The late night comedy world lost an angel this week. Jessica Williams, the youngest ever correspondent for The Daily Show, and its first black woman, is leaving to write and produce her own show.
She leaves the industry, which she correctly characterized as, “There’s white dudes everywhere, like all the time,” just a little bit maler and a little bit paler, at least for now.
It’s also a tough day for her boss, Trevor Noah, who is losing one of his most recognizable faces.
Tonight is her last field report. #sadface
Williams was a standout from the start, and not just because she was only 22, black and female when Jon Stewart gave her the gig. It was because she was courageous. And that courage led to a really special brand of funny. In an interview with Glamour, Williams shared some advice that Stewart gave her when she first joined the show. “The first thing he said to me was, ‘you need to figure out yourself and your voice, and just let that happen.’”
When you think about it, it’s really the perfect thing for a leader to say.
Williams created funny and awkward segments that touched on issues that she cared about with an unusual mix of compassion, outrage and fresh-faced swagger.
One of my favorites is when she comforts an transgender woman who was arrested simply trying to check into a hotel – she was there for a funeral, ugh– then attempts (but fails) to help a panel of transgender people come up with badass retorts for the insults they regularly receive, then confronts a chaplain/anti-trans activist who wants to ban the “perverted” transgender people from bathrooms. “Do you think all priests are pedophiles?” she asks. No? “Well, can you apply that same logic to transgender people?” He couldn’t.
Williams has been a bit vague about her future plans, saying only that she is working on a half-hour scripted series for Comedy Central, something about a “woke feminist.” Her caginess is understandable, given that the public has been eager to weigh in on her career, much to her occasional annoyance. But she’s up to something, and it sounds pretty good.
For more on what’s next for Williams, click here.