Whether you religiously watched “The Daily Show,” saw a few clips here and there when they popped up on YouTube over the years or somehow have never seen it at all (!), you still know who Jon Stewart is. The legendary talk show host and satire whiz sat behind his Comedy Central desk for 16 years. And he was damn good at his job. (If you don’t feel like listening to my take, by the way, the 18 Emmys speak for themselves. Boom.)
But on Monday evening, a baby-faced, 31-year-old comic named Trevor Noah will get cozy in that same chair—well, uh, I actually can’t confirm that Stewart left his chair, but you get the point—as he hosts his first episode of “The Daily Show” with guests Kevin Hart and Ryan Adams.
So who is this guy? Where does he come from? Allow me …
1. At 31, he’s five years younger than Jon Stewart was when he took over “The Daily Show” in January 1999.
2. He’s from South Africa and was living in Cape Town up until his new gig in New York City. He’s the son of a black South African woman and a white Swiss man, who had to secretly live as neighbors in separate apartments in apartheid-era South Africa because the National Party government did not allow interracial relationships. Since early in his life, Noah has experienced and witnessed racism and oppression first-hand.
3. When he was 18, Noah starred in “Isidingo,” a South African soap opera, before hosting his own radio show titled “Noah’s Ark” on the most popular youth station in the South African province of Gauteng.
PLUS:5 questions for Trevor Noah and our guess at his answers
4. Noah said his “big break” in the stand-up comedy world happened in 2007 when he toured as Gabriel Iglesias’ opening act.
5. The documentary “You Laugh But It’s True” was released in 2011, profiling Noah’s difficult upbringing in South Africa and his introduction to the comedy realm. It is currently streaming on Netflix.
6. Noah is the first South African stand-up comedian to ever appear on “The Tonight Show” (Jan. 6, 2012) and the “Late Show with David Letterman” (May 17, 2013).
7. Noah speaks English, German, Xhosa, Zulu, Sotho and Afrikaans.
PLUS:The Trevor Noah timeline since Jon Stewart’s announcement to leave “The Daily Show”
8. When Comedy Central announced that Noah would be the next host of “The Daily Show,” the comic’s tweets were analyzed and criticized for crude content. The network defended him, saying in a statement, “Like many comedians, Trevor Noah pushes boundaries; he is provocative and spares no one, himself included.”
9. Before Noah’s last trip to Chicago, when asked about “Chicago-style hot dogs,” he told RedEye, “I always thought I needed to go to Chicago because of the special hot dogs. It’s genuinely just a hot dog. Like we don’t get it in South Africa? If that’s what you think special food is? The best hot dog? I’d hate to see what your [bleep] hot dogs are.”
10. When asked about the weirdest things he’s noticed while living in America, Noah told RedEye, “Your portion sizes! Every time I come back I am shocked how much you can buy in one go. It’s the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever seen in my life. They’re apocalypse sizes. I bring different friends [here] just so I can see their shocked faces for the first time.”
![“Let the music do the talking,” sang Phish vocalist-guitarist Trey Anastasio at the outset of the band’s concert Saturday at the Sphere in Las Vegas. Normally, hearing that advice from a well-disciplined virtuoso who seemingly never tires of the stage and worships the groove would pass without a hint of potential irony. However, given the group was not even one minute into the third of its sold-out four-night stand at the $2.3 billion dome — expressly devised to push sensory boundaries to previously uncharted limits — one couldn’t help wonder how seriously Phish would take its own instruction. Turns out […]](https://www.chicagotribune.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/CTC-L-ENT-PHISH-04-e1713888536637.jpg?w=620 "“Let the music do the talking,” sang Phish vocalist-guitarist Trey Anastasio at the outset of the band’s concert Saturday at the Sphere in Las Vegas. Normally, hearing that advice from a well-disciplined virtuoso who seemingly never tires of the stage and worships the groove would pass without a hint of potential irony. However, given the group was not even one minute into the third of its sold-out four-night stand at the $2.3 billion dome — expressly devised to push sensory boundaries to previously uncharted limits — one couldn’t help wonder how seriously Phish would take its own instruction. Turns out […]")