Ben Winston
Appearances
What Now? with Trevor Noah
No One Told Trevor He Was Hosting the Grammys [VIDEO]
He always says, it doesn't matter when you're ready, the show goes live at five and it is what it is. So like there was a thing about Kanye, I genuinely didn't even see it till after the show. Honestly, I didn't.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
No One Told Trevor He Was Hosting the Grammys [VIDEO]
Nashville has a whole.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
No One Told Trevor He Was Hosting the Grammys [VIDEO]
Like I knew there was a thing and I knew he had done like a stunt with his wife and... I was like, oh, I said, is the cameras going to work? Is the comms going to work? Is the show going to work? Like, that's all I genuinely, that's what I was thinking about at that time. I was very in the zone, so I wasn't distracted, but I knew he wasn't coming to the main show. How did you know that?
What Now? with Trevor Noah
No One Told Trevor He Was Hosting the Grammys [VIDEO]
And it's about The Daily Show.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
No One Told Trevor He Was Hosting the Grammys [VIDEO]
Well, a couple of things. Firstly, it's really funny that you say that because when you say about the show and how difficult it is for you going, all people are here for different reasons. I think about that in the way I program the show all the time because I'm perfectly aware that like Auntie Marilyn in Nebraska is,
What Now? with Trevor Noah
No One Told Trevor He Was Hosting the Grammys [VIDEO]
does not want to watch doji and in the same way that like somebody who loves doji is not interested in laney wilson it's like so that's partly why we've done as much as we can to like make the show something for everybody i would like the videos that we explain who everybody is but i would really try to tell stories i would even interject and say
What Now? with Trevor Noah
No One Told Trevor He Was Hosting the Grammys [VIDEO]
Because I'd heard, um, I'd heard that he was just coming to the red carpet and then leaving and he didn't have a, I mean, I'm in charge of the floor plan. Yeah. So that's, well, that's what got me.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
No One Told Trevor He Was Hosting the Grammys [VIDEO]
But we try and make it like a show that everybody will enjoy from beginning to end. I think you undermine, not undermine, that's the wrong word. I think you underserve the purpose that you have in that show. And like Corden, I got involved in the Grammys because of James Corden. So obviously I am his partner and I was his showrunner for Late Late Show with Rob.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
No One Told Trevor He Was Hosting the Grammys [VIDEO]
Business partner, by the way, not married. Yeah, we're not married. We're not married.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
No One Told Trevor He Was Hosting the Grammys [VIDEO]
Yes, I do love him, but he's not my lover. So I only got involved in the Grammys because he got asked to host it. So I went along to be his like host producer. Got it, got it, got it. And that's when Recording Academy got to know me. And that's when like CBS and Recording Academy said, would you ever? Then he decided he wasn't going to do the Grammys anymore. Elish Keyes got appointed.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
No One Told Trevor He Was Hosting the Grammys [VIDEO]
And they said to me, Ken is, you know, however old he is. I think he was, you know, 70 odd, 80 or whatever. They said, would you ever consider it? He'd run it 40 years. And that's how this all happened. But James always used to say something. I wonder if you feel. James always used to say the morning after the Grammys, and I'll never forget it.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
No One Told Trevor He Was Hosting the Grammys [VIDEO]
He always used to say, the thing I don't understand why I do this is if it goes badly, it's career suicide. You are a joke. You are over. You are rubbish. You can never work again. It's a disaster. If it goes well, you get 12 lovely emails. Yeah. You get 12 lovely emails. He's like, why do I – I don't need 12 lovely emails.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
No One Told Trevor He Was Hosting the Grammys [VIDEO]
But, like, he also did it for the buzz and the love of it and the excitement. And for you, I genuinely – the biggest panic I had this year was in regards to you. And I don't know if you know this. What do you mean? I genuinely could not have done the show this year without you. I couldn't have done it without you. It was such a high wire act because loads of people said we shouldn't do the show.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
No One Told Trevor He Was Hosting the Grammys [VIDEO]
I don't know if anyone knew Carneiro was coming, but there was no truth, genuinely no truth to him being kicked out. That's just not true. He went and did the carpet, and as far as I understand it, he then got in a car and left.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
No One Told Trevor He Was Hosting the Grammys [VIDEO]
Like loads of people were like, cancel the Grammys, do better. Like what's her name? The amazing actress from Hacks, Jean Smart. She said, cancel all award shows and give the money to fire relief or whatever. It's like there was this real, and everyone was like, why are you doing this? It's not about people picking up gold statues and all this.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
No One Told Trevor He Was Hosting the Grammys [VIDEO]
So there was this huge attention on us and everyone was going, you're cancelling it, right? You're cancelling it. I really didn't want to cancel it for many reasons. One, I thought we could do real good on the night. Two, I thought it's three and a half weeks away and actually like, well, we were deep in the fire, but it's three and a half weeks away.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
No One Told Trevor He Was Hosting the Grammys [VIDEO]
If the fires are still raging... Wait, wait, wait. But you had been evacuated from your own home and you were still like, I think we can do the show. 100% wanted to do it. More than ever. Okay. What people don't realize, and I'm going to come back to the bit by you in a second. But what people don't realize, and why I was annoyed, but I don't get annoyed much, you know that. Yeah, no, you don't.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
No One Told Trevor He Was Hosting the Grammys [VIDEO]
When people were like, let's just cancel it. I was like going... We did the math on this. 6,500 people, all from Los Angeles, in some ways take a wage from the Grammys happening. I'm not talking about Sabrina Carpenter in Chapel Rowan. I'm talking about the people who build the stages, the caterers, the producers, the writers, the choreographers. That's how many, the drivers. It's insane.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
No One Told Trevor He Was Hosting the Grammys [VIDEO]
So all these people saying, and a lot of them lost their houses and a lot of them I know. Yeah. And the worst thing I could do to them, the worst thing as the executive producer of the show, the single worst thing I could possibly do to any of those people is go, hey guys, because you guys are struggling right now and because you've lost your house and because you're having a really tough time,
What Now? with Trevor Noah
No One Told Trevor He Was Hosting the Grammys [VIDEO]
we've decided to take your wage away. Okay. Just to make things a bit easier for you so that you don't need to work right now. Okay. I hope that makes you feel good. You know, we're really with you. Heart's with you. I love LA. What? Like, it was just, it just didn't understand. And then people were like, there was somebody from Nashville who was going to come to the show, big star.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
No One Told Trevor He Was Hosting the Grammys [VIDEO]
And they said, their agent called and they said, they don't want to take hotel rooms in LA. So we're no longer going to be doing it because we don't, we think it's inappropriate to take hotel rooms. I was like, hotel rooms right now in Los Angeles, the week of the Grammys, and actually that week, which was three weeks ago, were at 32% capacity.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
No One Told Trevor He Was Hosting the Grammys [VIDEO]
I don't know. Genuinely, I don't know. You'd have to ask the Academy.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
No One Told Trevor He Was Hosting the Grammys [VIDEO]
And then, as you say, everything was fully available. Everything was available because the hotels were empty. And so I've got an artist team from Nashville. When I live and love LA, I've become proper. I'm 10 years here. No, I changed. We can talk about that too, but I can't get distracted. Let me go. Okay, okay, go, go, go, go.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
No One Told Trevor He Was Hosting the Grammys [VIDEO]
so like you know i feel very when something like that happens you become you either go 2019 there was a fire in my garden it was getty center we were evacuated i thought everything was gone yeah it was fine my house but i was like get me home to london what the hell am i doing here in this place that can burn my house down i was like done this time i don't know why entirely different maybe it's because i've got two kids now and two like two little americans
What Now? with Trevor Noah
No One Told Trevor He Was Hosting the Grammys [VIDEO]
As much as you want.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
No One Told Trevor He Was Hosting the Grammys [VIDEO]
Maybe it's just I've grown in to love this country. Maybe it's I've just been here, it's my 11th year. But I just had this pride in our city. I was like, we're going to, it was really, it was this like resilience and like love for it. It's why we started with I Love LA on the show. It's why we did all the local businesses. It all came from that like heart of like what I feel about the city.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
No One Told Trevor He Was Hosting the Grammys [VIDEO]
Yeah, you had like a uncharacteristically...
What Now? with Trevor Noah
No One Told Trevor He Was Hosting the Grammys [VIDEO]
No, I know it is. I've got... But now you have like a... No, I do.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
No One Told Trevor He Was Hosting the Grammys [VIDEO]
I'm not chanting USA, guys. A few more years. I've started to get to know my neighbours. A few more years. Yeah, four more years. Make the Grammys great again, guys. So then when this artist said, no, we're not going to come. We don't want to come. And they weren't in the show anyway. They hadn't confirmed, but I was hoping to get them.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
No One Told Trevor He Was Hosting the Grammys [VIDEO]
And they were like, no, we're going to keep the hotel rooms free. And the idea that people who have been evacuated, either they are... not wealthy enough to stay in a hotel for more than two or three nights. You think they're staying at the London on Sunset Boulevard for like three months.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
No One Told Trevor He Was Hosting the Grammys [VIDEO]
Like they can't, they don't have any possessions anymore or they're wealthy enough to rent a new place or move on out.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
No One Told Trevor He Was Hosting the Grammys [VIDEO]
So the hotels are empty. Everybody knows that in this town, bars aren't being used, valets, like the whole thing. So that annoyed me. So that's why I was like, A friend of mine, Jeffrey, I'm going to, I hope he won't mind. Jeffrey Katzenberg calls me literally while I'm evacuated. And while everybody is going, we don't know if the Grammy should happen.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
No One Told Trevor He Was Hosting the Grammys [VIDEO]
Yeah, that's right. If you're a plus one. That's true. That's a very good point because I never know the plus ones. So you know that Madison Beer is sat over here. But you don't know who Madison Beer is. She may be Kanye West. And then you've got nothing you can do about it. Yeah, but you said that. But then people, you're right, you don't know.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
No One Told Trevor He Was Hosting the Grammys [VIDEO]
And me and Harvey, Harvey Mason Jr., who runs the Recording Academy, who employs me to produce the show, we were both like, we really think we can do something good on this show. And Jeffrey called me. And Jeffrey's like one of my favorite people in the world. And he called me and he said, like, why don't we think about doing something on television with musicians forever? for the fires.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
No One Told Trevor He Was Hosting the Grammys [VIDEO]
This was before fire aid had been announced and Irving's thing. He said, I really think that you'd be the right person to put it together, get the artists. We could find a network. We do the whole thing. And I said, literally, I was in our hotel room with all my bags around me. I said, Jeffrey, but to do that, you'd need X million dollars to put on an event.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
No One Told Trevor He Was Hosting the Grammys [VIDEO]
I've already got X million dollars on February the 2nd. It's the Grammys. You're also going to need a network to like put it on. And I was like, I've already got that. It's CBS. You'd also need people to watch it. And that's hard, but it's called the Grammys. So people will watch it. And you'd also need to get Beyonce and Taylor and Billy and Gaga and Bruno and Olivia Rodrigo in a room. Yeah.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
No One Told Trevor He Was Hosting the Grammys [VIDEO]
And I've already got that. It's called the Grammys. I was like, why would we do something for that? Why not just make this that? And that's what we needed to do. And it was a crazy high wire act for you to do. Because at the one time you're going, please welcome Sabrina Carpenter. But the other time you're saying, go to this QR code and help these people.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
No One Told Trevor He Was Hosting the Grammys [VIDEO]
And I think it was an impossible job that you did unbelievably, unbelievably well. So much so that I want you to know something that I only found out about an hour ago. During the telecast, just during the telecast, there was donations of over $8.5 million. Altogether, it's been nine, just over nine. It's $24 million for all the weekends events at the Grammys.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
No One Told Trevor He Was Hosting the Grammys [VIDEO]
Oh, yes. Yeah. I was like, fuck it, let's go.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
No One Told Trevor He Was Hosting the Grammys [VIDEO]
But just during the telecast is $8.5 million. What is fascinating about that, that I literally just found out a minute ago in my office, is the average donation of that was less than 50 bucks. So what happened was the biggest donation from people at home was a 30, then it was a 10, and then it was a five. That's the three donations. Everything else was beneath that level.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
No One Told Trevor He Was Hosting the Grammys [VIDEO]
What that means is... Hundreds of thousands of people were watching the show and watching you go, there's a QR code, and they were donating 5, 10, 20, enough that we raised 8 million just from those donations. Because you'd think if you raised 8 million, that's 100 grand here, that's half a million there. Of course, you know, like... but that's not no corporate sponsors.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
No One Told Trevor He Was Hosting the Grammys [VIDEO]
That's not including the artists that add up to that 24. It's just people at home. And like, that's because you successfully, and I'm not just blowing smoke up your ass, but like, that's because you successfully and like seismically changed, like people to do that, people to go up to their screen and get their phone and then type in a code rather than just watching TV and enjoying the Grammys.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
No One Told Trevor He Was Hosting the Grammys [VIDEO]
That's because you did it really well.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
No One Told Trevor He Was Hosting the Grammys [VIDEO]
And so it was a high wire act, but I knew that I needed you hugely because without you, it would have been impossible to get the excitement and the joy and allow somebody to stand there and win a Grammy, to also have someone who loves and understands music, but fundamentally to get the tone right so that we could go from I Love LA or the firemen coming on stage or the commercials for the businesses or all the choir that sung with Stevie Wonder from schools that burned down, all those bits that we'd come up with.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
No One Told Trevor He Was Hosting the Grammys [VIDEO]
And people show up with famous people and then suddenly they're on camera and you didn't know they were coming. And it's like, oh, they're there with, you know, whoever.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
No One Told Trevor He Was Hosting the Grammys [VIDEO]
You had to get us through them and at the same time make a joke about, I don't know, alligator bites. Right, right. And that was needed. So my big... I've talked for too long. I'm sorry. No, what do you mean? This is the podcast. We have to talk about the Grammys. You're the Grammys guy. What do you mean? But I freaked out. Do you not know this? I don't know anything. I'm waiting to hear it.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
No One Told Trevor He Was Hosting the Grammys [VIDEO]
All right. So... It was the week of the fires, which was January the 7th or 8th. And me and Harvey are, and with Raj and Jesse, who also I should credit them, they're also execs on the show. we decide we're going to go ahead with the show. So we make this announcement, we're going ahead with the show. And I'm like, great, we're going ahead.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
No One Told Trevor He Was Hosting the Grammys [VIDEO]
And I start planning it and I start thinking of all these ideas. And I'm like, and then Trevor could do this. And like, oh, and then Trevor could start like this. And then he could like unveil the photo of doors. And I'm just thinking of all of it. And like, really, and I'm phoning all the artists because they all want to know that it's going to be okay.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
No One Told Trevor He Was Hosting the Grammys [VIDEO]
They all want to know that they're not walking into like, So I went around each one, not each one of them, not all of them, but like a lot of them like wanted a call to understand what we were doing. And I reassured them instantly and they could feel, oh, there's love here. And like, it's going to be okay. And it got to like the 12th of January or 13th of January.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
No One Told Trevor He Was Hosting the Grammys [VIDEO]
I don't know the exact dates, but it was like, you know, And Eric Cook, the co-EP who sort of runs the budget, comes into my office and he says, we still haven't got Trevor's contract signed. When are you announcing Trevor? And I went... I went, hold on. We haven't announced Trevor. And he's like, no. I was like, why haven't we announced Trevor? He's like, I don't know.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
No One Told Trevor He Was Hosting the Grammys [VIDEO]
We've never announced Trevor. I was like, I had no idea we hadn't announced you as the host. Because you and I are, I would say, very close friends. And we just assume we're doing it together.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
No One Told Trevor He Was Hosting the Grammys [VIDEO]
Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
No One Told Trevor He Was Hosting the Grammys [VIDEO]
Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
No One Told Trevor He Was Hosting the Grammys [VIDEO]
Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
No One Told Trevor He Was Hosting the Grammys [VIDEO]
You know what? I only actually saw that well afterwards because Khloe Kardashian tweeted about it. She posted the video going, Babyface is a legend. How dare you? And the first thing I thought is, and Babyface is a mate of mine. I love Babyface. Not only is he a legend and an icon and a music aficionado, He's also one of the nicest men. He actually is.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
No One Told Trevor He Was Hosting the Grammys [VIDEO]
Actually, I wanted to show you what I'm wearing underneath here. Can you imagine? That would have been really funny if I turned up in like a fur coat and nothing underneath. Would have been a bit of a weird joke.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
No One Told Trevor He Was Hosting the Grammys [VIDEO]
He's full of love and praise. I love being around him. Like, I find him an inspiring dude just from his, like, manner. But I felt sorry for those reporters. I actually did. Because it's like the culture that we're in right now where, like, they... They're red carpet reporters on AP. They're not Trevor Noah hosting the Grammys. They don't have 10,000 hours of experience. They're on a thing.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
No One Told Trevor He Was Hosting the Grammys [VIDEO]
They probably don't know the story and the history of Babyface's commitment to music. And then Chapel Roan, who is one of the biggest stars, they know Chapel Roan better than they'd ever know Babyface. And they're like, oh, don't... And they know that they're going to get more bang for their buck there. I'm not being disrespectful to the papers.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
No One Told Trevor He Was Hosting the Grammys [VIDEO]
Of course they handled it badly, but I hate the way society turns on them.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
No One Told Trevor He Was Hosting the Grammys [VIDEO]
But was it your least favorite in the end? Yeah, easily. Right. Just because you were worried about that high line of how you were, just because you couldn't be loose.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
No One Told Trevor He Was Hosting the Grammys [VIDEO]
You don't mean least favorite as in the show. You mean your experience.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
No One Told Trevor He Was Hosting the Grammys [VIDEO]
You mean because usually it's the mayhem that they're arriving.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
No One Told Trevor He Was Hosting the Grammys [VIDEO]
But do you think that's because we started it with you talking about devastation?
What Now? with Trevor Noah
No One Told Trevor He Was Hosting the Grammys [VIDEO]
He's like, I don't need this. I agree. I just wish people didn't immediately go out to find who those two girls are. And then let's just make their life miserable.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
No One Told Trevor He Was Hosting the Grammys [VIDEO]
But do you think that was because of what happened in Los Angeles?
What Now? with Trevor Noah
No One Told Trevor He Was Hosting the Grammys [VIDEO]
Winning an album? No, no, no, no. People saw Billie Eilish crying when Beyonce was up on stage. And lots of people have said to me, why do you think she was crying? And it's really interesting. It's like, I think it could have just been the emotion of the night. But I mean, it could have been anything from being happy to see Beyonce. Some people were saying, oh, she's sad that she's lost.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
No One Told Trevor He Was Hosting the Grammys [VIDEO]
And that's why she's crying. I was like, oh my God, you don't know this girl.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
No One Told Trevor He Was Hosting the Grammys [VIDEO]
She's like the nicest person. Yeah, you don't know Billie then. There is no, like she is just the most exceptional human being. But I actually think, I think what set her off, if I had to guess, and again, I don't know. I really don't know. I don't know her that well. But I think it was the fireman.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
No One Told Trevor He Was Hosting the Grammys [VIDEO]
I actually think the moment of those firemen coming out because the fires were so close to her and whatever.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
No One Told Trevor He Was Hosting the Grammys [VIDEO]
I think the fireman made that moment emotional. And I wanted to do the fireman for album... I knew straight away I was like, we have to get Fireman to give out an album because that is the biggest... That's the Celine Dion moment that we had last year. It's special. If it wasn't the fires, you'd be asking Paul McCartney or Mick Jagalek.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
No One Told Trevor He Was Hosting the Grammys [VIDEO]
And so the idea that you get 20 firefighters and you play some emotive music and you come out, I actually think that...
What Now? with Trevor Noah
No One Told Trevor He Was Hosting the Grammys [VIDEO]
was a real um period or a full stop at the end of the show because it was like we've done all these bits let's support these local businesses let's have this like gaga bruno performance and then at the end you just see like this powerful 20 firemen giving out this historic moment that was to be honest that made it even more historic it's the thing that people have been begging for for however many years and it's a group of firefighters
What Now? with Trevor Noah
No One Told Trevor He Was Hosting the Grammys [VIDEO]
And I loved your line about this is the easiest job they'll ever have to do. Just give out an order. It's a wonderful line. I loved it. And yeah, I just thought that might have led to the emotion. It was like the person who they grew up loving in Beyonce, someone like Billie. And you've got the firefighters there. And the night's gone. It's been a lovely night. Music's brought people together.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
No One Told Trevor He Was Hosting the Grammys [VIDEO]
Why? It's a red carpet. No one even needed to see it. No one would have known about it. Why does everyone need to be so offended all the time?
What Now? with Trevor Noah
No One Told Trevor He Was Hosting the Grammys [VIDEO]
And I thought maybe that was why there was so much emotion in the room. But I don't know.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
No One Told Trevor He Was Hosting the Grammys [VIDEO]
But if he wasn't, he said straight afterwards that I didn't care less. He'd be embarrassed by this whole thing.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
No One Told Trevor He Was Hosting the Grammys [VIDEO]
Did the atmosphere in the room, because obviously you're hosting it, I'm in a truck in the parking lot basically with all the cameras and everything. Oh, yeah, you're disconnected in a weird way. I'm sort of in the most connected and also the most disconnected.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
No One Told Trevor He Was Hosting the Grammys [VIDEO]
I'm across every element in some ways, but then you're not, you're trying to just, but the feeling in the room, what was the feeling in the room when Kendrick won? What was the feeling in the room when Beyonce won? And did the room change during the night? Yeah. I think at the beginning, everyone was like, how are we supposed to be?
What Now? with Trevor Noah
No One Told Trevor He Was Hosting the Grammys [VIDEO]
But I do feel like at the end, there was just a love in there and it was real warmth.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
No One Told Trevor He Was Hosting the Grammys [VIDEO]
That's why they're paying the big bucks. We saw a lesson in hosting there. I thought I was coming to what now? I'm actually coming to Masterclass. I'm coming to a masterclass with Trevor Miller.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
No One Told Trevor He Was Hosting the Grammys [VIDEO]
But also you're seeing like the biggest icons in the world doing it.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
No One Told Trevor He Was Hosting the Grammys [VIDEO]
I had all the cameras and you see Taylor and Beyonce and they're all singing along. Let me tell you something.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
No One Told Trevor He Was Hosting the Grammys [VIDEO]
Where would you say the turning point was? I'm interested. I think the person who had the most difficult task all night, apart from you, because obviously you had to bring it all together. I think we gave Sabrina Carpenter a really hard task. Yo, can I tell you?
What Now? with Trevor Noah
No One Told Trevor He Was Hosting the Grammys [VIDEO]
So the thing I obsess about more than anything else, the thing I spend more time on than anything else is the running order.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
No One Told Trevor He Was Hosting the Grammys [VIDEO]
What I mean by that is like the order of everything from like where you go, what award, how it – firstly, it's a logistical nightmare because you've got to build one set while you're taking another one down and you've got to time the other one so that this goes up while that goes down. It's like a crazy building process. But act one was Trevor set in the tone.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
No One Told Trevor He Was Hosting the Grammys [VIDEO]
a band Doors that had lost everything. And so therefore, a band Doors who had lost everything. And so therefore had almost like an, it was like a beautiful moment where we were like seeing them and seeing them experience opening the Grammys, which was really beautiful. Then you go in and we come to Trevor and you're doing your opening.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
No One Told Trevor He Was Hosting the Grammys [VIDEO]
Then Billie Eilish is on, literally on a background that got burnt down, but it's where she comes from. And it's a really beautiful song. Then we've got the commercials, which is helping local businesses. And then you get to top of act two. and Sabrina Carpenter has to sing about espresso, and she's doing it while she's doing a comedy act. It was a full-on comedy act.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
No One Told Trevor He Was Hosting the Grammys [VIDEO]
And that was the moment where it was like, okay, if we've done the work in part one, if all of those things, Trevor's intro, doors, mono but fundraising, let's go big on the fundraising, Billie Eilish, commercials, if those five things have worked, then Sabrina's going to be okay, and this will be great. If not, then everyone's going to be like, why is she falling through the stairs?
What Now? with Trevor Noah
No One Told Trevor He Was Hosting the Grammys [VIDEO]
Do you not know what's going on in the world? Hashtag do better.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
No One Told Trevor He Was Hosting the Grammys [VIDEO]
And luckily, I think, because part one went really well, because you did really well, because Billie Eilish was incredible, because Doors was very moving. And fundamentally, Sabrina was unbelievably brilliant and funny and charming and like old school Hollywood glam and phenomenal like talent. that suddenly everybody was up dancing. At the beginning of the song, they were not.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
No One Told Trevor He Was Hosting the Grammys [VIDEO]
By the end of the song, they were. By the time they got to Chapel, everybody was up. And then from Benson all the way, from Benson to Dochi to Teddy to Shabuzy to Ray, it was carnage. Everywhere we looked, people were on their feet. And I was like... And that was the biggest moment for me. When we finished Best New Artist, I was celebrating with Hamish because I was like, actually...
What Now? with Trevor Noah
No One Told Trevor He Was Hosting the Grammys [VIDEO]
whatever happens from like the next hour and a half two hours like that was a really beautiful way of taking an audience that you were nervous about and by the end of ray they're on their feet like going this is one of the best things we've seen and so yeah that was that that was the moment but sabrina had to turn it so now on that because you've now reminded me of something that i observed and i didn't speak to you about it even after the show right
What Now? with Trevor Noah
No One Told Trevor He Was Hosting the Grammys [VIDEO]
Well, that was Travis Phelps. that moment with Cardi. He doesn't know it, but that was Trevor's fault. I know his, the way he speaks. I know his pace that he speaks. So when I do a link, I time it out and I read it as Trevor's voice in my brain and I time how long it's going to take to do the porch and for that to come down. I want you to go back and I want you to watch that.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
No One Told Trevor He Was Hosting the Grammys [VIDEO]
For some reason, and I have no idea why, somebody pressed times four on Trevor Noah and you whizzed through this link. It didn't matter in any way. You whizzed through a link that you would never, ever whizzed through before. I don't even remember what the link was, but you literally, okay, the fundraising on the thing, but here's somebody, Cardi B. And I was like, oh my God, what happened?
What Now? with Trevor Noah
No One Told Trevor He Was Hosting the Grammys [VIDEO]
And I had forgotten to go, hey, I'm going to need you to read this as your normal human being voice. You whizzed through it and suddenly I was like, oh no, the porch isn't clear. So we just cut wide to seven. Do you know what? There's such big things in the show. I don't lose my cool at that. I'm also a bit like... what, the audience is going to be so surprised that the porch has to be taken away.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
No One Told Trevor He Was Hosting the Grammys [VIDEO]
I'm also a bit like, that is the least of our worries. The worry for me was Best New Artist and how we logistically did that because that was impossible for Hamish and Hayley, our directing team, to do. But that moment was just like, well, one of those things didn't really bother me.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
No One Told Trevor He Was Hosting the Grammys [VIDEO]
No, you were right about the first part. You came out of Sabrina. Came out of Sabrina. And you went, you did a whole thing about jokes, leave them to me. Yeah. But you did them under the applause, so that was done. You weren't going into a monologue.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
No One Told Trevor He Was Hosting the Grammys [VIDEO]
Coming out of Sabrina into Cardi B. And then going into the, just into going to Best Rap Album. It was a small link, but you whizzed through it.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
No One Told Trevor He Was Hosting the Grammys [VIDEO]
I mean, if you think, yeah, probably 14,000.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
No One Told Trevor He Was Hosting the Grammys [VIDEO]
I'm sorry. I'm confused. We're talking about two girls who are hosting for AP live on a red carpet at the Grammys. They're not hosting the Oscars here.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
No One Told Trevor He Was Hosting the Grammys [VIDEO]
It's a really funny joke.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
No One Told Trevor He Was Hosting the Grammys [VIDEO]
Yeah, it only happened that day, didn't it?
What Now? with Trevor Noah
No One Told Trevor He Was Hosting the Grammys [VIDEO]
Yeah, that was happening during the show because I said, is Gaffigan in? Has anyone spoken to Gaffigan? And Kate Dowd, who was with you, she went, not that I'm aware of. I was like, well, somebody might need to go and tell Jim Gaffigan that we've written a joke for him.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
No One Told Trevor He Was Hosting the Grammys [VIDEO]
Oh yeah, because that's the only thing I said to you.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
No One Told Trevor He Was Hosting the Grammys [VIDEO]
But that's why I don't think, I think the room was better than you think it was in so many ways.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
No One Told Trevor He Was Hosting the Grammys [VIDEO]
By the time you got to act three, it was, it was like they loved it.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
No One Told Trevor He Was Hosting the Grammys [VIDEO]
Thank you. Thank you.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
No One Told Trevor He Was Hosting the Grammys [VIDEO]
It's difficult, and it's difficult on live, and it's like, ugh. And I got it. They knew that they were going to get more hits if they managed to get Chappell. And Chappell's not hanging around. Chappell's not going to go, and I don't mean anything about Chappell, but she's not going to go, oh, I'll sit here for six minutes when she's finished with Babyface.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
No One Told Trevor He Was Hosting the Grammys [VIDEO]
She's on and you've either got to get her or you don't. So I get it. But you're right. The way they should have done it would be the collab.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
No One Told Trevor He Was Hosting the Grammys [VIDEO]
Yeah, I think I miss, with The Late Late Show, it's not specifically missing replying to something that's happened. Because I don't think the stuff I would ever go in ever goes into that controversial. The Grammys, I can think of two moments probably in the five Grammys I've done, including last night's or whenever it was, two nights ago. That was, I got a bit of stick for WAP.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
No One Told Trevor He Was Hosting the Grammys [VIDEO]
with Cardi and Megan Thee Stallion.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
No One Told Trevor He Was Hosting the Grammys [VIDEO]
My answer on that one was Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion wanted to do that performance. They were excited about it. And who am I to say, no, actually, who am I to censor that and say, no, you shouldn't do that. You need to be more like this. That's just not ever the job of someone like me. And then the Sam Smith one also, you're right, it did.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
No One Told Trevor He Was Hosting the Grammys [VIDEO]
People got, I got texts from a couple of people who were like, it was inappropriate. More from the religious perspective because he was dressed like a devil.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
No One Told Trevor He Was Hosting the Grammys [VIDEO]
And people were, there was a couple of people who said, you know, I don't think I'll be able to watch the Grammys anymore because of that. And I loved that performance and I thought it was amazing. But like, I have to say, I've probably changed a little bit. I've got two little girls now. I had them then, but maybe they were of an age where they're repeating stuff.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
No One Told Trevor He Was Hosting the Grammys [VIDEO]
And they were, you know, sitting in the front row at the dress rehearsal watching Charlie XCX. And I was a bit like, oh God, my five-year-old's like grinding, like throwing panties in the air. And I'm like, oh no, what have I done? But I'm probably a bit more conscious of it. I was a bit more like gung-ho maybe five years ago. And now I am a bit more conscious that...
What Now? with Trevor Noah
No One Told Trevor He Was Hosting the Grammys [VIDEO]
How would you have coped if he was in the room? How would you have felt, honestly, if he was in the room, knowing that he was there, knowing that there's an unpredictability around you at those tables? Because you're vulnerable. Most hosts are on a stage. They're away from people. Yeah, they're not amongst the people. You are right in amongst it.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
No One Told Trevor He Was Hosting the Grammys [VIDEO]
You know, you are making a show that you want America to feel comfortable watching, not just your America. And so I'm very aware of that. And I think that that comes into me. As for the Late Late Show, I don't miss being able to respond because it's James' show, not mine. Yes, I was the showrunner with Rob, but it was James' show.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
No One Told Trevor He Was Hosting the Grammys [VIDEO]
What I miss is something will happen in the world and you have no outlet. to make a joke about it or make a sketch about it. Or there'll be something that happens in pop culture and you'll be like, oh, this is a great idea for like a spoof music video. I miss that hugely, but not in response to work that I'm doing really. That's not what I miss.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
No One Told Trevor He Was Hosting the Grammys [VIDEO]
But I definitely miss that power of creating an hour of television every day because it was just the most remarkable thing. I think about the Grammys. And it's like months of work for like that four hours. Whereas at least the late, late show, you turn up every morning, you have a blank page and you can do whatever you want.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
No One Told Trevor He Was Hosting the Grammys [VIDEO]
And that next day you can't celebrate the good ones or mourn the bad ones because you've got another one tomorrow. You know, whereas if something goes wrong at the Grammys and luckily it didn't. And in fact, I was happier than I've ever been after this Grammys. weirdly, I felt the most like weight off my shoulders at the end. I don't know if you felt that from me.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
No One Told Trevor He Was Hosting the Grammys [VIDEO]
We had no technical issues and it gone well. And I really felt like everything that we wanted, we'd, you know, you had done that high wire brilliantly and the performances have worked. So it wasn't my favorite Grammys that we've done, even though everyone's saying, Oh, it wasn't my favorite Grammys ever, but it was the biggest relief I've had because, um, I was just like, Oh man,
What Now? with Trevor Noah
No One Told Trevor He Was Hosting the Grammys [VIDEO]
thank God it's over. The weekend didn't get leaked. Like that was a secret I've been carrying for a long time. And Best New Artist is something I've wanted to do for so long. And yeah, I just thought it all worked really well. And I thought the other thing is, you know, that thing that you carry around and the voting has nothing to do with me. I don't even have a vote. Of course I don't.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
No One Told Trevor He Was Hosting the Grammys [VIDEO]
But everyone going... Beyonce's got to win album of the year.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
No One Told Trevor He Was Hosting the Grammys [VIDEO]
And she's like, give me a hug. And it's like that moment. What was the question that she answered in that moment though?
What Now? with Trevor Noah
No One Told Trevor He Was Hosting the Grammys [VIDEO]
It does get tested. Yeah, 100%. There'll be artists who I've got relationships with and they'll be like, I've got a new single. I've got it. I'm going to save it for the Grammys. And I'm like, ooh, I don't know if I've got a spot. And I'm like, this is awkward. Yeah, there's like really lovely things. I'd say like the three performances that I was really excited about for a long time.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
No One Told Trevor He Was Hosting the Grammys [VIDEO]
Not a long time, actually. Some of them were a long time. When I... when it was actually, I called, I called Brandy Carlisle, who's a really good mate of mine. And I said to her, I really, I'd been listening to I Love LA
What Now? with Trevor Noah
No One Told Trevor He Was Hosting the Grammys [VIDEO]
in my car going between the hotel downtown where we were evacuated to and my house where I was sitting during the day because I never thought the fires were going to come and take my house away but I did think like an ember could fly over and like and then a small little fire becomes a big one right so I just decided the kids would be downtown in the hotel which is where we'd sleep and then I in the day would come and sit in my garden I had a hose at the front a hose at the back and a hose on the side yeah I had three hoses
What Now? with Trevor Noah
No One Told Trevor He Was Hosting the Grammys [VIDEO]
Right? So I would sit there all day on my laptop doing work by the window in the garden. And I'd just like look in case it was embers because I can put out an ember.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
No One Told Trevor He Was Hosting the Grammys [VIDEO]
Yeah. But no, but it's true because the truth of it is, my house was only going to burn down because we were at the edge of Brentwood. So the fire was a long, it was a mile and a half, but it was close. But it wasn't close enough. If it was coming for us like it did with Palisades or Alteira, I would have been able to get in my car and go.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
No One Told Trevor He Was Hosting the Grammys [VIDEO]
But it was more likely that something got a lot of trees over the house.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
No One Told Trevor He Was Hosting the Grammys [VIDEO]
I think it would be better for me just to be there, put out a little fire, then it become a big fire and then it's too late. So that's what we decided to do. It's not, I promise you, it's not as risky as it sounds. But I was listening to I Love LA and again, going back to our earlier point that I've suddenly become obsessed with this city. I don't know what's happened to me.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
No One Told Trevor He Was Hosting the Grammys [VIDEO]
But so I'd be listening to it and I'd be like, what a great way. That is making me feel good. I love that song. Maybe if Randy Newman would allow us to change some of the lyrics, which he did. But then I was like, who performs it? And at one point I was like, Stevie Nicks would be great. And then I was like, Miley Cyrus would be quite fun. Would that be cool?
What Now? with Trevor Noah
No One Told Trevor He Was Hosting the Grammys [VIDEO]
And then I thought, well, Red Hot Chili Peppers would be great, but they'd never do I Love LA because they'd want to do their own song, which is amazing, but then it would be a bit more somber. Yeah, it's very somber. So I called Brandi Carlile and I went, I really like this song. She thinks it's a good idea. Who do you think I should, do you think Pink? Do you think like, who do you think?
What Now? with Trevor Noah
No One Told Trevor He Was Hosting the Grammys [VIDEO]
And she said, have you heard of the band Doors? And I was like, it's funny. I actually just watched them on Kimmel two nights ago. Cause I know that there are, I didn't know them well, but I knew of them and their house, like one of their houses, but now I'm parents house, all of that. And she was like, I know them and they're like incredible musicians.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
No One Told Trevor He Was Hosting the Grammys [VIDEO]
And so I was like, maybe we do that and we put a super group around them. So that was an amazing moment doing a Zoom with that band. And they were like, why is the Grammys calling us? Not that they're not amazing, but they're not a nominated band. And I was like, I'd like to speak to you. And I got on a Zoom with Taylor and Griffin and their manager, Brian. And I said, look, we'd...
What Now? with Trevor Noah
No One Told Trevor He Was Hosting the Grammys [VIDEO]
I want you to open the Grammys following the footsteps of Prince and Bruce Springsteen and Michael Jackson. And they were kind of like, oh my God, this is insane. And it's a weird moment for them because they know they've just experienced the biggest sadness in their life. They've lost everything. But then out of that comes... But out of that, they're opening the Grammys.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
No One Told Trevor He Was Hosting the Grammys [VIDEO]
Genuinely, honestly. Yeah, yeah. couldn't carry the way. Like I, I, I was like, I think he's like, he's not for me. Yeah. And so like, I was just like, oh, it's, you know, it's just what he does. Right. He, he, but I genuinely didn't think about it.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
No One Told Trevor He Was Hosting the Grammys [VIDEO]
So it's like a really amazing thing that they were dreamt of as kids. And then it's a real weird feeling for them because you're like, well, I'm only getting that. I'm not going to... Doors aren't going to open the Grammys at this stage. They might in a few years. But right now, they're not opening the Grammys unless that happens. So that's actually a bit of a head-screwing thing for them.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
No One Told Trevor He Was Hosting the Grammys [VIDEO]
But that was beautiful because I knew it could be amazing. And I knew they were great musicians. And every musician we called, John Legend, Brittany Howard, et cetera, Sheryl Crow. We emailed Bob Dylan's manager and I haven't heard back yet, but I'm hoping maybe we'll get a reply.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
No One Told Trevor He Was Hosting the Grammys [VIDEO]
So those tools were fun. And then Ray and Dochi was really fun because I've been a fan of those for a long time. Both of those I've known of for a while. And then when Colbert put Dochi on.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
No One Told Trevor He Was Hosting the Grammys [VIDEO]
You know what it is? It's about the timing of it. Because what happens is, so I will have a bank of, Hamish is in the director's seat to my right, and I have a bank of all of the cameras. There's like 20 of them. And so I'll specifically ask for the four that are in the audience. Yeah. in my, in my best eyeline. So I'll be looking there.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
No One Told Trevor He Was Hosting the Grammys [VIDEO]
And so while Hamish is calling, you know, cut to camera two, go around the back and say, get the fuck, you know, we'll be, I will always be looking at where the stories are. Cause I'll know the stories more than Hamish will. He'll know like the shots. He tells an unbelievable story, but I'll know that like, you know, Billy is Charlie XCX's closest friend.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
No One Told Trevor He Was Hosting the Grammys [VIDEO]
So I'm aware of that because it's, I've put the show together. Yeah. Um, But there is an example actually in this specific one. I cut to somebody and they were smiling and they were really clapping, really, really a lot. And I said to, I always call, I went, two's nice. That's what I'll go. I'll go, lovely on three or whatever, which is my way of going really politely.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
No One Told Trevor He Was Hosting the Grammys [VIDEO]
I'd like you to cut to cover two or three. And Hamish knows that. Rather than going- Cut to three. I just go, two's lovely. And he'll be like, two. And he'll catch it. But sometimes he'll have, you know, he'll be doing other things because he's got other plans or he wants to go wide or whatever. Or I'll be sort of shouting, see the room, see the room. So we're going wide. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
No One Told Trevor He Was Hosting the Grammys [VIDEO]
But if he cuts a little bit late, then somebody laughing, right, or like enjoying it, somebody laughing, and if he hears it a bit late, and then they've just finished laughing, and then they're gone, and then you cut there, then it looks brutal. And it happened this year where somebody was really applauding somebody for winning. I genuinely can't remember which one it was.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
No One Told Trevor He Was Hosting the Grammys [VIDEO]
I'd have to watch it back. And they were applauding like that, and I went, cut to camera two, and he didn't for a second, but then he went like four seconds later. And by that stage, they were like this.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
No One Told Trevor He Was Hosting the Grammys [VIDEO]
Yeah, I mean, for sure. Look, the Kanye thing is... Look, for me, I would have done everything we can. I don't know.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
No One Told Trevor He Was Hosting the Grammys [VIDEO]
And everyone was like, wow, they were so annoyed that they won. And I was like, oh, they were.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
No One Told Trevor He Was Hosting the Grammys [VIDEO]
So it's all actually, it's not even about the cutaway. It's about the split second of the cutaway. Because somebody, during a laugh, the peak of somebody's laugh, their face is very different to the come down from the laugh. No, no, completely. So you got to catch it. But then sometimes, sometimes, like when we caught, Taylor did like a dance. I can't remember when it was, but something happened.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
No One Told Trevor He Was Hosting the Grammys [VIDEO]
And she did like, she sort of did this dance. And it was only for that second that she did it with the camera on. It was incredible. And I was like, oh my God, that's amazing. Same with the meme that's going to go forever of Beyonce being shocked. And what happens is, and there's one thing I'm going to change next year, I've decided.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
No One Told Trevor He Was Hosting the Grammys [VIDEO]
There's one thing I'm going to change next year, if I'm allowed to, I'm saying it. I want to swap the artist's name and the album. Because what happens is people go, Cowboy Carter, Beyonce. And actually, the TD, the technical director, who doesn't necessarily know the name of everybody's album, Short and Sweet.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
No One Told Trevor He Was Hosting the Grammys [VIDEO]
Sabrina Carbon, and then you might... So I think we should just change it where they go, Sabrina, and then you immediately just know and you're not waiting. Because if you miss... Luckily, we didn't miss it on Beyonce. If we had missed the shake... Oh, yeah, you wouldn't have that feeling. Then the whole thing wouldn't have been like she was so surprised.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
No One Told Trevor He Was Hosting the Grammys [VIDEO]
It would have just been like it was emotional. So the timing of that when you cut defines those awards.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
No One Told Trevor He Was Hosting the Grammys [VIDEO]
I'm not going to talk on him and the Grammys either way. Luckily, I didn't even know about it because I was too busy. But I'm not going to go out of my way and go, oh, let's clear a table. Let's get rid of one of the nominees in the jazz category to give Ye a table. But it's up to the Academy anyway. It's nothing to do with me. I think people would have been stressed in the room. But it was.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
No One Told Trevor He Was Hosting the Grammys [VIDEO]
I made one change, one big change when I took over this show five years ago. And it was a change for the worse of the show. No question. I scrapped the quadrant where you see everybody's face when they win or lose. Because that was always on the show. It was always on the show every year for the 62 years of the Grammys.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
No One Told Trevor He Was Hosting the Grammys [VIDEO]
You're talking about the part of the show where they go... So when they go, the nominations are... And then as they're opening the envelope, you see all five or eight faces. All nominees are up there. And it's my favorite bit of award shows. Wait, you love it? I'm rewinding it. I'm rewinding it to see their expressions. I'm rewinding it to see how good they're acting. I love it.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
No One Told Trevor He Was Hosting the Grammys [VIDEO]
Everybody loves it. And for the lesser of the audience experience, I took that away. I've made the show worse by doing it.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
No One Told Trevor He Was Hosting the Grammys [VIDEO]
But why did you do it then? Because I think the Grammys, when we took it over, had some work to do in the artist community. I felt like the Grammys had, over the years, burnt a few bridges with quite a lot of artists. I felt like I spoke to some well-known artists who are friends, and they said that they felt like they were always on display, like they were in a zoo. Oh, interesting.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
No One Told Trevor He Was Hosting the Grammys [VIDEO]
You know, you were rows in a theatre, and all the cameras are there, and you're just sitting there squashed, and you're stuck. You can't get out because you're stuck. because you're on a row. No one's on the aisles. There's only a few people on the aisles.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
No One Told Trevor He Was Hosting the Grammys [VIDEO]
So they were trapped and they were on camera and they all said that although they loved winning a Grammy, I think they felt like the evening was a lot of pressure for them and it was a difficult thing for them to enjoy because they all felt on display.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
No One Told Trevor He Was Hosting the Grammys [VIDEO]
And there was also lots of other problems with the Recording Academy and Grammys that aren't for me to discuss now, and it's none of my business anyway.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
No One Told Trevor He Was Hosting the Grammys [VIDEO]
But I essentially went around and spoke to a lot of artists, and I really wanted to make artists... One of the biggest things I wanted to do five years ago was make artists want to come back to the Grammys again and enjoy it and love it and have a great night. And one of the things I get most happy about on this night on Sunday, that room, as you just said, is stacked full.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
No One Told Trevor He Was Hosting the Grammys [VIDEO]
and it's not just nominees like people are showing up they want to come they want to be there they want to present they want to be part of it they've got boxes that and it's become and that's that's i think that's for three reasons one it's because we go out of our way to be as loving as and as kind as we can to everybody and we do it in a nice way number two is people love the tables because it's a vibe yeah they've got food they've got drink they've got things it's your atmosphere
What Now? with Trevor Noah
No One Told Trevor He Was Hosting the Grammys [VIDEO]
But moving from that, it was a... very different atmosphere because people didn't know how they were supposed to feel. And it was a really weird one because everybody's there and you won them over in a big way. And so did the show. And I feel really good about that. And the response that we've had from it, I don't know if you read reviews, but like, so the, no, I don't.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
No One Told Trevor He Was Hosting the Grammys [VIDEO]
drinks they have whatever the snacks are on the table that is yeah honestly probably the best so there wasn't so before i took over there wasn't drinks there wasn't food there wasn't tables it was all just rows you can't get up to speak you know you've been at the emmys or whatever you can't get up and talk and go around you can't get in people are shuffling they're up they're down it's not and then i also felt as much as i love the camera in someone's face when they lose
What Now? with Trevor Noah
No One Told Trevor He Was Hosting the Grammys [VIDEO]
And as much as I think that's good TV, I felt for the long-term gain of the Grammys and the warmth that people feel, I want everyone to feel protected. And I know that losing on camera for them is going to be difficult. And you know what? They don't need to have a camera in their face for it. They do have a camera in their face because we're covering everybody's nominees.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
No One Told Trevor He Was Hosting the Grammys [VIDEO]
But I actually go out of my way. There's no memes of them. Yeah, and I really try. If I do see somebody... who does really look a bit upset that they've lost, I don't cut to it. Oh, wow. I don't cut to it because I know that's good for gossip and I know it's good for the internet, but it's not good for them. And it's not good for the person who's won. Yeah, it makes the story about that.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
No One Told Trevor He Was Hosting the Grammys [VIDEO]
And I really want it to be a nice, loving room and I want people to love coming. And that's our bread and butter now. It's about them coming back every year and enjoying it because that's why they've announced today, CBS, that it was the most... In the history of television, the most social impressions of any TV show of all time was this last Sunday. Wow. Of all time.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
No One Told Trevor He Was Hosting the Grammys [VIDEO]
And like, that's because everyone's in the room and I want everyone to feel protected by that. So if I did see, if I did think Billie Eilish was crying because she'd lost an album, we wouldn't have cut to her. But because she was crying like Gaga was with the emotion of the moment or firefighters, whatever it was, I was like, that's a beautiful shot.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
No One Told Trevor He Was Hosting the Grammys [VIDEO]
Um, so yeah, that's, that's just something that we changed that I miss because as a viewer, I miss it. But as the person who has to oversee the show, it's helped me a great deal. And I, you know, and I just be like, don't worry about it. You're going to be fine. I'm not, you're not going to be embarrassed. I like that.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
No One Told Trevor He Was Hosting the Grammys [VIDEO]
Congratulations to you. You danced that high wire.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
No One Told Trevor He Was Hosting the Grammys [VIDEO]
Yeah, maybe. I mean, I juggle a few different things.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
No One Told Trevor He Was Hosting the Grammys [VIDEO]
So it is, I would say everyone, this is a corny thing to say, and it's boring for a podcast, but I, I want to say it cause it's a hundred percent true. This podcast is boring. No, I loved it. I found it like therapy. I found it like therapy. It's been lovely, but like it's, it's, um, I'll be the one who sits here and talks about the show and represents it, but we have put together this A-team.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
No One Told Trevor He Was Hosting the Grammys [VIDEO]
So Vanity Fair, Variety, Hollywood Reporter, also without question, best Grammys of all time. Like they're really going wild of it. And I do think that's because you got the balance really well. But it was incredibly tricky.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
No One Told Trevor He Was Hosting the Grammys [VIDEO]
You're talking about those stagehands. Just think about how quickly they need to take down a Sabrina Carpenter set and build that weekend pyramid. Raj Kapoor, Jesse Collins, Patrick Menton, Tabitha Junaid, all of them, David Wild, they just do this phenomenal job. That makes, I think, the hardest show in television possible. And the fact that people are being nice about it.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
No One Told Trevor He Was Hosting the Grammys [VIDEO]
look, I'm more relieved than I am happy. I'm never like, I'm never that self congratulatory.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
No One Told Trevor He Was Hosting the Grammys [VIDEO]
I'm just more relieved that like, you know, the 12 nice emails came in. That's it.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
No One Told Trevor He Was Hosting the Grammys [VIDEO]
for sure because people don't know whether is this supposed to be a sad event is it a happy event are we dancing or are we crying are we giving or are we taking like and it was very it was a weird dance for you to have to do yeah but I think for all of us so okay like to your point we you know everything is happening in relation to everything else that's life right so now you're in Los Angeles and
What Now? with Trevor Noah
No One Told Trevor He Was Hosting the Grammys [VIDEO]
The truth of it is during that red carpet, you know, like I am, that is, that is the most stressful period of like my year that, that one hour that like that 90 minutes leading into the 90 minutes where you finish a dress rehearsal and which went terribly. And you finish that at like 2.40 and then the show goes live at five. It's like that Lorne Michaels thing.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
No One Told Trevor He Was Hosting the Grammys [VIDEO]
Yeah, so I had been given the job that I have now. I was given the job as executive producer of the Grammys.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
No One Told Trevor He Was Hosting the Grammys [VIDEO]
But what I said is- I wanted to go for a year and not be number one. So I went and I was a producer on that show, essentially being like the number two on it, shadowing Ken Ehrlich, who was the producer, because I wanted to know like how to do it. Because that's a beast of a show. And also you can't just get the job and your first time being the producer of it is being the like showrunner of it.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
No One Told Trevor He Was Hosting the Grammys [VIDEO]
So I went. For two years, I did the Alicia Keys one because they had penciled me and they knew that I was going to be it. So, I mean, listen, if somebody says, oh, you're going to go and like help out the producers at the Grammys and you're taking this thing over, you're going to go. So it was the morning of, it was just before the dress run started. It was 10 o'clock in the morning, we heard.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
No One Told Trevor He Was Hosting the Grammys [VIDEO]
And I went into Alicia's dressing room and I sat with her and I said, listen, just so you know, we just heard the news that Kobe's died and she was totally shocked. And I think she had the idea that we should go and find boys to men and see it. Cause they were in the building for some reason, maybe they were nominated or whatever. And so we had that idea.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
No One Told Trevor He Was Hosting the Grammys [VIDEO]
And then I had the idea to black out all the other shirts.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
No One Told Trevor He Was Hosting the Grammys [VIDEO]
And so we did a shot of that, but it was, it was Ken Ehrlich was exec producer, but I was there that day, but you're right. It was one of the, but it seems like with the Grammys, well before our time, Whitney dies.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
No One Told Trevor He Was Hosting the Grammys [VIDEO]
I mean, Whitney dies and then it happens. We've had Kobe in the house that he built at Staples Center. Obviously, we did two during COVID. Then we had the fires this time. It's always a lot to handle. Yeah. It's always a lot to handle.
What Now? with Trevor Noah
No One Told Trevor He Was Hosting the Grammys [VIDEO]
But then you're used to that in a way because you went on television every night with The Daily Show and you would have a script that would be funny and then you'd have to chuck it out because there'd be a shooting somewhere. So didn't that give you the... Like the experience of doing that? Or do you just think it's so different because it's a one-off event like that?