Trevor Noah To Take Over As Host On The Daily Show

Trevor Noah is to be announced as the new host of political satire talk show, The Daily Show, as the 31-year-old prepares to take over from Jon Stewart following his retirement.

The network’s selection of Noah comes less than two months after Mr. Stewart, 52, revealed in February that he was leaving “The Daily Show” after a highly successful 16-year run that transformed the show into authoritative, satirical comedy on current events.

“I’m thrilled for the show and for Trevor,” Stewart said in a statement. “He’s a tremendous comic and talent that we’ve loved working with.” Stewart added that he “may rejoin as a correspondent just to be a part of it.”

No-one can replace Jon Stewart. But together with the amazing team at The Daily Show, we will continue to make this the best damn news show!

— Trevor Noah (@Trevornoah) March 30, 2015

Noah said he expected to be criticised and second-guessed long before his first episode as host. “We live in a world where some people still say Beyoncé can’t sing,” he said. “Clearly I’m not immune to that.”

But in his conversations with Stewart, Noah said that he had found a kindred spirit in a fellow comedian who was not much further along when he came to “The Daily Show.”

“He told me, ‘I was where you were when I took over the show,'” Mr. Noah said. “‘Nobody knew me. I was just starting out, finding my voice, and that’s when I was handed this seat.'”

“Now,” Noah added, “it’s my turn to steer the ship.”