Megyn Kelly thinks Comedy Central’s “The Daily Show” has nowhere to go but up now that “ratings killer” Trevor Noah will give up hosting duties after seven seasons.
“He’s going away and they’re going to find a replacement and he’s sort of making it sound like it was his choice, that he realized some things during the pandemic,” Kelly said during the Tuesday episode of her podcast, “The Megyn Kelly Show.”
But Kelly suggested that the show’s ratings forced Comedy Central to push Noah out.
“He was a ratings killer,” she said of Noah. “That’s the truth.”
“That show went down into the toilet with Trevor Noah at the helm. It wasn’t funny. Nobody ever laughed.”
Kelly said Noah “wasn’t the lead political commentator” like Stephen Colbert, another former Comedy Central star who went on to succeed David Letterman as host of CBS’s “Late Show.”
The former Fox News primetime star, who is a lifelong Catholic, then played a montage of Noah’s “unfunnyness.” The clip showed “The Daily Show” host denouncing the scandal-tarred Catholic Church as a “molesting club with an opening prayer.”
Kelly also played a clip in which Noah commented on coronavirus lockdown measures that restricted church gatherings, quipping how “keeping the priests separate from the congregation might not be the worst idea.”
The podcaster also showed a clip of Noah denouncing Trump for giving the country “judicial herpes” with his Supreme Court appointments.
The Post has sought comment from Noah’s representatives.
Noah, the 38-year-old South African-born stand-up comic, announced on Thursday that he would end his reign as host of the long-running show.
“It’s been absolutely amazing, it’s something that I never expected and I found myself thinking throughout the time, everything we’ve gone through … and I realized after seven years my time is up,” Noah told a shocked studio audience.
He acknowledged the tumultuous era in which he steered the show, which spanned the entirety of the Trump presidency as well as the coronavirus pandemic.
“I’ve loved trying to figure out how to make people laugh even when the stories are particularly sh—y on the worst days,” Noah said.
“We’ve laughed together, we’ve cried together.”
In 2015, Noah, who joined the show a year earlier as a correspondent, was elevated to replace Jon Stewart.
At the height of its popularity, the Stewart-hosted show averaged some 2.5 million nightly viewers.
With Noah at the helm, however, viewership for “The Daily Show” shrank to between 400,000 and 800,000 nightly viewers.
“We are grateful to Trevor for our amazing partnership over the past seven years,” a Comedy Central spokesperson said in a statement to The Post.
“With no timetable for his departure, we’re working together on next steps. As we look ahead, we’re excited for the next chapter in the 25+ year history of ‘The Daily Show’ as it continues to redefine culture through sharp and hilarious social commentary, helping audiences make sense of the world around them.”
Additional reporting by Michael Starr
