In news that would probably make Trevor Noah feel pretty great, were he not safely nestled within Comedy Central’s patented “No More Goof-Ups” Social Media Blackout Vault, a lot of people have been talking about why they didn’t want the Daily Show hosting job he so recently received. Now, one of his new Comedy Central colleagues has joined the conversation, with Amy Schumer chiming in on why she didn’t take the gig.
Casting rumors and could-have-beens have been swirling around late night cable’s (apparently) least-coveted hosting spot for months now, ever since Jon Stewart announced he’d be stepping down from the show in August. Veteran comics Chris Rock, Louis CK, and Amy Poehler—whose “No” was apparently delivered so quickly it nearly broke the sound barrier—were all in consideration for the job. But aside from those big-name gets, reports had also been moving around, courtesy of Grantland’s Bill Simmons, that the network had asked Schumer, its fastest rising star, to take on the flagship role.
The comedian and actor has now confirmed those rumors, telling The Daily Beast that she was offered the anchor position, and outlining why she turned it down:
“I was so honored to be asked and considered. With Comedy Central, I project so much ‘You’re my parents!’ on the network and the people that run it, so them saying, ‘We believe in you and trust that you can do this,’ I thought, ‘Oh my god, thank you!’
And then I thought, ‘Well, I could give everyone I love a job and we could all be together for five years. But picturing being in a building and knowing what I was going to do for five years—I love not knowing. And I’ve never done anything safe or to make money for that reason. So, you know, I said, ‘I can’t start now.’”
It’s an understandable reaction. After all, who among us hasn’t struggled with the desire to please our parents when they ask us to take over the reins of a massively popular political satire show, the legacy of which we’ll spend the next half-decade of our lives being inevitably compared against?
But honestly, it’s pretty easy to see why Schumer passed on the hefty commitment. Besides the ongoing critical and commercial success of Inside Amy Schumer, she’s incredibly busy right now, with multiple film roles in front of and behind the camera in the works. (The Judd Apatow-directed Trainwreck, which Schumer both wrote and stars in, opens on July 17.) Despite all this kerfuffle, though, Schumer’s also been effusive in her praise for Noah, sending out the following tweet when he was hired, which he’ll hopefully be heartened to read when Comedy Central lets him out of the vault later this year to start his tenure hosting the show: