Amy Poehler was contacted about hosting The Daily Show, responded with 'the quickest no in history'

When Jon Stewart announced he would be leaving The Daily Show, pretty much everybody came up with a wish list of possible replacements. One name that came up over and over again was Amy Poehler, the hilarious actress and comedian whose long-running sitcom Parks & Recreation happened to end just around the time Stewart made his announcement.

Poehler was never formally attached to The Daily Show — but a new story in The New York Times reveals that Comedy Central did reach out to see if she'd hypothetically be interested in taking over. The network got the answer they expected: "They were pretty much expecting her to say no, and it was the quickest no in history," says a source.

Another big-name celebrity came closer to the job: Chris Rock, who expressed interest on the condition that he could step down after the 2016 election. Comedy Central decided to find a more permanent replacement, and settled on Trevor Noah, who was one of Stewart's personal top contenders. "Trevor's the only person we made an offer to," says Kent Alterman, president of content and original programming at Comedy Central.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

For more on The Daily Show and Comedy Central, click over to The New York Times.