Jake Chessum/TrunkArchive.com
July 28, 2016
Features

Game Change

Nearly a year in, Trevor Noah is making The Daily Show his own.

Ann Farmer

Growing up in segregated South Africa during its turbulent final phase of black resistance didn’t feel particularly funny to Trevor Noah.

His father is white. His mother is black. She and Noah, therefore, lived apart from his dad, Sharing a two-room house with seven other relatives and no indoor plumbing. He bathed in a bucket before school.

He always worked, though. He assisted a mechanic. He did garden chores. He handed out tokens to kids with sticky fingers at the video arcade. Eventually he began hosting television shows (the job is considered working-class there), including a gossip show and a dating show. But, comedy?

"Comedy was never on my radar. I fell into it," says Noah, host of The Daily Show with Trevor Noah, during a recent interview at his show's Manhattan studio. The satirical news program on Comedy Central was hosted and executive-produced by Jon Stewart (winning numerous Emmys and a Peabody Award) until he turned the reins over to Noah last September.

Since then, Noah has been weathering the grumbles of die-hard Stewart fans, who wish he were more like his predecessor. He's also waded into a presidential race that is as surprising to Americans as it is new to him. Watching him volley Donald Trump jokes each night, though, viewers would never suspect that this 32-year-old grew up without ever seeing a stand-up act.

"There was no free speech," says Noah, explaining that the oppression of blacks in his country included no group gatherings and certainly no comedy clubs. Noah never heard the name Richard Pryor. He never watched Eddie Murphy.

Even so, "I was always the kid who was making people laugh when no one expected to be laughing," he says, unleashing his appealingly boyish smile, His dimples, which he got from his dad, also announce themselves.

After the collapse of apartheid, comedy nights cropped up in Johannesburg. Noah checked one out, but the jokes were so bad that someone in his group complained. The host told them to get on stage if they could do better. Noah did

"I didn't know what I was doing," says Noah, who doesn't recall a word he said. "I just said things that came to my mind, and it worked. I felt so at home."

By the time Stewart heard of him, Noah was living his dream, touring as an international stand-up — and not yearning for a steady gig and sleek office at The Daily Show, such as he now occupies. Whenever he came to New York, though, he'd make an appearance and do his humorous race jokes. "I feel everything is connected to race," he says. "It's race. It's gender. It's class."

Taking over The Daily Show has required making it his own. Before he left, Stewart advised his successor: "The show I made is finished and run its course." Stewart continues to encourage Noah, noting when his monologue or other bit works especially well. "He says, 'You remind me of me when I was starting,'" Noah recounts.

"This show is evolving into something different," he notes. He enjoys standing for his monologue and reacting to the studio audience, as opposed to Stewart, who delivered the opener from his desk. On June 26 he'll be doing stand-up in Central Park, at a free comedy event that will also feature performances by his Daily Show colleagues.

Noah, meanwhile, is striving for greater diversity in the ranks, doggedly trying to reel in more women writers. "Diversity is something you have to do," he says. "It helps you."

He may not be delivering the moral outrage that came so naturally to Stewart, but his soundbites often receive millions of views online. "I don't say things for it to become quoted," he says. "It's a wonderful compliment. But what I try to do is connect with people.

"Some people don't like Indian food," he adds. "I think it's tasty. If I can get the conversation going, if I can get people to laugh, if I can move the needle a little bit, I'll be pleased with myself. It takes time."


This article originally appeared in emmy magazine, Issue No. 6, 2016

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