I agree. And keeping with the spirit of The Daily Show, I think she has the best thing going.
Ultimately, I have the most respect for Steve Carell. He’s gone-on to show he’s multi-dimensional. But I don’t consider him as apprentice-y as Sam B.
One 7-8 minute segment was never going to be long enough for a panel discussion (Bill Maher’s panel runs 40is minutes); doing it four time a week made it really hard to fill the panel every night - many times two of the three on the panel were writers/producers of the show. I think Larry would have done just fine in a Daily Show format, but no way would they run the same format back to back.
I’ll mention a couple that haven’t been mentioned yet.
John Hodgeman. He’s brilliant and funny. He’s moved into an entirely different world, though. He lives in the literary world more than in the television world. I guess he was kind of always there – his time on TDS was the exception.
Jessica Williams. She’s younger than most of the people on the list, and I expect great things from her. She may end up being an actress more than a comedian – I think she has the ability.
That’s quite a list.
Jon Stewart is the world’s most influential living comedian. This sort of leadership puts him above greats such as Carson or Letterman. It even puts him above the Marx Brothers, who were funnier.
ETA: Runner up: Lorne Michaels I guess. But he’s really a producer. Admittedly his project list is encyclopedic.
For anyone missing Larry Wilmore, he has a podcast: Black on the Air.
It comes out every other Thursday or so. He’s done long conversations with comedians and sports stars, but rants about politics too. I miss his show but I’m glad I still get to hear his viewpoint.
I voted for Trevor Noah. I find him really funny and I think he did well coming in as an unknown (in the US anyway) and picking up where Jon left off. I like his regular stand up too. A friend of mine says she doesn’t watch the Daily Show anymore because it’s not the same without Jon. I miss Jon a lot but felt Trevor deserved a chance, and he was picked by Jon to take over.
That said, I love John Oliver, but his show is only once a week (necessary for the in-depth coverage) while Trevor is doing this 4 nights a week for most weeks and doesn’t take off for a few months.
I like Jessica Williams, I thought she was great too, I hope she makes it big.
I watched Samantha Bee’s show a couple times but didn’t get into it. I can’t explain why, even as a correspondent I just wasn’t impressed.
I voted Rob Riggle because he did incredible work on his pieces embedded in Afghanistan. As a Marine, he had credibility with them.
He also had one of the funniest line ever on the show talking about Abu Ghraib. Paraphrasing “Congress wanted no torture, of anyone, at any time while the Bush administration wanted to do anything, to anyone, at any time, and not tell anyone. So you can see that there’s some wiggle room. And if you know anything about torture, you do not want to end up in the wiggle room.”
The turn of metaphorical “wiggle room” into Room 101 still makes me giggle.
I voted John Oliver. He’s so smart and funny. At least he was when I was watching it. I don’t have HBO so haven’t seen him in awhile.
Most of his episodes are available on YouTube.
John Oliver. Of course.
I don’t begrudge Colbert’s leaving the Report. He wore that character forever, and it must have been frustrating and limiting for such an intelligent, creative, caring man. He’s gone on to contribute even more to the national consciousness, since he’s not on a niche network where like-minded people go. It took him awhile to find his own voice on a major network, but he seems to be thriving now that he’s not struggling so much to moderate them.
I love Colbert as much now as ever, but Oliver really ran with Stewart’s lessons. I think he follows in his footsteps more. I voted Oliver, but love Colbert more, and have a new respect for Samantha Bee, who has done much better with her show than I ever thought she would. I did not care for her on the Daily Show at all.
Much as I’d love to show some homeboy love and vote for Trevor Noah, it has to be John Oliver - Colbert is also a contender, but Oliver is miles ahead of either.
He’s more than followed in Stewart’s footsteps. He’s raced ahead of him and is now the Master, I’m afraid.
I agree with all of this, and voted Colbert. I think he has stepped into a bigger, more staid format and injected it with energy and must-see-ness. He got Scaramucci, Billy Bush, and other “gets” first and as he has gotten more comfortable, has found ways to ask questions and make points. IMHO, he says the stuff we wish we could say, in a way that doesn’t feel filtered. I hear the clear Fuck You Trump in what he’s saying and I appreciate him saying it.
In order to hear that Fuck You, Trump, you kind of have to read between the lines, still, him being on CBS and all.
Oliver doesn’t have to do that. And I find that quite refreshing.
I hear ya, but I think Colbert does just fine clarifying his meaning. 
Fair Rarity - thanks for the tip about the Larry Wilmore: Black on the Air podcast. I just listened to his interview with Ta-Nehisi Coates - really good. And yeah, Wilmore isn’t limited in ability to say “fuck you, motherfucker” as well.
I believe most of the people listed are talents in their own rights. I don’t see Stewart as the great Jedi Master of comedy.
I do like JS though.
I think “heir” might be a better word, and I think it’s a much shorter list:
Stephen Colbert (The Colbert Report)
John Oliver (Last Week Tonight)
Larry Wilmore (The Nightly Show)
Trevor Noah (The Daily Show)
Michael Che (Weekend Update - this is a maybe)
Samantha Bee (Full Frontal)
Ed Helms (The Fake News, as of two days ago apparently)
Jordan Klepper (The Opposition)
These are comedians who worked on the Daily Show and later moved on to their own satirical news platforms. I could see an argument that Michael Che doesn’t count because he doesn’t have his own show but just got a gig on a very long-running one. Still a funny dude.
There are other comedians on the OP’s list who have done great things and are much beloved by me, but there’s a line between “Daily Show alum” and “tenant in the house that Jon Stewart built.”
NETA: Prior to writing this post, I’d never really thought about how many TDS folks ended up with their own news satire programs.
Neck and neck as of my vote!
I picked Colbert because while I rarely watched The Daily Show back in the day, and NEVER watch “news” programs like that now, I most associate Stephen Colbert and Jon Stewart together. And Colbert is the first person that pops into my head when you say “Former Daily Show correspondent”
Hodgman is the funniest of the assorted contenders. Colbert probably was the one who benefited the most from his association with Stewart, as he and Oliver are the only ones who have cemented themselves as big shots, and Oliver only did so after Stewart disappeared. What little I’ve seen of Full Frontal suggests that Samantha Bee really needs a different sort of vehicle, but I thought she was really good in the framework of TDS.
Notably, I’m shocked by this lineup of comedians that worked on The Daily Show. There’s not a dud in there (possibly with the exceptions of Noah and Klepper, who only onboarded at the very end of Stewart’s tenure there.)
This would be a good point if it actually meant anything.
Colbert is as politically influential as he’s ever been. That said, I still voted for Oliver simply because his work is presently unique.
I think Noah is well behind, but he’s catching up. When he started out I didn’t think he’d last but he has improved by leaps and bounds.
I agree with you. While Colbert’s approach is different now, he now has a much bigger stage, and he’s using that bully pulpit well. I voted for Colbert, due to his visibility, but I do think that Oliver’s show has an incredible mix of policy-wonk details and engaging, outrageous humor.