It has been seven years since he took Jon Stewart’s place, he said during a Thursday night Comedy Central taping. He announced that he would leave at a later time.
The South African comedian Trevor Noah, who took over as host of “The Daily Show” after Jon Stewart left seven years ago, revealed on Thursday that he would be leaving the show.
“We’ve laughed together, we’ve cried together,” Mr. Noah said during a taping of the show on Thursday that was released before the show aired. “But after seven years, I feel like it’s time.”
Comedy Central said in a statement that the network had been working with Mr. Noah “for a long time to figure out how he can maintain the demanding schedule.”
The network added that “with no timetable for his departure, we’re working together on next steps.”
Mr. Noah, 38, said on Thursday that after presiding over the show for a turbulent seven years — writing jokes about the presidency of Donald J. Trump, the pandemic and other major news events — he had realized that there was “another part of my life that I want to carry on exploring.” He did not elaborate, but he has continued touring and releasing stand-up specials throughout his time as host.
Comedy Central said that it was “excited for the next chapter” of “The Daily Show,” but it did not say who would be the next host.
Mr. Noah thanked the network on Thursday for believing “in this random comedian no one knew on this side of the world.”
When Mr. Stewart left the program in 2015, having spent 16 years transforming the satirical program into an award-winning staple of political comedy, fans eagerly awaited an answer to the question of who would succeed one of TV’s most revolutionary hosts.
The announcement came as a surprise to many: Mr. Noah, a newcomer to American television, was getting a huge and unexpected promotion after just three appearances on the show.
The decision to name a 31-year-old biracial comic from South Africa was intended to bring a more youthful, international perspective to “The Daily Show.”
But soon after the announcement, Mr. Noah became embroiled in a controversy over jokes he had posted years earlier on Twitter about women and Jewish people that some viewed as offensive. Mr. Noah responded to criticism at the time, saying that “to reduce my views to a handful of jokes that didn’t land is not a true reflection of my character, nor my evolution as a comedian.”
The network stood behind him. Soon, Mr. Noah’s version of “The Daily Show” was off and running, with correspondents from various backgrounds bringing fresh takes to the show.
During his tenure, Mr. Noah embraced his outsider perspective, commenting on America’s struggles with race, class and other facets of society that he deemed absurd, if not ripe for comedic jabbing.
He recalled on Thursday that he had never dreamed of becoming host.
“I sort of felt like ‘Charlie and the Chocolate Factory,’” he said. “I came in for a tour of what the previous show was. And then the next thing I know, I was handed the keys.”
Mr. Noah has since shown his serious side. In 2016, he published his autobiography, “Born a Crime: Stories From a South African Childhood,” a raw chronicling of his upbringing in South Africa during and after apartheid.
The son of a Xhosa mother and a Swiss-German father, Mr. Noah reminisces in the book about being “half-white, half-Black” in a country where his birth “violated any number of laws, statutes and regulations.”