South African comedian Trevor Noah kicked off his Daily Show reign on US cable-TV channel Comedy Central on September 28, promising he would try not to make predecessor Jon Stewart seem like a "crazy old dude who left his inheritance to some random kid from Africa".
Noah, who will perform at the Dubai Comedy Festival on October 24, took over after Stewart decided that 16 years of lampooning politics and the media was enough, and stepped down in August. Despite a new desk and set, Noah retained many of Stewart’s staff, the show’s theme music and its format, down to a closing “moment of Zen”.
He said Stewart was “more than just a late-night host. He was often our voice, our refuge and, in many ways, our political dad. And it’s weird because dad has left and now it feels like the family has a new stepdad – and he’s black”.
He said Comedy Central had offered the job to a woman and to Americans, but were turned down. “Once more, a job Americans rejected is now being done by an immigrant,” he added.
Noah then moved on to comedic riffs on current events, including the visit by Pope Francis to the United States, the resignation of House of Representatives Speaker John Boehner, and the discovery of evidence of water on Mars.
Comedy Central worked hard to attract viewers to Noah’s debut. The show was broadcast simultaneously on several Viacom networks, including MTV, VH1, BET and Nick at Nite.
However, fans in the UAE are out of luck – OSN, which broadcast the show when Stewart was the host, has dropped it.
Noah's debut continues a period of transition in the highly competitive late-night television arena. Stewart's former compatriot, Stephen Colbert, who started out as a Daily Show correspondent before launching sister programme The Colbert Report, has replaced David Letterman on The Late Show. Jimmy Fallon, is only a year and half into the job at NBC's Tonight show, while James Corden, Seth Meyers and Larry Wilmore are also recent additions.
artslife@thenational.ae
