Baratunde Thurston
It’s so exciting to see our community finally be represented in the television business by one of our own. And by that, I mean a true nerd.
Baratunde Thurston is joining Comedy Central’s The Daily Show as their “supervising producer for digital expansion” (hey, I like that title).
The hire comes amid a much-anticipated reboot of the show. Starting September 28, Trevor Noah replaces outgoing Jon Stewart in the anchor chair.
Recently, the world learned that Trevor Noah previously enjoyed making totally hilarious jokes about Jewish people dying. I lost enthusiasm for him as host after that.
But I’m excited for what Baratunde’s hire means for progressive-minded television. And by the way, his wonderful book “How to be Black” should be on your shelf.
From Dave Itzkoff’s NYT story:
Mr. Thurston acknowledged that “every form of life is having to adapt to these shifts” in technology and media. He said the coming changes at “The Daily Show” reflected a broadening of that program’s focus that audiences will start to see when Mr. Noah becomes its anchor on Sept. 28.
“There’s a lot of pent-up demand here to do some really fascinating things,” Mr. Thurston said, “and as we shift that focal point of the lens, beyond cable video news into other realms, the show itself will change.”
He added: “What can we say that is the ‘Daily Show’ take on a space like Instagram? These places are real communities. They’re not just technical platforms. They’re like Soylent Green — they’re people.”
“‘The Daily Show’ Gets Ready to Go Viral” [nytimes.com]
[via @baratunde]