“Roy Wood Jr. Left The Daily Show Due to Host Insecurity and Merger”

Roy Wood Jr. told Gayle King that one of the reasons he left his role as “Daily Show” correspondent 10 months after Trevor Noah’s departure was because he feared the next host “may not want me.”

“The Daily Show thing is, ‘Oh, Trevor left.’ Okay, what’s next for me if I leave?'” he told King on her SiriusXM show Thursday. “Maybe it’s not time yet, but what’s next for me if I leave? Huh? What if they get a host who doesn’t want me?”

He also mentioned the uncertainty surrounding the Paramount-CBS merger that existed at the time of his resignation. “I don’t like thinking like that and creating these things, but we also live in a time where they spend $100 million to make a movie and then don’t release it. Anyone can get it.”

Wood also explained that he left at this time to take advantage of the 2024 election year and see how this time could help his career.

“When would be the best time to shop a show or have the opportunity to be hired for something else? It would be in an election year… Because otherwise that window doesn’t come for four years, big dog,” he told King.

He added that he didn’t want to wait to get the boot — or, as he put it, “wake up one morning on Twitter and see that I’m dunzo.”

Wood’s new show, “Have I Got News For You,” premiered on CNN last month. It stars Wood as host of a news quiz show, leading teams of rotating guests led by Amber Ruffin and Michael Ian Black.

Wood was one of several “Daily Show” regulars to fill the Comedy Central show’s newsroom while producers searched for a new host. He previously expressed his frustration at waiting for the network’s decision.

“The Daily Show” was set to name Hasan Minhaj as its new host, but changed his mind when the veracity of his anecdotes about profiling and other racial biases were questioned in September 2023.

“Have I Got News For You” airs Saturdays at 9pm Eastern/6pm Pacific. SiriusXM’s “Gayle King In The House” airs Thursdays from 5-6pm ET on Radio Andy channel 102.