2024 Will Be the Year of Daniel Tosh 2.0

Whoever had “Daniel Tosh becomes the latest edgy white guy comic to launch a podcast, but it’s actually thoughtful and interesting” on your 2023 Bingo Card, you’re fucking lying.

In August, 2020, Comedy Central struck a deal with one of the longest-running show hosts in the channel's history for him to quietly bow out of his time slot and slink off into the internet with his pockets full. At the time, Tosh was contracted to film four more seasons of Tosh.0, his hit show about viral videos and internet obsessions, but with Comedy Central changing course toward adult animation and the pandemic complicating the show’s tapings, Tosh accepted a buyout to break his contract. Following the airing of the 12th and final season of Tosh.0, Tosh ended his show in November of that year.

Almost exactly three years after the finale of Tosh.0, the German-born, L.A.-based comedian who hadn’t added a single credit to his IMDb page in the intervening time surprised his fans with the announcement that, in collaboration with the iHeart podcast empire, he was launching his latest project, a toned-down talk show called Tosh Show, admitting that the name “sounds very similar” to Tosh.0. Said the comic in the pilot episode, “It’s almost like we’re intentionally trying to be confusing.”

The format is a familiar one that many other white guy comedians continue to utilize — Tosh brings on a person whom he finds interesting and asks them a series of questions relevant (or not) to their field or their personal life. However, unlike the Rogans or the Marons of the podcasting world, Tosh’s guest list follows one rule (with loopholes) — no celebrities. Instead of bringing on an A-lister to drive early engagement and establish a listener base from the jump, Tosh decided to launch his inaugural show by interviewing his wife’s OB-GYN and asking the doctor playfully invasive questions about his own spouse’s genitals.

Since then, Tosh has hosted a Paralympic world record sprinter, a wellness guru, his French neighbor Pierre, a professional animal communicator and, most recently, actor Luke Macfarlane, who Tosh says does not break his “no famous guests” rule “since starring in a Hallmark Christmas movie automatically makes you not a celebrity.” Tosh starts every episode by asking his guests if they believe in ghosts (and mocking them if the answer is “yes”), and toward the end of each show, Tosh gives his guest a present in the form of an item (or items) taken from his own home. For instance, to the Paralympic champion, Tosh gifted a skateboard.

Just weeks into the experiment, clips from the show have already gone viral — Tosh’s take in stunning support of so-called “cancel culture” raised eyebrows considering the comedian's history with deliberately offensive material and ensuing blowback. Tosh’s surprisingly contemplative views on a contentious issue that has directly affected him more than most podcasting comedians who waste multiple episodes on the topic represents the tone and intention of Tosh Show. In this project, Tosh uses his comedy to explore meaningful truths in a way that the old Tosh, with his caustic stage persona and addiction to virality, never attempted.

With Tosh Show, Tosh has created the first podcast hosted by a “canceled” comic to buck the expectations of provocation and attention-begging that come with the medium by grounding the show equally in curiosity and comedy. As such, it’s the only edgy white guy comic podcast I’m interested in following in 2024, unless Rogan goes back to talking about aliens every week.