Roy Wooden Jr. mentioned on fellow comic Mike Birbiglia’s “Working It Out” podcast (by way of Entertainment Weekly) that he was going to stay on Comedy Central’s “The Day by day Present” as a correspondent for extra time when the plan was for Hasan Minhaj to be named the everlasting new host. Wooden stunned followers by saying his “Day by day Present” exit final October, a call he informed Birbiglia got here after the plan to have Minhaj host the present “fell aside” amid controversy over an interview Minhaj did with The New Yorker.

“That’s actually why every thing fell aside,” Wooden mentioned in regards to the interview, which revealed that Minhaj had embellished many “true tales” in his stand-up acts. “So far as I used to be informed, Hasan was going to be the man.”

Wooden mentioned he deliberate to stick with “The Day by day Present” for “the remainder of the yr” underneath new host Minhaj and “we’ll see what Hasan desires to do, what his imaginative and prescient is, whether or not I slot in that. I’m nonetheless attempting to promote my very own sitcom, attempting to write down motion pictures, there’s different shit I wanna do, however let’s see.”

The comic echoed his former “Day by day Present” colleague Ronny Chieng, who as soon as known as “The Day by day Present” the “finest present in comedy.” Wooden added: “The New Yorker article comes out, after which the excitement is there’s a shift at Comedy Central in whether or not or not Hasan continues to be going to be the man, which finally was he’s not going to be the man.”

Selection solely reported final August that Minhaj had emerged as a frontrunner to take over “The Day by day Present” as its everlasting host following the exit of Trevor Noah. Minhaj was one among a number of visitor hosts who crammed in after Noah’s exit as Comedy Central execs looked for a everlasting host. The New Yorker interview printed in September, and by later that month Selection reported that Comedy Central was opening up the search past Minhaj within the wake of backlash in opposition to him.

Minhaj admitted in The New Yorker article to embellishing tales for his stand-up routine. For example, he informed a narrative in his Netflix comedy particular “The King’s Jester” about an envelope with white powder in it being despatched to his house. Minhaj thought the powder was anthrax. Within the stand-up routine, he mentioned the powder unintentionally spilled onto his daughter and she or he was rushed to the hospital. In actuality, he admitted, it didn’t spill on his daughter. Nonetheless, he maintained that an envelope with white powder was nonetheless despatched to his house and thus nonetheless ended up round his daughter.

In a press release to Selection made proper after the story’s publication, Minhaj mentioned, “All my standup tales are based mostly on occasions that occurred to me … I exploit the instruments of standup comedy — hyperbole, altering names and places and compressing timelines to inform entertaining tales. That’s inherent to the artwork type. You wouldn’t go to a Haunted Home and say ‘Why are these folks mendacity to me?’ — The purpose is the journey. Standup is identical.”

Wooden spoke to Selection a couple of month later amid the controversy and mentioned, “I don’t consider Hasan might by no means host due to his state of affairs. I don’t essentially agree with that.”

“I undoubtedly assume there’s a place for him to make clear his intentions, however nothing about what Hasan did, none of it has to do with the content material he offered on ‘The Patriot Act,’” Wooden added. “Can he present up and do the job? I say ‘sure.’”

Wooden additionally mentioned on the time that his exit from “The Day by day Present” was partially as a consequence of Comedy Central’s drawn-out seek for a brand new host. That search turned longer when plans for Minhaj “fell aside,” as he mentioned on the brand new podcast, and a protracted search didn’t jive with Wooden’s personal profession plans.

“What was clear to me with Comedy Central is simply that selecting a bunch goes to take quite a bit longer than the time I must get solutions,” he informed Selection.

“The Day by day Present” continues to be and not using a everlasting host. Jon Stewart simply kicked off his return to the Comedy Central present, however he’s solely internet hosting on Monday nights by the 2024 election cycle. Visitor hosts will proceed to fill in for the remainder of the week.

Watch Wooden’s full look on the “Working It Out” podcast within the video under.