Noah debuts as Daily Show host Monday
South African comedian says his edgy humour isn’t fuelled by anger
When Trevor Noah becomes The Daily Show’s new host on Monday, he won’t have a cheerleading section in the New York audience.
The Johannesburg native says he wants to keep things strictly focused on work as he replaces Jon Stewart.
“I won’t have family at the premiere,” Noah said.
“It’s funny, because I don’t see that night as a celebration. For me, that’s my first day of work, so it’s the same way if I worked for an accounting firm. I wouldn’t bring my family to my first day at work at the office.”
Not that they’re pleading to be there, anyway. Noah admitted his mother in South Africa thinks his new gig is just as significant as his younger brother being elected head of the student council.
“My mom is very down to earth, so in her world, an achievement is an achievement — whether it’s the youngest or the oldest,” he said with a laugh. “So they always keep me very down to earth, which is at times frustrating, but often appreciated.”
His family does have satellite TV and will watch his Daily Show debut — he thinks.
“So they will watch — or not, because my mom, she always says, ‘ I get my funny from you personally, so I have no time for these ‘ shared’ shows.’ She doesn’t want to share me with anybody. She has no time for that.”
Noah, 31, said his mother is a big source of his humour.
A black South African, her relationship to Noah’s white Swiss father was illegal during apartheid.
In 2009, she survived being shot in the head.
“I come from a crazy place,” Noah said. “When I was 25, my mother was shot in the head by my stepfather, an abusive alcoholic. I was so, so angry. But the first thing she said to me after she came out of the hospital was, ‘ You need to learn to forgive. Then you’ll be setting yourself free.’”
Noah has come to terms with the darker chapters of his life by talking about it in his standup routine.
“One thing I always grew up with in my house was laughter,” he said. “My mom was always laughing, she’s still always laughing.”
From the beginning, he joked about things that were on his mind, but even when they touched on painful social issues he was never fuelled by anger, he insists.
Noah’s standup eventually caught on internationally, landing him spots on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno and Late Show with David Letterman.
He also hosted several TV programs, including his own late- night talk show, and was briefly a contributor to The Daily Show.
Yet, many in North America hadn’t heard of him when he was announced as The Daily Show host.
Then came the backlash: Controversial jokes that Noah had tweeted surfaced in the news shortly after he was named as Stewart’s successor.
He said the experience didn’t make him shy away from social media, but it did help him better understand the world we live in.
“We live in the world where people want to click on stories that incite and excite people, so I understand. It’s easy to create any narrative you choose to, if you pick the right excerpts of anybody’s life or things that they’ve said,” said Noah.
“At the end of the day, as a comedian, I don’t set out to be offensive. That’s not something I do. But you can never escape offending a human being.”
Noah said he hopes to continue doing standup alongside The Daily Show.