You Laugh But It's True (2011) - full transcript
In the world of stand-up comedy in South Africa, Trevor Noah uses his childhood experiences in a biracial family during apartheid to prepare for his first one-man show.
I've lived a life where
I've never really fitted in
anywhere in any particular way.
Even now people
still debate on what I am,
where people will say,
"Oh, you're black."
And then someone
will turn around and say,
"No, but he's not black.
He's not black.
He's colored."
And then colored people say,
"But you're not colored."
And then when you get older,
it's cool because you've just you've‐‐
you've lived everywhere and nowhere.
You've been everyone and no one,
so you can say everything and nothing.
And that's really
what affects my comedy
and everything that I say.
And if ever this comedy thing
doesn't work out,
then I've got poverty to fall back on,
and I'm pretty sure I'll be cool there.
[child speaks indistinctly]
[singing in foreign language]
[honking]
[Trevor] We've only
recently come out of a time
when everything
we could say and everything
that we were allowed
to hear was censored
that's the biggest challenge
in this country,
it's for us to get to the point
where people accept the fact
that we're free,
free to say what we feel,
and really free to express ourselves.
[crowd cheering]
[singing in foreign language]
A lot of misconceptions
though I have realized,
people think when they say
"a comic from South Africa"
they expecting somebody to jump
on stage wearing leopard skins,
dancing around going.
[vocalizing]
Let me tell you a joke
about monkey now.
I do actually have
very good jokes about monkeys
but I refrain from telling those.
People have these‐‐
these opinions of you
and they're not right,
you know, because South Africa
is not as third world
as many people think it is.
Standing in the
airport terminal building,
there was a woman
who was standing next to me
in the passport line,
she looked over at me
and very eloquently said,
"Oh, my God, you talk funny."
"Excuse me?" She said,
"Yeah, you talk funny.
Where are you from?"
"I'm from South Africa."
"Oh, my God. Like Africa?"
"Yes." "Oh, wow.
Like Africa‐Africa?"
"No, the one next to it."
[singing in foreign language]
[Takunda]
Standup comedy as like a‐‐
as an art form and as a profession,
has obviously only come in
to the fore in recent times.
It developed quite late
in South Africa.
So it's almost like comedy has
developed in waves
and in each wave or each generation,
there's like a band of guys
who have kept it going
from Mel Miller and Joe Parker
and Barry Hilton, Mark Banks,
some of the older guys
who are still performing now.
Other people who say to you,
"Oh, yes, as you get older,
things get better."
Bullshit.
[Takunda] And then obviously
now you have like,
you know,
your John Vlismases
and Riaad Moosa,
David Newton...
Our soccer is shit.
Now we're inviting
the whole fucking world
to see how shit we are.
[Takunda] Who was gonna
become the first pioneering
in black comedians.
I would definitely attribute
that to Kagiso Lediga and David Kau.
They got on to
the circuit as the first ones
and obviously had to deal
with the challenges of performing
to all of these different audiences
that were not used to one comedy,
and two black comedians at that.
This whole idea, you know,
the American cultural imperialism‐‐
and I started saying like
can you imagine like whenever like
when Nelson Mandela was black
but a young revolutionary,
if he was like into Ben 10
and he was like listening
to Snoop Doggie Dog
and shit, you know,
walking with a swagger,
big medallion
with an M on it, you know.
[vocalizing]
And knock the mic.
"Brothers and sisters
of South Africa, wassup?
This apartheid shit is whack, yo.
We need to rock a revolution
in this motherfucker.
Fuck the police."
[Takunda]
And then that set the tone
for the new generation.
Trevor Noah has been,
uh, sort of been this young guy.
He's spiked, you know, he's like so...
he came like from nowhere really.
[Takunda]
For the first time,
we have a comedian
who is not stuck
by race or ethnic group.
He's from a white family,
so a part of him is white.
He's from a black family.
A part of him is black.
A part of him is colored
'cause, you know,
he's his experiences
would have included that.
He's lived everywhere from the township
to like mainstream suburbia
and then
on top of that he speaks about,
what, four, five languages.
[speaking in foreign language]
My mom speaks Xhosa.
[speaking in foreign language]
which loosely translated means...
"I will backhand you so hard,
you idiot of a child."
So, so uh, generally I speak English
because it brings back good memories.
So he can relate with pretty much
everyone right across the board.
And everyone right across the board
can relate with him.
For the South African public
I think that guy
becomes like the everyman,
You know, he is not black,
and he is not white.
He's just, just like whoa,
he's mine, he's everybody's.
As someone who's only been doing comedy
for just over two years,
I don't even think I know fully,
I don't even know myself yet fully.
I think I'm very far
from even calling myself
a good comedian.
I'm just okay for now.
There's something about comedy, man,
there's something about the fact that,
you know, you can just‐‐
you can never get it right.
But then black people
never get a break.
Ever notice that?
You'll say stuff,
and then they'll fix it.
You will be like, "Yeah, that‐‐
that is when I realized
that it was better for us
to be part of 'menagement.'"
[laughter]
"No, no, Jabu, management."
"Eh?"
"It's not 'menagement,'
its management."
"Menagement."
"No, no, management.
Go up early. Management."
"Menagement."
"No, no. Not with your body.
With your words. Management."
"Management."
"Very good. Management."
"Management."
"Well done, Jabu. Well done.
It's wonderful
you can speak so well now.
That's amazing.
Yeah it's great.
Oh, hold on two seconds.
Yes, what's that, Sara?
Mm‐hmm. Really?
Wow, so the country's theirs now.
I see.
'Menagement,' Jabu.
Yes, now teach me,
teach me, teach me."
[cheering]
You've got a country
of 50 million people.
But we don't have
any real comedy clubs.
If we want to perform,
we have to rent out a music club
and it's on their off nights.
So most people don't even know
there's a show going on.
We do have some comedy festivals
but these are pretty rare
and people really come to see
the international acts,
not to see you.
You can't really say
comedy is that big here.
It's big corporate wise, you know.
Yeah, I mean, companies
have now got into the thing
of "Yeah, let's get comedians
'cause we've had
everybody else."
Okay, where will I be performing?
Beside the choir.
Can we go and check that out now?
Yeah.
The faces I pull
while shaving are the same ones
I pull while having sex.
I can't use a razor.
My skin is sensitive
like our country's history.
You're almost faced with the challenge
because as a comedian,
you've got to choose
well, do I want to earn a living,
still doing comedy
and almost being censored?
Because companies in themselves,
they're very careful with regards
to what they accept
and what they don't accept.
You're allowed to swear.
No, I don't.
I don't swear though.
Okay, but everybody‐‐
I swear in like daily life,
you know, but I won't swear in there.
I don't swear in corporates.
I don't swear on stage generally,
but in the streets I'm like,
"Yeah, fuck that shit."
Thank you, thank you very much.
That was one of the worst intros
I've ever got.
[laughter]
This is horrible.
One of‐‐ not the worst,
one of the worst.
Yeah, it was one of the worst.
Am I standing
in front of the projector?
Do I have, like,
"Microsoft" on my head? I do?
Don't you want
to turn that off, please?
It's not a privilege for me
to have somebody say,
"Don't speak about who you really are.
We saw you do what you do,
and that's why we called you.
But now we want you to water that down,
just filter out anything
that might be controversial."
Yeah, you should have spent
a day with me tomorrow.
Then I would have shown you‐‐
not tomorrow, Wednesday‐‐
I would have shown you corporates,
corporates that don't end,
from nine in the morning
until nine at night,
I'll be doing corporates.
Andrew's father, who's a very nice man,
decided to help me out.
He looked over and he said, he said,
well, you know, Andrew,
in some people's cultures...
[music playing]
[woman] Enjoy Siphokhzi.
Enjoy Siphokhzi, ladies and gentlemen.
[cheering]
They can't do that shit to us.
What the fuck?
I can't do that
while people are playing music
in the middle of the‐‐
that never happens.
Can we just move stuff around?
No, moving stuff is fine
but I can't have people
in the middle of our show going...
[vocalizing]
It wasn't that bad.
My performance time
as in the contract was 7 o'clock.
Alright. Okay.
[Trevor] The boss
of the company, he said to me‐‐
what did he say?
He said, he said, "If you don't fucking
get on stage right now,
I'll fucking kill you."
Are we starting?
Are we starting?
You guys at the back,
are you getting sound?
Are you getting sound there?
You good over there?
Everyone good?
You getting‐‐ you're getting too much.
We are trying to have
an important conversation over here.
Okay, I'm gonna
try cut it down for you guys.
I'll try to speak
from this side of my mouth.
Pleasure, Mike.
[Trevor] Every time I think
I can keep doing this,
and then I just I can't.
I can't.
I can't keep doing corporates
for the rest of my life.
[man on radio]
Yo, you're listening
to South Africa's
Number 1 Hip Hop Station,
and I've got some exciting news
for y'all out there.
For the first time ever,
Trevor Noah will be performing
his one man show at "The Daywalker"
at the Lyric Theatre in Gold Reef City.
[Takunda]
Trevor's been in comedy
for two to three years now
and ordinarily, I would not recommend
for a comedian to do a one man show
at this stage of his career.
Normally like a year or two years in,
yes, you might be a funny guy,
whatever, but are you
strong enough a comedian
now to like let your opinions
on the world go up there,
and be assessed and analyzed?
That's the problem
with young comedians.
They haven't learned
the art of comedy yet.
It took me 20 years to get a start.
They're trying to get it in like
a year and a half, two years.
Doesn't work.
As a comedian, you have to develop and,
you know, you find your voice
then you find your feet
and there's a certain sort of journey
that everyone has to travel
until they get to a certain level.
There's still so much more
of his comedy
that he could develop and improve on.
Daywalker is gonna be about my life,
you know, it's‐‐
and I hope it's gonna be
also about the country.
I'm trying to make the show
everything that I am,
everything that I was,
and how I was
influenced by everything
and everyone around me.
My comedy's based
on my life growing up
in South Africa,
so for the biggest show I've ever done,
it's nice to revisit
all the people and places
from my past to help me
prepare my material.
Trevor Noah.
I've never been able
to write out my material.
I just come up with it
and then I try and perform it
as much as possible
and turn it into gags.
Thank you. Thank you, Siya B.
Thank you so much.
This is so cool.
There's more comedians than...
just like people chilling
watching the show.
We should have just gone to each table
and then just picked one person
and just done like
a one‐on‐one session,
and just told them the jokes.
Would have been more effective.
Except for you 'cause you were a shit.
But then, you see this is the one place
where we'll say that
'cause this is like a comedy,
you know, it's that kind of place is
where we're honest with each other
and be like "That was horrible"
and you know, that type of stuff.
I could be horrible as well,
you know what I mean,
and then it would be worse
'cause I'm wearing a suit.
So if I'm horrible in a suit
then they're like,
"What was that about?"
With you they're like, "Yeah,
but he didn't look serious."
You know what I mean.
So it's better.
So I've screwed myself over.
So it could be absolutely horrible,
could be absolutely horrible,
but we'll see.
So much stuff to talk about,
so little time.
Mmm, what should we talk about?
My life, maybe.
I always think your life
is a good place to start.
♪ Daywalker... ♪
In South Africa,
I grew up, I grew up in a world
where, where we're very focused
on race.
I mean, we've only
had democracy for 15 years.
Everyone's go to have
a very specific racial thing, you know.
You're black and you're white
and then don't freak out,
I'm termed colored in South Africa
which isn't a derogatory term.
In South Africa, it means
something totally different.
I grew up in a mixed family,
well, with me being
the mixed one in the family
so, you know,
my father is a white man, Swiss.
My mother is a black woman,
Xhosa, that's born in South Africa.
So that's how I came up like this.
And this was illegal at the time.
You know, you weren't allowed
to have, obviously,
mixed relationships when I was born.
Obviously, my mom and my dad
were rebels, you know?
They had the whole vibe.
My mom was obviously
aspirational, she was like,
"Yeah, I'm going
to get a white man, yeah."
You know.
And then my dad, well...
Well, you know
how the Swiss love chocolates,
so I mean, you know...
I don't, I don't think
my parents considered me at all.
I don't think, I don't think they spent
one second thinking
what color will our child be?
I wanted a child,
and I thought and I then asked him,
let me have a child,
no strings attached.
He didn't like it, but he did it.
Marriage was not in my agenda
because those days it was
illegal for black and white
to cross color and be married.
The laws of apartheid
did now allow that.
I don't even know a definitive date
of when my parents split up.
I just know that I stopped
seeing my father
when he moved to Cape Town.
I said, "You do want me
to help you with anything?
Please tell me."
The kid said,
"Help me to find my father."
I think that the last
birthday card was 11 or 12.
He is no longer
going to see his father,
and that was it.
I had my plans
and I'm sure he had his plans,
so I couldn't move to Switzerland.
Sorry. Sorry. Sorry.
If I had my choice, we would've moved.
[Patricia laughs]
I would have moved.
Ooh, you would've missed
on the sunny South Africa,
sunny Africa no place like home.
I live to the full.
Enjoy, go recklessly,
no reserves, no regrets.
You learn, you live but once.
That's how I am, no,
I don't cry about the past.
I'm very grateful
and I'm at peace with my past.
Let's not lose who we are.
I agree.
Ah.
[speaking in foreign language]
I agree.
Did I scratch you, sweetheart?
Kiss, baba, sorry.
And this is my brother.
His name is Andrew.
Seven years old.
All he does is just like nothing.
He just likes breaking the rules.
Unbelievable.
See the criminals in South Africa.
It never ends.
Just never ends.
That's why us honest citizens
have to just try and,
you know, quell this.
We've just got to try and,
just got to try and stop the crime.
But what do you do
when the crime starts at home?
I mean, every black family,
you got at least one brother
who's gonna go behind bars, you know?
You know, I'm just saying,
I'm not trying to be that cat son.
I'm just not trying
to be that guy, man.
Yo, but I'll visit you, yo.
You know what I mean?
I'll see you when you're there, man.
Isaac!
Oh, did you pump it?
Eh?
Did he pump it?
Yes.
With what?
With a pump.
Your answers seem so simple.
Oh, okay.
His name's Isaac.
He's a 75 year old man.
Part of a failed experiment to try
and create human beings to be younger.
They succeeded, but then
he lost all his memories,
and now he thinks
he's my little brother.
I don't have the heart
to tell him that he's actually
a 75 year old man,
and I know you're thinking
can't he hear me now?
He forgets this every 15 seconds.
He's got like goldfish memory.
I call him‐‐I call him Pops...
[Trevor laughs]
So I'm gonna roll.
Will I find you here?
Yeah.
Okay, I'll see you
when I come back then.
All right, sharp, Isaac.
[speaking in foreign language]
Yeah, I used to,
I used to drive one of these
on this same route.
When I was driving a taxi I was...
22.
It's not the easiest gig
in the world and in the end,
it got, it got hijacked,
you know, got stolen.
So... I'd say a few months
later, then I got into comedy.
I think it was about the second time
I'd actually gone to watch comedy live
and we were at a comedy club
and it was a quiet night,
and you know, my friends were like,
"Yo, man, why don't you
go on stage?"
And I tried out.
I did 5 minutes.
It was cool being the only colored kid.
I remember on the white side,
they treated me special,
"Aww, look at him,
he got a natural tan".
On the black side,
they were a bit more crass.
"Ooh, he's delicious.
This one. Alaah...
It's like he's washing
with the milk. Ooh!"
You know, it's, it's a strange feeling
but it's like I'd always been there,
if that makes sense.
You know, I didn't, I didn't
get on and feel awkward,
I didn't get on the stage and feel like
I didn't know what to do.
It just came naturally,
I just felt like this is
where I should be.
This is what should be doing.
[applause]
In any industry, in anything,
there's politics everywhere as there is
politics in comedy
in South Africa, you know.
Imagine. Comedians been
performing for 10 years, right?
And so you've worked,
you know, you work your butt off,
to get to a certain level
then you get some kid
who's been in business
for a year or two years,
gets on the same stage as you,
and buries you.
[Kagiso] I think a lot
of the older guys are
threatened by the newer guys.
It's evolution, right.
At the end of the day,
the propeller like airplane
is always going to be
looking at the jet engine going,
"Motherfucker,
you're taking
my business away."
Trevor Noah.
Very talented guy, arrogant.
The arrogance that this
man shows is ridiculous.
I mean, you know, because
I don't mind self‐confidence,
everybody‐‐
We're all in this business.
You have to have self‐confidence.
But there's a thin line between
self‐confidence and arrogance.
When you step over that,
that's when the shit begins.
It's hard to say anything about Trevor,
he hasn't already said about himself.
The timing of his life
and his ability is like
the perfect intersection.
He's got to respect that.
To me, he doesn't do that yet.
So I don't see Trevor,
this is gonna sound fucking arrogant,
he's not a comic
as far as I'm concerned.
[man] Do you have
any thoughts on Trevor as well?
Can you just switch
the camera off quickly?
I've heard everything these guys say.
I don't have time for that...
I live my life...
and that's it for me.
I do what I do.
Daywalker.
Actually saw the posting...
the billboard when I was
going to Soweto.
The Daywalker...
sounds quite interesting.
I don't know what the Daywalker means.
Is it similar to...
What's its name?
The...
Vampires' old story, yeah?
I think it would be talking about
all sorts of people in our country
and just the random people
that you find on the street
and the things that would happen...
so that's what I am thinking.
It sounds good.
Then they go...
I'm like‐‐
Then they say, "And..."
[Kagiso]
South African comedy,
it's still very much
a growing industry.
Those of us who are in it,
I think, besides obviously
sustaining a profession and career
and making money from it.
We also have the dual role
of actually developing
our industry at the same time.
The major obstacle
that we face, as comedians,
is that there are so few comedy clubs.
I have met people, and they
say it's the first time
I've ever come to a comedy show.
I've had that more than enough times.
And I go, "Shit."
[Trevor] What scares me
about Daywalker
is not doing it right.
And that's pretty much it.
Man, it's just so huge.
And we don't know what one‐man shows
are really in South Africa.
Not on a wide scale.
I mean, I've never been
part of something
this big in my life, you know.
It's...
we're starting something new.
[Dave] People hate on Trevor,
but they don't realize there is a need
for Trevor to open it up for everybody.
Then, when I do my one‐man show,
then people will go,
"Oh, it's a one‐man show.
Remember that thing Trevor Noah did?
Dave is doing it now."
[Trevor] If people don't like
your one‐man show,
it's not just
you that they'll blacklist.
In South Africa,
you represent the industry
every time you go out there.
Because standup comedy
is still so new here,
it's still so small, so if you're bad,
then we're all bad.
Thank you very much.
How you guys doing?
[cheering]
Great, thank you.
My name is Trevor Noah.
[speaking in foreign language]
Oh, we love bananas in Africa.
♪ Welcome to the daylight
village and slums ♪
♪ Let's walk to this
progress of poverty ♪
♪ While I be
killin' them drums ♪
♪ Mr. Daywalker ♪
♪ Rip up a floor
with my knicker... ♪
When we lived in Hillbrow,
which is downtown Johannesburg,
I lived in an all‐white
neighborhood with my dad.
But I had to stay with my mom,
and my mom had to act
like she was the maid...
which was really strange for all of us.
How are you?
I'm good, man.
You know, I used to stay here.
Yeah.
That's the Hillbrow Tower.
That used to be
the tallest structure in Africa.
This used to be like
the symbol of like our success.
And now it's almost become
the symbol of
the inner city and its demise.
♪ I said, watch out
for the evil one ♪
♪ We call it home... ♪
When apartheid ended, people panicked.
They just panicked and they ran away,
like all the white people.
Some of them even left their houses.
They didn't even try to sell them.
They literally dropped
everything and they ran.
This seems ridiculous,
but this is what they did.
Because everyone ran away,
there was no regulation of this.
'Cause now you just had
all these empty buildings.
So now what you had was a sudden
influx of black people
into the inner city.
It was a free‐for‐all.
It was chaos.
The inner city just became,
it just became decrepit.
You know, I mean,
it's a bit better now,
but it just became like a slum now.
Every single time elections
come up in South Africa,
people always start to panic, you know.
Every since our first
democratic elections in 1994,
Nelson Mandela was about
to become president,
people started panicking.
You remember that?
There were people, you'd hear them,
"I'm leaving.
I'm going to Australia.
I'm going.
It's been fun, Mary,
but it's time to go,
hey, time to go.
They're gonna take over now."
And then Mr. Mandela
became president
and they all stayed.
"He's a wonderful man,
wonderful man."
"If it wasn't for him
I would have left, hey.
A wonderful man,
yeah, he's really great."
Next elections came,
Thabo Mbeki was about
to become president,
people panicked again.
"I'm leaving! I'm going
to Australia, I'm going!
I said, I'm leaving, Mary, hey.
Now that Mandela's gone
you know they're gonna eat us.
It's time to go.
I'm going. I'm going to Perth."
And then Thabo became president
and once again they all stayed.
He left.
[applauding and cheering]
Then it was Kgalena Mothlanthe's turn.
Yeah. In and out.
That was so cool.
People panicked then, didn't they?
"I didn't even vote!
I didn't even vote.
I can't believe it.
One minute I go to bed
and Thabo Mbeki's president.
And the next thing I wake up
and we've got Kgalena Mothlanthe.
I can't believe it!
I'm going to Australia.
I'm going."
Oh, and then it was Jacob Zuma...
Ooh...
The original Boogeyman.
Yeah, that's
when you hear people panicking.
Things were different
now in South Africa
'cause for the first time
in our history
you heard black people going,
"Eesh, how much is that ticket
to Australia again?"
Get your pockets right, son.
Get your pockets right.
This is where we must watch
for pickpockets, son.
Yeah, this is where I grew up
all over here, you know.
This is where I used to come
and play with my mom.
This was the park,
this was like the spot to be.
I used to chase pigeons here
when I was little, a youngin' yeah.
I kicked them
but they were asking for it.
Everyone walked individually
and then we'd meet up
at like a rendezvous point.
I had a colored woman
who'd walk with me.
Someone who looked like
she could be my mom and then,
that's how we used to roll.
Well, 'cause of the
laws of the land, you know.
You couldn't walk with a mixed family.
There's no‐‐ You shouldn't
even have a mixed family.
I wasn't even supposed to exist.
I was like Project X.
If you're a mixed race child
from a black person
and a white person,
then you are colored.
That's actually a racial group.
I always say I'm colored by
'color' but not by culture.
'Cause in South Africa,
they are an actual culture.
Mixed race people
from the very beginning.
From the time of the Dutch Settlers,
they stayed together
and they made their own culture.
They became their own people
'cause they weren't allowed
to mix and diversify.
South Africa was so segregated
into the different racial groups
that to have anyone
that's not the same color
in your family
is just such a ludicrous thing.
So, I mean, in the township,
a lot of people don't believe
that my grandmother's my grandmother.
She tells people.
I'm sure they think
she's senile, you know.
My brother would tell people,
he'd be like
"That's my brother."
And they be like
"That's not your brother.
Why is he not
the same skin color as you?"
'Cause it's just very strange
in South Africa
to have any sort of mixed‐ness
in your family.
It's still very new.
So I grew up in a country
where I look like
a certain group of people,
but I'm not like them.
I didn't grow up like them,
but the people
I did grow up like,
I don't look like them.
I don't even like
the term "colored."
I like to think of myself
more like a B.E.E.
baby, you know.
Yeah, you laugh but it's true
'cause I'm like mixed,
you know.
I've got like
a percentage share‐‐like
it's that type of thing.
It's like a whole deal.
I know some people
get picky and they're like,
"Oh, well if you're B.E.E.
then who's got more shares?
Are you 51% white or 51% black?"
I'm like well, I don't know,
I don't know.
I think sometimes I'm 51% black.
I, I generally think that.
Although I must admit sometimes
when I go to the toilet
and stand next to a man from Venda,
I wish I had a little more
black empowerment.
But I'll plant the tree.
You know.
See the Venda guy
at the back he's like, "Dah...
Did you hear that, baby?
And you thought I had two legs."
I went to the UK not so long ago.
That was interesting.
I got out there.
I was doing a few shows and while I was
backstage at one of the comedy gigs
and I was talking to a comedian.
And he was, he was really interested
and he was like, "Oh that's amazing,
Trevor, that's amazing.
So tell me, where you from,
yeah, where you from?"
I said,
"Well, I'm from South Africa."
He was like, "Ooh, South Africa.
That's amazing,
yeah, that's amazing."
"That's amazing.
So what are you, Zulu?"
[laughter]
I said, "No, actually, actually,
I'm not Zulu, I'm colored."
And he said, "Oi, don't say that.
That's racist, all right?
That's racist.
Don't call yourself 'colored,' right?
That's a racist term.
Nobody calls themselves that
and you shouldn't either right?
You're free here, brother, you're free.
Don't call yourself that,
it's not, it's not right.
It's not right, all right?
Don't call yourself 'colored,'
you call yourself
'mixed race,' all right?
Mixed race."
That's a PC term "mixed race."
On the flip side,
you come to South Africa
and say to a colored person,
"Excuse me,
are you mixed race?"
They'll probably be like,
"Yo ma's mixed race"
So you must be careful.
For a new comedian,
who's still developing
or who's still sort of making his mark,
a lot of theaters are rather reluctant,
you know, to take the risk and say,
"What, just a one‐man show,
just you on your own?"
We were lucky enough
that the Lyric Theater,
which is probably
one of the best theaters
in the country, you know,
they were in between productions
and they said, "Okay,
look, we got two days.
So if you guys think
you can sell two shows
in that time,
go ahead and do it."
And which bar does it drop from?
If you look up there,
I've already put the curtain up.
[Trevor] I'm not just
performing on this show.
I'm producing the show myself,
so if things go bad,
it's all my fault.
It's on me.
People don't really buy tickets,
well, most people don't buy tickets
until the day of the show.
So you don't even know
if you've sold enough
until you literally
walk out onto stage.
It's just you, you know.
You can't blame it on the show
if things don't go well.
You can't do it again.
I don't think I ever...
fully comprehended how...
how scary that actually is.
♪ Stand up, stand up ♪
♪ Come on, come on ♪
♪ Prime time struggle ♪
♪ The land with
your fire trouble ♪
♪ Do jack saw in my backyard ♪
♪ Is how I define trouble ♪
Under apartheid,
people of color were forced by
the white government to live
in impoverished townships.
So there was no,
"Well, I feel like living in..."
No, no, no, no.
You live in the township.
Soweto, black people.
Lenasia, Indian people.
Your color determined
where you could live.
Soweto was built in such a way that if,
if they needed to, they could block off
all the exit points
'cause it's like a basin.
So they were like,
"If the black people
ever get out of hand,
we'll, um, get our airplanes
and we'll get all of that stuff
and then what we'll do is we'll,
we'll blow these people up."
[singing in foreign language]
My comedy's based on memories.
A lot of my comedy is from
when I was in the township.
You know people say to me,
"Why do you go back
to the township?"
I don't go back to the township,
the township's part of my life.
It's, it's a place where I lived.
And it's, and it's a place
where I lived not
because I wanted to,
but because as a people
we were forced to by the government.
So I don't go back to the township,
I go to visit my grandmother.
So this is it, this is where I grew up.
As you can see my granny's ballin'.
She's got a wall, yeah, you know
you got to have that wall.
It's like MTV Cribs, yeah, you know,
you got to have that wall.
You got to have that painted gate,
you know what I mean?
Yeah, that's right,
that's right, we be rollin'
like that hard.
This is the township.
This is how we used to do it.
This was my driveway,
but we never had a car.
It was just like a cool thing to have.
If you had a driveway
but you didn't have a car,
you were ambitious, that was the key.
We started running out of space
so people would move in,
and then they'd pay rent
to you to like,
fill up the area.
So this was our house,
then everyone lived on the outside.
This is the toilet,
this is the most horrible thing ever,
ever invented
'cause you had to come outside,
so you never wanted to need
the toilet late at night.
[woman] No.
'Cause then‐‐
Oh, there's someone in there.
Sorry.
You see that's what would happen,
then you'd be like 'no' and then
it's exactly the same thing.
[speaking in foreign language]
We didn't know
there was anyone in there.
We didn't have "occupied."
And then this is my number one lady,
this is my number one.
This is my gran.
[speaking in foreign language]
Yes, yes. Here as you can see,
I got my height from her.
This is my gran, Francis Noah.
How old are you now, Gogo?
Eighty‐two.
Eighty‐two years old.
She still works, she still,
she still catches
all those taxis that you see,
she doesn't want to retire.
She still scrubs... the floor.
She still cleans.
Yeah.
This is my gran, rock and roll.
Eighty‐two years old.
And I rock and roll.
Eighty‐two years old.
Eighty‐two years old.
Eighty‐two years old.
[speaking in foreign language]
You hear my gran?
She just said,
"He was naughty."
Yep, yep, hidings, hidings I got.
This is cool.
Where's your car?
It's outside.
I'll show it to you.
Is it, is it safe?
It's...
It's gonna be fine.
Did you leave
somebody there at the car?
No, it'll be fine.
They can't steal it, Gogo.
Are you sure?
Mmm, they can't.
Is there magic there?
There's no magic.
They can't steal it.
You'll be surprised.
No, they won't.
And people are watching it,
there's so many people there.
So many people, do you know
what type of people are those?
They might be hijackers.
Ah, Trevor. You‐‐
Gogo, you worry too much.
Did I sleep in this one?
I don't even remember which one.
I just remember
getting hidings in here.
This is, this is the bedroom,
this is like it, everything.
And you had to make do.
And uh, you'd live, maybe two of you
or three of you could live in here,
you know if family needed you to.
This is where...
this is where it all was.
So there were like eight of us,
eight or nine of us that used to live‐‐
eight, nine, sometimes
ten depending on who was...
So we would sleep here a lot.
Like, we'd sleep on the couches and...
Kids.
Kids.
We used to sleep on the floor, yeah.
On the couch and on the floor.
It was really normal,
it was just like...
you know, that's what we did.
And everybody was so happy.
So, yeah. So this is it.
That's as small as it is,
ten people living here.
I mean, this was it.
It brings back such memories
I think I might cry. Wow.
Don't cry.
No, I won't cry
'cause the camera's on me
and I'm just gonna look good, you know.
Yeah.
Oh, wow, that's still up there,
"In everything give thanks."
Because you can't buy life.
Yeah.
Gogo, let me be off.
Please, you walk me out,
so that they don't think
I just walked in by myself.
Let them see you with your grandson.
With my grandson.
Mmm. So that they say that‐‐
I've got to be on that side, eh?
It doesn't matter which side...
It doesn't matter which side you're on.
[singing in foreign language]
[speaking in foreign language]
I knew, I knew, I knew I could never
bring my imaginary friend back
to my grandmother's house in Soweto,
Gogo, wait.
Say hello to Imagine‐Imagine
my imaginary friend.
"Eh? What's that?"
He's imaginary.
"What he's shy?"
No, like, you can't see him.
"Cause he's hiding."
No. He's invisible, Gogo.
Only I can see him.
"Oh really?
He's a witch, he's a witch!"
Next thing you know,
I'll be getting
the beatings of my lifetime.
"You're going to take Imagine,
you're going to take Imagine.
Going to take‐‐"
No, Gogo. Gogo! It's sore!
"Just imagine it's not,
just imagine."
Andrew, help me!
"Hello, Andrew, welcome."
[vocalizing]
In this country, we're still dealing
with the scars of apartheid.
We're still dealing with
trying to reconcile
all this races
and ethnic cultures into one society.
So... and that's why it ends up
being subject of choice
for so many comedians, you know.
And also, comedy is about conflict,
human interaction and conflict.
Yeah, so like, if like a black person
and a white person try to kiss,
then these guys in uniforms
would come and kick them.
[vocalizing]
But then like,
but they wouldn't kick everyone,
they just kick the black people.
[vocalizing]
And then they'd tell the white people,
"Don't do that again.
I know it was a mistake,
so don't do it again.
You..."
[vocalizing]
There is a need to use
your voice to tell your audience
what they feel
and then you can sugar coat it
because you tell it in a joke,
even though you're telling the truth.
We can talk back.
We can say, "Look here, man.
This is not the way
to do shit."
I become a voice for people
who sort of voiceless.
If you're poor
you could not give a fuck
about global warming
'cause what is global warming?
"Ooh, if we don't save the earth,
ooh, then
we might die in 200 years."
Poor people are like,
"Yeah, but if I don't eat now,
I will die next week.
Next week, that will be my ass.
Next week, I'll be fucked."
You want to be heard,
you want to be heard.
I think everyone wants to be heard.
I think people who hide behind facades,
"Oh, don't say this, don't say this,"
it's like rubbish,
I mean, come on, the truth.
The more we tell the truth,
the quicker we'll get to the
front of the line, you know,
the better, the better chance we stand.
That's the problem with South Africa
is that too many people
don't want to admit the things.
So they don't want to admit
that shit is wrong,
they don't want to admit
that there's still
massive levels of poverty.
They don't want to admit that AIDS is,
you know, is something
that's destroying the Nation.
They just don't‐‐
Nobody wants to admit anything.
We just want to live in this
hoo‐ha Utopia world
and it's not like that.
As a comedian, you've got,
you got the platform to tell the truth.
You got to be that guy
out there saying those things.
And, I mean,
I mess around a lot of the time,
you know, I'm not even the guy.
I always admire, like Loyiso for that
because Loyiso is the
kind of guy who says that.
It was crazy.
And I was walking down Long Street
during the campaign time.
I was walking down Long Street
and I was walking
and I'm walking against the traffic.
And I can see these DA posters...
and I'm thinking
"Well, it's a one way street
and I'm walking
against the traffic..."
[laughter]
That's a cocked plan.
Then I thought to myself, who goes,
I mean, that's how you lose a thing.
You know what I mean,
what about the people
who are driving,
they don't see the posters.
It's only the people
walking against that,
and then I thought about it,
who votes for the DA anyway?
Paranoid white people,
they drive around like this.
[laughter]
The white Cape Townians still fear
coming to the townships.
Today you meet someone and they're like
I've never been to a township,
I've never been to Gugeletu
and the person lives
right across the street...
It's like ten minutes away, you know.
I don't know what they're scared of.
I don't know what they expect to find.
I don't know what they expect to find.
This is an invite to white people
who are freaked out about the ghetto.
Check it out.
It's cool. It's cool.
You might like it.
You actually might want to move here.
Settle down with the kids.
I'm from Cape Town, man.
I grew up in‐‐in Guguletu.
[cheering]
Yeah man, I grew up there man.
I was actually back there today man.
It was quite cool.
Do you white people know
where Guguletu is?
[cheering]
Well you should know,
you put us there motherfuckers.
[cheering and applauding]
Well they must not give me
this bullshit about
it's their first time
to be able to speak.
Bullshit these guys
were one or two years old
when we had the transition.
They had fifteen years.
Maybe it's a therapeutic
thing for them.
Maybe it's good to talk about
the apartheid thing.
But when do you say enough is enough.
The black and white experience,
it's enough now.
It's gone. It's finished.
We must get past that.
A black guy will get up
and one of the first things,
"So you know what it was like
when we were in the townships?"
And I'm like
you've got to be kidding me.
Like a guy gets chosen
because he's a young black
South African,
not because
he's a professional comedian.
They have B.E.E. policies.
They have to hire black people
or colored people
for black economic empowerment.
They all went
to private schools you know.
So they must not give me this bullshit
that they were
previously disadvantaged.
Like sometimes you'll tell a joke
and you get a racist crowd
that will laugh at it
taking it the wrong way.
It's because of apartheid.
Because you can't blame
the whole thing on...
This shit is only fifteen years ago.
Yeah, but it ended fifteen years ago,
but then you must remember
it's not like it's instant.
Do you know what I mean?
It's not instant.
I don't understand.
People always say
hey you black people must get
over this apartheid shit.
No one in the world will go,
yeah you know, you know,
you Jews must forget
about this Holocaust, yeah please.
You know what I'm saying?
Because with atrocities
there's no measurement.
There's no instrument that measures
how much an atrocity or how,
you don't go how the
Holocaust was worse than
Bosnia or Bosnia was worse than,
you know what I'm saying?
You just have to respect them.
In South Africa,
we've always suffered
from segregated audiences.
It's always...
is it a white show?
Is it a black show?
Is it a colored show?
Who's gonna come to the show?
There's so much
we share in common
that we don't even realize.
And when you laugh at the same things,
you start realize
how much you actually share.
Every show is like‐‐
who is the audience going to be?
I just want it to be you‐‐
you South Africans‐‐
not even South Africans,
internationals‐‐ just human beings.
You know what I mean.
Just‐just if you're human
just come to the show.
I'm not saying dogs mustn't come,
but I'm just saying like
if you're human, you know?
Just come to the show,
that's all I want.
I don't want it to be about age
or race or religion or anything.
It's not about that.
It's about people.
Jacob Zuma was supposed to be
the craziest president
South Africa ever had.
It was the only reason
that I voted for him.
This is madness.
I look at him.
He's comes in
and he wears a tie and a suit.
He's stopped singing.
He's got a cabinet that looks like
they know what they are doing.
He's going to fight corruption
and he even fired
Manto Tshabalala Msimang.
I was expecting a mad man,
a crazy guy someone who was
just going to throw the country away.
And look who I got,
someone who's actually doing their job.
I can't believe it.
Once again the ANC
has failed to deliver.
[laughter]
I wanted Jacob to be wild.
I pictured this guy
walking into Parliament
four hours late
not even wearing a shirt,
you know, his tummy hanging out,
walking in there,
wearing a little plastic crown,
busy singing to himself.
Helen Zille and the other guys
in Parliament losing it:
"Jacob, you're late,
you can't just come here!
You can't come four hours late,"
Hey, shut up, shut up.
Hey, shut up, hey...
Late for who, late for who?
Late for who?
It's my time now.
Hey, hey, shut up.
Yeah.
I thought he was gonna be crazy,
you know, Helen then fighting with him,
"No, Jacob,
you can't just run this place
the way you want."
Jacob getting
angry whipping his penis out
hitting on the forehead.
[vocalizing]
No, 'cause I mean it's not sore,
it's not sore.
It just makes
that sound you know like...
You know, like that.
And I mean like what are
you going to do if someone
does that to you, like, what,
are you gonna go to the police?
Like, what do you, what do you do?
What do you tell them?
I mean, is it assault
or is it sexual harassment?
How does it work?
You know, I just, I just...
You never know.
I mean, what do you even say
at the Police Station?
Can you imagine walking in there
and them asking you that question?
You'd be there, "And then?
He... who hit you? Who?
With what?
On your head?
Just, just tell this guy.
Tell him what happened.
Tell him.
I'm not laughing, I'm not laughing.
Hey.
Yeah.
Either you are very short,
or he's very gifted, eh?"
[Rabin on computer]
So do you know that look a girl
gives you before she wants sex?
Yeah, me neither.
It doesn't happen.
And you can't,
you can't start with a sex gag.
You must, you must start with gags
that tell us who you are, like first.
Why don't you introduce yourself?
It takes like a second.
What? To say, "Good evening?"
Yeah.
I always wanted to get, get a laugh
in the first 30 seconds.
Either that or‐‐
Yes, but not a sex‐laugh though.
It's just very, like...
Alienating lots of people,
like it just doesn't work
for all the crowd.
Like if my mom was watching
then she'd already be thrown.
She'd be like "Ah, this guy."
'Cause you're the king of,
like, short gags.
So you've got the luxury
of bringing your gags,
just giving, yeah, like have
the, the right intro, yeah.
So sex must be like in the middle...
Yeah, in the middle of the set...
and it must be in the
middle after a gag that kills.
Dude, it's like a horrible gag
is like a horrible girlfriend.
You keep doing her until
somebody tells you to stop.
No.
But these guys have the blazing.
They're fucking‐‐
Stop it.
Stop, stop protecting her.
She's no good for you.
Just leave it. Just leave it.
She's no good for you.
So I read recently
that Joburg is getting
it's first sperm bank,
and I got a bit sad.
See, like, this was just unnecessary.
I think you must say
it like it's a sad thing.
That's where you‐‐ that's where
the sad emotion comes in.
So you go,
this is you, you go, you go...
You say:
"They opened the sperm bank
and I got really depressed."
You got to say that.
But then I'm smiling when
I'm saying it and that's weird.
Or do you think that's funny
because I'm saying that I got‐‐
But you're a comedian, you can smile
while people are dying, as a comedian.
You can be like "My gran died,"
You could. As a comedian
you can do all of that.
They never believe you anyway.
So... like, like
when my mom got shot when,
two weeks ago,
my mom got shot in the head.
Really?
Yeah.
Then when I said it on stage,
everyone was just like‐‐
Then they, they don't‐‐
What happened to your mom?
She got shot in the head.
She got shot twice.
Like when you‐‐
Up the road, here.
Seventh avenue.
Wow.
Yeah. Just...
[man] Whose mom?
My mom.
My younger brother phones me.
He's like,
"Trevor, where are you?"
He says, "Come to the,
the hospital now."
So I'm, like, "Okay.
Something's obviously wrong."
But I think something's wrong with him.
Then he says, "Mom got shot."
When he's telling me the story,
the guy, he came out he was‐‐
she was on the street and then
[gunshot]
the guy shot her.
[gunshot]
The guy shot her in the head.
I was just freaking out.
So I drive to the clinic.
I get there, and there's
blood all over her face,
there's just like,
you know, like it's just open,
there's blood everywhere.
You know, like she sees me
and then she's like, "Uh, uh..."
She's like trying to talk in the end,
you know, I'm just like,
"Whoa."
I'm just, "I'm gone."
I love, I love South Africa,
I really do.
I love this place with all my heart.
And then this was the first time
when I was like,
"I'll leave."
Well, obviously I was, I was surprised
that that happened to his mom.
I don't think
he intended to talk about it.
I think that the conversation
just lent itself to him outing it.
Yeah, I mean that is something
you want to tell someone.
You'd be choking yourself
by not telling someone else.
My dad's killing was 11 years ago.
My, my dad was shot and killed
like for a cell phone.
Which again, it was, you know how...
to show the‐‐ I don't want
to say how common it is,
but how these things
happen in South Africa,
but it's not, it's not uncommon.
We're desensitized to crime.
People get like a loved one
killed or shot to get whatever.
Sure, the personal tragedy's big,
but it just seems as if we all...
we all just get back on with it.
[Trevor]
After my mom was shot,
she's the one who basically went,
"No man,
things need to keep running,
things need to keep going."
'Cause she was
in the hospital and I was like,
"I can't, I can't go
make people laugh after this,
you know, I have to, I have
to chill with you and stuff."
She was like,
"No, you need to go out there
and make money."
I was like, "Forget money."
And she was like, "No, no, no.
Maybe now is a good time to tell you,
I don't have
medical aid."
And I was like, "Oh wow.
Okay," I was like, "Okay.
Maybe I should go out
and make some money."
You never put something
like that behind you.
I can't wait and I shouldn't wait.
Why should I wait?
If anything, an experience like my mom
getting shot shows you
why you shouldn't wait.
I've got to go on and do the show.
The Daywalker.
No, I don't know what that means.
I don't know what that means.
The Daywalker?
No idea. No idea.
Yeah, I don't know
what the Daywalker means, no.
The one president
that was always the furthest
from being crazy was
Nelson Mandela, you know?
And I mean, Mandela recently turned 91.
I, I just can't help
wondering to myself,
when you turn 91,
wouldn't you throw a huge party?
You know, I mean, you're 91 years old.
I would‐‐ I don't know.
If I turned 91, I'd get wasted.
I'd just be that guy, you know.
You have all these
famous people visiting you,
throw this huge party,
knocking down the tequilas,
having a good time.
But I know people never
want to think of it.
No, Mandela doesn't get drunk, no.
People don't want anything‐‐
they're like, no, Mandela doesn't fart.
His bum just suggests things.
He's got that vibe, you know.
But I mean he's still a man
at the end of the day, you know.
I would have loved for him
to let just loose
and get totally wasted on his birthday.
It would be so crazy
seeing Madiba pop out
like into the garden,
you know,
out of nowhere, his shirt open.
There he is,
one of those colorful ones.
Him walking around...
"I'm fine. I'm fine.
Do you know who I am?
Do you know...
Don't touch me.
Who are these people?
Who's that?
Ah, Bill Clinton. Bill.
Come, come here, Bill, come here.
[speaking foreign language]
Thank you for coming, eh.
Let, let me tell you a joke, Bill.
Let me tell you a joke.
I did not have sexual relations
with that woman.
[laughing]
That, that was a good one.
I'm just saying.
Oh, oh, here comes Julius.
And he's going to talk...
[vocalizing]
I was also president
of the Youth League.
[vocalizing]
Julius is killing me.
Two seconds.
Julius. Six times five.
Okay, he's fine.
It will be‐‐ it's fine.
He'll be there for hours.
Yeah, let's carry on.
Let's carry on.
Okay we're going to drink, all of us.
We're going to drink.
But before we drink,
I want to propose a toast.
All those people who thought
I wouldn't make it to 2010.
Yeah, he'll never make it,
he'll never make it.
I'm still here at 91...
91, yeah, 91.
Even Michael Jackson died before me.
Even Michael died before me.
Yeah, Michael Jackson.
[vocalizing]
Who's bad now?"
[thunder rumbling]
Coming there from Sunday,
I got busted.
Went in this side and went out there.
I'm not bitter about it all.
I became better.
Number one, I celebrate life.
It's a miraculous healing that today
I'm here talking to you.
I have a stiff, stiff jaw
but that's minor.
All my senses are here.
I can still jump and dance in church
and break my heels.
So what more? What more?
What more? What more?
We look at religion
in two different ways.
Someone will shoot at my mom.
She will believe
that God will protect her
from the bullets.
Yes.
I believe God gave me
the reflexes to duck.
[Patricia laughs]
I was just gonna say you must,
you must make sure about
your court dates though.
I'm not worried‐‐
No, you see you always say that to me.
Just listen to me, you know,
I'm just saying. Please.
Listen, sweetheart.
You are in control.
You do what you are in control of.
Yes, but that‐‐
but are you not in control of that?
You're not in control of...
No, but you're in control
of your dates.
That's what I'm asking you.
You're not.
You are, because if you‐‐
if you have given it all, knowing‐‐
it's your‐‐
y‐you should know.
Did you get [indistinct]
I did, sweetheart.
I've done that.
That's what it must be.
I've done that part.
And I do think you see it is
in your control...
just to show a level of interest
after you've been shot in the head.
Just a little bit of‐‐
little bit of interest.
[laughs]
Just a little bit.
Okay.
A little bit.
Okay.
You know there's not many
countries in the world
where a person can shoot
someone in the head
and then get bail.
That's just, does‐‐ it's the
most ludicrous thing ever.
Those are times when you just‐‐
you do want to escape.
Yes, you want to escape.
I have tension
with my love of South Africa
as much as every man has tension
with the land that he lives in.
I don't know what would have
happened if my mom died.
I might have left or it might
have been the catalyst
that made me stay here
and fight even more.
I, I don't know.
I do need to leave though.
Just for a little bit.
I just can't keep going on like this
without taking a break.
You know it does,
it's got that feeling.
It's just got that feeling like
anything can happen, you know.
Like your wildest dreams can come true.
I dream of becoming a waiter.
I just feel like
this town can cater to me.
Oh, Inglewood.
I'm loving it already because there's,
there's references
from rap songs out here.
Wow, are those Mexicans
doing the garden?
You don't know how strange
this is for me,
driving in a neighborhood
where there's like no walls.
Yeah, I mean, people
will say things like,
"Hey, I thought you wanted to get away.
You know, don't you need a break
from comedy
and everything else?"
But I just can't help it.
I start off on a holiday
and the next thing you know,
I'm up on stage again.
I just, I have to be up there.
I just hope people like it.
Yes.
You know there's
two things that make it,
make you more nervous.
It's hearing how loud a crowd can be
and then how quiet
they can be on the flip side.
Because if they can be really loud,
then the silence
becomes so much louder.
[woman]
Coming to the stage next,
we have a gentlemen,
he's from South Africa.
Mm‐hmm, yep.
So I want a big, loving, supportive LA
welcome to this next dude.
Let's hear it for South African native
Mr. Trevor Noah.
But I've, I've realized Americans,
Americans have a very strange
perception of Africa.
I don't blame you guys
though, you know.
It's 'cause of the images
that you're fed on TV.
You know, the stuff that you see of us.
You just get all these
UNICEF ads, you know.
Those infomercials, those are horrible.
That's all I've seen of home, you know.
You've got these people
and they're really gaunt
and they're skinny
and they're just like, you know.
And they've got the Kwashiorkor
and everything
and they just look
as horrible as possible.
They just get there and you
know, they are shooting this,
and then Penelope Cruz
will start talking
as the woman's holding her
starving baby in her arms
and will come in and be like,
"Every year, more than
5 million children
are starving in Africa.
You can make a difference if you
donate $10 dollars a month.
You can donate a family's life
and you can change everything.
Look at this child."
And they show you the kid and you know,
and they go in there, and I understand,
I understand this is
a painful thing. I understand.
But I just don't understand
the small elements.
Why do they include that, you know.
Why is it that in every single
one of these infomercials,
why do they always have to have
these people with the fly?
What is up with that fly?
I don't understand this.
What is, what is going on with the fly?
It's always the flies.
And it's not just
the flies in the shot.
It's not just the shot.
It's not just the flies
there but they've got the flies
and they sit in a very specific place.
They always sit on their mouth,
like always on the top lip.
It's always on the top.
How do they get the fly?
I've tried, it's very difficult
to get a fly to sit on your top lip.
How do they achieve this goal?
I'm sitting there
watching this, you know.
And they always get it.
It's almost like they don't
shoot without the fly, now.
It's like the fly
has become the watermark
of a starving African.
Is it like a trained fly?
Is it one of your Disney flies?
Is it one of those?
Is it one of those?
"Come on boy, come on boy,
get in there and...
stay.
Okay, we're ready, and 'Action'"
"Every year, more than
5 million children are starving.
You can make a difference
if you donate $100."
It's just madness.
What is it?
And it angers me.
It really does.
I understand.
There's people starving.
Yes, there are people
starving in Africa.
I do understand this.
There are people starving.
But I don't, I don't understand
why they need to make us look that bad.
And yes, I will say it.
They do make us look bad.
They make the whole of Africa look bad.
They make me look bad.
And they make me angry.
'Cause I grew up
in a black family in Africa.
And no matter how poor we were,
no matter how hungry
we were, no matter what,
we could still do this...
The show was amazing.
He's really in tune with
the differences of the culture,
and he totally nailed it,
the way that he brought that
and applied it to an American
audience, like,
he had the whole place hysterical.
I didn't know if the comedy
would translate,
but the comedy did translate.
I liked his American accent.
"Oh, my God.
Oh, my God, you're from Africa.
How did you get here?"
Never thought of South Africa is place
that a comedian was gonna come from.
[woman 1] So exciting.
Thank you.
[woman 2] You were awesome.
Thank very much.
Thank you.
I'm‐I'm having a great time.
Pleasure to meet you.
Pleasure meeting you.
Yes. Sorry.
You're totally LA'd out right now.
I am?
You are totally LA.
That's good to know.
Good to know that I'm fitting
in a little bit.
But I am a stand‐up comedian
from South Africa, Johannesburg.
Do you know where that is?
Yes, no?
I only ask that
because I realize Americans
don't know a lot about South Africa.
In fact, I've realized Americans
don't know much about Africa.
In fact, I've realized Americans
don't know much about anything.
[laughter]
'Cause you guys have
those very strange names
like Da'Shawn
and‐‐and Requanda,
and all of those things.
And you always ask people
where they got the name,
and they say, "It's African."
We don't‐‐we don't have
those kinds of names.
[audience laughs]
My family threw this huge party for me.
They were like, "Yeah.
You're going to America.
This is the best day
of your life."
I was like, "No, it's not."
They're like "It is, it is."
Like, why?
They're like, "Because
for the first time in your life,
you're going to be black."
I was like,
"What are you talking about?"
They were like, "Well, in America,
they can't call you colored.
That's racist.
They're going to have
to call you black."
I was like, "Really?" and they
were like, "Yes, really."
I did research, and found it's true.
So when I sat on a plane for 18 hours,
I watched black American movies,
started practicing being black.
'Cause I've always wanted to be black.
That is so cool.
You got that thing, you know.
Just sat there watching
like all my gangster movies,
you know, Boyz n the Hood and stuff.
And as we landed I was so happy
and I was fluent in my black American,
"Fo‐shizzle my nizzle."
Yeah.
And as I walked
into the terminal building,
the first guy that spoke
to me was actually a cleaner.
He looked up at me and he said
to me, he was like...
[speaking foreign language]
Eighteen hours of flying,
and I still wasn't black.
I was a Mexican.
[Trevor] When I went to
the States for the first time,
it was, it was strange to see the fact
that they don't understand
what the concept of South Africa is.
And I don't blame them.
Instead of going,
"Those people are ignorant,
they don't know anything about us,"
I'd rather say my goal is to go there,
and try and give them a better
picture of who we are.
[school bell ringing]
I would like to welcome
Trevor Noah to class.
Can you guys say good morning, please?
[students]
Good morning, Trevor.
Hey.
You guys are pretty good at that.
He's real excited to be here today
and I know you guys
have a ton of questions.
Do you like the Los Angeles
vibes so far or do‐‐
would you rather be back
at home right now?
I like LA.
You know it's interesting.
I mean there's things
I've seen out here
that I've never seen before.
What?
Like what?
Uh, like Latino people.
You don't have, you don't
have New Year's?
No, we've got New Year's.
Everybody's got.
We got a calendar.
Everybody with a calendar
has New Year's.
Do you have any favorite movies?
The Matrix.
The Lion King.
I love the Lion King.
[girl] I love the Lion King.
I love the Lion King.
I love it.
Yeah, I love the Lion King
'cause the Lion King
is so close to my heart.
You know it's like,
what, it's like us at home.
Like we walk 'round
the streets like just sing
'A‐weema‐weh.
A‐weema‐weh.'
So I love the Lion King.
So the same way you guys think
that we like ride elephants
and run off the lions and stuff.
Like the same,
and that's, that's the same way
when we think of like Mexicans
we just think of...
[vocalizing]
It's like the same.
[teacher] When you see
commercials for Africa
or when you see
advertisements or movies...
[girl] You see like animals.
You see animals.
You see poverty.
You see, um, disease.
You see all of these things.
You don't think when I told you
that he was a comedian,
you guys all stared at me like,
"They have comedy there?
They laugh?"
How do you go from
your experience to comedy?
Yeah, there's nothing funny about it.
In life, you always choose
to see things
in a good or bad way.
You know, it's, it's your outlook.
It's how you choose to perceive it.
So you can choose to perceive
things in a positive way
even if they're negative.
And for me that's what
comedy really is about.
Good or bad.
I will, I will speak about it
and you can make it funny.
It just depends on how you look at it.
The one thing I really appreciated
about going to LA was seeing
how much potential
we have in this country
for comedy.
My, my dream for Daywalker
is that it will be remembered
as one of the shows,
one of the many shows,
that helped comedians
to own their destiny.
♪ I'mma get what's needed ♪
♪ Because I want it ♪
♪ I gotta have it ♪
♪ Because I want it ♪
♪ You see ♪
♪ I'll be there for the... ♪
Everybody has a voice.
Everybody has something to say.
That in essence is what
guys like Mandela and Sisulu
fought against for so many
years for freedom of speech.
And that's what your one‐man show is.
It's you coming out and saying,
"This is what I think."
I've tried to tie everything up
and try and make it one seamless story,
trying to make a chunk of my life
fit into an hour.
It's not an easy challenge,
but that's what Daywalker is.
That's what comedy is really.
♪ Don't even try to race me
it's hard to outrace me ♪
♪ I'm take the
trip to ♪
♪ and meeting up
with new fans ♪
♪ a really new day ♪
♪ History in the making ♪
♪ They used to hate
now they love it ♪
♪ Because they
feel I made it ♪
♪ Damn it,
I'm almost famous ♪
♪ It's so close
I can smell it ♪
♪ and I can even taste it ♪
♪ Sometimes the world
can be hellish ♪
♪ But now never wasted ♪
♪ I'm on the edge
but I'm blessed ♪
♪ With enough connects ♪
♪ that I can get some rest ♪
♪ And let go of stress ♪
♪ Imma get what's needed ♪
♪ Because I want it ♪
♪ I gotta have it ♪
♪ Because I want it ♪
♪ You see I'll be there
for the ♪
As I perform comedy,
I hope I can bring people together.
I want to be here building things.
This is the place where I want to,
I want to put‐‐
I want to leave my mark.
[man] He is described as a phenomenon,
destroying audiences
all over the country.
And this world class act
has already performed
in the US and the UK.
Here to perform in his
very first, much anticipated,
one‐man show, ladies and gentlemen,
give it up for the Daywalker,
Trevor Noah!
What's up, Johannesburg?
"I'm leaving,
I'm going to Australia."
"Just imagine it's not so,
imagine," I was like, Gogo!
Oh, Andrew, help me!
'Cause when it hits you,
it makes that sound,
it's just like...
"Even Michael Jackson, the king of pop,
died before me.
Who's bad now?"
And then my dad, well, well you know
how the Swiss love chocolate.
So...
And I see some white people
getting a bit uncomfortable,
is he going to preach?
No I'm not, I'm not preaching.
This is just a back story,
so you guys are getting
a bit like "Woo, is this",
no, it's not one of those.
It's over in my mind.
It's, yeah.
It's, I couldn't be around,
if it wasn't for you guys,
so I, you know...
I'm not even, yeah.
As, as Nelson Mandela
would say, "We forgive you."
So that, so that's,
so that was the back‐story.
So my mom, my mom couldn't
state who my father was
on my birth certificate, you know.
So they just had to, like,
leave that whole thing blank
and, and, and what happened was,
she went back to the townships
where we had to stay
and then my dad had to stay in town.
And my mom couldn't tell anyone
that the father of her child was white.
So she just left everyone
to their own assumptions,
which is not generally the best choice.
Basically people assumed
that I was, in fact, an albino.
You laugh, but it was true.
They still loved me though,
they still loved me.
Apparently when I got home, you know,
my family was gathered
around, as I walked in,
my gran looked and she, like,
opened the blanket
and she was like "Yoo...
Oh, shame...
ooh, little alby.
No, put the umbrella,
he's going to burn,
ooh‐ooh."
And so I grew up, I grew up for a,
for a large part of my life as
an albino, which wasn't bad,
I mean, the township
they accept everyone
the way they are, you know.
I got old enough
to roam around on my own,
and the other albinos heard about me,
they'd see me walking in the streets.
And they'd see this kid,
and then the rumors spread,
you know.
They apparently went to each other
and they started talking,
they were like, "Do you know about him?
They say that he's one, he's one of us.
But his hair, it's black.
No freckles, nothing.
And he can walk anytime of the day.
No sunscreen.
No umbrella.
He's the one.
The Daywalker."
They were shocked.
And they came up and they recruited me,
they were like, "Yo, man, do
you want to hang out with us?"
I was like, "Yeah, why not," you know.
I hung out with them.
We were like in a whole crew.
We called ourselves
the 'Glow in the Darks.'
We were just like, you know.
It was wonderful,
you know, it was wonderful
until about 1990 when apartheid ended
and the truth about my identity
could come out.
And then my mom told everyone
in the house, she was like,
"You know actually,
his father's white,"
and they were like,
"What do you mean?"
"His father's white,
so he's not actually an albino,
he's colored."
And they were like, "What?"
Everyone lost their minds
and it was a big party
and everyone was
so happy and overjoyed.
So they were like...
Oh, oh, ah...
oh, ah...
Oh, oh.
He's not albino, oh, oh.
And it was beautiful.
It was music to their ears.
But then I had to go back
to my friends, to the crew,
you know, to the 'Glow in the Darks',
tell them the news.
As I was walking up to them, you know,
they were standing in the crew,
like under the willow tree,
in the shade,
where we normally used to hang out.
And as I came up, they were like,
"Yo, D. W.,
what's up, dawg?"
Cause they couldn't
call me 'Daywalker'‐‐
it was just too long.
They were like,
"Yo, D. W., what's up, man?"
Then I was like, "Hey, Pacino,
what's up, dawg?"
And he was like,
"Yo, man, what's happening,
you look sad."
Then I was like,
"Yeah, guys I've got bad news."
Pacino was like, "Ah,
what is it, D. W.? What is it?
Is it really bad?"
I was like, "It's really bad."
He's like, "Ah,
Nivea is out of stock again."
I was like, "No, guys,
no, it's worse than that,
it's worse than that."
And the other guy was like,
"Yo, global warming".
I was like, "No, no, no, it's, um,
there's something I need
to tell you guys, um...
I'm not an albino."
I just looked around
and there was a silence.
I said, "Guys, did you hear me?
I'm not an albino."
"Yeah, D. W., we know,
we all knew!"
I was like, "What, you knew?"
He's like, "Yeah, we knew.
Of course
you're not an albino."
"Wow!"
He's like "Ya.
We are all not albinos, we are people.
Viva, D. W., Viva!
D.W.!"
[vocalizing]
You guys have been so great,
thank you very much
for coming out.
My name's Trevor Noah.
Thank you.
♪ You go to rise above ♪
♪ And face the
music ♪
♪ But you'll get
strong with love ♪
♪ Love, love ♪
♪ We keep it moving
like father time ♪
♪ Every time I fall I know
that soon I have to climb ♪
♪ Even through the dirt,
I have to shine ♪
We have a talented young
comedian, from South Africa...
♪ Yeah, keep going
keep pushing ♪
♪That's what I do ♪
♪ That's what it is ♪
♪ Love life and
I love to live too ♪
♪ And I wanna give ♪
♪ All that I can give
give to them ♪
♪ Give to you too ♪
♪ Till everybody's eating
many pieces of the pie♪
♪ Africa, the love
of my eye... ♪
Yo. I stopped 'cause
you were tired.
[speaking foreign language]
♪ But you'll get
strong with love ♪
♪ Laid in the midnight hour ♪
♪ You feel
you lost your power ♪
♪ But I'm dependin' on you ♪
♪ To be as bright
as a flower ♪
♪ Who doesn't complain ♪
♪ Who don't know
how cold the game ♪
♪ But simple and plain ♪
♪ You got your own
got your own ♪
♪ You got your own thing ♪
♪ Don't let life beat you up ♪
♪ Just get
strong with love ♪
♪ Just get strong with love ♪
♪ Then till
everything's sweet ♪
♪ Everything's nearer ♪
♪ Closer when ♪
♪ You don't give up ♪
♪ Don't give up,
don't give up ♪
♪ Don't give up ♪
♪ Got to rise above ♪
♪ Got to get up ♪
♪ At first it ain't easy ♪
♪ Don't stay there ♪
♪ But you'll
get strong with love ♪
♪ Yeah ♪
♪ Get up ♪
♪ When life beats you up ♪
♪ Get up ♪
♪ And rise with love ♪
♪ Yeah ♪
♪ Rise with love ♪
♪ Rise with love ♪
♪ Oh, late
in the midnight hour ♪
♪ You feel
you lost your power ♪
♪ But I'm dependin' on you ♪
♪ And the whole world's too ♪
♪ For you to be as
resilient as a flower ♪
I've never really fitted in
anywhere in any particular way.
Even now people
still debate on what I am,
where people will say,
"Oh, you're black."
And then someone
will turn around and say,
"No, but he's not black.
He's not black.
He's colored."
And then colored people say,
"But you're not colored."
And then when you get older,
it's cool because you've just you've‐‐
you've lived everywhere and nowhere.
You've been everyone and no one,
so you can say everything and nothing.
And that's really
what affects my comedy
and everything that I say.
And if ever this comedy thing
doesn't work out,
then I've got poverty to fall back on,
and I'm pretty sure I'll be cool there.
[child speaks indistinctly]
[singing in foreign language]
[honking]
[Trevor] We've only
recently come out of a time
when everything
we could say and everything
that we were allowed
to hear was censored
that's the biggest challenge
in this country,
it's for us to get to the point
where people accept the fact
that we're free,
free to say what we feel,
and really free to express ourselves.
[crowd cheering]
[singing in foreign language]
A lot of misconceptions
though I have realized,
people think when they say
"a comic from South Africa"
they expecting somebody to jump
on stage wearing leopard skins,
dancing around going.
[vocalizing]
Let me tell you a joke
about monkey now.
I do actually have
very good jokes about monkeys
but I refrain from telling those.
People have these‐‐
these opinions of you
and they're not right,
you know, because South Africa
is not as third world
as many people think it is.
Standing in the
airport terminal building,
there was a woman
who was standing next to me
in the passport line,
she looked over at me
and very eloquently said,
"Oh, my God, you talk funny."
"Excuse me?" She said,
"Yeah, you talk funny.
Where are you from?"
"I'm from South Africa."
"Oh, my God. Like Africa?"
"Yes." "Oh, wow.
Like Africa‐Africa?"
"No, the one next to it."
[singing in foreign language]
[Takunda]
Standup comedy as like a‐‐
as an art form and as a profession,
has obviously only come in
to the fore in recent times.
It developed quite late
in South Africa.
So it's almost like comedy has
developed in waves
and in each wave or each generation,
there's like a band of guys
who have kept it going
from Mel Miller and Joe Parker
and Barry Hilton, Mark Banks,
some of the older guys
who are still performing now.
Other people who say to you,
"Oh, yes, as you get older,
things get better."
Bullshit.
[Takunda] And then obviously
now you have like,
you know,
your John Vlismases
and Riaad Moosa,
David Newton...
Our soccer is shit.
Now we're inviting
the whole fucking world
to see how shit we are.
[Takunda] Who was gonna
become the first pioneering
in black comedians.
I would definitely attribute
that to Kagiso Lediga and David Kau.
They got on to
the circuit as the first ones
and obviously had to deal
with the challenges of performing
to all of these different audiences
that were not used to one comedy,
and two black comedians at that.
This whole idea, you know,
the American cultural imperialism‐‐
and I started saying like
can you imagine like whenever like
when Nelson Mandela was black
but a young revolutionary,
if he was like into Ben 10
and he was like listening
to Snoop Doggie Dog
and shit, you know,
walking with a swagger,
big medallion
with an M on it, you know.
[vocalizing]
And knock the mic.
"Brothers and sisters
of South Africa, wassup?
This apartheid shit is whack, yo.
We need to rock a revolution
in this motherfucker.
Fuck the police."
[Takunda]
And then that set the tone
for the new generation.
Trevor Noah has been,
uh, sort of been this young guy.
He's spiked, you know, he's like so...
he came like from nowhere really.
[Takunda]
For the first time,
we have a comedian
who is not stuck
by race or ethnic group.
He's from a white family,
so a part of him is white.
He's from a black family.
A part of him is black.
A part of him is colored
'cause, you know,
he's his experiences
would have included that.
He's lived everywhere from the township
to like mainstream suburbia
and then
on top of that he speaks about,
what, four, five languages.
[speaking in foreign language]
My mom speaks Xhosa.
[speaking in foreign language]
which loosely translated means...
"I will backhand you so hard,
you idiot of a child."
So, so uh, generally I speak English
because it brings back good memories.
So he can relate with pretty much
everyone right across the board.
And everyone right across the board
can relate with him.
For the South African public
I think that guy
becomes like the everyman,
You know, he is not black,
and he is not white.
He's just, just like whoa,
he's mine, he's everybody's.
As someone who's only been doing comedy
for just over two years,
I don't even think I know fully,
I don't even know myself yet fully.
I think I'm very far
from even calling myself
a good comedian.
I'm just okay for now.
There's something about comedy, man,
there's something about the fact that,
you know, you can just‐‐
you can never get it right.
But then black people
never get a break.
Ever notice that?
You'll say stuff,
and then they'll fix it.
You will be like, "Yeah, that‐‐
that is when I realized
that it was better for us
to be part of 'menagement.'"
[laughter]
"No, no, Jabu, management."
"Eh?"
"It's not 'menagement,'
its management."
"Menagement."
"No, no, management.
Go up early. Management."
"Menagement."
"No, no. Not with your body.
With your words. Management."
"Management."
"Very good. Management."
"Management."
"Well done, Jabu. Well done.
It's wonderful
you can speak so well now.
That's amazing.
Yeah it's great.
Oh, hold on two seconds.
Yes, what's that, Sara?
Mm‐hmm. Really?
Wow, so the country's theirs now.
I see.
'Menagement,' Jabu.
Yes, now teach me,
teach me, teach me."
[cheering]
You've got a country
of 50 million people.
But we don't have
any real comedy clubs.
If we want to perform,
we have to rent out a music club
and it's on their off nights.
So most people don't even know
there's a show going on.
We do have some comedy festivals
but these are pretty rare
and people really come to see
the international acts,
not to see you.
You can't really say
comedy is that big here.
It's big corporate wise, you know.
Yeah, I mean, companies
have now got into the thing
of "Yeah, let's get comedians
'cause we've had
everybody else."
Okay, where will I be performing?
Beside the choir.
Can we go and check that out now?
Yeah.
The faces I pull
while shaving are the same ones
I pull while having sex.
I can't use a razor.
My skin is sensitive
like our country's history.
You're almost faced with the challenge
because as a comedian,
you've got to choose
well, do I want to earn a living,
still doing comedy
and almost being censored?
Because companies in themselves,
they're very careful with regards
to what they accept
and what they don't accept.
You're allowed to swear.
No, I don't.
I don't swear though.
Okay, but everybody‐‐
I swear in like daily life,
you know, but I won't swear in there.
I don't swear in corporates.
I don't swear on stage generally,
but in the streets I'm like,
"Yeah, fuck that shit."
Thank you, thank you very much.
That was one of the worst intros
I've ever got.
[laughter]
This is horrible.
One of‐‐ not the worst,
one of the worst.
Yeah, it was one of the worst.
Am I standing
in front of the projector?
Do I have, like,
"Microsoft" on my head? I do?
Don't you want
to turn that off, please?
It's not a privilege for me
to have somebody say,
"Don't speak about who you really are.
We saw you do what you do,
and that's why we called you.
But now we want you to water that down,
just filter out anything
that might be controversial."
Yeah, you should have spent
a day with me tomorrow.
Then I would have shown you‐‐
not tomorrow, Wednesday‐‐
I would have shown you corporates,
corporates that don't end,
from nine in the morning
until nine at night,
I'll be doing corporates.
Andrew's father, who's a very nice man,
decided to help me out.
He looked over and he said, he said,
well, you know, Andrew,
in some people's cultures...
[music playing]
[woman] Enjoy Siphokhzi.
Enjoy Siphokhzi, ladies and gentlemen.
[cheering]
They can't do that shit to us.
What the fuck?
I can't do that
while people are playing music
in the middle of the‐‐
that never happens.
Can we just move stuff around?
No, moving stuff is fine
but I can't have people
in the middle of our show going...
[vocalizing]
It wasn't that bad.
My performance time
as in the contract was 7 o'clock.
Alright. Okay.
[Trevor] The boss
of the company, he said to me‐‐
what did he say?
He said, he said, "If you don't fucking
get on stage right now,
I'll fucking kill you."
Are we starting?
Are we starting?
You guys at the back,
are you getting sound?
Are you getting sound there?
You good over there?
Everyone good?
You getting‐‐ you're getting too much.
We are trying to have
an important conversation over here.
Okay, I'm gonna
try cut it down for you guys.
I'll try to speak
from this side of my mouth.
Pleasure, Mike.
[Trevor] Every time I think
I can keep doing this,
and then I just I can't.
I can't.
I can't keep doing corporates
for the rest of my life.
[man on radio]
Yo, you're listening
to South Africa's
Number 1 Hip Hop Station,
and I've got some exciting news
for y'all out there.
For the first time ever,
Trevor Noah will be performing
his one man show at "The Daywalker"
at the Lyric Theatre in Gold Reef City.
[Takunda]
Trevor's been in comedy
for two to three years now
and ordinarily, I would not recommend
for a comedian to do a one man show
at this stage of his career.
Normally like a year or two years in,
yes, you might be a funny guy,
whatever, but are you
strong enough a comedian
now to like let your opinions
on the world go up there,
and be assessed and analyzed?
That's the problem
with young comedians.
They haven't learned
the art of comedy yet.
It took me 20 years to get a start.
They're trying to get it in like
a year and a half, two years.
Doesn't work.
As a comedian, you have to develop and,
you know, you find your voice
then you find your feet
and there's a certain sort of journey
that everyone has to travel
until they get to a certain level.
There's still so much more
of his comedy
that he could develop and improve on.
Daywalker is gonna be about my life,
you know, it's‐‐
and I hope it's gonna be
also about the country.
I'm trying to make the show
everything that I am,
everything that I was,
and how I was
influenced by everything
and everyone around me.
My comedy's based
on my life growing up
in South Africa,
so for the biggest show I've ever done,
it's nice to revisit
all the people and places
from my past to help me
prepare my material.
Trevor Noah.
I've never been able
to write out my material.
I just come up with it
and then I try and perform it
as much as possible
and turn it into gags.
Thank you. Thank you, Siya B.
Thank you so much.
This is so cool.
There's more comedians than...
just like people chilling
watching the show.
We should have just gone to each table
and then just picked one person
and just done like
a one‐on‐one session,
and just told them the jokes.
Would have been more effective.
Except for you 'cause you were a shit.
But then, you see this is the one place
where we'll say that
'cause this is like a comedy,
you know, it's that kind of place is
where we're honest with each other
and be like "That was horrible"
and you know, that type of stuff.
I could be horrible as well,
you know what I mean,
and then it would be worse
'cause I'm wearing a suit.
So if I'm horrible in a suit
then they're like,
"What was that about?"
With you they're like, "Yeah,
but he didn't look serious."
You know what I mean.
So it's better.
So I've screwed myself over.
So it could be absolutely horrible,
could be absolutely horrible,
but we'll see.
So much stuff to talk about,
so little time.
Mmm, what should we talk about?
My life, maybe.
I always think your life
is a good place to start.
♪ Daywalker... ♪
In South Africa,
I grew up, I grew up in a world
where, where we're very focused
on race.
I mean, we've only
had democracy for 15 years.
Everyone's go to have
a very specific racial thing, you know.
You're black and you're white
and then don't freak out,
I'm termed colored in South Africa
which isn't a derogatory term.
In South Africa, it means
something totally different.
I grew up in a mixed family,
well, with me being
the mixed one in the family
so, you know,
my father is a white man, Swiss.
My mother is a black woman,
Xhosa, that's born in South Africa.
So that's how I came up like this.
And this was illegal at the time.
You know, you weren't allowed
to have, obviously,
mixed relationships when I was born.
Obviously, my mom and my dad
were rebels, you know?
They had the whole vibe.
My mom was obviously
aspirational, she was like,
"Yeah, I'm going
to get a white man, yeah."
You know.
And then my dad, well...
Well, you know
how the Swiss love chocolates,
so I mean, you know...
I don't, I don't think
my parents considered me at all.
I don't think, I don't think they spent
one second thinking
what color will our child be?
I wanted a child,
and I thought and I then asked him,
let me have a child,
no strings attached.
He didn't like it, but he did it.
Marriage was not in my agenda
because those days it was
illegal for black and white
to cross color and be married.
The laws of apartheid
did now allow that.
I don't even know a definitive date
of when my parents split up.
I just know that I stopped
seeing my father
when he moved to Cape Town.
I said, "You do want me
to help you with anything?
Please tell me."
The kid said,
"Help me to find my father."
I think that the last
birthday card was 11 or 12.
He is no longer
going to see his father,
and that was it.
I had my plans
and I'm sure he had his plans,
so I couldn't move to Switzerland.
Sorry. Sorry. Sorry.
If I had my choice, we would've moved.
[Patricia laughs]
I would have moved.
Ooh, you would've missed
on the sunny South Africa,
sunny Africa no place like home.
I live to the full.
Enjoy, go recklessly,
no reserves, no regrets.
You learn, you live but once.
That's how I am, no,
I don't cry about the past.
I'm very grateful
and I'm at peace with my past.
Let's not lose who we are.
I agree.
Ah.
[speaking in foreign language]
I agree.
Did I scratch you, sweetheart?
Kiss, baba, sorry.
And this is my brother.
His name is Andrew.
Seven years old.
All he does is just like nothing.
He just likes breaking the rules.
Unbelievable.
See the criminals in South Africa.
It never ends.
Just never ends.
That's why us honest citizens
have to just try and,
you know, quell this.
We've just got to try and,
just got to try and stop the crime.
But what do you do
when the crime starts at home?
I mean, every black family,
you got at least one brother
who's gonna go behind bars, you know?
You know, I'm just saying,
I'm not trying to be that cat son.
I'm just not trying
to be that guy, man.
Yo, but I'll visit you, yo.
You know what I mean?
I'll see you when you're there, man.
Isaac!
Oh, did you pump it?
Eh?
Did he pump it?
Yes.
With what?
With a pump.
Your answers seem so simple.
Oh, okay.
His name's Isaac.
He's a 75 year old man.
Part of a failed experiment to try
and create human beings to be younger.
They succeeded, but then
he lost all his memories,
and now he thinks
he's my little brother.
I don't have the heart
to tell him that he's actually
a 75 year old man,
and I know you're thinking
can't he hear me now?
He forgets this every 15 seconds.
He's got like goldfish memory.
I call him‐‐I call him Pops...
[Trevor laughs]
So I'm gonna roll.
Will I find you here?
Yeah.
Okay, I'll see you
when I come back then.
All right, sharp, Isaac.
[speaking in foreign language]
Yeah, I used to,
I used to drive one of these
on this same route.
When I was driving a taxi I was...
22.
It's not the easiest gig
in the world and in the end,
it got, it got hijacked,
you know, got stolen.
So... I'd say a few months
later, then I got into comedy.
I think it was about the second time
I'd actually gone to watch comedy live
and we were at a comedy club
and it was a quiet night,
and you know, my friends were like,
"Yo, man, why don't you
go on stage?"
And I tried out.
I did 5 minutes.
It was cool being the only colored kid.
I remember on the white side,
they treated me special,
"Aww, look at him,
he got a natural tan".
On the black side,
they were a bit more crass.
"Ooh, he's delicious.
This one. Alaah...
It's like he's washing
with the milk. Ooh!"
You know, it's, it's a strange feeling
but it's like I'd always been there,
if that makes sense.
You know, I didn't, I didn't
get on and feel awkward,
I didn't get on the stage and feel like
I didn't know what to do.
It just came naturally,
I just felt like this is
where I should be.
This is what should be doing.
[applause]
In any industry, in anything,
there's politics everywhere as there is
politics in comedy
in South Africa, you know.
Imagine. Comedians been
performing for 10 years, right?
And so you've worked,
you know, you work your butt off,
to get to a certain level
then you get some kid
who's been in business
for a year or two years,
gets on the same stage as you,
and buries you.
[Kagiso] I think a lot
of the older guys are
threatened by the newer guys.
It's evolution, right.
At the end of the day,
the propeller like airplane
is always going to be
looking at the jet engine going,
"Motherfucker,
you're taking
my business away."
Trevor Noah.
Very talented guy, arrogant.
The arrogance that this
man shows is ridiculous.
I mean, you know, because
I don't mind self‐confidence,
everybody‐‐
We're all in this business.
You have to have self‐confidence.
But there's a thin line between
self‐confidence and arrogance.
When you step over that,
that's when the shit begins.
It's hard to say anything about Trevor,
he hasn't already said about himself.
The timing of his life
and his ability is like
the perfect intersection.
He's got to respect that.
To me, he doesn't do that yet.
So I don't see Trevor,
this is gonna sound fucking arrogant,
he's not a comic
as far as I'm concerned.
[man] Do you have
any thoughts on Trevor as well?
Can you just switch
the camera off quickly?
I've heard everything these guys say.
I don't have time for that...
I live my life...
and that's it for me.
I do what I do.
Daywalker.
Actually saw the posting...
the billboard when I was
going to Soweto.
The Daywalker...
sounds quite interesting.
I don't know what the Daywalker means.
Is it similar to...
What's its name?
The...
Vampires' old story, yeah?
I think it would be talking about
all sorts of people in our country
and just the random people
that you find on the street
and the things that would happen...
so that's what I am thinking.
It sounds good.
Then they go...
I'm like‐‐
Then they say, "And..."
[Kagiso]
South African comedy,
it's still very much
a growing industry.
Those of us who are in it,
I think, besides obviously
sustaining a profession and career
and making money from it.
We also have the dual role
of actually developing
our industry at the same time.
The major obstacle
that we face, as comedians,
is that there are so few comedy clubs.
I have met people, and they
say it's the first time
I've ever come to a comedy show.
I've had that more than enough times.
And I go, "Shit."
[Trevor] What scares me
about Daywalker
is not doing it right.
And that's pretty much it.
Man, it's just so huge.
And we don't know what one‐man shows
are really in South Africa.
Not on a wide scale.
I mean, I've never been
part of something
this big in my life, you know.
It's...
we're starting something new.
[Dave] People hate on Trevor,
but they don't realize there is a need
for Trevor to open it up for everybody.
Then, when I do my one‐man show,
then people will go,
"Oh, it's a one‐man show.
Remember that thing Trevor Noah did?
Dave is doing it now."
[Trevor] If people don't like
your one‐man show,
it's not just
you that they'll blacklist.
In South Africa,
you represent the industry
every time you go out there.
Because standup comedy
is still so new here,
it's still so small, so if you're bad,
then we're all bad.
Thank you very much.
How you guys doing?
[cheering]
Great, thank you.
My name is Trevor Noah.
[speaking in foreign language]
Oh, we love bananas in Africa.
♪ Welcome to the daylight
village and slums ♪
♪ Let's walk to this
progress of poverty ♪
♪ While I be
killin' them drums ♪
♪ Mr. Daywalker ♪
♪ Rip up a floor
with my knicker... ♪
When we lived in Hillbrow,
which is downtown Johannesburg,
I lived in an all‐white
neighborhood with my dad.
But I had to stay with my mom,
and my mom had to act
like she was the maid...
which was really strange for all of us.
How are you?
I'm good, man.
You know, I used to stay here.
Yeah.
That's the Hillbrow Tower.
That used to be
the tallest structure in Africa.
This used to be like
the symbol of like our success.
And now it's almost become
the symbol of
the inner city and its demise.
♪ I said, watch out
for the evil one ♪
♪ We call it home... ♪
When apartheid ended, people panicked.
They just panicked and they ran away,
like all the white people.
Some of them even left their houses.
They didn't even try to sell them.
They literally dropped
everything and they ran.
This seems ridiculous,
but this is what they did.
Because everyone ran away,
there was no regulation of this.
'Cause now you just had
all these empty buildings.
So now what you had was a sudden
influx of black people
into the inner city.
It was a free‐for‐all.
It was chaos.
The inner city just became,
it just became decrepit.
You know, I mean,
it's a bit better now,
but it just became like a slum now.
Every single time elections
come up in South Africa,
people always start to panic, you know.
Every since our first
democratic elections in 1994,
Nelson Mandela was about
to become president,
people started panicking.
You remember that?
There were people, you'd hear them,
"I'm leaving.
I'm going to Australia.
I'm going.
It's been fun, Mary,
but it's time to go,
hey, time to go.
They're gonna take over now."
And then Mr. Mandela
became president
and they all stayed.
"He's a wonderful man,
wonderful man."
"If it wasn't for him
I would have left, hey.
A wonderful man,
yeah, he's really great."
Next elections came,
Thabo Mbeki was about
to become president,
people panicked again.
"I'm leaving! I'm going
to Australia, I'm going!
I said, I'm leaving, Mary, hey.
Now that Mandela's gone
you know they're gonna eat us.
It's time to go.
I'm going. I'm going to Perth."
And then Thabo became president
and once again they all stayed.
He left.
[applauding and cheering]
Then it was Kgalena Mothlanthe's turn.
Yeah. In and out.
That was so cool.
People panicked then, didn't they?
"I didn't even vote!
I didn't even vote.
I can't believe it.
One minute I go to bed
and Thabo Mbeki's president.
And the next thing I wake up
and we've got Kgalena Mothlanthe.
I can't believe it!
I'm going to Australia.
I'm going."
Oh, and then it was Jacob Zuma...
Ooh...
The original Boogeyman.
Yeah, that's
when you hear people panicking.
Things were different
now in South Africa
'cause for the first time
in our history
you heard black people going,
"Eesh, how much is that ticket
to Australia again?"
Get your pockets right, son.
Get your pockets right.
This is where we must watch
for pickpockets, son.
Yeah, this is where I grew up
all over here, you know.
This is where I used to come
and play with my mom.
This was the park,
this was like the spot to be.
I used to chase pigeons here
when I was little, a youngin' yeah.
I kicked them
but they were asking for it.
Everyone walked individually
and then we'd meet up
at like a rendezvous point.
I had a colored woman
who'd walk with me.
Someone who looked like
she could be my mom and then,
that's how we used to roll.
Well, 'cause of the
laws of the land, you know.
You couldn't walk with a mixed family.
There's no‐‐ You shouldn't
even have a mixed family.
I wasn't even supposed to exist.
I was like Project X.
If you're a mixed race child
from a black person
and a white person,
then you are colored.
That's actually a racial group.
I always say I'm colored by
'color' but not by culture.
'Cause in South Africa,
they are an actual culture.
Mixed race people
from the very beginning.
From the time of the Dutch Settlers,
they stayed together
and they made their own culture.
They became their own people
'cause they weren't allowed
to mix and diversify.
South Africa was so segregated
into the different racial groups
that to have anyone
that's not the same color
in your family
is just such a ludicrous thing.
So, I mean, in the township,
a lot of people don't believe
that my grandmother's my grandmother.
She tells people.
I'm sure they think
she's senile, you know.
My brother would tell people,
he'd be like
"That's my brother."
And they be like
"That's not your brother.
Why is he not
the same skin color as you?"
'Cause it's just very strange
in South Africa
to have any sort of mixed‐ness
in your family.
It's still very new.
So I grew up in a country
where I look like
a certain group of people,
but I'm not like them.
I didn't grow up like them,
but the people
I did grow up like,
I don't look like them.
I don't even like
the term "colored."
I like to think of myself
more like a B.E.E.
baby, you know.
Yeah, you laugh but it's true
'cause I'm like mixed,
you know.
I've got like
a percentage share‐‐like
it's that type of thing.
It's like a whole deal.
I know some people
get picky and they're like,
"Oh, well if you're B.E.E.
then who's got more shares?
Are you 51% white or 51% black?"
I'm like well, I don't know,
I don't know.
I think sometimes I'm 51% black.
I, I generally think that.
Although I must admit sometimes
when I go to the toilet
and stand next to a man from Venda,
I wish I had a little more
black empowerment.
But I'll plant the tree.
You know.
See the Venda guy
at the back he's like, "Dah...
Did you hear that, baby?
And you thought I had two legs."
I went to the UK not so long ago.
That was interesting.
I got out there.
I was doing a few shows and while I was
backstage at one of the comedy gigs
and I was talking to a comedian.
And he was, he was really interested
and he was like, "Oh that's amazing,
Trevor, that's amazing.
So tell me, where you from,
yeah, where you from?"
I said,
"Well, I'm from South Africa."
He was like, "Ooh, South Africa.
That's amazing,
yeah, that's amazing."
"That's amazing.
So what are you, Zulu?"
[laughter]
I said, "No, actually, actually,
I'm not Zulu, I'm colored."
And he said, "Oi, don't say that.
That's racist, all right?
That's racist.
Don't call yourself 'colored,' right?
That's a racist term.
Nobody calls themselves that
and you shouldn't either right?
You're free here, brother, you're free.
Don't call yourself that,
it's not, it's not right.
It's not right, all right?
Don't call yourself 'colored,'
you call yourself
'mixed race,' all right?
Mixed race."
That's a PC term "mixed race."
On the flip side,
you come to South Africa
and say to a colored person,
"Excuse me,
are you mixed race?"
They'll probably be like,
"Yo ma's mixed race"
So you must be careful.
For a new comedian,
who's still developing
or who's still sort of making his mark,
a lot of theaters are rather reluctant,
you know, to take the risk and say,
"What, just a one‐man show,
just you on your own?"
We were lucky enough
that the Lyric Theater,
which is probably
one of the best theaters
in the country, you know,
they were in between productions
and they said, "Okay,
look, we got two days.
So if you guys think
you can sell two shows
in that time,
go ahead and do it."
And which bar does it drop from?
If you look up there,
I've already put the curtain up.
[Trevor] I'm not just
performing on this show.
I'm producing the show myself,
so if things go bad,
it's all my fault.
It's on me.
People don't really buy tickets,
well, most people don't buy tickets
until the day of the show.
So you don't even know
if you've sold enough
until you literally
walk out onto stage.
It's just you, you know.
You can't blame it on the show
if things don't go well.
You can't do it again.
I don't think I ever...
fully comprehended how...
how scary that actually is.
♪ Stand up, stand up ♪
♪ Come on, come on ♪
♪ Prime time struggle ♪
♪ The land with
your fire trouble ♪
♪ Do jack saw in my backyard ♪
♪ Is how I define trouble ♪
Under apartheid,
people of color were forced by
the white government to live
in impoverished townships.
So there was no,
"Well, I feel like living in..."
No, no, no, no.
You live in the township.
Soweto, black people.
Lenasia, Indian people.
Your color determined
where you could live.
Soweto was built in such a way that if,
if they needed to, they could block off
all the exit points
'cause it's like a basin.
So they were like,
"If the black people
ever get out of hand,
we'll, um, get our airplanes
and we'll get all of that stuff
and then what we'll do is we'll,
we'll blow these people up."
[singing in foreign language]
My comedy's based on memories.
A lot of my comedy is from
when I was in the township.
You know people say to me,
"Why do you go back
to the township?"
I don't go back to the township,
the township's part of my life.
It's, it's a place where I lived.
And it's, and it's a place
where I lived not
because I wanted to,
but because as a people
we were forced to by the government.
So I don't go back to the township,
I go to visit my grandmother.
So this is it, this is where I grew up.
As you can see my granny's ballin'.
She's got a wall, yeah, you know
you got to have that wall.
It's like MTV Cribs, yeah, you know,
you got to have that wall.
You got to have that painted gate,
you know what I mean?
Yeah, that's right,
that's right, we be rollin'
like that hard.
This is the township.
This is how we used to do it.
This was my driveway,
but we never had a car.
It was just like a cool thing to have.
If you had a driveway
but you didn't have a car,
you were ambitious, that was the key.
We started running out of space
so people would move in,
and then they'd pay rent
to you to like,
fill up the area.
So this was our house,
then everyone lived on the outside.
This is the toilet,
this is the most horrible thing ever,
ever invented
'cause you had to come outside,
so you never wanted to need
the toilet late at night.
[woman] No.
'Cause then‐‐
Oh, there's someone in there.
Sorry.
You see that's what would happen,
then you'd be like 'no' and then
it's exactly the same thing.
[speaking in foreign language]
We didn't know
there was anyone in there.
We didn't have "occupied."
And then this is my number one lady,
this is my number one.
This is my gran.
[speaking in foreign language]
Yes, yes. Here as you can see,
I got my height from her.
This is my gran, Francis Noah.
How old are you now, Gogo?
Eighty‐two.
Eighty‐two years old.
She still works, she still,
she still catches
all those taxis that you see,
she doesn't want to retire.
She still scrubs... the floor.
She still cleans.
Yeah.
This is my gran, rock and roll.
Eighty‐two years old.
And I rock and roll.
Eighty‐two years old.
Eighty‐two years old.
Eighty‐two years old.
[speaking in foreign language]
You hear my gran?
She just said,
"He was naughty."
Yep, yep, hidings, hidings I got.
This is cool.
Where's your car?
It's outside.
I'll show it to you.
Is it, is it safe?
It's...
It's gonna be fine.
Did you leave
somebody there at the car?
No, it'll be fine.
They can't steal it, Gogo.
Are you sure?
Mmm, they can't.
Is there magic there?
There's no magic.
They can't steal it.
You'll be surprised.
No, they won't.
And people are watching it,
there's so many people there.
So many people, do you know
what type of people are those?
They might be hijackers.
Ah, Trevor. You‐‐
Gogo, you worry too much.
Did I sleep in this one?
I don't even remember which one.
I just remember
getting hidings in here.
This is, this is the bedroom,
this is like it, everything.
And you had to make do.
And uh, you'd live, maybe two of you
or three of you could live in here,
you know if family needed you to.
This is where...
this is where it all was.
So there were like eight of us,
eight or nine of us that used to live‐‐
eight, nine, sometimes
ten depending on who was...
So we would sleep here a lot.
Like, we'd sleep on the couches and...
Kids.
Kids.
We used to sleep on the floor, yeah.
On the couch and on the floor.
It was really normal,
it was just like...
you know, that's what we did.
And everybody was so happy.
So, yeah. So this is it.
That's as small as it is,
ten people living here.
I mean, this was it.
It brings back such memories
I think I might cry. Wow.
Don't cry.
No, I won't cry
'cause the camera's on me
and I'm just gonna look good, you know.
Yeah.
Oh, wow, that's still up there,
"In everything give thanks."
Because you can't buy life.
Yeah.
Gogo, let me be off.
Please, you walk me out,
so that they don't think
I just walked in by myself.
Let them see you with your grandson.
With my grandson.
Mmm. So that they say that‐‐
I've got to be on that side, eh?
It doesn't matter which side...
It doesn't matter which side you're on.
[singing in foreign language]
[speaking in foreign language]
I knew, I knew, I knew I could never
bring my imaginary friend back
to my grandmother's house in Soweto,
Gogo, wait.
Say hello to Imagine‐Imagine
my imaginary friend.
"Eh? What's that?"
He's imaginary.
"What he's shy?"
No, like, you can't see him.
"Cause he's hiding."
No. He's invisible, Gogo.
Only I can see him.
"Oh really?
He's a witch, he's a witch!"
Next thing you know,
I'll be getting
the beatings of my lifetime.
"You're going to take Imagine,
you're going to take Imagine.
Going to take‐‐"
No, Gogo. Gogo! It's sore!
"Just imagine it's not,
just imagine."
Andrew, help me!
"Hello, Andrew, welcome."
[vocalizing]
In this country, we're still dealing
with the scars of apartheid.
We're still dealing with
trying to reconcile
all this races
and ethnic cultures into one society.
So... and that's why it ends up
being subject of choice
for so many comedians, you know.
And also, comedy is about conflict,
human interaction and conflict.
Yeah, so like, if like a black person
and a white person try to kiss,
then these guys in uniforms
would come and kick them.
[vocalizing]
But then like,
but they wouldn't kick everyone,
they just kick the black people.
[vocalizing]
And then they'd tell the white people,
"Don't do that again.
I know it was a mistake,
so don't do it again.
You..."
[vocalizing]
There is a need to use
your voice to tell your audience
what they feel
and then you can sugar coat it
because you tell it in a joke,
even though you're telling the truth.
We can talk back.
We can say, "Look here, man.
This is not the way
to do shit."
I become a voice for people
who sort of voiceless.
If you're poor
you could not give a fuck
about global warming
'cause what is global warming?
"Ooh, if we don't save the earth,
ooh, then
we might die in 200 years."
Poor people are like,
"Yeah, but if I don't eat now,
I will die next week.
Next week, that will be my ass.
Next week, I'll be fucked."
You want to be heard,
you want to be heard.
I think everyone wants to be heard.
I think people who hide behind facades,
"Oh, don't say this, don't say this,"
it's like rubbish,
I mean, come on, the truth.
The more we tell the truth,
the quicker we'll get to the
front of the line, you know,
the better, the better chance we stand.
That's the problem with South Africa
is that too many people
don't want to admit the things.
So they don't want to admit
that shit is wrong,
they don't want to admit
that there's still
massive levels of poverty.
They don't want to admit that AIDS is,
you know, is something
that's destroying the Nation.
They just don't‐‐
Nobody wants to admit anything.
We just want to live in this
hoo‐ha Utopia world
and it's not like that.
As a comedian, you've got,
you got the platform to tell the truth.
You got to be that guy
out there saying those things.
And, I mean,
I mess around a lot of the time,
you know, I'm not even the guy.
I always admire, like Loyiso for that
because Loyiso is the
kind of guy who says that.
It was crazy.
And I was walking down Long Street
during the campaign time.
I was walking down Long Street
and I was walking
and I'm walking against the traffic.
And I can see these DA posters...
and I'm thinking
"Well, it's a one way street
and I'm walking
against the traffic..."
[laughter]
That's a cocked plan.
Then I thought to myself, who goes,
I mean, that's how you lose a thing.
You know what I mean,
what about the people
who are driving,
they don't see the posters.
It's only the people
walking against that,
and then I thought about it,
who votes for the DA anyway?
Paranoid white people,
they drive around like this.
[laughter]
The white Cape Townians still fear
coming to the townships.
Today you meet someone and they're like
I've never been to a township,
I've never been to Gugeletu
and the person lives
right across the street...
It's like ten minutes away, you know.
I don't know what they're scared of.
I don't know what they expect to find.
I don't know what they expect to find.
This is an invite to white people
who are freaked out about the ghetto.
Check it out.
It's cool. It's cool.
You might like it.
You actually might want to move here.
Settle down with the kids.
I'm from Cape Town, man.
I grew up in‐‐in Guguletu.
[cheering]
Yeah man, I grew up there man.
I was actually back there today man.
It was quite cool.
Do you white people know
where Guguletu is?
[cheering]
Well you should know,
you put us there motherfuckers.
[cheering and applauding]
Well they must not give me
this bullshit about
it's their first time
to be able to speak.
Bullshit these guys
were one or two years old
when we had the transition.
They had fifteen years.
Maybe it's a therapeutic
thing for them.
Maybe it's good to talk about
the apartheid thing.
But when do you say enough is enough.
The black and white experience,
it's enough now.
It's gone. It's finished.
We must get past that.
A black guy will get up
and one of the first things,
"So you know what it was like
when we were in the townships?"
And I'm like
you've got to be kidding me.
Like a guy gets chosen
because he's a young black
South African,
not because
he's a professional comedian.
They have B.E.E. policies.
They have to hire black people
or colored people
for black economic empowerment.
They all went
to private schools you know.
So they must not give me this bullshit
that they were
previously disadvantaged.
Like sometimes you'll tell a joke
and you get a racist crowd
that will laugh at it
taking it the wrong way.
It's because of apartheid.
Because you can't blame
the whole thing on...
This shit is only fifteen years ago.
Yeah, but it ended fifteen years ago,
but then you must remember
it's not like it's instant.
Do you know what I mean?
It's not instant.
I don't understand.
People always say
hey you black people must get
over this apartheid shit.
No one in the world will go,
yeah you know, you know,
you Jews must forget
about this Holocaust, yeah please.
You know what I'm saying?
Because with atrocities
there's no measurement.
There's no instrument that measures
how much an atrocity or how,
you don't go how the
Holocaust was worse than
Bosnia or Bosnia was worse than,
you know what I'm saying?
You just have to respect them.
In South Africa,
we've always suffered
from segregated audiences.
It's always...
is it a white show?
Is it a black show?
Is it a colored show?
Who's gonna come to the show?
There's so much
we share in common
that we don't even realize.
And when you laugh at the same things,
you start realize
how much you actually share.
Every show is like‐‐
who is the audience going to be?
I just want it to be you‐‐
you South Africans‐‐
not even South Africans,
internationals‐‐ just human beings.
You know what I mean.
Just‐just if you're human
just come to the show.
I'm not saying dogs mustn't come,
but I'm just saying like
if you're human, you know?
Just come to the show,
that's all I want.
I don't want it to be about age
or race or religion or anything.
It's not about that.
It's about people.
Jacob Zuma was supposed to be
the craziest president
South Africa ever had.
It was the only reason
that I voted for him.
This is madness.
I look at him.
He's comes in
and he wears a tie and a suit.
He's stopped singing.
He's got a cabinet that looks like
they know what they are doing.
He's going to fight corruption
and he even fired
Manto Tshabalala Msimang.
I was expecting a mad man,
a crazy guy someone who was
just going to throw the country away.
And look who I got,
someone who's actually doing their job.
I can't believe it.
Once again the ANC
has failed to deliver.
[laughter]
I wanted Jacob to be wild.
I pictured this guy
walking into Parliament
four hours late
not even wearing a shirt,
you know, his tummy hanging out,
walking in there,
wearing a little plastic crown,
busy singing to himself.
Helen Zille and the other guys
in Parliament losing it:
"Jacob, you're late,
you can't just come here!
You can't come four hours late,"
Hey, shut up, shut up.
Hey, shut up, hey...
Late for who, late for who?
Late for who?
It's my time now.
Hey, hey, shut up.
Yeah.
I thought he was gonna be crazy,
you know, Helen then fighting with him,
"No, Jacob,
you can't just run this place
the way you want."
Jacob getting
angry whipping his penis out
hitting on the forehead.
[vocalizing]
No, 'cause I mean it's not sore,
it's not sore.
It just makes
that sound you know like...
You know, like that.
And I mean like what are
you going to do if someone
does that to you, like, what,
are you gonna go to the police?
Like, what do you, what do you do?
What do you tell them?
I mean, is it assault
or is it sexual harassment?
How does it work?
You know, I just, I just...
You never know.
I mean, what do you even say
at the Police Station?
Can you imagine walking in there
and them asking you that question?
You'd be there, "And then?
He... who hit you? Who?
With what?
On your head?
Just, just tell this guy.
Tell him what happened.
Tell him.
I'm not laughing, I'm not laughing.
Hey.
Yeah.
Either you are very short,
or he's very gifted, eh?"
[Rabin on computer]
So do you know that look a girl
gives you before she wants sex?
Yeah, me neither.
It doesn't happen.
And you can't,
you can't start with a sex gag.
You must, you must start with gags
that tell us who you are, like first.
Why don't you introduce yourself?
It takes like a second.
What? To say, "Good evening?"
Yeah.
I always wanted to get, get a laugh
in the first 30 seconds.
Either that or‐‐
Yes, but not a sex‐laugh though.
It's just very, like...
Alienating lots of people,
like it just doesn't work
for all the crowd.
Like if my mom was watching
then she'd already be thrown.
She'd be like "Ah, this guy."
'Cause you're the king of,
like, short gags.
So you've got the luxury
of bringing your gags,
just giving, yeah, like have
the, the right intro, yeah.
So sex must be like in the middle...
Yeah, in the middle of the set...
and it must be in the
middle after a gag that kills.
Dude, it's like a horrible gag
is like a horrible girlfriend.
You keep doing her until
somebody tells you to stop.
No.
But these guys have the blazing.
They're fucking‐‐
Stop it.
Stop, stop protecting her.
She's no good for you.
Just leave it. Just leave it.
She's no good for you.
So I read recently
that Joburg is getting
it's first sperm bank,
and I got a bit sad.
See, like, this was just unnecessary.
I think you must say
it like it's a sad thing.
That's where you‐‐ that's where
the sad emotion comes in.
So you go,
this is you, you go, you go...
You say:
"They opened the sperm bank
and I got really depressed."
You got to say that.
But then I'm smiling when
I'm saying it and that's weird.
Or do you think that's funny
because I'm saying that I got‐‐
But you're a comedian, you can smile
while people are dying, as a comedian.
You can be like "My gran died,"
You could. As a comedian
you can do all of that.
They never believe you anyway.
So... like, like
when my mom got shot when,
two weeks ago,
my mom got shot in the head.
Really?
Yeah.
Then when I said it on stage,
everyone was just like‐‐
Then they, they don't‐‐
What happened to your mom?
She got shot in the head.
She got shot twice.
Like when you‐‐
Up the road, here.
Seventh avenue.
Wow.
Yeah. Just...
[man] Whose mom?
My mom.
My younger brother phones me.
He's like,
"Trevor, where are you?"
He says, "Come to the,
the hospital now."
So I'm, like, "Okay.
Something's obviously wrong."
But I think something's wrong with him.
Then he says, "Mom got shot."
When he's telling me the story,
the guy, he came out he was‐‐
she was on the street and then
[gunshot]
the guy shot her.
[gunshot]
The guy shot her in the head.
I was just freaking out.
So I drive to the clinic.
I get there, and there's
blood all over her face,
there's just like,
you know, like it's just open,
there's blood everywhere.
You know, like she sees me
and then she's like, "Uh, uh..."
She's like trying to talk in the end,
you know, I'm just like,
"Whoa."
I'm just, "I'm gone."
I love, I love South Africa,
I really do.
I love this place with all my heart.
And then this was the first time
when I was like,
"I'll leave."
Well, obviously I was, I was surprised
that that happened to his mom.
I don't think
he intended to talk about it.
I think that the conversation
just lent itself to him outing it.
Yeah, I mean that is something
you want to tell someone.
You'd be choking yourself
by not telling someone else.
My dad's killing was 11 years ago.
My, my dad was shot and killed
like for a cell phone.
Which again, it was, you know how...
to show the‐‐ I don't want
to say how common it is,
but how these things
happen in South Africa,
but it's not, it's not uncommon.
We're desensitized to crime.
People get like a loved one
killed or shot to get whatever.
Sure, the personal tragedy's big,
but it just seems as if we all...
we all just get back on with it.
[Trevor]
After my mom was shot,
she's the one who basically went,
"No man,
things need to keep running,
things need to keep going."
'Cause she was
in the hospital and I was like,
"I can't, I can't go
make people laugh after this,
you know, I have to, I have
to chill with you and stuff."
She was like,
"No, you need to go out there
and make money."
I was like, "Forget money."
And she was like, "No, no, no.
Maybe now is a good time to tell you,
I don't have
medical aid."
And I was like, "Oh wow.
Okay," I was like, "Okay.
Maybe I should go out
and make some money."
You never put something
like that behind you.
I can't wait and I shouldn't wait.
Why should I wait?
If anything, an experience like my mom
getting shot shows you
why you shouldn't wait.
I've got to go on and do the show.
The Daywalker.
No, I don't know what that means.
I don't know what that means.
The Daywalker?
No idea. No idea.
Yeah, I don't know
what the Daywalker means, no.
The one president
that was always the furthest
from being crazy was
Nelson Mandela, you know?
And I mean, Mandela recently turned 91.
I, I just can't help
wondering to myself,
when you turn 91,
wouldn't you throw a huge party?
You know, I mean, you're 91 years old.
I would‐‐ I don't know.
If I turned 91, I'd get wasted.
I'd just be that guy, you know.
You have all these
famous people visiting you,
throw this huge party,
knocking down the tequilas,
having a good time.
But I know people never
want to think of it.
No, Mandela doesn't get drunk, no.
People don't want anything‐‐
they're like, no, Mandela doesn't fart.
His bum just suggests things.
He's got that vibe, you know.
But I mean he's still a man
at the end of the day, you know.
I would have loved for him
to let just loose
and get totally wasted on his birthday.
It would be so crazy
seeing Madiba pop out
like into the garden,
you know,
out of nowhere, his shirt open.
There he is,
one of those colorful ones.
Him walking around...
"I'm fine. I'm fine.
Do you know who I am?
Do you know...
Don't touch me.
Who are these people?
Who's that?
Ah, Bill Clinton. Bill.
Come, come here, Bill, come here.
[speaking foreign language]
Thank you for coming, eh.
Let, let me tell you a joke, Bill.
Let me tell you a joke.
I did not have sexual relations
with that woman.
[laughing]
That, that was a good one.
I'm just saying.
Oh, oh, here comes Julius.
And he's going to talk...
[vocalizing]
I was also president
of the Youth League.
[vocalizing]
Julius is killing me.
Two seconds.
Julius. Six times five.
Okay, he's fine.
It will be‐‐ it's fine.
He'll be there for hours.
Yeah, let's carry on.
Let's carry on.
Okay we're going to drink, all of us.
We're going to drink.
But before we drink,
I want to propose a toast.
All those people who thought
I wouldn't make it to 2010.
Yeah, he'll never make it,
he'll never make it.
I'm still here at 91...
91, yeah, 91.
Even Michael Jackson died before me.
Even Michael died before me.
Yeah, Michael Jackson.
[vocalizing]
Who's bad now?"
[thunder rumbling]
Coming there from Sunday,
I got busted.
Went in this side and went out there.
I'm not bitter about it all.
I became better.
Number one, I celebrate life.
It's a miraculous healing that today
I'm here talking to you.
I have a stiff, stiff jaw
but that's minor.
All my senses are here.
I can still jump and dance in church
and break my heels.
So what more? What more?
What more? What more?
We look at religion
in two different ways.
Someone will shoot at my mom.
She will believe
that God will protect her
from the bullets.
Yes.
I believe God gave me
the reflexes to duck.
[Patricia laughs]
I was just gonna say you must,
you must make sure about
your court dates though.
I'm not worried‐‐
No, you see you always say that to me.
Just listen to me, you know,
I'm just saying. Please.
Listen, sweetheart.
You are in control.
You do what you are in control of.
Yes, but that‐‐
but are you not in control of that?
You're not in control of...
No, but you're in control
of your dates.
That's what I'm asking you.
You're not.
You are, because if you‐‐
if you have given it all, knowing‐‐
it's your‐‐
y‐you should know.
Did you get [indistinct]
I did, sweetheart.
I've done that.
That's what it must be.
I've done that part.
And I do think you see it is
in your control...
just to show a level of interest
after you've been shot in the head.
Just a little bit of‐‐
little bit of interest.
[laughs]
Just a little bit.
Okay.
A little bit.
Okay.
You know there's not many
countries in the world
where a person can shoot
someone in the head
and then get bail.
That's just, does‐‐ it's the
most ludicrous thing ever.
Those are times when you just‐‐
you do want to escape.
Yes, you want to escape.
I have tension
with my love of South Africa
as much as every man has tension
with the land that he lives in.
I don't know what would have
happened if my mom died.
I might have left or it might
have been the catalyst
that made me stay here
and fight even more.
I, I don't know.
I do need to leave though.
Just for a little bit.
I just can't keep going on like this
without taking a break.
You know it does,
it's got that feeling.
It's just got that feeling like
anything can happen, you know.
Like your wildest dreams can come true.
I dream of becoming a waiter.
I just feel like
this town can cater to me.
Oh, Inglewood.
I'm loving it already because there's,
there's references
from rap songs out here.
Wow, are those Mexicans
doing the garden?
You don't know how strange
this is for me,
driving in a neighborhood
where there's like no walls.
Yeah, I mean, people
will say things like,
"Hey, I thought you wanted to get away.
You know, don't you need a break
from comedy
and everything else?"
But I just can't help it.
I start off on a holiday
and the next thing you know,
I'm up on stage again.
I just, I have to be up there.
I just hope people like it.
Yes.
You know there's
two things that make it,
make you more nervous.
It's hearing how loud a crowd can be
and then how quiet
they can be on the flip side.
Because if they can be really loud,
then the silence
becomes so much louder.
[woman]
Coming to the stage next,
we have a gentlemen,
he's from South Africa.
Mm‐hmm, yep.
So I want a big, loving, supportive LA
welcome to this next dude.
Let's hear it for South African native
Mr. Trevor Noah.
But I've, I've realized Americans,
Americans have a very strange
perception of Africa.
I don't blame you guys
though, you know.
It's 'cause of the images
that you're fed on TV.
You know, the stuff that you see of us.
You just get all these
UNICEF ads, you know.
Those infomercials, those are horrible.
That's all I've seen of home, you know.
You've got these people
and they're really gaunt
and they're skinny
and they're just like, you know.
And they've got the Kwashiorkor
and everything
and they just look
as horrible as possible.
They just get there and you
know, they are shooting this,
and then Penelope Cruz
will start talking
as the woman's holding her
starving baby in her arms
and will come in and be like,
"Every year, more than
5 million children
are starving in Africa.
You can make a difference if you
donate $10 dollars a month.
You can donate a family's life
and you can change everything.
Look at this child."
And they show you the kid and you know,
and they go in there, and I understand,
I understand this is
a painful thing. I understand.
But I just don't understand
the small elements.
Why do they include that, you know.
Why is it that in every single
one of these infomercials,
why do they always have to have
these people with the fly?
What is up with that fly?
I don't understand this.
What is, what is going on with the fly?
It's always the flies.
And it's not just
the flies in the shot.
It's not just the shot.
It's not just the flies
there but they've got the flies
and they sit in a very specific place.
They always sit on their mouth,
like always on the top lip.
It's always on the top.
How do they get the fly?
I've tried, it's very difficult
to get a fly to sit on your top lip.
How do they achieve this goal?
I'm sitting there
watching this, you know.
And they always get it.
It's almost like they don't
shoot without the fly, now.
It's like the fly
has become the watermark
of a starving African.
Is it like a trained fly?
Is it one of your Disney flies?
Is it one of those?
Is it one of those?
"Come on boy, come on boy,
get in there and...
stay.
Okay, we're ready, and 'Action'"
"Every year, more than
5 million children are starving.
You can make a difference
if you donate $100."
It's just madness.
What is it?
And it angers me.
It really does.
I understand.
There's people starving.
Yes, there are people
starving in Africa.
I do understand this.
There are people starving.
But I don't, I don't understand
why they need to make us look that bad.
And yes, I will say it.
They do make us look bad.
They make the whole of Africa look bad.
They make me look bad.
And they make me angry.
'Cause I grew up
in a black family in Africa.
And no matter how poor we were,
no matter how hungry
we were, no matter what,
we could still do this...
The show was amazing.
He's really in tune with
the differences of the culture,
and he totally nailed it,
the way that he brought that
and applied it to an American
audience, like,
he had the whole place hysterical.
I didn't know if the comedy
would translate,
but the comedy did translate.
I liked his American accent.
"Oh, my God.
Oh, my God, you're from Africa.
How did you get here?"
Never thought of South Africa is place
that a comedian was gonna come from.
[woman 1] So exciting.
Thank you.
[woman 2] You were awesome.
Thank very much.
Thank you.
I'm‐I'm having a great time.
Pleasure to meet you.
Pleasure meeting you.
Yes. Sorry.
You're totally LA'd out right now.
I am?
You are totally LA.
That's good to know.
Good to know that I'm fitting
in a little bit.
But I am a stand‐up comedian
from South Africa, Johannesburg.
Do you know where that is?
Yes, no?
I only ask that
because I realize Americans
don't know a lot about South Africa.
In fact, I've realized Americans
don't know much about Africa.
In fact, I've realized Americans
don't know much about anything.
[laughter]
'Cause you guys have
those very strange names
like Da'Shawn
and‐‐and Requanda,
and all of those things.
And you always ask people
where they got the name,
and they say, "It's African."
We don't‐‐we don't have
those kinds of names.
[audience laughs]
My family threw this huge party for me.
They were like, "Yeah.
You're going to America.
This is the best day
of your life."
I was like, "No, it's not."
They're like "It is, it is."
Like, why?
They're like, "Because
for the first time in your life,
you're going to be black."
I was like,
"What are you talking about?"
They were like, "Well, in America,
they can't call you colored.
That's racist.
They're going to have
to call you black."
I was like, "Really?" and they
were like, "Yes, really."
I did research, and found it's true.
So when I sat on a plane for 18 hours,
I watched black American movies,
started practicing being black.
'Cause I've always wanted to be black.
That is so cool.
You got that thing, you know.
Just sat there watching
like all my gangster movies,
you know, Boyz n the Hood and stuff.
And as we landed I was so happy
and I was fluent in my black American,
"Fo‐shizzle my nizzle."
Yeah.
And as I walked
into the terminal building,
the first guy that spoke
to me was actually a cleaner.
He looked up at me and he said
to me, he was like...
[speaking foreign language]
Eighteen hours of flying,
and I still wasn't black.
I was a Mexican.
[Trevor] When I went to
the States for the first time,
it was, it was strange to see the fact
that they don't understand
what the concept of South Africa is.
And I don't blame them.
Instead of going,
"Those people are ignorant,
they don't know anything about us,"
I'd rather say my goal is to go there,
and try and give them a better
picture of who we are.
[school bell ringing]
I would like to welcome
Trevor Noah to class.
Can you guys say good morning, please?
[students]
Good morning, Trevor.
Hey.
You guys are pretty good at that.
He's real excited to be here today
and I know you guys
have a ton of questions.
Do you like the Los Angeles
vibes so far or do‐‐
would you rather be back
at home right now?
I like LA.
You know it's interesting.
I mean there's things
I've seen out here
that I've never seen before.
What?
Like what?
Uh, like Latino people.
You don't have, you don't
have New Year's?
No, we've got New Year's.
Everybody's got.
We got a calendar.
Everybody with a calendar
has New Year's.
Do you have any favorite movies?
The Matrix.
The Lion King.
I love the Lion King.
[girl] I love the Lion King.
I love the Lion King.
I love it.
Yeah, I love the Lion King
'cause the Lion King
is so close to my heart.
You know it's like,
what, it's like us at home.
Like we walk 'round
the streets like just sing
'A‐weema‐weh.
A‐weema‐weh.'
So I love the Lion King.
So the same way you guys think
that we like ride elephants
and run off the lions and stuff.
Like the same,
and that's, that's the same way
when we think of like Mexicans
we just think of...
[vocalizing]
It's like the same.
[teacher] When you see
commercials for Africa
or when you see
advertisements or movies...
[girl] You see like animals.
You see animals.
You see poverty.
You see, um, disease.
You see all of these things.
You don't think when I told you
that he was a comedian,
you guys all stared at me like,
"They have comedy there?
They laugh?"
How do you go from
your experience to comedy?
Yeah, there's nothing funny about it.
In life, you always choose
to see things
in a good or bad way.
You know, it's, it's your outlook.
It's how you choose to perceive it.
So you can choose to perceive
things in a positive way
even if they're negative.
And for me that's what
comedy really is about.
Good or bad.
I will, I will speak about it
and you can make it funny.
It just depends on how you look at it.
The one thing I really appreciated
about going to LA was seeing
how much potential
we have in this country
for comedy.
My, my dream for Daywalker
is that it will be remembered
as one of the shows,
one of the many shows,
that helped comedians
to own their destiny.
♪ I'mma get what's needed ♪
♪ Because I want it ♪
♪ I gotta have it ♪
♪ Because I want it ♪
♪ You see ♪
♪ I'll be there for the... ♪
Everybody has a voice.
Everybody has something to say.
That in essence is what
guys like Mandela and Sisulu
fought against for so many
years for freedom of speech.
And that's what your one‐man show is.
It's you coming out and saying,
"This is what I think."
I've tried to tie everything up
and try and make it one seamless story,
trying to make a chunk of my life
fit into an hour.
It's not an easy challenge,
but that's what Daywalker is.
That's what comedy is really.
♪ Don't even try to race me
it's hard to outrace me ♪
♪ I'm take the
trip to ♪
♪ and meeting up
with new fans ♪
♪ a really new day ♪
♪ History in the making ♪
♪ They used to hate
now they love it ♪
♪ Because they
feel I made it ♪
♪ Damn it,
I'm almost famous ♪
♪ It's so close
I can smell it ♪
♪ and I can even taste it ♪
♪ Sometimes the world
can be hellish ♪
♪ But now never wasted ♪
♪ I'm on the edge
but I'm blessed ♪
♪ With enough connects ♪
♪ that I can get some rest ♪
♪ And let go of stress ♪
♪ Imma get what's needed ♪
♪ Because I want it ♪
♪ I gotta have it ♪
♪ Because I want it ♪
♪ You see I'll be there
for the ♪
As I perform comedy,
I hope I can bring people together.
I want to be here building things.
This is the place where I want to,
I want to put‐‐
I want to leave my mark.
[man] He is described as a phenomenon,
destroying audiences
all over the country.
And this world class act
has already performed
in the US and the UK.
Here to perform in his
very first, much anticipated,
one‐man show, ladies and gentlemen,
give it up for the Daywalker,
Trevor Noah!
What's up, Johannesburg?
"I'm leaving,
I'm going to Australia."
"Just imagine it's not so,
imagine," I was like, Gogo!
Oh, Andrew, help me!
'Cause when it hits you,
it makes that sound,
it's just like...
"Even Michael Jackson, the king of pop,
died before me.
Who's bad now?"
And then my dad, well, well you know
how the Swiss love chocolate.
So...
And I see some white people
getting a bit uncomfortable,
is he going to preach?
No I'm not, I'm not preaching.
This is just a back story,
so you guys are getting
a bit like "Woo, is this",
no, it's not one of those.
It's over in my mind.
It's, yeah.
It's, I couldn't be around,
if it wasn't for you guys,
so I, you know...
I'm not even, yeah.
As, as Nelson Mandela
would say, "We forgive you."
So that, so that's,
so that was the back‐story.
So my mom, my mom couldn't
state who my father was
on my birth certificate, you know.
So they just had to, like,
leave that whole thing blank
and, and, and what happened was,
she went back to the townships
where we had to stay
and then my dad had to stay in town.
And my mom couldn't tell anyone
that the father of her child was white.
So she just left everyone
to their own assumptions,
which is not generally the best choice.
Basically people assumed
that I was, in fact, an albino.
You laugh, but it was true.
They still loved me though,
they still loved me.
Apparently when I got home, you know,
my family was gathered
around, as I walked in,
my gran looked and she, like,
opened the blanket
and she was like "Yoo...
Oh, shame...
ooh, little alby.
No, put the umbrella,
he's going to burn,
ooh‐ooh."
And so I grew up, I grew up for a,
for a large part of my life as
an albino, which wasn't bad,
I mean, the township
they accept everyone
the way they are, you know.
I got old enough
to roam around on my own,
and the other albinos heard about me,
they'd see me walking in the streets.
And they'd see this kid,
and then the rumors spread,
you know.
They apparently went to each other
and they started talking,
they were like, "Do you know about him?
They say that he's one, he's one of us.
But his hair, it's black.
No freckles, nothing.
And he can walk anytime of the day.
No sunscreen.
No umbrella.
He's the one.
The Daywalker."
They were shocked.
And they came up and they recruited me,
they were like, "Yo, man, do
you want to hang out with us?"
I was like, "Yeah, why not," you know.
I hung out with them.
We were like in a whole crew.
We called ourselves
the 'Glow in the Darks.'
We were just like, you know.
It was wonderful,
you know, it was wonderful
until about 1990 when apartheid ended
and the truth about my identity
could come out.
And then my mom told everyone
in the house, she was like,
"You know actually,
his father's white,"
and they were like,
"What do you mean?"
"His father's white,
so he's not actually an albino,
he's colored."
And they were like, "What?"
Everyone lost their minds
and it was a big party
and everyone was
so happy and overjoyed.
So they were like...
Oh, oh, ah...
oh, ah...
Oh, oh.
He's not albino, oh, oh.
And it was beautiful.
It was music to their ears.
But then I had to go back
to my friends, to the crew,
you know, to the 'Glow in the Darks',
tell them the news.
As I was walking up to them, you know,
they were standing in the crew,
like under the willow tree,
in the shade,
where we normally used to hang out.
And as I came up, they were like,
"Yo, D. W.,
what's up, dawg?"
Cause they couldn't
call me 'Daywalker'‐‐
it was just too long.
They were like,
"Yo, D. W., what's up, man?"
Then I was like, "Hey, Pacino,
what's up, dawg?"
And he was like,
"Yo, man, what's happening,
you look sad."
Then I was like,
"Yeah, guys I've got bad news."
Pacino was like, "Ah,
what is it, D. W.? What is it?
Is it really bad?"
I was like, "It's really bad."
He's like, "Ah,
Nivea is out of stock again."
I was like, "No, guys,
no, it's worse than that,
it's worse than that."
And the other guy was like,
"Yo, global warming".
I was like, "No, no, no, it's, um,
there's something I need
to tell you guys, um...
I'm not an albino."
I just looked around
and there was a silence.
I said, "Guys, did you hear me?
I'm not an albino."
"Yeah, D. W., we know,
we all knew!"
I was like, "What, you knew?"
He's like, "Yeah, we knew.
Of course
you're not an albino."
"Wow!"
He's like "Ya.
We are all not albinos, we are people.
Viva, D. W., Viva!
D.W.!"
[vocalizing]
You guys have been so great,
thank you very much
for coming out.
My name's Trevor Noah.
Thank you.
♪ You go to rise above ♪
♪ And face the
music ♪
♪ But you'll get
strong with love ♪
♪ Love, love ♪
♪ We keep it moving
like father time ♪
♪ Every time I fall I know
that soon I have to climb ♪
♪ Even through the dirt,
I have to shine ♪
We have a talented young
comedian, from South Africa...
♪ Yeah, keep going
keep pushing ♪
♪That's what I do ♪
♪ That's what it is ♪
♪ Love life and
I love to live too ♪
♪ And I wanna give ♪
♪ All that I can give
give to them ♪
♪ Give to you too ♪
♪ Till everybody's eating
many pieces of the pie♪
♪ Africa, the love
of my eye... ♪
Yo. I stopped 'cause
you were tired.
[speaking foreign language]
♪ But you'll get
strong with love ♪
♪ Laid in the midnight hour ♪
♪ You feel
you lost your power ♪
♪ But I'm dependin' on you ♪
♪ To be as bright
as a flower ♪
♪ Who doesn't complain ♪
♪ Who don't know
how cold the game ♪
♪ But simple and plain ♪
♪ You got your own
got your own ♪
♪ You got your own thing ♪
♪ Don't let life beat you up ♪
♪ Just get
strong with love ♪
♪ Just get strong with love ♪
♪ Then till
everything's sweet ♪
♪ Everything's nearer ♪
♪ Closer when ♪
♪ You don't give up ♪
♪ Don't give up,
don't give up ♪
♪ Don't give up ♪
♪ Got to rise above ♪
♪ Got to get up ♪
♪ At first it ain't easy ♪
♪ Don't stay there ♪
♪ But you'll
get strong with love ♪
♪ Yeah ♪
♪ Get up ♪
♪ When life beats you up ♪
♪ Get up ♪
♪ And rise with love ♪
♪ Yeah ♪
♪ Rise with love ♪
♪ Rise with love ♪
♪ Oh, late
in the midnight hour ♪
♪ You feel
you lost your power ♪
♪ But I'm dependin' on you ♪
♪ And the whole world's too ♪
♪ For you to be as
resilient as a flower ♪