Trevor Noah's “Daily Show” Arc

Comedy Central's newest host arrives with Jon Stewart on his side.

The tapping of Trevor Noah to head "The Daily Shows" seems destined to unleash a flood observations based on what the young comic isn't:

He's not a household name, at least not in the U.S. He's not an American. He's not a woman – a cruel punch line to the sad joke of men filling all eight major late night weeknight TV comedy show host positions after a year-plus period during which six slots were in play.

But Noah arrives with potential positives: At 31, he'll be the youngest major late night TV comedy host since Conan O'Brien debuted on NBC's "Late Night" 22 years ago. The Soweto-reared son of a black South African mother and a white, European father promises to bring a different, not entirely Western perspective to late night comedy. His biggest advantage: Jon Stewart is in his corner.

Stewart, in his 16-year-plus stint reinventing the fake news game, has proved himself TV’s best judge of comedy talent since “Saturday Night Live” producer Lorne Michaels. Stewart made his Comedy Central show the springboard for the likes of Steve Carell, as well as late night comedy figures Stephen Colbert, Larry Wilmore and John Oliver, all of whom quickly made strong impressions with their own programs.

Another key part of Stewart's talent, as he showed when he turned over his "Daily Show" seat to Oliver during the summer of 2013, is that he's created a franchise strong enough to withstand his departure.

Stewart took that summer hiatus to direct "Rosewater," a drama based an Iranian journalist’s memoir of his imprisonment. That's a sign of Stewart’s growing interest in news outside the U.S. – an interest that likely played a role in the selection of Noah, who previously hosted a talk show in his native South Africa and enjoys an international following as a stand-up comic.

Oliver's outsider status helps fuel his comedy, which is propelled by a buoyant celebration and mocking of America’s excesses (case in point: his great bit on the salmon cannon). Noah has offered his own take on the U.S. during his three “Daily Show” appearances, while displaying qualification for the hosting job: He's smart, funny – and edgy. “I never thought I’d be more afraid of police in America than South Africa,” he said in his opening joke during his first “Daily Show” appearance late last year, which came amid protests over the deaths of unarmed black men at the hands of police in Missouri and New York.

It remains unclear exactly when Stewart will step down. But Monday’s announcement wasn’t about him as much as about the future of a show where he’s always been willing to allow talented contributors to create their own moments of Zen.

Jere Hester is founding director of the award-winning, multimedia NYCity News Service at the City University of New York Graduate School of Journalism. He is also the author of "Raising a Beatle Baby: How John, Paul, George and Ringo Helped us Come Together as a Family." Follow him on Twitter.

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