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Trevor Noah Reveals The Misconception About Himself That Drives Him Crazy

Trevor Noah Reveals The Misconception About Himself That Drives Him Crazy

Trevor Noah takes a call on the cover of The Hollywood Reporter‘s comedy issue, available now.

Here’s what the 35-year-old The Daily Show host had to share with the mag:

On what he told producers when negotiating to take the Daily Show gig: “I won’t lie — when I watch the show, I don’t understand most of what’s going on. It’s very highbrow, and I don’t think there are enough international stories. So if you brought me on, the risk you’re taking is I’m going to talk about international stories and I’m not going to try to make the show smarter than it is.”

On the old tweets that landed him in hot water: “In many ways, social media and comedy are time stamps of who we were…and if you’re not disgusted by what you did when you look back five, 10 years ago, then I’d argue you haven’t grown. But we live in a society where people are more concerned with the platitudes of apologies than they are with the actual change in human beings. I just don’t think it’s healthy for us to berate and destroy people for who they were versus who they are because ‘are’ is more important. And that’s the problem I have with the ‘cancel culture’ a lot of the time — you condemn people to only being that forever. What’s the value of atoning if it doesn’t mean you’re welcomed back into society?”

On the misconception that The Daily Show made him famous: “People don’t understand that I came to America from a country where I was really successful. And I’m proud of South Africa because that’s where I made my fortune. I had my homes and my cars and my nice things, and my country gave that to me. So I wasn’t escaping anything. I’m here because I want to be here.”

For more from Trevor, visit THR.com.

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Photos: Alexandra Gavillet/The Hollywood Reporter
Posted to: Magazine, Trevor Noah