The Daily Show: Mini overhaul for an old favourite

Today Trevor Noah takes over hosting duties on The Daily Show, which airs on South African TV screens tonight at 9pm.

Trevor Noah.

It’s no secret that the show is one of America’s most celebrated late night talk shows, and Noah takes over from Jon Stewart who in his 16 years as host turned the show into a fast-paced and influential TV platform that provided commentary on issues covered around the globe.

Nothing was off the table and politics and sendups lived side-by-side. Americans still need to get used to a less-known comedian taking over Stewart’s throne on the set. The series is a 20-time Emmy winner (including a record 10 consecutive wins) and has a total of 60 Primetime Emmy nominations. It’s also a two-time winner of the prestigious Peabody Award for Excellence in Broadcasting.

DStv and Comedy Central (DStv channel 122) are opening the channel to DStv Compact subscribers for the first week of broadcast. Until October 2, Compact subscribers will be able to view the channel at no extra cost. Yesterday Noah was trending on Twitter, and was featured on radio, online and print coverage across South Africa in anticipation for his new role. There will be a few changes to the show once it airs tonight.

GOING DIGITAL

For The Daily Show with Trevor Noah, the show is establishing a new social and multimedia platform initiative. At the end of August, Comedy Central announced they hired Baratunde Thurston, a digital entrepreneur, comedian, writer, author and performer as supervising producer to oversee the creation and production of original content for digital and social outlets.

With this new initiative, fans of The Daily Show will have access to more original content presented across multiple platforms, giving them a robust user experience. Online, the show has quite a reach in terms of followers.

Twitter: 4 million followers
Facebook: 5 million fans
Instagram: 148 000 followers

MIXED CROWD

The first week of guests for the new show is an interesting mix of personalities from Kevin Hart to one of America’s presidential candidates.

September 28: Actor and comedian Hart will be sharing about his What Now? Tour (which is coming to South Africa next year).
September 29: Whitney Wolfe, founder and CEO of Bumble – a dating app where women have more control.
September 30: Governor Chris Christie, one of the Republican party’s presidential candidates.
October 1: Musician Ryan Adams who made a cover album of Taylor Swift’s 1989.

NEW CONTRIBUTORS

Fans of The Daily Show will be glad to hear Jordan Klepper, Hasan Minhaj, Jessica Williams, Lewis Black, John Hodgman, Al Madrigal, Aasif Mandvi and Kristen Schaal all remain for the new reboot of the show, but to make The Best F*&#ing News Team Ever even better three new faces are joining the crew

Ronny Chieng Born in Malaysia, the stand-up comedian and actor has been a rising star on the comedy scene in Australia where he moved to attend the University of Melbourne. His career began to take off in 2012 when he was named one of the top 10 rising comedians in Australia.

Ronny Chieng. Picture: Doug Cosgrove

Desi Lydic Lydic is a professionally-trained and seasoned improvisational and comedic actress. Her feature film credits include We Bought A Zoo and The Babymakers. Her other television credits include roles on Two And A Half Men, The Odd Couple and The League.

Desi Lydic. Picture: Elisabeth Caren

Roy Wood Jnr began his comedy career in 1998 at the age of 19 while attending university. His thought-provoking comedy crosses cultural lines and has entertained millions nationwide via stage, radio and television.