Centenary Grad Scores Massive Ratings In ‘Daily Show’ Hosting Debut

Another Shreveport success story. Centenary College grad Josh Johnson made his debut as host on Comedy Central's 'The Daily Show' this week, and hit it out of the park.

Johnson, an Alexandria, Louisiana native, graduated from Shreveport's Centenary College in 2012. From there, he broke into the world of late night TV with Jimmy Fallon, writing for The Tonight Show. After working on 50+ episodes of The Tonight Show, he made his way to Comedy Central.

In 2017, Johnson started writing for 'The Daily Show'. He's written over 860 episodes for the show, and became an on-camera Correspondent in 2023. As of this week, Johnson took over in a host capacity, becoming the youngest host in the history of 'The Daily Show'.

How Big Was Josh Johnson's Daily Show Debut?

Johnson didn't only set a record for being the youngest 'Daily Show' host this week, he also blew the ratings out of the water. Not just against the competition that was airing in the same time slot Tuesday night, but also against 'The Daily Show' ratings for the rest of the year.

Tuesday night was the highest rated non-Jon-Stewart episode of the year. More impressively, it was the highest rated show in the target demo of the night.

Marketers and advertisers covet the Millenials more than any other demographic, meaning the target demo is Persons 18-49. Mostly because Millenials make up around 25% of the population, but also because they're the spenders...making them the golden demographic. Especially when you drill down to the 18-34 crowd specifically.

Inside the Persons 18-49 demo, Josh Johnson's debut on 'The Daily Show' led late night ratings. Outperforming the programming on CBS, NBC, ABC, and Fox News. The increase from week-to-week on 'The Daily Show' was 154% in the Persons 18-49 ratings.

Did Josh Johnson Have The Best Daily Show Ratings of the Year?

In overall Persons 12+ ratings (that means literally everyone from 12-years-old to dead), Johnson's debut did not set the world on fire. But that's not an important statistic to marketers and advertisers.

The "money demo", like we already talked about, is Millennials. Which brings us to Johnson's debut numbers with Persons 18-49...where Johnson had the highest ratings for 'The Daily Show' for this year. Meaning, that in the target that matters, Johnson had the best 'The Daily Show' ratings of the year.

What's Next For Josh Johnson?

Johnson now joins a rotating cast of hosts for 'The Daily Show', and it's a pretty strong probability that he will see regular stints of hosting duties. With ratings like that, it would be hard to keep him off the show.

Regardless of whether he's hosting or not, Johnson will continue to write for the show. He will also continue finding viewers and fans online with his brilliant long-form "explanation" style of stand-up. Which we should also mention that he does tour often, so that will be something else in the "next" category for Johnson. Who knows, maybe Shreveport will earn a stand-up performance.