Atsuko Okatsuka: Can You Ever Really Go Home Again?

Trevor sits down with comedian Atsuko Okatsuka for a lively, wide-ranging conversation about identity, humor, and finding your voice. Bonding over their shared immigrant experience, the two explore how feeling like an outsider can become a powerful lens for comedy. Along the way, Atsuko shares personal stories that are as hilarious as they are revealing and reflects on comedy as a way of making sense of the past and connecting across cultures.

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:04Speaker 00

  When you watch like a true crime, or when you read an actual like how a serial killer killed,

• 0:09Trevor Noah?

  Yes.

• 0:10Speaker 00

  There's a lot of clumsiness to it because it's a human person. There's nuance. So it's not as exciting and on your toes. Is that? Do you know what I'm saying?

• 0:18Trevor Noah?

  No, no, no. So you know what it actually is?

• 0:19Speaker 00

  I thought you were saying that.

• 0:20Trevor Noah?

  No, what it actually is is...

• 0:22Speaker 00

  You dropped the knife.

• 0:22Trevor Noah?

  No, what it actually is is the formula that they tell the stories. So they start to all do the exact same thing in the exact same way.

• 0:30Speaker 00

  Right.

• 0:30Trevor Noah?

  So it'll be the same music and then someone comes and sits down in a chair.

• 0:33Speaker 00

  Oh, yeah.

• 0:34Trevor Noah?

  And then they'll be like, "So, the first time I met Brian, I was working at an ice cream parlor and like, he just seemed like a regular guy." Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom.

• 0:48Speaker 00

  Oh, I like this.

• 0:49Trevor Noah?

  Then they'll be like the local news. Then they'll be like, "A man is searching, the police are searching for a man in connection with four women who've gone missing." Dun, dun, dun, dun, dun.

• 0:57Speaker 00

  This is good.

• 0:58Trevor Noah?

  "Brian was a really sweet kid and, I mean, he was just a regular kid. He loved baseball. He, he, he loved hanging out with his friends." Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom.

• 1:11Trevor Noah?

  You know what I mean?

• 1:12Speaker 00

  I would watch this version.

• 1:14Trevor Noah?

  This, but this is...

• 1:14Speaker 00

  By the way, you were, that was very vivid.

• 1:17Trevor Noah?

  This is...

• 1:17Speaker 00

  That's your next hour. Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom. Brian, yeah.

• 1:22Trevor Noah?

  Yeah, it's, it's, so at some point, I'm just like, I get it.

• 1:25Speaker 00

  I bought ice cream from him. You know me.

• 1:27Trevor Noah?

  Yeah, exactly.

• 1:27Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 1:28Trevor Noah?

  It's also, I don't think they need to make it as many episodes as they do.

• 1:31Speaker 00

  They do do that.

• 1:32Trevor Noah?

  It's always like a four part, it doesn't need to be four parts. Could be one.

• 1:35Speaker 00

  They do do that.

• 1:35Trevor Noah?

  It should be one.

• 1:36Speaker 00

  I know, and it's like, also, you know, as like the, the, the families of the victims, you know, being like, six episodes with boom, bam, boom, bam, boom, bam, boom, bam, boom. My son died, bitch. My son died. Now everyone's singing the same song. Is this a game to you? Jesus Christ. Oh, a podcast? Three seasons? What about my son died? Do you not understand, right? Jesus Christ, this is why I'm not a mother. I will just, I would stop every podcast.

• 2:11Trevor Noah?

  Oh, wow.

• 2:13Speaker 00

  You know? This is humanity you're talking, playing with. You know, and then they make the, the narrative version of it. Who's gonna play? Brian, the killer.

• 2:23Trevor Noah?

  Oh, wow.

• 2:29Trevor Noah?

  This is What Now with Trevor Noah.

• 2:37Trevor Noah?

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• 3:11Trevor Noah?

  This segment is brought to you by Google Pixel. You know what's really frustrating? Knowing the exact information you need is somewhere on your phone, but still ending up wasting your time digging through five different apps just to actually find it. Thankfully, Google Pixel 11 is designed with Gemini intelligence, so it can proactively find the information I need right when I need it. Like my flight info on travel days or my calendar when Eugene texts me to hang out. Oh, sorry Eugene, I'm booked. Learn more about what Google Pixel 11 can do at googlestore.com. These AI features are available in select countries and languages for users 18 and over, and make sure to check responses.

• 3:56Trevor Noah?

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• 4:40Trevor Noah?

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• 5:18Trevor Noah?

  Were you doing shows?

• 5:19Speaker 00

  Uh, yeah, I was doing shows and then, you know, so with the connecting and then, you know, TSA agents being tired already. And then today's the day ICE agents are coming in to work as TSA agents.

• 5:31Trevor Noah?

  You know, I...

• 5:31Speaker 00

  So...

• 5:33Trevor Noah?

  I don't know. Actually, I wonder what this is like for you, what your perspective on this is.

• 5:37Speaker 00

  I'm like, hurry, record, he's having a good thought.

• 5:42Speaker 00

  It was a trap. I was sent in to trap you into having this... I, I, we, we all wanted to hear your thoughts on TSA. I, I, I got sent in.

• 5:50Trevor Noah?

  You sent in to trap me?

• 5:51Speaker 00

  Yes, that's right. Yeah. They said, "Get the good stuff out of Trevor." I said, "Don't worry, I got it. I'll just act tired. Oh, I have three drinks. Ah, ha, ha. Nice shirt, nice shirt. Okay, now that we're here, Trevor, them agents coming in."

• 6:07Trevor Noah?

  I was thinking, if this, if this was happening in South Africa, we don't, we don't have... I think South Africans have a really healthy relationship with their obligations and their government, in that if you told South Africans that the government was shut down, and so government workers couldn't get paid, government, government workers in South Africa would very politely tell you that then they will not be working. It's as simple as that. Do you know what I mean?

• 6:30Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 6:31Trevor Noah?

  Like, I, my brain doesn't comprehend how TSA agents.

• 6:34Speaker 00

  Continue to show up?

• 6:35Trevor Noah?

  Go to the airport.

• 6:36Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 6:37Trevor Noah?

  When they're not being paid, just because some people in Washington are squabbling. Do you know what I mean?

• 6:44Speaker 00

  Yeah, for sure. It's not very American, actually, though. Like, I don't think typically they would. I don't know how the payment works. I wonder if they still get back pay. Is that why?

• 6:54Trevor Noah?

  No, so last time they were saying, I think you're supposed to get back paid. But then, last time there was an issue and then they said they won't get back paid. I don't know, I don't know how it turned out.

• 7:04Speaker 00

  Okay, cuz, yeah.

• 7:05Trevor Noah?

  You're supposed to get back pay, I believe.

• 7:07Speaker 00

  And that's why we keep a person showing up. Not because they care about, not out of the goodness of their hearts, volunteer for five weeks for free.

• 7:15Trevor Noah?

  Oh, yeah, but as South Africans, we just wouldn't show up. We'll be like, don't worry about the back pay. We'll, I'll come back when you pay me. It's as simple as that.

• 7:23Speaker 00

  Yes, I would think that's an American way of doing things too, no?

• 7:27Trevor Noah?

  No, I think there's, I think there's, there's something really, um, there's a, there's a thing that, that American people in certain like services have that's, that's, that's, it's admirable, actually. That's why I was wondering what your opinion on it is, like, from a Japanese perspective. Cuz I was going, there's a, there's a part of like the TSA where they go like, we have an obligation to keep people safe and we're doing this. And when you go through TSA, you see how serious they are. Like, every time they scan my luggage.

• 7:56Speaker 00

  Right.

• 7:56Trevor Noah?

  And I see them going through the bag, I'm like, you're really looking through my bag?

• 8:00Speaker 00

  Yeah, yeah.

• 8:01Trevor Noah?

  Now, I'm not saying they shouldn't, but I'm saying if I worked in TSA.

• 8:04Speaker 00

  Right.

• 8:04Trevor Noah?

  At some point, I'd be like, I'm just gonna take a guess. I'm gonna look at people and be like, ah, you don't look like you got shit.

• 8:10Speaker 00

  By vibes alone, see, that's where it could go wrong, right?

• 8:14Trevor Noah?

  Yeah, but that's the chance I'm gonna take.

• 8:15Speaker 00

  I'm like, oh, man, my vibes are messed, fucked. My vibes are fucked. Coming back from Indonesia, have we started? Did we get that introspective insightful thought? Well, you missed that whole thing about South Africans.

• 8:32Speaker 00

  Oh, okay. Oh, my God. I just wanted to make sure. Cause when you, cause you have a twinkle in your eye when you're about to have an introspective thought. When we met recently for the first time at Questlove's game night.

• 8:43Trevor Noah?

  Yeah, yeah, yeah.

• 8:43Speaker 00

  That happened and I was like, and I've been such a fan.

• 8:46Trevor Noah?

  Wait, are you being serious right now?

• 8:48Speaker 00

  Yes, yeah.

• 8:48Trevor Noah?

  Oh, I thought you were joking.

• 8:49Speaker 00

  I'm so serious. I've been a fan for so long and I know that twinkle, that twinkle in your eye when you're about to. And we're at a party. We're talking, there's people drinking, people are having games.

• 9:00Trevor Noah?

  It was a fun party. It was a nice games night.

• 9:01Speaker 00

  And I asked you about something and then you just, the twinkle came and then you, I was like, oh, my God. Is this recording right now? There's no cameras and he's about to have an introspective insightful thought about actually performing abroad, you know, when there's like restrictions.

• 9:16Trevor Noah?

  We were talking about Saudi Arabia. Yeah, we were talking about the Saudi Comedy Festival. Yeah, that's what I, I remember the doorway. We, we were, we were literally stationed. It was myself, you and Ezra. And we were, it was just by a doorway. It was a perfect moment of, I really had fun talking to you. I, I had loved your comedy because I had seen clips of it. But like, I don't necessarily say I could like become a fan of anyone just because of their comedy, like, cause like them, the person. But I became a fan of you just from our conversation.

• 9:47Speaker 00

  By a doorway is how I thought I would meet you, you know?

• 9:50Trevor Noah?

  I do have doorway vibes.

• 9:51Speaker 00

  By a doorway, not like, I'm like, again, I was saying earlier, I don't know if it was recording or not when you went insightful, but

• 10:01Speaker 00

  you weren't like partying. You weren't like in the middle of a game. You were like Trevor Noah by the door. Come, you come talk to me.

• 10:12Trevor Noah?

  No.

• 10:13Speaker 00

  Because I might have something wise to say. It is kind of how I felt. I was like, am I in the Lord of the Rings?

• 10:19Trevor Noah?

  No, this is like a, this is like a perception thing that people have sometimes.

• 10:22Speaker 00

  Did you play games that night at all?

• 10:24Trevor Noah?

  Yeah, I did. There's, there's photos, by the way. That's the, there's evidence, which is good.

• 10:28Speaker 00

  Okay, I got stuck in a long game of Scrabble. That's why.

• 10:31Trevor Noah?

  I was in, I was in this game of Scrabble.

• 10:32Speaker 00

  Yeah, well, big words, words, I don't do good with words.

• 10:36Trevor Noah?

  You know what? The words are not the problem for me. It's the letters that you can combine that aren't words that are worth something.

• 10:41Speaker 00

  Yes, that.

• 10:42Trevor Noah?

  I don't understand that. That's to me is like, it's not words.

• 10:45Speaker 00

  I'm actually not a big game person. I like conversating more. So by a door is what I like, like, oh, kitchen, like, you know, chatting about something, um, getting to know a person, there's thoughts on something. I like that a little more than like calling out uno, I guess. You know, or describing who I'm looking at in a game of Guess Who. Tell me about your mom. How's your mom doing? You know, I like that more. So, yes.

• 11:12Trevor Noah?

  You should make like your own games nights where all the games are just about getting to know people.

• 11:17Speaker 00

  Yes.

• 11:17Trevor Noah?

  Just like do your own thing.

• 11:18Speaker 00

  I would love that.

• 11:19Trevor Noah?

  Atsuko's Game Nights.

• 11:20Speaker 00

  I'll put down a bunch of like gadgets and and dice and cards and I'll say psych. And I'll swipe it off the the table.

• 11:28Trevor Noah?

  Yeah, you're just like roll the dice. Who are you?

• 11:30Speaker 00

  Yeah, yeah, yeah.

• 11:31Trevor Noah?

  Who are you? Roll a six. What are six terrible things that happened to you in your life?

• 11:34Speaker 00

  A hundred percent.

• 11:35Trevor Noah?

  You know what I mean?

• 11:36Speaker 00

  The twinkle in your eye. Yeah, and so that that's just what I was talking about when we just talked about the, you know, TSA agents, South Africans would not work for free, which they shouldn't.

• 11:47Trevor Noah?

  Do you think Japanese people would?

• 11:49Speaker 00

  That's the thing. It's hard to imagine because it's hard to imagine the government would allow for something that that to happen.

• 11:56Trevor Noah?

  Yeah, I wouldn't even, yeah.

• 11:57Speaker 00

  You know, where where.

• 11:58Trevor Noah?

  I'm thinking downstream and you're like, yeah, but step one can't happen.

• 12:02Speaker 00

  It would be hard to imagine, yeah. The people might fail, but the government usually, I feel like someone in the, it's very dark, but the government would like off themselves before they let that happen, I think.

• 12:15Trevor Noah?

  I thought that was like a a myth, not the offing themselves, but like.

• 12:20Speaker 00

  And it could be just firing themselves, not necessarily suicide, but yes, that too.

• 12:24Trevor Noah?

  When when I went to Japan for the first time, I had all these ideas of Japan.

• 12:28Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 12:29Trevor Noah?

  Right? I grew up loving the idea of Japan. It was, you know, manga or anime and then like, you know, movies, documentaries, food, etc. But when I got to Japan, so I I went to, um, is it Disneyland or Disney World? I I never know which one it is.

• 12:45Speaker 00

  There's a Disneyland and a Disney Sea, yes.

• 12:48Trevor Noah?

  Okay, so I went to Disneyland, right?

• 12:51Speaker 00

  Yeah, picturing you there, yeah.

• 12:52Trevor Noah?

  And in America, you know, you buy like the little flash pass where you like skip the line and you do the whole thing. So when we get there in Japan, we thought there would be some method for us to like skip the lines because the lines were quite long. And then they were like, no, there is no way for you to skip the line.

• 13:11Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 13:11Trevor Noah?

  And then I remember asking one of the people, I said, oh, and I was using I was using a phone to translate for me because the people there spoke Japanese and that was it.

• 13:17Speaker 00

  Right.

• 13:18Trevor Noah?

  And so I was using the phone to translate to have this conversation. And then I said, what if the CEO of Disney comes?

• 13:25Speaker 00

  Well, you know the CEO of Disney, of course.

• 13:28Trevor Noah?

  No, I don't, but I was. I was just saying, what if the CEO comes?

• 13:31Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 13:32Trevor Noah?

  What happens then?

• 13:33Speaker 00

  Right.

• 13:34Trevor Noah?

  And then they said, he waits in line just like everybody else. And genuinely, at that Disney. They were saying oftentimes, like, the the CEO of or the the the the president of that park or like the whatever the the top executive was.

• 13:47Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 13:48Trevor Noah?

  Would regularly come to the park. And they would wait in the line with everybody else. And they would ride all of the rides. And I was like, damn, Japan is on another level.

• 13:58Speaker 00

  Yeah, I can only think of one person who didn't, like, who skipped the lines was down with actually, I think, shutting down the park. And it was actually, I think, the Japanese princess.

• 14:09Trevor Noah?

  Oh.

• 14:09Speaker 00

  Um, but she had studied abroad, like, western coun- I think, like Sweden or something. So, of course, she came back different. She was like, I'll shut, uh, I'll shut down the whole park. I don't, I'm not like everyone else anymore. So, and she also left, uh, the royal family. She, like, married a commoner.

• 14:29Trevor Noah?

  Oh, so she's a real rebel.

• 14:30Speaker 00

  So she's different, but yeah, for the rest of, like, Japanese CEOs and stuff, that is something. So them, so I don't know, I feel like the workers would probably still suffer through and show up if for some reason.

• 14:42Trevor Noah?

  Right, right.

• 14:43Speaker 00

  The government was like, we're, we're, we're not paying you, we can't figure out ourselves. Uh, if in the rare case that happens.

• 14:51Trevor Noah?

  Yeah.

• 14:51Speaker 00

  I I bet Japanese people would still show up and work like the American TSA.

• 14:56Trevor Noah?

  Yeah, yeah, yeah.

• 14:57Speaker 00

  Folks have been.

• 14:57Trevor Noah?

  Yeah, because they tell them they're essential, and so they can't not show up to work. But then I go, if I'm so essential that I can't not show up to work, shouldn't it just be that I'm so essential that I just have to get paid?

• 15:09Speaker 00

  Yes, a hundred percent. Thank you.

• 15:11Trevor Noah?

  It seems logical.

• 15:13Speaker 00

  Trevor for TSA's head.

• 15:17Trevor Noah?

  No, no, no, I just TSA passenger. I I have, I feel like I have an intimate relationship with TSA workers because of how much time I spend with them. Because of how much, I'm sure you're the same.

• 15:26Speaker 00

  Yeah, yeah. Right.

• 15:28Trevor Noah?

  Like, I shout it, I shout it myself when it comes to like the trays. Sometimes I get there.

• 15:33Speaker 00

  Mm hmm.

• 15:34Trevor Noah?

  And then I'll, I'll literally shout out the thing that they were gonna shout out to just make them feel like somebody's on the same page.

• 15:40Speaker 00

  So you're like laptops out, you're like that?

• 15:42Trevor Noah?

  Or, or if they've got the new machines, like, I think they're like the anal logic machines. Very weird name, but that's the.

• 15:47Speaker 00

  Anal logic?

• 15:48Trevor Noah?

  Yeah.

• 15:49Speaker 00

  That's what it's called?

• 15:49Trevor Noah?

  Next time you go through the airport, look at them, there's a big round, like, it's a white tube.

• 15:54Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 15:55Trevor Noah?

  And it says anal logic on the side.

• 15:56Speaker 00

  Okay, I didn't see that part, but I did, um, I, I know what you're talking about.

• 16:00Trevor Noah?

  Yeah, yeah, yeah. And so when it's those ones.

• 16:02Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 16:03Trevor Noah?

  Don't take anything out of the bag.

• 16:04Speaker 00

  Right.

• 16:05Trevor Noah?

  Just leave everything in the bag.

• 16:06Speaker 00

  You do the announcements for them.

• 16:08Trevor Noah?

  I say that.

• 16:08Speaker 00

  You go, sweetie, I got this.

• 16:09Trevor Noah?

  Yeah, I say that, and then I can see them going, oh, thank you. Somebody who knows what's happening.

• 16:15Speaker 00

  Right.

• 16:15Trevor Noah?

  Just take a little, just a little bit of the load off.

• 16:18Speaker 00

  Are they like, hey, you're like, hey, Matt?

• 16:20Trevor Noah?

  Yeah, no, I do, I do know, yeah, I do know a bunch of, like, I'll, I'll, I'll see when somebody has switched. Sometimes they're on touchless ID, sometimes they've moved them to the actual machine. Sometimes they switch over to like searching the bags, sometimes, yeah, yeah. And I'll, I'll be like, oh, you're doing this today? And they're like, oh, yeah, oh, yeah, you were here, yeah, and then, you know.

• 16:38Speaker 00

  Sweetie, you, you need a rest.

• 16:41Speaker 00

  You know them by name? And when they're doing touchless or not? Someone, someone please just pay Trevor enough finally so that he can, he could just stay home for a couple of weeks.

• 16:56Trevor Noah?

  Can you stay home?

• 16:57Speaker 00

  I, I cannot, I have a mom and grandma that, you know, I'm trying to finally help, you know, pay for and keep afloat.

• 17:07Trevor Noah?

  Yeah?

• 17:08Speaker 00

  Yes.

• 17:08Trevor Noah?

  Tell me, tell me a story, like, because I, I, I know, like, just little slices of it, but like,

• 17:16Trevor Noah?

  where, where did your journey begin?

• 17:17Speaker 00

  We're also so far.

• 17:18Trevor Noah?

  What do you mean?

• 17:19Speaker 00

  Like from each other physically.

• 17:20Trevor Noah?

  We're not, we're not far.

• 17:21Speaker 00

  When we hang up. When we hang out, you know.

• 17:24Trevor Noah?

  Well, normally, there's a doorway between us, so it helps.

• 17:27Speaker 00

  There's a doorway, yeah. But this is, yeah, anyway, I just wanted to acknowledge the physical distance.

• 17:33Trevor Noah?

  But the emotional distance is nothing.

• 17:35Speaker 00

  Oh, my god.

• 17:36Trevor Noah?

  I mean, we're basically the same.

• 17:37Speaker 00

  You're the TSA agent to my Trevor.

• 17:44Trevor Noah?

  Well, thank you.

• 17:45Speaker 00

  English isn't my first language, but you're the TSA agent. Like, you know what I mean? We're close like that.

• 17:50Trevor Noah?

  Yeah, I appreciate that.

• 17:51Speaker 00

  What's up, Trevor?

• 17:52Trevor Noah?

  Appreciate that.

• 17:53Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 17:54Trevor Noah?

  Yeah, but.

• 17:54Speaker 00

  Laptops out of bags?

• 17:56Trevor Noah?

  Oh, you do that well.

• 17:57Speaker 00

  Thank you.

• 17:57Trevor Noah?

  You see, I like that. Um, where does your journey begin? Like, take me through your life, because I, I, I love meeting people, especially comedians, to be honest, and then like going back through their journey to figure out like how their comedy became their comedy.

• 18:15Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 18:16Trevor Noah?

  Because I feel like no comedian chooses their style of comedy. Their life is the style that then presents in their comedy.

• 18:23Speaker 00

  Yes, we're forced into this.

• 18:24Trevor Noah?

  We are in many ways.

• 18:25Speaker 00

  And our personalities.

• 18:27Trevor Noah?

  Yeah.

• 18:27Speaker 00

  Yeah, no, for real. Nobody in my family is comedic or likes to joke. They barely even laugh. Talk, let's be honest, they barely even talk. At like a dinner table or something? Do you have a lively family?

• 18:43Trevor Noah?

  Yeah.

• 18:44Speaker 00

  Right?

• 18:44Trevor Noah?

  Yeah, definitely.

• 18:45Speaker 00

  My family will sit and eat in silence. Like, who died? You know, it's like that. That's the energy. Very tragic, yeah.

• 18:54Trevor Noah?

  Wait, so where were you, where were you born? In Japan?

• 18:56Speaker 00

  So I was actually born in Taiwan. I'm half Taiwanese.

• 18:59Trevor Noah?

  I did not know this, you see?

• 19:00Speaker 00

  Ah, yes, yeah. I know. That's why it's good. We're at this table.

• 19:08Trevor Noah?

  Okay, wait, so half, born in Taiwan, half Taiwanese?

• 19:11Speaker 00

  Yeah, yeah, so my grandma's side, my mom's side is Taiwanese. And so I was born there because, uh, so my dad's Japanese and, you know, my mom and dad uh, had met at a speed dating event in Japan.

• 19:26Trevor Noah?

  No way.

• 19:27Speaker 00

  But once they, you know, they courted each other and then they got married very fast.

• 19:32Trevor Noah?

  Oh, I'm from speed dating, you have to, I mean, you want to keep the speed.

• 19:35Speaker 00

  It's in the name, yeah.

• 19:36Trevor Noah?

  Why would you, why would you slow things down after that?

• 19:38Speaker 00

  No, oh, wait, hold on, that was too fast. Let's go back to our respective countries and take it slow. No, she was like, I'm gonna move here.

• 19:47Trevor Noah?

  Yeah.

• 19:48Speaker 00

  You know, and so once she got pregnant with me, you know, my, uh, she went back to Taiwan to give birth.

• 19:55Trevor Noah?

  Okay.

• 19:55Speaker 00

  Because uh, her brother, my uncle, uh, was studying to be an OBGYN. And so he said, I'll, I'll, I'll do it for you.

• 20:04Trevor Noah?

  I will practice on.

• 20:05Speaker 00

  Yeah, that's what I'm saying because studying.

• 20:07Trevor Noah?

  He was studying.

• 20:08Speaker 00

  Yeah, sweetie, that doesn't mean you are it. Studying is worse. Studying is, but it was uh, cheaper, I think, because of it. I was like, was it because of a discount? My family loves a discount. I was like, you let him practice on me?

• 20:27Trevor Noah?

  Wait, so your, your uncle was the OBGYN?

• 20:31Speaker 00

  He was, oh, studying to be one.

• 20:33Trevor Noah?

  Yeah, yeah, but he.

• 20:33Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 20:34Trevor Noah?

  But he was still the person.

• 20:35Speaker 00

  He was, he was the one that like caught me or pulled me out or however the term.

• 20:40Trevor Noah?

  I hope it's like guided you, caught you is like.

• 20:43Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 20:43Trevor Noah?

  Impires like a.

• 20:45Speaker 00

  Yeah, guided me out.

• 20:46Trevor Noah?

  Yeah, yeah, okay.

• 20:47Speaker 00

  He's the one that guided me out.

• 20:48Trevor Noah?

  All right.

• 20:48Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 20:48Trevor Noah?

  Just like very like.

• 20:50Speaker 00

  Yeah, yeah, just like, oh, this way.

• 20:51Trevor Noah?

  Okay, okay.

• 20:52Speaker 00

  It's a girl. I don't know what it is. I'm still shy around him. Day one, my family has always been very, just DIY, whatever it takes to, you know.

• 21:06Trevor Noah?

  Yeah, yeah, yeah.

• 21:07Speaker 00

  Do things cheaper.

• 21:07Trevor Noah?

  Both sides of the family or?

• 21:09Speaker 00

  Yeah, actually, both sides of the family. I kinda like that.

• 21:12Trevor Noah?

  Okay.

• 21:13Speaker 00

  Um, so that's, that, that's day one. That's how I came out is, you know, with my uncle helping out.

• 21:20Trevor Noah?

  Oh, from day one?

• 21:21Speaker 00

  Day one.

• 21:22Trevor Noah?

  And so how long did you, did you live in, in Taiwan for then? So you born there?

• 21:26Speaker 00

  Just very brief, just for my mom to like recover from it and then we uh, reconnected with my dad, reunited back in Japan. And that's where I grew up. So I was in Chiba where Tokyo Disneyland is, Tokyo Disney Sea.

• 21:40Trevor Noah?

  Right.

• 21:41Speaker 00

  Um, and yeah, just live like a normal chill life. You know, my parents got divorced when I was not even one yet. My mom has, you know, schizophrenia and a lot of other mental issues.

• 21:54Trevor Noah?

  Oh, wow.

• 21:55Speaker 00

  Um, and so, uh. So she was very, my dad already had two kids from his first marriage.

• 22:03Trevor Noah?

  Right.

• 22:04Speaker 00

  And so my mom suddenly had to be, you know, in a foreign country.

• 22:10Speaker 00

  With the schizophrenia kind of bubbling up, especially after giving birth to me, she had to be a stepmom. You know, my dad was her first boyfriend, you know.

• 22:20Trevor Noah?

  How old was she at the time?

• 22:21Speaker 00

  She was in her thirties, so like a little later to be getting, you know, to start hearing voices and things like that.

• 22:30Trevor Noah?

  Yeah.

• 22:31Speaker 00

  Usually it's, I guess, in your twenties is when something like paranoid schizophrenia hits.

• 22:37Trevor Noah?

  How, how does it, how does it present? Like, you know, because you, you'll hear people throw the term around loosely, but. And I, I, I know you can't speak broadly, but how, how did it present for your mom? Like, what was her schizophrenia like?

• 22:50Speaker 00

  From what I am told, because, you know, I'm, I'm now talking with those siblings again.

• 22:56Trevor Noah?

  Yeah, yeah, yeah.

• 22:56Speaker 00

  They had a very traumatic time with her. My mom was very abusive to them, you know, she was the stepmom.

• 23:01Trevor Noah?

  Oh, wow, I'm sorry.

• 23:02Speaker 00

  And so, um, so it presents itself, you know, how do I, so there's, right, there's like movies about, I talk about representation in TV and movies.

• 23:15Trevor Noah?

  Yeah.

• 23:16Speaker 00

  And I joke that, you know, there's like, sure, there's Fresh Off the Boat, an Asian family on TV or Crazy Rich Asians, the movie, but, you know, when people ask like, was, was your family kind of like that? And I'm like, no, it's more like, have you seen The Ring? You know, like, you know, the bitch that comes out of the TV, ah, that's my mom. So it's more like that.

• 23:42Trevor Noah?

  Oh, man, comedians, we're the worst. We're truly the worst.

• 23:46Speaker 00

  We are the worst, but they made us this way. So it's more like that, like, you know, or like Babadook or something. This is how, I mean, even my siblings describing it, you know, my mom, I guess, used to, when they would go to bed at night, she would, you know, take a kitchen knife and there's like metal bars. For the framing of the bed, I guess she would just run the knife along.

• 24:08Trevor Noah?

  You are shitting me.

• 24:09Speaker 00

  Yeah, and then they would, she would also do it on their face. They told me, just this last trip back to Japan, they told me, they're like, oh, we didn't tell you this story about your mom. So, you know, when I joke, I joke that it's like the girl from The Ring, Samira, that crawls out of the.

• 24:22Trevor Noah?

  Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

• 24:23Speaker 00

  But I mean, it's kinda, or Babadook lurking in the darkness, watching you sleep, that was my mom. And so I guess that's when they were like, okay, you know, she's, it's not a, I don't think it's a Taiwanese thing. You know, they started realizing there was a lot.

• 24:40Trevor Noah?

  There's something wrong, yeah.

• 24:41Speaker 00

  Yeah, tormenting in her head, voices in her head telling her, you know, to do things, um, yeah, so. So then, but then I've, I've always known her like that, so, you know, I, I just didn't, I guess that's, that was the beginnings, yeah.

• 24:57Trevor Noah?

  Wait, wait, so help me understand, so, so your, your mom and dad get divorced when you're still one years old, and then you grow up with your mom?

• 25:06Speaker 00

  Good question, thank you.

• 25:10Speaker 00

  I had that question too, why did I go to my mom? Why, why live with her? You know, because my dad, he was an engineer, and he already had custody of two kids from a former marriage. You know, for the most part, he was very like stable. So, why would, after a divorce, would I, would my mom get custody of me?

• 25:31Trevor Noah?

  Right, yeah.

• 25:33Speaker 00

  My dad actually thinks to Ira Glass of This American Life. And I joke, you never want to call from Ira Glass because that means your life was bad. You know, you never want to be an inspiration, which Trevor you are, but that means shit happened, someone fucked up, right? It's not good to be.

• 25:51Trevor Noah?

  It is true.

• 25:52Speaker 00

  Right?

• 25:52Trevor Noah?

  No, it is true, you're so inspiring, a shorthand for.

• 25:55Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 25:56Trevor Noah?

  Oof.

• 25:57Speaker 00

  Wow.

• 25:57Trevor Noah?

  Damn.

• 25:58Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 25:58Trevor Noah?

  Yeah, it's all, it's all those phrases, you're, you're very brave, that, that means something about sort of like how you look.

• 26:04Speaker 00

  Right.

• 26:04Trevor Noah?

  So brave, then that's your looks, and then you're, you're an inspira-, you're an inspiration.

• 26:09Speaker 00

  Have you ever been told you're brave?

• 26:11Trevor Noah?

  I've never been told I've been, I've been brave, but I've definitely been told I'm an inspiration.

• 26:15Speaker 00

  He's a model.

• 26:16Trevor Noah?

  I've never been told, no, I just, just got not brave, not brave enough.

• 26:20Speaker 00

  Right, right, but an inspiration, of course.

• 26:22Trevor Noah?

  An inspiration, of course, of course, yeah.

• 26:24Speaker 00

  Yeah, you know who's not an inspiration? Martin Smith, you know who that is?

• 26:29Trevor Noah?

  No.

• 26:29Speaker 00

  Exactly. We've never heard of him because he's just living a regular life, parents still together.

• 26:37Speaker 00

  Baby trust fund. Happy.

• 26:40Trevor Noah?

  I'm I'm I'm often torn about whether or not I would want that for myself.

• 26:45Speaker 00

  We're just, uh, you know, just chill.

• 26:49Trevor Noah?

  Well, yeah, like, like, so.

• 26:50Speaker 00

  No laws keeping your parents apart.

• 26:53Trevor Noah?

  Yeah, like, like, I just think of, um.

• 26:57Trevor Noah?

  I think. There's a world where somebody grows up. And everything is the way it is meant to be for the most part.

• 27:06Speaker 00

  Mm hmm.

• 27:06Trevor Noah?

  Their life doesn't involve anything particularly crazy. Like, let's put it this way, like, no one would read their book is the is the way I would put it.

• 27:13Speaker 00

  No, yeah, that's what I said. You we don't know Martin. Never heard of him.

• 27:18Trevor Noah?

  But I go.

• 27:20Trevor Noah?

  Those people are, I think, honestly, I think they're sort of like better for society for the most part, because I think they don't they don't exist in in extreme land.

• 27:29Speaker 00

  Mm hmm.

• 27:30Trevor Noah?

  But they're also not the people. Who write the greatest symphonies and they're not the people who make the greatest movies and they're not the people who like.

• 27:38Speaker 00

  Sure.

• 27:38Trevor Noah?

  Invent things and then but.

• 27:40Speaker 00

  And sometimes they do. They do, actually. Sometimes they're the ones that get to tell stories, too.

• 27:46Trevor Noah?

  I don't know.

• 27:47Speaker 00

  No.

• 27:47Trevor Noah?

  I don't know. I think. Oh, oh, look, I think everyone can do something. But there is a common thread that you'll find with genius in particular, right? Which I don't even like, I I think I'm too sane to be genius, thankfully. But like, when when you get to levels of genius, there is almost no genius person I know who has not had some fraught existence that nobody else would want to have.

• 28:12Speaker 00

  Of course, yeah, totally, yeah.

• 28:14Trevor Noah?

  And then I'm torn. I'm like, is it is it worth giving that person that existence to get what the world gets afterwards?

• 28:20Speaker 00

  I know.

• 28:21Trevor Noah?

  Or.

• 28:23Trevor Noah?

  Do we wish everyone a good life and then nothing?

• 28:25Speaker 00

  Ever gets made?

• 28:27Trevor Noah?

  Yeah.

• 28:27Speaker 00

  Yeah, totally.

• 28:29Trevor Noah?

  I I don't I don't know.

• 28:30Speaker 00

  I was joking because I was trying not to laugh because you were in the kindest of words calling people basic. You were like, you know, the basic people have to exist. I mean, they, you know, they keep the water fountains on and, you know, they keep the movie productions going.

• 28:46Trevor Noah?

  So much trouble.

• 28:48Speaker 00

  I mean, I was like, wow, get this man on Drag Race. He's just, this is a read.

• 28:52Trevor Noah?

  No, I was not, I was not saying, I'm not saying.

• 28:55Speaker 00

  And I was joking that, you know, sometimes basic people do get to make movies and TV. And that's why some of them kind of, they don't want to take risks sometimes with storytelling. So it's like, oh, why this movie again? It's like, oh, another basic person. Maybe, you know, who did have like a pretty cushy, cushiony life. Gets, sometimes they do get a platform, you know, um, you know, whatever. Maybe sometimes they become president, they had a cushiony life or something. You know, even if.

• 29:27Trevor Noah?

  But I think Trump is like the opposite, funny enough. I think Trump had a financially cushioned life, but from everything I've read about his life.

• 29:35Speaker 00

  That's true.

• 29:36Trevor Noah?

  He did not have, like, I don't think he had a good relationship with his father in, in, in, in the way that they were together, you know, so people be like, oh, but his dad was rich and he bailed him out. It's like, yeah, yeah, yeah, that's the financial side of things. Trump, to me, doesn't seem like somebody who was hugged regularly.

• 29:52Speaker 00

  Sure, yeah.

• 29:53Trevor Noah?

  You know what I mean?

• 29:53Speaker 00

  But sweetie, to that I say, bitch, join the club, okay? Yeah. Guess who else wasn't hugged? Me, I'm just, oh, you're looking cute being a sweetie to people. So, cry me a river.

• 30:10Trevor Noah?

  I'm, I'm not saying, I'm not saying it's to feel bad for him.

• 30:12Speaker 00

  Not to you, too.

• 30:13Trevor Noah?

  No, no, but I'm not saying it's to feel bad for him. It's just, um, it's the, you know what it is? It's the other side of the coin, right? If you, if you, um, I think of it like an experiment. If you inflict a certain amount of anything on this object that is a human.

• 30:32Trevor Noah?

  It can turn out sort of one of two ways. So you like zap it with this, call it terribleness in some shape or form, emotional, financial, whatever it may be. You zap it. It could become like beautiful genius or it could become terrible genius in a way.

• 30:47Speaker 00

  Uh huh. No, for sure.

• 30:49Trevor Noah?

  And so I'm like, is it worth, is it, is it worth zapping at all? If symphonies might on the other side be like world wars?

• 30:57Speaker 00

  For sure. Yeah, right. Or it's like, or do they, do we just, it's like, keep it basic.

• 31:02Trevor Noah?

  Yeah, like just everyone is, you said Martin Smith?

• 31:05Speaker 00

  Uh, yes, you remembered his name.

• 31:07Trevor Noah?

  Yeah, we're just Martin Smith, everyone.

• 31:09Speaker 00

  We just, yes, exactly. Made up name, obviously. It was like a Jane Doe, you know? No offense to Martin.

• 31:16Trevor Noah?

  Of course not, of course not.

• 31:16Speaker 00

  Yeah, it was just the first name.

• 31:18Trevor Noah?

  Or anyone from the Smith family.

• 31:19Speaker 00

  Yes, it's kind of my go to. I think when I was learning English, Smith was like the example name in sentences or something.

• 31:27Trevor Noah?

  How old were you when you learned English?

• 31:28Speaker 00

  I was eight. I was starting, I started at eight, yeah.

• 31:32Trevor Noah?

  Cause you, cause you, you joke and you say like, English is not your first language. But I argue you have a greater grasp of the English language than many native English speakers because of how you play with the language.

• 31:43Speaker 00

  Oh, yeah. I mean, you know, a lot of us, you're what? I don't even know the name, Polyglot.

• 31:52Trevor Noah?

  Oh, Polyglot?

• 31:53Speaker 00

  Polyglot.

• 31:53Trevor Noah?

  How many do you have to speak to be a polyglot?

• 31:55Speaker 00

  I mean, you, don't you speak like seven?

• 31:58Trevor Noah?

  No, the number keeps going up. I speak like five and then six if I'm in the place.

• 32:02Speaker 00

  It's you and Pete Buttigieg, right? Supposedly Pete Buttigieg speaks like seven. I was like, hmm, maybe like, he can order food, I'm sure, maybe.

• 32:13Trevor Noah?

  Pete? How many languages do you speak?

• 32:14Speaker 00

  Three.

• 32:16Trevor Noah?

  So.

• 32:16Speaker 00

  Fourth if on tequila. Then I'm like, I don't even know what I'm saying.

• 32:23Trevor Noah?

  Were you raised in Japanese?

• 32:25Speaker 00

  I was raised in Japanese and then when I came to the States because the Taiwanese side took me.

• 32:30Trevor Noah?

  Yeah.

• 32:30Speaker 00

  Oh, so my dad had full custody of me in Japan and then my grandma took me um

• 32:37Speaker 00

  from him and brought me to the States.

• 32:38Trevor Noah?

  Okay.

• 32:39Speaker 00

  Two month vacation and then so then that's how they it was kind of it was kind of like a kidnapping.

• 32:45Trevor Noah?

  How how old were you?

• 32:46Speaker 00

  I was I was eight, yeah, so that's when I came and then because I was suddenly with my Taiwanese side of the family too. That's when I uh you know and we stayed with my mom and uncle my uncle and aunt who were already in Los Angeles. They're also Taiwanese. So at the same time I was learning English, I I learned Mandarin too. Because I was hearing it in the house.

• 33:04Trevor Noah?

  Okay.

• 33:04Speaker 00

  Suddenly, yeah.

• 33:05Trevor Noah?

  English is way easier, yes.

• 33:07Speaker 00

  Uh than like Mandarin?

• 33:09Trevor Noah?

  Yeah.

• 33:09Speaker 00

  Yeah, yeah, yeah.

• 33:10Trevor Noah?

  Yeah, yeah, okay.

• 33:10Speaker 00

  Would you say English is the easiest out of?

• 33:13Trevor Noah?

  I think it is, I think.

• 33:14Speaker 00

  Many languages, right?

• 33:15Trevor Noah?

  Yeah, yeah, they they call it I think it's because it's the bastard tongue.

• 33:19Speaker 00

  Bastard tongue?

• 33:20Trevor Noah?

  Yes, so so English.

• 33:21Speaker 00

  Formal, formal term?

• 33:23Trevor Noah?

  I actually think a few scholars call it that, yes.

• 33:25Speaker 00

  Oh, yeah?

• 33:26Trevor Noah?

  They call it the bastard tongue because English is a combination of every language.

• 33:29Speaker 00

  Like anal that anal technology thing?

• 33:32Trevor Noah?

  Oh, anal logic.

• 33:32Speaker 00

  Like anal logic, same, okay.

• 33:34Trevor Noah?

  That's that's I've seen.

• 33:35Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 33:36Trevor Noah?

  That I've seen on the machine. This is not a thing I'm making up.

• 33:38Speaker 00

  No, yeah, yeah.

• 33:39Trevor Noah?

  When you're in the airport next time.

• 33:40Speaker 00

  Yeah, yeah.

• 33:41Trevor Noah?

  Look at the machines.

• 33:42Speaker 00

  Yes.

• 33:43Trevor Noah?

  And if it's the new round ones, it says anal logic on the side.

• 33:46Speaker 00

  Okay, no, yeah, I I believe you.

• 33:48Trevor Noah?

  That is one hundred percent true.

• 33:49Speaker 00

  Yes, yeah.

• 33:50Trevor Noah?

  The I might have taken a picture by the way, I'll show you. I'll I'll actually check on my phone.

• 33:54Speaker 00

  I will, yes.

• 33:54Trevor Noah?

  Because I because sometimes I see things and I'm like, I've got to make sure that I'm seeing this and then and then keep a record of it.

• 34:00Speaker 00

  That's you said you're not a genius, but that's genius behavior.

• 34:03Trevor Noah?

  What's genius behavior?

• 34:04Speaker 00

  Like, you know, the kind of neurodivergent behavior because to to like take a picture and you want to remember it, you know, like noticing words like that on a machine, you know?

• 34:15Trevor Noah?

  I don't know about genius. I just think it's maybe too much time in an airport.

• 34:21Trevor Noah?

  How do you even search for like a place? This is the thing about like these new.

• 34:24Speaker 00

  Maybe white.

• 34:25Trevor Noah?

  The photo. Oh, there it is. There it is. Look at that.

• 34:28Speaker 00

  Oh.

• 34:29Trevor Noah?

  There. That's great that it popped up.

• 34:31Speaker 00

  Oh, oh, it is. There she is. We have proof. He's like, please don't show my. Thank you. Thank you for that. No, I I believed you before you.

• 34:43Trevor Noah?

  No, but I just wanted you to see it.

• 34:44Speaker 00

  Right, right, yeah.

• 34:45Trevor Noah?

  You know what I mean?

• 34:45Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 34:46Trevor Noah?

  It's the same way like. The disciples believed that Jesus was back, but when they like saw him, then they're like, oh, man, this shit is real.

• 34:54Speaker 00

  We're gonna write it down.

• 34:55Trevor Noah?

  Yeah, yeah. Now we gotta write. Before, we're just gonna talk about it.

• 34:57Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 34:58Trevor Noah?

  Now we're gonna write this shit down.

• 34:59Speaker 00

  I don't know about the writing down. I used to go to church sometimes. Now, now, I mean, with a mom with schizophrenia.

• 35:04Trevor Noah?

  Yeah.

• 35:05Speaker 00

  I'm like, oh, man, I mean, what if like, who who are we listening to? Did he have mental issues? He's like, he walked on water. I'm like, yeah, my mom thinks the Chinese government has microphones in our house.

• 35:19Trevor Noah?

  But they might have.

• 35:20Speaker 00

  Huh?

• 35:21Trevor Noah?

  They might have.

• 35:21Speaker 00

  They might have what, actually?

• 35:23Trevor Noah?

  Had microphones in the house.

• 35:25Speaker 00

  I know, and she's not not wrong.

• 35:26Trevor Noah?

  That's the that's the thing, right?

• 35:28Speaker 00

  It's always based on some reality.

• 35:30Trevor Noah?

  Yes, that's the thing.

• 35:31Speaker 00

  Yeah. Yes, Jesus could have walked, kind of, maybe for like. Ah, half a second. I don't know. I don't know. But, you know, I'm just saying, check your sources. They didn't have psychiatrists back then, you know?

• 35:47Trevor Noah?

  There was a um. There's a story of. Ah, I don't wanna mess it up, but it's like, I feel like it's like one of the saints or something like that.

• 35:57Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 35:58Trevor Noah?

  Uh, someone who is a saint and.

• 36:00Speaker 00

  A Bible story? This is a Bible story?

• 36:01Trevor Noah?

  No, no, this is not a Bible story. So this is a a woman who apparently was like a, because I think they make you a saint afterwards. I'm not completely familiar with how it works, but like the church, the Catholic Church.

• 36:11Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 36:11Trevor Noah?

  I think can go, your life was so special.

• 36:14Speaker 00

  Uh huh.

• 36:15Trevor Noah?

  And how you died or how you existed was miraculous, so they can make you a saint.

• 36:19Speaker 00

  Mm hmm.

• 36:20Trevor Noah?

  And one of the people that they gave sainthood to, they were like, because she she like. Convened with, you know.

• 36:30Speaker 00

  Right, with God.

• 36:31Trevor Noah?

  With God or with other worldly beings or whatever it was.

• 36:34Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 36:34Trevor Noah?

  And then I think when they they either did an autopsy on her or they just they just had like the records. They were like, oh, she had like a mental illness.

• 36:41Speaker 00

  Wow, yeah.

• 36:42Trevor Noah?

  Which she was struggling with. It's not even like people are putting it on her. She said, hey, I'm struggling with this. And I think at the time, back in the day, the church was like, no, no, no, no, no.

• 36:50Speaker 00

  Right.

• 36:51Trevor Noah?

  You're good. You just you just.

• 36:52Speaker 00

  It's because your other, yeah, you're like, you you you rose above reality.

• 36:58Trevor Noah?

  Yeah.

• 36:58Speaker 00

  And I mean, which she was.

• 37:00Trevor Noah?

  Yeah, yeah, you do.

• 37:01Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 37:01Trevor Noah?

  And then I'm torn on that because I go, I I consider myself a really practical person.

• 37:08Speaker 00

  Mm hmm.

• 37:09Trevor Noah?

  But I also don't exclude the supernatural in anything.

• 37:14Speaker 00

  Sure. Yeah, of course. Yeah.

• 37:15Trevor Noah?

  So so I never I never believe that nothing is possible. But then I don't know where you how you find like, when is somebody not experiencing something and when are they? Because I've seen some things in my life where I go.

• 37:28Speaker 00

  Mm hmm.

• 37:29Trevor Noah?

  How how did how did this person do that? Or how did they know that? Or how did they feel that?

• 37:33Speaker 00

  Miracles?

• 37:34Trevor Noah?

  Yeah, or or like versions of it, you know?

• 37:36Speaker 00

  Mm hmm. Yeah.

• 37:37Trevor Noah?

  Sometimes you meet have like, have you ever seen like when some of those like psychics?

• 37:42Speaker 00

  I mean, I would say, you know, I haven't seen a psychic, but I've seen it through my mom a little. Where my, you know, my mom was, you know, my mom said, you know, the K M T. The K M T is a party that was ruling in Taiwan for a long time. They ruled under martial law.

• 37:59Trevor Noah?

  Okay.

• 37:59Speaker 00

  And they just more recently got voted out. But for a long time, for decades. They they ruled Taiwan and she was always like, they're they're gonna come to the U S too. They're gonna come to the U S. And we're like, oh, she's wild. She and then and then they did. And would they? There was like a shooting at a Taiwanese church. Um, where it was because, you know, the K M T party uh lost the election. And so someone from that party was mad and shot up that church. Anyway, you know, like down the street from where my my mom lives. In L A. So, you know, not like psychic stuff, but. It's based in reality.

• 38:39Trevor Noah?

  Yeah, like like premonitionish vibes.

• 38:41Speaker 00

  Yeah, and there's history, so you know, to go off of and the news, so yeah, I don't know, but. Are you a psychic person? You see psychics?

• 38:50Trevor Noah?

  No, no, no, no, I don't believe in it.

• 38:52Speaker 00

  Oh, yeah.

• 38:52Trevor Noah?

  That's what I'm saying. But I've seen some things where I go. Ah, should I believe in some of it?

• 38:58Speaker 00

  Oh, sure.

• 38:59Trevor Noah?

  But I don't believe in it.

• 38:59Speaker 00

  What have you seen?

• 39:01Trevor Noah?

  Um, there's this one on on YouTube that I bumped into called, um, oh, man, what is it? It's like a psychic in a in like a he rides around in like an Uber type thing.

• 39:11Speaker 00

  Okay.

• 39:12Trevor Noah?

  Picks up passengers.

• 39:13Speaker 00

  Whoa.

• 39:13Trevor Noah?

  And then and then asks them, can I, do you mind? I'm a psychic, this is what I do. Do you mind if I read you or whatever?

• 39:21Speaker 00

  Wow.

• 39:21Trevor Noah?

  And then you see you see the passengers, at first I was like, oh, this is all fake, you know, because I was like, whatever, I don't believe anything I see like on a show.

• 39:28Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 39:29Trevor Noah?

  And then there were a few passengers where I was like, oh, man, this person is not acting. And you see the the the guy in the show is like driving around and then he's like, yeah, I'm getting a message from a. So an older woman is this, and then he gets really specific and then the passenger starts crying.

• 39:44Speaker 00

  Oh, my gosh, yeah.

• 39:46Trevor Noah?

  I so I I still don't know, and I've spoken to people who worked on that production. And I was like, yo, come on, level with me, come on.

• 39:54Speaker 00

  Right.

• 39:54Trevor Noah?

  And then they were like, look, either this person is supremely skilled at being a con man. Or he has some ability and we cannot figure it out, but we've seen it with our own eyes and we don't know how it works.

• 40:06Speaker 00

  Right, because some of it could be like kind of magic tricks, mentalist.

• 40:10Trevor Noah?

  Yeah.

• 40:11Speaker 00

  Stuff, you know?

• 40:12Trevor Noah?

  Yeah.

• 40:12Speaker 00

  Right, it's like, who who knows, some some clues that they picked up that.

• 40:18Trevor Noah?

  Yeah, and then and then maybe there's something in you, I don't know, I that's why I say I'm I. I am ninety five percent sure that all of it is bullshit, but I leave five percent for myself just to be, you know?

• 40:29Speaker 00

  Sure, yeah.

• 40:30Trevor Noah?

  In in everything in life, I don't think you should be a hundred percent certain.

• 40:33Speaker 00

  No, no, yeah, and in fact, I'm doubtful most times. But I will walk into a place. Like you just said, you just described, you're like, it's an Uber driver, you know? He picks you up and he goes, can I ask, what is it, what, how does he start it?

• 40:46Trevor Noah?

  He goes like, can I, do you, uh, do you mind if I, if I read you, if I, you know, if I?

• 40:51Speaker 00

  Uh huh, cancel ride, that's what, cancel ride, thank you so much, sir. I don't have time, are you filming this? Is this for your content? Goodbye, mister. That's when I would leave. I already doubted him right there. I said, I'm trying to get to a meeting. I'm trying to see my mother in the hospital. What are you gonna do? Read me? Yes, I can't believe, so, so that's the stuff, that's what you watch? You watch things like that?

• 41:17Trevor Noah?

  I watch everything.

• 41:18Speaker 00

  You're an ever curious person.

• 41:19Trevor Noah?

  Yeah, I watch everything.

• 41:20Speaker 00

  Oh, that's why I was like, I mean, ice cream is your vice, of course. It can't be anything that really hinders all that thinking and curiosity.

• 41:28Trevor Noah?

  I don't think that, I don't think that's true.

• 41:30Speaker 00

  Right?

• 41:30Trevor Noah?

  I think I just went through, like, alcohol has like faded in my life.

• 41:34Speaker 00

  Uh huh, uh huh.

• 41:34Trevor Noah?

  Um.

• 41:36Speaker 00

  Right, you're sober.

• 41:37Trevor Noah?

  Yeah, what do you mean, I'm sober?

• 41:38Speaker 00

  Oh, you're sober? Or like you don't drink alcohol?

• 41:41Trevor Noah?

  Sober means you used to be an alcoholic, right?

• 41:44Speaker 00

  Oh, I think you just don't drink, no, I don't think so.

• 41:46Trevor Noah?

  Yeah, but, but if you're sober, it means you were, you were drunk most of the time. I think that's how it works.

• 41:51Speaker 00

  Is that right?

• 41:51Trevor Noah?

  I think so.

• 41:51Speaker 00

  Is that the connotation?

• 41:52Trevor Noah?

  Yeah, I think if somebody says, I'm sober now, it means that they were struggling with alcohol.

• 41:56Speaker 00

  Oh, I didn't know that.

• 41:57Trevor Noah?

  Yeah, yeah, yeah, I, I, I think so, I'm not, I'm not, yeah.

• 42:00Speaker 00

  I just, I, I just was like. I, I've heard people also who never drank, be like, I'm sober too.

• 42:06Trevor Noah?

  Oh, I don't think, no, then you should just be like, I don't drink.

• 42:09Speaker 00

  Okay, I see, I see, okay. So do you, so you don't drink?

• 42:12Trevor Noah?

  Yeah, I don't drink.

• 42:13Speaker 00

  Okay, got it.

• 42:13Trevor Noah?

  But I used to drink.

• 42:15Speaker 00

  Uh huh.

• 42:15Trevor Noah?

  Like casually and, you know what I mean, but I, now I just don't find, there are few.

• 42:20Speaker 00

  Now it's chocolate chip ice cream.

• 42:22Trevor Noah?

  Other than the social lubricant.

• 42:24Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 42:25Trevor Noah?

  There are very few pluses to, uh, alcohol for me.

• 42:29Speaker 00

  Okay, yeah, right.

• 42:30Trevor Noah?

  Like very few, like how you feel the next day.

• 42:33Speaker 00

  Uh huh.

• 42:33Trevor Noah?

  Your body, your like every, I'm just like, bleh. The social lubricant's great.

• 42:38Speaker 00

  How's, um, and then ice cream? Well, you, you're, you're good the next day?

• 42:43Trevor Noah?

  Yeah, too good the next day.

• 42:44Speaker 00

  Too good?

• 42:45Trevor Noah?

  Yeah.

• 42:45Speaker 00

  How much ice cream are you eating in a sitting? Like a, like a pint?

• 42:49Trevor Noah?

  How much ice cream do you have?

• 42:50Speaker 00

  How mu, is it really like that?

• 42:52Trevor Noah?

  How much?

• 42:52Speaker 00

  And you don't feel, and you don't feel bad the next day?

• 42:55Trevor Noah?

  I feel bad from like a like a society level. So I'll be like, yeah, you know, the same way I feel bad if I wake up like after midday. I'm like, oh, I shouldn't have done that.

• 43:05Speaker 00

  Oh, you mean guilt?

• 43:06Trevor Noah?

  Yeah.

• 43:07Speaker 00

  Oh, sweetie.

• 43:09Speaker 00

  People keep telling me there's only fifteen years left or something on earth. Is that true?

• 43:15Trevor Noah?

  Again, who tells you this?

• 43:17Speaker 00

  Ah.

• 43:18Trevor Noah?

  Which Ubers are you in?

• 43:19Speaker 00

  Ah. Right? I don't know.

• 43:22Trevor Noah?

  Fifteen years left on earth?

• 43:24Speaker 00

  Or like, I know that's not technically.

• 43:27Trevor Noah?

  Yeah, yeah.

• 43:27Speaker 00

  But like fifteen years of like where it's like too late to save certain things or something like that.

• 43:33Trevor Noah?

  Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yes, there's certain there's certain clocks. I mean, I even saw the other day that the the the sea level has risen more than people thought.

• 43:41Speaker 00

  Right.

• 43:42Trevor Noah?

  And it's affected.

• 43:43Speaker 00

  Trying to eat ice cream as fast as you can before.

• 43:46Trevor Noah?

  No, I just enjoy it.

• 43:47Speaker 00

  The water hits your neck and you're like, hurry. This is Trevor at the end of the world. The water's rising, right? And you're like, bitch, how much ice cream do you have?

• 43:56Trevor Noah?

  You know, when they're in the room and the water's.

• 43:58Speaker 00

  Yeah, yeah, you're still like, more.

• 44:00Trevor Noah?

  My last breath will be the ice cream, like my last, my.

• 44:03Speaker 00

  Yeah, yeah, no, but guess what? Well, you know what you won't be feeling? Guilt. That's what I'm saying. So you you you wake up and the only bad thing you feel is guilt, which I don't think even.

• 44:14Trevor Noah?

  I'll I'll feel I'll feel guilty because I'll go, you shouldn't have eaten that much ice cream, Trevor.

• 44:18Speaker 00

  Because society?

• 44:20Trevor Noah?

  Yeah, because of like, just, yeah, I think it's a, you know. There are a few places you can walk into and say you ate a pint of ice cream and people go, wow, look at you.

• 44:29Speaker 00

  Nobody should judge, nobody judge, nobody judge my son. Trevor.

• 44:39Trevor Noah?

  What are, okay, what are your vices?

• 44:40Speaker 00

  What's your middle name? What's your middle name?

• 44:44Speaker 00

  Trevor Cliff Noah.

• 44:46Trevor Noah?

  What what are your vices?

• 44:50Speaker 00

  It's the the the classics, you know, all the stuff like soldiers do.

• 44:56Speaker 00

  Like a classic, not you're like, whoa, what do you, it's just alcohol and just alcohol, honestly, now. And like weed.

• 45:03Trevor Noah?

  Okay.

• 45:03Speaker 00

  Yeah, um, I'm very treat based, so I like I like to have a drink every night.

• 45:08Trevor Noah?

  What's your drink of choice?

• 45:09Speaker 00

  I like to have tequila.

• 45:11Trevor Noah?

  Straight tequila?

• 45:12Speaker 00

  Yeah, very happy, happy. Mm hmm.

• 45:14Trevor Noah?

  What's your, do you do you have like a goat is like a good one that you recognize, like a Casa Dragones or like a?

• 45:19Speaker 00

  I'm not even picky like that.

• 45:20Trevor Noah?

  Oh, really?

• 45:20Speaker 00

  I just wanna feel like, you know, I did good today. I just wanna feel that, you know, that uh. It's a little burn, right?

• 45:29Trevor Noah?

  It is a little burn.

• 45:30Speaker 00

  So I like that feeling and then um, I like feeling like, like a little buzzy, yeah.

• 45:36Trevor Noah?

  Okay.

• 45:37Speaker 00

  Giggling, laughing, you know, um, so, so that's what I do, you know, I like sweets too. My first job after I got a green card was at an ice cream parlor.

• 45:48Trevor Noah?

  Which ice cream parlor?

• 45:50Speaker 00

  Do you know Cold Stone Creamery?

• 45:51Trevor Noah?

  Of course I know Cold Stone Creamery.

• 45:52Speaker 00

  Of course you do. Why, who, why did I doubt your ice cream knowledge? What's your favorite flavor?

• 45:58Trevor Noah?

  So.

• 45:59Speaker 00

  You have multiple, I'm sure.

• 46:00Trevor Noah?

  Not from Cold Stone, cause I, it's a little too like.

• 46:03Speaker 00

  Don't worry, I don't take offense.

• 46:04Trevor Noah?

  Yeah, no, no, it's just like a little too like broad for me, like the way the the actual ice cream tastes. So um, I'll always try and find small new places where they're still making the ice cream um, by hand.

• 46:16Speaker 00

  Mm hmm.

• 46:17Trevor Noah?

  Once it gets commercial, you start to taste it.

• 46:20Speaker 00

  Sure, that's okay, so that's.

• 46:21Trevor Noah?

  You know what I mean?

• 46:22Speaker 00

  So very specific, yeah.

• 46:23Trevor Noah?

  Yeah, so um, flavor wise, I judge a place by their vanilla.

• 46:29Speaker 00

  Oh, okay.

• 46:30Trevor Noah?

  And then I explore from there.

• 46:31Speaker 00

  Oh, okay.

• 46:32Trevor Noah?

  One of my favorite flavors actually is durian.

• 46:34Speaker 00

  Oh, fun, yeah, durian's real good.

• 46:36Trevor Noah?

  Yeah, yeah, yeah. And then I love. My friends trying to have some of it and not being able to.

• 46:44Speaker 00

  Right, you're like, haha, won't be sharing.

• 46:47Trevor Noah?

  Yeah, there's no sharing of durian.

• 46:48Speaker 00

  Durian, yeah, I know durian, very specific flavor.

• 46:50Trevor Noah?

  Durian is only for you.

• 46:52Speaker 00

  Yes, it is.

• 46:52Trevor Noah?

  It is only for you. It's like me and maybe if Ronnie Chang comes over, he'll have my durian ice cream.

• 46:58Speaker 00

  Right, of course, yeah. And so he he likes durian too.

• 47:01Trevor Noah?

  Yeah, durian, like, yeah, Ronnie loves durian.

• 47:04Speaker 00

  You know, I didn't want to assume.

• 47:05Trevor Noah?

  No, no, no, Ronnie loves durian.

• 47:07Speaker 00

  Malaysia, yeah. And but that's very specific. It's not flavors you can get all the time, you know, when you're touring.

• 47:14Trevor Noah?

  I think I do that. I think I do that on purpose.

• 47:16Speaker 00

  Okay.

• 47:17Trevor Noah?

  Cause if I if I just like all ice cream flavors, then.

• 47:21Speaker 00

  Uh huh.

• 47:21Trevor Noah?

  Then now I'm.

• 47:23Speaker 00

  Too easy.

• 47:24Trevor Noah?

  I'll tell you where I learned this the hard way. So when I first moved to America.

• 47:31Trevor Noah?

  I so I I used to have this rule in South Africa to try and prevent myself from always eating sweet things, because I have an insane sweet tooth. I would say if I come across an apple pie, I'm allowed to eat it.

• 47:43Speaker 00

  Oh.

• 47:43Trevor Noah?

  So no matter where it is, if I if there's an apple pie, like, so if there's an apple pie on the menu, if there's an apple pie at a place I'm going to, I can eat it. And this was my way of like preventing myself from overeating sweet things.

• 47:55Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 47:55Trevor Noah?

  Because in South Africa, you don't just bump into an apple pie.

• 47:58Speaker 00

  Right.

• 47:59Trevor Noah?

  I came to America, I had the same rule. I didn't know American apple pie was just, you know what I mean?

• 48:05Speaker 00

  Right.

• 48:05Trevor Noah?

  So every place I would go to.

• 48:06Speaker 00

  You're like, surely it's not a stereotype that everywhere has apple pie. And we were like, haha.

• 48:12Trevor Noah?

  I genuinely, I promise you, I don't think that. And then I would get to places and I'll be like, they go, would you like some dessert? And I'll be like, oh, let me see what you have. Oh, apple pie.

• 48:19Speaker 00

  Right.

• 48:20Trevor Noah?

  And every place I went to.

• 48:21Speaker 00

  Wow.

• 48:21Trevor Noah?

  And then at some point, I was like, oh, I think there's just apple pie everywhere.

• 48:24Speaker 00

  You know who you were like? You were like Morgan Spurlock. Do you remember him? So he did a TV, he did a movie called.

• 48:31Trevor Noah?

  The fries.

• 48:32Speaker 00

  Super Size Me. And the rule was, I go to McDonald's every day, three times a day for the meals, and if they ask. You know, would you like to supersize that?

• 48:42Trevor Noah?

  I say yes.

• 48:43Speaker 00

  I have to say yes. And that's how he got by the end of the month. He did this for a month. He got like diabetes and all kinds of other health issues or whatever. It's it's like that rule that you created for, you know,

• 48:54Trevor Noah?

  I basically did, yeah.

• 48:55Speaker 00

  Yeah, you were like, OK, I'll eat apple pie if there is one.

• 48:58Trevor Noah?

  OK.

• 48:58Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 48:59Trevor Noah?

  So why tequila of all the drinks? What is it about tequila?

• 49:02Speaker 00

  I had heard that it's the happy drink, you know, and

• 49:06Trevor Noah?

  Well, people say this, yeah, they call it an apa.

• 49:08Speaker 00

  Right, yeah, yeah. And I'm like, I don't know. Again, I'm not a scientist, just like I don't know if there's 15 years left on earth. I kind of doubt it, considering humans are pretty resilient, considering pollen alone can take us down. You know what I mean? We're pretty strong. We should all, you know, because people are always like, oh, Jesus died at 33 so young. I think that was pretty old, considering you could trip and fall on a rock.

• 49:37Trevor Noah?

  Yeah, also, he was killed. I think we should always remember that.

• 49:40Speaker 00

  Yes, yes.

• 49:41Trevor Noah?

  He didn't die at 33. He was killed at 33.

• 49:44Speaker 00

  He was killed.

• 49:45Trevor Noah?

  Yes.

• 49:45Speaker 00

  And that maybe that is

• 49:46Trevor Noah?

  I think that changes everything.

• 49:48Speaker 00

  It always sucks when you're killed at any age. But 33, maybe young.

• 49:53Trevor Noah?

  Well, maybe at like 90 something, I feel like getting killed at 90 something might be better than getting killed.

• 49:58Speaker 00

  Then it won't, then maybe it won't be a whole religion. People will be like, he sacrificed his life for us 97.

• 50:06Trevor Noah?

  Yeah. How many years did he have left? That's what people would think about it.

• 50:10Speaker 00

  Was he enjoying a lot or something? And then he had to give give up.

• 50:14Trevor Noah?

  You see?

• 50:14Speaker 00

  Going out every night, yeah.

• 50:16Trevor Noah?

  Like, if you killed me at 90 something.

• 50:19Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 50:20Trevor Noah?

  I would not be happy, but I do feel like if I had a last breath, I'd be able to say, haha, I was leaving anyways.

• 50:26Speaker 00

  Right.

• 50:27Trevor Noah?

  This is like a, like, I'm done.

• 50:28Speaker 00

  And no movement would have started, no Christianity would have started because Trevor, you know.

• 50:33Trevor Noah?

  No, got killed at 93.

• 50:35Speaker 00

  And and claimed it was for our sins.

• 50:37Trevor Noah?

  No, yeah, you know.

• 50:38Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 50:39Trevor Noah?

  That's not going to happen.

• 50:47Trevor Noah?

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• 51:31Trevor Noah?

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• 52:13Trevor Noah?

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• 52:56Trevor Noah?

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• 53:41Trevor Noah?

  Oh, and if Quince asks you where you heard about them, let them know it was What Now with Trevor Noah. It's the best way to support the show.

• 53:57Trevor Noah?

  Were you, were you very religious growing up?

• 53:59Speaker 00

  I was Christian when I came to the States. You know, it all happens here.

• 54:03Trevor Noah?

  No, but wait, wait, isn't, isn't, isn't Christianity very big in Taiwan? Or am I not?

• 54:08Speaker 00

  Oh, maybe.

• 54:09Trevor Noah?

  Am I misinformed?

• 54:10Speaker 00

  Uh, well, that's, you know, I actually, well, I didn't. My grandma didn't practice anything. It was my uncle, her son, also Taiwanese. He, he did become Christian in Taiwan, so that is interesting. Yeah. He's the one that brought Christianity into our lives.

• 54:27Trevor Noah?

  Okay.

• 54:28Speaker 00

  Cause he's the one who we stayed with when we moved to the States.

• 54:31Trevor Noah?

  Okay, okay.

• 54:32Speaker 00

  And so.

• 54:33Trevor Noah?

  So you're eight years old, you're learning Mandarin, English and Christianity?

• 54:37Speaker 00

  My mind is confused. I said, I thought this was a two month vacation. Why am I no longer living with dad in Japan? Why and then two months turned into three months?

• 54:47Trevor Noah?

  Yeah.

• 54:48Speaker 00

  And then it turned into, it's been twenty something years. So.

• 54:51Trevor Noah?

  Oh, wait, it just, it just went on.

• 54:54Speaker 00

  Yeah. And then, so we were undocumented when we first got here because my grandma didn't, you know, there was no paperwork done. So suddenly, and I didn't even know, you know, what being undocumented meant. I, I thought, oh, we flew here, so we're allowed to be here. I just thought every human should, uh, you know, wherever they end up, they're allowed to be.

• 55:14Trevor Noah?

  Right.

• 55:15Speaker 00

  Cause I'm not, I'm eight. I don't know immigration law. You know, that would be, if I did, if I did, I would be a genius. And as we talked about that.

• 55:27Trevor Noah?

  Just a very specific eight year old.

• 55:29Speaker 00

  That's right. Very specific eight year old. And so, yeah, so I, um,

• 55:35Speaker 00

  but, but, you know, so I was undocumented, learning two new languages and also being brought to a Chinese Baptist church, you know, where my uncle was the choir director at.

• 55:46Trevor Noah?

  Wow.

• 55:47Speaker 00

  Yeah, yeah. And I said, and what's this? This is, they said, well, you want friends, right? I said, yes. Well, uh, you like free food? We're like, yes. We do free lunch after service every Sunday, you know? It was just a way of building community with friends really fast. That's how, you know.

• 56:05Trevor Noah?

  Yeah, it's, it's, it's the biggest thing I miss about church, to be honest.

• 56:08Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 56:08Trevor Noah?

  I think it's the biggest thing society misses about church.

• 56:10Speaker 00

  Free food?

• 56:12Trevor Noah?

  Yeah, all of it. No, really.

• 56:13Speaker 00

  Oh, yeah, yeah.

• 56:14Trevor Noah?

  Yeah, I think, I genuinely think about it as I, and I've spoken about it before, but I go, we take for granted how much we lost when people sort of shifted away from religion, but not the religion side, the church side.

• 56:27Speaker 00

  Mm hmm.

• 56:28Trevor Noah?

  Because it was that. Kids would get these free meals after church services. There'd be clothes that you could sometimes just go and collect, you know, from a bin that everyone would contribute to.

• 56:38Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 56:38Trevor Noah?

  People giving jobs, there's people finding love. It was, it was, imagine you, you've come from another country, you've come from another city, wherever it is.

• 56:46Speaker 00

  Mm hmm.

• 56:47Trevor Noah?

  And you, you're all just welcome because of this book that tells your story. I, that, I think it's beautiful and we, it's sad that we lost, or, you know, continuing to lose so much of it, that part specifically.

• 56:57Speaker 00

  Yeah, yeah. I mean, I think, you know, other, like, community centers try to do that too.

• 57:04Trevor Noah?

  Yeah, but not with like.

• 57:05Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 57:06Trevor Noah?

  They don't. Community requires.

• 57:11Speaker 00

  Organization.

• 57:12Trevor Noah?

  And and club.

• 57:14Speaker 00

  Oh, sure.

• 57:15Trevor Noah?

  You know, like, like, when you, when you go to a community center, the only thing that's sort of bringing you there is the fact that's like, oh, we're all struggling.

• 57:22Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 57:23Trevor Noah?

  But when you go to a church, there's, there's a vibe, yes, a lot of it is.

• 57:26Speaker 00

  That part's disguised, that part's disguised.

• 57:29Trevor Noah?

  Yeah, but there's a, there's a vibe of like, you know, we, we learn the same songs and we learn the same prayers and we, it starts to build, it stitches you together.

• 57:37Speaker 00

  When did you stop going?

• 57:39Trevor Noah?

  When did I stop going? I probably stopped going to church when I was, it was like my early twenties.

• 57:47Speaker 00

  Oh, you went for, oh, a long time.

• 57:49Trevor Noah?

  Pretty much my whole life.

• 57:50Speaker 00

  Oh, yeah. And you just stopped? Was it when, when you were, you were doing comedy?

• 57:54Trevor Noah?

  Yeah, and then like people started like asking for selfies and people, then I was like, it felt weird being in church and, and having that.

• 58:00Speaker 00

  Oh, okay.

• 58:01Trevor Noah?

  So it was like, and then also it disturbed my mom's church going experience, not, she didn't say this.

• 58:06Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 58:06Trevor Noah?

  But I didn't like, because my mom's very religious. I didn't like how it would disrupt, like, the service for her.

• 58:12Speaker 00

  Oh, I see, okay.

• 58:13Trevor Noah?

  So I was just like, ah, I can chill.

• 58:16Speaker 00

  Okay, so, yeah, you just probably don't, so you don't go to a lot of group things in general anymore?

• 58:24Trevor Noah?

  No, I love, I met you at a games night.

• 58:27Speaker 00

  Right, I mean, I guess like a, like a community, public thing.

• 58:31Trevor Noah?

  Yeah, it, it depends, it depends, sometimes.

• 58:34Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 58:34Trevor Noah?

  You know why? Because sometimes my presence can be misconstrued.

• 58:38Speaker 00

  What's misconstrued mean?

• 58:39Trevor Noah?

  One day I was, uh, this was in New York.

• 58:41Speaker 00

  Okay, but wait, sorry, what's misconstrued mean?

• 58:45Trevor Noah?

  Oh, the word itself.

• 58:45Speaker 00

  Yeah, I don't know what it means.

• 58:46Trevor Noah?

  Misconstrued means, um, to misinterpret something, to, to take something and misinterpret how it's supposed to be or how you, how you process it yourself.

• 58:57Speaker 00

  Oh, okay.

• 58:57Trevor Noah?

  So, so somebody says to you, ooh, that's a nice dress, that could be misconstrued as flirting.

• 59:02Speaker 00

  Oh, okay.

• 59:03Trevor Noah?

  You know what I mean?

• 59:04Speaker 00

  Okay, okay.

• 59:05Trevor Noah?

  Because you, you, you go like, the person was flirting with me, and they're like, no, no, no, I wasn't flirting with you.

• 59:08Speaker 00

  Yeah. Okay, okay, so when, okay, so when you go to a place, it can be.

• 59:13Trevor Noah?

  Sometimes it can be misinterpreted, uh, because they, they, um.

• 59:19Trevor Noah?

  So one example that comes to mind.

• 59:22Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 59:23Trevor Noah?

  We're in New York, visiting like friends in Harlem. And so we just like go for a walk. And then on this one day, he's like, yo, let's go to this park. There's an event taking place. I think they were celebrating. Um, I think it was Jackie Robinson that they were celebrating or something. But he was like, let's just go to the park. And my friends are all, let's go. So we, so we roll up there. And there's local politicians giving like speeches, because it's Jackie Robinson and you know, this whole thing and.

• 59:49Speaker 00

  Right.

• 59:50Trevor Noah?

  And then someone sees me and comes running up and goes like, oh, Mr. Noah. Oh, I didn't know you were here. So, oh, sorry. And they're like, oh, and, and they're like, oh, Trevor Noah's here. I'm gonna say a few words. And I was like, no, I'm not gonna say a few words. I have nothing. And then people were like, but then what are you doing here?

• 1:00:07Speaker 00

  Right, right. Just hanging out. No, come on. Here's a mic. You and the mic are tight.

• 1:00:12Trevor Noah?

  Yeah. And I was like, no, no, I, I literally was just walking.

• 1:00:14Speaker 00

  Right.

• 1:00:15Trevor Noah?

  And then people, people genuinely didn't believe me. They're like, oh, please, you're just walking around Harlem.

• 1:00:19Speaker 00

  Right.

• 1:00:19Trevor Noah?

  You're here to make a speech about Jackie Robinson.

• 1:00:22Speaker 00

  Trevor, that's the vibe you give, is that you're gonna give a speech.

• 1:00:25Trevor Noah?

  I need to, I need to change this. You know what I need to do? I need to start drinking. That's what I need. Maybe it's because I don't drink. I give off ice cream vibes.

• 1:00:33Speaker 00

  They're like, you know him, feeling good from the night before. It's just ice cream. So he's ready. Dorian, Dorian.

• 1:00:42Trevor Noah?

  So, so at what point, so you growing up in L A and you stayed there your whole life?

• 1:00:50Speaker 00

  Yes, yeah, I love New York vibes.

• 1:00:53Trevor Noah?

  So if you, if you don't mind me asking, wait, wait. So your accent didn't shift?

• 1:00:58Speaker 00

  From before? Yeah, probably.

• 1:01:00Trevor Noah?

  Because most kids lose their accents if they come like at that age.

• 1:01:04Speaker 00

  Uh huh, yeah. You mean like a Japanese accent?

• 1:01:07Trevor Noah?

  Yeah, yeah.

• 1:01:07Speaker 00

  Yeah, yeah. Do you think I have an accent?

• 1:01:10Trevor Noah?

  You definitely.

• 1:01:11Speaker 00

  I do?

• 1:01:11Trevor Noah?

  Yeah.

• 1:01:11Speaker 00

  Okay, yeah. I don't know what, some people are like, I think it's a California accent.

• 1:01:16Trevor Noah?

  Who are these people?

• 1:01:17Speaker 00

  I don't know. The same people that told me we have fifteen years left to live. My mother is seven voices. No, um, so, uh, yeah, I, I guess it didn't, I mean, I'm sure it was thicker back then. I don't really remember what I sound like when I was a kid.

• 1:01:35Trevor Noah?

  You don't have videos or anything?

• 1:01:36Speaker 00

  No, we lived in a garage. We barely had anything. Um, yeah, so.

• 1:01:42Trevor Noah?

  Did you actually live in a garage?

• 1:01:43Speaker 00

  Yeah, we lived in my uncle and aunt's garage. Yeah, yeah. And then, uh, which was also illegal, but you'll know.

• 1:01:52Trevor Noah?

  I mean, it's life.

• 1:01:52Speaker 00

  What are rules?

• 1:01:53Trevor Noah?

  Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

• 1:01:54Speaker 00

  And so, um, so, yeah, so I guess, mm-hmm, I just stayed in L.A. And then some, you know, I do have like a laid back vibe, so I think I'm very Californian. I consider myself very, like, I feel.

• 1:02:08Trevor Noah?

  In your vibe?

• 1:02:09Speaker 00

  Like, Southern California vibes, yeah.

• 1:02:11Trevor Noah?

  Yeah.

• 1:02:12Speaker 00

  But who knows? This could have naturally been me too, if I even stayed in Japan, who knows? Um, but New York energy is what I'm really drawn to. I love chaos energy. Yeah, I love lights, I love sounds. My dream would be live at Times Square.

• 1:02:30Speaker 00

  I'm unwell. Are you okay? Come back. Trevor, come back.

• 1:02:34Trevor Noah?

  No, I was just thinking that, that might be just like a Japanese side of you.

• 1:02:38Speaker 00

  Could be.

• 1:02:39Trevor Noah?

  Because when, when I'm in Japan, it feels like all of it is Times Square.

• 1:02:42Speaker 00

  Do you like it or no?

• 1:02:44Trevor Noah?

  I love it because I'm visiting it.

• 1:02:46Speaker 00

  Yes, oh, yeah.

• 1:02:47Trevor Noah?

  So like when I'm in, when I'm in Tokyo.

• 1:02:49Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 1:02:50Trevor Noah?

  It really feels like it's all Times Square.

• 1:02:53Speaker 00

  Mm-hmm.

• 1:02:53Trevor Noah?

  And then when you go to Kyoto, it's like, no, this is, it's the antitheses of everything Times Square. It's just bi- bicycles and silence.

• 1:03:00Speaker 00

  Right, right, yeah. And so, I, yeah, it's true, it's a little Japan.

• 1:03:06Trevor Noah?

  Chaos and the.

• 1:03:07Speaker 00

  Yeah, just, you know, it's either that or me and my thoughts.

• 1:03:11Trevor Noah?

  So how did your thoughts get you into stand-up? What, what, what's, what's that journey? So you, you're eight.

• 1:03:16Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 1:03:17Trevor Noah?

  You're here for a two-month vacation.

• 1:03:18Speaker 00

  Right.

• 1:03:19Trevor Noah?

  That turns into a twenty-year vacation.

• 1:03:22Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 1:03:23Trevor Noah?

  You start going to school?

• 1:03:25Speaker 00

  Yes, just like being a kid, going to, yeah, going through the American, you know, education system.

• 1:03:32Trevor Noah?

  Did you ask questions of your family? Like, were you like, when are we going back? Or, or did you?

• 1:03:37Speaker 00

  Yeah, I did, I did. But also, I was scared of my mom. You know, my mom, um, yeah. When I would ask like sad questions like that, she would, you know, get upset, you know?

• 1:03:50Trevor Noah?

  Shame.

• 1:03:51Speaker 00

  And also she would get, my, my grandma raised me mostly. So she was there. But my grandma was also like, don't, don't upset your mom, you know? We moved here, so, so it's like, sorry, we didn't tell you, you know? But I didn't really know why. I was afraid to ask questions. And so, um, yeah, I just kept, I just kept going to school. I, I, I later found out, you know, my mom, um, my mom's like, mental illness got really intense.

• 1:04:20Trevor Noah?

  Mm hmm.

• 1:04:21Speaker 00

  Towards the last years in Japan. She was very depressed too. She has no friends. She can't work. She also has seizures. So, um, you know, there's a lot of stuff she can't do. She's very isolated. And then, uh, so she got pretty suicidal. And, uh, so my grandma was like, oh, I have a son in L A. You know, maybe we switch locations. Maybe we change things up.

• 1:04:46Trevor Noah?

  Yeah.

• 1:04:46Speaker 00

  You know, have, go to a place with more family support.

• 1:04:49Trevor Noah?

  Mm hmm.

• 1:04:50Speaker 00

  There's an uncle and aunt. We can, he said we could stay with them. So, you know, I found out that's why we ended up in, in L A. Um, but yeah, so after I did that, oh, oh gosh, it was like then, when I was nineteen, I was with my second boyfriend, who, uh, told me that I was funny. And he's like, you should try stand up. And I was like, stand up? Isn't that only for like, aren't all the, I thought at the time, there's only like ten stand ups in the world, you know? Do you know what I'm talking about?

• 1:05:25Trevor Noah?

  Yeah, I know what you mean.

• 1:05:26Speaker 00

  Right? It's just like. There's only, Margaret Cho was already a stand-up then.

• 1:05:31Trevor Noah?

  Uh huh, uh huh.

• 1:05:32Speaker 00

  I was like, well, they already have her. What do you mean you could just start stand-up? Did you feel that way in South Africa too?

• 1:05:38Trevor Noah?

  Uh, no, I didn't.

• 1:05:39Speaker 00

  You didn't?

• 1:05:39Trevor Noah?

  I didn't.

• 1:05:40Speaker 00

  Okay, I just was like-

• 1:05:41Trevor Noah?

  Because, because it was so new there that it felt like anything was possible.

• 1:05:46Speaker 00

  Okay. Yeah, I thought here it's just like we have a quota and there's only like ten comedians at a time.

• 1:05:52Trevor Noah?

  Yeah, yeah, yeah.

• 1:05:53Speaker 00

  And so, you know, and I, I liked their work. I watched even, yeah, Margaret Cho I watched. What's his name? Uh, Robin Williams and, you know. So, I, and then I found out there were like stand-up comedy classes, so I decided to take one.

• 1:06:13Trevor Noah?

  How all those?

• 1:06:15Speaker 00

  So this one I liked. It was an all-female stand-up comedy class.

• 1:06:19Trevor Noah?

  Yeah.

• 1:06:19Speaker 00

  Because I, I said, okay, how else do I start? Just start showing up at an open mic? Back then, it's like an open mic, sometimes they were like 11:00 PM to 2:00 AM in some dark alley.

• 1:06:31Trevor Noah?

  Yeah, yeah.

• 1:06:31Speaker 00

  You could be the only girl.

• 1:06:32Trevor Noah?

  Yeah, most of the time you were.

• 1:06:34Speaker 00

  I was like, that's, that's, that's how you go missing. I think that's how you go missing. I was like, ah. And I, I wasn't, you know, I didn't have enough confidence to be able to go by myself like that to a place.

• 1:06:45Trevor Noah?

  Yeah.

• 1:06:46Speaker 00

  So, uh, so this all-female stand-up comedy class was actually a really great, like, supportive way for me to start. Where, also I needed deadlines, you know? I'm not good with like self-motivation. I, I, I haven't been diagnosed, but I think I have ADD. It's hard, like, I need someone to be like, there's homework. This is the homework. Come up with a five-minute set. So it, it was a good, that's how I started.

• 1:07:10Trevor Noah?

  Oh.

• 1:07:10Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 1:07:11Trevor Noah?

  And was it, was it good from the beginning? What was your first set? Do you remember?

• 1:07:15Speaker 00

  Yeah, I remember thinking it was kind of funny. I was like, is there something? You know, you, you get in front of the class and then the teacher and the other students are there. And I said, is this something? I don't know. My name is Otsko Okatsuka. I, uh, work at a Japanese restaurant and I drive a Toyota.

• 1:07:32Speaker 00

  And then they were like, ah, ha, ha, there is something there, you know, why everything's so on brand? You know, and so I think I started talking about that. And then I remember one of my first jokes was, uh, this guy found out that I was Japanese and he said, oh, I have a good friend who works at the, and I think he wasn't thinking about it when he said it. It just came out. He said, you're Japanese. I have a good friend who works at the Mitsubishi dealership. He goes, uh, he goes, do you, do you know? What was his name?

• 1:08:04Speaker 00

  Oh, he says, do you know Gary? Do you know Gary? And I, and I, and I go, Gary? I don't fucking know Gary. I know Tom. So that was like my first, like one of my first jokes, like the whole, you know, classic.

• 1:08:19Trevor Noah?

  Yeah, yeah, yeah.

• 1:08:19Speaker 00

  Baden switch. Yeah. Yeah. But, um, yeah, so I don't know. It just took a random boyfriend who probably just did a, you don't tell, in retrospect, I think he was trying to get rid of me.

• 1:08:36Trevor Noah?

  By telling you you're funny?

• 1:08:37Speaker 00

  Yeah, you should start stand up because you don't tell someone you love that.

• 1:08:43Speaker 00

  He was like, go, go be busy. Go every night out to do jokes. Right? I don't know.

• 1:08:49Trevor Noah?

  No, I think that's, I think that's someone who sees you.

• 1:08:51Speaker 00

  Oh, okay. Oh, that's very nice.

• 1:08:53Trevor Noah?

  I genuinely think that. I think, I think every, every stand up comic needed someone to see them before they could see themselves.

• 1:08:59Speaker 00

  It's true. That's true. Who told you?

• 1:09:02Trevor Noah?

  For me, it was, there were a few comedians, funny enough, who told me this.

• 1:09:08Speaker 00

  Oh, that's cool. You were already friends with comedians before you were a comedian?

• 1:09:12Trevor Noah?

  South Africa is so small. That's what I mean by.

• 1:09:14Speaker 00

  Right. Anything's possible.

• 1:09:16Trevor Noah?

  Yeah, remember, we, we, we get democracy in nineteen ninety-four. I'm ten years old. So everything is this new world.

• 1:09:23Speaker 00

  Wow, yeah.

• 1:09:24Trevor Noah?

  Right? Free speech wasn't around before that. Comedy wasn't really a thing before. So everything, everyone in, in like my generation, this band that was growing up, especially in Johannesburg, we all knew each other.

• 1:09:35Speaker 00

  Wow, that's true.

• 1:09:36Trevor Noah?

  Everyone. So it's like you knew the president's son, but you also knew like a taxi driver, but you also, like everyone, it was this really small band that was growing up together. It was really, it, it, it was a magical moment, honestly, and.

• 1:09:51Speaker 00

  Right.

• 1:09:51Trevor Noah?

  And so I knew a few people who were comedians, but I'd never seen their comedy.

• 1:09:56Speaker 00

  Hmm.

• 1:09:56Trevor Noah?

  And then one of them.

• 1:09:57Speaker 00

  Cause you weren't like, you were young or some too young to go to a comedy club.

• 1:10:01Trevor Noah?

  Comedy wasn't like a thing. We didn't even have a comedy club in South Africa.

• 1:10:04Speaker 00

  Where were they doing comedy? Just like maybe church or something?

• 1:10:07Trevor Noah?

  Yeah, random bars or random restaurants or whatever it was.

• 1:10:11Speaker 00

  Yeah, yeah.

• 1:10:12Trevor Noah?

  Yeah. And then one of them said to me in a conversation, Ronnie Muremola, I'll never forget. He's super funny, dry, one liner comedian.

• 1:10:20Speaker 00

  Uh huh.

• 1:10:20Trevor Noah?

  And then he said to me, he's like, yo, Trev, he's like, you should do a comedy, man. You're very funny. And then I was like, no, you're funny. I'm not funny. He's like, no, man. You should do it. I think you'd like it. And I was like, no, Ronnie, I'm, I'm cool. Didn't do it at all.

• 1:10:36Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 1:10:36Trevor Noah?

  And then blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. My cousin and, and my best friend were living together. They were like, you're funny. You should do it. And then, and then I did it.

• 1:10:45Speaker 00

  Like, okay, if multiple people think so.

• 1:10:47Trevor Noah?

  Yeah, yeah, yeah.

• 1:10:48Speaker 00

  Right? And they're telling me, yeah.

• 1:10:51Trevor Noah?

  You know, so I, I think sometimes, and it's not just comedy. I think in life, sometimes you need someone to see you before you can see yourself.

• 1:10:57Speaker 00

  Yeah, totally. Right.

• 1:10:58Trevor Noah?

  I, I think, I don't know, but I think that boyfriend was like, like, for someone to think you are that funny.

• 1:11:05Speaker 00

  Hmm.

• 1:11:06Trevor Noah?

  Means they see you. And look, he was right.

• 1:11:08Speaker 00

  No, that's true. I don't give him credit for that. And I refuse to. I'm just kidding. Obviously, it was a good. The relationship itself was more.

• 1:11:16Trevor Noah?

  Give the man his credit. He deserves it for your career.

• 1:11:20Speaker 00

  Wow, that's very interesting. I never thought about it. Yeah. That he's, he was the, you know. You never know. Cause it was just one person. Like, I don't think anyone else told me I should do stand up.

• 1:11:31Trevor Noah?

  No one else said you were funny?

• 1:11:32Speaker 00

  They did say I was funny, but.

• 1:11:34Trevor Noah?

  But no one said like.

• 1:11:34Speaker 00

  But to go stand up, you should do the actual thing, stand up comedy. And I was like, what? How would I even start? So I got curious and I, that's why I looked it up on Craigslist. I found the class on Craigslist. I didn't know how else to look for things back then. I was already very much on that website.

• 1:11:50Trevor Noah?

  Craigslist, Craigslist was great.

• 1:11:52Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 1:11:52Trevor Noah?

  It still is. One of the, one of the few companies that blew up that hasn't like just been sold to make money.

• 1:12:00Speaker 00

  Hmm. It's still very DIY.

• 1:12:02Trevor Noah?

  No, it really is, but in a good way. And then the founder was like, no, I'm happy with it the way it is. And was, I think multiple people offered him money to turn it into like a big tech gianty type thing. And he was like, no, I like it the way it is. I like how people can find each other and how they can

• 1:12:17Speaker 00

  Right.

• 1:12:18Trevor Noah?

  commune or buy things or connect with people and

• 1:12:21Speaker 00

  Right.

• 1:12:21Trevor Noah?

  It's like healthy tech.

• 1:12:23Speaker 00

  That's so true. I didn't think about that. I mean, they started, they regulated it a little bit, like they got rid of, um, um, you know, people were hooking up on there.

• 1:12:31Trevor Noah?

  Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.

• 1:12:32Speaker 00

  But they got rid of that. I wonder if it was because of the Craigslist killer, maybe?

• 1:12:37Trevor Noah?

  Oh, that was a thing, wasn't it?

• 1:12:38Speaker 00

  Yeah, it was turned into like a whole movie because, yeah, there was a killer on there, which naturally probably was gonna happen. You know, accessibility, someone's gonna

• 1:12:49Trevor Noah?

  It's inevitable.

• 1:12:49Speaker 00

  Take advantage. We can't have anything good for ourselves. But you could still buy furniture on there and, you know.

• 1:12:55Trevor Noah?

  Pretty good furniture.

• 1:12:56Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 1:12:57Trevor Noah?

  Worth a few killings, some would say.

• 1:12:58Speaker 00

  I mean, I wonder, I'm so lucky. I actually answered some random ad that said, all girls class, stand up at my house.

• 1:13:08Trevor Noah?

  Yeah.

• 1:13:08Speaker 00

  And I showed up. I fucking showed up. And it wasn't a man with like weird gloves on waiting to do some weird thing. You know what I mean? I was lucky.

• 1:13:21Trevor Noah?

  I love how you worried about the gloves being weird.

• 1:13:24Speaker 00

  I was gonna say.

• 1:13:25Trevor Noah?

  Just gloves. I like that you're like, no, those are weird gloves.

• 1:13:28Speaker 00

  He just does this, this is dangerous.

• 1:13:30Trevor Noah?

  He's got like one extra finger. Oh, he's got the weird gloves. We're in trouble. What kind of gloves, girl? Not the usual gloves.

• 1:13:36Speaker 00

  Not the gloves.

• 1:13:37Trevor Noah?

  Oh, man.

• 1:13:38Speaker 00

  I could have said axe, but I didn't want to be violent. I decided not to go violent there for some reason.

• 1:13:44Trevor Noah?

  You wanted to go creepy.

• 1:13:45Speaker 00

  Well, yeah, what if he's, yeah, he's just the guy that's like, just watch me playing with my gloves for hours.

• 1:13:51Trevor Noah?

  For some reason, those, those ones are like

• 1:13:54Speaker 00

  Scary or?

• 1:13:54Trevor Noah?

  Yeah.

• 1:13:56Speaker 00

  Yeah, that's why, you know, horror films, they have to get so creative these days.

• 1:14:01Trevor Noah?

  Yes.

• 1:14:02Speaker 00

  Is it, do you like horror films?

• 1:14:04Trevor Noah?

  No, I hate them.

• 1:14:04Speaker 00

  Me too.

• 1:14:05Trevor Noah?

  Terrified.

• 1:14:06Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 1:14:06Trevor Noah?

  Terrified of them.

• 1:14:07Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 1:14:08Trevor Noah?

  I can't, I can't sleep if I watch one. I If I have to watch a scary movie because my friends have been like, you gotta watch this movie. I'll watch it during the day, bright as as possible.

• 1:14:19Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 1:14:20Trevor Noah?

  I I don't, yeah, I don't.

• 1:14:21Speaker 00

  We have that in common. Okay. Yeah.

• 1:14:23Trevor Noah?

  Yeah, I don't do well with that at all.

• 1:14:25Speaker 00

  Yeah, even if it's like whether it's supernatural or more realistic. Yeah.

• 1:14:29Trevor Noah?

  I don't care.

• 1:14:30Speaker 00

  So you don't like watch true crime too, right? Listen to it?

• 1:14:33Trevor Noah?

  No, that stuff is just like, not that it's boring to me, but I it's boring to me.

• 1:14:37Speaker 00

  Okay.

• 1:14:38Trevor Noah?

  And I think it, I think, I mean, this is a little maybe too extreme, but like. If I watch that stuff too much.

• 1:14:47Speaker 00

  Mm hmm.

• 1:14:48Trevor Noah?

  I feel like it'll make me feel like it's possible all the time and people are doing it all the time and people are killing each other all the time.

• 1:14:53Speaker 00

  Mm hmm.

• 1:14:54Trevor Noah?

  Which it's it's true, but it's not like most of us are not killing each other in society.

• 1:14:58Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 1:14:58Trevor Noah?

  And like when you watch those true crime documentaries, I think some people get really, they're like, oh, everyone's killing everyone and every, I don't know. I just, I'm like, ah, and they're all the same at some point.

• 1:15:08Speaker 00

  Yeah, yeah. I wonder, oh, maybe because there's nuance in it, maybe that's. That's why it's boring, quote unquote, to you.

• 1:15:16Trevor Noah?

  What do you mean?

• 1:15:16Speaker 00

  So like in a horror film.

• 1:15:18Trevor Noah?

  Yeah.

• 1:15:18Speaker 00

  Because it's a story written and it's actors and there's stunts and it's entertain, it's meant to entertain you.

• 1:15:26Trevor Noah?

  Yeah.

• 1:15:26Speaker 00

  So the killers are crushing it. You know what I'm saying?

• 1:15:29Trevor Noah?

  Yeah, okay.

• 1:15:29Speaker 00

  It's like hit my mark, hit my mark, chopped his head off and I am.

• 1:15:33Trevor Noah?

  I like what the killer's saying this.

• 1:15:35Speaker 00

  Huh?

• 1:15:35Trevor Noah?

  I like what the killer's saying this. Hit my mark, chopped his head off. Gotta keep Trevor engaged.

• 1:15:39Speaker 00

  Tap dance. Okay. And hit my mark. I look scary. I'm I that, you know, yeah, exactly.

• 1:15:44Trevor Noah?

  Okay.

• 1:15:45Speaker 00

  Right? I mean, I imagine that's what the behind the scenes sounds like.

• 1:15:48Trevor Noah?

  Okay, cool.

• 1:15:49Speaker 00

  Hit your mark. Okay. And chop off the next head, chop up the next head and now you're running, right? And everyone's like fast and you know, the killer's crushing it. So it's like meant to entertain, right? But when you watch like a true crime or when you read an actual like how a serial killer killed.

• 1:16:04Trevor Noah?

  Yes.

• 1:16:04Speaker 00

  There's a lot of clumsiness to it because it's a human person. There's nuance. So it's not as exciting and on your toes. Is that, do you know what I'm saying?

• 1:16:12Trevor Noah?

  So you know what it actually is?

• 1:16:14Speaker 00

  I thought you were saying that.

• 1:16:15Trevor Noah?

  No, what it actually is is.

• 1:16:16Speaker 00

  The knife.

• 1:16:17Trevor Noah?

  No, what it actually is is the formula that they tell the stories. So they start to all do the exact same thing in the exact same way.

• 1:16:24Speaker 00

  Right.

• 1:16:24Trevor Noah?

  So it'll be the same music and then someone comes and sits down in a chair.

• 1:16:28Speaker 00

  Oh, yeah.

• 1:16:28Trevor Noah?

  And then they'll be like, so the first time I met Brian.

• 1:16:32Speaker 00

  Oh, no.

• 1:16:32Trevor Noah?

  I was working at an ice cream parlor and like.

• 1:16:38Trevor Noah?

  He just seemed like a regular guy. Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom.

• 1:16:43Speaker 00

  Oh, I like this.

• 1:16:44Trevor Noah?

  Then we like the local news, then they'll be like,

• 1:16:45Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 1:16:45Trevor Noah?

  A man is searching, the, the police are searching for a man in connection with four women who've gone missing. Dun, dun, dun, dun, dun.

• 1:16:51Speaker 00

  This is good.

• 1:16:52Trevor Noah?

  Brian was a really sweet kid and, I mean, he was just a regular kid. He loved baseball, he, he, he loved hanging out with his friends. Bum, bum, bum, bum, bum, bum, bum, bum, bum, bum, bum, bum, bum. You know what I mean?

• 1:17:06Speaker 00

  I would watch this version.

• 1:17:08Trevor Noah?

  This, but this is-

• 1:17:08Speaker 00

  By the way, you were, that was very vivid.

• 1:17:11Trevor Noah?

  This is-

• 1:17:11Speaker 00

  That's your next hour. Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom. Brian, yeah.

• 1:17:16Trevor Noah?

  Yeah, it's, it's, so at some point, I'm just like-

• 1:17:18Speaker 00

  I bought ice cream from him, you know me.

• 1:17:21Trevor Noah?

  Yeah, exactly.

• 1:17:22Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 1:17:22Trevor Noah?

  It's also, I don't think they need to make it as many episodes as they do.

• 1:17:25Speaker 00

  They do do that.

• 1:17:26Trevor Noah?

  It's always like a four part, it doesn't need to be four parts, could be one.

• 1:17:29Speaker 00

  They do do that.

• 1:17:29Trevor Noah?

  It should be one.

• 1:17:30Speaker 00

  I know, and it's like, also, you know, I was like the, the, the families of the victims, you know, being like, six episodes with boom, bum, bum, bum, bum, bum, bum, bum, bum. My son died, bitch. My son died, now everyone's singing the same song. Is this a game to you? Jesus Christ. Oh, a podcast, three seasons? What about my son died, do you not understand, right? Jesus Christ, this is why I'm not a mother. I would just, I would stop every podcast.

• 1:18:05Trevor Noah?

  Oh, wow.

• 1:18:07Speaker 00

  You know? This is humanity you're talk, playing with. You know, and then they make the, the narrative version of it. Who's gonna play, Brian, the killer.

• 1:18:17Trevor Noah?

  Oh, wow.

• 1:18:19Speaker 00

  You know?

• 1:18:21Speaker 00

  Wait, do you wanna be a parent? Do you wanna be a parent?

• 1:18:24Trevor Noah?

  Uh, do I want to be a parent?

• 1:18:25Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 1:18:26Trevor Noah?

  Uh, I think I go back and forth.

• 1:18:28Speaker 00

  Oh, okay, okay.

• 1:18:28Trevor Noah?

  Yeah.

• 1:18:29Speaker 00

  I'm a, I'm a no.

• 1:18:30Trevor Noah?

  You're a no?

• 1:18:31Speaker 00

  Yeah, yeah, husband actually got a vasectomy recently.

• 1:18:34Trevor Noah?

  That's how strong your no was.

• 1:18:35Speaker 00

  Yeah, both of us, yeah. We were like, oh, we know, we know ourselves.

• 1:18:40Trevor Noah?

  Tell me more.

• 1:18:41Speaker 00

  I don't think about it, or I never thought about it, I was never like, you know?

• 1:18:45Trevor Noah?

  Yeah.

• 1:18:45Speaker 00

  I don't even know how, uh, to connect with kids, I don't even know what they look like, really.

• 1:18:51Trevor Noah?

  They're the little ones.

• 1:18:53Speaker 00

  I see them, and then they, you know, toddlers, when they see me, like babies.

• 1:18:57Trevor Noah?

  Yeah.

• 1:18:58Speaker 00

  They they feel this connection. I think they think I'm a baby too. I kind of give baby. I'm a little toddler core. Do you see it?

• 1:19:06Trevor Noah?

  Like your vibe. Have you always had this like vibe to you because you?

• 1:19:09Speaker 00

  A little toddler.

• 1:19:11Trevor Noah?

  No, no, no. I mean, like the colors and the fashion and the there's nothing normal in your like in your.

• 1:19:16Speaker 00

  Right.

• 1:19:17Trevor Noah?

  You know?

• 1:19:18Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 1:19:18Trevor Noah?

  It's like it's cool. It's it's it's it's edgy. It's interesting.

• 1:19:22Speaker 00

  Maybe a little Japan too.

• 1:19:23Trevor Noah?

  Yeah, very Japan, very Japan.

• 1:19:24Speaker 00

  A little New York, Japan.

• 1:19:25Trevor Noah?

  Yeah, yeah, yeah, definitely, definitely. Did you always have that?

• 1:19:28Speaker 00

  No, no. When I found my voice in comedy, I think that's when I started being able to be my more true self too.

• 1:19:34Trevor Noah?

  Oh, I like that. Yeah, I like that. Okay.

• 1:19:37Speaker 00

  And in hair, yeah. Like, you know, sticking with a haircut.

• 1:19:40Trevor Noah?

  Yeah, yeah, yeah.

• 1:19:41Speaker 00

  That kind of thing. Being like, okay, yeah, I know who I am outside and inside now. Yeah.

• 1:19:46Trevor Noah?

  Oh, that's beautiful, actually.

• 1:19:47Speaker 00

  Yeah. Because you know, you've you've also kept an iconic look. Same, you know. People could do like a drawing of you. That's when there's a brand.

• 1:19:55Trevor Noah?

  I guess, yeah, but I don't think I don't think of it that way. I just I just didn't cut my hair during Covid. And then afterwards, I was like, huh, I don't mind not cutting my hair.

• 1:20:04Speaker 00

  Well, so it's just a little longer. I mean, but it's always stayed within.

• 1:20:09Trevor Noah?

  It's just about practicality. So if I if I can't wash it myself anymore, I'm like, all right, time to cut it a little bit.

• 1:20:14Speaker 00

  Hmm.

• 1:20:14Trevor Noah?

  And then and then I go back.

• 1:20:16Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 1:20:17Trevor Noah?

  No, it's just, you know, wash day can be really. This this part of the head.

• 1:20:21Speaker 00

  Hmm, hmm hmm.

• 1:20:22Trevor Noah?

  When you're washing your hair, this is fine.

• 1:20:23Speaker 00

  Hmm.

• 1:20:24Trevor Noah?

  Then you get to this part.

• 1:20:25Speaker 00

  Sure.

• 1:20:25Trevor Noah?

  Shoulders.

• 1:20:26Speaker 00

  Shoulders, yeah.

• 1:20:27Trevor Noah?

  And then it's just and then. And.

• 1:20:31Speaker 00

  You want to keep, this is this is you keeping it simple.

• 1:20:34Trevor Noah?

  This is me keeping it simple.

• 1:20:35Speaker 00

  Yeah. And then and then and in your fashion, your style.

• 1:20:38Trevor Noah?

  Ah.

• 1:20:38Speaker 00

  You you dress yourself.

• 1:20:39Trevor Noah?

  I have no fashion and I have no style. I will buy things occasionally and I will put them on and I'll hope for the best.

• 1:20:45Speaker 00

  Wow.

• 1:20:46Trevor Noah?

  You have fashion and style. I wear clothes.

• 1:20:49Speaker 00

  Wow. I mean, if you're gonna compliment a girl, I'll I'll take it. I'll take it.

• 1:20:55Trevor Noah?

  No, you really do. You've got like, like, there are people I see dressed and I go, ah, you know what to do with material on your body.

• 1:21:03Speaker 00

  Mm, mm.

• 1:21:04Trevor Noah?

  And then the rest of us, we are just.

• 1:21:07Speaker 00

  You're the, you're the people that you're talking about the.

• 1:21:10Trevor Noah?

  Yeah, I'm Martin Smith. That's who I am with clothing. I'm Martin Smith.

• 1:21:14Speaker 00

  Because you, I mean, you're playing with so much like personality.

• 1:21:18Trevor Noah?

  I can understand a suit, nothing else.

• 1:21:20Speaker 00

  Hmm.

• 1:21:21Trevor Noah?

  But it's because I've worn suits so much and my, my entire life growing up, we wore school uniform. So I've been wearing a suit since I was five years old.

• 1:21:30Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 1:21:30Trevor Noah?

  Every morning, tie, jacket, pant. So a suit, I understand.

• 1:21:34Speaker 00

  Yes, yeah.

• 1:21:36Trevor Noah?

  And my mom would never pay for what we called Civvies Day, Civvians Day. It's where you, it's where you got to wear your home clothes to school.

• 1:21:44Speaker 00

  And you just wore the same suit then?

• 1:21:45Trevor Noah?

  Yeah. And then my, I'd be like, Mom, we need to pay.

• 1:21:48Speaker 00

  They're like, who's this narc? He loves the suit.

• 1:21:51Trevor Noah?

  No, genuinely. All that, that were, those are the worst days of my life.

• 1:21:54Speaker 00

  Ah, where, where you were still, hmm.

• 1:21:57Trevor Noah?

  When I would go to school and then I was the only kid not wearing the home clothes.

• 1:22:01Speaker 00

  Hey, I bet you looked spiffy. They were like, now he's a star.

• 1:22:06Speaker 00

  He's ready to, he's, he's gonna be on stage. You're, you were like a little, you were a little comedian.

• 1:22:12Trevor Noah?

  It was the exact opposite.

• 1:22:14Speaker 00

  Do you wear suits on? No, no, you're pretty like, you were, you're pretty casual on stage.

• 1:22:18Trevor Noah?

  When I started doing stand up.

• 1:22:19Speaker 00

  But then you turned more casual, right?

• 1:22:21Trevor Noah?

  Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. But I actually, I, I do like the suits.

• 1:22:24Speaker 00

  Yeah?

• 1:22:25Trevor Noah?

  Yeah, just this.

• 1:22:26Speaker 00

  Cause it's like, it's your uniform.

• 1:22:28Trevor Noah?

  Yeah, it really is. And you, you put the thing, you do the thing, and you're like, I'm in.

• 1:22:31Speaker 00

  It's your, your armor.

• 1:22:32Trevor Noah?

  I'm in, I'm in. More than armor, it's, it's, it's, I like uniform more than armor because uniform, you just know what you're doing. You know what I mean? It doesn't, it doesn't necessarily protect me, but it's, it's like a, this, I'm now going to do the job. Yes, yeah.

• 1:22:47Speaker 00

  Right.

• 1:22:48Trevor Noah?

  Yeah.

• 1:22:48Speaker 00

  You're the forever host for Grammys, right?

• 1:22:51Trevor Noah?

  The forever host?

• 1:22:52Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 1:22:52Trevor Noah?

  No, no, I'm done now.

• 1:22:53Speaker 00

  Oh. I guess I missed the done part. Did you announce it or something?

• 1:22:58Trevor Noah?

  Yeah.

• 1:23:00Speaker 00

  You said, I'm.

• 1:23:01Trevor Noah?

  I said, this is my last one, yeah.

• 1:23:04Speaker 00

  In my head, you were gonna be for another, at least fifteen years.

• 1:23:07Trevor Noah?

  I would hope not.

• 1:23:08Speaker 00

  Because fifteen is what we have left. What, you would hope not?

• 1:23:11Trevor Noah?

  No.

• 1:23:11Speaker 00

  You're so good at it.

• 1:23:12Trevor Noah?

  Yeah, thank you, but I don't, I, I don't like doing things forever.

• 1:23:18Speaker 00

  For too long.

• 1:23:18Trevor Noah?

  Yeah.

• 1:23:21Speaker 00

  What do you wanna do next?

• 1:23:23Trevor Noah?

  This.

• 1:23:24Speaker 00

  You're already doing it, but then you're gonna...

• 1:23:26Trevor Noah?

  Yeah, but this is like, this is like the next part of it.

• 1:23:28Speaker 00

  Mm-hmm, yeah, yeah, yeah.

• 1:23:30Trevor Noah?

  You know?

• 1:23:30Speaker 00

  Yeah. Ice cream, maybe like invest in a ice cream.

• 1:23:35Trevor Noah?

  Don't turn your passions into businesses.

• 1:23:38Speaker 00

  Then what's stand-up comedy?

• 1:23:40Trevor Noah?

  That's a hobby that people then paid me for.

• 1:23:44Speaker 00

  Wow.

• 1:23:46Trevor Noah?

  But it wasn't a passion. I wasn't doing stand-up comedy and like it was, it was a hobby. So I was doing this thing.

• 1:23:52Speaker 00

  Yeah, it wasn't a dream.

• 1:23:54Trevor Noah?

  No, it was never a dream. I never...

• 1:23:55Speaker 00

  Same with me.

• 1:23:56Trevor Noah?

  No, it was never. But ice cream has been a dream my whole life. I, I wouldn't be an objective ice cream anything owner.

• 1:24:03Speaker 00

  I would, my first dream was to be an ice cream, work at an ice cream parlor.

• 1:24:07Trevor Noah?

  That was your first dream?

• 1:24:08Speaker 00

  Yeah. I didn't dare dream big. You too? You wanted to work at an ice cream parlor or just eat ice cream?

• 1:24:14Trevor Noah?

  No, I just wanted to like own ice cream.

• 1:24:16Speaker 00

  Yeah, big ice cream. You wanted to own big ice cream.

• 1:24:18Trevor Noah?

  Just own it all.

• 1:24:19Speaker 00

  Yeah, so I just wanted to work at one. I didn't dream as big as you. I just wanted to work at one and then at age seventeen, I did.

• 1:24:26Trevor Noah?

  Was it, was it good?

• 1:24:28Speaker 00

  Well, Cold Stone Creamery.

• 1:24:30Trevor Noah?

  Yeah.

• 1:24:30Speaker 00

  So do you know, you know about Cold Stone? I don't know, not all the stores like follow this protocol.

• 1:24:37Trevor Noah?

  Yeah.

• 1:24:37Speaker 00

  But when you get a tip as a worker, you're supposed to sing. You know about that?

• 1:24:40Trevor Noah?

  I did not know this.

• 1:24:42Speaker 00

  Oh, well.

• 1:24:43Trevor Noah?

  That seems really demeaning.

• 1:24:44Speaker 00

  It was, I said, in what world? I already got paid. I got the tip. I did a good job. I have to now do more work?

• 1:24:51Trevor Noah?

  What did you have to sing?

• 1:24:52Speaker 00

  Oh, my goodness, there were so many. All ice cream pun songs like, uh, uh, here, I'll show you.

• 1:24:58Trevor Noah?

  Yeah.

• 1:24:58Speaker 00

  Uh, so, uh, will you tip my jar, please?

• 1:25:01Trevor Noah?

  Okay.

• 1:25:01Speaker 00

  Thank you.

• 1:25:02Trevor Noah?

  Thank you.

• 1:25:02Speaker 00

  Oh, whoa, we got a tip, we got a tip.

• 1:25:08Speaker 00

  Cold Stone, you're a Cold Stone, we're a scooper-duper family. When you tip the tip jar, we will try to sing in harmony.

• 1:25:25Trevor Noah?

  Now, if if somebody tips you for the singing, do you have to sing more? Like if someone goes, that was amazing. And then they tip again. What do you have to do now?

• 1:25:33Speaker 00

  Trevor, don't ask questions like that. Trevor, we always hoped that no one like try to crack like crack the code. I think a couple of times people did and then we would sing another song.

• 1:25:42Trevor Noah?

  What was, give me another song. That was a good song, by the way.

• 1:25:45Speaker 00

  Thank you. Yeah.

• 1:25:46Trevor Noah?

  Yeah, I like that.

• 1:25:47Speaker 00

  In the style of Flintstones, you know. I'm trying to remember.

• 1:25:53Speaker 00

  I don't remember. That's the main one I remember.

• 1:25:55Trevor Noah?

  That was like the main go to.

• 1:25:56Speaker 00

  I think there was like a we're off to see the wizard, the wonderful wizard of Oz, but we did it with like ice cream words. Yeah, I don't remember something about.

• 1:26:04Trevor Noah?

  Do you still like ice cream at all?

• 1:26:05Speaker 00

  After that?

• 1:26:06Trevor Noah?

  Yeah.

• 1:26:07Speaker 00

  I do, but the singing was a lot, you know, in that because I always worked with this kid who loved the singing part and he would also add dances.

• 1:26:14Trevor Noah?

  Oh, wow.

• 1:26:15Speaker 00

  So then I'd be like, stop like people because I was always in the shift with him and people would be like, oh, my God, it's the duo. And I'm like, no, I don't. I did this when I just did this. That was him. He would be, he would go out, he would do spins like we were on Broadway. Coaster.

• 1:26:33Speaker 00

  I'm like, bitch, we're only getting, we only got a dollar between us. We have to split this dollar. I was like, I just got my green card. I'm just trying to live a normal life, but you know.

• 1:26:45Trevor Noah?

  How old were you when you got your green card, by the way?

• 1:26:46Speaker 00

  Seventeen, yeah.

• 1:26:47Trevor Noah?

  Seventeen.

• 1:26:48Speaker 00

  Yeah, and so that was my first job, yeah.

• 1:26:50Trevor Noah?

  Was it a big moment for you getting the green card?

• 1:26:53Speaker 00

  I didn't even, looking back, it should have been, but you know, I didn't realize. Because, you know, because of that, I got to finally work.

• 1:27:03Trevor Noah?

  Yeah, yeah, yeah.

• 1:27:03Speaker 00

  You know, I wasn't like under DACA and things like that. So, you know, I had to wait till I got a green card to be able to even start like contributing to the family, you know, with money and stuff like that. So that was cool. And then I got to finally take a driver's license test, which I couldn't before without a social security number. So, you know, again, it was a lot. I feel like in my life, it's always a lot at a time. I'm learning multiple languages and going to church, learning a whole new culture. You know what I mean? It's like, bitch, now suddenly you're working, getting a driver's license. You're the only person that drives in the family, you know, and so it's just a lot. And so, yeah, was it a big moment? I don't think I had a moment to realize it was.

• 1:27:47Trevor Noah?

  It sounds like you had a lot of pressure at that age.

• 1:27:49Speaker 00

  Um, yeah, a little bit, but I didn't even, you know, I don't think I realized it. Yeah.

• 1:27:56Trevor Noah?

  It was just the default.

• 1:27:58Speaker 00

  Yeah, yeah. I was like, okay, we're, yeah, someone needs to get us around.

• 1:28:02Trevor Noah?

  And so you, so, cause you, you, are you still living at your uncle's house at that stage?

• 1:28:07Speaker 00

  Mm hmm. Yeah.

• 1:28:08Trevor Noah?

  And so now you're contributing to the larger family. You bring the money from Cold Stone, contribute to the family.

• 1:28:14Speaker 00

  Which is very little money.

• 1:28:15Trevor Noah?

  Yeah, no, really. That's why I'm, you know.

• 1:28:17Speaker 00

  Very little money. Um, but I was stoked to that. I, I was like, oh, I can finally do the things I'd seen a lot of, all my classmates do, like.

• 1:28:26Trevor Noah?

  Yeah.

• 1:28:26Speaker 00

  Get the, you know, drive or working and, uh, and then also college too. Uh, we, we didn't, I didn't know what would happen with college. When I found out I was undocumented and I was like, I think you need a social security number to go. And so it was just kind of very lucky that at, you know, be around the time you're supposed to start applying, I, I, I got.

• 1:28:48Trevor Noah?

  You got your green card?

• 1:28:49Speaker 00

  Yeah, right.

• 1:28:50Trevor Noah?

  What did you, uh, where did you apply?

• 1:28:52Speaker 00

  I applied to all the UCs. I had really bad grades. I wasn't a good student. So, um, yeah, I applied to everything, but got into two schools, UC Riverside and like UC.

• 1:29:09Speaker 00

  I, I forget the last, Merced or something.

• 1:29:11Trevor Noah?

  Okay.

• 1:29:12Speaker 00

  For psychology. I just randomly chose something. I, I didn't really, again, I didn't really dream big, you know? I was like, why would I?

• 1:29:22Trevor Noah?

  Why, why psychology though? Of all the random choices?

• 1:29:26Speaker 00

  I think probably because of my mom.

• 1:29:28Trevor Noah?

  Yeah.

• 1:29:28Speaker 00

  But I guess at the time I was like, I like people. I, I don't know why, but sometimes all the answers are there.

• 1:29:34Trevor Noah?

  Yeah.

• 1:29:35Speaker 00

  Yeah. I wanted to probably get to know someone like my mom more and understand her and people like her. Yeah.

• 1:29:42Trevor Noah?

  And, and so is that what you studied?

• 1:29:44Speaker 00

  Yeah, I studied psychology. I, I went to UC Riverside for like a year and a half. I, I dropped out. I, I, again, it was hard for me to like concentrate. I had my first boyfriend. I was just.

• 1:29:57Speaker 00

  Excited, I was like, I can drive, I can, I have a boyfriend now. You know what I mean? What am I doing studying psychology? I don't have time for this. I, you know, I'm gonna elope. I, I've made it. I, I, I'm, I'm working at Cold Stone Creamery. This was the only dream I had. I've peaked. You know what I mean? What else was I gonna do? So, you know, the, I think when my second boyfriend at nineteen told me, "You're funny, you should try stand up." I was like, "What? Why would I even think that was possible or available to me? Why?" You know? I just got my green card. Who, who am I? Who would wanna hear my story? Who, you know what I mean? Like, there's nothing going on here, you know? So, yeah.

• 1:30:41Trevor Noah?

  Was there ever part of you that, that thought of or wanted to escape the family? Or was that not an option in your world?

• 1:30:49Speaker 00

  I wanted to. I think that's why, you know, once I had a boyfriend.

• 1:30:52Trevor Noah?

  Yeah.

• 1:30:54Speaker 00

  I, I, I, I left the home and, uh, yeah, I tried to make him my, my second family.

• 1:31:01Trevor Noah?

  Uh huh.

• 1:31:02Speaker 00

  So, you know, when you, you've probably never fell into this. I don't see you as a person, because I feel like you're pretty self-aware from maybe a young age. But, um, you know, when you date someone, sometimes you take on their personalities.

• 1:31:14Trevor Noah?

  Oh, yeah, no, no, for sure. No, I've definitely done that.

• 1:31:16Speaker 00

  Where you're like, you're into something, you pretend you're into something, but that's their interest.

• 1:31:20Trevor Noah?

  So I, I never struggled with that, but what I would do is th- they would sway, sway me too much, like in their vibe. But I wouldn't be interested in what they're interested in. But, but their energy could affect my energy.

• 1:31:31Speaker 00

  Sure.

• 1:31:31Trevor Noah?

  Because, because I'd grown up in a world and in a home where I was so hyper-aware. You know, like I grew up in a, in a, in a pretty violent household.

• 1:31:41Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 1:31:42Trevor Noah?

  And so one of the things that did to me as a child was it made me hyper vigilant.

• 1:31:46Speaker 00

  Right.

• 1:31:46Trevor Noah?

  Because I, I, I had to know in every moment, like, oh, Jesus, my stepdad drunk? And if he's drunk, how does that change the day? And what do, what do we do? And how do we act? And how do we keep the peace? And you know what I mean?

• 1:31:58Speaker 00

  Right.

• 1:31:58Trevor Noah?

  So that, that hyper vigilance continued with me in my life. So then when I would be in a relationship with somebody. I would pick up on their emotions sometimes before they would pick up on their emotions and then I would shift myself.

• 1:32:09Speaker 00

  Yeah, no, I totally get that, yeah.

• 1:32:11Trevor Noah?

  So I wouldn't pick up their like interests or anything, but I think I had a similar experience in that way.

• 1:32:16Speaker 00

  I see where you would, yeah, just kind of walk on eggshells sometimes, yeah?

• 1:32:20Trevor Noah?

  Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

• 1:32:21Speaker 00

  Okay, yeah, yeah, that totally, like, I totally get that. You know, my mom being unpredictable too, yeah.

• 1:32:28Trevor Noah?

  Yeah, yeah, right.

• 1:32:29Speaker 00

  Um, but uh, I meant like something even more basic, like I pretended I was into like punk rock music, you know, like that.

• 1:32:39Trevor Noah?

  I feel like that's just love.

• 1:32:40Speaker 00

  Oh, okay.

• 1:32:41Trevor Noah?

  Like early love?

• 1:32:42Speaker 00

  Yeah, yeah. I was like, yes, I love a nightmare before Christmas. Oh, yes, let's watch it again. Every day. It's October, it's Halloween. This is Halloween, Halloween, Halloween. You know, I would sing along with it.

• 1:32:58Trevor Noah?

  I like how your life is just punctuated by painful songs.

• 1:33:03Speaker 00

  Get me out of this singing nightmare. I know, because, yeah, my uncle was a choir director.

• 1:33:07Trevor Noah?

  Yeah, you've just got like music the whole way.

• 1:33:10Speaker 00

  Just, oh my gosh, ever, were you, were you a singer?

• 1:33:13Trevor Noah?

  No, I never was.

• 1:33:14Speaker 00

  You would look good in a choir robe. Why have I pictured you in a choir robe before?

• 1:33:19Trevor Noah?

  I don't know.

• 1:33:19Speaker 00

  Have you not been like a sketch or something?

• 1:33:21Trevor Noah?

  Hmm, a choir robe?

• 1:33:24Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 1:33:25Trevor Noah?

  It's possible.

• 1:33:26Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 1:33:26Trevor Noah?

  It's not impossible, I'll say that.

• 1:33:28Speaker 00

  Right? Yeah.

• 1:33:29Trevor Noah?

  It's not like the most extreme thing. If you said to me, Trevor, you've worn a choir robe at some point in your life.

• 1:33:33Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 1:33:34Trevor Noah?

  I'd be like, yeah, that's very possible.

• 1:33:36Speaker 00

  Right? Yeah, okay.

• 1:33:37Trevor Noah?

  I don't know why, but it's very possible.

• 1:33:38Speaker 00

  I'm putting that image, I just see you in it right now.

• 1:33:41Trevor Noah?

  Well, thank you very much.

• 1:33:42Speaker 00

  And.

• 1:33:43Trevor Noah?

  What's the color?

• 1:33:44Speaker 00

  Uh, well, it's just like white with like the red, red.

• 1:33:48Trevor Noah?

  Oh, okay, those ones, those ones, okay.

• 1:33:49Speaker 00

  Those ones, yeah.

• 1:33:50Trevor Noah?

  I don't think I've ever worn one of those, no.

• 1:33:52Speaker 00

  Yeah, well, I did because I was in the choir.

• 1:33:55Trevor Noah?

  Were you good in the choir?

• 1:33:55Speaker 00

  One year. My uncle, I was never asked back after our big performance. The cantata. You know what a cantata is?

• 1:34:03Trevor Noah?

  No, I do not.

• 1:34:04Speaker 00

  Yeah, I didn't either. Guess what? It's forty-five minutes of singing.

• 1:34:10Speaker 00

  For Easter. There was this, it's like a short opera and.

• 1:34:16Trevor Noah?

  Short opera, forty-five minutes?

• 1:34:18Speaker 00

  Yeah, it's pretty short, right? Operas are, I think, longer.

• 1:34:20Trevor Noah?

  Yeah, yeah.

• 1:34:23Speaker 00

  I don't know. Timothy would know. Shalameh.

• 1:34:27Speaker 00

  I don't know how long.

• 1:34:29Trevor Noah?

  I love how he's become like the punching bag of ballet.

• 1:34:33Speaker 00

  I didn't say good or bad.

• 1:34:35Trevor Noah?

  Yeah, but like, no, no, no. But I mean, like.

• 1:34:38Trevor Noah?

  He was right, though.

• 1:34:40Speaker 00

  That it is a dying art form?

• 1:34:41Trevor Noah?

  I think the way he said it might have inflamed some people's emotions.

• 1:34:45Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 1:34:46Trevor Noah?

  Because he said it in a very flippant way.

• 1:34:48Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 1:34:49Trevor Noah?

  But he was having a conversation.

• 1:34:50Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 1:34:51Trevor Noah?

  And then, can I tell you, there's a weird thought I had when it was happening, though. I was going like, oh, is the world like trying to find its old.

• 1:35:01Speaker 00

  Hmm, like analog days back?

• 1:35:04Trevor Noah?

  Yeah, like, no, no, no, like our old outrage.

• 1:35:07Speaker 00

  Oh.

• 1:35:08Trevor Noah?

  I was thinking to myself, we are living in a world where World War III seems imminent every day.

• 1:35:13Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 1:35:14Trevor Noah?

  Where, you know, inflation is crazy, where people are terrified of what's happening in the streets in America. It's like the most brutal immigration crackdown ever. Like, all these things are happening everywhere.

• 1:35:24Speaker 00

  Mm hmm.

• 1:35:25Trevor Noah?

  And then in the midst of that, there was outrage at Timothy Shalameh talking about ballet and opera. And I was like, oh, remember those days?

• 1:35:34Speaker 00

  Yeah, you're right.

• 1:35:34Trevor Noah?

  Remember those, oh.

• 1:35:36Speaker 00

  Yeah, you're right.

• 1:35:37Trevor Noah?

  It was like a throwback.

• 1:35:38Speaker 00

  Oh, my God, to be mad at one skinny white kid that raps sometimes.

• 1:35:41Trevor Noah?

  Like.

• 1:35:42Speaker 00

  That's what we wanted. We just want a simple time where, you know, why does he do hip hop?

• 1:35:48Trevor Noah?

  That was it. I appreciate, I was like, thank you, Timmy. Thank you for your service. You, you.

• 1:35:53Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 1:35:53Trevor Noah?

  You bore the brunt for what society was feeling. We needed an outlet and we chose you.

• 1:35:58Speaker 00

  I mean, unfortunately, that's what happens, you know, but I think he's okay.

• 1:36:01Trevor Noah?

  I think he'll be fine.

• 1:36:02Speaker 00

  He's okay.

• 1:36:03Trevor Noah?

  He'll be fine.

• 1:36:03Speaker 00

  He's got love in his life.

• 1:36:05Trevor Noah?

  He does, indeed.

• 1:36:06Speaker 00

  Uh, one of the most powerful families in, you know, in, around, you know.

• 1:36:11Trevor Noah?

  Yeah, you could say that.

• 1:36:12Speaker 00

  Backing him.

• 1:36:12Trevor Noah?

  Yeah. Backing him. I don't think he needs them to back him. You said like they're backing him, like, you got this, Timothy.

• 1:36:20Speaker 00

  Probably.

• 1:36:20Trevor Noah?

  No, no shame. I think he's, no.

• 1:36:22Speaker 00

  You know?

• 1:36:23Trevor Noah?

  I think his life is probably like more normal than people think it is.

• 1:36:25Speaker 00

  His mom does ballet and his sister, too.

• 1:36:27Trevor Noah?

  That's what people don't realize about the statements.

• 1:36:30Speaker 00

  Hmm, about his statement?

• 1:36:31Trevor Noah?

  Yeah, is that he grew up in that world.

• 1:36:33Speaker 00

  Yeah, yeah, yeah.

• 1:36:34Trevor Noah?

  And so he was saying, this is what I mean by the context we remove from every statement or conversation.

• 1:36:40Speaker 00

  Yeah, yeah.

• 1:36:41Trevor Noah?

  Robs us of the nuance that you experience in murder documentaries.

• 1:36:45Speaker 00

  Uh huh, uh huh.

• 1:36:45Trevor Noah?

  That like helps us communicate. If.

• 1:36:49Trevor Noah?

  Timothy Chalamet had said, it was Timothée, right? But I guess you seem weird if you say Timothée, whatever.

• 1:36:54Speaker 00

  Timothée?

• 1:36:55Trevor Noah?

  Yeah, Timothée, Timothée. But if Timothy Chalamet had said, um, you know, I grew up, my, my family was in ballet and my, my mom was a ballet dancer and my grandmother was ballet and I grew up in the ballet and I watched this and I, and seeing how that art form has died over the years really made me grateful to work in an industry that has still has social cachet, to see people still go to movie theater. Like, I'm grateful, that's where I wanna be. Because I've seen what it's like when the ballet jobs dry up and when the opera dies down and when people are no longer coming out. I've seen that and that's something I don't want for myself and so I'm, I'm lucky. I think people would be like, oh, wow.

• 1:37:37Speaker 00

  Trevor, people don't have the elocution that you have. You are, you are a comedian. We are speakers. He's an actor and so, you know.

• 1:37:47Trevor Noah?

  He's a speaker.

• 1:37:48Speaker 00

  He's a speaker of other people's words a lot, you know, as an actor, right?

• 1:37:52Trevor Noah?

  This is true, but I think like he's also like a, he's a sharp kid.

• 1:37:54Speaker 00

  Yeah, he said, my mom and sister need jobs. They haven't danced in years. If he said it like that.

• 1:38:02Trevor Noah?

  Yeah.

• 1:38:03Speaker 00

  Then people, oh my god, oh, you're frustrated.

• 1:38:05Trevor Noah?

  Yes, yeah.

• 1:38:06Speaker 00

  You're frustrated for your family. My sister is always around, cuz you know why? No, I, please hire my sister. You know, it's, it's his own, right?

• 1:38:16Trevor Noah?

  Yeah.

• 1:38:16Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 1:38:16Trevor Noah?

  I think he has a personal connection with it, so.

• 1:38:18Speaker 00

  For sure, or maybe they bullied him, who knows? Maybe he's like.

• 1:38:21Trevor Noah?

  Ballet bullies.

• 1:38:23Speaker 00

  Ballet bullies.

• 1:38:24Trevor Noah?

  Oh.

• 1:38:25Speaker 00

  He's like, ballerinas are, are, are not all that you think they are, you know? I was raised by one and my sister gets all the attention. You know, whatever it is that he was going through, right?

• 1:38:37Speaker 00

  Which, anyway, I did a cantata and I was never asked back after that. Because I was an alto, I have a lower voice naturally. So I gotta harmonize, you know, harmonizing is hard, Trevor, you know that.

• 1:38:51Trevor Noah?

  It, it's very hard.

• 1:38:52Speaker 00

  I tried to explain that to Uncle Paul. He didn't, there was no time. You, you mess up at an Easter performance,

• 1:39:02Speaker 00

  you're not coming back for Christmas.

• 1:39:03Trevor Noah?

  It's, yeah, it's a big, it's a big time.

• 1:39:05Speaker 00

  Oh, my God. He, he has risen. And I'm out there, I'm out there going, singing the wrong notes. Oh.

• 1:39:14Speaker 00

  He said, he said, let's go. Your thing is, you love to sing. I said, yeah, I do. He said, you love to sing loud. So we could really hear

• 1:39:30Speaker 00

  your, your notes that weren't on.

• 1:39:31Trevor Noah?

  Shame. How did you feel when he was telling you this?

• 1:39:36Speaker 00

  Well, at the time, I'm, I'm able to laugh about it now, but at the time I was really like, wow. I, I, there's a whole crier. I didn't think you could just, like, hear a few mistakes. Of course, I'm singing loud. I don't know. I'm at church.

• 1:39:55Speaker 00

  He has risen.

• 1:39:56Trevor Noah?

  Damn. You should have been at black church.

• 1:40:01Speaker 00

  Port me to one.

• 1:40:02Trevor Noah?

  That wouldn't have been, that wouldn't have happened at a black church. At a black church, they would have helped you harmonize and they would have been like, sing loud, girl.

• 1:40:07Speaker 00

  Yeah, yeah, they would, they would be like, okay, okay, you just need a little more work.

• 1:40:12Trevor Noah?

  Yeah, but they wouldn't, that wouldn't have happened.

• 1:40:14Speaker 00

  I think it's because there was like the nepotism.

• 1:40:17Trevor Noah?

  Oh, he felt guilty?

• 1:40:18Speaker 00

  He was the choir director. I'm the niece. He probably was, you know, already like aware of like, because my aunt, his wife was in the choir too. She got all the solos, trust me.

• 1:40:26Trevor Noah?

  Talk about nepotism.

• 1:40:27Speaker 00

  I know. And so I think, you know.

• 1:40:30Trevor Noah?

  Was she good, though?

• 1:40:32Speaker 00

  She, she was.

• 1:40:37Speaker 00

  Trevor, they're big fans and I think they're gonna watch this.

• 1:40:43Speaker 00

  And I, she was, she's a very sweet person. She's very nice.

• 1:40:50Speaker 02

  Okay.

• 1:40:52Trevor Noah?

  Don't press anything. We've got more What Now? after this.

• 1:40:59Trevor Noah?

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• 1:41:44Trevor Noah?

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• 1:42:30Trevor Noah?

  Cancel anytime.

• 1:42:32Speaker 02

  How do you want to split it?

• 1:42:33Speaker 03

  Actually, dinner's on me.

• 1:42:35Speaker 02

  Okay, big money.

• 1:42:36Speaker 03

  Well, I got a Venmo balance that I can spend with my Venmo debit MasterCard, so...

• 1:42:40Speaker 02

  Well, I Venmo'd you three times last week, so it's kinda on me, actually.

• 1:42:44Speaker 03

  Yeah, you send it, I spend it.

• 1:42:46Speaker 02

  Did my money get reincarnated?

• 1:42:47Speaker 03

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• 1:42:51Speaker 02

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• 1:43:53Trevor Noah?

  So when you, when you look at your life now. I mean, it feels like, at least from the outside looking in. Obviously, you've said you found your voice in comedy. Your vibe, your style. You're also blowing up. Right? And you, and you feel that moment. It doesn't matter what, what you do in, in, in entertainment. There are these inflection points where it feels like you're hitting. You know what I mean? And I, correct me if I'm wrong, but it feels like you're like hitting. You know what I mean? You, you're there, you, you, you're cruising. Does it feel like that to you?

• 1:44:24Speaker 00

  That I'm finally hitting certain strides?

• 1:44:26Trevor Noah?

  Yeah, yeah, yeah. But like, like, cause you, all right, I'll speak for myself. There was a time in comedy where it's like, I didn't know when the next gig would come. If it would come, how it would come. So you, it was very much like, do a gig. All right, let's see what happens.

• 1:44:41Speaker 00

  Right.

• 1:44:41Trevor Noah?

  Do a gig. All right, let's see. And then at some point, you, you're booked in advance now. You know what you're going to be doing. So I don't know.

• 1:44:49Speaker 00

  Right, that's true. Yeah. How, yeah, I mean, I've, you know, I've never thought you could, in the past, if you told me, when I was, you know, slinging ice cream. If someone said, you know, um, what are you doing, um, March? Let's see, it's twenty twenty six right now. If someone told me, uh, what are you doing March twenty twenty eight? Uh, can I book you down for the eighteenth? I would be like, what are you talking about? What do you mean? You're gonna book me out that far in advance? I'm gonna have something to do and I will know it? You know, I I would be like, you're insane. But yes, to have that be a thing, um,

• 1:45:32Speaker 00

  is cool and for because I was being me, you know, that's that's really cool, right?

• 1:45:39Trevor Noah?

  That's really cool.

• 1:45:40Speaker 00

  Right to be able to do stand up, to be booked is because I got to finally be me and I'm being me and, you know, so, you know, sometimes like people talk about like, okay, you know, in in the industry or in the in comedy, you wanna be, you know, relevant. How do you stay relevant? And I don't think you have to worry about that. You just accidentally are relevant if you care about the world and people and what's happening. So you're gonna speak on that and that's naturally just gonna be you being present and, you know, so you find your fellow weirdos. That's the audience that find you and and they keep you booked because it's a constant conversation with, right?

• 1:46:22Speaker 00

  As an artist, it's a constant conversation with your your audience and you. And so, yeah. It's it's really cool that, you know, I wish when I was starting out stand up, it's like, okay, how do I start? What do I grasp back? Kind of just being you was kind of a thing you would think would be told to you, but it wasn't, you know? It was more, maybe people were more focused on like, how do I get success fast or something? I think you're gonna have a type five or whatever. It's like, okay, but what does that mean? Like, well, you know, what are the things that tickle you and you really wanna talk about? And then you can hone the craft. That's that'll that's easy, just like, you know?

• 1:47:07Speaker 00

  I would like to think being an altar, finding the right tones to sing is easy. But, you know, um, being you sometimes is harder, I think.

• 1:47:19Speaker 00

  It takes time.

• 1:47:21Trevor Noah?

  It's funny, I think there I think there are two steps or two levels to it. Being you is one of the hardest things ever. But then I find there's something that people often don't speak about enough, and that is

• 1:47:35Trevor Noah?

  being comfortable allowing you to change is the second hardest thing.

• 1:47:41Speaker 00

  Being comfortable allowing you to change. Yeah.

• 1:47:43Trevor Noah?

  So like when you're an artist or when you're a person, being you can be very difficult, like finding yourself. You know, this is who I am.

• 1:47:51Speaker 00

  Took me forever. Yeah.

• 1:47:53Trevor Noah?

  But I don't think I don't think enough people speak about how hard it is to realize that that that you can change as well and should change.

• 1:48:02Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 1:48:02Trevor Noah?

  And so what I've seen people do, let's say specifically in like art, is sometimes people will stay as that thing forever because that's them. But then now they are the prisoner of the them that they became.

• 1:48:14Speaker 00

  Right.

• 1:48:15Trevor Noah?

  And then now now like when an audience will tell you, that's not what that's going to do, or that's not how she would. And you're like, oh, yeah, that's not a joke. I shouldn't say that. I oh, like, like, because an audience at some point will tell you, they'll be like, I just didn't feel like this was like your kind of show. And you're like, what does what does that mean?

• 1:48:30Speaker 00

  Hmm. Yeah. I mean, musicians, I think I look at musicians a lot.

• 1:48:35Trevor Noah?

  Yeah.

• 1:48:35Speaker 00

  Because they probably deal with that a lot.

• 1:48:37Trevor Noah?

  Oh, definitely.

• 1:48:37Speaker 00

  They have to reinvent themselves, the next version, you know, Beyonce, I am now gonna play with country music. Last time it was the ballroom, you know, the queer scene and the community, you know, that inspired that album to, you know. Comedians, we don't get to think of that as much, or, you know, I'm I've kept this haircut. I'm like, how long do I have to keep this haircut for? You know what I mean?

• 1:49:02Trevor Noah?

  But you don't, but that's the thing.

• 1:49:04Speaker 00

  Right, yeah.

• 1:49:04Trevor Noah?

  That's that's the thing that's like, it's

• 1:49:09Trevor Noah?

  it is it is hard to remember. That we shouldn't allow our freedom to become the prison that we were trying to escape in the first place.

• 1:49:18Speaker 00

  Yeah, totally. Yes. Oh, that twinkle in the eye. Yeah, that's why there's two cameras on you, because we have to catch every time Trevor, Trevor goes there.

• 1:49:28Trevor Noah?

  Oh, God.

• 1:49:29Speaker 00

  It's good, you know, these are compliments.

• 1:49:31Trevor Noah?

  Oh, goodness.

• 1:49:31Speaker 00

  Yeah. An extraordinary thinker.

• 1:49:35Trevor Noah?

  Oh, wow.

• 1:49:36Speaker 00

  Artist. I sometimes think you've reached enlightenment, you know?

• 1:49:41Trevor Noah?

  I wish.

• 1:49:42Speaker 00

  Just you with your water.

• 1:49:43Trevor Noah?

  I wish.

• 1:49:44Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 1:49:44Trevor Noah?

  I wish. They say when you, when you've, what was the, there was a monk who said this to me one day. He said, I asked him, have you reached enlightenment?

• 1:49:52Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 1:49:53Trevor Noah?

  And he says, when you have reached enlightenment, that's when you know you've reached the bottom and you have to start again.

• 1:50:01Speaker 00

  Oh, my God.

• 1:50:01Trevor Noah?

  And he genuinely, he was just like, he says literally, whenever people think they've reached enlightenment, it means that they're at the very bottom.

• 1:50:08Speaker 00

  Right.

• 1:50:09Trevor Noah?

  Of the journey and they have to start it all over again. And I was like, damn, that's intense.

• 1:50:14Speaker 00

  Of course, because I mean, yeah, that is your lowest point, huh? You're hungry, you're dizzy, you're probably confused.

• 1:50:23Trevor Noah?

  You're having the visions.

• 1:50:24Speaker 00

  You're dehydrated. Sweetie, you're near schizophrenia. Like, you need to eat something. I know you're trying to reach like, I am nothing, I am nothing. Sweetie. Yeah, it's when it gets hard. My aunt in Taiwan, my grandma's like younger sister is a monk. We've been like, sweetie, you, you have children. She just left one day to the, to the temple, said, I am nothing, I am nothing. I said, actually, you're a mom. And a friend. And a sister and other things.

• 1:50:54Trevor Noah?

  Yeah. Who am I? How is this me? That's like one of the meditations.

• 1:50:59Speaker 00

  Who am I? How is this me?

• 1:51:00Trevor Noah?

  Yeah.

• 1:51:01Speaker 00

  And then that's what you're talking about.

• 1:51:02Trevor Noah?

  It's a beautiful one because.

• 1:51:03Speaker 00

  Who am I? How is this me?

• 1:51:04Trevor Noah?

  Yeah, it's, it's, um. No, who am I? Where am I? And how is this me?

• 1:51:11Speaker 00

  That's me.

• 1:51:12Trevor Noah?

  And you just keep saying that.

• 1:51:13Speaker 00

  That's me most days out in the streets of New York, lost. Okay? That was me earlier, trying to find this, this place. Because we walked here from the Sherri Shepherd show.

• 1:51:24Trevor Noah?

  Oh, okay, alright.

• 1:51:25Speaker 00

  Okay, what street am I? Where are we? Oh, Trevor. But, um. No, but, you know, allowing yourself to change as a.

• 1:51:34Trevor Noah?

  Yes, so there's, so there's two things I, I want to, I actually want to get to before, before, before I forget is, one.

• 1:51:43Trevor Noah?

  On the, on the family side, what has your journey been like? You, you know, there, there's a thread that I, that I, that I see that I think a lot of people can relate to, and that is coming from a family of hardship and living in a world of hardship

• 1:52:00Trevor Noah?

  means achieving becomes so much more important. It's, it's not just like a, a trophy. It's not a, it's not a mantle. It's not a, it's, it's, it's meaningful for survival, right? But then what that comes with is an excessive amount of pressure as well for that, for that success to maintain itself or to keep growing or to keep like. What, what has that journey been like for you as, as somebody who was contributing and helping the family? You know, I'm, I'm assuming you're, you're still doing that now. Does it feel like, oh, good, you know, the comedy helps me do this? Or does it feel like, oh, man, I need the comedy because I, I, I need this to keep going so that I can support the family?

• 1:52:41Speaker 00

  I think it's a little, yeah, it's, it's both happening. And you know what's wild? I feel more pressure from, uh, actually like, um, not the fans, but from society more than family.

• 1:52:55Trevor Noah?

  In what way?

• 1:52:55Speaker 00

  Like, family knows, family is like, oh, girl, we, we got you too, you know, like, we appreciate you. You know, uh, my husband works for me too. So I am the main person, you know, that there, you know, for me, my husband, my mom and grandma.

• 1:53:14Trevor Noah?

  Right.

• 1:53:15Speaker 00

  I'm like, me? I don't even know where my keys are at. So that's too bad for you guys. That I'm the breadwinner. But, um, yeah, I, you know, I, I want to continue being like a good artist for the people and not let them down. So I feel that pressure the most, actually, um, out of anything. Like you were saying, you know, it, it wa, it was very helpful that you said, you know, it's hardest to be down to with, you know, yourself changing, right?

• 1:53:44Trevor Noah?

  Yeah.

• 1:53:44Speaker 00

  That's. You know, as you write the next hour of show to, you know, it's like, oh, gosh, what have I not talked about to, oh, this joke is very similar to that last one I had. It's same theme, you know, um, am I evolving as an artist? Things like that. That's I'm I'm the most I'm the hardest on that. Yeah, cuz it's it it's happened so fast and I I was never meant to be a comedian. I don't think.

• 1:54:11Trevor Noah?

  I think the opposite.

• 1:54:13Speaker 00

  Or this kind of life.

• 1:54:15Trevor Noah?

  Absolutely meant for it.

• 1:54:17Speaker 00

  I I like I it's the only uh skill I have.

• 1:54:24Trevor Noah?

  But but I but I often think that's that's in a in a perfect world. I think that's how a society would run is the only skill that people have is where they would end up doing their thing. Like, I think I think we've created too many funnels in the world now. We've made everyone doctor, lawyer, engineer, like all those types of things. We need engineers, we need doctors, we need lawyers, all right, fine. But I I I do think it's beautiful to be in a world where everyone's one skill just happens to be the thing that they can do. And then we don't diminish that skill or go like, oh, that's all you can do. It's like, yeah, I can only paint. Oh, yeah, we need paintings. I can only make music. I I can only lay bricks. Yeah, have you seen beautiful masonry like it's, do you know what I mean? There's there's something I I I think we need that, so.

• 1:55:08Speaker 00

  Yeah, no, I'm I'm into it. But I mean, I guess I didn't prep for this, so it's happening very fast. And I'm still I've only been touring like the past four years or uh maybe, yeah, past past four or five years. It's very but I I started stand up, you know, maybe like seventeen years ago. I just took a lot of breaks. I I I didn't believe in myself. I would, you know, I would go, oh, it's just a hobby. I'm not gonna take it seriously. So, you know, it's very a lot of, you know, just in the four years, it's the touring and then doing and then two specials, everything back to back to back. So I just don't wanna mess up, you know?

• 1:55:44Trevor Noah?

  Yeah, no, I can imagine.

• 1:55:45Speaker 00

  Yeah, I'm like, OK, don't, yeah.

• 1:55:47Trevor Noah?

  Yeah, that that feeling is is um is one that's quite intense. When you get to a place that you never thought you would get to and when you've achieved beyond your wildest dreams, one of the scariest things.

• 1:56:05Trevor Noah?

  Is not knowing how it will or won't go because it was never promised.

• 1:56:12Speaker 00

  Yeah, it's like, oh, I was just supposed to work at an ice cream parlor.

• 1:56:18Speaker 00

  Okay, and then now, you know, quickly, uh, yes or no Riyadh Festival, for example. Well, I don't want to mess up. I don't want to hurt anyone's feelings and my gut instinct says it's not a good idea. You know, things like that. And then, you know, uh, conversation issues. So funny that festival, uh, like became a such a big conversation. I'm like, someone cares about the comedy festival that comedians, you know, only like, it's, it's like, uh, it's like JFL Comedy Festival or something. You know what I mean? I'm like, what? Even, you know, my, my dad, who just lives with his cats in Japan, has heard about it, you know?

• 1:56:56Trevor Noah?

  It got that far?

• 1:56:57Speaker 00

  Yeah, I mean, it was international news.

• 1:57:02Speaker 00

  What do you say? Or you think it was just like a?

• 1:57:05Trevor Noah?

  No, I didn't know, I didn't know it had blown up that much.

• 1:57:08Speaker 00

  Yeah, I mean, everyone.

• 1:57:09Trevor Noah?

  Like when you, when you're in Japan, that's the phrase, right? You know you've made it when you're big in Japan. So if the news gets all the way to Japan, then I'm like, damn, that was a big story.

• 1:57:18Speaker 00

  Man, how isolated has Japan been that?

• 1:57:21Trevor Noah?

  No, but it was always the thing, right? But do you tour in Japan, by the way?

• 1:57:25Speaker 00

  Yes, yeah, I tour, um, in, uh, yeah.

• 1:57:28Trevor Noah?

  And do you do shows in Japanese?

• 1:57:29Speaker 00

  Uh, no, no, no, no, in English, yeah.

• 1:57:32Trevor Noah?

  Oh, why do you say it like that?

• 1:57:33Speaker 00

  Oh, because I'm very out of practice with Japanese and Mandarin, actually. Yeah, yeah. Uh, I wish, that would be cool. In Japanese, my show would be ten minutes long. You know, very like, and probably very like dad jokes, puns or something, play on words maybe. But, um, yeah, I don't, I, I, that would be a cool goal to, to try to go for. But I do tour Asia. I tour, you know, Taiwan, Japan, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, you know.

• 1:58:04Trevor Noah?

  Is it, is it, is there like a different magic that comes with touring the places that have, that were like your, your foundation? Like going back to tour those places?

• 1:58:15Speaker 00

  Yeah, right, yes. Because now they're like, yes, come back, girl. We've always liked you. You know what I mean? Yes, now, you got, you know, it's the whole thing, right? You find success in the US and then they're like, now, yes, please come. We've always, we've always believed in you. And I'm like, you know, come, come get me or look for me when I was kidnapped. I was begging to go back to Japan. I left Tokyo for this.

• 1:58:43Speaker 00

  But, uh, yeah, yes, it's, it's really cool. Um, in Japan, there's this, uh, when you come home, you say, "Tadaima", like, oh, no, sorry. When you leave your home to go to school, it's usually like kids say it. They go, um, what, what, what do they say? Uh, oh, God. "Ikimasu, itte rashai", they go, "Ikimasu, itte rashai", that means like-

• 1:59:07Trevor Noah?

  "Ikimasu, itte rashai",

• 1:59:08Speaker 00

  Yeah, so it's like, "I'm leaving, okay, go ahead now", like, you know? And then when you come home, you say, "Tadaima, I'm home",

• 1:59:15Trevor Noah?

  Oh, I like that.

• 1:59:15Speaker 00

  And then they say, uh, "Okairi", which means "Welcome home",

• 1:59:19Trevor Noah?

  "Okairi",

• 1:59:19Speaker 00

  Yeah, "Okairi", and so the first time I, um, toured Japan, just like two years, two years ago, um, you know, I didn't, it's just like thousands of people know who I am, locals, you know, right? So locals and, and, uh, and I have, I felt, I always felt like I was kind of ripped away from Japan. I didn't get to say goodbye to my dad or my friends. I didn't know I was moving, you know? And then I had to give up my Japanese passport when I became a US citizen-

• 1:59:49Trevor Noah?

  Oh, wow.

• 1:59:50Speaker 00

  On Japan's side, Japan doesn't-

• 1:59:51Trevor Noah?

  Yeah, I didn't know that.

• 1:59:52Speaker 00

  Yeah, so I just felt like layers of my Japanese identity was being ripped away. And so for me to, you know, and I, I really wanted to do well in my Japanese shows, you know, like, prove that like, I am home. And so I just decided to say to the audience, I said, you know, "Tadaima", like, uh, "I'm home", and thousands of them, all of them said back to me, "Welcome home", right, in Japan, in Japanese-

• 2:00:15Trevor Noah?

  Goosebumps.

• 2:00:16Speaker 00

  And I was like, yeah, so I, I, oh my God, I got so teary eyed.

• 2:00:19Trevor Noah?

  Yeah, I was like, how do you not cry? Like, what a way to start a show out. I was just like, oh, this is not what I expected.

• 2:00:24Speaker 00

  Yes, yeah.

• 2:00:26Trevor Noah?

  Oh, wow.

• 2:00:26Speaker 00

  Like, I've, I've been gone, but like, I am home, you know? And thank you for like also being here for this kind of homecoming. So it's it's really cool to be able to do that. Yeah.

• 2:00:39Trevor Noah?

  That's beautiful. Wait, so what are those phrases again? So when you're leaving, you say?

• 2:00:43Speaker 00

  It's a lot. So maybe it just the coming home. So um.

• 2:00:46Trevor Noah?

  That's Tadaima.

• 2:00:47Speaker 00

  Tadaima.

• 2:00:47Trevor Noah?

  Okay.

• 2:00:47Speaker 00

  That means like, I'm home.

• 2:00:48Trevor Noah?

  Okay, Tadaima. I'll think of it as like ta-da.

• 2:00:50Speaker 00

  Yeah, yeah, exactly. It's a very, yeah, Tadaima and then okai de.

• 2:00:55Trevor Noah?

  Okai de.

• 2:00:56Speaker 00

  Welcome home.

• 2:00:56Trevor Noah?

  Welcome home.

• 2:00:57Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 2:00:58Trevor Noah?

  I'm gonna add that to my Japanese. That's good.

• 2:01:00Speaker 00

  Sixth, your sixth language.

• 2:01:02Trevor Noah?

  No, Japanese is just like, my dream is to be able to say enough to just like, you know?

• 2:01:07Speaker 00

  Do you, wait, have you toured Asia?

• 2:01:09Trevor Noah?

  Yeah, I've done shows in Japan.

• 2:01:11Speaker 00

  Yeah, right, Japan. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

• 2:01:12Trevor Noah?

  I had a great time there.

• 2:01:13Speaker 00

  Yeah, that's true. You've done, yeah, Southeast Asia.

• 2:01:17Trevor Noah?

  I tried to write one joke in Japanese.

• 2:01:18Speaker 00

  You did, you did?

• 2:01:20Trevor Noah?

  Yeah, it was like combining everything I had. So it was like.

• 2:01:22Speaker 00

  Do you remember what it is?

• 2:01:24Trevor Noah?

  Like phrase, it was, it was, it was a joke about speaking to somebody in the airport in Japan.

• 2:01:30Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 2:01:31Trevor Noah?

  Testing my Japanese.

• 2:01:32Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 2:01:32Trevor Noah?

  And so it was, it was like, it was me, I'd meet the person. And then I was like, um, uh, the, the premise of it was basically like,

• 2:01:44Trevor Noah?

  you learn a language, what was it? Yeah, the premise was something about like, you learn a language, but you never know. What no one tells you is that like, at some point you run out of the language, but the person you're speaking to doesn't know that you're gonna run out.

• 2:01:55Speaker 00

  Right, right. You have to be careful. Yeah.

• 2:01:58Trevor Noah?

  So like mine was like, at the airport and I was like, Konnichiwa. And the person's like, oh, konnichiwa. And I was like, oh, damn, I was like, oh, this is, this is working. And then, um, what did I say? Cause someone had taught me that they would, they were, I did a comedy festival with, uh, two Japanese mime comedians, Kitchen and Hiropon.

• 2:02:16Speaker 00

  Oh, my gosh.

• 2:02:17Trevor Noah?

  They're phenomenal, like some of the best mime performances I've ever seen. I'm like, funny, funny, funny, funny. And then one of them taught me this phrase, which I butcher, but I, I would always try it, which was, um, it was niwa, niwa, niwa, niwa tori gaeta.

• 2:02:32Speaker 00

  Oh, yeah, something about a chicken.

• 2:02:33Trevor Noah?

  The chickens running in the yard.

• 2:02:35Speaker 00

  In the yard. Okay. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

• 2:02:36Trevor Noah?

  And then, uh, so I'd throw that in the, the joke as well.

• 2:02:40Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 2:02:40Trevor Noah?

  And then the other one, which I loved from like anime was, omaiwa, su deni, shinderu. Which is, you're already dead?

• 2:02:48Speaker 00

  Uh huh, uh huh.

• 2:02:51Speaker 00

  These are not sentences you really wanna say at an airport.

• 2:02:54Trevor Noah?

  This is what made it a great joke.

• 2:02:58Trevor Noah?

  Yeah, so literally, that's like, and I had, and I had this bit. But what was weird was when I was doing it in Japan.

• 2:03:04Speaker 00

  Right.

• 2:03:05Trevor Noah?

  All the Japanese people in the audience would, you'd see them going, does he know what he's saying?

• 2:03:12Trevor Noah?

  Does he like, and then like after the show, someone came up to me and they're like, ah, it's like Trevor, he's like, he's like, uh, when, when you said this on a stage, he's like, who told you this is Japanese? And I was like, oh, man. Long story, long story, long story.

• 2:03:28Speaker 00

  I hear you try to do jokes for each local place, like for some of your, like the beginning.

• 2:03:35Trevor Noah?

  Not even try, I, I just do that. Yeah, I do that. I do. I, I love it more than anything. So I get to a place.

• 2:03:41Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 2:03:43Trevor Noah?

  I try, it, it means my touring is not as efficient as it should be. But I don't like getting to a place and doing a show.

• 2:03:50Speaker 00

  Yeah, yeah. You wanna like live.

• 2:03:52Trevor Noah?

  I wanna land.

• 2:03:53Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 2:03:53Trevor Noah?

  And then I wanna go to the local spots.

• 2:03:55Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 2:03:55Trevor Noah?

  I wanna watch local TV. I wanna see what people do. I wanna, like every, just, just, and I, it's osmosis. I just absorb, absorb, absorb, absorb, absorb.

• 2:04:06Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 2:04:06Trevor Noah?

  And then when I get to the show, something happens in my brain and I start processing my experience.

• 2:04:13Speaker 00

  Mm hmm, mm hmm.

• 2:04:14Trevor Noah?

  And yeah, so I do this everywhere I go.

• 2:04:16Speaker 00

  Yeah. What are some of your favorite places?

• 2:04:20Trevor Noah?

  London? Like, South Africa always wins, so I can't count it because it's home, home, home.

• 2:04:25Speaker 00

  Sure.

• 2:04:26Trevor Noah?

  Places that I go to.

• 2:04:28Speaker 00

  That you like London?

• 2:04:29Trevor Noah?

  London is, yeah, maybe like my number one. It's so, it's so cosmopolitan. It's so me. It's so, there's Africans and Europeans and, and they've lived with each other and it's a weird mix and people get each other, but also don't. But there's all these accents and, yeah, London is, I, I love, love, love London. Australia is a lot of fun as well. Um, just because they, they just, they, they get comedy in a really specific way.

• 2:04:56Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 2:04:56Trevor Noah?

  You know?

• 2:04:57Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 2:04:57Trevor Noah?

  I find Australians have like a really, really good sense of humor and they get comedy.

• 2:05:01Speaker 00

  So just these English speaking places, these fellow English speaking places?

• 2:05:05Trevor Noah?

  Yeah, I guess so, because I guess they've, they've influenced, maybe because we were under this Commonwealth. Blankets.

• 2:05:12Speaker 00

  Mm hmm.

• 2:05:13Trevor Noah?

  Our sensibilities are adjacent, but not necessarily the same.

• 2:05:16Speaker 00

  Um, okay, that's true, yeah.

• 2:05:18Trevor Noah?

  Singapore, I have a great time, though. That's one of my favorite places. Every, every chance I get, I'll go to Singapore.

• 2:05:24Speaker 00

  I mean, tiny, tiny. You could see the, I mean, you've probably seen the whole place already.

• 2:05:27Trevor Noah?

  Yeah, I have, I have, but I'll see it again and again and again. And then see it on a hot day and it's very different. I made the mistake of walking through the streets of Singapore in the middle of summer.

• 2:05:36Speaker 00

  Woo.

• 2:05:37Trevor Noah?

  Yeah.

• 2:05:37Speaker 00

  It's hot.

• 2:05:38Trevor Noah?

  Yeah, hot is an, hot is an understatement.

• 2:05:40Speaker 00

  Yeah, totally, yeah.

• 2:05:42Trevor Noah?

  It's, it's that, you know, like the heat from movies?

• 2:05:44Speaker 00

  Mm hmm, where you can see it, yeah.

• 2:05:46Trevor Noah?

  Yeah, yeah, it's that, it's that hot.

• 2:05:47Speaker 00

  No, I know, I know.

• 2:05:48Trevor Noah?

  Yeah, and you're walking down a block and you're like, why is no one else walking? And then halfway down the block, I'm like.

• 2:05:53Speaker 00

  Right, that's, that's where you're starving on durian ice cream.

• 2:05:56Trevor Noah?

  Yeah, that's where, oh.

• 2:05:58Speaker 00

  Scandinavia, uh, really surprised me. I, I did my first Europe tour just, uh, last year and I, I was like, what, yeah, so I had never, you know.

• 2:06:08Trevor Noah?

  You loved it?

• 2:06:09Speaker 00

  Um, yes, I was surprised.

• 2:06:10Trevor Noah?

  Okay, great, okay. Why were you surprised?

• 2:06:12Speaker 00

  Oh, I don't, I never met the true weirder white people. I didn't, you know, where, where they came from, like, they're, they're kind of reminded me of Japanese people.

• 2:06:20Trevor Noah?

  Oh, yeah, they are.

• 2:06:21Speaker 00

  Right?

• 2:06:22Trevor Noah?

  They are, they really are.

• 2:06:23Speaker 00

  Finnish people, Swedish people, even the fashion.

• 2:06:26Trevor Noah?

  Completely.

• 2:06:26Speaker 00

  A lot of the designs.

• 2:06:28Trevor Noah?

  Yes.

• 2:06:28Speaker 00

  I was like, this is just Tokyo.

• 2:06:30Trevor Noah?

  Yeah.

• 2:06:30Speaker 00

  Right?

• 2:06:30Trevor Noah?

  It's minimalist and they also have a very, the culture is very much about like not standing out.

• 2:06:37Speaker 00

  Yes, it's same, yeah.

• 2:06:38Trevor Noah?

  It is not about you.

• 2:06:39Speaker 00

  They're all weird together.

• 2:06:41Trevor Noah?

  And yes, yeah, it's, it's very similar.

• 2:06:44Speaker 00

  Yeah, I mean, come on.

• 2:06:44Trevor Noah?

  Also very high suicide rates, I think.

• 2:06:47Speaker 00

  Oh, is that right?

• 2:06:47Trevor Noah?

  Yeah, I think, I think per capita like Japan and Scandinavia.

• 2:06:51Speaker 00

  I wonder what it is because, you know, supposedly, because it's like smaller population, so the, the, there is health insur- healthcare and stuff like that.

• 2:06:58Trevor Noah?

  It has to do with societal pressure.

• 2:06:59Speaker 00

  Right, yeah.

• 2:07:00Trevor Noah?

  From what I understand, it's, it's like a vibe.

• 2:07:02Speaker 00

  Like, don't stand out too much.

• 2:07:03Trevor Noah?

  Yeah, and, and like if you're not happy, it's you.

• 2:07:07Speaker 00

  Yeah, yeah, because we're all weird and we're all doing this folk dance and we're, we're eating salmon. Was salmon invented there? They eat so much salmon.

• 2:07:15Trevor Noah?

  There's a lot of salmon, some of the best salmon.

• 2:07:17Speaker 00

  Yeah, I just salmon it, salmon for every meal.

• 2:07:19Trevor Noah?

  What's crazy is, do you know that the, do you know that Norway spent like, I think almost a decade, if not more, trying to convince Japan to buy salmon from them?

• 2:07:29Speaker 00

  I had heard this.

• 2:07:30Trevor Noah?

  You've heard this, right?

• 2:07:31Speaker 00

  Wait, yeah, uh, uh, yes, how do I know this? Yeah, because salmon wasn't that big in Japan or something? And then they made it even bigger?

• 2:07:39Trevor Noah?

  Well, I think just in general, Japan doesn't buy food from other people in that way. They're always like, yeah, yeah, yeah.

• 2:07:45Speaker 00

  We got salmon.

• 2:07:46Trevor Noah?

  Yeah, you keep your, your food. We've seen how you guys have food. You, and then like-

• 2:07:51Speaker 00

  Do they have too much salmon?

• 2:07:53Trevor Noah?

  I just think the Norwegians are like, we need a market for it. And, and they've got some of the best quality salmon in the world.

• 2:07:59Speaker 00

  But that's so far from each other, no?

• 2:08:01Trevor Noah?

  Yeah, and then they were like, we gotta convince the Japanese that they would like our salmon.

• 2:08:06Speaker 00

  Uh huh.

• 2:08:06Trevor Noah?

  And then now, I think Norway is one of the only places that Japan gets their salmon from.

• 2:08:10Speaker 00

  That's so wild.

• 2:08:12Trevor Noah?

  It's phenomenal, it is wild salmon.

• 2:08:14Speaker 00

  It really is wild salmon. No, every me, I said, oh my gosh. I was so worried about, I said, oh, you know, I mean, I've been in the States and, you know, I, I hadn't been to really even like Western Europe or whatever.

• 2:08:27Trevor Noah?

  Yeah, yeah, yeah.

• 2:08:27Speaker 00

  And so I was like, and in all my life, even in the States, I had to teach people how to say my name. Otsko Okatsuka. I said, how, how is people in Norway gonna get that, you know?

• 2:08:37Trevor Noah?

  Have you seen their names?

• 2:08:38Speaker 00

  Exactly, when I went, I was like, oh my god, they were like, sweetie, they were like, we, my name is Thjör Björkjön's daughter.

• 2:08:48Speaker 00

  Otsko Okatsuka is not a problem, are you kidding? I was like, oh my god, yes, I, I felt so seen by the weirdness. In Iceland, in the green room, there was, um, fermented shark meat, you know? From like growing up, eating like weird parts of the animal in the States to like, oh, white people just needed to remember where they came from. Then they wouldn't make fun of other people that, you guys, you know, also eat, eat all kinds of the animal too and all these things, you know?

• 2:09:17Trevor Noah?

  That must have been beautiful for you.

• 2:09:18Speaker 00

  It was kind of a-

• 2:09:19Trevor Noah?

  Can I tell you, I wish more people would have that experience, and I know it's, it's, it's not feasible, but we take for granted, on a really like, I know it's a soppy thing to say, but man, we take for granted how similar we are around the world.

• 2:09:31Speaker 00

  Mm hmm.

• 2:09:31Trevor Noah?

  But we don't, like you say, we just don't know it.

• 2:09:33Speaker 00

  Yeah, and granted, you know, th- they don't have diversity there, but, you know, uh-

• 2:09:40Speaker 00

  Yeah, granted, they don't have that.

• 2:09:42Trevor Noah?

  Yeah, yeah, no, but I mean.

• 2:09:43Speaker 00

  But they didn't have an issue like, you know.

• 2:09:46Trevor Noah?

  Yeah, they they don't have a lack of diversity because some shit went down. They just have, it's just the way it was.

• 2:09:52Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 2:09:53Trevor Noah?

  Do you know what I mean? And if you had asked.

• 2:09:54Speaker 00

  I don't know this history as much. I just, I just know.

• 2:09:57Trevor Noah?

  Yeah, there were no, there were no black people there. There was never like a thing. There was no, no one else was ever there.

• 2:10:01Speaker 00

  Uh huh.

• 2:10:02Trevor Noah?

  Yeah, that was their land and they are the people of that land and that's like how they look.

• 2:10:06Speaker 00

  My husband, who is white, is, is, uh, you know, sometimes he tells me bedtime stories because I, I'm, I'm a baby. And so I told him, he's like, oh, you know, we've been together ten years. He's like, I'm out of stories. I said, make one up, just make one up. He goes, okay, do you know the one about where white people come from? I said, no. And he's tired, he's falling asleep. I was like, please, I, I need, tell me the story. He goes, well, white people come from the, the ice rocks in Ireland. It melted and then white people came out of there. They thawed and then they needed to warm up, so they started uh moving their feet fast and then the, the jig was invented.

• 2:10:52Speaker 00

  So that's a story, that's a bedtime story he told me.

• 2:10:55Trevor Noah?

  Oh, man.

• 2:10:56Speaker 00

  But yes, we're all more similar. I kept my eyes closed that whole time.

• 2:11:00Trevor Noah?

  You really did. It was good. That was a great performance. I felt like you were your husband in front of me. I was there.

• 2:11:05Speaker 00

  Did you get sleepy?

• 2:11:06Trevor Noah?

  No, I was actually in enthralled. I can't do bedtime stories because they keep me awake.

• 2:11:10Speaker 00

  Which European are you again?

• 2:11:13Trevor Noah?

  So my father is Swiss.

• 2:11:14Speaker 00

  Oh, Swiss, okay, okay. Yeah, I didn't get to see Switzerland that much.

• 2:11:16Trevor Noah?

  But I, I didn't grow up there or spend any, I'm like, yeah, one hundred percent, everything of my life has been South African.

• 2:11:24Speaker 00

  Right, yeah, yeah.

• 2:11:25Trevor Noah?

  So.

• 2:11:26Speaker 00

  But like, uh, does it ever come out where you're like, hmm, I'm?

• 2:11:31Trevor Noah?

  Where I'm like on time all of a sudden? No.

• 2:11:33Speaker 00

  Is that what they're known for? I don't know. I guess I don't know. I was trying to think of a Switzerland thing and I was like, I don't really know.

• 2:11:37Trevor Noah?

  Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, like precision, like true precision.

• 2:11:40Speaker 00

  Yeah, or like.

• 2:11:42Trevor Noah?

  Watchmaking, even like the chocolates, even like if you look at like a Swiss chocolate.

• 2:11:46Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 2:11:46Trevor Noah?

  Like if you look at a chocolate made in America or many parts of the world, it's just like a blob of brownness.

• 2:11:52Speaker 00

  Uh huh, uh huh.

• 2:11:52Trevor Noah?

  You know, and they're like, yep, and then you eat it. Swiss chocolate. Just go look at it.

• 2:11:57Speaker 00

  Yeah, okay.

• 2:11:58Trevor Noah?

  Go look at the detail.

• 2:11:59Speaker 00

  I spent one day there. Yeah, I got I got in and I performed.

• 2:12:02Trevor Noah?

  Yeah, but even if you like buy some, just go look, look at it.

• 2:12:05Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 2:12:06Trevor Noah?

  Look at a, everything from like, you know, even like commercial stuff like a Toblerone to anything. Go, go look at the actual chocolate.

• 2:12:14Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 2:12:15Trevor Noah?

  And you're like, who put this much effort into designing a thing that I'm just gonna yum yum yum?

• 2:12:20Speaker 00

  Wow, okay, so they're about precision.

• 2:12:22Trevor Noah?

  Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, completely.

• 2:12:23Speaker 00

  Okay.

• 2:12:24Trevor Noah?

  Completely.

• 2:12:25Speaker 00

  And and and then also being like neutral.

• 2:12:27Trevor Noah?

  The trains are like, yeah, neutral and precise, neutral and precise, neutral and precise.

• 2:12:31Speaker 00

  Find that in you? Are you like, am I serious?

• 2:12:33Trevor Noah?

  No, no, no, no, no, I'm like.

• 2:12:35Speaker 00

  It's it's.

• 2:12:36Trevor Noah?

  I I.

• 2:12:37Speaker 00

  It's recessive.

• 2:12:39Trevor Noah?

  Yeah, it's a recessive gene. No, no, no, no, no, I'm loud and chaotic and.

• 2:12:44Speaker 00

  I wanna see you. Oh, no, we, I know you have to go to lunch, but I wanna see you on um. Finding your roots. Did you do that yet?

• 2:12:53Trevor Noah?

  With um.

• 2:12:54Speaker 00

  Louis Henry Gates Junior.

• 2:12:56Trevor Noah?

  Yes.

• 2:12:57Speaker 00

  Have you done that?

• 2:12:58Trevor Noah?

  No, I haven't.

• 2:12:58Speaker 00

  I'm about to do it.

• 2:12:59Trevor Noah?

  You're gonna do it?

• 2:13:00Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 2:13:00Trevor Noah?

  Oh, exciting.

• 2:13:01Speaker 00

  Yeah, I'm I'm curious because.

• 2:13:02Trevor Noah?

  What are you most afraid to find out?

• 2:13:04Speaker 00

  I'm not afraid. I'm most curious about my my grandpa. Yeah, my grandma's husband during the martial law, they, he was assassinated. So I wanna know more about it. Yeah. Like, because his his father was running against the K M T, who was the ruling party. And uh in local elections and then so to prove a point, they killed my grandpa. But, you know, and then because of that, my mom's like, my mom was uh like five. When they brought his body back and she saw it. And then, of course, now she has schizophrenia and the voices in her head are K M T. Yeah, so everything's connected. So I'm really curious to find out about that, even with the cameras rolling. I mean, you know, but, yeah. But then I was like, I mean.

• 2:13:48Trevor Noah?

  So they they so they can find, so they can find anyone anywhere. Like they can just, they can, they can definitively say, we found your story.

• 2:13:55Speaker 00

  I hope so, with enough like, you know, yeah, with enough.

• 2:13:58Trevor Noah?

  Like they'll never just say to you like, oh, sorry, that's cool. No, we, we, we thought we could, but no.

• 2:14:03Speaker 00

  Yeah, I haven't known a, like a person who's participated, who, um, they, you know, I feel like they've been researching for months.

• 2:14:13Trevor Noah?

  Oh, okay.

• 2:14:13Speaker 00

  They've, they've been on my case for a long time. We haven't been able to shoot it yet because they're like, we're still researching. We're still talking to people and so, yeah.

• 2:14:22Trevor Noah?

  Wow.

• 2:14:22Speaker 00

  I mean, really, have you seen any of the episodes?

• 2:14:24Trevor Noah?

  I have, I have. It's where, it's where like all the white people discover like their great grandfathers were like slave owners.

• 2:14:30Speaker 00

  Yes, yeah.

• 2:14:30Trevor Noah?

  That's the show.

• 2:14:31Speaker 00

  And then like Edward Norton find, found out like, like his great, great, great, great grandmother was Pocahontas, things like that.

• 2:14:38Trevor Noah?

  What?

• 2:14:39Speaker 00

  Yeah, or like Bernie Sanders and, uh, you know, Bernie Sanders and Larry David are actual cousins, things like that. Yeah. Yeah. And so, but they really try to, you know, find out as much as they can.

• 2:14:52Trevor Noah?

  Excited for you.

• 2:14:53Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 2:14:53Trevor Noah?

  What do you hope to discover from it?

• 2:14:56Speaker 00

  Um, I, I don't know. I think, I, I really like history. I like other people's history.

• 2:15:02Trevor Noah?

  Yeah.

• 2:15:03Speaker 00

  I've never, you know, looked into my own as much, but I think I'm at a point where it would be, uh, and not just insightful. I, I don't know. I, I wanna, I love stories of like resilience and how people kept going. And so, I don't know. I hope there's some of that. It could be dark too, where it's like, yeah, and they died. Who knows? But, you know, I, I'm okay. Cause then I go, okay, well, you know, I'll, I'll keep that going for us.

• 2:15:32Trevor Noah?

  Yeah.

• 2:15:32Speaker 00

  You know, with Mike, here at Trevor's show.

• 2:15:40Speaker 00

  I keep trying to get you to lunch. Do you know what I'm doing?

• 2:15:42Trevor Noah?

  Well, no, I don't know what you're doing.

• 2:15:43Speaker 00

  I keep going, ah, this man's gotta eat. He's got places to go. Oh, like slowly bring the.

• 2:15:49Trevor Noah?

  Oh, you're trying to wind us down? Oh, I like this. Okay.

• 2:15:52Speaker 00

  No, no, no. I mean, cause I don't know. Is there words behind me? There isn't. How you know which questions to ask and stuff? It's just through your heart. You just read the situation through your heart. You're really good at what you do, Trevor. I hope you're getting enough breaks. I'm so worried about you. You should have known, you should have known TSA agent's schedules. Oh no, this man. Aren't you okay? You have like health insurance and stuff.

• 2:16:17Trevor Noah?

  Oh wow.

• 2:16:18Speaker 00

  Right? You have friends.

• 2:16:19Trevor Noah?

  Oh man.

• 2:16:20Speaker 00

  You have fun?

• 2:16:23Speaker 00

  Are you happy?

• 2:16:24Trevor Noah?

  I actually am, yeah.

• 2:16:25Speaker 00

  Yeah, that's good. You work out every day?

• 2:16:28Trevor Noah?

  I do, yeah.

• 2:16:29Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 2:16:30Trevor Noah?

  Yeah, I play a lot of pickleball.

• 2:16:31Speaker 00

  That's every day?

• 2:16:33Trevor Noah?

  Yeah, almost every day, yeah.

• 2:16:34Speaker 00

  So that's a couple hours.

• 2:16:35Trevor Noah?

  Yeah.

• 2:16:35Speaker 00

  Right?

• 2:16:36Trevor Noah?

  Yeah.

• 2:16:36Speaker 00

  Oh, so you're like, that's a good work-life balance.

• 2:16:40Trevor Noah?

  It's like, it's just like a, just run around, sweat, get moving, you know, hit a ball.

• 2:16:44Speaker 00

  When do you think I could reach that point where I will be playing pickleball?

• 2:16:48Trevor Noah?

  Uh, when are you ready to accept that you're a middle-aged white man? When, when, when is this journey?

• 2:16:54Speaker 00

  Yeah, there's the Swiss in you coming out.

• 2:16:56Trevor Noah?

  Oh, it's the further day of not hitting anything pickleball. No, I, I think it's, um, when do you get to that point? When you, when you get to that, you're already at that point, is the way I would put it.

• 2:17:07Speaker 00

  I'm afraid to relax like that.

• 2:17:09Trevor Noah?

  Yeah.

• 2:17:09Speaker 00

  I don't relax like that. I said, that's pickleball every day. That's like two hours where I'm not working.

• 2:17:14Trevor Noah?

  Yeah, but, but this is, I'm trying to think. There are a few people who've given me pieces of advice that have really, really stuck with me over the years. One was Chris Rock, when I was first starting out at The Daily Show.

• 2:17:29Trevor Noah?

  He met, we met each other before I started on The Daily Show, but I'd just been announced as the host and we chatted about things and everything. And he was like, if you ever need advice, reach out. He didn't, I didn't know this man. This Chris Rock is a legend, you know, and he was really kind, still is. And, um.

• 2:17:47Speaker 00

  He, he, where, where was it? Like at the Cellar or something?

• 2:17:50Trevor Noah?

  Yeah, at the Comedy Cellar. And then, and then I met him again a few months later at the Comedy Cellar. And he was like, how are things going? What, what are you doing? And I was really excited. I was like, yeah, you know, I'm in it. It's really hard. I'm doing The Daily Show and, and you know, I work every day. And he's like, oh, and, and, and then I was like, yeah, and then on weekends I go do stand-up. I hit, hit the road and I do stand-up.

• 2:18:11Speaker 00

  Right.

• 2:18:11Trevor Noah?

  And, and, and he's like, what? Every day? And I was like, yeah, I said, I work, Monday to Friday at The Daily Show, and then Friday nights I leave immediately, go do a show Friday, Saturday, and then Sunday, and then Monday I'm back at The Daily Show. And then, and I, I genuinely thought he was gonna be like, yeah, good for you. And Chris looked at me in like, like that classic Chris Rock way. And he was like, he said, he said, I'll never forget it. He said, he said, you're gonna be the worst comedian ever. He's like, you are gonna be the worst comedian ever. I was like, what do you mean? And then he said, he said, um, he said, comedy comes from life. You ain't living. He's like, you can't make comedy doing comedy. And I was like, oh shit. And, and we had a conversation about understanding

• 2:18:55Trevor Noah?

  that art is inspired by life. And so to be responsible as an artist is to live away from the art so that the art can become better.

• 2:19:06Speaker 00

  Right, yes.

• 2:19:07Trevor Noah?

  And so in a way, it made me trick myself into learning that not doing it is working towards doing it.

• 2:19:15Speaker 00

  And that's how you, you play, you, when you play, you're thinking that this is for my art?

• 2:19:20Trevor Noah?

  No, I, I just go like, I, I have no, I, I don't hold it on me. I don't go like, I should be, I could be, I'm like, no, no, no. By existing, I'm always doing something that contributes to my art.

• 2:19:31Speaker 00

  Right, it's like a tax write offs or something.

• 2:19:33Trevor Noah?

  Yeah.

• 2:19:34Speaker 00

  Where you're like, hey, because I, I'm, I'm eating, but I'm an artist eating. This is a tax write off, it's like that.

• 2:19:41Trevor Noah?

  I don't think that's a tax write off. You might wanna meet with a new tax consultant, but.

• 2:19:45Speaker 00

  Hey.

• 2:19:46Trevor Noah?

  But I think fundamentally, yes, it's, it's in the same realm.

• 2:19:49Speaker 00

  Right, right.

• 2:19:50Trevor Noah?

  So you don't, you don't rest at all? What do you do, what do you do to, to, other than like sipping tequila and bedtime stories? How do you find your?

• 2:19:58Speaker 00

  Right, right. You know, I definitely am aware that I need to work on that. Because I, I play this video game on my phone where I own restaurants. So in my off time, I'm still busy because not only do I own them, I also work at them too. It's a wild game and I own so many restaurants.

• 2:20:20Trevor Noah?

  Ha, has the game got you to spend money?

• 2:20:23Speaker 00

  Yes, I've spent real money sometimes.

• 2:20:26Trevor Noah?

  They're so good at that.

• 2:20:27Speaker 00

  To help you get upgrades.

• 2:20:28Trevor Noah?

  Yeah, yeah, of course, because you gotta speed up the upgrades.

• 2:20:31Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 2:20:31Trevor Noah?

  What do you have to like?

• 2:20:32Speaker 00

  And when you're an entrepreneur.

• 2:20:34Trevor Noah?

  Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

• 2:20:34Speaker 00

  If you're an entrepreneur, you have to invest money too.

• 2:20:37Trevor Noah?

  Make money.

• 2:20:38Speaker 00

  Thank you so much.

• 2:20:40Trevor Noah?

  But it's interesting how the money from the games, they never let you turn into real money the other way around.

• 2:20:44Speaker 00

  Uh uh, no.

• 2:20:46Trevor Noah?

  Slick business.

• 2:20:47Speaker 00

  Yeah, so it's like maybe I'm up upgrading the counter, the, you know, the look of the remodeling my restaurant.

• 2:20:54Trevor Noah?

  So that you can serve more customers.

• 2:20:56Speaker 00

  Yes, maybe there's another seat, you know, that I add or buy fresher produce, you know, more organic produce. Those are upgrades.

• 2:21:05Trevor Noah?

  Of course.

• 2:21:05Speaker 00

  Sometimes you can upgrade your waiter, who is also me, to walk faster.

• 2:21:11Trevor Noah?

  Yes.

• 2:21:11Speaker 00

  So there's that too.

• 2:21:12Trevor Noah?

  Cause then you can serve more customers more quickly, yeah.

• 2:21:15Speaker 00

  You know, you understand. You play this game?

• 2:21:17Trevor Noah?

  No, but I played a version of it, I think a healthier version. You would love it, I think, if you play this kind of game.

• 2:21:22Speaker 00

  Yes.

• 2:21:22Trevor Noah?

  It's a game called Dave the Diver.

• 2:21:24Speaker 00

  Dave the Diver? Oh, he dives for?

• 2:21:27Trevor Noah?

  So it's a story of.

• 2:21:28Speaker 00

  Clams?

• 2:21:28Trevor Noah?

  A diver.

• 2:21:29Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 2:21:30Trevor Noah?

  Who gets recruited. He just loves eating good sushi.

• 2:21:33Speaker 00

  There's a story?

• 2:21:34Trevor Noah?

  Yeah, it's a fantastic game.

• 2:21:35Speaker 00

  I love a story arc.

• 2:21:37Trevor Noah?

  It's one of the best games I've ever played in my life.

• 2:21:39Speaker 00

  Wow.

• 2:21:39Trevor Noah?

  It's a small, I think it's an indie game company, but it's Dave the Diver.

• 2:21:44Speaker 00

  Yes.

• 2:21:45Trevor Noah?

  And he loves eating more than anything and he loves sushi.

• 2:21:48Speaker 00

  Wow.

• 2:21:48Trevor Noah?

  And then the, the guy who like, there's a guy he meets who wants to start a sushi restaurant and he goes, you love eating and you're a good diver. You hunt the fish, let's go get the fish for me.

• 2:21:59Speaker 00

  Yes.

• 2:22:00Trevor Noah?

  Right?

• 2:22:00Speaker 00

  And that's Dave?

• 2:22:01Trevor Noah?

  Dave.

• 2:22:01Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 2:22:02Trevor Noah?

  So Dave dives and you dive as Dave and then you swim around. It's the most tranquil experience. You like, you swim around peacefully under the ocean.

• 2:22:11Speaker 00

  Wow.

• 2:22:11Trevor Noah?

  And then you just catch fish and you catch fish.

• 2:22:13Speaker 00

  No rush.

• 2:22:14Trevor Noah?

  Different, no rush at all.

• 2:22:15Speaker 00

  Is the man ever like, hurry, I'm hungry.

• 2:22:17Trevor Noah?

  No, no, no, no, no. Your only time limit is your, your oxygen tank.

• 2:22:20Speaker 00

  Oh.

• 2:22:21Trevor Noah?

  But there's no hurry. And then when you go up, you give him the fish and then you get to the restaurant. And then when you're there, you meet with like a chef and then he like walks you through like what the menu is gonna be.

• 2:22:30Speaker 00

  Are you serious?

• 2:22:31Trevor Noah?

  Yeah, and I've learned so much about sushi playing the game.

• 2:22:33Speaker 00

  What is this on your phone? Is this a VR game?

• 2:22:36Trevor Noah?

  I think it's on computer and console as well.

• 2:22:39Speaker 00

  Wow.

• 2:22:39Trevor Noah?

  Yeah, but it's, it's really lovely. What I like about it though is.

• 2:22:42Speaker 00

  Yes.

• 2:22:42Trevor Noah?

  Unlike the game you play.

• 2:22:44Speaker 00

  Right.

• 2:22:44Trevor Noah?

  It finishes.

• 2:22:46Speaker 00

  Okay, it does huh?

• 2:22:47Trevor Noah?

  Yeah, and you can't spend any real money in it.

• 2:22:50Speaker 00

  Because you go, hey, I finished my meal. That was tasty. Thank you.

• 2:22:54Trevor Noah?

  You do it, it plays out, and then you finish the story, and then it ends, and it's a beautiful story and. But you get to do all these things you love doing.

• 2:23:01Speaker 00

  Right.

• 2:23:02Trevor Noah?

  Upgrading the restaurant, hiring more waiters, getting better like sushi chefs and sous chefs, etc. Yeah, but you should try it.

• 2:23:09Speaker 00

  Okay, yeah, because this is this is never ending. Where I'm like, okay, and.

• 2:23:13Trevor Noah?

  If you do have A D D, that's probably one of the worst things for your brain.

• 2:23:16Speaker 00

  This?

• 2:23:17Trevor Noah?

  Yeah.

• 2:23:17Speaker 00

  Yeah, because.

• 2:23:18Trevor Noah?

  The infinite games?

• 2:23:19Speaker 00

  Oh, probably, because I go, okay, and then more more stimulus.

• 2:23:23Trevor Noah?

  Yeah, it's the worst. It's the worst thing ever.

• 2:23:25Speaker 00

  Oh, my god, I just opened a caveman restaurant.

• 2:23:28Trevor Noah?

  Like themed?

• 2:23:29Speaker 00

  Yes. Oh, no, it's actually of the time, I think.

• 2:23:33Trevor Noah?

  Oh, wow.

• 2:23:34Speaker 00

  My sous chef is a dinosaur.

• 2:23:36Trevor Noah?

  This is a big move you've made.

• 2:23:37Speaker 00

  I am so busy. It's I have one out of an igloo where you you ever you ever try to you ever run to cook in a building made of ice where the stove, that's a that's a rush against time. You know what I mean? It's it's not good for me, this game. You're right. But, you know, yes, I want to try this sushi.

• 2:24:03Trevor Noah?

  Dave the diver.

• 2:24:04Speaker 00

  Dave the diver.

• 2:24:05Trevor Noah?

  Yeah, I I'm excited for you. I think

• 2:24:09Trevor Noah?

  you you strike me as the kind of person who will who will find it because you always naturally find things. I think you'll you'll find that rest, you'll find that, you know?

• 2:24:17Speaker 00

  Oh, yes, no, I I think slowly, yeah. I, you know, I've I I I've been trying out nature, for example.

• 2:24:24Trevor Noah?

  Oh, trying out nature. I like this.

• 2:24:25Speaker 00

  Oh, my god, me and my husband went hiking recently.

• 2:24:28Trevor Noah?

  Yeah, and?

• 2:24:29Speaker 00

  We did try that. It was my biggest fear, you know, I said, what what am I gonna do with just, you know, wha- what happens when we get to the destination, which was we were trying to get to a waterfall?

• 2:24:42Trevor Noah?

  Okay.

• 2:24:43Speaker 00

  And and they said, well, then you walk back, you know, and that that scared me. I said, just and then see everything that I just saw again? I know I sound insane, but I haven't like hiking is not something I grew up with.

• 2:25:00Trevor Noah?

  Oh, yeah.

• 2:25:00Speaker 00

  Did you grow up with it?

• 2:25:02Trevor Noah?

  Uh, no, but we just walked outside.

• 2:25:04Speaker 00

  That's what I'm saying.

• 2:25:05Trevor Noah?

  Yeah.

• 2:25:05Speaker 00

  Right? Like, I feel like single moms didn't really take their kids hiking. There is no time.

• 2:25:11Trevor Noah?

  Yeah, hiking is not a thing in that way.

• 2:25:14Speaker 00

  Um, yeah.

• 2:25:15Trevor Noah?

  Depend depends on where you are. Maybe if you're like a single mom in Denver, Colorado, maybe you do it.

• 2:25:19Speaker 00

  That's true. That's true. Like in Japan, it wasn't.

• 2:25:22Trevor Noah?

  No.

• 2:25:23Speaker 00

  With what? I don't. There was no hiking trails near us. It was a very American thing, just like eating salads. You know, it was all stuff I discovered here. I said, oh, so people just walk towards like a thing and then they walk back in nature.

• 2:25:37Trevor Noah?

  And how was it?

• 2:25:38Speaker 00

  They get back in their car, right? Um, it was, it was good. I guess, you know, we're, we're very new. I, I didn't really even know how to dress for it. I guess I dressed improperly for it because I, you know, posted it in my Instagram stories and all my fans were like, that is not an outfit. Why are you wearing a winter coat?

• 2:26:00Speaker 00

  We brought sparkling water to drink and they said this was a moderate hike. Oh, my God, me and my husband, we were out of breath the whole time uphill. Oh, my God. And then we got thirsty with sparkling water, what to just wet our lips? That's not, you can't quench your thirst. There were mothers with newborns like lapping us. This, we were like, because we were like, huh, huh, we were like walking slow. There were, we saw multiple people pass us and um, so it was, it was a lot. But then like, once we got to like the waterfall, it was pretty, I guess. And I was like, let me try to take in, you know, why people talk about nature and

• 2:26:44Speaker 00

  all that. So I.

• 2:26:46Trevor Noah?

  Apparently the waterfall is prettier because of the walk.

• 2:26:52Trevor Noah?

  This is like a weird psychological thing.

• 2:26:55Speaker 00

  Yeah, where you go.

• 2:26:56Trevor Noah?

  If you, if you stress yourself before.

• 2:26:59Speaker 00

  Is that, is this true?

• 2:27:00Trevor Noah?

  Yeah, if you stress yourself, like physically.

• 2:27:03Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 2:27:03Trevor Noah?

  If you tax yourself, I should say rather. Before you get something or observe something.

• 2:27:08Speaker 00

  Uh huh.

• 2:27:09Trevor Noah?

  Then you will be more likely to appreciate it because it, it, it appears to be the product of hard work.

• 2:27:15Speaker 00

  That makes sense, yeah. So we're just mind tricking ourselves the whole time.

• 2:27:19Trevor Noah?

  We are indeed.

• 2:27:20Speaker 00

  We're hiking.

• 2:27:20Trevor Noah?

  Yeah.

• 2:27:21Speaker 00

  Right? And so I think I was trying to do that too, to be like, yes, I'll, I'll take, yeah, why not take this moment? That was intense.

• 2:27:28Trevor Noah?

  Yeah.

• 2:27:28Speaker 00

  Cause we have to go back and see all the same stuff again to go back, so, you know. And me and Ryan, my husband, talked about, that was, that was nice. Let's, let's try to do that more, you know?

• 2:27:40Trevor Noah?

  This is good.

• 2:27:41Speaker 00

  Because we both are on our phones, playing our games. He's at war most times.

• 2:27:45Trevor Noah?

  Okay, I like this.

• 2:27:46Speaker 00

  He's at war in his game.

• 2:27:48Trevor Noah?

  And you're running the kitchens.

• 2:27:49Speaker 00

  Yeah, yeah. Mexican restaurants, sushi, dim sum. What's your favorite, uh, kind of food? Favorite?

• 2:27:57Trevor Noah?

  It changes.

• 2:27:58Speaker 00

  Okay, but right now, off the top of your head, what are you craving?

• 2:28:02Trevor Noah?

  Now I'm craving very boring foods.

• 2:28:04Speaker 00

  No, please.

• 2:28:05Trevor Noah?

  Just like, no, just like salads and mixed vegetables and.

• 2:28:08Speaker 00

  Oh.

• 2:28:08Trevor Noah?

  Yeah, not even like a cuisine right now. I went through a big pizza phase. Curry was, like, Indian food is still probably like, uh, you know, top. But if I, if I was to choose one cuisine for the rest of my life, I would probably say Japanese, not just because you're here. Because I, I think they've hacked everyone else's cuisine. So Japanese curry, I can live on that for the rest of my life. And then there's sushi and then.

• 2:28:32Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 2:28:32Trevor Noah?

  You know, there's tempura and then there's like, it's like, it's a whole wide range of everythingness in one.

• 2:28:37Speaker 00

  It's so interesting. I'm listening to you speak on this and I actually, uh, own all these restaurants. I have a restaurant and all the cuisines you just named, so.

• 2:28:51Trevor Noah?

  Oh man, this has been so much fun.

• 2:28:53Speaker 00

  Oh my god, thank you so much for having me.

• 2:28:55Trevor Noah?

  This has really been great.

• 2:28:55Speaker 00

  Thanks for having my unhinged energy. I was like, I hope.

• 2:28:58Trevor Noah?

  This is, to me, this is hinged.

• 2:29:00Speaker 00

  Okay.

• 2:29:01Trevor Noah?

  Yeah, this is, this is more my, my.

• 2:29:04Speaker 00

  This is your.

• 2:29:05Trevor Noah?

  This is so chill for me. Like, the way your brain works, I'm just like, ah, this makes sense.

• 2:29:11Speaker 00

  Oh, yeah.

• 2:29:11Trevor Noah?

  Oh, this is lovely.

• 2:29:12Speaker 00

  Oh, and I'm slowly gonna get to your zen place. When I'm playing pickleball for four hours a day, oh, you won't even recognize me anymore. You will, you say, is that the Atsuko I knew? This, when I, when I'm the Marty Supreme.

• 2:29:31Trevor Noah?

  Of pickleball?

• 2:29:32Speaker 00

  Oh, yeah, I've, I've, I've done it.

• 2:29:35Trevor Noah?

  I was like, is that Atsuko? It mu- it must be her. No one plays pickleball in a winter coat. It must be her. Must be her. But really, this has been great. Thank you.

• 2:29:44Speaker 00

  Thank you.

• 2:29:44Trevor Noah?

  Thank you very much.

• 2:29:45Speaker 00

  Thank you so much for having me.

• 2:29:46Trevor Noah?

  Congratulations on everything.

• 2:29:49Speaker 00

  Oh my god, you too.

• 2:29:50Trevor Noah?

  Yeah, you're an inspiration.

• 2:29:52Speaker 00

  You, and you are so brave. You are brave.

• 2:29:58Speaker 00

  Braver than anyone I know. Thanks for leaving your house today. That's always like the next thing is, you are so brave, Trevor. I, I just wanna commend you for leaving the house today, even though, you know, you know. It's like, what, what? You know what I'm talking about.

• 2:30:18Trevor Noah?

  This has been great. Thank you.

• 2:30:20Speaker 00

  Thank you.

• 2:30:21Trevor Noah?

  Oh, wow.

• 2:30:26Trevor Noah?

  What Now with Trevor Noah is produced by Day Zero Productions in partnership with Sirius XM. The show is executive produced by Trevor Noah, Sanaz Yamin, and Jess Hackel. Rebecca Chain is our producer. Our development researcher is Marcia Robiu. Music, mixing, and mastering by Hannes Brown. Random other stuff by Ryan Pardue. Thank you so much for listening. Join me next week for another episode of What Now.

• 2:31:01Speaker 02

  How do you want to split it?

• 2:31:02Speaker 03

  Actually, dinner's on me.

• 2:31:04Speaker 02

  Okay, big money.

• 2:31:05Speaker 03

  Well, I got a Venmo balance that I can spend with my Venmo debit MasterCard, so...

• 2:31:09Speaker 02

  Well, I Venmo'd you three times last week, so it's kinda on me, actually.

• 2:31:13Speaker 03

  Yeah, you send it, I spend it.

• 2:31:15Speaker 02

  Did my money get, like, reincarnated?

• 2:31:16Speaker 03

  Yeah, it's chicken shawarma. Want it back?

• 2:31:20Speaker 02

  I can't believe you, like, ate my Venmo.

• 2:31:22Speaker 03

  Spend your balance instantly with the Venmo debit card. No monthly fee or minimum balance. Venmo balance account required to get a card and use a balance. A Venmo MasterCard is issued by the Bancorp Bank, N.A.