Pro tip for Ronny Chieng fans—if you meet him in person, don’t say that you only get your news from The Daily Show… even if that happens to be true.
“I wouldn’t like that,” the senior correspondent for Comedy Central’s longtime satirical newscast tells TVNewser when asked how he’d feel about being someone’s sole news source. “Not at all. I hope you’re reading other stuff!”
For the record, it’s not that Chieng doesn’t value being part of a late night comedy institution that holds other institutions to account. Since joining The Daily Show in 2015 under previous host Trevor Noah, the Malaysian actor and comedian has filed viral reports taking on Fox News, the Metaverse, and the Space Force. And when Jon Stewart returned to the anchor’s chair on a one-night-a-week basis earlier this year, Chieng became one of several rotating hosts who get to sound off on the biggest stories of the day from behind the TDS desk.
“My guiding light is that I want to make fun of institutions,” he explains. “I think of comedy as counterpunching; we should be at the back of the room making fun of people in decision-making positions when they’re acting silly.”
What Chieng expressly wants to avoid, though, is becoming an institution himself—a voice that people look to for wisdom and guidance through an increasingly fragmented news ecosystem. Personalities like Joe Rogan and Greg Gutfeld have followed the comedy-to-commentator path to great success in recent years, becoming celebrated figureheads in conservative news spaces in the same way that Al Fraken and Stewart were previously embraced as progressive champions. (Although Stewart—like Chieng—continues to insist that he’s a comedian first.)
“I don’t think a comedian’s goal should be trying to lead society,” Chieng says. “Occasionally, you’ll make a good point or you’ll feel very strongly about something and that’s fine. But I don’t think you can try be a leader or a journalist and still claim to just be doing comedy. Speaking for myself, when I’m on The Daily Show I’m trying to do comedy.”
And he’s succeeding. Besides The Daily Show, Chieng can currently be seen in the acclaimed Hulu series Interior Chinatown and just dropped his latest comedy special, Love to Hate It, on Netflix. We discussed how he got interested in American politics while growing up in Singapore, how he navigates Asian American stereotypes in Hollywood, and the first time he met Stewart after he landed The Daily Show gig.
[This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity]
