Carson Daly Is Being Replaced By Pete Davidson
Carson Daly is losing one of his biggest jobs of the year to Pete Davidson
This article is more than 2 years old
For close to two decades, The Voice host Carson Daly has been the face of NBC’s New Year’s Eve specials. But for the upcoming transition from 2021 to 2022, Daly will be getting the night off. The TV personality will be replaced with Saturday Night Live (SNL) funny man Pete Davidson and pop star Miley Cyrus. SNL long-time producer Lorne Michaels will also tag along.
As reported by Collider and others, NBC’s New Year’s Eve celebration won’t just be changing hosts, but locations as well. Along with replacing Carson Daly as host, this year’s special — Miley’s New Year’s Eve Party Hosted by Miley Cyrus and Pete Davidson — will air live from Miami rather than the traditional location of Times Square. The special will air on NBC and Peacock starting on Friday December 31, 10:30 p.m. ET to Saturday, January 1, 12:30 a.m. ET.
The news confirms reports posted by Vulture in September. The site credited unnamed inside sources with the news that NBC was looking to shake up their New Year’s Eve programming by replacing Carson Daly with Cyrus and Lorne Michaels, though their story made no mention of Pete Davidson. Vulture and others suggest NBC is making the radical change in hopes of challenging the usual New Year’s Eve leader — ABC’s Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve With Ryan Seacrest. ABC’s special dominated the ratings last New Year’s Eve — bringing in 18.4 million viewers in the late-night portion of their special, compared to NBC’s 7.36 million, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Starting with the 2003/4 New Year’s Eve with Carson Daly, the eponymous host has led NBC’s New Year’s celebration almost every year. The only exception was 2017/18, when the special was pre-empted with football. For 2018/19, the name of the special was changed to NBC’s New Year’s Eve, with different co-hosts joining Daly each year.
Long before Carson Daly or anyone else was celebrating the New Year on TV, Americans rang in the holiday through another medium — radio. As recounted by TV Party, it was the bandleader Guy Lombardo whose name was associated with New Year’s Eve from 1956 to 1976, along with his band the Royal Canadians. Their music dominated the airwaves over CBS’ radio network until Lombardo’s death in 1977.
Starting in 1973 — three decades before Carson Daly would host his own New Year’s special — Dick Clark began hosting Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve. In spite of gaining fame as the host of American Bandstand, Clark soon became more well known for his annual special than anything else. In 2004 Clark suffered a stroke and afterwards other celebrities took over main hosting duties, though Clark remained involved with the special until his death in 2012.
There’s no word yet on Carson Daly’s response to being replaced but, considering Vulture’s September report, the host probably knew about the change months ago. It’s likely that at least some Law & Order watchers will be happy to hear the news. Daly drew the ire of hardcore Law & Order: Special Victims Unit fans when, while talking to Mariska Hargitay and Chris Meloni in September, he said their characters “should never” become a couple. A good host? Sure. A matchmaker? Apparently not.
