The Daily Show is getting another spinoff series, this time headlined by show veteran Jordan Klepper. Daily Show's first few years on the air were under the stewardship of host Craig Kilborn - a fact many are likely to not even be aware of nowadays. It wasn't until Jon Stewart took over the show in 1999 that the Comedy Central program truly took off. Stewart made TDS much more politically-focused, and didn't hesitate to get serious when he felt the situation called for it, even if the majority of each episode was played for laughs. This formula worked like gangbusters, with Stewart staying on as host until 2015.
In 2005, Comedy Central decided to expand its late night brand, granting long-time Daily Show correspondent Stephen Colbert his own spin-off series, The Colbert Report, which ran until 2014, only ending when Colbert agreed to take over CBS' The Late Show from a retiring David Letterman. Unfortunately, the network's first attempt at replacing Colbert in the post-TDS slot didn't work out like they'd hoped, as The Nightly Show - hosted by former TDS correspondent Larry Wilmore - failed to catch on broadly and was canceled last year.
Ever since The Nightly Show came to an end, Comedy Central has opted to fill the vacancy at the 11:30pm slot by (awkwardly) sliding the Chris Hardwick-hosted comedy game show @Midnight backward by a half hour, although it always seemed obvious that the arrangement wouldn't be permanent. Now, Deadline reports that Comedy Central has officially decided that the 11:30 pm slot's next occupant will be veteran Daily Show correspondent Klepper, who was hired near the end of the Stewart era in 2014. Current TDS host Trevor Noah will executive produce.
Klepper's as yet untitled series is set to debut in the fall, taking over the 11:30pm slot Monday-Thursday, finally pushing back @Midnight to its titular position on the schedule. Information on the format of Klepper's show is currently limited, but Comedy Central says that it "will look to embrace and define the chaos of our country by channeling Klepper’s steadfast attitude that institutions are to be trusted less than the lies of the mainstream media. He’ll surround himself with a hand-picked team of contributors contractually obligated to reinforce his singularly correct world view.” With Klepper retaining his TDS persona, the parallels to Colbert are evident.
For anyone wondering what this announcement means for Comedy Central's recently announced The President Show - a new weekly late night series starring comedian Anthony Atamanuik as a caricature of Donald Trump - if successful, that series will simply be moved to a different time slot, possibly in primetime. The President Show premieres on Thursday, April 27 at 11:30, and will bump @Midnight back to midnight on Thursdays for the duration of its run.
Source: Deadline