Since Trevor Noah left “The Daily Show” in December, the late-night Comedy Central program has been cycling through various guest hosts, a bold move that has been paying off in the show’s ratings.

The first wave of guest hosts included a variety of celebrities, including Leslie Jones, Wanda Sykes, D. L. Hughley, Chelsea Handler, Sarah Silverman, Hasan Minhaj, Marlon Wayans, Kal Penn, Al Franken and John Leguizamo.

For the first quarter of 2023, “The Daily Show” saw its ratings climb 13% over the same weeks last year despite not putting a large amount of marketing into each guest host. On the social side, quarterly views jumped 16% compared to the same weeks last year.

While a search for a permanent host is underway, several of the celebrities, including Jones, Handler and Penn, have publicly thrown their hat in the ring to take over the hosting gig full-time. Here’s how they individually stacked up in the ratings,...