Last week, “The Daily Show,” along with every other newscast, had to pivot quickly when the Donald Trump and Elon Musk feud exploded online. “There’s no rehearsal,” Desi Lydic told TheWrap of days like that.
Michael Kosta, who was on deck that day, had been prepping a show around Trump’s latest appointee — 22-year-old Thomas Fugate, a recent college grad — who’d been tapped to head up the nation’s war on terrorism.
All that was scrapped as Musk blasted Trump and his “big beautiful bill” as the president then threatened to cut the billionaire’s lucrative government contracts. Kosta rolled with the punches in a quippy segment, referring to the two battling public figures as “the leader of the free world” and “the breeder of the free world.”
Kosta told TheWrap at a Los Angeles FYC luncheon at the Sunset Marquis Hotel in Los Angeles on Saturday that this kind of pivot is becoming standard since Trump’s second term began.
Lydic explained that, often, the script that’s been prepared is already out of date by the time they do the read-through, which means hosts are going on the air with “cold” jokes that haven’t been tested. She also admitted she loves the rush of turning a show around so quickly.
“My favorite part of ‘The Daily Show’ is when you realize how good the machine is. It is so impressive. I’m in awe of ‘The Daily Show,’” Kosta said at a different FYC event later that evening at the Linwood Dunn Theater.
The current lineup — with original host Jon Stewart back on Mondays and Kosta, Lydic, Jordan Klepper and Ronny Chieng the rest of the week — is not likely to change anytime soon, Chieng told TheWrap.
After Trevor Noah’s exit in late 2022, the show featured a series of rotating hosts — including Chelsea Handler, Leslie Jones and John Leguizamo — in a bid to find the right person to take over the anchor chair on a permanent basis. According to former correspondent Roy Wood Jr., Hasan Minhaj was about to be announced as the new solo host, until a critical New Yorker article torpedoed his bid.
Since then, things have been quiet and no one is talking about finding a new solo host, Chieng shared. If it were to happen, the comedian said he hopes it will be someone on the current roster: “I hope they promote from inside,” he said, adding that viewers would prefer a familiar face.
At the evening FYC event, Stewart praised the 2025 lineup. “A lot of the people that were there in 2015 are still here. They are phenomenal. You go away for a little and come back, and they’re faster, stronger, funnier and better. I was blown away at how everyone had taken it to that next level.”
The conversation at the Sunset Marquis ranged from where to buy socks with Chieng’s face on them (which he wore to the event) to how the “TDS” baseball caps handed out could also stand for “Trump Derangement Syndrome.”
Klepper also addressed whether the Trump supporters he talks to in several segments have ever heard of “The Daily Show.” “Some have, some haven’t” he said, “Mostly they’re in their own little bubble.”
“The Daily Show” airs Monday-Thursday at 11 p.m. EST on Comedy Central before streaming next day on Paramount+.