The Colbert Report & Every Other Spinoff Of The Daily Show, Ranked
Mary Kassel is a Senior Writer & Critic who joined the Screen Rant team in 2023.
After graduating from Emerson College with a degree in Media Arts Production, Kassel started at Screen Rant with a focus on the critical analysis side of movies and television while continuing to work on set in film production.
At Screen Rant, Kassel primarily writes for the Classic TV section, mining their encyclopedic knowledge of television history for content. However, they also contribute to the Books team and review both film and television as a critic.
There have been many takes on the late night TV show format, but The Daily Show might be the most iconic. Ushering in a new era of sharp satire and political commentary, The Daily Show is most associated with one of the series' long-time hosts, Jon Stewart, as well as his successor, Trevor Noah. However, the series did a great job of finding unique comedians coming up in the late night world. The many hilarious correspondents on The Daily Show have gone on to have great careers in their own right.
While audiences have loved this genre of TV for years, there's an argument to be made that late night talk shows are dying out as streaming television takes over and the popularity of podcasts grows. However, the specific voice of every comedian who takes on a show in the tradition of The Daily Show has the opportunity to push the format forward and might help save the genre in years to come.
These late night hosts' previous projects include different series, both fictional and rooted in reality, but it's not hard to see why so many writers and correspondents who worked on The Daily Show went on to create their own versions of the show. Few have lived up to the reputation of the original series, but there's a reason why there are so many spinoffs. The comedy angle of these late night shows lets them give more incisive commentary than their competitors, while remaining entertaining.
8 Patriot Act With Hasan Minhaj (2018–2020)
After leaving The Daily Show in 2018, Hasan Minhaj took a lot of his charisma and sense of humor with him. Fortunately, audiences didn't have to wait long to see him back on their screens. Though Patriot Act with Hasan Minhaj only ran for two years, it made its mark on Netflix, proving that streaming services could take on political commentary talk shows like this.
As the host, Minhaj touched upon a wide variety of topics from the video game industry to global politics and conflicts. Returning to the show now, many years after its initial cancelation, demonstrates how well it holds up and how unafraid Minhaj was to criticize some of the most powerful players in media, including the series' production company, Netflix.
7 Wyatt Cenac's Problem Areas (2018–2019)
Wyatt Cenac's Problem Areas draws inspiration from The Daily Show in the loosest sense, as the show could be classified more as a docuseries than a talk show. However, this is what Wyatt Cenac set out to do in creating the program. Instead of creating the impression that, as a host, he's removed from the rest of the world and his guests, Cenac sets out to insert himself into the environments he's investigating.
Cenac's perspective on the topics at hand shines through in every episode, giving the series a sense of personal importance in the face of the far-reaching system issues that the show tackles. Since the show couldn't be defined by the traditional genre conventions, it didn't last as long as its competitors. Despite this, the long-term impact of the more experimental structure of the show can be felt in the recent rise in popularity of man-on-the-street internet talk shows.
6 Important Things With Demetri Martin (2009–2010)
Before he hosted Important Things with Demetri Martin, Demetri Martin served as the Senior Youth Correspondent on The Daily Show. While this was played for laughs, there's no question that Martin and his humor were a product of their time, and that Important Things is a great example of early Millennial humor of the late 2000s and early 2010s.
Intercutting the show with stand-up, sketches, and recurring segments that let Martin speak his mind on topics that were equally poignant and mundane, Important Things wasn't trying to be like other late night programs. Known for his deadpan humor and understated performance, Martin wasn't the outlandishly outgoing host audiences were used to, but he made his mark on the genre.
Question 1 of 3
multi-answer Select all that apply Where do you most often watch satirical news or political comedy today?
Traditional TV channels or live broadcasts
Traditional TV channels or live broadcasts 0%5 The Opposition with Jordan Klepper / Klepper (2017–2019)
While some hosts take a more serious tone on their late night shows, others, like Jordan Klepper, lean further into the outlandish side of comedy. However, this doesn't mean that The Opposition with Jordan Klepper was any less intellectual and biting than other series of the genre. Klepper was defined by his affectations in conversation with real people, and this specific brand of humor was timely in the late 2010s.
Though The Opposition with Jordan Klepper went on to become Klepper, the host retained his humor and used his background at The Daily Show well. While tradition dictated that Klepper had to spend time behind a desk during the show, he was always at his best when he was on the ground doing more unscripted work.
4 The Nightly Show With Larry Wilmore (2015–2016)
It's a shame that The Nightly Show with Larry Wilmore didn't get more of a chance to find its footing, as it was a compelling addition to the genre led by the charming titular host, Larry Wilmore. Airing on Comedy Central and structured similarly to The Daily Show and The Colbert Report, The Nightly Show faced many comparisons to the two iconic series that came before it.
However, The Nightly Show was hardly a copy-and-paste version of a show audiences had already seen, and Wilmore was more than ready to get in the driver's seat after his many years working on The Daily Show. Wilmore spoke out about the pressures and prejudices he faced as a Black host in a predominantly white field, which served the series as a whole. The Nightly Show with Larry Wilmore grew in quality throughout its too-short run, and should be remembered alongside its more-famous predecessors.
3 Full Frontal With Samantha Bee (2016–2022)
It's no secret that in the landscape of late night and primetime talk show comedy, women rarely get the same opportunities as their male counterparts. There have been few talk shows hosted by women, and Samantha Bee paved the way for the women who have taken on these roles in recent years. When Full Frontal with Samantha Bee first premiered in 2016, Bee had to be even better than the competition, and she rose to the occasion.
Cutting her teeth as a correspondent on The Daily Show, Bee was more than capable of leading her own program, and she didn't shy away from the challenges that came with it. In each season of the show, Bee is unashamedly critical of the world around her and pushes the audience to reflect on their own position in the world, and she makes this commentary hysterical no matter what.
2 Last Week Tonight With John Oliver (2014–)
Unlike many of the best late night series of the past few decades, Last Week Tonight with John Oliver is still on the air and still packing a punch. Fans might recognize Oliver from when John Oliver guest-hosted The Daily Show in 2013, making his mark on the series and paving the way for his future on Last Week Tonight. Or from his small recurring role on the hit sitcom Community.
Regardless, Oliver has become more of a household name than many comedians thanks to the detailed research and deep dives that Last Week Tonight with John Oliver is known for. While other series might discuss a wide array of topics in an episode, never getting to the meat of the issue, Oliver gets into the weeds every time, leaving the viewer feeling like an expert themselves by the end of the show.
1 The Colbert Report (2005–2014)
It's surprising to think that The Colbert Report only ran for 11 seasons, and nine years, when the show still feels like such a standby of the era of satirical late night. Hosted by Stephen Colbert, the series saw Colbert transform into a fictionalized caricature of himself, inspired by talk show pundits of the era. Larger than life and always controversial, it was through this character that Colbert was able to make razor-sharp commentary.
After making his name with The Colbert Report, Stephen Colbert hosted The Late Show for CBS. While his tenure there ended in some controversy, with CBS canceling the series after Colbert's outspoken criticism of President Donald Trump, this doesn't change Colbert's lasting legacy. The Colbert Report might have been developed thanks to The Daily Show, but it became just as influential thanks to Colbert himself.
- Release Date
- July 22, 1996
- Network
- Comedy Central
- Directors
- Chuck O'Neil
- Writers
- Allison Silverman, Charlie Grandy, Hallie Haglund, Sam Means, Wyatt Cenac, Scott Jacobson, Rob Kutner, Rich Blomquist, Jonathan Bines, Elliott Kalan, Aaron Bergeron, Tom Johnson, John Oliver, Jason Reich, Eric Drysdale, Daniel J. Goor, Chris Regan, Travon Free, Rachel Axler
KioskNews shows a cleaned-up reading view extracted from the publisher’s page — the original always lives on their site, not ours.