After four years, one of the show’s best contributors is leaving to work on her own Comedy Central project – spelling more trouble in the post-Stewart era

Jessica Williams, one of the few recognizable faces on The Daily Show with Trevor Noah, announced on Wednesday that she is leaving after Thursday’s episode. She’s been with the show for four years after joining at age 22 and given one of the biggest and best platforms for emerging talent in television. Now, like Steve Carell, Stephen Colbert and Rob Corddry, she’s moving on to bigger and better things.

Williams joined the show two years after the website Jezebel created a firestorm when it pointed out how few female writers and other staff worked at The Daily Show. She was responsible for some of the funniest and sharpest segments, often on the subjects of race and gender, like this viral hit about how she deals with catcalls on the street or when she reminded America that Beyoncé is black.

After Noah took over the show from Jon Stewart last year, she was one of the only holdovers to usher in the new era. Williams’ departure is another sign that things are shaky at the former bastion of late-night political comedy. Ratings are down significantly, with Noah averaging between 800,000 and one million viewers a night – not a disaster, but nonetheless a 37% decrease from when Stewart was at the helm. And that is during one of the craziest election cycles in American political history, when they should be skyrocketing.



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The critics have turned on the show as well, with many pieces popping up about how the show has lost its edge. It’s also lost its buzz. With Stewart behind the desk, even non-viewers would see some of his better rants and take downs in videos featured in their Facebook or Twitter feeds. That isn’t happening anymore, especially with the political virality of Daily Show alums John Oliver and Samantha Bee. Oliver’s takedown of Donald Trump alone got 59m Facebook video views and another 20m YouTube views. Bee, who many thought should replace Stewart, regularly attracts upwards of 600,000 viewers to her weekly TBS show.

Many thought Williams would also be a suitable replacement for Stewart, but the job went to the little-known Noah instead. This is a good time for Williams to capitalize on her fame and get out while the getting is good. After all, she has a very popular and funny podcast, 2 Dope Queens, produced by WNYC Studios and oodles and oodles of talent.

Williams won’t be going far. She’s signed a development deal with Comedy Central to work on a scripted show of her own (on top of being a great comedian, Williams started her career as an actor), which she’ll be working on with former Broad City writer Naomi Ekperigin. That sounds like a wonderful formula that plenty of fans will tune in for – probably more than currently watch The Daily Show.