Trevor Told Noah One He Was Leaving 'The Daily Show'

Last week, Trevor Noah announced that he would be leaving The Daily Show after seven years. Reactions ranged from “Oh, okay” to “Didn’t he just start doing that?” If you were actually shocked by the news, chances are you have some kind of financial stake in the show, because Noah reportedly did not tell anyone at work that he was going to make this announcement before he did it.

Here’s the scoop from Matthew Belloni in Puck News:

Trevor Noah surprised Paramount Global C.E.O. Bob Bakish, Noah’s key producers, his staff, and even some of his own representatives by announcing his exit from The Daily Show at the end of Thursday’s taping. What’s more surprising, I learned this weekend, is that Noah actually had lunch with Chris McCarthy, president and C.E.O. of MTV Entertainment Group—who, with oversight of Comedy Central, is Noah’s boss—the day before the announcement, and Noah didn’t even suggest he might be quitting.

Stunt queen! There are a few reasons I could see for doing this: 1) fear of the announcement leaking beforehand, 2) hating the people you work with and wanting to give them a mess to clean up, or 3) having a bit of a bitchy streak. The most likely scenario is that it’s some combination of all three.

But, according to Belloni, Noah and boss McCarthy have “had a good relationship and a pretty open dialogue” and are still working together on several other projects. In other news, Brutus has inked a first look deal with Caesar Productions. Can’t wait to see what those two cook up together.