Few television executives have had a more direct hand in shaping modern late night—or cable comedy more broadly—than Doug Herzog.
Herzog rose through the ranks at MTV, became president of Comedy Central in 1995, and later returned to Viacom to oversee its Music Entertainment Group. Across those jobs, he helped shepherd a remarkable run of television that included The Real World, South Park, The Daily Show, The Colbert Report, Key & Peele, and Inside Amy Schumer.
His fingerprints on late night are especially significant: Herzog conceived of The Daily Show, hired Jon Stewart to succeed Craig Kilborn, and later helped guide the franchise through Stewart’s departure and the hiring of Trevor Noah.
On this week’s episode of LateNighter’s Inside Late Night podcast, Herzog tells Mark Malkoff about the choices—and near-misses—behind that history.
When Kilborn decided to leave The Daily Show for CBS, Herzog’s first choice to replace him was Jimmy Kimmel.
At the time, Kimmel was co-hosting Win Ben Stein’s Money and working in Los Angeles radio. Herzog took him to dinner in Chicago and offered him The Daily Show.
Kimmel turned him down—“politely,” Herzog recalls.
Herzog initially assumed Jon Stewart wouldn’t want the job either. But after learning Stewart was interested, Herzog took him to lunch, heard his broad vision for the show, and quickly began working on a deal.
Years later, Stewart’s departure presented Herzog with another succession problem.
John Mulaney was high on Comedy Central’s list but turned the job down over dinner. Chris Rock, meanwhile, offered to host The Daily Show for one year.
Herzog said no.
“I might have been crazy to turn him down,” he says. “My attitude was, ‘I don’t wanna do this twice.’” Herzog wanted to find someone who could stay in the chair for the next decade.
The conversation also reaches beyond The Daily Show. Herzog recalls negotiating Comedy Central’s famous $50 million deal with Dave Chappelle, finding out Stephen Colbert was leaving The Colbert Report, developing MTV’s Remote Control in a Manhattan hotel room, and watching Norm Macdonald’s Bob Saget roast set initially struggle in the room.
Click the embed above to listen to Mark Malkoff’s full conversation with Doug Herzog now, or find Inside Late Night on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts.
