-> ''"Welcome to the Daily Show with Jon Stewart. Ironically enough, I'm Stephen Colbert."''
--> '''Creator/StephenColbert''', ''Series/TheDailyShow''

Most light entertainment shows, be it morning news, chat show or quiz show, will have a host. Generally speaking, it's always the same person/s day in, day out, providing seamless links, interesting conversation, probing questions and needed stability to the show. But what if they want to go on holiday or — heaven forbid — fall ill... What then? The show must go on, after all.

Cue the Guest Host.

The guest host is a temporary stand in until the full-time host returns. It may be one guest host or a succession of guest hosts. If you're lucky it's somebody appropriate and even chosen by the full-time host. If not, you could end up with a wild change of tone in the show.

There is another version of this where a show only has guest hosts on instead of a regular.
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!!Examples:

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[[folder: Late Night Talk Shows ]]

* ''Series/TheTonightShow'': In the later years of his tenure, Johnny Carson would take one day off a week and leave it to guest hosts. Eventually there came to be a single "permanent guest host" (Joan Rivers and Jay Leno both had this position), a phrase referred to by Creator/PennAndTeller as the "rare triple oxymoron".
** During the Steve Allen era, Steve got a prime time Sunday night show in 1956 which necessitated being absent Monday and Tuesday nights. Ernie Kovacs guest-hosted these nights until both men left due to the show's short-lived format change to a ''Nightline''-style show in March to October of 1957.
** Likewise, a month of guests hosted ''The Tonight Show'' after Jack Paar's resignation in 1962. The last guest host before Johnny Carson took over was Groucho Marx; there had been some speculation that Groucho was being considered as the permanent host, but concerns were raised about his age, as he was 67 years old at the time.[[note]]Some also speculate that Carson was given the job upon Paar's resignation, but couldn't take over until his contract with ABC expired at the end of September a month later.[[/note]]
*** [[HilariousInHindsight In retrospect, they need not have worried]]: Marx would live until 1977--''fifteen'' years later--at the ripe old age of 86. Oh, WhatCouldHaveBeen...
* ''The Paul O'Grady Show'' had guest hosts take over when Paul had a heart attack and again when he was ill with the flu. The show must go on.
* The NBC talk show ''Later'' had a long string of guest hosts after the departure of Greg Kinnear; Cynthia Garrett became permanent host for a few months, but when she left the show halted production. For a year it became ''Later Presents {{SCTV}}'', a slot for reruns of the 1980s sketch comedy show, before ''Last Call with Carson Daly'' replaced it.
* ''The Late Show with Creator/DavidLetterman'' went to guest hosts while Dave had heart surgery in 2000, and again when he was ill with shingles in 2003. When he was recovering from heart surgery, almost all of the guest hosts refused to sit in his chair. Letterman still makes use of guest hosts because he is ill or cannot make a scheduled taping for other reasons.
** Musical Director Paul Shaffer guest-hosted the night Dave couldn't be there because his son was being born, and at least one of the aforementioned episodes from 2003.
** Once during Letterman's ''LateNight'' years Dave was in his cabin in the woods while Larry "Bud" Melman guest hosted. Throughout the show we see Dave in his cabin watching on TV.
* ''Series/TheLateLateShow'' had guest hosts for a few months after Craig Kilborn suddenly left. Several people rotated as guest hosts, until it was whittled down to week-long auditions from CraigFerguson, D. L. Hughley, Damien Fahey, and Michael Ian Black.[[note]]The other people who tried out on-air: Jason Alexander, Jeff Altman, Tom Arnold, Tom Caltabiano, Drew Carey, Adam Carolla, Tom Dreesen, David Duchovny, Jim Gaffigan, Ana Gasteyer, ''Late Late Show'' writer Michael Gibbons, David Alan Grier, Lisa Joyner, Donal Logue, Rosie Perez, Ahmad Rashad, Jim Rome, and Aisha Tyler[[/note]] Ferguson, who hadn't been interested in becoming a talk show host before he started guest-hosting and decided he liked it, ended up with the job.
* ''Series/TheDailyShow'' uses the correspondents when Jon is unavailable. Creator/StephenColbert was the go-to guest host before he got [[Series/TheColbertReport his own show]]. Nowadays, the show will sometimes go on hiatus when Jon is unavailable instead of having a guest host (there haven't been any in years), for example in the run up to the Academy Awards; but in 2013 John Oliver will host the show while Jon is in Iran directing ''Rosewater''.


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[[folder: Panel Games ]]

* ''HaveIGotNewsForYou'' started out with Angus Deayton who, [[RoleEndingMisdemeanor after damaging news stories about himself]], left the show. They started replacing him with guest hosts, which was deemed popular and has yet to actually have a permanent host since Deayton's departure some years ago.
* ''NeverMindTheBuzzcocks'' , much like HaveIGotNewsForYou, had to make do with guest hosts after Mark Lamarr left the show up until Simon Amstell took over the helm. From there Bill Bailey, one of the team captains, left the show with guest team captains filling the gap until finding a permanent one with [[TheMightyBoosh Noel Fielding]]. This stable period ended once Amstell left the show, leaving the show with guest hosts once more. Whether either this or HIGNFY's inability to hold down a permanent host speaks of the indecisiveness of the producers when replacing a big personality host or the indecisiveness of the viewers is best left to the reader.
* The 51st series of ''Radio/ImSorryIHaventAClue'', had StephenFry, Jack Dee and Rob Brydon chair two episodes each, because no one could really replace Humph.

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[[folder: Interview/Information Shows ]]

* Charlie Rose had nothing but guest hosts for a short while.
* The whole point of the ''FridayNightProject'' was to have a guest host on every week while regular hosts will help and support them. Basically, a reverse chat show.
* ''At the Movies'' had a long string of guest co-hosts after Gene Siskel died before settling on Richard Roeper. For medical reasons, Ebert also had guests standing in for him, before Roeper's departure and the show's revamp.
* One episode of RealTimeWithBillMaher featured SethMacFarlane hosting the webcasted Overtime segment in place of Bill; before this, Bill had never had a guest host on Real Time ''at all.''

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[[folder: Game Shows ]]

* In the early days when game shows usually taped live, the host and/or announcer would sometimes get a week off while a guest hosted/announced. A notable example is the original 1960s version of ''{{Password}}'', which gave guest hosting duties to (among others) announcer Jack Clark and to host Allen Ludden's wife, BettyWhite.
** Much later in his career (1980), Ludden was too ill to host ''PasswordPlus'' for a while. BillCullen filled in for him, while Geoff Edwards temporarily took over for Bill on ''Series/ChainReaction''. (Both shows aired on NBC at the time.)
* This also happened twice in the long life of ''LetsMakeADeal'': Dennis James filled in for Monty Hall on the original version, and Geoff Edwards filled in on the 1984 revival ''The All-New Let's Make a Deal''. Announcer Dean Goss also hosted part of an episode of ''All-New'' because Hall (who was also executive producer) wanted to pass the torch should the show be renewed for a third season ([[WhatCouldHaveBeen it wasn't]]).
** Going the other way, the 1990 version (originally hosted by Bob Hilton) had Monty guest-host its last few weeks. He felt that the show was failing due to poor reception of Hilton as host, and planned to fill out the season until he could find a suitable replacement for the next season. However, the show was axed before that could happen.
* In the 1970s, there were two versions of ''ThePriceIsRight'': the current daytime version, then hosted by Bob Barker, and a nighttime version hosted by Dennis James. James hosted one week of daytime episodes because Bob was ill.
** ''Price'' also had rotations of guest announcers following the deaths of Johnny Olson and Rod Roddy, and the firing of Rich Fields. Rod's declining health between 2001 and 2003 also led to several fill-ins by Burton Richardson and Randy West (plus one week by Paul Boland). Burton also announced one episode in 2006 because Rich had laryngitis.
** Also, far too many fill-in models to list.
** The original ''Price'' (1956-65) had guest hosts fill in for Bill Cullen when he took ill or went on vacation. In one instance on ABC, Robert Q. Lewis took the host reins as Bill participated bidding on prizes.
* Alex Trebek guest-hosted a week of ''Series/WheelOfFortune'' on daytime in 1980, and another episode in 1985. On the former, he filled in for Chuck Woolery, and on the latter, he filled in for current host Pat Sajak.
** On AprilFoolsDay 1997, Trebek hosted ''Wheel'' with Pat and letter-turner [[LovelyAssistant Vanna White]] playing for charity and Pat's wife, Lesly, in Vanna's usual role. Pat also hosted that day's ''{{Jeopardy}}''
** Similarly, Summer Bartholomew and Cynthia Washington both filled in for original letter-turner Susan Stafford in 1979 and 1980. Arte Johnson also held this role for one day in 1980, likely to plug his NBC show ''Knockout''. After Susan left in 1982, Summer, Vicki [=McCarty=], and Vanna White alternated as guest letter-turners until Vanna got the nod. Susan returned for one week in 1986 so Vanna could recover after her boyfriend was killed in a plane crash. In January 1991, Tricia Gist filled in for two weeks to accomodate for Vanna's wedding, and returned two months later due to Vanna having a bad cold.
** Same thing with their announcers. The main announcers were Charlie O'Donnell (1975-80, 1989-2010), Jack Clark (1980-88), M.G. Kelly (1988-89), and Jim Thornton (2011-). Charlie, Johnny Gilbert and Don Morrow all filled in for Jack at various points (including spring and summer 1988, shortly before Clark's death), and Don Pardo did two weeks taped at Radio City Music Hall during M.G.'s tenure.
** When Charlie returned, he missed only two weeks in 1995, for which Gilbert again filled in. After Charlie's death, several announcers rotated until Jim Thornton was chosen as his successor.
* In 1974, Gene Rayburn guest hosted {{Tattletales}} for a week as regular host Bert Convy played the game with his wife, Anne. Gene actually hosted the ''Tattletales'' prototype in 1973, which was originally called ''Celebrity Match Mates'' (Convy would get the job after Gene landed the MatchGame revival).
* Jim Peck filled in for Jack Barry several times on ''TheJokersWild''. Once Barry retired and handed the show over to Bill Cullen, Peck got to return for a couple more guest hosting stints when Cullen was unavailable.
* During the 1980s revival of ''TheHollywoodSquares'', announcer/bottom center square Shadoe Stevens filled in for host John Davidson for one week, with HowardStern (!) taking Shadoe's usual roles.
** {{Alf}} also guest hosted a round of the Davidson version, with Davidson sitting on the panel.
** And during the Tom Bergeron-hosted revival (1998-2004), original ''Squares'' host Peter Marshall returned to guest host one episode while Bergeron sat on the panel.
* ''FamilyFeud'' had two episodes, both during the original Richard Dawson version (1976-85), where one round was hosted by a guest. One game opened to Sammy Davis, Jr. hosting the first question, and a later game had contestant coordinator Caryn Lucas host one question since Dawson had just injured his ribs in a car accident, and needed some time to adjust a slipping brace.

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[[folder: Radio ]]

* ''AmericanTop40'' has had several guest hosts, when the regular host (Casey Kasem, Shadoe Stevens, Casey again, now Ryan Seacrest) was either unavailable or wanted a little time off.
* Sister show ''Radio/AmericanCountryCountdown'' often did the same under the hosting of Bob Kingsley (who held the role from 1978 to 2005). When Kingsley left to start his own show, ''Radio/BobKingsleysCountryTop40'', there was a three-week rotation of guest hosts on ''ACC'' before [[BrooksAndDunn Kix Brooks]] took over. Over at ''Country Top 40'', Bob handed the mic over to singer-songwriter Jeffrey Steele in 2008 and 2009, and singer-songwriter Jack Ingram did another week in 2008. A Connecticut DJ named Lance Tidwell filled in for Bob in late 2012.
* With his increasing age and a serious bout of pneumonia late in his career, PaulHarvey sometimes handed the mic over to someone else when he was unable to do the show. The most frequent guest host was his son, Paul Harvey Jr., but several other ABC radio personnel sometimes filled in, as did Fred Thompson.

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[[folder: Other Shows ]]

* [[Wrestling/{{WWE}} World Wrestling Entertainment]] is currently attempting this on its flagship show, ''Monday Night RAW'', with varying degrees of success and critique. The supposed reason is that when Trump "bought" the show, he was going to name Ric Flair as the GeneralManager...but when he sold it back to Vince [=McMahon=], ol' Vinnie Mac wouldn't hear of it (canonically, Vince detests Ric on the air, and reports about their backstage relationship vary). Reports are that they intend on running with this guest host concept through [=WrestleMania=] 26.
** Thankfully, however, the guest hosts concept is now over and done with, although it did run for a few months after Wrestlemania 26.
* The animated series ''TalesFromTheCryptKeeper'', based on ''TalesFromTheCrypt'', was occasionally hijacked by ECComics' other narrators, the Vault-Keeper from ''The Vault of Horror'' and the Old Witch from ''The Haunt of Fear''.
* Due to the in-story disappearance of the central character Linkara, ''WebVideo/AtopTheFourthWall'' featured either his then-girlfriend IronLiz or several of his recurring characters (all played by Linkara himself) guest hosting his VideoReviewShow.
* SaturdayNightLive may have been initially planned to have a permanent host (there are references to AlbertBrooks refusing the position) but started out in 1975 with different guest hosts each week. Thirty-three years later, there still isn't a full-time host.
* This came up a few times on ''TheLarrySandersShow''. One time they couldn't find anyone to guest host so they had to settle for Hank hosting solo. It didn't go well.

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[[folder: Parodies ]]

* Parodied by ''TheOnion'' in their video sketches, where Clifford Banes has ''never once'' appeared as host of ''In the Know with Clifford Banes'', owing to an increasingly unlikely series of circumstances. Unless you count the time one of his guest hosts claimed to be Clifford in an incredibly lifelike mask.
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