Jordan Klepper thinks The Daily Show is in better shape than ever 30 years into its run—despite Comedy Central’s parent company coming under the control of a Trump-friendly billionaire.
In fact, the correspondent and rotating host for the long-running show said The Daily Show’s reach has only widened since Paramount’s controversial merger with Skydance.
“What we are lucky to have here at The Daily Show is the bubble of doing a show next to a horse stable in Hell’s Kitchen,” Klepper told Obsessed: The Podcast. “We are constantly under the gun of putting up a show day in and day out. And I know there are these top-line conversations happening about the state of late-night, and what could happen where.”
But he’s keeping his head down and doing his job.
“What I am seeing as somebody who goes out in the world is that people are engaging with The Daily Show in ways they never have in the past,” he continued, optimistically. “People are watching online, they’re seeing my specials, they’re seeing clips, they’re going to TikTok, our social feeds. We have found ways to make the show bigger and connect more than it ever has before.”
Klepper attributes some of the show’s success to its new format, which consists of a rotating cast of anchors—with Jon Stewart on Mondays—rather than the same host for each episode. In addition to Klepper, correspondents Desi Lydic, Ronny Chieng, Michael Kosta, and Josh Johnson take turns at the reins from Tuesday through Thursday nights.
They weren’t sure about the structure’s potential for longevity at first, but having several different hosts eventually proved advantageous.
“The Daily Show, in celebrating 30 years, has been through a lot of s--t, has evolved, has adapted, has changed,” Klepper said. “We’ve been through multiple hosts. We’ve been through a period where we had rotating hosts, and I think because of that we garnered sort of a skill set of how to make this show with different points of view. And initially, when it was announced that it was going to be this rotating host situation with Jon on Mondays, we were all very excited, but very unsure whether or not this was a sustainable format. And I think we all very much like it. It has given us a new format for attacking the news throughout the week.”
When Paramount canceled The Late Show with Stephen Colbert last year, Jon Stewart joked about The Daily Show’s uncertain future, saying that “They may sell the whole f---ing place for parts.”
“They haven’t called me and said, like, ‘Don’t get too comfortable in that office, Stewart,’” he joked. “But let me tell you something, I’ve been kicked out of sh--tier establishments than that. We’ll land on our feet.”
Regardless of what happens, Klepper is happy with all the show has accomplished.
“I’m really proud of what we found,” he said. “We sort of stumbled on an evolution of what the show can do and stayed true to its voice, while at the same time bringing in other voices, staying fresh, and giving everybody enough space to be creative outside of the show.”
“We’ve been around for 30 years,” he added. “You figure out how to tell your truth and find your funny with your friends, and that’s sort of the job, day in and day out.”
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