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The Daily Show may or may not be next on Paramount’s chopping block, but nevertheless the show persists. On Monday, Comedy Central announced comedian and Daily Show correspondent Josh Johnson will join the series’ rotation of hosts which includes Ronny Chieng, Jordan Klepper, Michael Kosta, and Desi Lydic. Beloved anchor Jon Stewart continues to host the show on Mondays while the host rotation holds down the fort Tuesday through Thursday. Johnson will host for the first time on July 22, an episode which will feature an interview with Great Black Hope author Rob Franklin.
Johnson is a stand up comedian in addition to being a former writer and performer on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon. He joined The Daily Show as a writer in 2017, racking up multiple Emmy nominations as part of the show’s writing staff. He joined the Daily Show news team as an on-camera correspondent in 2024, appearing alongside current correspondents Troy Iwata and Grace Kuhlenschmidt.
Johnson’s promotion comes amid an uncertain future for The Daily Show, despite the fact that the program has achieved a 10-year ratings high. Even before Stephen Colbert was canned over at CBS, reports suggested The Daily Show was in as much trouble as The Late Show with parent company Paramount. Both programs have repeatedly roasted President Donald Trump, and both Colbert and Stewart used their platforms to criticize Paramount for settling its lawsuit with Trump (which many within the industry and in the government have described as bribery). Stewart said on The Weekly Show podcast that he hasn’t heard anything about a possible cancellation, but hoped The Daily Show would survive the upcoming merger between Paramount and David Ellison’s Skydance. “We’ve all got a surmisal about who actually is owning it and what his ideology is. But ideology may not play a part” in how the company is run and what will happen to The Daily Show, he said. Regardless, he promised, “I’ve been kicked out of shittier establishments than that. We’ll land on our feet.”
