Trevor Noah’s announcement last week that he would be stepping down after seven years on The Daily Show was met with about the same level of attention as when he was announced as host. It trended on Twitter briefly, and then everyone went about their day.
Noah never really caught on with the same media outlets that regularly juiced Jon Stewart, blaring about how he “Destroyed” and “Obliterated” things. There are several reasons why this was the case. One was that Stewart, for all his clown-nose-on-clown-nose-off theatrics, was still a capable and interesting interviewer. He was genuinely curious about his guests and didn’t seem like he was just asking questions handed to him on a notecard. Noah, a traditional stand-up comic, was never able to harness that same ability. He ended up fading into the background of a medium that has been now saturated by late-night hosts copying Jon Stewart (John Oliver, Seth Myers, Stephen Colbert, Samantha Bee).
