Trevor Noah entered the rapidly changing late night TV host landscape Monday as he will take over as host of The Daily Show later this year.
Current host Jon Stewart announced in February that he will be stepping down as host of the political satire series. The news also follows the recent departure of Stephen Colbert from The Colbert Report for a new gig as host of The Late Show. Larry Wilmore’s The Nightly Show took over the timeslot.
On his new role, Noah told the New York Times: "'You don’t believe it for the first few hours,' Mr. Noah said of learning about his new job. 'You need a stiff drink, and then unfortunately you’re in a place where you can’t really get alcohol.'"
Below are five things to keep in mind as Noah brings in a new era at The Daily Show.
· Noah is just the third host of the landmark Comedy Central series. The Daily Show was originally hosted by the often forgotten Craig Kilborn—who left the series to take over as host of The Late Late Show. Kilborn hosted the series for two years, followed by Stewart for 16 years.
· Noah marks a decidedly youthful direction for the show. Since joining The Daily Show in October of 2014, the 31-year-old has appeared on the show three times. Noah falls in line with the recent trend of foreign-born late night hosts, accompanying James Corden of The Late Late Show (Corden’s predecessor on Late Late Craig Ferguson was also born outside the U.S.) and John Oliver of Last Week Tonight.
· Noah grew up in Soweto, South Africa and was born to a European father and South African mother. In an interview with NPR, Noah describes his experience growing up: “I was born in South Africa during apartheid, a system of laws that made it illegal for people to mix in South Africa. And this was obviously awkward because I grew up in a mixed family. My mother's a black woman, South African Xhosa woman ... and my father's Swiss, from Switzerland. So I grew up in a world where my existence in itself was a crime. Luckily the country changed by the time I was 10 years old so I did not have to suffer through as much as my parents did.”
· In 2012, Noah was the first South African stand-up comedian to appear on The Tonight Show and The Late Show. He has previous experience hosting late night talk shows, helming his own in South Africa called Tonight with Trevor Noah.
· Following the announcement of his hosting gig, Noah tweeted out: “No-one can replace Jon Stewart. But together with the amazing team at The Daily Show, we will continue to make this the best damn news show!”
