Trevor Noah, who has spent the past seven years hosting “The Daily Show,” has officially said goodbye to his late-night fans. While he could have chosen any note to leave, he made his last words a moving tribute to the black women who influenced him.
Since taking over from Jon Stewart, Noah has made the show his own with a mix of quick-witted comedy and thoughtful commentary. Noah had some big shoes to fill, but to his credit, he didn’t try to stick his feet in them. He simply brought his own shoes and placed them right next to Stewart’s, providing his own style of comedy and unique perspectives on the world night after night. Even in his “Between the Scenes” segments, where he chatted with the audience during commercial breaks, Noah frequently added insightful context to current issues.
In his final monologue, he attributes these ideas to his mentors of black women, from his own mother and grandmother to the thought leaders he had on his show to black women in general. And it’s quite telling that he managed to stay the course in his last show, right up until he talked about these women.
“I’ve often been credited with having these great ideas – people say to me, ‘Oh Trevor, you’re so smart’ – who do you think teaches me them?” he said. “Who do you think shaped me, nurtured me, informed me?”
He credited the women close to him, but it wasn’t until he spoke specifically about black women in America that he really started to choke.
“I always say, if you really want to know more about America, talk to black women,” he said. “Because unlike everyone else, black women can’t afford to fuck and find out.”
Look:
Some of the women mentioned by Noah by name have responded with their personal stories of their interactions with Noah, and they offer some behind-the-scenes insight into who Noah is.
Roxane Gay shared that her book tour for ‘Hunger’ had been “a shit show” with journalists having no idea how to talk about obesity. She had “prepared for the worst” when she arrived on the “Daily Show”, but said Noah turned out to be “a dream”.
“He came into the green room and asked what language he should use about obesity and I said we can be real,” she said. wrote on Twitter. “The big word is fine. It was clear that he had indeed read Hunger. Not every interviewer could say that.
“We had a wonderful, interesting and nuanced conversation,” she continued. “He was smart, kind and funny. He didn’t condescend to me or treat me like I was disgusting. It shouldn’t be remarkable, but it was. I’ll always be grateful and I’ll never forget the consideration.”
Tressie McMillan Cottom, author, professor and sociologist, has appeared on “The Daily Show” several times, but she shared in a series of tweets that his first appearance came out totally out of the blue.
“To date, only two men have slipped into my DMs. One was a foreign prince of questionable financial means. The other was Trevor Noah. He politely asked me to be on his show. In my DMs Like he should ask Blew my mind.
I was an assistant professor at a public school with a goofy book about for-profit colleges that came out on a small press. Trevor hadn’t just read it. When we met, I would learn that he had read almost all of my blog which has been going on for years. *HE* asked me to be on his show.
I had the opposite of a marketing budget. I had the “prayers and wishes” of the edition. Would I do The Daily Show??? I remember asking him backstage, ‘why am I here??’ With genuine disbelief, he said, “Because you’re brilliant.” News for me.
It’s hard to overstate how much it meant to a writer and scholar without a serious elite pedigree or a major editor to get a DM to be on The Daily Show. Trevor assembled a team that reflected his own intellectual curiosity. If he booked you? He had read you.
When you see how many black women he raised? It’s him. That’s what he reads…Black women are really the foundation of his intellectual project.”
Following the conversation is always great to see, and it’s clear why Noah decided to end his run on “The Daily Show” with his tribute.
Thanks Trevor Noah. We will most certainly miss you.
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