Trevor Noah took over “The Daily Show” on Monday night. With Jon Stewart behind the desk, this late night talker dominated the Emmys, winning Best Variety Series for a full decade (2003-2012). After losing twice to time slot lead-out “The Colbert Report,” Stewart rode the wave of support for his final full season to a win again this year, in the newly created Variety Talk Series category.
Will Noah revive the winning streak?
Based on the early reviews, he is in an uphill climb to overcome Colbert, who took over “The Late Show” from David Letterman earlier this month. Take a read of these excerpts from his first notices and then weigh in with your own thoughts both in our forums filled with Hollywood insiders dishing and via the poll at the bottom of this post.
Daniel D’Addario (Time): “Early promises that the show would become, under Noah, something different were only partially fulfilled. It was as though Noah knew that there’d be a wave of first-night reviews that would compare him negatively to Stewart, and sought to forestall the issue by referencing Stewart as frequently as possible.”
Brian Moylan (The Guardian): “The segments in which Noah broached current news events, always where Stewart shined brightest, too often failed to hit their mark. Yes, Noah mined some clever material from the Pope’s US visit and Speaker of the House John Boehner’s resignation, but there were more than a few clunkers.”
Darren Franich (EW): “The chat with Kevin Hart was boring, but late night interviewing is a skill you can only learn on the job. As always, ‘The Daily Show’ ended with a Moment of Zen. There was Nancy Pelosi, being incoherent on camera. (Stewart may be gone, Boehner may be gone, but the absurdity of the American experiment remains.) Noah’s new ‘Daily Show’ wasn’t trying to be viral, global, or young. It was just trying to be ‘The Daily Show’.”
