Trevor Noah on Thursday, December 8, 2022, announced his departure from The DailyShow (December 8). After seven years as the show’s presenter, the comedian said his audience a tearful farewell in his final speech.
After seven years as the show’s presenter, the comedian said his audience a tearful farewell in his final speech.
Noah thanked everyone who has ever watched the Comedy Central show and giving particular praise to Black women for their support.
“I’m grateful to you every single one of you. I remember when we started the show, we couldn’t get enough people to fill an audience,” he said, noting that’s how comedy has always worked.
Noah succeeded Jon Stewart in 2015, who quit the show after 16 years. He said, “When I started this show, I had three clear goals. I was like, ‘I’m gonna make sure Hillary gets elected. I’m gonna make sure that I prevent a global pandemic from starting, and I’m gonna become best friends with Kanye West.’”
Several Comedy Central correspondents said goodbye to Noah in the final episode, in which he also invited comedian Neal Brennan.
The farewell episode also featured a segment of goodbyes from notable names such as Vice President Kamala Harris, Oprah Winfrey, Hillary Clinton, Issa Rae, Tracee Ellis Ross, Nick Offerman and Jesse Williams.
Before signing off, Noah said he has learned three lessons during his tenure as The Daily Show host; “politics is an invented way to solve issues, never forget that context matters, and never forget how much context matters.”
He added, “Please don’t forget that the world is a friendlier place on the internet and the news will make you think.”
Noah announced he was leaving the show during a September 29.
Trevor Noah’s final night as host of Comedy Central’s satirical news report “The Daily Show” celebrated his 7-year anchoring tenure and featured a packed audience, full cast of correspondents and star-studded farewell messages.
“Don’t be sad,” Noah said in his closing monologue, adding, “It doesn’t feel like seven years. Well, not at the desk. Obviously I went home in between. But still, it’s been a wild ride.”
A lineup of correspondents’ segments paying tribute to Noah and a video montage of goodbyes from Oprah, Issa Rae, Kamala Harris, Tracy Ross, Bill Gates, Hillary Clinton and more helped usher the host through the night.
“I would never pretend to understand America, you know, in the relatively short time I think I’ve been here,” said Noah, whose perspective as a South African comedian brought an outsider’s perspective to the show. But he did offer a few lessons he has learned.
Noah noted the strong influence American political parties hold, encouraging his audience to consider issues outside the lens of democrat or republican ideals.
“As we live in a society where we increasingly introduce ourselves to things that separate us, we forget that real friendships come from the similarities, and then the disagreements are how we polish each other as human beings,” he said.
“Issues are real, but politics are just an inventive way to solve those issues,” Noah said. “It’s not a binary. There are not just two ways to solve any problem. There are not just two ways to be.”
In the last minutes of the show, Noah thanked Black women, particularly those who took the time “to inform me, to educate me, to argue with me.”
“I’ve often been credited with, you know, having these grand ideas … Who do you think teaches me? Who do you think has shaped me, nourished me, informed me. From my mom, my gran, my aunt – all these Black women in my life,” the host said.
“If you truly want to learn about America, talk to Black women,” he continued.
Noah took over the program in 2015 from long-time host Jon Stewart whose 16-year run of the show shaped it into a late-night staple.
The comedian had appeared as a correspondent on “The Daily Show” for only a few months before he was tapped to fill the anchor chair. Though little-known to American television audiences at the time, Noah had already garnered a significant following outside the US.
He quickly molded the program around him, puckishly guiding his audience through singular national experiences such as the Trump presidency and the Covid-19 pandemic.
When Noah announced his exit from the show in late September, he hinted that his decision was inspired by a desire to perform out from behind the desk.
“I spent two years in my apartment, not on the road, and when I got back out there, I realized there’s another part of my life out there that I want to carry on exploring. I miss learning other languages. I miss going to other countries and putting on shows,” Noah said.
The comedian is only taking a brief hiatus before hitting the stage again. He kicks off his “Trevor Noah: Off The Record” tour in Atlanta on January 20.
When the show returns on Tuesday, January 17, the network has announced a lineup of comedic greats who will fill in as host, including Chelsea Handler, D. L. Hughley, Leslie Jones, Hasan Minhaj, Kal Penn and Wanda Sykes.
But the long-term future of the show remains unclear as the network has yet to say whether guest hosts will revolve indefinitely or if a permanent host will be installed in the chair.
After a backlash over a skit he did about Rishi Sunak’s appointment as Prime Minister, comedian Trevor Noah says he did not claim “the entire UK is racist.”
Earlier this week, Noah said on the US news show The Daily Show that there had been a “backlash” over Mr Sunak.
In the UK, many people, including ex-chancellor Sajid Javid, called Noah’s remarks “simply wrong.”
But Noah has now defended his segment, saying he was reacting to racists, and: “That’s why I said. ‘Some people’.”
Mr Sunak is the UK’s first British Asian prime minister and officially took over as Conservative leader and PM on Tuesday, after a leadership process.
In the original comments on the US programme, Noah – who is South African and grew up during apartheid – said: “You hear a lot of the people saying ‘Oh, they’re taking over, now the Indians are going to take over Great Britain and what’s next?’
“And I always find myself going ‘So what? What are you afraid of? I think it’s because the quiet part that a lot of people don’t realise what they’re saying is, ‘We don’t want these people who were previously oppressed to get into power because then they may do to us what we did to them.’”
During his skit, Noah played a clip from radio station LBC during the latest Conservative leadership race a week ago, when a caller falsely claimed Mr Sunak was “not even British”.
Mr Javid tweeted in response that the comments from the comedian were “so wrong” and that Britain “is the most successful multiracial democracy on earth and proud of this historic achievement”.
Former Tory leadership contender Rory Stewart said Mr Noah’s remarks were “completely bizarre” and an example of “lazy stereotyping”.
Downing Street said on Thursday that Mr Sunak did not believe Britain was a racist country.
Presenter Piers Morgan also tweeted that US media was “falsely portraying Britain as a racist country”.
Noah finally responded on Friday evening, saying: “C’mon Piers, you’re smarter than that.
“I wasn’t saying “The entire UK is racist”, I was responding to the racists who don’t want Rishi as PM because of his race. That’s why I said. “Some people”.”
C’mon Piers you’re smarter than that. I wasn’t saying “The entire U.K. is racist”, I was responding to the racists who don’t want Rishi as PM because of his race. That’s why I said. “Some people” 🙃https://t.co/QQgEQ45wJUhttps://t.co/bhurdPvsE8
Noah has long spoken about racial equality, publishing a book in 2017 titled Born a Crime, a reference to the fact he was born in South Africa to a white Swiss father and a black Xhosa mother, at a time when such a relationship was punishable by imprisonment.
He began his career in South Africa, releasing a string of stand-up specials and hosting a late-night talk show before relocating to the US in 2011.
He has hosted The Daily Show – a late-night talk and satirical news programme – since 2015 but last month announced he would be standing down.
Mr Sunak was born in Hampshire, south-east England, to Indian parents – a pharmacist mother and a GP father – and is married to Akshata Murty, with whom he has two young daughters Krishna and Anoushka.
“The Daily Show”host on Monday delved into the former president’s latest scandal, which involves his beleaguered Truth Social platform. The co-founder of the social media company, Will Wilkerson, came out as a whistleblower, alleging the firm had violated federal securities laws and that Trump had pressured executives to hand over shares to his wife, Melania Trump.
Wilkerson was fired from his role as an executive of Trump Media and Technology Group last week after coming forward.
Noah was unsympathetic.
“I am totally on Trump’s side in this story,” Noah said. “Yeah, it’s the year 2022. If you go into business with Donald Trump, and you’re surprised that you got scammed, that’s on you. What were you thinking? ‘Well, I know the last guy that Trump worked with almost got hanged by an angry mob, but I think I’m going to turn out fine. I don’t know what could go wrong.’”
What will Trevor Noah do after he exits the The Daily Show? “Everything.”
Nearly two weeks after confirming his departure, the South African-born comedian opened up about his decision on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon. The host called the announcement “shocking” and pressed Noah about why he chose to bow out after a seven-year run.
“Why not?” Noah responded. “People ask you this question as if you’re telling them bad news. I can understand that, but I think everybody has gone through a period of looking at their lives.”
Noah went on to reference the collective experience during the pandemic lockdowns, saying it completely changed his perspective.
“We were in our apartments for two years, the world changed …” he explained. “I think, if you don’t look at your life and think about what you’d like to do differently, you haven’t experienced what we all experienced. And so I think [my exit] is a joyous thing.”
Fallon then asked Noah about what the future has in store, and if he has plans on what to do next.
“I’m so excited to do everything,” Noah replied. “I didn’t get to travel as much, doing stand up around the world. I’m excited to — I used to go to a country and I would be there for weeks on end. I would learn parts of the language or learn about the culture.
I’m gonna get back to doing that. Producing, you know, like just working behind the camera again, working on different ideas. You know, going back home spending more time with family in South Africa. Everything is what I’m going to be doing.”
You can check out the full interview above. Noah’s last episode on the Daily Show will air on Dec. 8. The late-night talk show will return in January; however Comedy Central has yet to announce Noah’s potential replacement.
South African comedian Trevor Noah called the decision to hire him “crazy” but told his live studio audience his time on The Daily Show had been “one of the best experiences of my life.”
Trevor Noah is quitting as the host of The Daily Show, saying his “time is up” after seven years on the late-night talk show.
The South African comedian took over from fellow US comedian Jon Stewart in September 2015.
Thanking his audiences in the studio, at home, and around the world, he labelled the decision to hire him for the Comedy Central show in the first place “crazy”.
Noah joked: “I remember when we first started, so many people didn’t believe in us – it was a crazy bet to make. I still think it was a crazy choice. This random African, bringing a Chinese guy from Malaysia.”
Malaysian comedian Ronny Chieng, the Daily Show’s senior correspondent who was with Noah on stage, chipped in: “Yeah, Chinese guys with accents on American TV”.
Noah was virtually unknown in the US when he was picked to be host, despite being a celebrity in South Africa.
Calling it “one of the best experiences of my life”, Noah said that it was after beginning to tour with his comedy again that he realised that he missed “being everywhere doing everything.”
He told his live studio audience: “I realised after seven years, my time is up… but in the most beautiful way.
“I’ve loved hosting the show, it’s been one of my greatest challenges, it’s been one of my greatest joys.
“We’ve laughed together, we’ve cried together… but after seven years I feel like it’s time you know?”
His studio audience then gave him a standing ovation.
Noah didn’t give any details about when exactly he would be leaving the role, or who would be taking over from him, just saying: “We’ll figure out the timings and the whens.”
During his tenure on the political and news-based satire he made stylistic changes and increased millennial-based references, impersonations and characterizations for his comedy.
Noah’s departure from The Daily Show follows that of James Corden, who announced in April he would be leaving The Late Late Show early next year. At the time, the show’s network, CBS, was said to be looking at cheaper alternatives to replace the British star.
