Trevor Noah has met with each Daily Show correspondent to warn them about hosting the show

The comedian told THR that he’s sat down individually with all the correspondents (“most of whom he handpicked, all of whom he’s close to”) to give them the 411 on what the hosting gig is really like. “I wish someone had told me what a grind it was,” he explains to the outlet. “You’re also running the show, so everything from HR to designing the set, you’re a part of, and it doesn’t stop when you leave the building. There’s no moment when breaking news happens where I go, ‘Oh, wow, I don’t care.’ No, I have to care; being informed is part of my job.”

How consuming the role is, on top of his obligations with his book deal, stand-up schedule, and running a production company, are all part of the reason that Noah decided to quit. However, he was apologetic about springing the news on the audience, the Daily Show team, Paramount, and his own representatives at the same time. (“Part of the reason I did it that way is because I didn’t want anybody to be the person who then tells somebody else, who then tells somebody else, who then tells somebody else,” he shares.)

Now he relishes the freedom to do whatever he wants, highlighting opportunities to do voiceover work and write his own screenplays in his conversation with THR. “I’d love to make great movies, and I’d like to act in some of them, but I think stardom is a byproduct of a job well executed, so that’s not something I’m too concerned about,” he says. “If anything, I wouldn’t mind a little less stardom so I can eat a few meals uninterrupted.”