SA Comedian Trevor Noah Hits Back at Critics

In an interview in the UK’s Guardian newspaper this weekend, Trevor Noah hit back at critics of his Daily Show, saying the show is still in its infancy and is attracting a vital new audience.

Noah told journalist Lanre Bakare: “I’m a baby in this thing. I’m flattered by the fact people judge me as if I’m not.”

He pointed out that at 32 he’s the youngest of America’s late-night show hosts, and that “I jumped into the hottest seat possible and luckily we’ve not crashed the ship.”

Noah took over the show last August after former host Jon Stewart resigned. Although the show’s ratings have gone down, the show now attracts more millennials and a more diverse audience, thanks in part to Noah employing more black staff – including South African writer David Kibuuka.

He says the problem in the USA “is that young people don’t vote, and now people go, ‘Oh, you’re dumbing [the Daily Show] down.’ No, I’m creating a show that needs to be created.”

He said “the biggest surprise was how much people expect the show to be a journalistic source, which is ridiculous” and that he’s realised there are “couch protestors” who “believe it is your duty to express their point of view or their anger” so they can then “tweet about the thing”.

Noah said: “I come from a world where you get up and you go do something about it.

“In South Africa the youth rose up, the people rose up,” he adds. “You didn’t tweet about the thing, you didn’t watch TV shows about the thing, you made something happen yourself. Satire was seen as an additional tool or a weapon in that arsenal.”

One of Noah’s tactics on the show is to plant ideas and thoughts in his audience, rather than rant…which he reveals is a necessary ploy because one thing he learnt growing up is that it’s easier to be accepted as an angry white man than an angry black man.

“White people – for the most part – have always had their anger heard. When white people complain shit gets done, it gets changed,” he says. “Black people have learned you need to find subtle ways to get your point across…”

Noah also addresses those who wanted him to lose his job because of old jokes he had tweeted and describes Twitter as being like a restaurant “where everyone hates the food but they keep ordering more of it”.

Watch Video: Trevor Noah on The Daily Show

Read the full interview in The Guardian here.