Trevor Noah announced his exit from “The Daily Show” after seven years on Thursday.
The South African comedian, who took over “The Daily Show” from Jon Stewart in 2015, announced he was stepping down as host of the talk show during the program on Thursday.
“I realized that after the seven years, my time is up, but in the most beautiful way,” he said, as the studio audience gasped. “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**tty on the worst days. But after seven years, I feel like it’s time.”
The 38-year-old explained that he wants to go on a stand-up comedy tour across many countries as he misses “just being everywhere and doing everything” following the pandemic.
“I’ve never been good at goodbyes,” he continued. “I’m really grateful to a network who believed in this random comedian nobody knew on this side of the world.
“I want to say thank you to you (gesturing to the audience and viewers) ’cause, man, I never dreamed I would be here… I couldn’t have done it without you, and I wouldn’t have wanted to do it without you. We’ll figure out the timings and the whens, and we’ll still be here for the time being, all I can say is thank you very much.’
Trevor celebrated the seventh anniversary of his first episode on Wednesday. The date of his final episode has not been announced.
In response to the news, a Comedy Central spokesperson said in a statement, “We are grateful to Trevor for our amazing partnership over the past seven years. With no timetable for his departure, we’re working together on next steps.”
