Did Trevor Noah’s Mediocre ‘The Daily Show’ Ratings And Reviews Hurt Larry Wilmore’s Show?

Judging by the latest ratings from The Daily Show, Trevor Noah continues to have bad luck. Even during the election season, he shows no sign of gaining a sizable audience. According to Showbuzz Daily, Noah only attracted 651,000 viewers on Tuesday night and only 776,000 on Monday night. To make things worse, Larry Wilmore, whose show has just been cancelled, has blamed Trevor Noah for his failure. Vulture has the news.

“I mean, our numbers were great when Jon Stewart was there, so I don’t know. I could make the argument that Jon not being our lead-in hurt our numbers,” Wilmore said in the Vulture interview.

Larry’s cancellation and his interview have caused quite a ripple on Twitter.

Meow!!! I wonder if/how soon @Trevornoah will respond?? https://t.co/Rq11rgMgfq

— Perez (@ThePerezHilton) August 17, 2016

So far, Trevor Noah hasn’t responded. Instead, he has been increasing his criticism of Donald Trump on a nightly basis. According to Entertainment Weekly, Noah mocked Trump’s “vetting” process on his show Tuesday night.

“Trevor Noah mocked Donald Trump’s latest stance on immigration during Tuesday’s episode of The Daily Show, imagining a U.S. customs agent as some kind of perverted game show host.”

The article adds that Noah then mocked Donald Trump for his speech pattern and showed a pre-taped skit, where a customs agent in Trump’s hair questioned an American citizen about his American credentials.

The audience certainly ate it up, but it hasn’t saved Trevor Noah from becoming a joke to television critics. Sophia A. McClennen of Salon recently penned a very critical essay about Noah.

“Trevor Noah, you’re no Jon Stewart. Channeling our own inner Lloyd Bentsen facing off to Dan Quayle in the 1988 vice presidential race, we have all imagined telling Noah that he has no business being compared to one of the greatest political comedians of all time.”

McClennen notes that even Noah would say that he’s no Jon Stewart, but she believes Noah has failed to be anything close to funny. Vanity Fair notes that Trevor Noah is helping the downfall of Comedy Central.

“Comedy Central is in a ratings free fall, with Trevor Noah’s Daily Show taking the biggest hit. (In May of this year, the Wrap calculated that Noah had lost 35 percent of Stewart’s audience. The numbers have dropped even lower since.) And it’s not just audiences fleeing Comedy Central: the network is losing the cache that comes with critical acclaim and awards prestige.”

However, some think Trevor Noah has been steadily improving. The Colorado Springs Gazette recently wrote an article about how Trevor Noah is finally emerging from Jon Stewart‘s shadow.

“The new Daily Show host is finding his footing after a rough start replacing the man who made the broadcast essential. His comedy has grown sharper, he’s becoming more comfortable with his adopted country and he’s finding an audience of his own, even if smaller than his predecessor’s,” says critic David Bauder.

The article adds that Noah has won over viewers by mixing comedy and forceful opinion by advocating for stricter gun control while noting that it’s possible to both support police and groups like #BlackLivesMatter.

So far, it looks like Comedy Central has no intentions of cancelling Trevor Noah’s hosting job at The Daily Show. Perhaps firing two African-American hosts in one month would generate nothing but bad PR for Comedy Central, who certainly doesn’t need any new scandal. Do you think they should keep Trevor Noah as the host of The Daily Show? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section.

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