EXCLUSIVE: Three episodes in, the digital The Daily Social Distancing Show with Trevor Noah is making the leap to linear television. Starting on Monday, March 23, The Daily Social Distancing Show, produced and distributed remotely, with Noah and the The Daily Show team working from their homes, will air weeknights in The Daily Show‘s 11 PM time slot on Comedy Central, part of ViacomCBS Entertainment & Youth Brands Group.
Following the production shutdown of all late-night shows at the end of last week amid an escalating COVID-19 pandemic, they started to return one by one with online videos featuring the hosts doing monologues and remote celebrity interviews from their homes. Stephen Colbert and Jimmy Fallon’s videos have migrated to TV, opening that night’s rerun of CBS’ The Late Show with Stephen Colbert and NBC’s The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, respectively.
The Daily Social Distancing Show with Trevor Noah launched on Wednesday, a couple of days after The Tonight Show, The Late Show and ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel Live started their daily videos.
From the start, The Daily Social Distancing Show with Trevor Noah, distributed via the program’s online and social channels, was the most elaborate among its YouTube-bound late-night brethren, featuring complex editing involving numerous short clips as well as images and graphics. It has been a ratings success, with the digital series amassing 3+ million viewers per episode within 24 hours of release on YouTube alone.
Now The Daily Show is the first late-night program to forego reruns, with a goal for new content to fill the show’s 11-11:30 PM slot nightly. The Daily Social Distancing Show also will continue to be available on the series’ social channels. That is expected to set a template for the other late-night shows, many of which are longer in length on linear TV, making the transition more difficult. It also involves bringing homemade video production up to meet the broadcast standards.
The Daily Social Distancing Show‘s digital editions have varied in length between 12-18 min (with no commercials), so expanding the episodes to fill a 20something minute slot (with no commercials) won’t be a stretch. The show also tested monologues, celebrity interviews and pieces with correspondents over the last three nights. Moving forward, Noah will also continue the donation drive supporting the charities No Kid Hungry and City Harvest.
Over the three digital editions, The Daily Show has covered an Italian success story, the closing of the U.S.-Canada border, America’s governors taking matters into their own hands amid President Trump’s misinformation and spring breakers insisting on partying. Plus Daily Show Correspondents Roy Wood Jr. and Jaboukie Young-White have checked in from their own living rooms.(You can watch the Friday episode below)
In addition to The Daily Social Distancing Show, the late-night talker’s team has been churning out digital-only content through the show’s various social channels. Noah has given viewers an inside look as he prepped for self quarantine – singing from his balcony (more than once) and cleaning his home. The Correspondents have joined in as well – Roy Wood Jr. reviewed pandemic movies, trading insider Michael Kosta gave stock tips, and together, Roy and Kosta played Trump’s Best Words Bracket.
Trevor Noah is Host, Writer and Executive Producer of The Daily Show with Trevor Noah, with Jen Flanz as Executive Producer and Showrunner, and Jill Katz as Executive Producer. Justin Melkmann is Co-Executive Producer. Max Browning, Eric Davies, Pam DePace, Ramin Hedayati, David Kibuuka, Zhubin Parang and Elise Terrell are Supervising Producers, and Jocelyn Conn is Producer. Dan Amira is the Head Writer, with Lauren Sarver Means and Daniel Radosh as Senior Writers. The series is directed by Paul Pennolino. Sarah Babineau, Ari Pearce and Michael Stanger are the Executives in Charge of Production for Comedy Central.