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Jennifer Flanz started at ‘The Daily Show’ in 1998 as a production assistant and now serves as a writer and showrunner
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- Jennifer Flanz reflects on her 28 years at ‘The Daily Show,’ starting as a production assistant in 1998
- Flanz credits Jon Stewart as a mentor and highlights the show’s evolution into an Emmy-winning cultural staple
- She is proud of fostering a collaborative work culture and adapting the show during challenges like the COVID-19 pandemic
Jennifer Flanz is looking back at three decades of The Daily Show.
The writer and showrunner recently sat down with PEOPLE to reflect on The Daily Show’s 30th anniversary. Flanz has the unique distinction of being part of the show’s staff for over 28 years and having seen the many evolutions — on the show, in entertainment and in the culture — that have influenced the series’ direction.
Flanz is dishing about the moments that have made The Daily Show, from the team first finding their footing to becoming an immensely popular, Emmy-winning series at the intersection of current events and entertainment.
Working Her Way Through the Ranks
Flanz joined The Daily Show team in 1998 and has worked in many different areas of the production in the years since.
“I started as a PA in January of 1998. So I remember when I took this job, I thought, ‘Well, this show could last for a few months or it could last forever,’ ” she shares.
“Well, it’s been a journey, and I feel very, very, very lucky that I was able to start here in an entry-level position. It was my dream job. I just wanted to work in television and I was always very interested in current events, politics, public policy and social issues. So this was such a great cross-section of things that I wanted to do with my life,” Flanz noted.
“I feel very, very fortunate that I started in an entry-level position and moved up through the ranks because I do think it’s what makes me a great... I hate saying I’m a great showrunner, but I think it’s what makes me good at my job because I’ve done so many of the jobs here and been at every level of the show and seen it through so many iterations that I think gives me a really good broad overview of how everyone is doing their jobs,” she continued.
Flanz concludes, “It’s helped me to certainly be an empathetic boss and understand what people are going through in different moments. And it’s been such a prideful thing to see the show grow into what it’s grown into.”
On Jon Stewart Becoming a Mentor
While Flanz joined the show’s pre-politics iteration, hosted by Craig Kilborn, it was the 16 years working with Jon Stewart that were where she felt a difference in how she related to the team.
“Jon came and that was just 16 years together on the front end of his run here. And he’s amazing, such a mentor to me. I always say he’s the smartest person I’ve ever met,” Flanz shares.
“Without trying, he just remembers everything. He must have a photographic memory. I’m not sure. He’s also just nice and down to earth and it’s so easy to connect with him, I find,” she says. “But he was obviously my boss for 16 years, and I just learned a lot from him about how to make the show resonate with people.”
The Stars That Got Their Start on the Show
The Daily Show has not just made stars of its hosts, but of members of its News Team as well. Alumni include Stephen Colbert, John Oliver, Michael Che and Samantha Bee, as well as additional marquee talent such as Steve Carell, Jessica Williams, Olivia Munn and Josh Gad.
“My proudest moments are mostly people I’ve hired either moving up the ranks here, going out in the world and starting other shows and really cultivating the culture of our production is probably what I’m most proud of. I think we have a nice work culture where everybody respects each other. We laugh a lot ... We put out good content. We hold ourselves to a high standard. We have people fact-checking all the time. We make sure to get our stories right,” Flanz says.
When it comes to the News Team, she adds, “We make a show four days a week, so it’s very busy and everybody’s friends and we’re in it together — talent, staff, crew, we’re all just in it together. And you forget that some of these people have blown up at such high levels.”
“When you get a chance to zoom out, you’re like, ‘Oh my God, I know. Steve Carell’s sitting on my couch. We’re talking about what shoot he’s going to go out on.’ And still, the nicest people. We have a really great track record for hiring people that are not just smart and funny, but also nice, kind people that are part of a team,” she shares.
“I think it’s a testament to just the legacy of the show and something Jon was always adamant about, which is that we’re all just working together. Nobody’s treated like a star. There are no celebrity trailer vibes outside of the dressing room. Everybody’s really just in it together,” Flanz says.
“It really is a very tight-knit best-idea-wins room always. So even though these people, our news team, who have come through here now feel like very big names, when I run into them or need to reach out to them for a favor or they come on the show as a guest, everybody’s still just as cool and seems to have very fond memories of being here, which is nice,” she continues. “It feels like I’m in high school—people come back to visit.”
Trevor Noah’s Instinct About Donald Trump
Transitioning to Trevor Noah hosting the show was a fun challenge for Flanz, who remembers the entire crew looking at the series through new eyes.
“I remember when Trevor got here in Sept. 2015 and we were watching the 2016 election begin to bubble and all the Republican candidates were in an early debate. And he just looked at [Donald] Trump and he goes, ‘Oh yeah, he’s going to win.’ And we had to explain who each of the characters were. He really just got here,” she recalls.
“And we were all like, ‘Oh no, it’s going to be one of these other elder statesmen.’ And he’s like, ‘No, he’s super charismatic and that’s who would win in South Africa. I’m telling you guys.’ And we all kind of laughed it off,” she adds.
Flanz continues, “To this day, I always credit him and I say, ‘T, no, you knew.’ He saw it.”
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Being the First Late-Night Show to Go Remote amid the Pandemic
Flanz was among those trying to right the ship as The Daily Show and the rest of their world tried to wrap their heads around the beginning of the pandemic in March 2020. TDS was the first show to convert to a remote production, which Flanz recalls as one of their biggest challenges, but most necessary moves.
“I would say that’s one of the moments that we had to lock in. In some ways, my job, because it’s so time-consuming and so focused on the actual story of the day, lets me bury my head in the sand about what’s happening and see it through a vehicle for content of what we’re putting out to our audience. And I think with COVID, I was so focused on how we were going to keep our staff safe,” she says.
“Also, I thought one way to do that was to give everybody something to do and something to do is make a show together. We come here every day, we laugh about things together. How do we get through this massive thing that’s a never-before-seen, unprecedented situation? And I think that one of the ways I handled it emotionally was to focus on getting the show up and running so that we all had something to do during that time, which would hopefully help everyone’s mental health,” Flanz says.
The showrunner adds, “If you’re losing so much of your reality in that situation and your day-to-day, the least I could do was give myself and my coworkers and the audience this one kind of routine thing that we could all do, one glimpse at normalcy in a time that was completely abnormal.”
That Time Oprah Winfrey Visited
The Daily Show‘s studio has seen many incredible guests over the years. Some have left more of an impression on the crew than others, with Flanz recalling what it was like when Oprah Winfrey was a guest on the show in 2019.
“Oprah was here during Trevor’s tenure and she was walking around the building, popped in the control room. Our director at the time, and other people, were practically fainting. Everyone was like, ‘Wait, she’s just walking around.’ Meanwhile, she’s this larger-than-life character,” Flanz recalls.
“Gayle [King] came with her, I remember, and they were just walking around checking out the scene and seeing what we do. And it was shocking to me because sometimes a guest comes and they stay in the back, in the green room with their publicist, until it’s ready for their segment to go out,” she continues.
Flanz noted that Winfrey, 72, was taking it in. “It made me think, ‘Oh, this is a person who used to have a show every day, who had a studio with a control room.’ It seemed like she was poking around because she gets that this is a day of production set-up and it’s probably something she was very familiar with. But that was shocking.”
Why the Show’s Format Works
Today, The Daily Show looks a little different than it has before, with Stewart, 63, at the helm, hosting alongside the current, Emmy-winning iteration of the News Team — Ronny Chieng, Josh Johnson, Jordan Klepper, Michael Kosta, and Desi Lydic with Troy Iwata and Grace Kuhlenschmidt. The show continues to be a destination for news, entertainment and comfort during challenging times, which Flanz is proud of.
“I absolutely love what we’re doing now. I love that we get to rotate through some of our news team and Jon. One, we get Jon back, which is just epic. He’s just the most fun to work with. And it’s great to have him back here, but it’s also really fun to see him mentor and coach the other hosts and get to share the responsibilities of the show and not just have the whole show,” she explains, adding, “When it’s one host, it’s a lot of weight to carry.”
“And our other hosts, Desi, Jordan, Michael Kosta, Ronny, and Josh all get to share that with Jon. And once their week comes up, they’re all so excited to do it and have all that energy. As a writer and producer, it’s so refreshing to have different voices to write and produce for. And I think it’s fun for our audience. It’s cool to see so many headlines through different people’s points,” Flanz continues.
“It’s all through The Daily Show point of view, but it is like Desi can tell jokes that are different from Michael’s jokes and get away with certain things. And who’s at the desk will depend on what jokes, one, that that host likes, and two, what the audience is willing to accept from that host,” she says. “It’s been a really cool evolution of the show.”
The Daily Show airs weeknights at 11 p.m./10 p.m. CT on Comedy Central.
Read the original article on People
