Yesterday, news arrived that a replacement had been found for Jon Stewart on "The Daily Show": thirty-one-year-old South African comedian Trevor Noah. He has only been on the Comedy Central show a few times, and the choice was a bit surprising, but it’s clear the network went for a fresh face to sit in the chair, rather than an established comedic voice. But 24 hours later, controversy has erupted.
THR reports that people have uncovered insensitive comments about Jews, women, and more in tweets dating back to 2009 on Noah’s Twitter account. Both the host and network have yet to respond, but it is kind of surprising that in this digital age, no one on Noah’s team or at Comedy Central thought that maybe vetting his social media channels might be a good idea. It’ll certainly be interesting to see how this plays out.
Meanwhile, Bill Simmons at Grantland hit Twitter to reveal that according to his sources, Amy Poehler, Louis C.K., and Amy Schumer were reportedly approached for "The Daily Show" (via AV Club). Of course, Poehler is an old hand at satire, having sat the desk of "Weekend Update" on "Saturday Night Live," but both C.K. and Schumer have established careers doing their own thing, and as Simmons notes, they were probably not likely to have gotten the gig.
Thoughts? Let us know below.
What is a comedian without saying controversial things?
Oh he mentioned the Jews?
FIRE THAT MAN!!!
I understand that not only would CK and Schumer not do it since I believe they want the creative freedom to do their standup and work on film, but I also don\’t believe that Poehler would want to be chained down to a desk four nights a week after doing the P & R sitcom for years and would rather continue have the freedom to produce, write and occasionally act in film and TV.
Noah might be an edgy dude to have on the Nightly Show. Let\’s let him have the shot.
Everybody chill. Give the man some time and space to develop something. Maybe would should implement the presidential 100 day rule…
Amy would be good. Louis CK would be bored to tears after 2 years of Snark The Right news bits… As for Trevor Noah, he\’s said far worse about American Blacks and it got him a couple jobs. So it\’s nice to see where we draw the line.
Well, it must be the season for such accusations: Lena Dunham has been accused of the same thing for an article she wrote about her boyfriend in the New Yorker.
The Daily Show producers wanted more "international appeal". Well, anti-Semitism, racism, and open embrace of patriarchy is pretty much the norm in most of the world