And so it begins. Trevor Noah made his debut hosting The Daily Show on Monday, Sept. 28 — and didn’t disappoint. The South African comedian-writer cracked jokes and paid tribute to his predecessor, Jon Stewart, during the Comedy Central satire show.
“Before we start I just want to say a few things,” Noah, 31, told the audience. “This is surreal for me. I’m not going to lie, growing up in the dusty streets of South Africa I never dreamed that one day I would have, well, two things really: an indoor toilet and a job as host of The Daily Show. And now I have both. I’m quite comfortable with one of them.”
Noah made just three cameos on The Daily Show before being named its next host this past March. Just days later, he came under fire when his past jokes about Jewish people and women resurfaced. Stewart, 52, later defended him, saying: “Man, I think you give him that time and it’s gonna be well worth it.”
Stewart ended his 16-year run as host on Aug. 6. Earlier this month, the program won Outstanding Variety Talk Series at the 67th Primetime Emmy Awards, its 18th in total.
“The truth is now I’m in the chair and I can only assume that this is as strange for you as it is to me,” Noah said Monday. “Jon Stewart was more than 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.” He cracked: “And now it feels like the family has a new stepdad and he’s black, which is not ideal.”
“I also know many people have questions. For example, why isn’t a woman hosting the show? Because surely it is about time. Well, Comedy Central did ask women to host and the women they asked turned the job down because they all had better things to do and clearly knew something I didn’t,” he continued. “Also, why didn’t they get an American host? Again, Comedy Central tried and they declined. Once more, a job Americans rejected is now being done by an immigrant.”
Watch his full monologue in the video above!
