Chris Rock was considered to take over ‘The Daily Show’.
Back when Jon Stewart announced his retirement, and up until Trevor Noah was announced as his replacement, millions of people tried to figure out who should be the next host of ‘The Daily Show’. Could it be Tina Fey? Amy Poehler? Chris Rock?
There’s a long story about Comendy Central in the latest New York Times Magazine, and producers strongly considered Chris Rock.
Comedy Central contemplated hiring several bigger stars. The network made a call to Amy Poehler, for instance, to gauge her interest. (As someone outside the company with knowledge of the exchange put it, “They were pretty much expecting her to say no, and it was the quickest no in history.”) Chris Rock considered signing on, but not past Nov. 8, 2016: He wanted to cede the desk to a more permanent replacement after the next election. [Head of original programming Kent Alterman] acknowledged that Comedy Central had a lot of conversations with different people,” but Noah, who had appeared several times on The Daily Show, was a favorite of Stewart’s, and he won the network over. “Trevor’s the only person we made an offer to,” Alterman said. [New York Times]
Well, that would have been extremely interesting. It wouldn’t have really done much to solve the biggest issue of finding a permanent host, unless Chris Rock fell in love with the job, but it’s still a very interesting idea.
One of the biggest problems with the timing of Noah’s takeover is that this young, inexperienced comedian will be hosting the 2016 election. Which means, if Trevor Noah fails this year’s election coverage, then we may be looking for another ‘Daily Show’ host in the next few months.
Discuss this story with fellow Project Casting fans on Facebook. On Twitter, follow us at @projectcasting.
