Some people might remember me writing here about Trevor Noah and some of his most offensive tweets. "Tempest in a teapot" were some of my words.
I am not only not taking those words back, I am doubling down. Trevor Noah is a generally respectful man, even when impersonating people who get caught in a bad way. Let me explain.
This week I watched his standup special which aired on Showtime, titled "Trevor Noah: African American." (There is apparently a full video of it on YouTube, which I expect will get pulled shortly.) A few days after watching it, I showed it to the other adults in my home. The consensus was that he might miss the mark on rare occasions--the comparison Mr. Noah made between his stand-up act and sex was something I liked but which fell flat with my wife--but he was generally very funny, quite smart, and had some well-educated observations. That said, Trevor, meet me at Camera Three.
Trevor, you're obviously a smart man with a good sense of history and irony. So please, when it comes to abbreviations for old Imperial measurements, don't blame our fuck-ups on us. Even Mr. Webster, who here in the US took the 'u' out of 'colour' and 'humour' singlehandedly--we clearly neeeded to save our 'u's more than England--couldn't do anything about 'oz.' or 'lbs.' without librarians and cooks burning him in effigy and serving the remains as a delicious soup. Nobody likes being Mr. Effigy Soup For Four. Put the blame where it belongs: the British. I'm sure John Oliver will stand in for all of them quite nicely.
So, to everyone else--OK, OK, you can read it too, Trevor--here is my impression of how The Daily Show with Trevor Noah will debut:
It will be funny.
It will be intelligent.
It will speak truth to power.
It will have trenchant observations with an extra international kick, which will be useful for the international audience. You did know the show is seen outside the US, right?
It will have more international guests than before, though to be fair Mr. Stewart has been decent about them.
It may take as long as a week to get up to speed, but probably not any longer than that.
It will have much, much better impersonations. Sorry Jonny.
Look. I'm not in a rush for Jon Stewart to retire as I, too, am in the aging male Caucasian Jewish category. looks at watch It'll be soon, right? Seriously, he's been doing this long enough that his Daily Show career can almost smoke cigarettes. I hope he has a good break from TV appearences and has fun with his next creative endeavor. And for God's sake, Stewart, keep your pants on! (Again, speaking from the aging male Caucasian Jewish category here.)
Give Trevor Noah a little time. Even the best comedians screw up sometimes, and I suspect many of you will be putting him in that category soon enough. And pray that Immigration doesn't try to get rid of him, because I think he'll bring a lot of good things to the comedy anchor desk.
Oh, and if you get the chance to see the special, please do. It's a lot of fun. It's not quite for kids due to some bad language, but if your kids can handle it they'll probably like it too.
4:12 PM PT: I am, again, gratified by a Community Spotlight republishing. Thank you.