He's One Of The Top TV Hosts Out There — Carson Daly's Career, Explained

Carson Daly is known far and wide as one of the most popular television hosts of our time thanks to his gigs on both “The Voice” and the “TODAY” show. In fact, America has been familiar with Daly as a TV personality for decades.

Later this year, Daly will add yet another TV show to his impressive career by teaming with Blake Shelton and Nikki Bella on “Barmageddon” for USA Network. At 49 years old, Daly is no stranger to launching new projects and finding success in the entertainment industry. However, there was a time when he had significantly different aspirations. 

Daly attended Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles on a golfing scholarship. He initially dreamed of hitting the links professionally but told his “Today” co-host, Hoda Kotb, in 2019 that he also toyed with the idea of becoming a Catholic priest. However, he ended up pursuing neither of those careers, allowing his love of music to win out. 

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He dropped out of college to work at a radio station in Los Angeles as an intern to none other than current late-night host Jimmy Kimmel. Speaking during an appearance on “Late Night With Seth Meyers” in 2020, Daly explained their families vacationed together when he was young. Years later, they reconnected and Kimmel offered him an internship on his radio show. That made him realize what he wanted to do with his life, telling Meyers he believes everything he has he owes to Kimmel. 

Photo: Nathan Congleton/NBC

At age 23, Daly finally had his own on-air job at KROQ in Los Angeles. That’s when he was discovered by MTV. He began moonlighting for them as a host in various on-camera capacities for $600 a day, according to Forbes. By 1998, he’d quit the radio and moved full-time to MTV, where he quickly became the face of the network thanks to the popularity of “Total Request Live.” He spent the next five years interviewing celebrities and becoming a recognizable name in pop culture himself. 

Daly, who describes himself as a workaholic, also got back into radio in 2001. Now with a little bit of notoriety at his back, he signed a five-year deal with Premiere Radio Networks to host “Carson Daly’s Most Requested.” He also straddled two networks and began hosting the late-night series “Last Call With Carson Daly.”

By 2003, he ended his run on “TRL” and focused his efforts on being a late-night host. He further expanded his role within the NBC umbrella by hosting its New Year’s Eve coverage.

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In 2011, he helped produce the now immensely popular reality singing competition “The Voice.” Both he and Blake Shelton are the only on-camera faces who have stayed with the show throughout its entire run. His work as a producer earned Daly his first Emmy Award as well. 

In 2013, he added yet another hosting gig to his resume by joining the “Today” show as host of the Orange Room, bringing the latest in online and social media content to the morning show’s viewers. Over the years, he expanded his role and is now a co-host of the entire show. 

He finally ended “Last Call with Carson Daly” in 2019 and began to focus all his time on “TODAY” and “The Voice.” However, at the end of 2022, the host is upping his game to three shows once again with “Barmageddon.” However, this time he’ll have the help of his dear friend, Shelton, and his other celebrity pals. Daly will just have to serve some drinks, crack wise, and enjoy himself at Ole Red in Nashville. 

“Barmageddon” premieres on Dec. 5 on USA Network. You can catch him on “The Voice” on Peacock now.