TREVOR NOAH’S STANDUP SKILL ISN’T NEWS
The Daily Show’s host is a masterful raconteur and superb impressionist on stage. As he prepares to host a pair of comedy galas, he tells Bill Brownstein about his multiple approaches to getting laughs, and how his job has changed in the recent political climate.
It’s hard to believe Trevor Noah has been in the anchor throne of the Emmy Award-winning Daily Show for less than three years. He handles the hosting role with such poise and aplomb that many might assume he’s been sitting there for over a decade.
“Sometimes it feels like it’s been just one month,” Noah muses in a phone interview from New York.
His mild protestation notwithstanding, it’s been no small task for Noah — who joined the show as a correspondent in 2014 — to take over the job from Jon Stewart, who not only brought great biting satire to the gig, but a fair amount of gravitas as well.
Noah, only 34 but wise and witty well beyond his years, has followed that winning formula, but has also managed to imprint his own vision on the show, geared to targeting younger viewers — many of whom watch The Daily Show as their chief source of news.
But there is another side to Noah, and it will be in evidence when he returns to Montreal’s Just for Laughs festival to host two galas on July 28.
Those who have caught Noah’s previous performances at JFL or have seen his specials on the tube are well aware of his standup prowess. On stage, he delivers material that’s in marked contrast to his Daily Show routine, but it’s no less hilarious. After all, before establishing a beachhead on this continent, he had become the most successful comic in Africa, while still in his 20s.
It has often been pointed out that all the late-night TV talkshow pundits have greatly benefited from being in this golden age of farce, largely fuelled by U.S. President Donald Trump. It has been compared to a baseball player being lobbed beach balls at the plate and knocking them out of the park.
In the case of Noah and hysterically outspoken Brit John Oliver on HBO’s Last Week Tonight, Trump supporters have taken particular exception to outsiders skewering their man.
“The truth is that people will always find a reason to dismiss you as a person when you have an opinion about something which they disagree with,” Noah says. “They’ll use whatever tool they can to do that. They’ll say that because you’re an outsider, because you’re young or whatever.
“I’ve learned over time that you can’t really let that define how you create a show or what you shouldn’t or should do. There are millions who enjoy The Daily Show and who agree with my point of view, and there are people who may not agree with everything I say but who still enjoy watching the show.
“If you focus on everyone who doesn’t want you to do what you’re doing, then you’ll never do what you’re supposed to be doing.”
Noah agrees that there is no shortage of comedy fodder emanating from the White House, but that also poses a danger.
“Yes, there is something coming every single day, but it’s also the same thing every day. Sometimes I wish that Trump would space it out so that we could focus on other news and have a break from him. He is relentless at staying in the spotlight.
“I don’t think his rhetoric helps,” Noah says. “It causes a lot of noise.”
All the same, the Trump era has provided Noah with some gems. U.S. Supreme Court Judge Anthony Kennedy’s recent deci- sion to retire prompted Noah to remark on The Daily Show that Trump’s likely conservative choice for a replacement would have a major impact on the country: “You realize, regardless of what happens in his presidency now, Donald Trump will leave a mark on this country for decades to come,” he said. “It’s not going to go away. It’s like he’s giving America judicial herpes.”
Ironically, Daily Show staffers used to take pride in their “fake news” label. Now Trump has appropriated the phrase for his non-stop attacks on the media.
“That was meant to be a parody of the news, but now with Trump, fake news has become a loaded term, referring to any information that the president or his people don’t like about them.
“So the show has shifted from being a space of fake news to a space where we’re dealing with real news, but what we’re trying to do is provide some sort of catharsis and comedy, so that you’re not just living in a constant state of panic, gloom and terror. Which I don’t think is healthy, because I don’t think the world is ending every day. I think things can get a whole lot better, but what I’ve always loved about comedy is that it gives people the opportunity to exist in a more positive space.”
Noah is actively seeking to engage with any non-Trump news on The Daily Show.
“I’m always pouncing on another story that will speak to another issue,” he says, before dropping this wee grenade: “Like Justin Trudeau travelling to India.”
Ouch.
“Actually, I was amused by the fact (Trudeau’s attire in India) was a scandal (in Canada) and I was amused by the outrage that came with it. The Daily Show is meant to be a space where we continue to question what is happening in the world around us.”
In fact, Noah is quite a fan of Canada. A few weeks ago, he noted on the show that we were about to legalize recreational marijuana.
“Finally, some laid-back Canadians,” he quipped. “It just feels like Canada is rubbing it in America’s face: legalized weed, free health care, a leader who is sane and hot. What’s next? Curling gives you super-intense orgasms? Not fair.”
Noah will likely take a different tack in cracking audiences up at JFL. He is a masterful racon- teur and a superb impressionist — equally adept at a Scottish brogue and Putin-esque Russian, as he displays on his ninth comedy special, Afraid of the Dark, released last year on Netflix.
“I get to explore comedy in two different facets of my life,” says Noah, who still spends considerable time on the global standup circuit. “The Daily Show operates in a space of satire and social issues, whereas my standup gives me more leeway to play with a lot of ideas I relate to over a longer period of time. That gives me a different point of view sometimes, a different way of connecting with an audience, and I really enjoy having those outlets.”
Noah has a new book in the works, and his 2016 bestseller Born a Crime: Stories From a South African Childhood could soon be adapted into a film. A staggering collection of 18 essays, the book relates to the fact that Noah, the offspring of a white Swiss father and a black South African mother, was indeed born a crime during the late stages of apartheid, when such a coupling was punishable by five years in prison. As a result, Noah spent his early years largely confined inside his home.
“Yet home in South Africa is the only reason I’m in the world today,” says Noah, acknowledging that the volatility in growing up there prepared him for his move to the United States.
“That’s the craziest thing of all. A lot of what’s happening in the United States is something most people from developing nations have experienced many times before.”
So he’s not shocked?
Noah laughs, simply adding: “Unfortunately not.”
I get to explore comedy in two different facets of my life. The Daily Show operates in a space of satire and social issues, whereas my standup gives me more leeway to play with a lot of ideas I relate to over a longer period of time.