and
Stephen Colbert and
Steve Carell's "
Even Stevphen". After the change, a number of new features were developed. The ending segment "
Your Moment of Zen", previously consisting of a random selection of humorous videos, was diversified to sometimes include recaps or extended versions of news clips shown earlier in the show. Stewart served not only as host but also as a writer and executive producer of the series. He recalls that he initially struggled with the Kilborn holdover writers to gain control of the show and put his own imprint on the show's voice, a struggle that led to the departure of a number of the holdover writers. Instrumental in shaping the voice of the show under Stewart was former editor of
The Onion Ben Karlin who, along with fellow
Onion contributor
David Javerbaum, joined the staff in 1999 as head writer and was later promoted to executive producer. Their experience in writing for the satirical newspaper, which uses fake stories to mock real print journalism and current events, would influence the comedic direction of the show; Stewart recalls the hiring of Karlin as the point at which things "[started] to take shape". Describing his approach to the show, Karlin said, "The main thing, for me, is seeing hypocrisy. People who know better saying things that you know they don't believe." Under Stewart and Karlin
The Daily Show developed a markedly different style, bringing a sharper political focus to the humor than the show previously exhibited. Then-correspondent Stephen Colbert recalls that Stewart specifically asked him to have a political viewpoint, and to allow his passion for issues to carry through into his comedy. Colbert says that whereas under Kilborn the focus was on "human interest-y" pieces, with Stewart as host the show's content became more "issues and news driven", particularly after the beginning of the
2000 election campaign with which the show dealt in its "
Indecision 2000" coverage. Stewart himself describes the show's coverage of the
2000 election recount as the point at which the show found its editorial voice. "That's when I think we tapped into the emotional angle of the news for us and found our editorial footing," he says. Following the
September 11th attacks,
The Daily Show went off the air for nine days. Upon its return, Stewart opened the show with a somber monologue, that, according to Jeremy Gillick and Nonna Gorilovskaya, addressed both the absurdity and importance of his role as a comedian. Commented Stewart: Gillick and Gorilovskaya point to the September 11 attacks and the beginning of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq as the point at which Stewart emerged as a trusted national figure. Robert Thompson, the director of the Bleier Center for Television and Popular Culture at Syracuse University, recalled of this period, "When all the news guys were walking on eggshells, Jon was hammering those questions about WMDs."
Broadening the role of the correspondent During Stewart's tenure, the role of the correspondent broadened to encompass not only field segments but also frequent in-studio exchanges. Under Kilborn, Colbert says that his work as a correspondent initially involved "character driven [field] pieces—like, you know, guys who believe in Bigfoot." However, as the focus of the show has become more news-driven, correspondents have increasingly been used in studio pieces, either as experts discussing issues at the anchor desk or as field journalists reporting from false locations in front of a green screen. Colbert says that this change has allowed correspondents to be more involved with the show, as it has permitted them to work more closely with the host and writers. Since Stewart became host, the show has won 23
Primetime Emmy Awards and three
Peabody Awards, and its ratings steadily increased. In 2003, the show was averaging nearly a million viewers, an increase of nearly threefold since the show's inception as Comedy Central became available in more households. By September 2008, the show averaged nearly two million viewers per night.
Senator Barack Obama's interview on October 29, 2008, pulled in 3.6 million viewers.
In the political spectrum The move towards greater involvement in political issues and the increasing popularity of the show in certain key demographics have led to examinations of where the views of the show fit in the political spectrum.
Adam Clymer, among many others, argued in 2004 that
The Daily Show was more critical of Republicans than Democrats under Stewart.
Rory Albanese called the audience of the show "very left-wing", and the show have also been described several times as generally left-leaning, but a study have not find signs of left-wing or liberal bias in the show, and Albanese noted that the show deliberately did not follow the expectations of the audience. acknowledged that the show had a more liberal point of view, but that it was not "a liberal organization" with a political agenda and its duty first and foremost was to be funny. He acknowledged that the show is not necessarily an "equal opportunity offender", explaining that Republicans tended to provide more comedic fodder because "I think we consider those with power and influence targets and those without it, not." In an interview in 2005, when asked how he responded to critics claiming that
The Daily Show is overly liberal, Stephen Colbert, also a self-proclaimed Democrat, said in an interview during the Bush administration, when the Republicans held a majority in the House and Senate: "We are liberal, but Jon's very respectful of the Republican guests, and, listen, if liberals were in power it would be easier to attack them, but Republicans have the executive, legislative and judicial branches, so making fun of Democrats is like kicking a child, so it's just not worth it." Stewart was critical of
Democratic politicians for being weak, timid, or ineffective. He said in an interview with Larry King, prior to the 2006 elections, "I honestly don't feel that [the Democrats] make an impact. They have forty-nine percent of the vote and three percent of the power. At a certain point you go, 'Guys, pick up your game.'" He has targeted them for failing to effectively stand on some issues, such as the war in Iraq, describing them as "incompetent" and "unable... to locate their asses, even when presented with two hands and a special ass map." Karlin, then the show's executive producer, said in a 2004 interview that while there is a collective sensibility among the staff which, "when filtered through Jon and the correspondents, feels uniform," the principal goal of the show is comedy. "If you have a legitimately funny joke in support of the notion that gay people are an affront to God, we'll put that motherfucker on!" On September 15, 2003, Senator
John Edwards became the first candidate to announce that they were running for president on the show, causing Stewart to jokingly inform him that their show was "fake" and he might have to re-announce elsewhere. On November 17, 2009, Vice President Joe Biden appeared on the show, making him the first sitting vice president to do so. On October 27, 2010, President Barack Obama became the first sitting U.S. president to be interviewed on the show, wherein Obama commented he "loved" the show. Obama took issue with Stewart's suggestion that his health care program was "timid." On December 16, 2010, after the
United States Senate failed to pass and the media failed to cover the
James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act, which would provide health monitoring and financial aid to sick first responders of the
September 11 attacks, Stewart dedicated the entire
Daily Show broadcast that day to the issue. During the next week, a revived version of the bill gained new life, with the potential of being passed before the winter recess. Stewart was praised by both politicians and affected first responders for the bill's passage. According to Robert J. Thompson,
Syracuse University professor of television, radio and film, "Without him, it's unlikely it would've passed. I don't think
Brian Williams,
Katie Couric or
Diane Sawyer would've been allowed to do this."
Writers' strike Due to the
2007–08 Writers Guild of America strike, the show went on
hiatus on November 5, 2007. Although the strike continued until February 2008, the show returned to air on January 7, 2008, without its staff of writers. In solidarity with the writers, the show was referred to as
A Daily Show with Jon Stewart rather than
The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, until the end of the strike. As a member of the
Writers Guild of America, Stewart was barred from writing any material for the show himself which he or his writers would ordinarily write. As a result, Stewart and the correspondents largely
ad-libbed the show around planned topics. In an effort to fill time while keeping to the strike-related restrictions, the show aired or re-aired some previously recorded segments, and Stewart engaged in
a briefly recurring mock feud with fellow late-night hosts
Stephen Colbert and
Conan O'Brien. The strike officially ended on February 12, 2008, with the show's writers returning to work the following day, at which point the title of
The Daily Show was restored.
Stewart's absence in 2013 Starting in June 2013, Jon Stewart took a twelve-week break to direct
Rosewater, a drama about a journalist jailed by Iran for four months. Correspondent
John Oliver replaced Stewart at the anchor desk for two months, to be followed by one month of reruns. Oliver received positive reviews for his hosting, leading to his departure from the show in December 2013 for his own show
Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, which debuted April 27, 2014, on
HBO.
Stewart's departure made his final appearance on the show with Jon Stewart as host on July 21, 2015. On February 10, 2015, Stewart announced that he would be leaving the show later in the year. Comedy Central indicated in a statement that
The Daily Show would continue without Stewart, saying it would "endure for years to come". Stewart's final episode aired on August 6 as an hour-long special in three segments. The first featured a reunion of a majority of the correspondents and contributors from throughout the show's history as well as a pre-recorded "anti-tribute" (mocking Stewart) from several frequent guests and "friends" of the show. This included
Bill O'Reilly,
Hillary Clinton,
John McCain,
Lindsey Graham,
Chris Christie,
John Kerry, and
Chuck Schumer. The second segment featured a pre-recorded tour of the Daily Show production facility and studio introducing all of the show's staff and crew. The final segment featured a short farewell speech from Stewart followed by the final "Moment of Zen" (being 'his own' moment of zen): a performance of "
Land of Hope and Dreams" and "
Born to Run" by
Bruce Springsteen and the
E Street Band.
Trevor Noah's tenure (2015–2022) was the show's host from 2015 until 2022. On March 30, 2015, it was announced that South African comedian
Trevor Noah would replace Stewart as host of
The Daily Show. Shortly after his announcement, it was revealed that
Amy Schumer,
Louis C.K.,
Amy Poehler, and
Chris Rock were all considered for the job. His first show was on September 28, 2015, with comedian
Kevin Hart as his first guest. Noah's premiere episode was simulcast by
Viacom on Comedy Central, the
Nick at Nite block on
Nickelodeon,
Spike,
MTV,
MTV2,
mtvU,
VH1,
VH1 Classic,
BET,
Centric,
CMT,
TV Land,
Logo TV, and the
NickMom block (last program to air) on the
Nick Jr. Channel. On September 14, 2017, it was announced that Comedy Central had extended Noah's contract as host of
The Daily Show for five years, through 2022. Ratings declined by about 37 percent at the beginning of Noah's tenure. They gradually increased from there, only to fall to the lowest ratings in 15 years in 2020. Some of the musicians that have been on the shows as guests performed their music as well. Starting in 2020 until the end of Noah's tenure, the show expanded to a 45-minute time slot. On September 29, 2022, during a taping of the show, Noah announced that he would step down as the host of
The Daily Show so he could focus on his stand-up career and touring. On October 12, 2022, it was announced that Noah's final episode would air on December 8. On October 18, 2022, it was announced that Comedy Central may replace Noah with more than one comedian.
Differences between Stewart and Noah versions In addition to changes in the tone of the show, Noah also implemented stylistic changes to the show, with an updated set, new graphics and his monologue sometimes taking place while standing in front of a screen as opposed to sitting at the desk. Noah also increased the usage of more Millennial-based references, impersonations and characterizations for his comedy on the show, due to his younger demographic and his ability to speak in different accents and eight languages. The debut of
The Daily Show with Trevor Noah brought along three new correspondents:
Roy Wood Jr.,
Desi Lydic and
Ronny Chieng. Additional correspondents were added in 2017.
Michael Kosta became the Senior Constitutional Correspondent and Senior American Correspondent on July 11, 2017.
Dulcé Sloan became the Senior Fashion Correspondent on September 7, 2017. In January 2016,
The Daily Show with Trevor Noah started to use a modified version of the show's previous theme, remixed by
Timbaland and King Logan. Noah also avoided talking enough about
Fox News, as Stewart was previously known for. "
The Daily Show was based on an emerging 24 hour news cycle, that's everything it was, that's what inspired
The Daily Show. Now you look at news and it's changed. It's no longer predicated around 24 hour news. There are so many different choices. Half of it is online now. Now you've got the
Gawkers, the
BuzzFeeds. The way people are drawing their news is soundbites and headlines and click-bait links has changed everything. The biggest challenge is going to be an exciting one I'm sure is how are we going to bring all of that together looking at it from a bigger lens as opposed to just going after one source—which was historically Fox News," Noah said at a press conference before the show's debut.
Stewart visits The Daily Show with Trevor Noah; Jordan Klepper guest hosts On December 8, 2015, former host Jon Stewart returned to
The Daily Show for the first time in an extended-length show to return attention to extending the
James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act, otherwise referred to as 9/11 First Responders Bill, which Stewart explained had been blocked by
Paul Ryan and
Mitch McConnell for political reasons. On October 20, 2016, Noah was unable to host a scheduled taping of
The Daily Show due to illness, so correspondent
Jordan Klepper guest hosted. On November 16, 2017, Stewart once again returned to
The Daily Show, in part as a parody of the robocalls of fake
Washington Post reporter "Bernie Bernstein" and to promote
Night of Too Many Stars on
HBO.
The Daily Social Distancing Show, expansion, move to Times Square In March 2020 due to the
COVID-19 pandemic, the show suspended production. On March 18, 2020, Comedy Central began to release
webisodes of
The Daily Show produced remotely from Noah's home, entitled
The Daily Social Distancing Show. This format moved to television beginning March 23. Following the cancellation of
Lights Out with David Spade, the
Daily Show expanded into a 45-minute format beginning April 27, 2020. In July 2020, Comedy Central head Chris McCarthy told
Vulture that there were plans to possibly extend the show to an hour-long format by the end of the year. In May 2020,
The Daily Show won the 2020 Webby Award for Humor in the category Social. The at-home format continued until June 2021, when the show went on an extended hiatus for the summer.
The Daily Show returned on September 13, 2021, with the show re-located to studios at
ViacomCBS's headquarters at
One Astor Plaza in
Times Square (its existing studio was being occupied by fellow Comedy Central program ''
Tha God's Honest Truth''). Comedy Central stated that the show planned to preserve the "intimacy and creative elements" of the home-based episodes. The program continued to be filmed with no studio audience; while there were plans to reinstate an audience, The show returned from hiatus on January 17 with Leslie Jones guest hosting through January 19. Jones was followed by Sykes, Hughley, Handler, and Silverman, each hosting a week through February 16. Correspondent Dulcé Sloan had her first and last guest hosting gig of this era on May 1, 2023, when it was cut short by the
2023 Writers Guild of America strike, bumping originally announced guest hosts Michael Kosta,
Charlamagne tha God,
Michelle Wolf,
Ronny Chieng, Lewis Black, and
Desus Nice. On August 1, 2023,
Variety reported that Minhaj was the primary possibility of a permanent replacement host. A day later,
The Wrap reported that Penn was also a top candidate. On September 27, 2023, following the 148-day strike, Comedy Central announced the show would return on October 16 with guest hosts and would not name a permanent host until 2024. The extension of the search for a permanent host has been attributed to the
New Yorker article alleging factual inaccuracies in Minhaj's comedy routines.
Jon Stewart returns and correspondents (2024–present) On January 24, 2024, it was announced that
Jon Stewart would return as host for Monday night shows, while the remainder of the week would be hosted by the senior correspondents, beginning on February 12. Stewart accepted the single day a week contract deal as his initial run left him feeling exhausted. The producers of the show hope that Stewart will serve to cultivate and attract new talent to fill a full host role. In May 2024, it was announced that Stewart would additionally begin hosting
The Weekly Show, an original podcast from Comedy Central. The senior correspondents began to regularly rotate as hosts. However, although
Dulcé Sloan was a senior correspondent, she only hosted one week in this duty, and no longer lived in New York. On July 14, 2024, in the wake of the
attempted assassination of Donald Trump, Comedy Central announced that
The Daily Show would not air live from
Milwaukee, the host city for the
2024 Republican National Convention, and would preempt the Monday evening broadcast for July 15. The show returned to air on July 16, 2024, from its New York studio. In late October, it was announced that Stewart has extended his contract to host through 2025. In November 2025, he again extended his contract to host through 2026. == Correspondents, contributors and staff ==