Trevor Noah has announced that he is leaving the Daily Show, which has struggled to maintain even a fraction of the viewers that it had when it was hosted by Jon Stewart.
The reason for Noah’s departure, and whose decision it really was, remains unclear — but a new report from Breitbart found that ratings were down 75 percent from when Stewart was on the air.
“When Jon Stewart left the Daily Show in 2015, he averaged 1.3 million viewers per night,” the Breitbart report stated. “After seven years of humiliating failure, Stewart’s hand-picked replacement, some guy named Trevor Noah, is slinking off with an average viewership as of last week of 363,000 viewers.”
Trump shared the Breitbart report on Truth Social, along with strong commentary about the host.
“Trevor Noah was a waste of time, no talent, no anything,” Trump wrote. “Jon Stewart was only slightly better, but highly overrated. Comedy Central should focus on comedy and not politics, because they’re not very good at it. If these characters ever went neutral or Conservative, they’d double and triple up the ratings—but nobody’s figured that out except me! Congratulations to John Nolte for his unique brilliance and insight.”
The host announced his departure on Thursday night’s episode.
“What a journey it’s been,” Noah said in the announcement. “I realized after the seven years, my time is up. Yeah. But in the most beautiful way. Honestly. I’ve loved hosting this show. It’s been one of my greatest challenges. One of my greatest joys. I’ve loved trying to figure out how to make people laugh particularly when the stories are sh-tty on the worst days.”
“We’ve laughed together, we’ve cried together. But after seven years, I feel like it’s time, you know?” Noah continued. “I spent two years in my apartment, not on the road, stand-up was dead. And when I got back out there again, I realized there’s another part of my life I wanted to carry on exploring. I miss learning other languages, I miss going to other countries, I miss putting on shows…”
Noah added, “I’m not disappearing, don’t worry. If I owe you money, I’ll pay you.”
According to a report from Decider, who first reported on him leaving, the announcement came as a surprise to staff.
“We are grateful to Trevor for our amazing partnership over the past seven years. With no timetable for his departure, we’re working together on next step,” the network said in a statement to Variety. “As we look ahead, we’re excited for the next chapter in the 25+ year history of The Daily Show as it continues to redefine culture through sharp and hilarious social commentary, helping audiences make sense of the world around them.”
