Trevor Noah Tearfully Signs Off from ‘The Daily Show’
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Leaving in Peace
After seven seasons behind “The Daily Show” desk, Trevor Noah signed off as host on Thursday night. Noah announced his departure back in September, citing a desire for a better work-life balance and the freedom to go back on the road as a stand-up comic.
Noah called the night “a celebration.”
“When I started the show, I had three clear goals. I was like, I’m going to make sure Hillary gets elected, I’m going to make sure that I prevent a global pandemic from starting and I’m going to become best friends with Kanye West,” Noah said. “So I think it’s time to move on.”
As a South African who’d lived in the United States for only four years, Noah was an unlikely choice to succeed Jon Stewart in 2015. He had “never played any of the premium clubs,” he said on his final show. Comedy Central was taking a chance on an unknown comic who had little in common with the well-regarded TV star he was replacing.
Instead of trying to fit into Stewart’s mold, Noah utilized his perspective as an outsider to satirize America and Americans, especially its political leaders and their parties. Among the lessons he learned as the “Daily Show” host, Noah said, are “context matters,” and “issues are real, but politics are just an invented way to solve those issues.”
Over the years, Noah’s “Daily Show” was home to a diverse array of correspondents, including the breakout stars Jaboukie Young-White, Jordan Klepper and Michelle Wolf. For his last episode, his current cast weighed in on his decision to leave.
Noah ended his show with a teary shoutout to Black women, calling them “a lot of the reason I am here.”
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