The Daily Show is an American late-night talk and news satire television program. Launched in 1996, the half-hour show airs each Monday through Thursday on Comedy Central in the United States, with extended episodes released shortly after on Paramount+. The Daily Show draws its comedy and satire from recent news stories, political figures, and media organizations. It often uses self-referential humor. Jon Stewart hosts the Monday edition. The current team of hosting correspondents for Tuesdays through Thursdays are Ronny Chieng, Michael Kosta, Jordan Klepper, Desi Lydic, and Josh Johnson. Troy Iwata and Grace Kuhlenschmidt are non-hosting correspondents.
The Daily Show is the longest-running program on Comedy Central and has won 26 Primetime Emmy Awards. It premiered on July 22, 1996, and was hosted by Craig Kilborn as The Daily Show with Craig Kilborn until December 17, 1998. Stewart then hosted The Daily Show with Jon Stewart from January 11, 1999, until August 6, 2015; he turned the show away from Kilborn’s pop-culture focus toward political and news satire. Stewart was succeeded by Trevor Noah, who hosted The Daily Show with Trevor Noah from September 28, 2015, until December 2022. After Noah left, the show was led by a rotating cast of guest hosts. On February 12, 2024, Stewart returned to host Monday shows while correspondents rotated hosting duties for the other weekdays. Stewart, who originally signed on to host through the fall 2024 elections, later extended his contract into 2026.
The program has been popular among young audiences. The Pew Research Center suggested in 2010 that 74% of regular viewers were between 18 and 49, and that 10% of the audience watched the show for its news headlines, 2% for in-depth reporting, and 43% for entertainment; compared with respectively 64%, 10% and 4%, who said the same of CNN. In 2015, The Daily Shows median age of viewership was 36 years old. Between 2014 and 2023, the show's ratings declined by 75%, and its average viewer age increased to 63. In 2023, the viewership for age range of 25–54 year olds was 158,000 and the viewership for 18–34 year olds was 30,000.
Format
Opening segment
During Trevor Noah's tenure as host, each episode began with announcer Drew Birns announcing the date and the introduction, "From Comedy Central's World News Headquarters in New York, this is The Daily Show with Trevor Noah. Previously, the introduction was "This is The Daily Show, the most important television program, ever." The host then opens the show with a monologue drawing from current news stories and issues. Previously, the show had divided its news commentary into sections known as "Headlines", "Other News", and "This Just In"; these titles were dropped from regular use on October 28, 2002, and were last used on March 6, 2003. Some episodes will begin with a 1–3 minute intro on a small story (or small set of stories) before moving to the main story of the night. Currently, the segment is simply called "Headlines".
Correspondent segments
The monologue segment is often followed by a segment featuring an exchange with a correspondent, either at the anchor desk with the host or reporting from a false location in front of a greenscreen showing stock footage. They typically present absurd or humorously exaggerated takes on current events against the host's straight man. Some correspondent segments involve the show's members travelling to different locations to file comedic reports on current news stories and conduct interviews with people related to the featured issue.
Correspondents are typically introduced as the show's "senior" specialist in the story's subject, and can range from relatively general (such as Senior Political Analyst) to absurdly specific (such as Senior Religious Registry Correspondent). The cast of correspondents is quite diverse, and many often sarcastically portray extreme stereotypes of themselves to poke fun at a news story, such as "Senior Latino Correspondent", "Senior Youth Correspondent" or "Senior Black Correspondent".
thumb|Former correspondents [[John Oliver and Wyatt Cenac at the launch of Earth (The Book): A Visitor's Guide to the Human Race]]
While correspondents stated to be reporting abroad are usually performing in-studio in front of a greenscreen background, on rare occasions, cast members have recorded pieces on location. For instance, during the week of August 20, 2007, the show aired a series of segments called "Operation Silent Thunder: The Daily Show in Iraq" in which correspondent Rob Riggle reported from Iraq. In August 2008, Riggle traveled to China for a series of segments titled "Rob Riggle: Chasing the Dragon", which focused on the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
Jason Jones traveled to Iran in early June 2009 to report on the Iranian elections, and John Oliver traveled to South Africa for the series of segments "Into Africa" to report on the 2010 FIFA World Cup. In March 2012, Oliver traveled to Gabon, on the west African coast, to report on the Gabonese government's decision to donate $2 million to UNESCO after the United States cut its funding for UNESCO earlier that year. On July 19, 2016, Roy Wood Jr. reported live from the Republican National Convention and talked about Donald Trump's African-American support.
Topics have varied widely; during the early years of the show, they tended toward character-driven human interest stories such as Bigfoot enthusiasts. Since Stewart began hosting in 1999, the focus of the show has become more political and the field pieces have come to more closely reflect current issues and debates. Elections in the United States were a prominent focus in the show's "Indecision" coverage throughout Stewart & Noah's time as host (the title "InDecision" is a parody of NBC News' "Decision" segment). Since 2000, under Stewart's tenure, the show went on the road to record week-long specials from the cities hosting the Democratic and Republican national conventions. For the 2006 U.S. midterm elections, a week of episodes was recorded in the contested state of Ohio. The "Indecision" & "Democalypse" coverage of the 2000, 2002, 2004, 2006, 2008, 2010, 2012, 2014, 2016 elections all culminated in live Election Night specials.
With Noah as host, one new recurring segment has been "What the Actual Fact", with correspondent Desi Lydic examining statements made by political figures during speeches or events. Under Noah, the continuation of "Democalypse" and "Indecision" also took place with live shows after the Republican National Convention and Democratic National Convention. For the first time, under Noah, the show also went live after all three U.S. presidential debates in 2016.
Interviews
In the show's third act, the host conducts an interview with a celebrity guest. Guests come from a wide range of cultural sources, and include actors, musicians, authors, athletes, pundits, policy experts and political figures. During Stewart's tenure, the show's guests tended away from celebrities and more towards non-fiction authors and political pundits, as well as many prominent elected officials.
However its rise in popularity, particularly following the show's coverage of the 2000 and 2004 elections, made Stewart according to a Rolling Stone (2006) article, "the hot destination for anyone who wants to sell books or seem hip, from presidential candidates to military dictators". Newsweek labeled it "the coolest pit stop on television". Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton and Barack Obama, former British Prime Ministers Tony Blair and Gordon Brown, former Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf, former Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, former Bolivian President Evo Morales, Jordanian King Abdullah II, former Estonian Prime Minister Taavi Roivas, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and former Mexican President Vicente Fox.
The show has played host to former and current members of the administration and Cabinet as well as members of Congress. Numerous presidential candidates have appeared on the show during their campaigns, including John McCain, John Kerry, Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton.
Closing segment
In a closing segment, there is a brief segue to the closing credits in the form of the host introducing "Your Moment of Zen", a humorous piece of video footage without commentary that has been part of the show's wrap-up since the series began in 1996. The segment often relates to a story covered earlier in the episode, but occasionally is merely a humorous or ridiculous clip. Occasionally, the segment is used as a tribute to someone who has died.
Sometimes, before the "Your Moment of Zen", this segment is used for quick promotions. The host might promote the show that follows right after their broadcast, such as promoting the show @midnight. This time has also been used to promote films, books or stand-up specials that are affiliated with the host.
In October 2005, following The Colbert Report premiere, a new feature (sometimes referred to as the toss) was added to the closing segment in which Stewart would have a short exchange with "our good friend, Stephen Colbert at The Colbert Report", which aired immediately after. The two would have a scripted comedic exchange via split-screen from their respective sets. In 2007, the "toss" was cut back to twice per week, and by 2009 was once a week before gradually being phased out. It was used on the 2014 mid-term election night and again just before the final episode of The Colbert Report on December 18, 2014, and returned upon the premiere of The Nightly Show with Larry Wilmore. Stewart then regularly tossed to Wilmore at the end of his Monday night episodes. Under Noah, the "toss" has been used for The Opposition with Jordan Klepper and Lights Out with David Spade.
Studio
thumb|left|Outside of the Daily Show studio, pictured in 2007, during Stewart's tenure
The host sits at his desk on the elevated island stage in the style of a traditional news show. The show initially used New York PBS station WNET's facilities until late 1998, when it moved a few blocks to NEP Studio 54. The Colbert Report would claim NEP Studio 54 in 2005. On July 11, 2005, the show premiered in its new studio, NEP Studio 52, at 733 11th Avenue, a few blocks west of its former location.
The set of the new studio was given a sleeker, more formal look, including a backdrop of three large projection screens. The traditional guests' couch, which had been a part of the set since the show's premiere, was done away with in favor of simple upright chairs. The change was initially not well-received, spawning a backlash among some fans and prompting a "Bring Back the Couch" campaign. The campaign was mentioned on subsequent shows by Stewart and supported by Daily Show contributor Bob Wiltfong. The couch was eventually featured in a sweepstakes in which the winner received the couch, round-trip tickets to New York, tickets to the show, and a small sum of money.
thumb|right|The sign over the entryway of the current Daily Show studio
On April 9, 2007, the show debuted a new set. The projection screens were revamped (with one large screen behind Stewart, while the smaller one behind the interview subject remained the same), a large, global map directly behind Stewart, a more open studio floor, and a J-shaped desk supported at one end by a globe. The intro was also updated; the graphics, display names, dates, and logos were all changed.
thumb|left|Outside of the Daily Show studio, pictured in 2019, during Noah's tenure
thumb|right|Behind the scenes of The Daily Show with host Trevor Noah
On September 28, 2015, the show debuted a new set alongside the debut of Trevor Noah's tenure. According to Larry Hartman, Noah took a lot of inspiration from Stewart's set. A second on-stage 'jumbo-tron' was added and the colours of the set were made lighter. The graphics, intro, theme music, lower thirds, logo, etc. were also all revamped. On July 19, 2016, the set and graphics were given another change to reflect Democalypse 2016 and denote The Daily Shows RNC and DNC coverage (which was taped in the conventions' respective cities). The new temporary sets had a Washington theme, and was meant to show that Washington is "a little broke" and needs "repair". Though the studio was reverted to its former self after the election week in 2016, the changes to the graphics were kept.
After a stretch of episodes filmed from Trevor Noah's apartment due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the show returned to a smaller studio at One Astor Plaza, the corporate headquarters of ViacomCBS in Times Square. The new studio had no audience, and a smaller, more intimate atmosphere with muted colors. In April 2022, The Daily Show returned to NEP Studio 52 with a revamped set, combining elements of the Times Square studio with a revamped version of its previous layout.
Production
The show's writers begin each day with a morning meeting where they review material that researchers have gathered from major newspapers, the Associated Press, cable news television channels and websites, and discuss headline material for the lead news segment. Throughout the morning they work on writing deadline pieces inspired by recent news, as well as longer-term projects. By lunchtime, Noah — who describes his role as that of the captain of a team — has begun to review headline jokes. The script is submitted by 3 pm, and at 4:15 there is a rehearsal. An hour is left for rewrites before a 6 pm taping in front of a live studio audience.
The Daily Show typically tapes four new episodes a week, Monday through Thursday, forty-two weeks a year. The show is broadcast at 11 PM Eastern/10 PM Central, a time when local television stations show their news reports and about half an hour before most other late-night comedy programs begin to go on the air. The program used to be rerun several times the next day, including a 7:30 PM Eastern/6:30 PM Central prime time broadcast.
From 2007 to 2024, full archive clips from the show under Jon Stewart's tenure were available on the Comedy Central website. Clips dating from the beginning of Trevor Noah's tenure to the present are available on the show's YouTube channel.
List of hosts
{| class="wikitable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center;"
! Host
! Start date
! End date
! Tenure
! Episodes
|-
| Craig Kilborn
| July 22, 1996
| December 17, 1998
|
|386
|-
| Jon Stewart
| January 11, 1999
| August 26, 2015
|
|2,131
|-
| Trevor Noah
| September 28, 2015
| December 8, 2022
|
|1,091
|-
| Weekly guest hosts
| January 17, 2023
| December 14, 2023
|
|87
|-
|Jon Stewart (Mondays) and rotating correspondents
| February 12, 2024
|present
|
|347
|}
History
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
thumb|Jon Stewart (right) hosting an episode of The Daily Show in 2010 with [[Admiral 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."
thumb|Logo used for Stewart's tenure
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: