After 25 years and four Hell’s Kitchen locations, The Daily Show is leaving the neighborhood. Don’t worry though, they are not moving too far — they will be setting up to broadcast the next season of the show from Times Square in September.
Multiple sources confirmed the move — along with the good news that the Hell’s Kitchen studios will be hosting a new late show as Stephen Colbert and Charlamagne Tha God team up for Tha God’s Honest Truth with Lenard ‘Charlamagne’ McKelvey which is set to debut in the fall.
The Daily Show first broadcast with Craig Kilborn in 1996 from WNET’s studios at the Hudson Hotel on W58th Street. A year later they moved to the NEP 54 studios on W54th Street (later used for The Colbert Report) — but most of the show’s life has been on 11th Avenue and W52nd Street at the NEP 52 Studio. That building became a landmark for drivers with a billboard of Jon Stewart or Trevor Noah beaming out from the corner. During the pandemic, the show continued to be broadcast from Hell’s Kitchen as Trevor Noah hosted the show remotely from his penthouse apartment on W50th Street.
Comedy Central did not return our requests for comment.
For the past few weeks, neighbors have reported seeing the set of The Daily Show being broken down and put in dumpsters on 11th Avenue. This week, the offices were cleared — with an eclectic selection of soft toys, cardboard cutouts, fake money and “top secret” files heading for the garbage.
Daily Show host Trevor Noah will still be able to walk to work to the ViacomCBS studios in Times Square — but it will be more of a challenge to keep the anonymity he’s enjoyed with his far west side stroll to work before the pandemic.
Meanwhile, the new show at the Hell’s Kitchen studio will see radio personality Charlamagne Tha God bring his 4.5 million morning radio show audience from The Breakfast Club to television. The new weekly 30-minute show will premiere at 10pm on Friday September 17.
Variety said last month that Charlamagne has made a career out of his contrarian reputation, calling himself at various times the “prince of pissing people off,” the “ruler of rubbing you the wrong way” and the “architect of aggravation.”
Charlamagne is confident about the success of the new show, saying: “My South Carolina brethren Stephen Colbert is the ultimate co-sign in the late-night space and he wouldn’t co-sign no bullshit! We are going to win an Emmy next year for best lighting direction, I can feel it!!!”
Former Daily Show host Jon Stewart is back recording in Hell’s Kitchen. Last month, he was at AMV’s studios on W57th Street, taping the first episodes of The Problem with Jon Stewart for broadcast on Apple TV+ in the fall.
