There was a time when Trevor Noah would look out at the audience from his host desk on The Daily Show and see empty seats. You wouldn’t have known this two weeks ago when lines to get into his Midtown Manhattan studio snaked around the block, with throngs of people from all over the world eager to be a part of tapings of his latest episodes as host of the popular late-night show. -night show.
“I remember when we started the show, we couldn’t get enough people to fill an audience… and when I look at this now, I never take it for granted. Every seat that’s ever been filled to see something I’m doing, I always appreciate it because I know the empty seat that sits behind it,” Trevor told the audience in his final episode on Thursday, December 8.
The news that Trevor would be leaving his hosting desk after just seven years on The Daily Show was met with shock and sadness not only by fans but also by all the influencers he has interviewed on his show over the years. years. He was still going strong. He sustained us through the crazy four years of Donald Trump’s presidency and helped us through the pain and trauma of the pandemic.
We still expected more of his harsh truth through comedy, as Trump runs for another term in the 2024 presidential election and Kanye West tries to do the same.
I know a lot of people are sad, but please don’t be sad. You should be happy that an African leader is leaving power peacefully. That’s never a guarantee,” Trevor joked to the audience.
I have been lucky enough to attend several of Trevor’s stand-up comedy shows in New York. When he was a little-known comedian in the US, he would come out after every performance to chat with the group of South Africans who were waiting to tell him how it was. He’d be hounded if he did that now that he’s a megastar, but he’s still one of us and he appeared on our Saffas at the NYC Heritage Day Braai in Brooklyn in September.
While it’s magical to be part of the audience at Trevor’s stand-ups here, being in the studio and watching live as one of our own masterfully commands America’s attention from behind the presentation desk on The Daily Show, a enormously powerful platform, it evokes a different kind of surrealism.
I have attended the tapings of The Daily Show twice.
Although I was already living in New York when Trevor took over the venerable Jon Stewart’s show in 2015, I didn’t go to any of his studio recordings until 2019 when a friend was visiting and wanted to go on the show. . Living here, there is so much to see and do, you always think “I’ll do it soon”.
Looking back now, I’m glad we left when we did because we didn’t know three years later he would move on. That first time was exciting and fun, it was a proud moment.
The second time around, on Wednesday, December 7, for Trevor’s penultimate episode, being in the studio was more bittersweet. I felt privileged to be there because so many people wanted to experience Trevor behind that desk one last time, but the free tickets sold out as soon as they became available.
This time the experience was also even more different because I had a VIP ticket, I didn’t have to stand in line on the cold Manhattan sidewalk to check-in. I was the envy of everyone as I danced to the front and was immediately let in and ushered to the VIP lounge for snacks and drinks. When we were let into the studio for the recording, I was excited to be sitting in the front row.
The comedian who appeared before Trevor to warm up the audience went around the room asking people where they were from and when I told him I was from South Africa, he gestured to the host’s desk, made a sad face and said, “That’s your boo Isn’t it so sad that tomorrow is your last day hosting The Daily Show?
It was sad, but shortly after that Trevor took the stage and showed the audience why he has been so successful on the show and has become a bona fide A-lister in the US, now getting some attention. of the most powerful. people in the world, such as former US President Barack Obama, Bill Gates and that night’s guest, tennis icon Roger Federer.
None of us knew just how adept Trevor would be at this gig of hosting, and detractors came from all quarters when it was announced that he would take over in September 2015.
“I remember when I started this program. There were so many people who hated me, who really hated me,” Trevor recalled during his last episode. “They hated how I looked, they hated my hair, they hated my accent, they hated everything about me. My point of view, everything.
“And then I look back, seven years later, and now those people still hate me, but for the right reasons, because now they know me, they understand me.”
You may joke, but a lot more people love it than hate it.
It used to be that as a South African living or traveling abroad, when you told people where you were from they would say, “Oh, Nelson Mandela.” But now, they’re also saying, “Oh, Trevor Noah. Have you read his book? Have you seen his latest stand-up special?
He brought Africa into American living rooms with commentary on current African events, and while he was controversial at times and drew the ire of people on the continent and the diaspora when he portrayed African leaders negatively, he also brought Africans to the fore. that many Americans may have never been exposed to.
People like Burna Boy, Davido, Yvonne Orji, Lupita Nyong’o, Black Coffee, Zozibini Tunzi, Charlize Theron, Nomzamo Mbatha,thuso Mbedu and Nelson Makamo were among his guests.
There was a personal touch, a brotherhood, in the way he interacted with the African guests on the show that was moving to watch. It seemed that he was intentional and deliberate about maintaining and displaying the Africanness of him, which was evident from day one when he brought his longtime friend, Ugandan comedian David Kibuuka, with him from South Africa to be one of the writers and producers of the show.
When the show returns in January, a host of guest hosts will be behind the desk until the new host is revealed. One of The Daily Show correspondents, Dulce Sloan, questioned Trevor about “quitting a good job to do nothing” and he replied: “I just believe that life isn’t just about work…it’s about exploration, it’s about about discovery, it is about realization.
“This is a time where I’m just taking time, it’s about making time for family, for friends, to travel a little more.”
We know that whatever Trevor does from now on, it will turn to gold. He had to start from scratch when he began touring the US about 10 years ago, earning $300 a show, which he remembered with his last guest on the show, comedian Neal Brennan.
Trevor left us with some of his strongest words yet as he shared some of the lessons he learned in his time in the US.
During his latest Between Scenes, an Emmy Award-winning short-form segment from The Daily Show that has Trevor interacting with the audience as the show goes into a commercial break, an emotional Trevor gave a special salute to black women in a clip that has since gone viral.
“I have often been credited with having these great ideas. People say, ‘Oh Trevor, you’re so smart’ and I’m like, Who do you think teaches me? Who do you think has formed, nurtured, informed me? From my mom, my grandmother, my aunts, all these black women in my life. In America too.
“I always tell people: if you really want to learn about America, talk to black women… Do yourself a favor. If you really want to know what to do and how to do it, maybe the best way or the most equitable way, talk to black women. They are a big part of the reason I am here and for that I am grateful to them.
“I am grateful to each one of you. This has been an honor, thank you.”
