The Daily Show on Comedy Central became a talk show staple with Jon Stewart, who hosted for 17 years. When he left the show in 2015, Stewart gave a year's notice, so a replacement could be found. South African comedian Trevor Noah took over and made the show his own. Noah only gave three month's notice that he was leaving the show in December after seven years, so a permanent host will not be installed for some time. With no replacement in sight, the show took a turn from Jeopardy! following the death of Alex Trebek. The Daily Show returns from a holiday break tonight with Leslie Jones as host. Sadly, Jones will only host for three nights, kicking off a schedule of guest hosts who will step in a week at a time for the next several months.
These hosts include a Who's Who of television comedians. It includes Jones, plus Wanda Sykes, D.L. Hughley, Chelsea Handler, Sarah Silverman, Al Franken, John Leguizamo, Hasan Minhaj, Kal Penn, and Marlon Wayans. As with the Jeopardy! plan, these guests stints are not considered to be auditions for the job, because many of the scheduled hosts already have their own TV shows. But you never know.