Roy Wood Jr. on the Future of ‘The Daily Show’ (Would He Host?) and Post-Strike Late-Night Biz at the Truth Seekers Summit

variety.com:

Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer Longtime “Daily Show” correspondent Roy Wood Jr. spoke about the future of late-night TV at Variety and Rolling Stone’s Truth Seekers Summit, presented by Showtime, saying he believes studios don’t realize that the more they look to downsize shows, the more likely they will face stiff competition from TikTok creators and other social media stars who can retain the rights to their content. “I think the cheaper that they choose to make the product, the more accessible and affordable you make it for outside competitors to come in,” Wood Jr.

said, when answering a question about if he was interested in hosting the Comedy Central talker following the exit of Trevor Noah, or any late-night show, in general. “That’s the thing that I don’t think the entertainment studios understand is, if you want to get rid of an audience if you want to make the show a little smaller, if you don’t want to do everything with the same glitz and glamour that you used to… Like, the fact that James Corden is being replaced by ‘@midnight,’ a game show that is much cheaper and quicker and easier to do with the same conversations about today’s issues — if you see that as a viable option, OK, cool.

But then you are relying solely on whoever the panelists are that night.” Wood says this gets in the way of “establishing a relationship” between late-night host and audience, which is what has made late night a “cornerstone in our society.” “We grow up with those people, we have a relationship with those people,” the comedian said.