Trevor Noah
Appearances
SmartLess
"Trevor Noah"
Yeah. You see, this is what my brain was doing. At that exact moment, my brain was doing the same thing. I was just standing there staring at it going, what is this? Why is this? And why don't I try and get one? And the price was ridiculous. And you had to hold your breath while you ride the bike? No, it has a little bubble. You know, like those old... Those old sky, what do you call it?
SmartLess
"Trevor Noah"
It's a bubble. And then my phone rang, and it was some long number. I had no clue what, and I answered the phone, because I don't owe anybody money. And the voice on the other end was like, hey, is this Trevor? And I was like, yeah. And he's like, hey, this is Jon Stewart. I was like, okay. And he's like, Jon Stewart, I'm a comedian from America. I was like, oh, okay.
SmartLess
"Trevor Noah"
And he's like, you've never heard of me. It's fine. Well, I've seen some of your stuff online.
SmartLess
"Trevor Noah"
And he said to me, yeah, I saw some of your stuff on YouTube and I want to know if you want to, would you ever consider coming and doing stuff in the US? And I was like, yeah, not really, maybe, I don't know. And he's like, well, I work on a show called The Daily Show. And I was like, oh, I think I've heard of that.
SmartLess
"Trevor Noah"
Because I had, I'd seen it on CNN International because we didn't have it on other channels in the world. And I was like, oh yeah, I've heard of it. And he's like, oh, as you should have, young man. He's very funny, you know John.
SmartLess
"Trevor Noah"
Yeah, and then he invited me. He's like, come and hang out. I think you're funny and I like the way you see the world. Come and hang out with me when you get a chance. And so at first I said no. I was like, I've got the tour. And he's like, he said, are you saying no? What did he say? He said, are you saying no to the trappings of American fame and popularity? Who are you, young man?
SmartLess
"Trevor Noah"
And I said, no, I've got a tour. I'll see you when I see you. And he said, well, if you're in New York, look me up. And I said, definitely. Thanks for the call. It's nice to hear from you. And then I went to New York, I think six months or eight months later, he called me again. He's like, I hear you're in town, but you didn't look me up. And I was like, oh, Jesus, this guy's relentless. Wow.
SmartLess
"Trevor Noah"
Just hang out. And that's all I did. I went there. We hung out. I remember them talking about like John Boehner or something. And then I was like, what is this world? What is going on here? Right.
SmartLess
"Trevor Noah"
I knew the larger... In the rest of the world, we keep up with American politics, you know, on a big scale.
SmartLess
"Trevor Noah"
So, you know, this is actually interesting. I remember somebody asked me, they said to me, when the Daily Show happened, they said, so are you going to, they said, are you a political comedian? You know, the Daily Show is very political. And I said, oh, no, no, no, I'm not. I genuinely is like, I'm not a political comedian. I don't even, I don't think of myself that way.
SmartLess
"Trevor Noah"
When I spent a little time in the US, I came to realize that what I thought of as non-political humor would be considered ultra-political humor in America.
SmartLess
"Trevor Noah"
Because here, the average person doesn't... I think it's changed since Trump, but back when I first got to the US, most people didn't engage in politics. People would literally say, like, I don't follow politics. I don't get involved. I don't follow politics. Right, right. Right.
SmartLess
"Trevor Noah"
Yeah, whereas in South Africa, what we consider a basic level of commenting or being involved in the system, we don't think that's political. For us, political is marching in the streets, freeing people from prison, protesting the system. That's being political.
SmartLess
"Trevor Noah"
Well, initially it was, I always describe the story as feeling a lot like Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. In that I popped in, I had a great time with John. And I said to him, I was like, this is, I like what you guys are doing, I guess, but this is not for me. And then we laughed about, we would just, man, cause Jon and I just, we get along.
SmartLess
"Trevor Noah"
You know, there's comedians where you click with them and your rhythm and your vibe is almost completely simpatico. You're just in it.
SmartLess
"Trevor Noah"
But the comedy is like, you know, when it comes to comedy, I find there's a, it's like music. All musicians can play together, but some musicians can create magic together. And when you find comedians that you share that with, it's pretty special.
SmartLess
"Trevor Noah"
So I think it was a massive disadvantage and an advantage. The disadvantage is people don't like anyone who doesn't look like them or sound like them coming to tell them anything about them. So, you know, I spent weeks getting random death threats and letters. People hated how I said controversy. And then it was, you know... Controversy? Yeah, controversy.
SmartLess
"Trevor Noah"
But did you really get death threats, Trevor? Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. That's, I mean... That's quite – it's like it's par for the course, I've learned. As soon as you comment on American politics in a public forum, that's pretty much what happens to you. So that was a disadvantage.
SmartLess
"Trevor Noah"
I don't know. I mean, it's scary. Yeah, there's a latent level of anxiety that comes with anybody threatening you. And again, I need to state, I don't think it's that uncommon. I'm pretty certain all the other late night hosts have gotten death threats. It's just, it varies.
SmartLess
"Trevor Noah"
So back then, was that like people sending... Just for shitty jokes or... Yeah, people...
SmartLess
"Trevor Noah"
12 months later. It was the beginning of Donald Trump and everything that America now lives in as a normal state.
SmartLess
"Trevor Noah"
Instead of just turn the channel. Yeah, but you know, at the time, it was so hard launching The Daily Show that I actually preferred having those people than not. I was like, okay, we have these people.
SmartLess
"Trevor Noah"
No, not even an enemy. I was just like, we have viewers. I was like, these people are passionately watching the show and we need every single person to watch. So there was actually one guy I reached out to. There was a guy who was tweeting vitriol at me on, you know, just on the daily. He was like, you know, you're a piece of trash and you'll never make it.
SmartLess
"Trevor Noah"
And if I ever meet you in the streets, and I DM'd this guy and I said to him, hey man, I just really want to understand, like, why do you hate me so much? I've never met you. I've never said anything about you or your life. I'm just trying to understand this. And I've never seen a faster switch of tone. He immediately was like, oh, hey, dude. Oh, it's not personal and I have nothing against you.
SmartLess
"Trevor Noah"
I just thought it was funny to pile on. And he said, in all honesty, I have nothing against you. I actually think you're quite funny, but I don't think you're going to succeed. I think the show will fail and you're going to crash and burn. And then I said to him, okay, let's make a deal. if I'm still on the air in six months, you'll stay on as a lifelong viewer.
SmartLess
"Trevor Noah"
And then if I'm gone, I will retweet your tweet and I'll say you were right. And he was like, oh, deal. And then he was like, good luck, man. I'm wishing you the best. And then six months later, I DM'd him again. I was like, yo, are you still watching? And he's like, oh, the show's gotten so great. So, And you know what he made me realize?
SmartLess
"Trevor Noah"
No, but you know what he made me realize? I'm honestly eternally grateful to him because he made me realize that most of, not all of, but most of the poisonous infighting that you have in America is due to the fact that most people are speaking past each other, not to each other and with each other. A hundred percent. Like people don't actually engage. People don't see each other as human beings.
SmartLess
"Trevor Noah"
It's all a theoretical exercise. But you'll be surprised to find that most people, when you sit down with them and actually, if you're forced to have a type, like a conversation where you connect, people start to see each other as humans that exist beyond their political affiliation.
SmartLess
"Trevor Noah"
And it's just a game. It's like sports fans. I think American politics has become like sports where you say everything to the opposing fans. But you don't mean it, mean it, but you go like, this is the purpose of what we're doing. We're here to tell them that they need to die, and we want to kill their players, and we hate everything they do, and the ref is biased when he rules in their favor.
SmartLess
"Trevor Noah"
But when you meet in a grocery store, then they're humans because they're doing the same thing.
SmartLess
"Trevor Noah"
Yeah, but I mean, they've spent the money, and it's like, I get annoyed, but I... You see, it's funny. For me, the rivalries are more games that I'll think of, but Manchester City, I find... My point was, I say I hate them, but then I like all the players on the team.
SmartLess
"Trevor Noah"
So... I don't follow politics as a hobby. What I try to do is understand which conversations can exist beyond the noise. You know, I often try and explain to people when I'm having conversations with them is, So the most interesting thing about the US system for me is the fact that it leads people to believe that there are only two ways to do something.
SmartLess
"Trevor Noah"
You know, it's Republican and it's Democrat. And I've never understood that framing, to be honest with you. I've never even understood how... how newspapers will report. And these are like distinguished newspapers. They'll write a story that leads with Democrats win with, and it's a law that's changed. But I go, no, that should just be the law has changed and that should be how you report it.
SmartLess
"Trevor Noah"
So I follow it now to try and understand where the issue lies and the politics ends. Because issues are real. Politics are how we try and solve the issues. But politics is not real. It's not actually a real thing.
SmartLess
"Trevor Noah"
That is true. I will say, you know, if you want to liken it back to sports, I always say to my American friends, I go... I see why soccer was never the most popular game and might never be. It's because in soccer, we have a draw. We sometimes say, you know what? Neither team won, neither team lost. This was a great game. Everybody go home. It's winners and losers.
SmartLess
"Trevor Noah"
And so if politics is also about winners and losers, then nobody wants to concede because it automatically means that they've lost, which isn't a good way to have politics.
SmartLess
"Trevor Noah"
Politics should never be about winning or losing. It should be about compromising and then, you know, understanding that the majority, it's even strange. Do you ever think about it? When you look at America's results, I'm always shocked at how states are called blue or red. And then you look at the number and it's like 51%. And people confidently say, well, that's a red state.
SmartLess
"Trevor Noah"
Yeah, but a lot of that I will blame, you know, to what you said, Sean, is like I think the media has to take a lot of blame for that because the media has enjoyed turning it into a game and the media has enjoyed turning it into a spectacle. And so if they reinforce that narrative, then I find lawmakers... You know, one of the most interesting experiences I had when I first came to America was...
SmartLess
"Trevor Noah"
I went to New Hampshire for the primaries. And this is literally, I've been in America for barely a year. Now I'm in New Hampshire, you know, and Vermont and all of these places. And I will never forget seeing, there were two politicians who were, you know, on the stump and they were giving their speeches and it was vitriolic. And they were, you know, this person is going to destroy the country.
SmartLess
"Trevor Noah"
They're going to do this, they... And then in the evening, I saw them at a diner and the two of them were sitting together laughing and they were like, how's your family? How's everything going?
SmartLess
"Trevor Noah"
In many ways, it's almost like wrestling. It's like American politics. You see these people in the ring and it's like, Triple H, I'm going to rip you limb from limb. And as a fan, you're like, yeah, kill him, kill him. And then only to find out that like your favorite wrestler who hates the other wrestler in your mind is actually great friends and is the godfather to their child.
SmartLess
"Trevor Noah"
I think American politicians don't do the country a service. They do it a disservice by not showing everybody that they do get along, that they go out together, that they have meals, that they're friends, they're at each other's weddings.
SmartLess
"Trevor Noah"
That's it. Yeah, it's completely in service of commerce. If I break it down into three levels, I'd go, you know, on the media side, I wish they would stop turning it into the spectacle that they do, but they probably won't, as you say, because the money's there. Or that's what they want to get, you know, They turn it into a sport.
SmartLess
"Trevor Noah"
So if they can turn it into a football game, they'll do it. But on the ground as well, I think as people, that's something that I found strange coming to America is how people would say, I am a Democrat. I am a Republican. And I'll be like, what? What does that mean? Where I come from, people just talk about how they voted, but they are not the thing.
SmartLess
"Trevor Noah"
And I think if you take yourself away from being the thing, you allow yourself the opportunity to either be disappointed by the thing or step away from the thing when it is necessary. Because you shouldn't be, I am a Liverpool supporter, is correct. We will go up and down with Liverpool. Whereas in politics, you should just say, I voted for this and then I voted against it.
SmartLess
"Trevor Noah"
You can establish your mark earlier in the podcast. No, no, no. Don't do that to Sean, guys. Don't do that. I know what he means. And I'll tell you why, Sean. It's funny. I don't think the Grammys is the same as like the Emmys or the Oscars or any of those shows. Well, I'm an actor, so I'm like, I watch those more. Yeah, but also the Grammys is like hosting a concert.
SmartLess
"Trevor Noah"
The Emmys and the Oscars and all these other awards, they do feel like an award show. The Grammys just feels to me like a concert.
SmartLess
"Trevor Noah"
That's great. I've definitely developed a greater appreciation for artists. Seeing them rehearse, seeing how hard it is to get everything right, seeing them do it live, that's what's definitely increased. And then also my palettes. Every time I'm at the Grammys, I discover a new artist that I now become a fan of. What about a full genre?
SmartLess
"Trevor Noah"
I listen to way more country now than I ever did. You know what I mean? Everybody, like the Luke Combs, you name it. I just got into it because you would hear the song so many times in rehearsal and you'd see how amazing it could be. And then you fall in love with it.
SmartLess
"Trevor Noah"
Oh, I don't have anybody's number, to be honest with you. You don't go, hey, hey, hey, it'd be great to hang out. I was in a band, you can have my number. I would gladly take your number. This is a strange thing to say, but like, so I always found it strange that people would try to be friends just because they're in a similar space. So I don't know how to explain it.
SmartLess
"Trevor Noah"
Yeah, but okay, so this is what would happen to me, all right? You would all probably understand this. I remember when I first came to America, and now I would get invited to events because, you know, part of the Daily Show, and you go to these events, and everyone would be like, oh, we should hang out. Take my number. Oh, my God, Trevor, we got to hang out sometime. We got to get a coffee.
SmartLess
"Trevor Noah"
I'm there all the time. We got to do it. And I would give people my number, and in my head I was like, wow, I'm making so many friends. These people are so friendly. This is amazing. And then I would hear nothing from them. I would message them. I would hear nothing. They wouldn't respond at all. People, by the way, people in Hollywood change their numbers all the time.
SmartLess
"Trevor Noah"
Like I don't even know who, like everyone has like a new number all the time. And then what would happen was, this was my favorite, one of my favorite memories. I met somebody, and this has happened a few times. I met the same person at another event, maybe like a year later. And they're like, oh my God, Trevor, this is, oh man, how have you been? Congratulations. Man, we got to hang out.
SmartLess
"Trevor Noah"
Let me get your number. Let me get, and I was like, I think you have my number. And they're like, no, no, no. No, I changed phones and I got a whole day. Didn't your number? I was like, my number didn't change. Like, no. And then I put my number in on their phone. And you know, when you type it in on the screen, then my name just popped up. And I was like, you have my number. I'm like, wait, what?
SmartLess
"Trevor Noah"
Oh, let me tell you. Okay, I have the greatest Jason Bateman story, for me at least. For me at least. I don't know if you remember. This is easily, easily my favorite memory of you. It's also a horrific memory, but now I laugh at it.
SmartLess
"Trevor Noah"
So I was invited to a, it was a Netflix party before one of the Emmys. It was for like a whole bunch of nominees before the Emmys. And Ted Sarandos was hosting this event and everyone's gathered. And it was, I mean, it was star-studded. It was crazy. And you don't see these people all the time. That's the misconception everyone has is that if you're on the same platform, you just hang out.
SmartLess
"Trevor Noah"
I was just standing there, you know. And I look across the garden where this event's being held and I see Jason. And I'm like, oh my God. And I've loved you forever. I go, you easily won like my favorite comedy performance. I mean, all of you are in different things. Like Sean, I used to watch Will and Grace with my mom.
SmartLess
"Trevor Noah"
Don't throw the compliments away. I mean it. Like literally the timing, the cadence, the everything. Will, everything you do on like BoJack Horseman. So I love comedy. I love the technique.
SmartLess
"Trevor Noah"
You're easily one of my favorite funny people ever. But at that time, Ozark was just, it was my life. It was the best anything I had seen that had flipped the whole genre of like, you know, drugs and everything.
SmartLess
"Trevor Noah"
I thought it was very funny actually so I see you and you see me standing across the way and you look at me and you just gave me like a little eyebrow like hello and I was like oh damn okay and so I walked over to you And I said, hello, and you were very kind. You're like, hi, how are you? And I immediately went to, I was effusive. I said, I love everything you do.
SmartLess
"Trevor Noah"
And I just, I went and I said, you did this. And I was like, I love game nights and I love this. And I was just listing everything because I love, I genuinely love them all. And, but then I said, I said to you, I said, oh, and most recently you crushed it. You know, I didn't think Ant-Man was going to be good. And it was phenomenal that you did it.
SmartLess
"Trevor Noah"
And you listened to me break down the whole Ant-Man everything. And then you paused. And I swear it was like you had written this. Your face, you went like, huh. And he said, do you think that I am Paul Rudd? And I will never forget that moment. And I went, no, I thought that Paul Rudd was you. I gave him, but it's true. I was like, I gave him your performance is how good I think you are.
SmartLess
"Trevor Noah"
And we just stared at each other awkwardly for a moment. And you said, huh, did you come here because you thought I was someone else? And I said, no. But you said Ant-Man. And I said, I would rather say that I'm racist and you will look the same than admit that that happened. And then we just stood there awkwardly for a moment. And you were very nice.
SmartLess
"Trevor Noah"
We just stood there and we… And I said, well, one day we'll meet again. Hopefully under different…
SmartLess
"Trevor Noah"
Here's another one before you carry on. This was, can I just say, so, you know, obviously I'm a huge fan of the podcast and I understand the format, but here's the thing. I didn't know that the surprise guest was really a surprise thing.
SmartLess
"Trevor Noah"
Yeah, so we were at the Vanity Fair Oscars party. Right. Yeah. And I saw you.
SmartLess
"Trevor Noah"
Yeah, and Will walks by. Will walks by. You walked straight to me, Will, but you walked to me with the confidence of somebody who knows that I'm coming on to the podcast. Yeah. And you were like, hey. And then you said, yo, I'm so excited. And I didn't know what, I was like, oh. And then I was like, I'm so excited to chat to you.
SmartLess
"Trevor Noah"
And then as I said that, Jason was behind you staring at me like I had killed his whole family. He couldn't hear anything, by the way. He was just staring at me. And I said, I'm so excited to chat to you about Formula One. And then we started talking about Formula One.
SmartLess
"Trevor Noah"
And then I was like, oh, let's just get into Formula 1. And you did look at me like, man, this guy really went deep into Formula 1 in the middle of an Oscars party.
SmartLess
"Trevor Noah"
And then you walked away, and then Jason came up to me, and he said, please, you didn't say anything. You don't fuck this up. You're the surprise guest. You don't. I didn't say anything. I didn't say anything. And then he walked away.
SmartLess
"Trevor Noah"
Okay. No, no, I've been everywhere actually, yeah. No, I do enjoy it. Yeah, I mean, I went to, so in South Africa, in school, you wear school uniform your whole life. So I actually like dressing up like that because I feel like it's no stress. I go, yeah, you put on the pants, you put on the jacket and you know you're doing it right. And then you have a good time.
SmartLess
"Trevor Noah"
Yeah, I wear comfortable shoes. My toes are all individually spaced out. It's wonderful. Yeah.
SmartLess
"Trevor Noah"
I really want to go this is the same thing This is the same thing I get in most of my hate mail. When are you going back to Africa?
SmartLess
"Trevor Noah"
time yeah i'm there all the time i go especially like since i left the daily show i get to go back a lot more you know i spend time with my mom spend time with family i'm i'm there i would say i'm there like every two two months two really that's so nice that's great yeah i love how long a flight 16 hours from new york and then 20 it becomes like a weird 25 ish hour journey from um from l.a from l.a wow so yeah it's 16 hours direct south african airways right yeah
SmartLess
"Trevor Noah"
No, no, no. Actually, United is the only airline that flies there now. Really? Yeah. So, you know, life giveth and life taketh away.
SmartLess
"Trevor Noah"
Oh, I love this place. So here's the thing, yeah. Here's the thing about America is... I think, again, you see nuance is maybe what is lacking sometimes. I think people take for granted that you can live in a place where you find it both amazing and at many times disappointing, depending on what you're experiencing of it. Yeah.
SmartLess
"Trevor Noah"
You know, people sometimes walk up to me in the streets and they'll be like, you hate America, you piece of trash. Why don't you leave? And I'm like, who said I... I would not live anywhere I hate. Let's start with that. Secondly, I genuinely find a lot of America amazing. And I find... It's the optimism that is etched into the very fabric of the country that I find amazing.
SmartLess
"Trevor Noah"
Yeah. I mean... So here's the thing. When I was going in to take over The Daily Show, I don't think I felt the amount of pressure that I should have felt. Because I didn't grow up with The Daily Show. And I met Jon Stewart just as a stand-up comedian meeting another stand-up comedian. And I mean, we still talk about that now. Now that Jon has gone back to hosting the show,
SmartLess
"Trevor Noah"
You know, it's an amazing country where black people at a time when they had no rights believed that there was a path for them to get equal rights. Even that is a strange level of optimism that I think is beautiful and profound.
SmartLess
"Trevor Noah"
And I think it's a wonderful trait to hold on to and to never lose. And so while America has many faults, other countries have many. I travel all the time, so... I'm under no illusion. I don't think of America as best or worst. I just think every place has the issues that it is dealing with at the time that it's dealing with them.
SmartLess
"Trevor Noah"
There's something I've always loved about Americans and America as a place and how different each state and each city is. I'm eternally grateful to be here.
SmartLess
"Trevor Noah"
I split it. I find the East Coast is great for your mind. The West Coast is great for your body. And I mean your body, not physically, but just like, I feel like you breathe a little more. You sleep better. You eat better. It just has a calming effect on you. But the East Coast is great to get your brain just like really stimulated and going.
SmartLess
"Trevor Noah"
Well, yeah. You've got to think of America like a Boeing airplane. You should appreciate the fact that it can fly and the fact that it does is pretty amazing. I mean, the fact that this tin can is floating in the sky at 40,000 feet, that's pretty amazing. That's wild.
SmartLess
"Trevor Noah"
But if you stop paying attention to it and you don't try and constantly improve it, then the doors might fall off and the landing gears might fail.
SmartLess
"Trevor Noah"
No, but actually, because you're a Liverpool fan and an F1 fan, we actually should hang out. We can just watch the things, and then even if we say nothing, we had a good time.
SmartLess
"Trevor Noah"
we'll still share the stories of how ironically the other day we were on the phone and I was saying to him, it's funny that we've gone full circle. When we first spoke, it was on the phone and I was traveling through like Dubai and England doing comedy shows. And then now when we spoke and he's host again, I'm traveling and I was literally in Dubai calling him, having another conversation.
SmartLess
"Trevor Noah"
It's literally gone through a circle. But I wasn't nervous. And then I think after the first few episodes, then the nerves kicked in, which is strange. Normally it's the other way around.
SmartLess
"Trevor Noah"
And a better idea of how people reacted to it. I think that was the biggest thing.
SmartLess
"Trevor Noah"
Huh, that's an interesting one. And then tell us what joke you can't tell in Dubai. So what joke really kills in Dubai? So whenever I travel, you know, for my shows, it makes it a lot harder, but what I love to do is find... comedy that I could only do in that region.
SmartLess
"Trevor Noah"
So I was trying to find something, you know, whether it's an observation, whether it's an experience, but just something that you could only say in Dubai and then someone who's not living there would go, wait, what does that mean? So I'll try to tell a few jokes that have like an Arabic punchline or, you know, I'll play with something in that world.
SmartLess
"Trevor Noah"
Yeah, well, I mean, the Emiratis are pretty wealthy, but then most of the audience is expats. I think it's like 90%. Yeah, 90%. It's one of the most diverse audiences you'll perform for. Oh, that's so great. I love that.
SmartLess
"Trevor Noah"
Oh, yeah, yeah. Like, when I had to take over The Daily Show, I had to let go of a bunch of dates that were happening around the world. So I just got a foothold into touring all over the, you know, all over the planets.
SmartLess
"Trevor Noah"
It's funny, you know, I'm never offended by that. I don't know, some people apologize for that. Again, I find it's quite common for people to say that in America. They'll say, I'm sorry, I didn't know you. It's a strange thing.
SmartLess
"Trevor Noah"
Yeah, but surely you don't know somebody before you know them. That's how knowing people works. I'm always intrigued by that. I'm writing that down.
SmartLess
"Trevor Noah"
Yeah, so it was really random. So I started comedy in South Africa, performed there my whole life. I was lucky enough that we... What part of South Africa were you... So I was born in Johannesburg, raised in Soweto and Johannesburg, and then that's where I did most of my comedy. We didn't have a comedy club, so...
SmartLess
"Trevor Noah"
Just to give you a bit of a backstory, I'm assuming you know, but if you don't, so during apartheid, free speech was illegal in South Africa, right? And so you weren't allowed to gather, you know, a group of black people weren't allowed to be in one space and there were all these laws.
SmartLess
"Trevor Noah"
So stand-up comedy, obviously, you know, is one of the first things that's outlawed in any place that restricts speech. Wow. So we didn't even have comedy clubs. We didn't have anything. And then once democracy started in 1994, all of a sudden there was just like a boon of new, a boon of people being like, can we sit together? Can we laugh together? God, that must have been exciting.
SmartLess
"Trevor Noah"
And comedy blew up in the most informal places. Comedy was this huge explosion. And you were how old at that time? No, so I only got into comedy, in 94, I'm six years old. I only got into comedy when I was 20, I want to say 21. And it was still new. You couldn't make a living from comedy, which I loved about it. It really was something that everyone was doing.
SmartLess
"Trevor Noah"
It wasn't like in the US where people would do comedy so they could get a sitcom, so they could become a movie star. No, there it was, you do comedy because you like comedy.
SmartLess
"Trevor Noah"
Oh, yeah. Well, I think that's what all comedy is, even in the US, to be honest with you. Yeah. I think everyone's doing comedy to escape their horrible upbringing.
SmartLess
"Trevor Noah"
No, no, no. I mean this honestly. You know why. I don't like numbers when they're good and I don't like them when they're bad. Right.
SmartLess
"Trevor Noah"
Why don't you like them when they're good? Because if you live by the good numbers, then you must die by the bad numbers.
SmartLess
"Trevor Noah"
You know what? Not pressure. Not pressure. We... It's... It's so much fun, man. It's hard to explain. So the difference between the two places, I find, in America, fame is almost like royalty.
SmartLess
"Trevor Noah"
Silence, knave. In South Africa, it's just like people know you. Everyone just treats you like you're part of a big family. That's how it feels.
SmartLess
"Trevor Noah"
I was pretty well known before I left South Africa. So it was just like, oh, congratulations, you've gone and put us on the world stage doing something. That's great.
SmartLess
"Trevor Noah"
It's funny. My life went the other way around. When I first started The Daily Show, I was actually earning less than I was doing stand-up around the world. I was working hard and I was doing pretty well. So it was really taking the job because of the challenge and the opportunity.
SmartLess
"Trevor Noah"
As for the thread count, I think my life became a little bit worse because now I was in New York in the winters, walking down the street in like a mini blizzard, walking down like 11th Avenue. I don't know if you've been to the Daily Show studios in New York. It is one of the worst parts of New York.
SmartLess
"Trevor Noah"
It's really shitty. Dangerous would be better because then it means people are there to do something to you.
SmartLess
"Trevor Noah"
So I got a call. It's one of those moments where you remember exactly what was happening, but not because of how momentous it was in that moment, rather because of how random the thing is that I was doing. I was in London. I was doing my first tour of the UK. And on this particular day, I was standing in Harrods, the mega department store that sells everything.
SmartLess
"Trevor Noah"
And when I say everything, I mean everything. You all probably know it. And I couldn't afford anything in Harrods. Maybe some of the croissants, I don't know. And I was standing in front of an underwater moped. Like an underwater scooter thing. Like you ride it like a motorbike, but underwater. I have one.