A Stand-up Successor: Hasan Minhaj Rumored to Take Over as Host of Comedy Central’s ‘The Daily Show’
- The Indian American comedian, actor, writer, and producer, who was a former correspondent at the show is among several celebrities who helmed it after Trevor Noah’s departure late last year.
Comedian, actor, writer, and producer Hasan Minhaj is reportedly the leading candidate for the open host role at Comedy Central’s “Daily Show.” Although the Indian American is “not guaranteed to win the position,” according to Variety magazine, the 37-year-old’s name “has emerged as a likely successor to Trevor Noah, who left the job late last year.”
A former correspondent for “The Daily Show,” the Indian American is one of the many celebrities who were considered to take over the show. After Noah’s departure, Comedy Central has tried guest hosts including Minhaj, Kal Penn, Sarah Silverman, Leslie Jones, and Al Franken.
Minhaj guest hosted from Feb. 27 to March 2, and brought in an average of 602,000 total viewers, according to the stats put out by the Wrap. He worked on the show as one of its team of faux “correspondents” between 2014 and 2018.
In an interview with Variety’s Awards Circuit Podcast in May, Minhaj admitted that he is “definitely open to have a conversation” about hosting the show. It’s a very different conversation then, when I first got hired at the show when I was 29,” he said. “My life is in a very different place. And so that’s a bigger life/family convo. It changes a lot of things,” he said. “It’s an all-encompassing, all-consuming thing.”