Josh Johnson Crushed His 'Daily Show' Stint in Every Way Possible

After spending years as a writer before jumping up to a correspondent with the return of Jon Stewart, comedian Josh Johnson got a crack at being The Daily Show host, and he freaking crushed it.

Despite the awkward timing of everything that’s been happening at Comedy Central’s parent company, Johnson did what he does best: Stuck to his hustle. He is easily one of the hardest-working comedians out there and literally drops a new special every week on YouTube. He came across my radar earlier this year when I caved and watched my first Facebook Reel after refusing to give into them for years. I was tired from a long day of work, recognized Johnson from The Daily Show, and gave one of his Reels a whirl. Immediately hooked.

Johnson’s got it all: Style, delivery, timing, which is why he’s built a loyal audience that showed up in droves for his hosting debut. He no doubt gained new followers, too — my son is among them — and Paramount has to be loving these numbers. Via LateNighter:

Per Nielsen live-plus-same-day data, Johnson’s first night behind the Daily Show desk drew 590,000 total viewers, making it the most-watched non-Stewart-hosted episode of the year by total audience. But the real story was in the demo, where Johnson pulled in 226,000 viewers aged 18-49, surpassing even Stewart’s top-rated episodes in the advertiser-coveted category.

Further, Johnson’s Daily Show outranked each of the late-night shows we track among younger viewers Tuesday night. It’s also the best demo performance for The Daily Show since September 10, 2024, when Stewart anchored a live post-debate episode following the Trump-Harris showdown.

Keep in mind, these numbers are before adding in streams from YouTube and Paramount+, so it’s safe to say, Johnson killed it. I watched all three nights, and real talk: I don’t think I ever watched a single episode when Trevor Noah was the host. Johnson especially came into his own on the second night and felt more relaxed. My only note is that I wish he were allowed to cook more, which was especially felt after Jon chewed up a whole night basically daring Paramount to cancel the show. Josh’s commentary on the news was even shorter on his final night, thanks to a Jordan Klepper segment. But I’m a diehard Josh Johnson fan, so of course, I wanted to see more of him.

Here are links to his opening commentary, which I highly recommend: Tuessay, Wednesday, and Thursday.

And below is Josh Johnson’s interview with Samara Cyn. You can tell from his socials that he was very passionate about making her television debut happen, so hopefully, sharing this clip adds more eyeballs to the mix: