Trevor Noah interview for Guardian Live – full video

hello everyone hello good evening well we're here for a very special night with guards in life I'm Matt Ford and tonight I'm interviewing one of the biggest names in global comedy and one the most recognizable satirist on the planet his new book born a crime which I'm sure many of you've read and if you haven't they're on sale afterwards it's a phenomenal story of Trevor's life growing up in apartheid South Africa it's emotional it's hilarious and it's insightful please give a big welcome to Trevor Noah hello everybody good evening I'll take that is it is it like this everywhere you go this is fun we have our own Bibles we can play again this is nice this is nice good evening how you guys doing good yes hello thank you for coming out so this is probably one of the smallest gigs you've done actually this is big no this is nice this is cozy but but big it's a it's a phenomenal book born a crime and I'm not just saying that I'm interviewing you it is genuinely wonderful and there are so many things as I'm sure the people in the audience that have read and we will do audience questions later on and we'll know that it's funny imparts it's violent what really strikes me is that really it feels like it's a tribute to your mother well that's really what the book became you know when I started writing the book I wrote it as it was my book that's what it was supposed to be I set out to write a book about my stories me growing up you know my heroic escapades and then when I got to the end of the book and I coalesced all the stories I realized that my mom was the hero of my story I was just basically her punk-ass sidekick you know and I'm glad it happened organically because had I set out to write a book about my mother I don't think I would have done it in the correct way and I'm glad the pieces fell into place but really it that's the truth it's a story that really celebrates my mom it turned into a love letter to my mom as opposed to it being a story about how as a child I braved the odds it's a phenomenal relationship we can have with it's not just a traditional mother-son relationship you are like her sidekick your best mates one of the things that really strikes me in the book is when someone asks you mum why she wanted to have a child she said she wanted to feel what unconditional love was yeah which is really I mean heartbreakingly honest that she had you to feel loved herself well that was the one the one thing that I shared with my mom that I talked about in the book consistently is my mom is a brutally honest person you know and as a child I often did not enjoy that honesty you know because of what I saw as parents on TV and in the rest of the world it was you know people who were particularly vague with the child and didn't really you know share their emotions with their child but my mom was honest you know she said to me she says I didn't feel loved in the world I didn't feel I didn't have love for my father I didn't have love for my mother I I felt like I wanted something that would love me unconditionally and that is why I wanted a child I wanted my unconditional love and then she goes on to say she then had me and then gave birth to the most selfish piece of that ever existed it just eats and sleeps and shits and cries and you know and then my mom realized that you know the unconditional love was something she would have to give to me and and so I I'm eternally grateful but I found that quite funny she never lets me live that down she goes she goes I thought it was gonna love me and then this little and she talks about it like it's not me you know she was great and this thing in that did little on is just there is just all it screamed and it's love me love me and I'm like what about me because I don't care about you and you know so so yeah that's that's really why she why she wanted to have me there's some great stories in there really funny stories about your mom but they're also I mean scrapes isn't quite the word genuine danger and I think specifically to that bus journey that you're on where she literally has to throw you off a moving bus for fear that the bus driver is that was certainly gonna kill you at that yeah and it's told with a sort of panache of a stand up but that must have been absolutely petrified you know I think a lot of the time what people take for granted or maybe maybe I I think people do is is how aware you are of the danger you are in sometimes when you grow up in a society where you know violence is always around the next corner you find a lot of the time you don't have time to think and dwell in the danger that you may be in you know in the same thing happened to us growing up in South Africa during this time you know it was a nation that was obviously you know forged through violence and violence was an undercurrent and and still continues to be in our country and you know during that instance I don't even think I thought of it as being excessive danger if that makes sense you know I grew up in a world where with my friends you know sometimes we were walking to go home we would we'd have to walk through certain fields or certain you know open spaces and you knew that people got robbed or killed there that like so you lived in this world where you were constantly aware of the danger you were hyper aware of it so on the day in question when I was in a minibus you know what we call a taxi in South Africa and and my mother basically threw me out of the car because these men were most likely or they threatened to and there's a good chance that they might have done you know grievous harm to us I didn't think to myself this is the scariest thing that's ever happened to me I was just like my mom threw me out of a car you know that was like the big I was like I'm sure there was another way we could have got out of this situation ended with me being thrown out of the car and and and once again in that story when I tell it you know it's it's MIT myself and my mom and we're navigating through a through a really stressful situation but when push came to shove I always trusted her and I was knew that she's on my team so in that situation when my mom said Ronnie I ran I never ever thought about it you know it's it's an instinct and and an instinct that is that is honed when you grow up in certain places I always think to myself it's the same way you know baby gazelle and the Serengeti when its mom starts running it's not gonna be like what what's going on that's happening mom runs you run and then when you get to where you're going you ask the questions you ask her a lot of questions actually particularly about faith it seems and some of the great exchanges written almost like sitcom scenes between you and your mother and her faith and one thing I couldn't figure out from the book was whether you believe in God or not I think in terms of religion I do believe in God so in mindful of where we are in oh that's funny in terms of religion though I I found increasingly I'm I'm a spiritual person but I am constantly frustrated by the way religion is translates it all the way religion is interpreted to help people oppress other people that is something that that has always weighed on me when it comes to religion so when my mom and I would go back and forth like for instance you know about church one of my mom's most frustrating moments with me was the fact that she taught me to be logical and she taught me to challenge her you know she taught me to challenge everything in life and so when it came to religion I was afforded the same leeway she said you must challenge me you must ask me these questions so that I can go back and read the Bible and give you the answers don't just take what I say and so I did that you know my mom told me to challenge her and I obliged you know I obliged at every turn and and what happened was essentially I you know I would question the way people used religion including my mom and we would play with that with that's a given that was a theme that went through our lives is the way is the way I would I would look at how you can trance you know how you can translate a text and how you can use it differently in your life there's some wonderful examples of her belief that almost everything is a sign from God yes particularly when the car continue breaks down the Volkswagen car when you're on the way to I think he's to go to three different church masses every Sunday and when the car breaks down you see it as a sign that God saying you don't have to go to church she sees it as a challenge from God to prove her faith to get the hands-on yeah I am I could read it for you if you want I mean if you I have the I find sometimes yeah I mean I wrote the thing so sometimes well that's a different bit that's a lie this is I'm trying to think of what chapter that's in that's going to be thank you Wow look at that oh this is fun this is fun what page this is exciting I'm going to get to that part he asked for okay so here here we go this was this was like the type of exchange my mom and I would have I was at the time if you want to picture me accurately I was a very cute plump child very cheeky unkempt hair and my mom was a beautiful very strong black woman a lot skinnier than people think she is for some reason a lot of people say to me they think of my mom is like a big woman like a star but she wasn't she's very tomboyish very slender so if you're picturing a person that's the wrong person my pictures it's weird a lot of people have said that I don't know why I told you that now but a lot of people just said to me I thought when I see your picture of your mom I thought she was completely different she is not so you know what I think that is why and I know I pictured a like that until you described her later in the book there's one bit where you describe you as Tom and Jerry you and her yes and therefore I've pictured as the mum from something that's what your mom was like sort of chasing you around the house so here we go my mother is as stubborn as she is religious once her mind's made up that's it indeed obstacles that would normally lead a person to change their plans like for instance a car breaking down only made her more determined to forge ahead it's the devil she said about the stalled car the devil doesn't want us to go to church that's why we've got to catch mini buses whenever I found myself up against my mother's faith obstinacy I would try as respectfully as possible to counter with an oppose points of view oh I said the Lord knows that today we shouldn't go to church which is why he made sure the car wouldn't start so that we stay at home as a family and take a day of rest because even the Lord rested ah that's the devil talking Trevor no because Jesus is in control and if Jesus is in control and we pray to Jesus he would let the car starts but he hasn't therefore no Trevor sometimes Jesus puts obstacles in your way to see if you overcome them like job this could be a test yes mam but the test could be to see if we're willing to accept what has happened and stay at home and praise Jesus for his wisdom no Java ha that's the devil talking now go change your clothes but mom Trevor hey Carla and it carries on but from Kerala is basically a very simple phrase in my mom's language Casa which is it means do not undermine me and many children who come from you know immigrant families or if you have families that come and they speak another language besides English you will know when your parents switches into their home language conversation is done that's that's pretty much it when your when my mom would vacate English then I knew the conversation was over as soon as you mention that because language plays a big part of the book and that should be part of your identity within your family and within your friendship group because you can speak various different language through your age yes you can speak the different tribal languages of South Africa as well as speak in English and what well there are two things that fascinate me about one is that you say when you remember things you remember them in English effectively even if people were talking a different language your brain stores them as English and I think it's your grandma or is it your auntie believes that if you pray in English your prayers are more likely to be answered yeah because that's the language that white people watch well there is that is that is really you know that to answer the questions I guess an in sequence I learned very early on how powerful language could be I learned very early on how powerful language was as a tool that would help you navigate and give you access you know in two different worlds and more importantly into people's hearts you know I grew up in a country where we have right now we have 11 official languages but before they were official they would they existed you know we have 11 different languages in the country and because of apartheid people didn't often learn other people's languages you know so even amongst the African tribes in the country people didn't necessarily speak other languages Zulu people were not necessarily immersed in class although they did understand it because it was from the same language tree but then someone who spoke let's say it's wrong I wouldn't understand what somebody was saying in in Songdo or in Zulu and it did and so on most people spoke Afrikaans which is a derivative of Dutch because the government you know that was one of the languages of instruction one of the languages of oppression which a lot of people fought against but I was always shocked at how simple it was to communicate with people of you if you just switched into their language and so again learning from my mom I you know people get impressed when I say I speak six languages and I go but my mom speaks 9 so I'm an underachiever and my family you know and and and my mommy just did it because it speeds up the process means of communicating and so language is one of those tools that I used and language was a tool that the apartheid governments also used and I noticed that when it came to my grandmother where my own gran it's really smart woman fantastic mind but sometimes even she would betray the fact that she had been influenced so heavily by you know what she had been taught and one of those things came to praying my grandmother prayed in Xhosa even though she's fluent in English but she would she would pray in casa and when we would pray as a family we would have prayer meetings at the house and she would ask me to pray on behalf of the family because i prayed in english and you know she always said like think like I spoke like the English that I had no accent I had no African accent I you know she was like you're speaking real real English and so she believed that God would hear my prayers before hers because the God that she had been taught to worship was an English God you know God had been translated into Zulu but he wasn't originally you know and I mean now when - you're old and you learned you like oh wait God's not even English apparently but that's besides the point so my grandmother was like you speak his language tell him what we need tell him about what's going on and I would be like but you you Yuki speaks every language is like yes but that one is a shortcut you know and and I remember once like as kids because my gran is one of the funniest wittiest but she has like dry humid like I don't even think sometimes I don't know if she's telling a joke or not and it's so funny and I can't tell because she never betrays it with a laugh and I said to my gran one day I said I said but go go I said I said why do you think you know English and Zulu is difference of play why don't you why don't you pray in whatever language she's a praying English English is better and I said but that's that's not true and then she said but then why do white people have it so good and she says if they clearly you can see their prayers are being answered that's all we've got to get going pray they're free and so i pregnant language as you said it is it's so important and it's something that much we not speak languages being able to connect with different communities and understand people that is something that it's really troubling about modern politics obviously in your incarnation as the host of the globally successful Daily Show must be something that troubles you about what will happen under Trump's America is his attitudes towards different communities yeah well you know what's interesting is I find that language is even you know when you break it down even in English there are almost hidden languages and and that's where accents I always go accents or like the the hidden languages of language you know people go can you speak English but then I go yes but which English can you speak and it's not just in America's not just in something in the UK you see that as well you know I was fascinated when I first came to the UK and I saw how differently people would be treated just because of how they spoke in my head these were all characters from you know a TV show but British people would got a whole yeah he's got you know he sounds like he's he's this Girl Scouts accent he's got this accent he's got oh yeah I know you can hear he's not you know and I was like what does what does that mean I was like ah well you can hear it yeah from Liverpool and as I thought what does what does that mean I don't understand what that means and I came to realize that in the UK you know people would judge you based on your accent so if you sound like a posh person then all of a sudden you would you know seem to be more intelligent or you seem to which I never understood I mean I yeah I remember hearing Boris Johnson for the first time and I was like this person seems like a rambling fool I don't understand I don't understand like what he's saying but but he must sit brilliantly in my opinion with that unite only on the outskirts of this issue oh no we got your burger and then people were like oh yes it's very row yeah yeah and I was like no that's like what is that but that's the power that's the power of an accent that's the power of a language you know and and unfortunately that's the downside as well because you see that in America right now a lot of people that are anti-immigrant when they say that they're specifically referring to immigrants who do not have a grasp of the language they are specifically referring when you say anti-immigrant sentiment they're not talking about you know immigrants from Britain because Americans go like oh no no they that's like a safe immigrants but often times I find people are less likely to welcome you when you seem to be almost invading their language and that is what an accent feels like if somebody speaks like you you feel like they are like you but if somebody speaks your language with an accent you feel like the person is intruding they're taking what is yours and they're trying to break it it's a strange thing that happens in your mind so what what attitudes have you faced in America not just with your comedy but specifically the accent oh I must member when I when I first took over the Daily Show that was one of the biggest things I quickly realized as how many people hated me just because of my accents you know and I understood that as a visceral thing you don't even understand you why don't I like this person why don't I like his jokes why don't I like his opinions because they are coming at me in a different accent and and that's a you know I'm glad I was aware of it because if you don't know sometimes you you you wouldn't know why you were connecting or not connecting with people you wouldn't realize what tools you can use to try and subvert what is happening you know but it's the same way children's television presenters know you speak a different way to connect with children yeah you know when you you trying to connect with an audience that has an accent that is different to yours you start to realize I realized rhythmically that there were tools you can use that just help tune you into the ear of the listener without you changing who you are what you're saying it's not first name because you would presume perhaps wrongly that the majority of viewers of The Daily Show would be kind of liberal left people people who identify as more open-minded and yet even they had negative attitudes toward you because of your accent but that is better that is what people always do people always surprise you you know and and I think all too often we are not as self-critical as we should be you know even if you consider yourself a progressive or a liberal a lot of the time I've met liberals of progressive where I go like sometimes in their progressiveness they will be racist but in a patronizing way you know and as a comedian I love playing with that I don't think I figured out race I think it's a constantly evolving thing even though it's a construct we have to admit it's a construct that we are we're still living with in right now and I'm always fascinated by how those types of things happen like I remember one one person said to me and it was honestly one message that stuck with me forever because of the irony it was a person and they treated me and they said I hate what you I'm a longtime fan of The Daily Show I hate what you've done bring Jon Stewart back go back to Djibouti and I didn't know how to process that information because I was like well if you were really a fan of John Stewart I know Jon Stewart personally I'm like I don't think he shares your views in terms of go back through anywhere 'no so so you you are saying to me go back to your country because I want my liberal shuttle back it was a lucrative job to write that ready but uh but yeah that's that's a that's a that's an interesting thing there's many instances we have seen it where we stumble into it sometimes and you know it's it's almost I don't know what to call it I you know III never act like I've studied this stuff and you know it's hyper hyper delivers a little liberalism more neoliberal whatever it is I I just look at it on the face of it very simply and I go one of my favorite examples it was a random random story for me during the the euro you know the euro football championships and I'll never forget it was the the Dutch football team they were training and this was in I think it was the Czech Republic or it was one of those countries with her hosting tournaments and the players were training and the stadium was empty save for a few fans and then people started throwing bananas onto the pitch you know and it became a huge story or racist incident races incident my favorite though was in in the telling of the story was the Dutch captain who said you know these fans were in the stands and they started making monkey sounds and throwing bananas onto the pitch and the Dutch captain you know he was their best of them and he apologized to all the black players he said hey I'm sorry for this it's racist and in that moment I said but how do you know that the bananas were aimed at the black eye because there are 22 people on the pitch and you'd like this is a training session it's just the Dutch team there was no one else there someone threw the banana and immediately the guy was like man I'm so sorry about that and you go why are you sorry because they threw the bananas they racist and I was always like hey if one guy said well how do you know that's that bananas for me he's like why no it's not for me I mean why would you throw a banana at me and I found that funny I was like just you know the implied notion that you would think you would immediately go well look you are the banana but I'm offended for you but that's your banana my friend and that sometimes what happens is even on a liberal side if you're not careful and as long as a patronizing thing that it's an overcorrection sometimes that happens where the racism spools the other way and as a person Okada's answer is just going like wait what just happened here I find it interesting but I suppose you'd rather have a situation where people are aware of race and are sensitive to it then people just be completely closed-minded oh yeah you know I look I always go I you know growing up in South Africa and that's that's what I talk about in the book is apartheid truly you know people ask me often times people will say Trevor why why are you so focused on race why do you always talk about race I say because it's net it's not going away and it's it's such a powerful tool that you can find at the base of so many issues that we have you know race is something that was artificially created to oppress people that is what it that's the truth of the matter race is something that was created to oppress people you cannot deny that in talking about race you cannot have a conversation about race and not accept the fact that it came to be for that specific reason and apartheid was the best example of that you know the the whole idea of apartheid was the South African government at the time needed to find perfect racism and so they sent a commission around the world to study racism you know they went to Australia they went to the Netherlands they went to the United States and they studied racism to see what the pitfalls of those systems were and to figure out how they could implement a more watertight solution and I think they did I honestly think a part that was the most perfect racism we've seen in history because what it did was it managed to divide not only black and white which is most what most people think of apartheid as they go black and white no but apartheid was specific apartheid was precise it worked on separating even people who were fighting on the same side the part ID was telling to black people that they were actually different and so tribally they should be opposed apartheid was telling a mixed-race child a biracial child that he was superior to his mother but inferior to his white father apartheid was about creating a world where you know one of the things that was the most painful for me is realizing that you know during apartheid if you were a person who was my skin colour they called you they call this coloured alright and colored you didn't have the world you know you weren't black you weren't white there was even a term in South Africa colloquially used and that was clear in Afrikaans they called it ampere Pass which means you were almost the master and and that as crazy as it seems that was literally what it was you were almost you know a lot of colour people were told you could be white it's just your connection to black is holding you back you know it's almost like it would be like I mean we'd let you in but we don't know who come in with you and so what happened is you're on you're in the country they would reclassify people as white or black you know the government would come out every year and they'd go like this like oh you know they'd be delicious that would come out and they'd say you have now been reclassified you could be a colored person and if you became light enough and your hair became straight enough voila you were now a white person and your life will change immediately you know the same thing could happen inverse if you were a white person who had the misfortune of over tanning and your hair was too curly they could question this and if that question was you know was was answered incorrectly basically you would become colored imagine that all of a sudden and families were being ripped apart by this families would be ripped apart either by their own decision or you know by the decision of the law but that was the power of apartheid is convincing people to blame the other for what is happening to them and that is a powerful tool that we continue to see being used you know in in in our modern-day society as well and it's something that affected you personally and very specifically because having a black mother and having a white father you as the title of the book suggests born a crime under the law of South Africa at the time but what fascinates me about there are so many threads that run through the book one of them is definitely that you are growing up in incredible poverty in intense violence around you and yet because you have slightly lighter skin within that context you're relatively privileged relative to your female relatives yes relative to other people that you go to school with so it's this sort of odd you get favorable treatment but you're still being suppressed well that's the thing that a lot of people struggle with in the world is acknowledging your privilege you know it's very tough to acknowledge privilege I sometimes think maybe it's just because of the word we use and that is privilege you know people always think of privilege as implying wealth and health and resources you you know when people who like privilege then you'll see poor white people saying well I'm not rich so where's my privilege you know I don't have money and resources where's my privilege and then I sometimes think maybe we should have used use it the other way maybe we shouldn't have said white privilege maybe we should have said black disadvantaged you know female disadvantaged like those are because it's true there are you know there are impediments to having certain characteristics and we know this is true in society and I even acknowledge this in my life and and I guess that's who I am as a person is I I really try and put myself in another person's shoes regardless doesn't matter how crazy that person is I think to myself I'm going to try and think like you I'm going to try and work in this world and I you know I realized why it's so hard to acknowledge your privilege because you you have to deal with your guilt and for me as stupid as it sounds it was in my own family my grandmother and grandfather treated me differently to every other cousin in my family because I was the little white child in their eyes my own grandparents they loved me and they never said that to me but for instance my grandfather when we would drive around always made me sit in the back of the car because he used to say the master sits in their back and everything else he did was normal with me you know he would still chastise me if I was doing something naughty he would still ask me to go and do stuff with him he still had authority over me as a grandfather but he would refer to me with the respect of the white man you know so he'd be like Master please go and buy me some beer you know it's like a weird construct the way he was going I'm student I respect you but you're my grandson master you know my grandmother never ever administered a beating you know my grandmother never beat me that was something and you know a growing up in South Africa a lot of the time men were away for extended periods working or imprisoned and so you you lived in a matriarchal society grandmother's often raised the children because mothers were away working and my grandmother will you know she she would be responsible for disciplining all the kids and one day for instance we were in the house myself and my cousins and we were playing doctor and I was performing surgery on my cousins yeah and during the surgery one of my tools the matchstick I was using perforated her eardrum these things happen in surgery and so she started bleeding and she was in immense pain and my grandmother came in and cuz she heard my cousin crying and my grand what's going on it was blood and she you know she panicked and she cleaned the blood and and then once she realized you know my cousin was was fairly okay then she beat her and then and then she beat my cousin because he was also playing the game with us and really he was just a bystander he was in the waiting room but whatever and so she beat him because he was the eldest he should have been looking after us and then she looked at me and she just she just shook herself and then she left the room and now I'm standing there my cousins have been beaten I don't know what's just happened here you know in my head I'm like what I don't know I guess I didn't know what had happened and that evening my mom came home and she found my grand crying in the kitchen and you know my gran was there my mom said what's wrong what's wrong what's wrong mama and and my grandson would know T so no to you and no you must beat him then what do you mean if he's not you you must you must beat him that's what he that's what he's for he must hit him and and my grandma's like no no no Bhushan I can't hit him I can't it never you I can't hit him she's I'm so scared to hit him I can hit the other children but I can't hit him I'm almost like why she says you she says because with black children I know how to hit them I know I hit them and then I know what's going to happen with Trevor I've seen when you hit him he becomes blue and green I don't know what's happening like I don't want to kill a white child and that's that's my own grandmother my own grandmother afraid of administering discipline because she feared that she would be breaking the law in in and out in our house she didn't want to hurt a white child and in that situation I acknowledge like as a child I didn't think of it as a child I honestly thought it was because I was Trevor I just thought I was special yeah I was just like yeah I'm the favorite kid that's that's how it works hard luck but when I look back ago that was my privilege you know now if I had I known that would be a situation where I'd have to step up and say hey grant I noticed that you didn't hit me even though I was part of this and so I think it's only fair that I received the same level of punishment as my black cousin's have but there was no chance I was gonna do that because that's the one thing we never want to admit is privilege is pretty great it's a sweet thing so it's like if you just acknowledge it though you can move a conversation for a lot of the time people don't want to act like it exists and that can be a frustrating hurdle to try and get over if you're trying to have these conversations it is I mean it's remarkable that you didn't get more beatings really because no I got beatings from my mom from your mother but yeah she made up for every single beating my ram didn't give me but from other people because you come across it in the book it's kind of naughty but not nasty no I was never I was never even in school but my teachers my teachers will always tell you I'm extremely respectful they were just like when the teachers back was turned there was chaos I loved being a clown in class I love making I just like making people laugh so you couldn't tie me down but when it came to Authority you wouldn't any of my report cards you'd never see a Trevor's disrespectful Trevor it was just he he's constantly joking around he's just he needs to apply himself that was the that was all the teachers said but he did burn a house down no no no no a house burned down because of me there is a difference there is a distinct difference what happened was I was I was always fascinated by the world and one of the things that fascinated me was fire you know I do not feel that we we fully understand it and it's and its majesty and so I was always interested in different ways to create fire in this particular instance I was I just learned about the magnifying glass and so with a friend we were playing with a magnifying glass and we would you know conducting different experience it was science really and what happened was you know the experiment went haywire and a house burned down in the process but I mean this is this is what science is meant to be you know think about it you know it's like it's like Jefferson said it's like it's like you've learned ways not to do it I learned how not to create fun I was created a big fire to be honest though I but I was very naughty I was I was a little terror I acknowledged that but kind of charming terror one thing that really strikes me from the book actually is that you say you make fun of wrong doll yes and it really reminded me of boy his book about his childhood and it felt like it I don't know whether that he was subconsciously it may be influenced by that star but it felt just like this this wonderful collection of capers and scrapes and adventures of a young child's of running through streets and getting into trouble it's funny I don't think boy ever influenced me as much as the other books of Roald Dahl did you know because of I was always more intrigued by the fantasy of his other works you know boy was too realistic for me in Australia I was like yeah this is like reading about my life whatever just you know a tame version of how I lived but I was more connected to you know the you know all these other works it was you know the Giant Peach or you know whether it was the Chocolate Factory and you know and and the wonderful world of Henry sugar and all of these stories that that I that I connected with because I got to escape really you know though those were those were the world's I wanted to live in and oftentimes those were the worlds I could connect as well it was an outsider you know it's this lone character who is in a world that they shouldn't be in you know you look at Charlie was it was poor you know got this golden ticket and the next thing you know he was in a world and all these other kids were nothing like him they told him he didn't belong there because he didn't deserve you know he didn't deserve his ticket and a lot of the time I felt like I grew up like that and and you know and then he went through this journey and then inherited this giant you know Factory and he never anticipated it and I feel like that's almost what happened to me with John Stewart so I got this random golden ticket and then the next thing you know I'm running at Chocolate Factory you know but those but those stories really connected with me all all books that were fantastical connected with me do you reflect I mean people love a rags to riches story obviously and but yours is so extreme really in in the scale of it even just geographically to go from apartheid South Africa to the pinnacle of global satire in America on a show that is beamed around to countries all around the planet yeah I mean that's not just growing up in a working-class area or ended up in the cabinet that is almost which is also just as hard from what I understand in England to preparing these at the moment other periods we're not necessary that you pinch yourself but you're in New York or LA or wherever you think you can't believe you're the same person that lived to the life that you lived definitely one thing I would honestly I'd recommend this to anybody it is a grueling experience you will hate moments of it but write your story write it for yourself write it for your friends write it for your family that's really why I wrote the book I wrote it for the people in my life and I wrote it the way I would have wanted them to hear me tell the stories and that's the way I figured I would find the most authentic manner to to to to share all of this because if I told it to strangers I would be too afraid if I shared my pain with people I did not know I don't think I would have been as forthcoming but I told the stories for people that I loved and that's what I put into the book and one thing I'll tell you I got out of it was an appreciation of every person and every moment that has gotten me to where I am today it also made me realize more than I ever think I did how much I deserve to be where I am today and and that is something that I've I've allowed people to steal from me at times I think we all do in our lives you know we feel guilty for achieving sometimes we feel guilty for being in a place that we are in sometimes you know it's almost a survivor's remorse it's the world telling you why you why you as opposed to you going why not me you know and and once I wrote the book and I sat with and I actually looked through the stories because it happens over such a long period of time and you know people go this is an action-packed life but for me I go it's I don't think it's action-packed I go there are 18 stories from 20 years like if it's one story a year I go like oh I was a boring Europe you know but I do understand that that it is it is you know there's a fairly intense story one that many people haven't been lucky enough to not live but but I genuinely acknowledge that I go I go my family and I went through a lot I went through a lot and the fact that I am where I am today is in my mom's words a miracle does she visit you in America never never my mom would never ever ever have like maybe I could bribe her if I had a grandkid that would be the only way I could trick my mom my mom hates traveling understand that my grandmother explained it to me the best and that you know in writing the book I had to revisit my life which was really fantastic I had to go and I learned things from that's why I say write the book you'll learn things about your family that you you neglect yours because as family we take things for granted we'll think we know our parents will think we know our grandparents but really we know anecdotal pieces you know anecdotal stories and then we know their personalities which is more important but there are small things I didn't know you know for instance I didn't know that my grandmother has almost a like a photographic memory when it comes to historical dates and events my grandmother is as you know I think 96 years old and she can tell you to the date when something significant happened you know my mom and I don't remember things and I'll say gran when did this happen and then she'll go oh that was July 1987 towards the 20s and you're just like this is phenomenal how are you doing this she remembers numbers your history same thing she can tell me about World War two she can tell me about apartheid she could tell me and you know and in in writing these stories in connecting with the family I learned small pieces about them as people I learned how far we had come I learned about you know struggles that I didn't even know we had had growing up together and and that is something I truly appreciate and I would encourage anybody to do it's interesting to say that because actually the inverse is true of the way that you talk to your father because you were very keen to learn about him you go meet him as a younger adult and to try and learn about new interview him and he says why are you interrogating me the way you get to know me is just by spending time with me yeah and I mean I think that's part part of him being Swiss this was her pots with German I guess you know the German partisan but you know he was just I imagine I walk into his world I open a notepad and I go right so where were you born and what were you this exact and he's like what are you doing you know I said I'm into I'm interview you I want to get to know you because I had lost contact with my father for ten years and so I wanted to catch up immediately once I had reconnected with him I wanted to let's let's get this thing going let's build this relationship and and he's in he stopped and he said he said he said what do you you know he asked me to ask him questions and he you don't you beat around the bush and he would give me one word answers and then finally he said to me he said if you're trying to get to know me this is not the way to do it he said you get to know a person through time he says to spend the time with me and then you'll get to know who I am and my mom and dad were very different in that regard you know my mom is forthcoming and she she would over share you know she like as a mom you can imagine I was 10 years old and my mom would be telling me about sex and how you know how as a man you should look at foreplay and how and I'm 10 I'm 10 and she wouldn't go into graphic detail but she would just tell me random it's like when I would come into my mom's head if I was there she would she would say it to me she just turned and she'd go you know Trevor when you with your woman don't forget to please her you know Trevor so many men think that sex is just for them and they think that they so fantastic take your time with your woman Trevor show her your look and I'm you're sitting there and I remember with my like tiny Tony the Tiger teaspoon that I used to eat my cereal and I was like I'm sorry are you talking to somebody else in this room but she was you know my mom just basically was like this is a data dump you will need this information I don't know when but you know and then it was two different people which I guess is why they connected so well well there's a mix of styles in the way that you've written the book but it sounds way it really sounds like standard but I can hear your voice in it there are bits where it does feel like a novel times when it feels like so classic orthography there are also moments in there and obviously it needs some light relief of it throughout it because you difficult circumstances with bits that are just almost pure bits of stand-up and there's a wonderful I think it's on page 42 um it'd be lovely if you perhaps people the people you know the book inside out will know and I think it's a bit that I've put the this is I won't ruin it but this is my favorite bit of the book you know it's funny all my friends this is their favorite part of the book because they know my life but this is a story that I never really told anyone my mom who I don't think has read the full book yeah I don't she says she doesn't want to read it she's very strange to go she doesn't want to read it because she doesn't want to spoil the ending for people when she meets them in the streets so my mom says people come up to and they go we love the book and she goes oh that's so great to hear tell me about it and she says that if she reads it she will not be interested in here she'll like tell them oh I know how it ends and I'm like but you know how it ends because you are in it yeah but she doesn't see it that way so you know but this is one story that no one in the family knew about before I wrote it so I loved it and I suppose this is a philosophy I suppose this is peace but to catch you up in it I mean it's not a spoiler or anything but it's the story of we didn't happen we didn't have an indoor toilet growing up okay and this was a comment for most people in in a where I was we had an outdoor toilet and about four or five families would share that toilet that was in the yard we had a house that was two rooms and so one room was a kitchen slash living room / dining room area just like very open plan and then the other room was a bedroom a grouping about it's the same saying yeah same vibe you know what it's like it's like a little London flat London flag with more racism that's all it was so so this is the story I'll read from just just a little bit above we where you've selected yeah so I would be in the house locked up you know I wasn't allowed to go outside because my grandmother was afraid that the police would take me away to an orphanage because I would be a colored kid in a black neighborhood so one afternoon when I was around five years old my gran left me at home for a few hours to go run errands I was lying on the floor in the bedroom reading I needed to go to the bathroom but it was pouring down rain I was dreading going outside to use the toilets getting drenched running out there water dripping on me from the leaky ceiling wet newspaper the Flies attacking me from below then I had an idea why bother with the outhouse at all why not put some newspaper on the floor and do my business like a puppy that seemed like a fantastic idea so that's what I did I took the newspaper laid it out on the kitchen floor pulled down my pants and squatted and got to it now when you as you first sit down you're not fully in the experience yet you are not yet a person you're transitioning from a person about to to a person who is you don't whip out your smartphone or newspaper right away it takes a minute to get the first out of the way and get in the zone and get comfortable once you reach that moment that's when it really gets nice it's a powerful experience there's something magical about so profound even I think God made humans in the way we do because it brings us back down to earth and gives us humility I don't care who you are we all the same Beyonce shits the Pope shits the Queen of England shits when we should we forget our ears and our graces we forget how famous or how rich we are all of that goes away you are never more yourself than when you are taking a you have a moment where you realize this is me this is who I am you can repeal without giving it a second thoughts but not so with Singh have you ever looked in a baby's eyes when is it's having a moments of pure self-awareness Oh I think you've expressed what so many people have felt for so long and managed to put into words how so many versus felt I mean they're the bits where that that doesn't necessarily have to be in the book about growing up in apartheid South Africa that's it's just a great piece of philosophy well well thank you for it oh man I appreciate that look here's the thing and this is what I try and explain to people you know I often get frustrated because I think we we a lot of the time we we like to live in a world where we act like everything is good or bad everything is black or white everything nuance is really where the world exists the world exists in the gray not in the black white you know and we see this over and over with different themes you know you know racism has its nuances to it you know whatever conversations you're having have the nuances growing up in South Africa during apartheid was not just one experience you are still having experiences in an amongst those of oppression and pain and suffering there are still moments of joy there are still moments of a family coming together there are still moments where I'm hanging out with my mom there are still moments where I have to you know you and that's that's when telling the story when I tell a story I like to think of everything that is happening I I don't like to you know I because I didn't want to write a book where it's like Oh neither was me or even I'm angry at this my world was only apart right now you know my mom always told me to be grateful and my mom always told me to focus on everything that was happening yes we can acknowledge that there was the system that was oppressing us but at the same time don't let that detract from the beautiful family you have don't let that detract from the laughter that your experience don't let that detract from your family and your community and the world that you you also get to be a part of and and so when writing the book I wrote it the way I think and that is even in the worst moments there are there are sometimes funny thoughts that you'll have you you know it's it's like a giggle that comes at a Funeral not supposed to be laughing but there will always be that moment where someone just you know something comes up a story an idea and that's what we are as humans you know that our emotions do not always present themselves at the right time and that's how I try to tell the stories in the book I wonder did you change any of the names of the book let me think in the UK I think I had to but I didn't in the in the South African book because in the UK you're libel laws are a lot more strict like here the way it works is but even if you say that the purse they can say that no I didn't even if they did it's a very strange system which I guess I understand you know but I'm lucky in that I come from a place where if you can back it up and then you can you can write it's as simple as that and and also I didn't I didn't feel the need to change it on my side because I I was not trying to disparage anybody I'm not trying to say something you know egregious about anybody in the book I was thinking specifically about Abel your mother's abusive ex Paul that names not challenged no but well I wondered if it had because I just thought for your own safety and for your mother's safety this guy was was abusive to a very violent extent yes and I wondered if perhaps that was something you might be mindful of well here's the thing one of the one of the many wonderful gifts of Fame or celebrity is that you know when the tabloids tell those stories they don't try and obscure anything they put your life out there and you know they butcher the stories and tell it the way they think it is and they they leave out most of the details but they the one thing they don't afford you is any privacy and so in telling those stories I wasn't saying a name that wasn't a newspaper I wasn't telling a story that wasn't in some way sensationalized or told before the one thing that had never happened was the story had never I had never told the story I had never shared with the person the intricacies of the world you know because the sensational story is just Trevor Noah's mother got shots that's and it's like wow as it just came out of Noah and I'm like it it leaves so much out it doesn't talk to the fact that abuse is a gradual and dangerous path that many people go down it doesn't talk to the fact that abuse is oftentimes you know not encouraged but rather not stamped out the way it should be by the system's that we live in you know the police often turn a blind eye because I've learned unfortunately growing up the day - or men you know a lot of time men will group together and be like oh yes I'm it's a man I understand as a man as a man I see why you did it as a man you know we live in a society where we're you you see that all too often so I I wasn't afraid to do that and truthfully my mom is the one who does not believe in living the life of fear I asked her about these stories all the time I asked her why she still lives in the same neighborhood where my stepfather is you know and she said she said why must I move and that was always her theme in life same with an apartheid government I said why didn't you leave the country and she said but this is my country you know and I said why would you still be in the same neighborhood staying in this Inn in a house that is you know very much within striking distance there's a man who shot you and my mom says where she says honey if you run in life you'll run forever wait you're gonna run too she says you I'm gonna keep running and then what I'm gonna spend my life looking over my shoulder and she goes no she goes no she says and that's where my mom's extreme religion and just stubbornness kicks in and she goes she said the man tried to kill me and I'm still here so she says so unless he has another plan I don't know what it's gonna be she says but he did what he need what he wants it to do you know and he shot me in the head and I'm still here so so I guess you know what what else what what should I be afraid of what what is worse than this you know and I cope well you could die and she's like I'm not afraid to die and she's this because then I go I go and I meet my maker I'm like oh no you know and we we we arguing we fights about that but I I do understand where she's coming from and I do admire that in my mom you know because unfortunately you know I had to face the fact that I I was in a country that has a horrible record of protecting women against domestic abuse you know many of us see that in many different situations it is not prioritized it is it's always seen as the if only we knew and it's always the same story when I was watching the oj documentary and I couldn't believe the parallels it always starts with a slap it always starts with a story it always starts with a minor incident and people always let that slide let it slide let it slide let it slide and then you go she was killed and if you if you read the statistics in any country you will be shocked at how many murders take place and you can track it back in domestic violence it's not a surprise it's a it's a warning sign and so the reason I wrote about it like that in the book is because I wanted to share that I want to share that experience with people because I know so many people are going through it and the sad thing is we were afraid and we're ashamed of sharing it shame is one of the most powerful tool that surprisingly you know oppressors use you know domestic abusers use shame abuses of children use shame to keep the victim from claiming their justice and my mom always said to me she said the honey I won't be ashamed because some man couldn't control himself you won't make me ashamed because you're the person who's done something wrong so the shame must go back to where it belongs to the person who broke the crime to the person who laid their hands on me don't worry about me I have nothing to be ashamed of as we said your mom is the the heroine of the book there are a lot of smaller parts in the book and I wonder if any of them have got in touch and I'm thinking specifically of Zahira who said there be people in this lose the committee identify with this tale of her of a young are you describe yourself as kind of an awkward looking young chap at the time I wasn't awkward looking I suffered with extreme acne acne vulgaris I had nodules on my face and I'm almost offended sometimes when people go hole you don't look like it like some people say it like I don't know if I believe I really did like that's like one of the few things that gets me because I remember what it was you know when people go like oh you you don't have you don't local I don't believe there then they go show me the pictures then I go I took no pictures because of this if you saw yourself as a hideous human being why would you be snapchatting yourself you know and people don't get that and and and it wasn't like basic acne I try to explain it to people I you know I had to go see a doctor I had these these nodules that were on my face and the pus would pour out of them and it looked like I was having an allergic reaction continuously you know I was ashamed in school I mean I remember at one time at the height of my embarrassment I was like buying makeup you know I applying makeup and putting like till this day when like women tell me about I'm like I know trust me I know I know I know what it's like you put the makeup on to hide your skin and the makeup makes your skin worse and now you've got worse and now you're putting more make and it's this vicious cycle and then at night you doing a wash it over you're tired but you know if you don't in the morning and wake up and then it's gonna be your pillows got the thing and you just like you know then they turn you wipe it like I know I hated that and I I hated myself you know so so yeah that's like I I had that and growing up with like that's imagine that you you in this world of race and all of these things but one thing that's universal is this awkwardness as a teenager as a you know growing pains here I was and at that point I didn't care about racism or apartheid or anything I was like those are not my issues this right here this right here is the main issue and yeah and the hero was a person who somehow I guess saw through that but it's it's a classic tale of teen angst because you effectively put yourself in the friendzone with this very beautiful girl you never pluck up the courage to ask around never and then you find that she's moved to America and then the hammer blow of the story is the following day when her friend says to you oh she was just waiting for you to ask around yeah that is yeah the man I've had nightmares about that if ever there was a thing in my life that taught me about regret it was that I'm glad that happened to me when it did because it happens to me at such a young age that I think it has been the propellant that has fueled my drive in every aspect of my life I I load the regrets I loathe the idea of not knowing so many times as people we do not do because we were afraid we are afraid of rejection fundamentally that is the number one thing we are afraid of it's the reason we don't speak up in an office it's the reason we don't say we have a good idea it's the reason we don't try and do what we want to do because we are afraid we are afraid of being rejected by the tribe where we want to belong not realizing that if we if we realize our true selves we will find the tribe where we belong and and you know in that moment imagine that this was a girl was in my opinion the most beautiful girl in school she looked like a young Salma Hayek and every guy was like she's so beautiful and she would speak to me and she'd speak to me as a person and she gave me her phone number her landline like if you're a young person in this audience you don't understand that I don't understand what I'm talking about there was a landline which had more snakes than a mobile number because a landline meant there were parents involved in the equation meant when I called her house someone would answer the phone and I would have to go through them to get to her and still she entrusted me with that and she liked me as a person and I never I was like I do not chance she is the girl that everyone likes and then I found out afterwards no she liked you too if you had just said something she may have and you see that that not knowing is something that I I don't believe in in life because you can never go back you can never know you can never fail if you're gonna fail failing is an answer then you know you know you say I love you to her personally say I do not love you back yes it is painful but now you know now you know and that for me is a thing that I use in life is just like just don't live with regrets we've got about 20 minutes left and we've got some questions from the audience varying degrees of quality James drain where's James are you gonna call everybody out I feel like you're putting them on the spot when you do that question first name and shame the person and this one James is a good question which experience is more terrifying visiting an American emergency room your first night on The Daily Show or sharing a Ferrari with Jerry Seinfeld Oh which one is it let's think easily easily first nights on The Daily Show sharing a Ferrari with Jerry Seinfeld I've never felt more comfortable because by the time you know I've lived a very blessed life and by the time I was sitting in a Ferrari with Jerry Seinfeld I had had the luxury and the you know the the privilege of having had sat in a Ferrari before and Jerry's a comedian I'm a comedian I see him as a peer and a mentor going through the emergency room in America frightening experience but I mean you know the doctors were great and it was panicky but it was it was whatever the first night of The Daily Show was one of the few times in my life where I can remember everything it's like it's more than nerves it's panic it's it's a moment where you that's where that doubt comes in everything came rushing to my head you're a fraud you're not funny it's too what are you doing here you're dumb this is America why are you even in this country what what are you what are you doing go home it's not too late if you walk away now they can't say anything about you just like disappear just go like so many things were playing in my mind so many doubts because I was like they're going to reject me they're going to reject me I'm so afraid and I was like and then what if I get rejected by my country because now I'm the South African who's doing the thing I'm the African who's doing the thing and then if I fail now have I embarrassed my country do I embarrass my continent how does this work and then do I embarrass biracial people as well I'm barren like did you get I'm saying there were all of these things and then in my head I'm like oh geez what if I'm the Piers Morgan of The Daily Show like what happens now I am thinking of all these things and it was so so brutal because that's what happens to us is you know when you have an opportunity that's when that phrase you know when that when that when that poem made sense to me our greatest fear our greatest fear is not that we are inadequate our greatest fear is that we are powerful beyond all measure that's really I understand that because it's it's so much easier to shovel and to just go no I didn't want to do it anyway I didn't you know just just walk away because then you you never have to take on that responsibility it was it was honestly one of the most one of the most frightening moments in my life and just like many frightening moments in your life once you've done it you then go like oh this is this is not bad this isn't you get better at doing it and you you enjoyed and you still get nervous but you slowly slowly grow into into that space and you know I'm glad I'm glad I jumped off the edge it's been a fantastic ride one of the things that's most striking from a comedians point of view about the daily show is that obviously the clues in the title but most topical shows are weekly to have to do it every day in terms of the industry of turning that material around how much pressure do you feel to to wake up in the morning know you got deliver a brand new show that night well you know what's funny is when I when I was the show you know once John left I remember thinking I was like this is this is madness because you is not news every single day there isn't and to be honest with you I don't think that they should be news every single day I feel like this year I feel like oh no but I mean but I mean in general I don't feel like they should be news every single day and I think what has happened is once news became business then the news organizations found a way to create news so that it could fill up every single day you know we we used to live in a world where I always say to people I go why do you need breaking news right that you really need breaking news do you need to know at 8 a.m. that Fidel Castro passed away do you need to know that do you need like how does that change your day would you like was there like a Cuban vibe in your world where this was oppressing in you like in your world in England in America why was that pressing you specifically oftentimes it isn't we have been taught that we need to know immediately what this person has died what this has just happened what there are a few things we need to know in an instant but it fuels that cycle and I didn't I didn't believe in it so yeah I was just like you know I was like this is crazy and then a man by the name Donald J Trump came along and he possessed within himself the ability to manufacture so much news you know I used to watch comedy shows and I still do comedy shows and cartoons and I would sometimes get frustrated you know you see characters that seemed to bumble into so many things where you'd be like this is not realistic you can't trip that many times you can't fumble that in many instances you can't and yet Donald J Trump without fail manages to create a new scandal every single we have never seen anything like it like at some point your sharpness is shocked you can't be shocked anymore like I feel like people don't need to pay for Botox anymore because the faces are permanent and stuff like this he just does it and now we're in a space where I sometimes feel like we can't even keep up because now I'm in a space where I'm going can we wait can we wait why are we done talking about that why are we done talking about the fact that this man is you know his business interest is like what do you mean something happened at the theater what do mean something happened at Hamilton that's a new story what do you mean something happened what do you say who did he just a point isn't a person known racist wait what's going on we still haven't talked about that story and I feel like Donald Trump has learned the secrets to outwitting the news is to just keep creating more it's supply and demand so what he does is he over creates you know it's a I remember watching a classic scene from a you know the American sitcom I Love Lucy and this is fantastic conveyor belt scene where it's even in a lot of comedies where the conveyor belt just starts coming out faster than you can and that's what Donald Trump is almost done it's like now you just you don't have to like just go white whatever we'll let that extent we'll go that the scandal can go whatever it's right and and so it is a lot of pressure but it's also it's also very enjoyable and most importantly I think I've come to realize that I have a gift and that gift has been that you know I was bequeathed with a you know a beautiful platform an amazing platform Jon Stewart created an amazing legacy and one thing that he gave me that a lot of people didn't realize was he gave me the freedom to use that legacy to shape what I believe a new show should be and that was one of the most beautiful things and he warned me about that he said hey everyone's gonna tell you to make my show everyone's gonna tell you to make the show they think you should make he said I want you in that chair because I know you won't and so every single day I work on creating that and it is crazy it is pressure but I you know I think it makes me a better person and it keeps me in touch with what's happening in the world [Applause] this one's from Melissa Dixon and it touches on something you said there if you have five minutes with Donald Trump what would you ask him Wow this shouldn't really be restricts its questioning should it really if I have five minutes with Donald Trump what would you do to him that's a better question what would I ask him why how must know why is it tough you know I think the the one question I would like to know is how much could people pay you to not be present [Laughter] [Applause] because it's it is a joke but I'm telling you now he has a number even asks when and how did you know that you wanted to be a comedian I don't think I haven't knew for certain that I wanted to be a comedian I've always loved entertaining people I've always loved making people laugh you know in school and I always had jokes I like to creating jokes as a kid you know which was something that I enjoyed and when I got older I I was always you know we're at a barbecue got a bride we call them in South Africa I was telling people's stories I I loved it but I didn't know that I wanted to be a comedian I feel like my friends and family knew that I was suppose to be a comedian before I did and I'm glad that they did because the reason I got on stage for the first time was because my cousin told me to my cousin and and my best friend at the time we're living in a house together we went out to a little comedy evening at her at a restaurant and you know thanks to them coaxing me I got onto the stage I never would have gotten onto the stage again self-doubts again believing that you know I wasn't as good or as funny as anything I just didn't believe in myself you know and then I I'm glad that they believed in me and sometimes that's what you need in life is people who believe in you more than you believe in yourself and so I got onto the stage I've never felt more at home and I didn't get paid for a long time and I was like this is fun though this did you know comedy was and still is my hobby and you know I feel like that's what most people should try and do is live in a space where you are doing what you love and it's hard because we have been taught that there are certain success you know there's certain bars of success that we're trying to achieve you know we're being taught that you know everyone's being taught it's lawyer doctors you know stock mark whatever it is everyone looks at success in the same way I've come to realize and whenever I look at my life I look at the balance sheet of my life and I go I don't count just the money I count the value of my experiences so I count the money of my friendships I count the money of my relationships I can't the money or family account the money of enjoying the world learning languages existing and that for me is how I calculate my net worth because we've learned all too often there are people with all the fame all the money and sometimes it's sad because we only learn it when they commit suicide but they don't have everything because it isn't everything and and so for me with stand-up that is that is truly my passion I love doing it I'm not doing it to get somewhere else all people were like on a daily show and I'm like no no I do stand-up the daily show is a wonderful addition to my life but stand-up comedy talking to people making them laugh that's what I love doing it'll always be my hobby it'll always be what I do and I'm glad it found me in terms of ambition then do you have a sense of what you would like to do next because the daily show is is a pinnacle of sorts also you've got a book out or film something you're interested in making do you think about the future much yeah what I've learned is I you can you can create within the space that you love you know when I say to people do what you love it doesn't mean one thing find what you were passionate about as a person and then look at all the different ways you can exercise that passion you know so I never thought I could write a book until I set out to write it you know I think it was Woody Allen who said 80% of success is just turning up and that's really what it is it's just just do it just get out there and do it you know enjoy yourself and and so you know I will go into the world of film and I'll see what happens you know I will I mean I've done everything otherwise you know I've been a radio DJ have been a physical like a club DJ you know mixing on vinyls I I've done stand-up comedy I've hosted television shows I'm hosting a show I I feel like I'm doing everything and everything links back to entertainment so I will explore every opportunity that lies within that in terms of ambition though that is not necessarily my ambition that is what I would like to explore and I enjoy it my ambition is to to find a way to change the world that I live in and not in terms of things that I say but all the things that I do one of the most exciting moments for me was realizing how much I could do like with with my money which sounds like a crazy thing but like I understand why people like Bill Gates go I'm gonna cure malaria doing good things is addictive it's fun it's like it gives you a challenge that's greater than yourself my mom always used to say to me I never used to understand my mom used to say to me give and it will be given unto you ten times when I was like that makes no sense why don't I just take ten times then I'll have it and you know I remember one of the the best lessons that stuck with me that my mom taught me was she always taught me to share and I hated her for it because as a kid you know sometimes I would have food or I have some some sweets and I remember one day there was a little homeless kid on the side of the road and he was begging and all I had was my sweets and I was holding them in my hand and he came up to the window of our car and my mom gave him money and in her car she always has every single day she has money she goes for my journey every person I meet that needs money I'm going to give them like she specifically has a holder for money in her car just for that purpose and she gave him money and then she said don't you want to give him something and I was like sounds like a money and she said yeah but you've got some sweets share the sweets and I looked at the kid and I looked at her and I was like parents my sweets and she said give him the sweets and you know I looked at and I was like but it's my sweets and she said and then she did the most amazing thing she reached into her purse and my mom like loved licorice and like a bunch of the sweets and she she pulled out a handful like a giant handful of sweets and she said to me here you can have these sweets and now I was sitting there and I'm like holding my sweets and then she said yeah and I couldn't grab it wasn't my hand wasn't big enough to take from her hand and I was like I can't and then she said you can't take the sweets and I said no wait and then she said if you had two hands you could take the sweets I said and then she said so how would you have two hands and I looked at the kid and then I realized and I gave him the street and then I had my hands and it was such a such a like a little game that I didn't even realize at the time because I was just coming back for these sweets but what my mom tricked me into realizing was when you give you you know when you give you have more room to get you can you can get and it's like it's almost a selfish thing that I love doing but my ambition is to help as many people in my world as I can and sometimes people like you can't change the world I'm like yeah just change your world just just this world here just this if I can do that then I'll you know I'll be I'll be happy with myself Marcin Balam asks my wife is South African and sometimes she doesn't get my British sense of humor how have you adjusted your comedy to appeal to British and Americans just not funny and there is always a possibility there's always a possibility I will say this what is the biggest change I made I came to learn that often times the biggest change in the way we consume comedy is just rhythm in in the UK in Australia in America and South Africa as humans we fundamentally laugh at the same things you know we life has almost all the same themes no matter where you come from you know there's love there's relationships there are there all these recurring themes that we go through but it's the rhythm that changes so when I came to the UK I actually enjoyed exploring a side of myself that had been influenced by the UK because you know the fact that we were colonized meant that English and you know the way it penetrated our lives was very apparent but I I never knew comedy from a British standpoint I was new American comedy and I started really my first foray into international comedy in the US but I always credit the UK with being the place that forged me as a comedian that had something and it was it was two real instances for me one was meeting idiot at the comedy store and he said to me you're very funny but the things you say to me when we're hanging out I want to hear you say that on stage he said tell me your stories 10 I was like I didn't know who he was at the time I was hilarious and I and he wasn't in drag or anything so I just met this guy backstage and he told me to tell people about apartheid and I was like you clearly don't understand comedy but I'm gonna skip on that I don't think people want to hear about these things and he was like no he said if I was you that is all I would be talking about and I'd never told those stories before I had never shared what it was like to come from my world and who I was I just made jokes about what I observed and and that was the first instinct that was what sparked it what galvanized it was coming out and doing comedy in the UK and that was Edinburgh and the Soho Theatre and it was being in a space where like British audiences I found like British comedy is a great place for the uncomfortable humor you know British people I just think like being uncomfortable it's just like like I feel it just in conversation I feel it like you know like on the tube everyone just likes having like this all like Laura I'm so uncomfortable right now assisting and in comedy it's the same thing you can feel British people find it funny when it's you're uncomfortable the offices like it's you know a perfect example of that you know you do uncomfortable watching david brin cello I can't believe he's doing that he doesn't even realize how cringe worthy is and and that was something that I learned to appreciate in the UK it was it was the cringe-worthy moments more importantly it was just was just the honesty so that's that's what I changed in in in performing I always say in the world I've learned different things about comedy you know in in South Africa I learned how to be brutally honest I learn how to be blunt you know and that's what we're really great at in South Africa we haven't gotten to a place yet where we gloss over things we don't like like in the UK I see people who are even afraid to say like black person you know that everyone will skirt around it they were you know I was hidden was in my hotel once and I'll never forget I was trying to find a friend of mine and then the woman in the lobby was telling me oh there's somebody looking for you and I said who and she said oh there's a gentleman he's in the lounge and so I went into the lounge and there's just like a bunch of people and there's packed I was like I don't know why and she's like oh he's um he's a tall not too tall not sure if it's got curly hair you know um oh I don't know he's wearing like a Jackie O and then I went in and like walked around cuz I didn't know this question is a friend now I didn't know him at the time and then the person stood up and waved and he was the only black person in the room and I was like you could have saved us time if you just said there's a black guy who's looking for you and she and it's so funny outfit like oh no I wanna say and I'm like yo there's nothing wrong with saying somebody is black because there's nothing wrong with being black you got to understand that too many times so um so yeah so so when it came to that it was just it was understanding the UK South Africa taught me how to be blunt America taught me how to perform which was really great you know performance is really respected out there and and the UK taught me how to be honest which is a crucial part of my comedy that I that I you know I think has really helped me get to where I've gotten to it was a space where people were like we're not in a rush for you to tell a joke we want you to get to the honest part of your story and then we will laugh at that truth together and so what I can say to Martin is you need to be more honest with your wife I don't know what it is I genuinely don't it's time for one more question and it was a special one and I've lost it so I'm gonna have to ask you but I apologized whoever wrote it but it's gonna sound like I'm asking and it's I guarantee that it's not but are you single and will you marry me that is from you isn't it romantic I like how you disguised it as an audience question I email the injure in the week yeah that was from someone in here no no I'm very lucky right now to not be single but with regard to the second answer well I don't know the quick will I marry I don't know that's the honest truth so you know you never know what happens in this world so so the answer is no I'm not single and I don't know well apologies to whoever asks question [Applause] almost not both I found the night well that brings us the end Trevor oh I'm not in charge don't take it out on me um pretty bit of wonderful audience has really have been amazing we could do this all night this is fun he never really we can't we can't actually but we could find no no it's funny because he's looking at his watch and they like they we've got time and you know the people have did the venue and they closed and people work here and I would love to hang out and this is another case way if we were in Africa right now we could just do it as long as we want because because the truth is I've learned time like race is a construct and Africans were the foremost you know they understood that before everybody did and it's funny though because you know like we will be like oh let's hang out here and we could do that now I could I could override the system and say guys we're just gonna hang out which would be cool but the thing I've learned like and this happens specifically to me in British like venues I will take more time on stage than was allocated and then when I go backstage nobody will say I did that but then what everyone will do is they'll have like that like it's like a painful but it's it's a it's a it's a very slight like I go like England's just one ball of passive-aggressiveness that's what it is so like it would be someone a wolf backstage and they won't say you went over time they'll be like oh that went better than expected didn't it yeah they were really wonderful weren't they think oh it's yeah that you seem like they never want you to leave you are you really are you know and then I'll be like yeah but so do we have to yes sirree we have to go fortunately we can I'm sorry sorry that's can I tell you that's probably my favorite thing about the UK is how like I go like people here almost suffer like an excess of empathy I've never seen it anywhere else in the world where a British person feels the pain of what they think you feel in an instance like how you know I walk to a restaurant as they've closed I'll go so [Applause] it's honestly so much fun because I feel like I'm like why you so much pain what is going on and I always like to imagine to myself I go if this is a British thing that has always been I I now rethink of like I like breathing of how colonisation actually went cuz now I picture like British people pitching up in southern really like oh we're taking that I'm so sorry it's horrible so yeah so I mean accurately I could do this all night with you but we do have time limits but I just want to say honestly from my side I not appreciate you more I'm you know I I acknowledge every single person who supports me I I strive and endeavor every single day to do my best and every person south-african you know British I mean what's funny to me is this was the world that propelled me to The Daily Show and I never forget that people ask me all the time why do you school travel the world where I go because the world got me there and I want you to know that I really appreciate every single one of you for coming out for supporting me for buying the book for being here with us tonight and thank you to you Matt you were amazing I really appreciate that thank you pleasure thank you everybody thank you very much let's gentleman Trevor Noah [Applause] you

Channel: Guardian Live

Views: 9,081,897

Rating: 4.6038179 out of 5

Keywords: trevor noah, trevor noah 2017, trevor noah 2016, trevor noah interview, interview, the daily show, trevor noah the daily show, jon stewart, south africa, africa, african, trevor noah book, book, trevor noah stand up, trevor noah comedy, trevor noah funny, religion, catholic, christianity, god, atheism, born a crime, crime, criminal, usa, donald trump, trump, us election, obama, hillary, hillary clinton, president trump, president obama, barack obama, democrats, republicans, 2017, racism, racist

Id: _hfMNTnBM4I

Length: 91min 25sec (5485 seconds)

Published: Tue Jan 03 2017