• by J. Max Robins , Featured Columnist, September 30, 2015

Props to Comedy Central for its savvy launch of the Trevor Noah iteration of  “The Daily Show,” roadblocking his debut across parent Viacom's suite of networks, including MTV, VH1 and BET. The upshot was that 3.5 million viewers tuned in, around the same number that viewed Noah’s predecessor Jon Stewart’s final night at the helm.

With Stewart fans checking the new guy out and curious newbies sampling, it was wise to stick with the format that worked so well for 16 years for the iconic Stewart.  There was a new guy in the anchor chair, but it was still the same smart, sassy, silly take on news profound and profane.  Noah even closed with “the moment of Zen.”

Watching a comfortable, affable Noah in his first week, I'm seeing a method to what initially seemed to me like Comedy Central's madness in selecting a relatively unknown replacement for Stewart. Noah felt like a default selection. Much higher-profile choices such as John Oliver were tied up elsewhere — or, like Amy Schumer, weren't interested in filling Stewart's large shoes.

Now it's clear that Noah, who is a superstar in his native South Africa and a major star in the U.K., was a well-reasoned choice. This could indeed be the success story Comedy Central needs at a time when its ratings are down double digits, and the network has lost not only Stewart, but Stephen Colbert and the hit “Key and Peele.”  

Having a 31-year-old host — two decades younger than Stewart —with his own brand of devilish charm, this “Daily Show” in the early going has a younger feel and one that’s decidedly more multicultural. “Now it feels like the family has a new stepdad, and he’s black,” joked Noah — the debut one-liner that resonated most on Twitter, by the way.

A funny segment featuring new “Daily Show” correspondent Roy Wood Jr., identified as “Senior Mars Correspondent,” reported on the recent discovery of water on Mars.  The host made it clear he'd like to go to Mars one day, but Wood told him no way that was going to happen: “Black people ain’t goin’ to Mars! And that includes you, Trevor!” (Wood is also black.)

Using social media as another barometer, the handoff from the iconic Stewart to the relatively unknown Noah was a smooth one.  There were 3.6 times more positive than negative tweets about “The Daily Show” in the two hours surrounding his debut, according to Amobee Brand Intelligence. Contrast that to Stephen Colbert's  heavily touted “Late Show”  Sept. 28th premiere: the Amobee survey noted that the former host of Comedy Central's eponymous “Colbert Report” got  twice as many tweets as Noah. Given that Colbert is a household name and Noah is relatively unknown, the new “Daily Show” host was off to “a strong start,” according to Amobee.

Agreed. Comedy Central has given its new “Daily Show” host plenty of runway, and Noah seems prepped to take off.