After 12 years as the indisputable King Of Late-Night Snark, E! has confirmed Joel McHale is signing off as host of ‘The Soup’.
They at least had the good sense to realise that *no one* else could host the show even half as well as he, so the network bigwigs are canning the entire thing come December.
Give us a minute, will you?
E!’s prior iteration, Talk Soup, premiered in 1991 and had several emcees before McHale took over a rebooted version of the show in 2004 and *made* that shit.
The reason for the curtain call is apparently his ever-growing profile / busy schedule, which includes film work and, before earlier this year, Community (RIP).
McHale is yet to comment on the show’s axing but E!’s exec VP of programming and development Jeff Olde had this to say in a statement:
“We are incredibly proud of the long-running success of The Soup. [The show] has delivered countless laughs and unforgettable episodes, and we are grateful to the talented team’s fearless wit and clever approach week after week. Joel took the show to new heights for more than a decade, and his irreverent humor and unique brand of comedy as captured so perfectly on The Soup will be missed.”
McHale’s last ep, and the series’ last, will air on December 18.
