Trevor Noah startled his audience on Thursday with a pre-show video message confirming his departure from “The Daily Show.”
The late-night program, which airs on Comedy Central five nights a week, provided a video peek of that evening’s monologue barely one hour before the show was supposed to air. Noah announced his departure from the show after seven years.
Noah began by saying that he had been thinking a lot about the fact that he had been doing the program for seven years — and that as he reflected on his time on the show, he was overcome with “a feeling of gratitude.”
“The journey we have been on together has been wild,” he said, noting that it took a lot of producers and correspondents and moving parts to make the show come together successfully every night. “And I want to thank the audience for an amazing seven years, it’s been wild. It’s been truly wild.”
The audience erupted in clapping and shouts, and Noah resumed after a little break. “I remember when we first started … so many people didn’t believe in us, it was a crazy bet to make, I mean, I still think it was a crazy choice … what a journey it’s been.”
“I just found myself filled with gratitude for the journey,” Noah added, listing off many events that had come about during his time behind the desk.
“I realized that after the seven years, my time is up,” Noah said then, prompting several audible gasps from the audience. “Yeah, but in the most beautiful way, honestly. I’ve loved hosting this show. It’s been one of my greatest challenges, it’s been one of my greatest joys, I’ve loved trying to figure out how to make people laugh even when the stories are particularly s***y on the worst days. You know, we’ve laughed together, we’ve cried together.”
“But after seven years, I feel like it’s time,” Noah said, adding that one of the things he had particularly missed was traveling to perform stand-up — something he wanted to be able to do.
“I’ve never been good at goodbyes,” he concluded, quickly reassuring the audience that he wasn’t going to drop off the face of the earth. “It’s not instant, I’m not disappearing, don’t worry. If I owe you money, I’ll still pay you.”