Comedy Central, continuing to prep for life after Jon Stewart, has hired writer-comedian Baratunde Thurston to lead production of original content for “The Daily Show with Trevor Noah.”
Thurston, author of bestseller “How to Be Black” and former director of digital for the Onion, is tasked with developing an “ongoing flow” of original content across social and digital outlets. He’ll work with Noah and the show’s executive producers to execute the multiplatform strategy, the cabler said.
“Baratunde brings a very unique set of skills to ‘The Daily Show.’ We’ve been admirers of his comedic work on all platforms for a long time,” Comedy Central prexy Michele Ganeless said. “We’re thrilled he is joining the team and can’t wait to see what he and the team create for the show under Trevor Noah.”
Popular on Variety
For his part, Thurston commented: “This must be what it’s like to have Nick Fury call and welcome you to the Avengers. I’m honored and floored and so many other verbs.”
Thurston is president and co-founder of comedy collective Cultivated Wit and co-host of podcast “About Race.” He has given talks at SXSW, TED and other events, and has served as a director’s fellow at the MIT Media Lab. In addition, the multihyphenate been an adviser to the Obama Administration and has more than 10 years of experience as a standup comedian.
“The Daily Show With Trevor Noah” premieres Monday, Sept. 28, on Comedy Central. The nightly series’ Twitter account has 3.8 million followers while Trevor Noah has 2.5 million and Thurston currently has 173,000. “Daily Show” also is on Facebook with 4.9 million fans and Instagram with 139,000 followers.
