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You are here: Home / Open Threads / Excellent Links / Late Night Long Read: Trevor Noah & “Necessarily the News”

Late Night Long Read: Trevor Noah & “Necessarily the News”

by Anne Laurie|  April 17, 20151:04 am| 47 Comments

This post is in: Excellent Links, Humorous

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I always find Wesley Morris’ work interesting, even when I don’t agree with his conclusions. At Grantland, he discusses aspects of the Daily Show kerfuffle beyond the simplistic ‘four legs good, two legs bad’ reductionism that #HotTakesMedia encourages:

… As a soft product launch, the post-Stewart Daily Show was already a disaster. Within 24 hours of the announcement, there was clamoring for Noah’s firing — from a job he wasn’t due to start for many months. The following day, Noah posted a response on Twitter: “To reduce my views to a handful of jokes that didn’t land is not a true reflection of my character, nor my evolution as a comedian.” It was a mild, earnest explanation that irked some people for lacking the wit or hilarity associated with Stewart’s job, and irked others for its lack of contrition. Last week, Jason Zinoman, who writes about the comedy world for the New York Times, smartly covered another minor scandal, in which Noah stood accused of stealing jokes from a fellow South African comedian. Zinoman observed that Noah’s underwhelming and dodgy clarifications of the assortment of controversies would be the sort of thing that Stewart might have mocked. For his part, Noah has been on a sold-out small-venue stand-up tour that began in Arlington, Virginia, and has been closed to the press. He’s been calling it the “Lost in Translation” tour…

If The Daily Show were a sitcom, four-year-old derogatory tweets about women and one’s penis wouldn’t matter. Neither would the fact that Noah’s comedy’s extensive forays into race are humorously unimaginative at best and appalling at worst. But Noah is being handed a now-venerable news program to which there are standards of taste, respect, and propriety, none of which a comedian should be expected to uphold, but which are certainly desired in a newsman. In Noah’s work as the former, he’s run afoul of the latter. Now the questions are, do we move on and wait to see him on the show (which will take months to evaluate)? And what does it mean to do so? Noah not being American (or British) could be bracing. So, too, should his being biracial. Larry Wilmore’s show, primarily about race, frees a Trevor Noah Daily Show from the bedeviling limitations of race without keeping the subject off-limits — and Comedy Central’s new late-night lineup would also put television of any kind in a potentially exciting new place…

[Noah’s 2013 stand-up special] African American is almost 70 minutes of condescension and backhanded compliments. In a long passage on black language, Noah pauses to consider the convenience of truncating the expression “Do you know what I mean?” to “na’ mean?” When you stop to think about it, it is an effective contraction. But in Noah’s delirious discovery, “na’ mean” simply affords him the opportunity to declare his superiority over people who use it, to mock them. “I hope and I pray someday that I have a daughter,” he says. “Just so I may name her Na’ Mean.” He surmises that Shakespeare would have loved that phrase. He’s trying to get at the way in which black American culture has taken over pockets of the world. How it has informed his impression of black Americans. But he never gets out in front of the joke. It’s unclear whether he’s as bothered by that impression as, say, I am bothered by his version of it. Some of Noah’s material in African American is inspired — Hispanics disappointed that he’s not Latin (all of his Latin impressions sound Mexican); Africa’s portrayal in the media — and some of that inspiration is funny. A lot of it makes you cringe: His comedy doesn’t allow for self-deprecation. He is smarter than we are because, alas, we are American. Noah in 2013 was clever, but the problem is that he’s performing as a guy who knows it…

… It’s possible that that presumption of American liberalism doesn’t at all suit Noah. What if we’ve been misreading his political orientation? What happens if people expecting Barack Obama get Ben Carson instead? What if Noah really is a kind of conservative on a television network whose content only happens, now, to feature the stoners of Broad City and the racial sketch comedy of Key and Peele? What if the mantle he’s inherited isn’t Stewart’s at all? What if it’s Colbert’s? What if it’s South Park’s? Does Noah’s Daily Show have any obligation to remain liberal?…

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Reader Interactions

47Comments

  1. 1.

    Little Boots

    April 17, 2015 at 1:09 am

    first. cause, this:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=blrHHRWKygw

  2. 2.

    Plantsmantx

    April 17, 2015 at 1:15 am

    He’s trying to get at the way in which black American culture has taken over pockets of the world. How it has informed his impression of black Americans.

    I saw something on Raw Story about a teen-aged black actress saying something about appropriation of black culture. I commented that she was really talking about black youth pop culture, and the fact that she doesn’t recognize that may be as much of a problem as the one she’s decrying. I’ll say the same thing here.

  3. 3.

    jl

    April 17, 2015 at 1:15 am

    No one knows how Noah will do as Daily Show host.

    People can look at Stewart’s old pre-Daily Show stand-up and his old comedy show and think about how well that predicted what he would do with the show.I don’t think it predicts much at all.

  4. 4.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    April 17, 2015 at 1:16 am

    hat if the mantle he’s inherited isn’t Stewart’s at all? What if it’s Colbert’s? What if it’s South Park’s? Does Noah’s Daily Show have any obligation to remain liberal?…

    If this guy ever saw Colbert, he didn’t get it. Colbert was far more a committed liberal than Stewart. And if Noah’s a conservative… meh. Will he be funny? Comedy central has tried to push more conservative-friendly/glibertarian comedy shows: Colin Quinn had some kind of panel show with Nick DePaolo (sp?). I vaguely remember people said Carlos Mencia had a conservative, Dennis Miller-ish persona, I never watched. Neither did anyone else, I think.

    as somebody said when people were trying to tell Jessica Williams it was her duty to go for Stewart’s job, following Stewart will be arguably the worst job in comedy

  5. 5.

    Little Boots

    April 17, 2015 at 1:20 am

    dammit, where is omnes? or steeplejack?

  6. 6.

    Amir Khalid

    April 17, 2015 at 1:32 am

    @Little Boots:
    Calm down.

  7. 7.

    Omnes Omnibus

    April 17, 2015 at 1:35 am

    @Amir Khalid: Unlikely.

  8. 8.

    Little Boots

    April 17, 2015 at 1:39 am

    @Amir Khalid:

    can’t. get in a mood.

  9. 9.

    Little Boots

    April 17, 2015 at 1:40 am

    and this:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zUpTJg2EBpw

  10. 10.

    Little Boots

    April 17, 2015 at 1:42 am

    and this:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OmOe27SJ3Yc

  11. 11.

    Little Boots

    April 17, 2015 at 1:43 am

    no phone no pool no pets.

    no omnes.

  12. 12.

    Little Boots

    April 17, 2015 at 1:44 am

    no steeplejack?

  13. 13.

    Amir Khalid

    April 17, 2015 at 1:47 am

    @Little Boots:
    Is this you?

  14. 14.

    Little Boots

    April 17, 2015 at 1:50 am

    @Amir Khalid:

    is that latin?

    I’m a man of no means …

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OmOe27SJ3Yc

  15. 15.

    Mike J

    April 17, 2015 at 1:53 am

    Loews Corp. Co-Chairman Jonathan Tisch said the U.S. travel and tourism industry needs the federal government’s help to rebuild roads, rails and airports.

    “We’re losing out to countries like France and Spain, we are losing out to countries like Canada,” Tisch said. People arrive at airports in cities such as New York, Los Angeles and Miami “and they cannot get to the central business district because the roads and trains are so bad. We need to focus on the public-private partnerships that can help rebuild our infrastructure.”

    http://skift.com/2015/04/16/loews-chairman-says-lousy-u-s-infrastructure-hurts-tourism/

  16. 16.

    mtiffany

    April 17, 2015 at 1:54 am

    What if we’ve been misreading his political orientation? What happens if people expecting Barack Obama get Ben Carson instead? What if…

    What if? What if? What if? What if his handwringing becomes so excessive he gives himself carpal tunnel? He’ll never be able to masturbate again!

  17. 17.

    Omnes Omnibus

    April 17, 2015 at 1:55 am

    @Little Boots: French, you cretin.

  18. 18.

    Little Boots

    April 17, 2015 at 1:56 am

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    fine.

    or fin.

    canadian?

  19. 19.

    Steeplejack

    April 17, 2015 at 2:00 am

    @Little Boots:

    I ain’t got no cigarettes.

  20. 20.

    Amir Khalid

    April 17, 2015 at 2:00 am

    @Little Boots:
    It’s French, Caligula. As mentioned right there in the video title.

  21. 21.

    Omnes Omnibus

    April 17, 2015 at 2:01 am

    @Little Boots: I have Frog-Canuck ancestors who were in North America before 1610 if that is what you were asking…

  22. 22.

    Amir Khalid

    April 17, 2015 at 2:04 am

    @Little Boots:
    Jacques Brel was Belgian

  23. 23.

    Omnes Omnibus

    April 17, 2015 at 2:05 am

    @Amir Khalid: Lovely and true.

  24. 24.

    Little Boots

    April 17, 2015 at 2:05 am

    see how steeplejack is the only polite one? see that? despite the aint.

  25. 25.

    Steeplejack

    April 17, 2015 at 2:05 am

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:

    I think that people are going to realize that Jon Stewart (the “Jon Stewart” persona of The Daily Show), for all the (sometimes deserved) flak he took as a both-sides-do-it wuss, was a one-in-a-million occurrence, just as Colbert was. He will leave a larger than expected gap, one that will not be easily filled (if at all).

  26. 26.

    Omnes Omnibus

    April 17, 2015 at 2:07 am

    You people really want to go with Brel? Fine. Here. Don’t make me do this to you.

  27. 27.

    Steeplejack

    April 17, 2015 at 2:09 am

    @Omnes Omnibus, @Amir Khalid:

    I think you guys need to adjust your Boots snark detectors a bit. He ain’t quite as dumb as he seems, methinks.

  28. 28.

    Little Boots

    April 17, 2015 at 2:09 am

    @Steeplejack:

    hey, no snark.

  29. 29.

    Little Boots

    April 17, 2015 at 2:12 am

    and great song, by the way, no man of means by no means.

  30. 30.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    April 17, 2015 at 2:14 am

    @Steeplejack: Yeah, Larry Wilmore seems to be struggling. Say what you want about Bill Maher, and I go back and forth on him, his willingness to be a dick may be what made his ABC panel show work

  31. 31.

    Little Boots

    April 17, 2015 at 2:20 am

    I dunno. I do like steeplejack is all I know.

    okay, and I do kind of love omnes.

  32. 32.

    Steeplejack

    April 17, 2015 at 2:44 am

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:

    I have barely watched Wilmore’s show at all, but my impression from what I did see is that they have (unwittingly) neutralized him with the format. The whole fulcrum of his humor on The Daily Show was that he was exceptionally smart, capable and observant—but he could get work only as the pigeonholed “senior black correspondent,” which fueled his satire. They put him in the middle of his own show and all that “outsider lobbing bombs into the tent” leverage goes away. Then what? They haven’t figured out that part yet.

  33. 33.

    Citizen Alan

    April 17, 2015 at 2:44 am

    @jl:

    That’s a good point. To my recollection, nothing about “The Jon Stewart Show” presaged his work on The Daily Show, to say nothing of his debut on the long forgotten “You Wrote It, You Watch It.”

  34. 34.

    Steeplejack

    April 17, 2015 at 3:03 am

    @Citizen Alan:

    There were a few glimmers on The Larry Sanders Show, where Stewart (as himself) had a recurring role as a guest host who kept getting undercut and hobbled by Sanders because of the latter’s raging insecurity. Stewart kept trying to schedule “edgier” guests (Wu-Tang Clan?!), who were always shot down by Sanders or, if they were suddenly deemed hip enough or hot enough, were appropriated by him. And Stewart was loaded down with awful guests to make sure he didn’t outshine Sanders. You could see Stewart—at least as his character was written—grappling with his frustration over the traditional talk-show format. Some of that had to make its way into The Daily Show.

  35. 35.

    NotMax

    April 17, 2015 at 3:19 am

    @above

    Reading Brel’s name brought back memories of the (at the time) tres avant-garde non-commercial FM college radio station at (IIRC) Seton Hall University in NJ, which had an avid cult listening audience in and around NYC and Long Island.

    Whenever the station held on-air fundraisers, they would play this, often, when informing the audience of how much had been raised and how much yet to go.

  36. 36.

    Major Major Major Major

    April 17, 2015 at 3:21 am

    Doubled the lithium, all organs good, anybody heard from Holocene?

  37. 37.

    Tissue Thin Pseudonym

    April 17, 2015 at 3:39 am

    @Steeplejack: I didn’t think they could replace Craig Kilborn when he left The Daily Show. We still don’t have an answer to whether or not they could have because they didn’t try. The Daily Show as it was done by Jon Stewart isn’t going to exist going forward and the question is whether they can find something else to do with it under a new host. I have no idea whether Trevor Noah can find a niche; to be honest, I have no idea who Trevor Noah is. But it won’t be Jon Stewart whether it’s good or not.

  38. 38.

    NotMax

    April 17, 2015 at 4:25 am

    @NotMax

    Much clearer version, from the original cast album. This is the same version the radio station mentioned above used.

  39. 39.

    Amir Khalid

    April 17, 2015 at 4:38 am

    @NotMax:
    Saith YouTube: “This video is not available. Sorry about that.”

  40. 40.

    karen marie

    April 17, 2015 at 5:10 am

    @Mike J: “Public-private partnership”
    They used to call this “paying taxes” but I am guessing there isn’t enough profit in just having infrastructure to use, so the 99% will now pay taxes AND contribute to make the wealthy wealthier.

  41. 41.

    karen marie

    April 17, 2015 at 5:12 am

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: He’s too earnest. And that keeping it 100 schtick is totes lame. I expected way better.

  42. 42.

    wilfred

    April 17, 2015 at 7:20 am

    What are the new seven words you can’t say on television? Or use in print?

    In certain ways, Homeland society is more repressive, censorious and utterly predictable than it was in the ’60’s. Just depends on whose ox is being gored.

  43. 43.

    mattH

    April 17, 2015 at 8:22 am

    @karen marie: He’s a nerd more than anything else as his commentary on nerd culture pretty much nails it, and his best shows have featured that. His biggest weakness is that his show is almost entirely about race, and while our larger US culture really needs that discussion, it limits the show and his available audience. I’ve seen glimmers of him hitting his stride, and the man will be funny as hell, I just hope he gets the time to develop the show.

  44. 44.

    MBunge

    April 17, 2015 at 10:04 am

    Maybe, just maybe, Stewart leaving is an opportunity for the rest of the media to, you know, step up their damn games and stop letting a COMEDY SHOW WITH DICK JOKES do better journalism than they do.

    Mike

  45. 45.

    MBunge

    April 17, 2015 at 10:09 am

    Noah pauses to consider the convenience of truncating the expression “Do you know what I mean?” to “na’ mean?” When you stop to think about it, it is an effective contraction.

    No, it isn’t from a communication perspective. “Na’ mean” is only comprehensible to someone who is used to constantly hearing “Do you know what I mean” as a repetitive expression. Otherwise, it’s utter gibberish.

    Mike

  46. 46.

    KXB

    April 17, 2015 at 12:21 pm

    @MBunge:

    When the term “ebonics” started to make headway from academia into mainstream discussion, Chris Rock’s take was “There are just 2 ways you can talk. Number 1 – if you want to get a job. Number 2 – if you don’t.”

  47. 47.

    different-church-lady

    April 17, 2015 at 7:19 pm

    It’s not a news program. For fuck’s sake, it’s not a news program.

    Stewart has been saying that for years and absolutely zero people have listened.

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