As word leaked out that Ben Karlin was going to leave his post as executive producer of The Daily Show and The Colbert Report, speculation started swirling. Did Karlin have a fallout from Jon Stewart? Was he suffering from burnout? Was he stepping aside so the show wouldn't lose its valued head writer, David Javerbaum? Since Karlin, Stewart, or Colbert weren't talking, speculation only grew over the weekend.According to Karlin, who along with Stewart spoke to Jacques Steinberg of The New York Times, burnout was one factor; helming both shows was an all-consuming job. But his departure came more from a desire to work on other projects, such as a book of essays he's editing called Things I've Learned From Women Who've Dumped Me.
He and Stewart had been talking about his scaling back for three years, and the end of his current contract, which concludes at the end of the month, was a good time to do it. He'll still work as a consultant for both shows, and will still help Stewart produce his new Comedy Central show Three Strikes.
By the way, on Friday the show named Steve Bodow as head writer, replacing Javerbaum, who will be moving into Karlin's EP spot.
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