Roy Wood Jr. Explains Why He Left ‘The Daily Show’: ‘What If They Get a Host Who Doesn’t Want Me?’
Roy Wood Jr. told Gayle King that one of the reasons he left his role as a “Daily Show” correspondent 10 months after Trevor Noah’s departure was because he was worried that whoever the next host ended up being “might not want me.”
“’The Daily Show’ thing is that, ‘Oh, Trevor left. OK, well, what’s next for me whenever I leave?’” he told King on her SiriusXM show Thursday. “It may not be now, but when I leave, what’s going to be next for me? Huh? Well, what if they get a host that doesn’t want me?”
He also mentioned the uncertainty around the Paramount-CBS merger that was happening at the time of his resignation. “I don’t like to think like that and talk those things into existence, but we also live in an era where they will spend $100 million to shoot a movie and then not release it. Anybody can get it.”
Wood also explained that he left when he did to take advantage of 2024 being an election year, looking at how the timing could help his career.
“When would be the best time to shop a show or have an opportunity to get hired to do something else? It would be during an election year… Because otherwise that window is not coming around for another four years, big dog,” he told King.
He added that he didn’t want to wait around to get the boot — or, as he put it, “wake up one morning on Twitter and see that I’m dunzo.”
Wood’s new show, “Have I Got News For You,” premiered last month on CNN. It features Wood as the host of a news quiz show, overseeing teams of rotating guests led by Amber Ruffin and Michael Ian Black.
Wood was one of several “Daily Show” regulars who manned the news desk of the Comedy Central show while producers searched for a new host. He previously expressed his frustration about waiting around for the network’s decision.
“The Daily Show” had been set to name Hasan Minhaj as the new host, but changed their minds as the accuracy of his anecdotes about being profiled and suffering other racial prejudice were called into question in September 2023.
“Have I Got News For You” airs Saturdays at 9 p.m. Eastern/6 p.m. Pacific. SiriusXM’s “Gayle King In The House” airs Thursdays from 5-6 p.m. ET on Radio Andy channel 102.
