On Saturday night, Trevor Noah did a standup act on the Ithaca College campus and he had the crowd roaring with laughter the entire time.
Noah took over The Daily Show from Jon Stewart in 2015. He had big shoes to fill, but his unique personality and experiences brought a fresh element to the show. The 33-year-old comedian was born in South Africa and uses his past in his comedy. Noah jokes about everything from politics to racism.
Noah grew up as a mixed kid during Apartheid, so he is no stranger to racism. He jokes about Apartheid and his other experiences with xenophobia to bring awareness to what minorities experience and to promote acceptance. Even when he is being serious in between jokes, his messages don’t come across as preachy and he explains things in logical and simple ways that everyone can understand.
Like most other comedians, Noah of course jokes about Trump and other current events in his stand-up. It is very clear that Noah has progressive leanings, but he does not use his platform to bash people with different political views. All of Noah’s political jokes are in good fun and he even has conducted serious interviews with political figures. A few months ago, Noah went viral for his interview with conservative personality Tomi Lahren on The Daily Show. Although Lahren did not follow Noah’s logic, he remained calm the entire time. People gave Noah a lot of credit for being so patient with Lahren.
While it didn’t garner as much attention as the Lahren interview, one of Noah’s most impressive interviews was with President Obama. As one might expect, Noah and Obama discussed race in America. While this interview was more serious than most, it was still interesting to watch the two men speak. During this interview, it was actually Obama who did most of the joking!
It was amazing to have such an impressive person come to Ithaca College and perform for us. While IC has had its fair share of notable people visit, none have been as funny as Trevor Noah. Noah’s jokes were hilarious; the audience probably favored the ones about how strange American culture is the most, but all of his jokes landed well. Noah charmed the audience with his personal experiences and keen observations. I’m sure that members of the women’s lacrosse team were extra charmed when they found out that Noah watched their match before the show!
If you’re bummed that you missed the show, you can still catch Noah’s comedy elsewhere. Noah currently has three stand-up specials on Netflix: You Laugh But It’s True, African American and Afraid of the Dark. You can also watch The Daily Show with Trevor Noah on Comedy Central.