Roy Wood Jr. says he made some apologies after his accidentally viral plea for 'The Daily Show' to find a host

Roy Wood Jr. left "The Daily Show" during its protracted search for a host. But he says his plea for the show to find one was out of love.

• Roy Wood Jr. went viral at the Emmys for mouthing "please find a host" when "The Daily Show" won.
• Wood said the remark came from a place of pride for the crew, who produced the show for a year sans host. 
• He made some apologies at after parties, but says he's on good terms with former colleagues. 

At the 2024 Emmys, former "Daily Show" correspondent Roy Wood Jr. unwittingly went viral when he went onstage with former host Trevor Noah, who accepted the Emmy award for outstanding talk series.

"Please hire a host," Wood, who was no longer with the "Daily Show" at the time, mouthed.

Later, on X (formerly Twitter), he acknowledged that he hadn't intended for the moment to get much notice: "chill fam I was trying to do that in the low."

Business Insider spoke with Wood about it at the Writers Guild Awards in New York on Sunday, where he was nominated for the Steven Soderbergh-directed miniseries "Command Z." The comedian and writer told BI that the moment came from his pride for the show's crew, who kept it running in Noah's absence after the former host left in December 2022.

"The Emmy that 'The Daily Show' won, for about half of that year, there was no host," Wood told BI. "To be able to go and put together a show without a regular host is not easy. If they can do this without a host, imagine what they could do with one."

"The Daily Show" showrunner Jennifer Flanz, who was also at the WGAs where she was nominated alongside "The Daily Show" crew for outstanding comedy/variety talk series, separately told BI on the red carpet that she was proud the show had been nominated for work during its hostless year.

"Our writers and our producers and directors, our whole staff really stepped up," Flanz told BI. "The idea of turning over 'The Daily Show' every week to a new voice was like, unheard of. It's such a challenge."

Wood left the show in October 2023, during the interim period when the show had yet to fill its Noah-sized hole. Following Noah's absence, the show switched between celebrity guest hosts like John Leguizamo and Leslie Jones, in addition to putting correspondents like Wood in the chair.

In January, Comedy Central made the surprise announcement that Stewart would return to the show, hosting on Monday nights while the show's correspondents fill out the rest of each week.

Wood was a possible contender for the top job, but he said on "Sherri" after his departure that he wanted the chance to pursue other opportunities during the time that Comedy Central was taking to find a host in case he didn't end up in the chair.

The comedian told BI that, for the most part, people took his statement at the Emmys lightly, though he did touch base with some of his former colleagues afterward.

"I bounced around the after parties and I threw out a few apologies to coworkers, some of whom are here tonight, and we're still friends," Wood said.

While "The Daily Show" didn't win a WGA award on Sunday, Wood wished the show's crew well on the red carpet — and he's pursuing his own endeavors, including a book and two shows of his own.

"It is odd being here and seeing them as former colleagues instead of current colleagues, like that part is different," he said. "It's like seeing your ex out with somebody new, but you broke up on good terms."