VIDEO: Desi Lydic On The Daily Show’s Evolution Over the Past 10 Years and the Future of Late-Night TV

The Daily Show co-anchor Desi Lydic discusses what it’s been like to be part of the Emmy Award-winning talk series over the last 10 years.

Desi Lydic chats with me in her childhood bedroom. With The Daily Show on its August hiatus, she’s enjoying a much-needed vacation with family.

“You can see this angsty dark purple in the background,” says Lydic, referring to her bedroom color. “I got my old school landline.” She holds up a yellow phone.

As someone whose job it is to stay up on the news, Lydic says she uses vacation — and sometimes a handy timer — to step back from the media onslaught.

“I go into my bunker, and I just hide from the world for 30 days,” she says with a laugh. “Um, no, you kind of can’t avoid it, but I do try really hard to set a timer. I don’t know if you’ve ever tried this. I’m not great at abiding by it, but I will set a timer on my phone when engaging with social media. So Instagram, BlueSky, Threads — I will set a timer so I can only do it for, you know, five minutes a day. And then it will alert me when it’s time to set it down.”

It’s been a wild year for Comedy Central’s Emmy Award-winning talk series and a wild time to be an Emmy Award-winning series on Comedy Central. Lydic started on the show as a correspondent 10 years ago and has watched the evolution of the network and the rise of streaming.

“It’s pretty crazy. I am grateful that the show has been around for over 25 years and the fact that we’ve managed to pivot through all kinds of different historical events. I think it’s been like seven different administrations, eight different elections. We’ve had pandemics, we’ve had entertainment changes. We’ve had corporate ownership changes, all kinds of things. And fortunately, somehow miraculously, we’ve been able to hold on this whole time.”

Is Lydic worried about the cries that late-night TV is dying? She says The Daily Show is fortunate to have an amazing expansion team.

“Our digital team is on the cusp of how we need to be evolving and making sure we’re engaging with our viewers everywhere and that people can find us however they want to listen to or watch their news. And we welcome that.”

I had a great conversation with Lydic about how she prepares for her week on the desk, how she tackles her one-on-one interviews, and what she thinks of Colbert’s cancellation. Watch the interview below!