Trevor Noah Will Leave ‘The Daily Show’ After 7 Years: ‘My Time Is Up’

Comedy Central’s Trevor Noah added a bit of real news to Thursday night’s episode of The Daily Show, which he has hosted since 2015: He’s leaving.

“My time is up,” Noah said. “We’ve laughed together, we’ve cried together. It’s time.”

“It’s been wild,” Noah said of his rise from relative obscurity in the U.S. to becoming a fixture in late night. “I’m really grateful to a network that believed in this random comedian who nobody knew on this side of the world…ParamountPARA
has been amazing, ViacomCBS has been amazing.”

Comedy Central, in a statement, said the network had been working with Noah “for a long time to figure out how he can maintain the demanding schedule.” The network added that “with no timetable for his departure, we’re working together on next steps.”

“I’m really grateful to a network that believed in this random comedian who nobody knew on this side of the world,” Noah said. “ParamountPARA
has been amazing, ViacomCBS has been amazing…we’ll figure out the timings.”

Noah said he was eager to get back on the road, doing standup and seeing the world. He said it was “another part of my life I want to keep exploring.”

Noah’s announcement brings another element of turmoil to late night television, which has seen James Corden announce that he would leave his show on CBS next year. On TBS, Conan O’Brien ended his late night show last year, and the network’s Samantha Bee announced that her show was being cancelled.

Noah took over The Daily Show after the show’s longtime host Jon Stewart left in 2015, with many wondering if Comedy Central had fumbled the transition by choosing an unknown in the form of a South African comedian few viewers had heard of. On the show Thursday night, Noah described his rise to host after having made just a few appearances on Stewart’s Daily Show. “I sort of felt like ‘Charlie and the Chocolate Factory,’” he said. “I came in for a tour of what the previous show was. And then the next thing I know, I was handed the keys.”