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Inside Trevor Noah’s Star-Studded ‘Daily Show’ Farewell – Rolling Stone

December 10, 2022

How do you say goodbye to a late-night show redefined by your presence? Well, if you listen to the advice of the executives of Comedy Central, the boards of directors of Paramount Global and the whole Daily show personal – you don’t. But for Trevor Noah, who lined up behind the Daily show office for the last time as a host on Thursday evening, you say goodbye with a party – and a thank you.

“One last time,” Noah said as he opened the show. “Let’s celebrate.”

Bid farewell to a full cast of correspondents and crews and with mixed success with Liverpool favorite ‘You’ll Never Walk Alone’, Noah spent his final broadcast urging viewers to value human lives and context over to partisan division – while looking back at a show that changed forever under his leadership.

When Noah announced his departure from the show earlier this month, the bombshell reveal sent fans racing over the reasons for the sudden exit. Industry insiders said the announcement came as a shock not only to Paramount and Viacom executives, but also to the show’s cast and crew, who heard the news live alongside of the show’s studio audience. “Part of the reason I did it this way is that I didn’t want somebody to be the person who then tells somebody else, who then tells somebody else. other, who then tells it to someone else,” Noah said. The Hollywood Reporter. “And that’s where we create the thing. [The show] is where we are together, our space, and so for me it was the most natural way to tell everyone at the same time.

From 2023, while The daily show is hosted by a rotating guest list, Noah will embark on a stand-up tour of 28 North American cities. But according to Noah, there was no fight or outburst or big job opportunity that made him leave, just a desire to do something, anything, again. . This lack of plans was enough for the correspondents Michael Kosta, Desi Lydic, Dulce Sloan, Roy Wood Jr. and Jordan Klepper are all sweetly poking fun at their turns in the spotlight.

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“You leave a job to do nothing? Sloan remarked. “Wow, you really are half white.”

While the big question on everyone’s mind is what Noah will do next, the series took a surprising look at Noah’s journey from unknown newcomer to beloved public figure (and some little divisive). Rather than featuring some of the host’s most influential videos, there was a slight mash-up of his favorite catchphrase, “Get the hell out of here, man.” It also included a cheeky celebrity send-off from Oprah, Issa Rae, Tracee Ellis Ross, Nick Offerman, Bill Gates and former presidential candidate Hillary Clinton – a real exercise in why we should teach famous people how to film videos Horizontal iPhones. But Noah received the praise and the thanks with aplomb, continually redirecting attention back to the audience and audience executives who picked him first.

“Savor every moment,” he said in a reflective moment, advice he gave to a younger version of himself. “There are moments in life that mean something. [But] it’s hard to appreciate in life how much all growth comes from the shitty moments… And don’t invest in crypto.

When Noah was approached by executives and given a blessing by former host Jon Stewart in 2015, he was relatively unknown in the world of American stand-up comedy and had only been a Daily Show correspondent for three months. before acting as a facilitator. But Noah’s inexperience with American politics, which many saw as a weakness, breathed new life into the former host during the rise of candidate Donald Trump. While the following years would see Noah criticized for his tendency to “just talk about it like humans” during tense political situations, the Daily show The host plotted the show from a global perspective, allowing Noah to imbue his comedy with a serious intention to see the good in others. Since then, the South African comedian has grown the show’s online presence tenfold and battled early ratings declines to become a staple of millennial prime-time TV.

Trevor Noah says goodbye during his final recording of The daily show on December 8, 2022.

Comedy Central

Is Noah’s departure a sign of a major shift in late-night television? It’s hard to say. In our current understanding of the format, hosts must be fresh enough to keep the series from stagnating, but established enough to attract and keep viewers watching. And for every success story like Fallon, Colbert, and Stewart, a class Noah now joins, chess has the potential to set comedy progression back years. That wasn’t the case with Noah, as noted by Thursday’s guest, comedian Neal Brennan. “[You] brought some late-night diversity,” he said as he presented Noah with his *literal* flowers. “You turned The daily show in The breakfast club.”

It’s easy to imagine a final Daily show with Noah which was much bigger than the one filmed on Thursday. There were no major guests, no high-profile memorials, and a surprising lack of tears. But what was present with every break, every camera reset, every moment behind the scenes as correspondents hugged, kissed and cooed in front of the growing children, was the party. There were more thanks than punchlines, and even a moment when Noah put everything aside to thank black women for their support and knowledge.

“Who do you think is teaching me?” he said, mentioning his mother and grandmother. “Unlike everyone else, black women can’t afford to mess around and find out.”

Trevor Noah said goodbye to his seven-year-old show looking like a man confident in his choice – and focused on crafting a final arc centered around the friends and family who mattered most to him. him.

“It was the craziest trip I hadn’t planned and expected,” Noah told a full audience. “It’s been an honor, thank you.”