You Can Rule Out John Oliver as Next Host of “The Daily Show”
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ABC/Fred Lee(NEW YORK) — We can rule out John Oliver as the next host of The Daily Show.
HBO announced Tuesday it has renewed Oliver’s Sunday-night program, Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, for a third and fourth season. The third season will premiere in 2016, while season four will air the following year. Both will consist of 35 shows.
Michael Lombardo, president of HBO Programming, said in a statement, “We are incredibly proud to have John as part of the HBO family.”
“His unique ability to deliver socially significant commentary week after week, along with his innate comedic brilliance, puts John in a class by himself,” Lombardo continued.
Oliver is a former Daily Show correspondent who filled in for Jon Stewart as host of the Comedy Central program in 2013 when Stewart went on hiatus to direct the film Rosewater. Oliver parlayed his success in that role into his current gig with HBO, which launched the second season of Last Week Tonight earlier this month.
HBO’s announcement comes a week after Stewart revealed he’s stepping down from The Daily Show later this year.
There has been much speculation regarding who will replace Stewart. Current correspondent Jessica Williams downplayed suggestions that she would be a good fit when she tweeted this week, “I’m not hosting. Thank you but I am extremely under-qualified for the job!”
Williams has received the support of thousands of fans who have endorsed her for The Daily Show hosting job on a Change.org petition. She even plays the host of The Daily Show — albeit in the year 2025 — in a scene in the upcoming time-travel comedy Hot Tub Time Machine 2.
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