Trevor Noah

Trevor Noah (born 20 February 1984) is a South African comedian, political commentator, and television host. He is the current host of The Daily Show, an American satirical news program on Comedy Central.

Born in Johannesburg, Noah began his career as a comedian, presenter, and actor in his native South Africa in 2002. He subsequently held several television hosting roles with the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) and was the runner-up in the fourth season of South Africa's iteration of Strictly Come Dancing in 2008. From 2010 to 2011, Noah acted as the creator and host of the late-night talk show Tonight with Trevor Noah, which aired on M-Net and DStv.

After his stand-up comedy career attained international success, Noah began appearing on American late-night talk shows and English panel shows. In 2014, Noah became the Senior International Correspondent for The Daily Show, and the following year, he succeeded long-time host Jon Stewart, and is set to remain in this position until 2022. His autobiographical comedy book Born a Crime was published in 2016 and garnered critical acclaim.

Noah has received various accolades, including a Primetime Emmy Award win from six nominations. He was named one of "The 35 Most Powerful People in New York Media" by The Hollywood Reporter in 2017 and 2018. In 2018, Time magazine named him one of the 100 most influential people in the world.

Trevor Noah was born on 20 February 1984 in Johannesburg, South Africa. His father Robert is of Swiss ancestry, and his mother, Patricia Nombuyiselo Noah, is of Xhosa ancestry. She converted to Judaism when he was 10 or 11 years old, but did not have him convert, although she introduced him to some aspects and practices of Judaism.

Under apartheid legislation, Noah's mother was classified as Black, and his father was classified as White. Noah himself was classified as Coloured. His parents' interracial relationship was illegal at the time of his birth under apartheid law. Interracial sexual relations and marriages were not decriminalized until the amended Immorality Act of 1985, a year after Noah's birth. Noah's mother was jailed and fined by the South African government. Patricia and her mother, Nomalizo Frances Noah, raised Trevor in the black township of Soweto. Noah spent his early youth at the private Maryvale College (at the age of three he started preschool, and at the age of five he went to primary school), a Catholic school in Johannesburg. During his childhood, he attended Roman Catholic church on Thursday and multiple services on Sunday.

In 2002, aged eighteen, Noah had a small role on an episode of the South African soap opera Isidingo. He later began hosting his own radio show Noah's Ark on Gauteng's leading youth radio station, YFM. Noah dropped his radio show and acting to focus on comedy, and has performed with South African comedians such as: David Kau, Kagiso Lediga, Riaad Moosa, Darren Simpson, Marc Lottering, Barry Hilton, and Nik Rabinowitz, international comedians such as Paul Rodriguez, Carl Barron, Dan Ilic, and Paul Zerdin, and as the opening act for American comedian Gabriel Iglesias in November 2007 and Canadian comedian Russell Peters on his South African tour.

Noah went on to host an educational TV programme, Run the Adventure (2004–2006) on SABC 2. In 2007, he hosted The Real Goboza, a gossip-themed show on SABC 1, and Siyadlala, a sports show also on the SABC. In 2008, Noah cohosted, alongside Pabi Moloi, The Amazing Date (a dating gameshow) and was a Strictly Come Dancing contestant in the fourth series. In 2009, he hosted the 3rd Annual South Africa Film and Television Awards (SAFTAs) and co-hosted alongside Eugene Khoza on The Axe Sweet Life, a reality competition series. In 2010, Noah hosted the sixteenth annual South African Music Awards and also hosted Tonight with Trevor Noah on MNet (for the second series, it moved to DStv's Mzansi Magic Channel). In 2010, Noah also became a spokesperson and consumer protection agent for Cell C, South Africa's third-largest mobile phone network provider.

Noah has performed all over South Africa in The Blacks Only Comedy Show, the Heavyweight Comedy Jam, the Vodacom Campus Comedy Tour, the Cape Town International Comedy Festival, the Jozi Comedy Festival, and Bafunny Bafunny (2010). His stand-up comedy specials in South Africa include The Daywalker (2009), Crazy Normal (2011), That's Racist (2012), and It's My Culture (2013).

In 2011, he relocated to the United States. On 6 January 2012, Noah became the first South African stand-up comedian to appear on The Tonight Show; and, on 17 May 2013, he became the first to appear on Late Show with David Letterman. Noah was the subject of the 2012 documentary You Laugh But It's True. The same year, he starred in the one-man comedy show Trevor Noah: The Racist, which was based on his similarly titled South African special That's Racist. On 12 September, Noah was the Roastmaster in a Comedy Central Roast of South African Afrikaans singer Steve Hofmeyr. In 2013, he performed the comedy special Trevor Noah: African American. On 11 October 2013, he was a guest on BBC Two's comedy panel show QI. On 29 November 2013, he was a panelist on Channel 4 game show 8 Out of 10 Cats and appeared on Sean Lock's team in 8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown on 12 September 2014.

The Daily Show

In December 2014, Noah became a recurring contributor on The Daily Show. On 30 March 2015, Comedy Central announced that Noah would succeed Jon Stewart as host of The Daily Show; his tenure began on 28 September 2015.

Within hours after he was announced as Stewart's successor, attention was drawn on the Internet to jokes that Noah had posted on his Twitter account, some of which were criticised as being offensive to women, and others as anti-Semitic or to be making fun of the Holocaust. Noah responded by tweeting, "To reduce my views to a handful of jokes that didn't land is not a true reflection of my character, nor my evolution as a comedian." Comedy Central stood behind Noah, saying in a statement, "Like many comedians, Trevor Noah pushes boundaries; he is provocative and spares no one, himself included... To judge him or his comedy based on a handful of jokes is unfair. Trevor is a talented comedian with a bright future at Comedy Central." Mary Kluk, chairperson of the South African Jewish Board of Deputies (SAJBD), said that the jokes were not signs of anti-Jewish prejudice and that they were part of Noah's style of comedy.

Noah's debut received positive reviews. James Poniewozik of The New York Times praised Noah and the show's writers, saying, "Mr. Noah's debut was largely successful, it was also because of the operating system—the show's writing—running under the surface". Robert Lloyd of the Los Angeles Times described Noah as "charming and composed—almost inevitably low-key compared with the habitually antic and astonished Stewart". Noah's success on the show has led to three stand-up specials on Comedy Central and Netflix.

On 14 September 2017, it was announced that Comedy Central had extended Noah's contract as host of The Daily Show for five years, through 2022. He will also produce and host annual end-of-year specials for Comedy Central.

In April 2017, it was announced that Noah was developing a talk show for Jordan Klepper. On July 2017, the show's title was revealed to be The Opposition with Jordan Klepper and premiered on 25 September 2017. On 15 June 2018, Comedy Central announced that it was canceling the show after one season, but that Klepper would be hosting a new primetime weekly docuseries, Klepper. The series premiered on 9 May 2019.

In February 2018, it was announced that Noah will be executive producing a show with Roy Wood Jr. titled Jefferson County: Probation. In March 2018, Noah signed a multiyear contract with Viacom that gives first-look rights to any future projects by Noah, be they television, feature films or shortform video content. In addition to the deal, Noah will also be launching an international production and distribution company called Day Zero Productions.

Books

In January 2016, it was announced that Noah signed a book deal with Spiegel & Grau. His book, Born a Crime, was published on 15 November 2016 and was received favorably by major U.S. book reviewers. Beside the author, his mother has a central role in the book, while his European father is mentioned but just occasionally. It became a #1 New York Times Bestseller and was named one of the best books of the year by The New York Times, Newsday, Esquire, NPR, and Booklist. It was announced that a film adaptation based on the book will star Lupita Nyong'o as Trevor's mother Patricia. She will also serve as the film's co-producer alongside Noah.

In February 2018, it was announced that Noah would write a second book. In 2018, Noah and The Daily Show writing staff would release The Donald J. Trump Presidential Twitter Library, a book comprising hundreds of Trump tweets and featuring a foreword by Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Jon Meacham.

Other work

In 2017, he made an appearance on Nashville. In 2018, he also made appearances in Black Panther and American Vandal.

Noah has said of his comedic influences, "The kings are indisputable. Richard Pryor, [Bill] Cosby; for me personally I didn't know of him before I started comedy but Eddie Murphy changed my view on the thing and I definitely look up to him as a comedic influence. Chris Rock in terms of the modern black comedian and Dave Chappelle. Those are the guys that have laid the foundation and have moved the yardstick for all comedians, not just Black comedians." He also cited Jon Stewart as an influence and a mentor, following his appointment to succeed Stewart as host of The Daily Show. In an interview with The New York Times, Noah likened Stewart to "a Jewish Yoda" and recounted advice Stewart gave him, saying, "The most amazing thing that Jon did was he didn’t give me a mandate. He didn’t say, 'You need to make my show.' He specifically said: 'Make your show. Make your best version of it.' I apply those teachings of Jon’s to everything that I’m doing."

Among comedians who say they were influenced by Noah are Michelle Wolf, Jordan Klepper, and Hasan Minhaj. Noah's mixed-race ancestry, his experiences growing up in Soweto, and his observations about race and ethnicity are leading themes in his comedy.

Noah is a polyglot; he speaks English, Xhosa, Zulu, Sotho, Tswana, Tsonga, Afrikaans, and German.

In 1992, Noah's mother Patricia Nombuyiselo was married to Ngisaveni Abel Shingange, and they had two sons together, Andrew and Isaac. Trevor and his mother were both physically abused by Shingange, and the couple legally divorced in 1996. In 2009, after she married Sfiso Khoza, Shingange shot her in the leg and through the back of the head; she survived as the bullet went through the base of her head, avoiding the spinal cord, brain, and all major nerves and blood vessels, then exiting with minor damage to her nostril. When Noah confronted him over the phone about the shooting, Shingange threatened his life, prompting Noah to leave Johannesburg for Los Angeles. In 2011, Shingange was convicted of attempted murder, and sentenced the following year to three years of correctional supervision. Noah stated that he hoped the attention surrounding the incident would raise awareness of the broader issue of domestic violence in South Africa: "For years my mother reached out to police for help with domestic abuse, and nothing was ever done. This is the norm in South Africa. Dockets went missing and cases never went to court."

Noah has described himself as being progressive and having a global perspective. However, he has clarified that he considers himself a "progressive person", but not a "political progressive" and prefers not to be categorized as being either right or left in the context of US partisanship.

In April 2018, he set up the Trevor Noah Foundation as a Johannesburg-based non-profit organisation that equips orphans and vulnerable youth with the education, life skills, and social capital necessary to pursue further opportunity. Noah lives in New York City.