Roy Wood Jr. said he had the opportunity to get the Daily show host, but know that it is a long process and being a correspondent is too “mentally stressful” to do while also trying to “figure out what’s next for myself.”
The comedian and former Daily show correspondent opened up more about his decision to leave the show during a Monday talk show appearance Sherri. The conversation started with host Sherri Shepherd saying, “I’m really sad because everyone was rooting for you to take over as host,” to which Wood responded, “It could still happen.
”
“I just don’t want to do the work in the meantime,” he joked. “I was shocked by the decision myself, because we were on strike for five months. Who do you know has stopped striking and quit his job?
‘
Wood, who hosted the White House Correspondents dinner earlier this year, made it clear that it wasn’t his plan to leave the show at the time, but after a while he understood how long the process would take, forcing him to make some choices about his next steps.
“If you start looking at the late night situation and television as a whole, it’s going to be a long process to figure out who’s going to sit in that seat, and I respect that process. But while you have your process, I need to have my process, so I’ll be here to make sure all my ducks are in a row too, just in case that doesn’t turn out the way I hoped,” he explained.
He also opened up about the intensity of being a correspondent for Comedy Central’s late night series, saying, “It’s not easy.”
“It’s not like hard work, but it is a mentally stressful job, so I want to make sure I get that stress out of my space so I have space to figure out what’s next for myself – just in case I not in a situation seat comes in January,” he told Shepherd. “So I had to leave. I’m sorry. That’s what it is. It’s not personal. This is the first job I ever left where I had to clean out my office.
Wood went on to describe the process of finding a new host for the show following the departure of Trevor Noah in December 2022, who thanked the comedian for his “eight years” with The Daily Show.
“It’s basically, ‘Hey, do you want to get married?’ Then Comedy Central says, “Well, we’re dating.” Okay, well, go ahead and date, and I’ll be here to put myself together for whoever wants to be with me when the time comes,” he said.
