Al Madrigal made a surprise return to The Daily Show Thursday night, slipping back into a familiar role.
Madrigal had been a correspondent at The Daily Show from 2011 through 2016, during portions of both its Jon Stewart- and Trevor Noah-hosted eras. The comedian, whose titles during his run included ‘Senior Latino Correspondent,’ stepped back into his news team role for a segment in which host Ronny Chieng looked at the United States’ recent attempts to get undocumented migrants to “self-deport” for a small stipend.
“A thousand dollars and a sack lunch for self-deporting? What idiot would take that offer?” Chieng asked. That’s when he was interrupted by Madrigal, whose appearance on set elicited cheers from the audience.
In the exchange, an enthusiastic Madrigal explains that he’s excited to be starting a new life in South Sudan, later revealing that he gave Chieng’s name to ICE as part of a ‘refer a friend’ program. Madrigal remains proud of his decision to self-deport until he finds out there are warlords in his new home country.
Madrigal previously did a one-off correspondent bit while visiting The Daily Show as an interview guest back in January—his first time visiting the show in nine years The performer posted behind-the-scenes photos of yesterday’s appearance on Instagram after it aired.
Madrigal was most recently a series regular on the NBC sitcom Lopez vs. Lopez, which was cancelled after three seasons earlier this month.
