Roy Wood Jr. clearly made the right decision not sticking around to see if Comedy Central might still give him The Daily Show hosting gig. While his former co-workers are rotating behind the desk on non-Jon Stewart days, he’s just been named the host of his own show, Have I Got News For You, on CNN, per The Hollywood Reporter. The series is based on the panel comedy of the same name over in the U.K., where two teams compete to answer questions about the week’s news. Each team has a regular captain (yet to be announced for the U.S. version) and a rotating panel of comedians, entertainers, and political figures.“For far too long immigrants have been coming to America and taking Black jobs, kudos to CNN and the immigrants at Hat Trick Productions for bringing a Black job to the States,” Wood said in a statement (via THR). “It is an honor to be a part of such a hallowed British institution to help make sense of the American institutions of chaos, name calling, disinformation, reality television and the 8-hour news cycle.”The U.K. has always had a stronger panel show culture than the U.S. with shows like Never Mind The Buzzcocks, 8 Out Of 10 Cats, Would I Lie To You, and more. Americans have had better luck adapting British reality competition series that became juggernauts like American Idol, Dancing With The Stars, The Weakest Link, etc., but there’s plenty of precedent for British comedic styles catching on in the U.S. Taskmaster continues to grow in popularity, for instance, and James Corden broke out with a more relaxed, Graham Norton-style talk show format during his late-night stint. The Daily Show itself was heavily influenced by HBO’s Not Necessarily The News, which was an adaptation of the British comedy Not The Nine O’Clock News. Speaking of The Daily Show, Wood respectfully parted ways with the program last year in order to open himself up to opportunities just like this. At the time, he said that “to figure out what I want to do next, just as a contingency and cover my own ass, I can’t do that while I’m doing my job as correspondent. It would disrespect the job of correspondent.” He also observed the lack of diversity in the late night space, noting, “I do think now they’re going to use economics to justify cuts. It’s an easier way to say that something isn’t racist when you just go, ‘Oh, we don’t have the money!’” Thankfully, CNN is investing in talent, because Have I Got News For You seems like a great fit for Wood.
