New Daily Show host Trevor Noah received another failing grade from a TV critic, this time from the Hollywood trade paper Variety. The headline was “Comedy Central’s Daily Show Has Lost Its Edge.” It's now "eminently missable."
Critic Maureen Ryan thought rejected Jon Stewart replacements like John Oliver and Samantha Bee were better....because they offer "urgency." Translation: they pretty much projectile-vomit liberal attitude, while Noah is just joking, not ranting:
Given that the current American political season is more chaotic and unpredictable than any in recent memory, the show’s strange affability creates a feeling of cognitive dissonance. It’s as if our reliable attack dog had suddenly lost its teeth and self-medicated with Xanax.
One of Noah’s main problems is that he treats his opening news round-up as if it were a stand-up set at a comedy club. Stewart’s pointed opening remarks often drove viewership, especially in an election year. But Noah’s routine is merely a string of middling, even groan-worthy jokes tied together with nothing more substantial than the host’s dimpled grin.He delivers his jokes as if he’s already charmed by them, even though they often lack bite and have tired hooks. Noah on Marco Rubio: “Like so many Cubans before him, he got smoked by an obnoxious, rich man in Florida.”
The lack of urgency in this new Daily Show, coupled with the absence of a strongly defined worldview, have conspired to make the show eminently missable. That translates to ratings that have sunk more than 30% vs. a year ago, even though one would expect an election-year boost.
By contrast, Ryan likes everyone else in the late-night liberal-satire competition. Samantha Bee’s “sharp writing” offered “the bracing blast the year has needed.” If you’re not a lefty, you’re thinking she’s a lot less funny and a lot more angry.
To Ryan, John Oliver “has built a loyal following by energetically delivering the one thing Noah’s show needs most: a distinct point of view. “Last Week Tonight’s” long segments have the kind of thematic unity, intelligent structure and logical crescendos you find in a well-wrought piece of music.”
Ryan isn’t really as impressed by Noah’s follow-up act, Larry Wilmore. He hasn’t matched Stephen Colbert, but on racial matters, “Wilmore has found a multitude of serious and sarcastic ways to come at that crucial topic, and his riffs on the news of the day are often dryly amusing as well.”
