Michael Che: The Beauty and Chaos Behind SNL

What happens when Michael Che accidentally kicks Trevor Noah out of a New York VIP section? The SNL star joins Trevor and Eugene to revisit their awkward encounter and swap stories about life in comedy, from its unwritten rules to the challenges of navigating fame and mental health. Along the way, they explore the cultural differences between Africans and Black Americans, share stories about some of comedy's biggest legends, and somehow end up debating whether Japanese bidets might be one of humanity's greatest inventions.

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

• 0:02Trevor Noah?

  We both were in a position where we took over a beloved white man's spot. Yo, one of the only things that kept me going at The Daily Show was seeing the hate that you were getting.

• 0:16Speaker 01

  You eat pig feet.

• 0:17Trevor Noah?

  And they in the, like, they still look like that.

• 0:19Speaker 01

  Trevor Noah.

• 0:21Trevor Noah?

  Like this.

• 0:21Speaker 01

  You don't eat no damn pig feet, yeah. Y'all fucking with me.

• 0:24Trevor Noah?

  For real, for real. Who wouldn't lie to you?

• 0:27Speaker 01

  With like a, like a fork and a knife?

• 0:29Trevor Noah?

  No.

• 0:29Speaker 02

  Bare hands, bare hands.

• 0:30Trevor Noah?

  Bare knuckle, because the bare knuckle.

• 0:33Speaker 01

  I'm telling you, if you got somebody in your life and they use the ba-, they wanna use your bathroom and you got you one of them.

• 0:41Trevor Noah?

  I'm in.

• 0:42Speaker 01

  She gonna be like, this guy's nice.

• 0:45Trevor Noah?

  Yeah?

• 0:45Speaker 01

  He knows how to take care of something delicate.

• 0:48Trevor Noah?

  Yeah?

• 0:48Speaker 01

  Yeah, man, absolutely, brother. And she gonna look at you different.

• 0:54Trevor Noah?

  For real, for real.

• 0:54Speaker 01

  For real, for real. Listen, I don't have one book in my house. I got a toto. They think I'm smart.

• 1:00Trevor Noah?

  But we only had the car. I has an old Volkswagen Beetle Volkswagen, as Americans say.

• 1:06Speaker 01

  I was gonna say, you said that like no other black man I've ever met. What'd you call it, a Hulk Hogan?

• 1:13Speaker 01

  My brain never feels more alive than being on a stage.

• 1:17Trevor Noah?

  There's nothing like.

• 1:17Speaker 01

  Or killing and bombing.

• 1:20Trevor Noah?

  This is What Now with Trevor Noah.

• 1:26Trevor Noah?

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• 2:01Trevor 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.

• 2:46Trevor Noah?

  Yeah, booked forever, forever. This episode is brought to you by Verizon. Pretty much every brand offers rewards these days, but most of them, let's be honest, they aren't that rewarding. Well, starting now, Verizon's doing rewards different. Rewards you'll love all year round for every customer. They're introducing Verizon Dollars, which gives you cash back every month just for being a customer. That's it. Plus, you have the flexibility to use those glorious new dollars how you want. Shop with Verizon. Get gift cards for the brands that you love or transfer them to our partner programs.

• 3:28Trevor Noah?

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• 4:05Trevor Noah?

  The most rock and roll times I've had in comedy like on the road have been with you.

• 4:11Speaker 01

  Really?

• 4:11Trevor Noah?

  There we go.

• 4:12Speaker 01

  That's not, I remember the first time I ever met this guy, it was like a rock star had just arrived. It was a big deal.

• 4:19Trevor Noah?

  Explain.

• 4:20Speaker 01

  We were in, we were in Melbourne.

• 4:22Trevor Noah?

  Yeah.

• 4:23Speaker 01

  And I was doing good. I thought I was doing great until I found out what great was. And I remember being in the back of that, some venue, it was like a rock venue.

• 4:33Trevor Noah?

  Beautiful venue.

• 4:34Speaker 01

  I was in the back, there was all these girls there.

• 4:36Trevor Noah?

  What?

• 4:37Speaker 01

  And, oh man, I remember. I remember. Don't act like you don't know, Trevor.

• 4:42Trevor Noah?

  No, he doesn't remember, I can.

• 4:43Speaker 01

  I, he remembers. I've, I've brought this up to him about 40 times.

• 4:47Trevor Noah?

  But I wish, you see.

• 4:49Speaker 01

  All these girls, all these beautiful girls standing in the back, and I'm trying to talk to each and everyone, and they're all entertaining me, and then the lights went dark. The lights went dark. That motherfucking Trevor Noah got on that stage. Oh man, they was giving me their ID, they thought I was the bouncer after that shit. It was over. It was over. I was like, oh lord, who is this guy? And the, and the roar, the crowd, everybody was like, man, I got a lot to learn about this international scene.

• 5:18Trevor Noah?

  I was, I was saying to Eugene, I was like, one of the greatest gifts and curses of success, especially at a moment in time, you know, you're talking about the 30 guitarists in one place? You do realize there was a moment where it was me, you, Hannibal Buress, Ronnie Chang, and I feel like I'm missing two or three other comedians. We were all just like in the same place.

• 5:41Speaker 01

  Yeah, yeah.

• 5:42Trevor Noah?

  All at a festival, all like on a showcase, or, and everyone was saying the same thing about the other comedian. They were like, yo, do you know, you know Michael?

• 5:49Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 5:49Trevor Noah?

  Man, Michael's gonna be, yo, you, do you know that, you know Hannibal? Oh, Hannibal's gonna. And it was, I didn't know anybody, they didn't know me, we didn't, we didn't know, and we were all just comedians on the road, performing for a month. You know how it is at the festivals?

• 6:01Speaker 02

  Mm-hmm.

• 6:02Trevor Noah?

  I remember watching, I remember watching you and I was like, how is this guy so clean? How is he so comfortable? Cause you, you, you, you make comedy feel like Tai Chi.

• 6:13Speaker 02

  Yeah, it makes it look easy.

• 6:15Speaker 01

  What?

• 6:15Trevor Noah?

  Does that make sense?

• 6:16Speaker 01

  No, I, I, I've never heard that before.

• 6:19Trevor Noah?

  Yeah, you make comedy feel like Tai Chi.

• 6:21Speaker 02

  Effortless.

• 6:21Trevor Noah?

  So like, I watch you on stage and I'm like, damn, this guy, oh, I didn't know you could fight like that.

• 6:27Speaker 01

  Holy.

• 6:28Trevor Noah?

  I didn't know you could, you're just like, I'm, I'm like a boxer, I'm like, ah.

• 6:31Speaker 01

  See, I think it's a different thing. I think it's like, I feel the opposite of that. I feel frantic and nervous and I feel like I'm a ball of, like, nerves.

• 6:42Trevor Noah?

  Yeah, but the way you, the way you perform, Jen, I'll never forget the first time I saw you. I'll never forget you, I'll never forget Hannibal. Because it was, it was, I'm always grateful for it because it's always cool to be part of a cool moment.

• 6:58Speaker 02

  In time.

• 6:58Trevor Noah?

  Does that make sense?

• 6:59Speaker 01

  Oh, yeah.

• 6:59Trevor Noah?

  It's always nice to be like, where you, with, whatever festival we were at, whatever, there was, one was in Canada, I don't remember the details.

• 7:06Speaker 01

  Montreal?

• 7:07Trevor Noah?

  Man, we got, we got wasted that night.

• 7:08Speaker 01

  That was a blast.

• 7:09Trevor Noah?

  Yo, we had, Michael was like, yo, where we going after the show? I was like, I'm going to my hotel room. He's like, man, what bullshit, you just killed, you gonna go.

• 7:17Speaker 02

  Who said they're going to a hotel room?

• 7:18Trevor Noah?

  Me, I was like, I'm, you know me. Michael's like, come on.

• 7:22Speaker 01

  I ran out, I, I, I ran out, I ran out on Trevor a couple of times. We was in New York a few times, I ran into you a few times at a few clubs and stuff. Now, Trevor, don't let Trevor fool you. Trevor be outside.

• 7:33Trevor Noah?

  Can I tell you this story?

• 7:34Speaker 01

  Don't let Trevor fool you. Trevor be outside, yo.

• 7:37Trevor Noah?

  No, actually.

• 7:37Speaker 02

  I've never been so glad that you are here.

• 7:39Trevor Noah?

  Yes, you're gonna expose someone. Yo, let me tell you the greatest, this is one of my greatest Michael Che.

• 7:45Speaker 01

  I know what you're gonna say to you.

• 7:46Trevor Noah?

  This whole episode can just be Michael Che stories that I've got, yo. One of my favorite Michael Che stories. This is to show you how different we are in the world, right?

• 7:57Trevor Noah?

  So, Michael had, I'm trying to think, had you started at, I'm not sure if you'd started at SNL or not, but I know you had already blown up on The Daily Show.

• 8:07Speaker 01

  Okay.

• 8:07Trevor Noah?

  And everyone was like, so I'd known you from stand-up.

• 8:09Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 8:10Trevor Noah?

  You joined The Daily Show and people were like, there's this lightning bolt. You, Michael Che, I was like, yeah, we know him from stand-up. I knew Michael. We had gone out in Montreal, we had too much fun. I was like, this is, I know, I love this guy. Love this guy, love this guy, love this guy, right? Cause when I saw Michael, I was like, okay, I'm living my life. So, one night in New York, one night in New York.

• 8:29Speaker 01

  He's so full of shit.

• 8:29Trevor Noah?

  One night in New York, we go, we go out with friends, go to the club. Now, this is something I have to work on. I'll work on this in therapy, but like, I, you know how I'm, I always treat myself the way I always was, not the way that I currently may be.

• 8:42Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 8:43Trevor Noah?

  So, I'm in the club, in general population.

• 8:47Speaker 02

  Oh, man.

• 8:48Trevor Noah?

  Then what happens is, then what happens is, the owner.

• 8:52Speaker 01

  He said general population.

• 8:53Trevor Noah?

  It is general population. The owner of the club.

• 8:56Speaker 02

  Luckily, he didn't say it's with the civilians.

• 8:58Trevor Noah?

  The owner of the club comes and goes, yo, um, do you guys wanna come into the VIP section, whatever. So I'm like, I mean, I, I get, I don't know, but okay, I get, I'm, I'm new in New York.

• 9:10Speaker 02

  So who's you guys?

• 9:11Trevor Noah?

  Me and a few random friends. I forget who it even was, right?

• 9:14Speaker 02

  Yes, yes.

• 9:15Trevor Noah?

  So we go to the VIP section. But now, we're there for free, we have not paid for anything, we have no bottle service, we have none of the amenities of VIP. We're merely in VIP, okay?

• 9:25Speaker 01

  This is, by the way, this is like the best club in New, this One Oak, this is like the bomb, this is like the spot.

• 9:31Trevor Noah?

  And at its peak.

• 9:32Speaker 01

  At its peak. This is like, yeah.

• 9:35Trevor Noah?

  While we're there, I start getting into it. I'm like, yo, this is nice. I see why people do VIP.

• 9:41Speaker 02

  Yeah, yeah.

• 9:42Trevor Noah?

  I, this is a nice feeling.

• 9:43Speaker 02

  Yeah, what's there? What's, what's going on?

• 9:44Trevor Noah?

  And what happens is the people who are in general pop, they now look at you.

• 9:49Speaker 02

  Oh, so they can see you?

• 9:50Trevor Noah?

  Yeah, that's the whole point of VIP.

• 9:51Speaker 01

  Sitting on the couch, just the best.

• 9:52Trevor Noah?

  So people look at you like.

• 9:53Speaker 02

  No curtain like business class?

• 9:54Trevor Noah?

  No, no, no, no, no.

• 10:00Speaker 02

  So wait, wait, so, so the-

• 10:05Speaker 01

  They got peanuts and everything, man, it's awesome. They got live TV.

• 10:11Speaker 02

  Upset is peanuts, upset is peanuts, it's just-

• 10:13Speaker 01

  No. They give you a blanket, it's, it's amazing, it's gonna blow your mind, bro.

• 10:19Trevor Noah?

  So everyone's looking, everyone's like, I wanna join, I wanna be part of it.

• 10:28Trevor Noah?

  So then-

• 10:29Speaker 02

  Ah, fuck, Michael.

• 10:30Trevor Noah?

  Man, I'm talking about like, we're like at our peak.

• 10:33Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 10:35Trevor Noah?

  We're like, you know, you start feeling yourself, the, the VIP starts getting into you, you know what I mean? Then somebody comes over and goes like, hey, uh, these ladies would like to join your table. I'm like, oh, were you asking us? Oh, yeah, oh, please, please, of course, please join. So they come stand there with, now, cause some people just wanna stand at a VIP table, this is a thing that happens. I didn't know this.

• 10:55Speaker 02

  Stand there.

• 10:55Trevor Noah?

  They just stand there.

• 10:56Speaker 02

  Be part of the, yeah.

• 10:57Trevor Noah?

  I am in heaven. An hour goes by. Now, just to put in perspective,

• 11:05Trevor Noah?

  this is around like ten PM.

• 11:08Speaker 01

  See, this is your problem.

• 11:09Trevor Noah?

  Yes.

• 11:10Speaker 01

  First of all, you there way too early.

• 11:13Speaker 02

  That's what I was about to say, but I was like, maybe I don't know-

• 11:15Speaker 01

  Way, way, way, way.

• 11:16Speaker 02

  New York VIP stuff.

• 11:16Trevor Noah?

  Cause I had to go to work the next day.

• 11:18Speaker 01

  From times like two o'clock, like in those days, I don't know what it is now, but-

• 11:21Trevor Noah?

  So.

• 11:22Speaker 02

  Ten o'clock, my man is like, it's late.

• 11:23Trevor Noah?

  Yeah, we get there right around ten. I wanna say midnight, half past twelve, just when I'm feeling myself. The owner or somebody like the manager actually walks over, whispers something in our friend who like works sort of with, sort of like, it's like a promoter guy who sort of, and he like whispers something to him. And then he comes to, you know when a person's face is like changed?

• 11:48Speaker 02

  Yeah, like, yeah, man.

• 11:49Trevor Noah?

  So they're basically like this with you, then someone goes,

• 11:53Trevor Noah?

  they do that thing.

• 11:53Speaker 02

  Yeah, yeah.

• 11:57Trevor Noah?

  Guys like, yo, um, they, they say we gotta, we've gotta move. So I'm like, oh, what, more ladies are coming to, they're like, no, no, no.

• 12:06Trevor Noah?

  We have to move, we have to move out of the VIP.

• 12:09Speaker 02

  You got ejected.

• 12:10Trevor Noah?

  So I go, what do you mean, we have to move out of the VIP? They go, yeah, somebody has purchased this table now. And so you guys have to leave.

• 12:19Speaker 02

  Is that person in the room?

• 12:20Trevor Noah?

  So I go, no, so I'm like-

• 12:22Speaker 02

  Cause you could get revenge now.

• 12:23Trevor Noah?

  Yeah, no, this is, I go, I'm like, purchased, I'm like, yeah, so I'm like, wait, but we bought some drinks, they're like, no, no, no.

• 12:33Trevor Noah?

  And they're like, you, you can take your drink and you can go stand where you were, but table, the table is, is gone. So now pride obviously kicks in.

• 12:43Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 12:43Trevor Noah?

  So I'm like, wait, what if we wanna buy the table? How, how much is it for a table? And the person was like, oh, it's gonna be ten grand for the table.

• 12:51Speaker 02

  Ah.

• 12:51Trevor Noah?

  Then I was like, I'll pick up my drinks and you'll find me and I leave.

• 13:00Trevor Noah?

  And this was, you know what, comedy couldn't have been more perfect in its timing. As I'm leaving, that, as I'm leaving that section, all of me and my boys being ushered out.

• 13:08Speaker 02

  What happened to the girl?

• 13:09Trevor Noah?

  Oh, no, no, they quickly saw what was happening.

• 13:11Speaker 01

  Yeah, yeah, they're part of the club, they're not-

• 13:13Trevor Noah?

  Yeah, they, they, yeah, they are, they are. So they, they have no affinity to you whatsoever. They'd like, they basically like stopped looking at us when this happened.

• 13:21Speaker 01

  Yeah, yeah, yeah.

• 13:24Speaker 01

  They come with the club.

• 13:27Trevor Noah?

  And we walk out and as we're walking out, the new owners of the table, the people who've actually purchased it are walking in. And it's Michael Chang.

• 13:35Speaker 02

  No, man.

• 13:36Trevor Noah?

  Guys, I've never been so embarrassed,

• 13:44Trevor Noah?

  happy, confused.

• 13:46Speaker 02

  Excited.

• 13:47Trevor Noah?

  Excited all at the same time, cause on the one hand, I was like, ah, man, Michael is kicking me off this table. On the other hand, I was like, it's my friend, Michael Chang. I was like, my friend, Michael, take him by a table. On the other hand, I was like, yo, I guess I have to move for my friend, Michael Chang. I was like, cause I was like, I don't know what club dynamics are, if we were in a comedy club, I'd be like, oh shit, Michael, can I hang with you? I was like, I don't know what the rules are.

• 14:08Speaker 02

  What are the rules?

• 14:10Trevor Noah?

  No, cause he also walked in with a crew of people, I just, I don't know the rules.

• 14:13Speaker 02

  Oh, yeah?

• 14:13Trevor Noah?

  I don't know the rules.

• 14:14Speaker 02

  Wait, so when he walked in, was he like, yo, Trevor?

• 14:16Trevor Noah?

  No, no, no, I, I will say. No, no, no, you, no, you were very kind.

• 14:19Speaker 01

  No, hell no.

• 14:20Trevor Noah?

  He was very, he was dope.

• 14:21Speaker 02

  Wait, did he say, yo, Trevor, where are you going?

• 14:23Trevor Noah?

  Yeah, when we were walking out, then he turned, then he's like, yo, he's like this, he's like, yo, this nigga, what are you doing? Then I was like, oh, we were at the, then he's like, why are you leaving? Then I was like, no, we're not leaving. We didn't pay for a table and the table you just paid for is the table we were at. Then Michael just looked at me and then he just started chuckling, but like-

• 14:44Speaker 02

  Like a mischievous-

• 14:45Trevor Noah?

  Dude, like, he just started chuckling at me.

• 14:47Speaker 01

  Well, because I knew it was like, literally, there's no reason that you should be in that position. Again, like you said, you don't, you don't use all your superpowers. So you was kinda like being polite, well, you should have been like, I'm Trevor motherfucking, that was crazy.

• 15:02Speaker 02

  What a waste of-

• 15:04Trevor Noah?

  No, and then Michael was-

• 15:05Speaker 02

  Trevor's, Trevor's use of celebrity superpower is like the first hour of Hancock.

• 15:14Speaker 02

  Like, why are you drunk, why are you sleeping? Go shave, where's-

• 15:17Speaker 01

  Perfect.

• 15:18Trevor Noah?

  Jesus, I almost spat that out.

• 15:20Speaker 01

  Is that, all right now, is that, is that a comedy thing or is that just a use?

• 15:23Speaker 02

  Yeah, tell us more.

• 15:26Speaker 01

  Cause I think a lot of comedians are very reluctant-

• 15:30Speaker 02

  To be superstars.

• 15:30Speaker 01

  To be superstars and to be celebrities. And I think the ones that aren't reluctant are usually not that good, but, but-

• 15:38Speaker 02

  Yes.

• 15:39Speaker 01

  For the most part, I think, I mean, obviously there's a difference, I mean.

• 15:42Trevor Noah?

  So, okay, I, I think part of it is the comedian. And, and this is something I've always loved about comedians is,

• 15:49Trevor Noah?

  if you think of the best comedians in the world, the best comedy clubs in the world.

• 15:54Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 15:57Trevor Noah?

  The only thing that separates Dave Chappelle from a phenomenal comedian that nobody knows-

• 16:02Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 16:03Trevor Noah?

  Is the fact that people know Dave Chappelle. And when you see Dave Chappelle in a comedy club, the respect, no, but I'm saying the respect that he gives that comedian.

• 16:11Speaker 01

  You're right.

• 16:12Trevor Noah?

  Nobody would think he would give that comedian that level of respect.

• 16:15Speaker 01

  You're right.

• 16:15Trevor Noah?

  Dave will fan out over a comedian as if they're Dave.

• 16:20Speaker 02

  And he's-

• 16:20Trevor Noah?

  In a way where you go like, what, what is happening right now?

• 16:23Speaker 01

  Yeah, it's bonkers.

• 16:24Trevor Noah?

  You get what I'm saying, like, like, like Louis CK would do it, like, you, you name it, Kevin Hart would do, it doesn't matter how bigger comedian is. If they're with another comedian in the club, or they, they're with comedians in the club.

• 16:34Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 16:35Trevor Noah?

  They'll look at you and they'll go, man, I just watched, yo.

• 16:38Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 16:39Trevor Noah?

  That shit was, where you from, what's your?

• 16:42Speaker 01

  It's weird.

• 16:42Trevor Noah?

  That line, that tag, that moment. It's this weird thing in comedy where your status isn't only defined by how well we know you. Because we know that you're one moment away from being the most well-known.

• 16:54Speaker 02

  Yeah. And that moment can be anytime.

• 16:57Trevor Noah?

  Anytime.

• 16:58Speaker 01

  Yeah, and it's, it's weird how much, like even, like as comedians, cause like if, if we played basketball, the amount of years we'd have to play basketball to play with LeBron or to play with,

• 17:10Trevor Noah?

  Yeah.

• 17:10Speaker 01

  you know, Shaq or whoever is like twenty, thirty years, you know, like maybe, you know, by the time you get to that level, but in comedy, we're all playing the same clubs and we're all in the same cities and we're all kinda running into each other, so you could be two, three, four years in and be amongst your heroes.

• 17:31Trevor Noah?

  The greats.

• 17:32Speaker 01

  Guys thirty, forty years into comedy. The greats, and they could watch your set and they could learn something from it, or they could take something from it, or they could compliment you for it, and you're like, I can't believe you even paid attention to me, you should be in another, it'd be like if Stevie Wonder just dropped into some small bar and was like, oh, you're an amazing singer, you're like, what? You know, it's, it's the craziest thing in the world.

• 17:53Trevor Noah?

  Do you remember the first time that happened to you? There's gotta be, there's, I feel like every comedian has that moment or they remember a few instances.

• 17:59Speaker 01

  I've had a few moments where I thought like great comedians didn't like me.

• 18:07Trevor Noah?

  Oh.

• 18:08Speaker 01

  And then, not to be messy, it's not messy because I realized that they did, it just, I just didn't know. Like sometimes I think like,

• 18:19Speaker 01

  I'm, I'm sure you know, but sometimes like, you could be doing comedy and people would be like, oh, man, you're good, or I like your shit or whatever. And then also you could be doing comedy and like the room gets a little silent. And you're like, what'd I do?

• 18:32Trevor Noah?

  Yeah, yeah.

• 18:33Speaker 01

  Does everybody hate me? Like you think they hate you, but they don't hate you, they might not even be thinking about you, but you feel it, you feel something and you're like, I, I don't, I guess they don't like me, but you know, after, after, you know, it's like dogs in a dog park, you know, you sniff around each other or you, you know, there's a little bit of it. It's that kinda thing, it's just I'm trying to get familiar, I'm trying to understand what's going on. Because you could have hype, like I would have like hype or you, you know, you know about hype, right? So like, there'll be times where it seems like, you know, is this guy real? I've heard it's funny, but is he really funny?

• 19:08Trevor Noah?

  Yeah.

• 19:08Speaker 01

  You really wanna see, you're skeptical, the first thing you think is you're skeptical. And then, and then after a while, you're like, okay, I do like, ah, yeah, I like you. And then it's, and then it's warm, but it, it starts off cold, it can. You never felt that way.

• 19:23Trevor Noah?

  No, I think you one hundred percent correct. That, that part I acknowledge, there, there's a, there's a skepticism, there's a, there's a suspicion, there's like a- And it's, yeah, I don't know what it is, but to your point, comedians will generally go, who?

• 19:37Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 19:38Trevor Noah?

  Really? How come I've never heard of him? Where's this person from? Where did they come up from? What's their story? What's their vibe? What's their? But what I have found is very, very quick. Like I told you, like Joe Opio, our friend. This guy was fresh from Uganda. And the first time I saw this human being, I didn't know him. First time I saw him, he was giving Louis C K tags at the Comedy Cellar. And Louis was listening. That's what blew my mind. So I was going, I don't know who this person is. I know Louis C K. And Louis was listening and he was there like, ah Louis, can I give you a tug? Oh, so that joke that you. And I was like, what is hap? And Louis was like, oh yeah, that's funny, man. Oh, that's a nice idea. I was like, who is this person? But I was more surprised that Louis wasn't like going like, who, who are you?

• 20:22Speaker 01

  Louis is sort of an anomaly in that way. I remember being at SNL. And the only reason why I'm telling this, I don't like telling like SNL stories because I, I'll, I'll explain later, but um, I've heard him tell this story. That's, that's why I feel comfortable enough to say it. But there was a, he was hosting us enough, like maybe the third or fourth time. And I was maybe a second year writer. And I remember he um, his monologue was too long. The, the part in the front, you know, like the stand up part. It was about 12 minutes and Lauren wanted it about eight minutes or something. And Louis, you know, Louis is Louis. He's at the height of his powers. He's like, this is bulletproof. Like I've, I've, you know, done this. So at dress rehearsal, we have a meeting where we have to like figure out time for the show.

• 21:07Trevor Noah?

  Right.

• 21:08Speaker 01

  And Lauren's like, we gotta get that to eight minutes. And he's like, what if I don't want to? And he's like, well, then I realize you're not professional or some, some cold Lauren shit. So he's like, so uh, Michael Che is gonna go with you in your dressing room and listen to it again. And just, you know, figure out where the cuts are. Sitting there like, I'll do what? So I had to go in Louis C K's dressing room. And listen to his set.

• 21:35Trevor Noah?

  Figure out where the cuts are.

• 21:36Speaker 01

  And find out where the cuts. Me, I'm gonna tell Louis, I think you, I don't think you need that joke. But he was so, I think he realized how awkward of a space that was for me.

• 21:45Trevor Noah?

  Great, right, right, right.

• 21:46Speaker 01

  That he was like, he was cool about it. He was like asking me legitimately as a friend, cause he could have been like, get the fuck out of my dressing room. You, yeah, like, but, and I would have been like, I totally understand. I feel the same way.

• 21:58Trevor Noah?

  Yeah, yeah, yeah.

• 21:59Speaker 01

  You, you figure it out on your own, uh, mister, mister genius. But no, I'll never forget that. He was cool enough to be like, what do you think about this? So maybe I don't need that. Like he was, he was a pro, like he, he, he handled it great. And I always been thankful about that because he could have made that real awkward for me.

• 22:17Trevor Noah?

  But that's what I think the great comedians do. Like, like, and I, and I mean, so here's, here's what I mean, right? Because comedy is not a um, learned profession in a, in like a, like you don't go to school for it. Nobody has a PhD in comedy.

• 22:32Speaker 01

  They'll try.

• 22:32Trevor Noah?

  Nobody, yeah, but I've, I've heard, I've seen some universities have like a, I've never seen a comedian come out of the program. They have programs. You can go study comedy.

• 22:43Trevor Noah?

  But I've never seen anybody come out of those programs. Does that make sense?

• 22:46Speaker 01

  Yeah. It's, it's a hard thing to teach. That's like, that's like learning porn.

• 22:54Trevor Noah?

  The, the faculty for that.

• 22:57Speaker 01

  I studied, I majored in porn.

• 23:03Trevor Noah?

  Cause the, the, the theory is one thing and understanding it is a, is another thing. But it's like, yeah, there's the small, every, I feel like every discipline has that where it relies on a little bit of creativity and, and unpredictability. So basketball has it like, you can learn how to play basketball, but Iverson does a thing where you're like, what is that?

• 23:22Speaker 01

  Yeah, it's field.

• 23:23Trevor Noah?

  And then Kyrie Irving does a thing where you're like, well, what is that though? That, is, is that correct? I don't even know what that is. Comedy has that. Music has that, this, right?

• 23:33Speaker 01

  I think, I think a lot of it is because it's so much relies on your ears and eyes. It's, it's, it's really hard to teach someone how to listen and how to see. So like on stage, like there's three shows going on usually, about two or three shows going on. There's the show that you're doing and then there's kind of the show you're watching. There's the, there's that show that you're sort of like, all right, what am I gonna hit them with? Okay, what, how are they responding to this? You know, it's almost like a whole other boy.

• 24:01Speaker 01

  Sometimes I'm on autopilot for like five minutes, just trying to reassess how I'm gonna land this last 20 minutes of the show. I'm trying to figure it out and you can't, it's really hard to teach that. You kind of gotta have almost a sixth sense for it, you know? It's a, it's a field thing. It's, it's hard to tell someone how to do that. Like you, like the basketball players you're mentioning, I always feel like the guys that talented are, never make great coaches. Because it's hard for Allen Iverson to teach you how to be Allen Iverson. But somebody that's like, like a gritty, scrappy white guard, you know what I mean? That knows all the fundamentals and all of the, those guys are great coaches. Cause they'll tell you exactly how to.

• 24:41Trevor Noah?

  They break it down into like steps.

• 24:42Speaker 01

  They know exactly how to do that. But the athletic guys, like how do you teach Kobe to be Kobe? It's, it's impossible.

• 24:50Trevor Noah?

  Before I forget, I wanna know like what you were gonna say. So why, you, you were about to tell us why you don't like telling stories from SNL?

• 24:56Speaker 01

  Because SNL is such a vulnerable place for everybody. Like for us, we work there, we're there all the time. We're comfortable. And like people would ask like, who's the worst and who's the best? I'm like, it's really not fair to say who's, to judge somebody based on their time there. Because they're there for a week. It's scary. It's fast. There's no other show like it. So there's no way to prepare for it. So unless you just do it all the time.

• 25:24Trevor Noah?

  Right, okay.

• 25:25Speaker 01

  So if somebody, if a star, if you, if you're hosting SNL and you don't trust the, the, the table read, you don't think it's funny.

• 25:34Trevor Noah?

  Oh, damn, okay.

• 25:36Speaker 01

  You don't trust the rehearsals and the run-throughs and the, like you don't know the process, so why would you trust it?

• 25:42Trevor Noah?

  Especially if you don't do comedy at all.

• 25:43Speaker 01

  Especially if you don't do comedy at all. But also if you do comedy, it's even worse. Actually, it's even worse if you do comedy because you know how to make people laugh.

• 25:51Trevor Noah?

  Yeah, you know your type of fun.

• 25:53Speaker 01

  So if somebody's showing you something like, trust me, it's gonna work and you don't find it funny, but you gotta do it live on television. You're like, you're gonna make me look stupid. People are gonna think I'm not funny now. Now, if you're an athlete, it doesn't matter. If you're an actor, you're like, oh whatever, I just trust whoever's funny. But if you're Louis C K, if you're Trevor Noah, if you're, if you're a, a, a big comedy star and you're trusted, you're trusting these scripts.

• 26:16Trevor Noah?

  I never thought of it that way.

• 26:17Speaker 01

  Yeah, so like a lot of times people are, they're, they have a rough go, but it's not because they're bad people. It's just because it's a scary, you know, situation.

• 26:26Trevor Noah?

  Yeah, I love that. So you, you, you're basically going, I want to protect their experience in the institution because I understand that it's not as simple as.

• 26:35Speaker 01

  Exactly.

• 26:35Trevor Noah?

  Yeah, okay.

• 26:36Speaker 01

  Exactly. So it is a lot of people that after the show, they're like, man, thank you so much. Or man, that was, that was crazy. That was, cause you guys do this every week. Like they're, they're shocked by what the process is. It's not a natural process, but you see it enough that you're like, I can't judge you for being a dick that Thursday. I would, I would be sleep, you'd sleep deprived. You know what I mean? Like you're like, I, you don't know, like, I get it.

• 26:59Trevor Noah?

  What, what's the process? What does it look like during the weekend till Saturday?

• 27:02Speaker 01

  We, so Monday, you meet the cast and the, as a, from a host perspective, from on Monday, you're meeting all these people. You're meeting all the writers, you're meeting Lauren, you're meeting everybody.

• 27:14Speaker 01

  You know, and they're kind of showing you around. Tuesday, uh, everybody pitches you ideas. Everybody's like telling you what they're actually working on. And then you go to dinner with a couple of cast members and Lauren. Wednesday is our table read. It's about, it's like a seven, eight hour day where we're just reading like 40 sketches. And some bad ones, some great ones, whatever. But that's when we pick the show. From picking the show Wednesday, Thursday, we're rewriting and we're rehearsing it and blocking it. Friday, you're doing pre-tapes, usually a daytime pre-tape and a nighttime pre-tape. And then in the middle of the day, you're doing more blocking.

• 27:52Trevor Noah?

  So those are the, the sketches that we'll see that maybe will be like a music video or?

• 27:56Speaker 01

  Does be like, yeah.

• 27:57Trevor Noah?

  Just the ones that are live in front of the audience? Yeah, yeah, okay, okay, cool.

• 28:00Speaker 01

  Movie trailers, all of that kind of thing, like the actual videos.

• 28:03Trevor Noah?

  Those happen on Friday.

• 28:05Speaker 01

  Those happen on Fridays. And then Saturday, now mind you, you might, your last pre-tape might be four in the morning, three in the morning, two in the morning. This goes very late. By 11, 12 o'clock, you're doing another rehearsal, a run, a run-through rehearsal. Which is like fully dressed, then a dress rehearsal and then the live show. So the blitzkrieg of that week is like, you're gonna be frantic.

• 28:30Trevor Noah?

  Yeah.

• 28:31Speaker 01

  And it's like, you're planning, I always say like, it feels like we're planning someone else's wedding every time. Because this is a very special day for them, but we're coming back. But for them, this is their moment. You know, this, this means everything.

• 28:45Trevor Noah?

  That's a great analogy, actually.

• 28:45Speaker 01

  So you're trying to make it as special as possible for them and as comfortable and, and you know, this could be a beautiful woman normally.

• 28:54Trevor Noah?

  You'd know.

• 28:54Speaker 01

  But during.

• 28:56Trevor Noah?

  Because.

• 28:56Speaker 01

  During her wedding, she's, what do they call them? Zillas?

• 28:59Trevor Noah?

  Oh, yeah, yeah, bridezilla.

• 29:00Speaker 01

  Bridezilla.

• 29:01Trevor Noah?

  Yeah, bridezilla.

• 29:02Speaker 01

  They're not bad people, they just want this to work. You know what I mean? And I, and I kind of understand the stress of that. So that's why I don't like to shit on people.

• 29:10Trevor Noah?

  Yeah.

• 29:11Speaker 01

  When they're shitty.

• 29:11Trevor Noah?

  Uh, I don't need you to shit on anyone, but I, this is, you know, some, I, I always go back and forth on like, who's listening to us and not? And what's connected where and how algorithm? Literally yesterday, this has never been on my feed. This has never come up. I don't understand why this pop.

• 29:27Trevor Noah?

  On my YouTube, a video of you.

• 29:30Speaker 02

  Telling Kanye.

• 29:31Trevor Noah?

  Telling of Kanye.

• 29:33Speaker 02

  On my feed as well.

• 29:34Speaker 01

  Yo, literally today, for some reason, it's been coming up a lot lately. I don't know, I don't know.

• 29:39Speaker 02

  We didn't even speak about this.

• 29:40Trevor Noah?

  No, we didn't. You see, I didn't know that you saw it as well.

• 29:42Speaker 01

  Well, that's, that's another thing. I see like that video, I don't know who taped that. I don't know where that came from. I never talked about it. Nobody ever mentioned it. And then all of a sudden, it's just everywhere. And I'm like, where, I would never said none of that stuff on a camera. I didn't.

• 29:58Trevor Noah?

  Yeah, but that's what it felt, to me, you, you didn't see someone was filming.

• 30:02Speaker 01

  No, I didn't. I had no idea.

• 30:06Trevor Noah?

  Yeah. And then I went back and watched like a documentary on that moment. Or like I saw clips, I was like, what is hap- but that moment, I was like, damn, Michael Che. I was like, this is, this is behind, this is the shit that you wanna handle behind the scenes? And then all of a sudden, it is.

• 30:22Speaker 02

  In front of this.

• 30:23Trevor Noah?

  Yeah, but how does it come out like seven years?

• 30:24Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 30:25Trevor Noah?

  Why is it out now?

• 30:25Speaker 01

  No clue.

• 30:26Trevor Noah?

  So you have no.

• 30:27Speaker 01

  No clue where, who, what. I have no, people were telling me about it. And that's how I found out about it. Um, but I will say, the other part of that, that I don't think is in there, cause I've never watched the documentary. It, it just feels, it just felt like a really kinda shitty thing to just put out that way. But, I mean, I feel like if you're taping people at work, you should get some kinda consent form, right? You could just tape me in my raw stage, damn. But, I will say though, the next time I saw him, it was funny be- it was really funny. It was funny because I, I really didn't like Kanye after that. Like, I really didn't like him. I was like done with that guy.

• 31:09Speaker 01

  And I remember, um, there was a, there was like a mass shooting in Dayton, Ohio. And I was at Dave's house. He was doing a charity, uh, show. And he had like Stevie Wonder, he had all these people there and he was bringing Kanye. And he was like, I'm picking up Kanye from the airport. I want you to, he goes, I want you to come with me to pick him up. We're gonna bury the hatchet with this Kanye thing. We're gonna end, you know how Dave is.

• 31:35Trevor Noah?

  Yeah, I know Dave. That's Dave.

• 31:36Speaker 01

  We're gonna bury a hatchet. And I was like, he called me a slave. And he was like, I'll see you when I get back.

• 31:47Speaker 01

  I'll see you when I get back, Cam.

• 31:51Speaker 01

  I was like, I could never forgive that guy. He called me a fucking slave. But anyway, um, long story short, uh, he did the Sunday service there. It was, it was amazing. I mean, he, he's Kanye for a reason.

• 32:02Trevor Noah?

  Yeah, yeah, yeah.

• 32:02Speaker 01

  And, um, uh, Eddie Murphy hosted SNL. And everybody was there, like literally, well, you know, I don't even know who that, but everybody. Remember that Black Panther premiere we went to? It was like that.

• 32:16Trevor Noah?

  That was like that.

• 32:17Speaker 01

  Everybody was, everybody black in Hollywood was there, in New York at the time. And, uh, Kanye was there. And I was work, I was working a lot on that Eddie Murphy show. It was like a stressful show. And I, I was kinda, it was like, probably like one of my first head writer episodes. So I was like.

• 32:31Trevor Noah?

  What a first episode.

• 32:32Speaker 01

  Yeah, it was like a lot going on. And, um, I seen Kanye in the hallway. And he was walking with, you know, Kim and, and some big ol' entourage. He's coming out of the elevators and he sees me from across. We've seen each other like at the same time. I'm holding like two different scripts. And he was like, I'm sorry. And I was like, what? And he came over and was like, man, I owe you an apology, man. I was, I was tripping. Like, he literally like genuinely like came up to me and said, I'm sorry. And I was like, it's all good, brother. Don't worry about it. And, and, and that was that. And I, and I was like, I can't be mad at somebody that apologizes and acknowledges.

• 33:13Speaker 01

  After that, more things have happened.

• 33:17Speaker 01

  More things have happened. I'm sure he owes a lot more of apologies now. But for that specific thing. It, to me, it was just like, as Kanye, as somebody that's Kanye. And as somebody that has that much going on in their mind and that much creativity and that much power and money and influence. To even take the time to apologize to anybody. Cause if he didn't apologize, I'm still gonna do my job. Like, you know what I mean? Like, he doesn't have to apologize. So like, to me, that meant a lot. Just in his humanity. Sometimes you could just see that humanity, no matter who you are, like, if you can't say sorry in a certain situation, then, you know, you're really losing the plot.

• 33:58Trevor Noah?

  Yeah, for me with him, as I, and I don't say this trying to diagnose him. I know he's spoken about bipolar and manic depression and all of those things. He always reminded me of my grandfather.

• 34:08Speaker 01

  Interesting.

• 34:08Trevor Noah?

  Like, that was one hundred percent my grandfather.

• 34:10Speaker 01

  Did your grandfather make sneakers?

• 34:16Speaker 01

  Did he make amazing?

• 34:19Speaker 01

  Amazing sneakers?

• 34:22Trevor Noah?

  Oh, man.

• 34:23Speaker 01

  Comedians will be the death of me, bro.

• 34:26Trevor Noah?

  So, cause my, cause my grandfather, literally when he was diagnosed with his bipolar, he'd have a red pill and a blue pill. And he would have to choose one.

• 34:35Speaker 02

  No, man, you're lying now.

• 34:36Trevor Noah?

  No, a hundred percent. And this is like before The Matrix, not even like a, that's literally what they, they prescribed them. He'd have a red pill and a blue pill and they were each in two different bottles. And so if he woke up like manic, blue pill. And then if he woke up like, like super depressed, red pill and it would get him to normal. So we had like those types of experiences with him all the time. So even when Kanye would be like going, I kept saying to people, I was like, one, I don't understand why we all talk about mental health in society, but then when somebody's showing us the effects of a mental health issue, we're not now respond, cause everyone be like, mental health, mental health. And I'm like, yeah, but here's somebody who has said himself. And I'm going as well, like, yeah, I agree, he does have a mental health issue.

• 35:19Trevor Noah?

  Why aren't we, why are we giving him more mics? Why are we, does that make sense? Like, if someone's having a breakdown, why are you putting a mic in their mouth? Why are you encouraging the breakdown? Why are you amplifying the breakdown? You know?

• 35:31Speaker 01

  For a celebrity, it's, it's different, you know? I think a lot of times, I mean, we could talk about this for, for hours. It's a mental health thing. In particular, um,

• 35:43Speaker 01

  maybe I'm cynical, but I do believe people don't like to have honest conversations about mental health. Because

• 35:53Speaker 01

  then you have to start forgiving a lot of people you don't wanna forgive. And you have to start forgiving a lot of things that you wanna hold on to, that you feel wronged and that. Yeah, that, that thing, sometimes just not liking somebody is enough. You've personalized it so much, even if it's not a personal attack, but like, you've, you've internalized and personalized it so much that you don't wanna give that up. You don't wanna forgive Kanye for, or anybody. I don't wanna keep using him, but like, you don't wanna forgive people for having these episodes and what they said that hurt you, because then that means you're, you don't have the ammo for your cause, you know, whatever that may be.

• 36:37Speaker 02

  Yeah, but I think also people with, um, mental health issues, with forgiving people with mental health issues, it's a slippery slope sometimes. If it's an artist, if it's someone that you love, someone that you care about in your family, you're like, yeah. But if it's a world leader that started a war and then they come out and say, but I also.

• 36:53Trevor Noah?

  Yeah, yeah, yeah.

• 36:54Speaker 02

  I, I had mental issues, man. You know, when I started that war in nineteen fifty-four. Yeah, it wasn't me. It wasn't, if I had medication, I probably wouldn't have done it. So we start thinking, are we gonna forgive? If we wanna forgive one person that we like and love and revere, because they bring us art, would we forgive someone who's a villain in history as well?

• 37:12Speaker 01

  Well, my thing is, if there's, when there's, um, when people ask for forgiveness, or when there's like, there's usually like, a time I was going, I was having these episodes and when they're not having these episodes, I don't think

• 37:27Speaker 01

  that time is used smartly. Without naming names of anybody, I do think there are times, if you've had these sort of episodes where you have said really hurtful things or done some hurtful things or whatever, when it's, when you're better, maybe you should be at the forefront of educating people on what went wrong with you. So that we could understand and we can forgive and we could figure out, okay, the next time this happens, if you're, if you're a.

• 37:55Trevor Noah?

  Yeah, yeah, how do we?

• 37:57Speaker 01

  If you're a werewolf.

• 38:01Speaker 01

  I understand what you did when the moon is out. But when the sun is out, you got some explaining.

• 38:07Speaker 01

  That's how I feel sometimes. I feel like sometimes when the sun, they're like, what? What are you talking about? I don't remember nothing.

• 38:12Trevor Noah?

  Yeah, Bruce Banner and the Hulk.

• 38:13Speaker 01

  Yeah, but we do. Yeah, we remember what you did. We remember what happened. So I think, you know, if you want people to continue to support you and you want people to have sympathy for you, when the sun's out, you need to start explaining, okay, here's exactly what happened. Here's how I feel. And I appreciate you guys sticking with me through this because these guys are having these episodes and

• 38:38Speaker 01

  I'm not, I'm not, I don't know what, I can't, I can't know what that's like because I don't have those conditions. But I could imagine that it's, it's really, really difficult.

• 38:46Trevor Noah?

  It's, it's crazy because the way I understand it is, and again, I'm only using my grandfather's experience, but I know other people who, who have similar things. It's, it is like Bruce Banner and the Hulk. You, you wake up going, what did I do? Wait, nah, that's not possible. One of my, it was really one of my favorite stories because no one got hurt or anything. My grandfather, he at the time is like eighty something years old or whatever. He, um, takes my mom's car. We only had the car. It was an old Volkswagen Beetle, Volkswagen, as Americans say.

• 39:19Speaker 01

  I was gonna say, you said that like no other black man I've ever met. What'd you call it, a Hulk Hogan?

• 39:28Speaker 01

  I just heard that.

• 39:29Trevor Noah?

  Volkswagen. Yeah, so Volk Volkswagen. So where the Volkswagen.

• 39:35Speaker 02

  The Volkswagen.

• 39:36Trevor Noah?

  Yeah, the Volkswagen Beetle. Yes, it's the car of the people.

• 39:39Speaker 02

  Yeah, folks.

• 39:40Trevor Noah?

  Yes, the car of the people, a Volkswagen.

• 39:41Speaker 01

  That's what it means?

• 39:42Trevor Noah?

  That's what it means.

• 39:43Speaker 01

  I did not know that.

• 39:44Trevor Noah?

  Yeah, it's the car of, it was meant to be their like answer to like the Model T type in, in its time. It was like, how do we make a car that everyone can drive that's super cheap, that's really efficient? What made it special was it also wasn't, um, liquid cooled. It was oil cooled. So it was also good on the battlefield. So you didn't, because when you're driving through like the desert. Yeah, but it was, it also just meant like in terms of maintenance, it was easier. Anyway.

• 40:06Speaker 02

  And also loved by the Nazis.

• 40:07Trevor Noah?

  I mean, yeah, that's, yeah. I mean, now we have to like pause.

• 40:10Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 40:11Trevor Noah?

  Thanks Eugene. So, um.

• 40:14Speaker 01

  You don't like sponsors, dude.

• 40:18Speaker 01

  I see this as an independent operation.

• 40:21Speaker 02

  The moon was out, dude, guys, come on, man.

• 40:24Trevor Noah?

  So, so my, so my grandfather, my mom would ask him to help with errands, you know, in the house and everything. So during the week. So my grandfather wakes up one day manic, full on manic. And when he's manic, he's like, run, run, like, he called me master. So he'd be like, master, master, let me tell you something, master. Oh, it was a race thing. So he was like, to me, like, he was like, to, to me, you're white. But only when he was manic. When he was normal, he was like, no, you're my grandson. When he was manic, he was like, he called me master.

• 40:52Speaker 01

  It's tough.

• 40:53Trevor Noah?

  Crazy, crazy time. So he was like, master, let me tell you something, master, you know? So he grabs the car. My mom's like, yo, we need some bread and milk. So he, so he said to mom, he's like, don't tell me what to do. You cannot tell me what I'm up to. And it's like, we just need bread and milk, man. Just get some bread and milk. So he goes, he's like, gonna go to the shops. Drives, this is in the morning.

• 41:10Speaker 01

  Yeah, send them to a store like that.

• 41:12Trevor Noah?

  Man, hey man, you know what, ah, but you know what it's like.

• 41:15Speaker 02

  I don't.

• 41:16Trevor Noah?

  No, no, no. Come on.

• 41:17Speaker 02

  Come on, master.

• 41:18Trevor Noah?

  Now, but I, come on, we, we, we're not, Michael, we need shit done. Michael, we need shit done.

• 41:23Speaker 02

  Ah, Michael, that was irresponsible.

• 41:25Trevor Noah?

  Michael, we need shit done. We, we need shit done. Your personality is not determining your ability to do or not do something. Michael, let me tell you something. I don't know what it was like in the hood here. I don't know what it was like in the hood here, but where we're from, your, your disposition does not determine whether or not you're gonna participate.

• 41:40Speaker 01

  Fair enough, fair enough.

• 41:40Trevor Noah?

  We're like, yo, we know you're crazy. Go do some shit.

• 41:43Speaker 01

  Fair enough. I see a lot of crazy people at the supermarket.

• 41:46Trevor Noah?

  There you go. Somebody sent them. So, we're like, yeah, somebody sent them.

• 41:50Speaker 01

  Put on your bathrobe. Get that milk. I got you. I got you.

• 41:55Trevor Noah?

  Yeah. You talking to yourself? Go talk with this list in the grocery store. Remind yourself what to buy. Let's go. Let's keep it moving.

• 42:01Speaker 01

  Put an earpiece in. People take you on the phone. You'll be fine.

• 42:04Trevor Noah?

  So my grandfather goes, drives out. This is seven thirty eight AM, seven thirty eight AM. We need this for breakfast.

• 42:14Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 42:14Trevor Noah?

  He drives off, takes you with, no, he's gone by himself. Hour goes by, doesn't come back. Now we gotta leave school, where everything.

• 42:22Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 42:23Trevor Noah?

  So my mom, but she's working from home at that time. So anyway, goes, I come back from school. My mom's flustered, like, what's wrong? She's like, your grandfather didn't come back. I'm like, what do you mean? Guys, the shop is like a five minute drive away. She's like, yeah, he didn't come back, you know? I shouldn't, and she's like, I shouldn't have said, I knew he was manic, but I thought he wasn't there. Anyway, he's gone. No cell phones, there's none of these things. He's just gone. We get a phone call on the house phone at like eight, nine PM at night. Yo, is this, uh, the Noah resident? My mom's like, yeah. Oh, we have a man here, Temperance, do you know? He's like, yeah, that's my father. He's like, oh, we found him. Now, to give you perspective in terms of like distance, if we lived in New York, we're getting this call from like, let me think, maybe like the other side of Connecticut, maybe even like.

• 43:06Speaker 02

  Albany.

• 43:07Trevor Noah?

  Yeah, no, Albany's a little too far. How many hours is Albany?

• 43:10Speaker 02

  Albany is.

• 43:10Trevor Noah?

  Albany's like four hours maybe?

• 43:11Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 43:12Trevor Noah?

  No, we got a call from like a two hour away kind of place.

• 43:15Speaker 01

  Yeah, yeah.

• 43:16Trevor Noah?

  We're like, what do you mean? They're like, yo, this man is here. We found him on the side of the road with this car and he had run out of gas. And, yeah, and then he was just like sitting there, like, just, yeah, just, and we're like, yo, where are you from? And then he like slowly started speaking again. He's like, okay, here's a phone number you can call, whatever. And then we were like, can you help? We'll come. And we, we went and picked him up. And then he's just there. And now, it's tough, it's tough, but it's funny though as well. Because he wasn't hurt, nothing was, so we go there, we have to like catch taxis to go and get him. And not, not taxis like cool taxis like in New York. Like buses essentially. We'd take a few buses to get to this place. We finally get there.

• 43:57Trevor Noah?

  We pick him up and then the whole, now he's just sitting in the car like this. Cause you have crashes, that's how it works. And, and this is the thing that always like got me with Kanye is like, I was like, people take for granted how in those episodes, one of the only things that helps you is the rock bottom. You have to lose everything. You have to crash out. You have to run out of gas on the side of the road. And then what happens is the episode subsides. But if you have fifty million dollars.

• 44:24Speaker 02

  Endless amount of gas in the car. You, you're gonna drive forever.

• 44:27Trevor Noah?

  You're not gonna stop.

• 44:28Speaker 01

  Right.

• 44:29Trevor Noah?

  You, and it's this, that's what I mean. So it's this thing. So literally we're driving back now and like he's in the car. And then he's like, and he's like a little boy and he's like, and he's like, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, Trevor. I'm like, no, it's fine, granted, it's fine. And then mom was like, it's not fine. The whole day was, and then the story was, what happened was, he drove to the store, got to the store to buy the bread and milk. Got the bread and milk. On the way back, he saw a beautiful woman at a bus stop, like a, like a thirty year old type woman. Pulls over at the bus stop, leans out the window, says to her, he's like, he goes, how can a beautiful woman like you be waiting for a bus? A beautiful woman should never be waiting for anything. Then he's like, where are you going? She's like, I'll tell you where I'm going. He's like, let me take you there. And cause he's like a hundred years old, he's not a threat or anything. She gets in the car with him.

• 45:15Trevor Noah?

  He drives her to where she's going, which is like an hour and a half away. Gets, then drops her off, then he's there, then he's just like, where else are the beautiful women? He like drives around that whole neighborhood, drives, then runs out of gas and then just sits in the car until his episode faded. And then we're there in the car. And then my, yo, my mom was furious. She's like, yes, I know, yes, I thought that, she's like, you, you know, you don't, I work hard and now that, and remember the gas, that's the main thing for my mom. Like you finish the tank of gas. We can't afford that.

• 45:43Speaker 02

  And on a Beetle, that's very hard to do.

• 45:45Trevor Noah?

  Mom, and my mom is just like, yo, you, you know what you've done, what, what, what, what? She's like, what do you have to say? What do you have to say? And then he's like, she was so beautiful, I'm sorry. She's like, you were so beautiful.

• 45:58Trevor Noah?

  Yeah, bro. And I'm there, dude, and I was like, this is the funniest shit ever. Sweet. No, it was, it was.

• 46:04Speaker 01

  That's a sweet story.

• 46:05Trevor Noah?

  It was funny, bro.

• 46:06Speaker 02

  Yeah, but that explains why we never have rock and roll moments with beautiful girls backstage.

• 46:11Trevor Noah?

  You think I'm brom化?

• 46:15Trevor Noah?

  Nah, dude, I just, I don't know. I think, I think, you know, you know what it is, okay, you know what it is for me? Here's, here's what, here's what gets me sometimes in the world. And I think part of it comes from my comedy brain. I think you, you'll understand this and so will you. I find most comedians, most comedians, especially good comedians, have the ability to spot reality versus what people say reality is. And those incongruencies often throw us off so much that we're like, I can't, I can't ignore that. Man, I wanna let this go, but this, these two things do not make sense in the same world, right? So in this whole world of it is like, I think what, what happened to me with the Kanye, with the whole thing was,

• 46:59Trevor Noah?

  it just felt like, I would go, we, we live in a society where everyone talks about rehabilitation.

• 47:04Speaker 01

  Yep.

• 47:05Trevor Noah?

  Uh, no incarceration. Let's get people, we don't want people in prisons. We want them rehabilitated. We want, we, we wanna figure this thing. But when it actually happens.

• 47:13Speaker 02

  Yeah, no one is there.

• 47:14Trevor Noah?

  The thing everyone is saying is put them in jail, send them away, lock them up, don't let them come. Then I'm like, yo, but what? It seems like you want rehabilitation in a theoretical sense. But when you actually know a perpetrator, you're like, no, no, no, not them.

• 47:28Speaker 02

  Yeah, yeah.

• 47:29Trevor Noah?

  Then I'm like, okay, but then who? Where do we start the journey? And again, I'm not saying no accountability because people say, what about accountability? No, I'm not saying no accountability. But I would just like us to practice the rehabilitation that we want on the theoretical side when there's an actual example for us.

• 47:44Speaker 02

  So can pets, like dogs, have mental health issues?

• 47:47Trevor Noah?

  I don't know. I'm not an expert in this. This is out of my field now, Eugene.

• 47:49Speaker 02

  Because I've seen when, when, when dogs turn on, on people and then ah, ah, ah.

• 47:53Trevor Noah?

  I don't, I don't know if that's.

• 47:54Speaker 02

  People are like, yeah, yeah, yeah. This dog, because the people that own the dogs are usually like, he, he's never like this.

• 47:59Trevor Noah?

  Yes, that's true.

• 48:00Speaker 02

  Yeah, he's never, we don't know what happened. He's never like this. That time, another Chihuahua was being mauled there or another human being. Cause you know, there's your favorite who singer?

• 48:10Trevor Noah?

  Oh, who, Chris Brown?

• 48:11Speaker 02

  Yes.

• 48:12Trevor Noah?

  That story was crazy, but did you see that story?

• 48:13Speaker 01

  No.

• 48:13Trevor Noah?

  I didn't know this. Like apparently his dog bit his, um, his, uh, housekeeper or something.

• 48:19Speaker 01

  His dog bit his housekeeper?

• 48:20Trevor Noah?

  Yeah, yeah. I was like, damn, Chris Brown is just like, shit's just happening in these worlds, man.

• 48:24Speaker 01

  Man, it's hard to be a singer named Brown.

• 48:28Speaker 01

  I'm so.

• 48:29Trevor Noah?

  And then, and then so the news, the thing I read, but again, confirmed or not, you know, you have to, you take everything with a grain of salt. But basically they're saying, I think they ruled, she sued him and they ruled that she was supposed to get twelve million dollars for it.

• 48:43Speaker 01

  For bit, bit my dog?

• 48:46Trevor Noah?

  It was a big dog and mental things and whatever. You know, Ameri, how you gonna act like you don't know America?

• 48:51Speaker 01

  It was a big dog. That's, that's what it's a big dog.

• 48:57Trevor Noah?

  Then a judge ruled, apparently the new ruling came out and a judge said, yo.

• 49:02Speaker 01

  Twelve million dollars.

• 49:04Trevor Noah?

  A judge came out and said, this is exorbitant, this is crazy.

• 49:07Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 49:07Trevor Noah?

  You can't do that. Should be like nine million dollars.

• 49:14Speaker 01

  Nine million dollars.

• 49:16Trevor Noah?

  I'm gonna check this to confirm, but I'm pretty sure.

• 49:18Speaker 01

  Oh my.

• 49:19Speaker 02

  Yeah, but here's my thing.

• 49:20Speaker 01

  Anything over ten thousand is absurd.

• 49:23Trevor Noah?

  No, no, no, you're more than that. Come on.

• 49:25Speaker 01

  A dog bite, you have to bit my dog?

• 49:28Trevor Noah?

  Yeah, but like, there's like dog bites and there's dog bites.

• 49:31Speaker 01

  Oh.

• 49:32Trevor Noah?

  Like if, if your dog bites me and you're worth like hundreds of millions, it hurts a lot.

• 49:42Speaker 02

  But also, does it depend on the type of dog that bit you?

• 49:45Speaker 01

  No, man.

• 49:46Trevor Noah?

  Oh, no, no, this is, this just came out. Wow, damn, TMZ is on top of it, man. Chris Brown's former housekeeper accepts reduced nine point five million dollar payout in dog bite case.

• 49:54Speaker 01

  Five million dollars.

• 49:55Trevor Noah?

  It was twelve point nine million dollars.

• 49:57Speaker 02

  Yes, so what I'm saying is if, if, there's two issues here for me.

• 50:01Speaker 01

  That's crazy.

• 50:02Speaker 02

  She's a housekeeper, she's, she's at the house a lot, keeping the house.

• 50:05Trevor Noah?

  Yeah.

• 50:05Speaker 01

  Sure.

• 50:06Speaker 02

  So it means the dogs, or the dog and her know each other?

• 50:09Speaker 01

  Absolutely.

• 50:10Speaker 02

  Cause it wasn't a new dog.

• 50:12Trevor Noah?

  I'm assuming.

• 50:12Speaker 02

  I'm sure it wasn't.

• 50:13Trevor Noah?

  Yeah.

• 50:13Speaker 01

  But also, this is not a regular house.

• 50:16Speaker 02

  What do you mean?

• 50:17Speaker 01

  I mean, that could be a dog that's like not in her wing.

• 50:20Trevor Noah?

  That's true.

• 50:21Speaker 01

  I'm sure she, he don't got like one housekeeper, you know, like she might do the guest bedrooms and the bathrooms and then the dog be in the, in the, the dog mansion or whatever.

• 50:30Speaker 02

  Yeah, but the fact that the owner of the house is com- the owner of the dog is comfortable with the dog and the housekeeper and other guests.

• 50:36Trevor Noah?

  But dogs also like, yo, here's the thing with the dog is like, if a dog gets like surprised, it can do so. It's just like the breed of dog has a different.

• 50:45Speaker 01

  The dog bites you playing.

• 50:46Trevor Noah?

  Yeah, but I'm saying like a small dog can bite you like that and it won't change your life, but a big dog.

• 50:50Speaker 02

  That's what my second point was.

• 50:52Trevor Noah?

  Yeah.

• 50:52Speaker 02

  So depending on the size, so if the, if the, if the bite was from a chihuahua or a poodle, yeah, then you've got a tougher case. For.

• 51:00Speaker 01

  If the dog didn't swallow nothing, you should be getting one million. If, if she got everything the dog bit, she still got the stuff.

• 51:11Speaker 01

  No.

• 51:11Speaker 02

  Maybe let's check there. What was the, what was the?

• 51:14Trevor Noah?

  The breed of dog?

• 51:14Speaker 02

  No, the breed and what was the damage on, on the lady?

• 51:18Trevor Noah?

  I think mostly psychological.

• 51:20Speaker 01

  Ten million dollars?

• 51:22Trevor Noah?

  Uh, former housekeeper, dog bite case, reduced, taken neutral, but dead, but, but, but.

• 51:26Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 51:27Trevor Noah?

  Twelve point nine million dollars. Uh, the judge felt there was insufficient evidence of nerve damage and other issues. Okay, lower amount or what?

• 51:35Speaker 02

  Everything is still there.

• 51:36Speaker 01

  Everything's still there.

• 51:37Speaker 02

  Okay, so.

• 51:38Speaker 01

  If, if I give you ten million dollars for a dog bite, I want the leg.

• 51:43Speaker 01

  Give me the leg.

• 51:44Speaker 02

  Wait, so usually when dogs attack humans, they put the dogs down?

• 51:49Trevor Noah?

  I don't know. Is this, is this true everywhere?

• 51:51Speaker 01

  Uh, usually, I mean, if it's ten million dollars, yeah.

• 51:54Speaker 02

  Yeah, they have to put it, they have to put the dog down.

• 51:56Speaker 01

  Put the dog down.

• 51:57Trevor Noah?

  Don't dog advocates say that that's not fair to the dog?

• 51:59Speaker 02

  Yeah, cause they should put the owner down.

• 52:01Trevor Noah?

  Damn, Eugene, I don't know if that's what they say, but.

• 52:04Speaker 01

  Yeah, your conclusion, me, like, fuck that. Like, you, you keep right there with the same information we all got.

• 52:11Speaker 02

  Who's the worst judge of character here? The dog owner or the dog?

• 52:15Speaker 01

  Well, I don't know. Were you saying that we should kill the owner?

• 52:18Speaker 02

  Yeah, yeah.

• 52:19Speaker 01

  You got, you got any pets?

• 52:20Speaker 02

  No.

• 52:21Speaker 01

  You don't like pets?

• 52:22Speaker 02

  Michael, here's my thing. If you pick a dangerous breed.

• 52:25Speaker 01

  Right.

• 52:25Speaker 02

  You know that this breed is dangerous, dangerous, dangerous. You even know when, you know a breed is dangerous when you're walking it, it looks like it's walking you.

• 52:32Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 52:33Speaker 02

  Then you say, I'll take my chances at the restaurants, at the dog park with a dangerous breed.

• 52:38Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 52:38Speaker 02

  Then whose fault is it when the breed behaves like what it should behave like?

• 52:42Speaker 01

  Yours.

• 52:43Speaker 02

  Who should be put down then?

• 52:44Trevor Noah?

  No, but apparently like, they say it was horrific.

• 52:48Speaker 01

  It was horrific?

• 52:49Speaker 02

  Yeah, wait, Mike, so in that case, here's, here, you're a judge.

• 52:53Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 52:54Speaker 02

  He has a dangerous shot while dripping off blood from the, from the leg of it.

• 52:57Trevor Noah?

  And they say like the pictures were gruesome, that's what I mean.

• 52:59Speaker 02

  Yes, so here's the dog.

• 53:00Speaker 01

  Ten million dollars?

• 53:02Speaker 02

  No, here's the dog, here's you, the owner of the dog, who knew what the dog was capable of.

• 53:06Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 53:08Speaker 02

  Right?

• 53:08Speaker 01

  Sure.

• 53:09Speaker 02

  So who's guilty of behaving out of character here?

• 53:12Speaker 01

  The person.

• 53:13Speaker 02

  So who should be put down?

• 53:14Speaker 01

  Put down? I don't know how you're getting to put down.

• 53:20Speaker 01

  Why shouldn't he be put down?

• 53:21Speaker 02

  Eugene's like, who are we killing?

• 53:22Speaker 01

  Everything you're saying is right, but like, why are we putting this man down? Because his dog.

• 53:27Speaker 02

  Who are we killing?

• 53:28Speaker 01

  Made a mistake.

• 53:29Speaker 02

  It made a mistake?

• 53:30Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 53:31Speaker 02

  Guys, animals don't make mistakes.

• 53:34Speaker 01

  They don't?

• 53:34Speaker 02

  No.

• 53:35Speaker 01

  Okay.

• 53:36Speaker 02

  Animals are, you know, when an animal doesn't behave like that breed that it is.

• 53:40Speaker 01

  Mm-hmm.

• 53:40Speaker 02

  It's just helping you become more of an animal. Because it's like, no, I don't know, you don't understand where I'm coming from.

• 53:46Speaker 01

  At all.

• 53:46Speaker 02

  Because we're not this, no, I'm saying the dog is saying that.

• 53:48Speaker 01

  Oh, oh.

• 53:49Speaker 02

  It's saying, so I'm not gonna, I'm not gonna bite the hand that feeds me, I'm not gonna make you look like a fool, so I'm just gonna do it. Then one day the dog is like, but I am a dog, man. Then I'm gonna behave like myself. Then the dog does what it. It's like horses, when, when horses buck the rider.

• 54:02Trevor Noah?

  Yes, that's true, that can't happen.

• 54:03Speaker 02

  Yeah, you're like, what happened here? The horse is like, no, I don't want anyone on my back.

• 54:06Trevor Noah?

  Oh, I know, I was having a bad day.

• 54:08Speaker 02

  Yes.

• 54:08Trevor Noah?

  It could just be a moment.

• 54:09Speaker 01

  Something hurts.

• 54:10Trevor Noah?

  Just a moment in time.

• 54:10Speaker 02

  So when animals behave like we want them to behave, like humans have decency, be polite to strangers, touching their chins and patting their heads, we're like, yeah, come on, man. Don't be rough on people. Then the dog one day goes, today's the day, enough is enough. I'm gonna be the dog that I am and bites a person. Whose fault is that?

• 54:27Speaker 01

  No, see, I think it's a different thing. I think it's like a, it's like a control, like a self-control thing. Like a dog is trying to control a lot of his instincts and impulses based on what we tell them is okay and not okay, right?

• 54:41Speaker 02

  Who are we to tell them?

• 54:43Speaker 01

  We, we, we own them.

• 54:44Speaker 02

  Have you seen what we do to each other?

• 54:46Speaker 01

  We own the dogs. So like, you said, all right, so like if we don't have to tell them, then we shouldn't be responsible for when, uh, uh, if you, if we don't own the dogs and they just my, our friends. And I bring my buddy to the bar, he bites somebody, I gotta be, I gotta go to jail too?

• 55:00Speaker 02

  Yeah, you gotta be put down.

• 55:03Trevor Noah?

  Don't go anywhere, cause we got more What Now after this.

• 55:07Speaker 02

  That's why I'm hopeful for Mamdani.

• 55:09Speaker 01

  I am too. I, I mean. He seems like of all the mayors, the, of all the people we've had, he seems like the one that sort of looks at New York from the lens of New Yorkers. And, and it's, it's refreshing. I think that's what people really, really like about him. Is that he's like, everything that he wants to bring to the city is something that I believe he would enjoy about the city, you know, and it's, it's sort of like, I don't think we've had anybody like that.

• 55:39Speaker 02

  It's like the theater of yours is built by artists.

• 55:41Trevor Noah?

  Oh, yeah, yeah, that's exactly it.

• 55:42Speaker 01

  Same kind of thing, same kind of deal. But man, that's the first thing you said that made sense today.

• 55:50Speaker 01

  No, wait, no, no, no.

• 55:53Speaker 01

  I mean that in the, I'm, I'm, I mean that as a compliment.

• 55:59Speaker 01

  Crazy as hell.

• 56:03Trevor Noah?

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• 56:48Trevor Noah?

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• 57:28Trevor Noah?

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• 58:07Trevor Noah?

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• 58:47Trevor Noah?

  Because a t-shirt is a t-shirt until you find the right t-shirt. Ooh, then suddenly you're talking about the cut, the fit, the weight, the weight falls on your body. Then you're like, no, no, no, you don't understand. Look at the sleeve. And that's what I've really enjoyed about Quince. One of my favorite things is their Pima Cotton Lux Touch t-shirts. And it's become one of those pieces I keep reaching for. The cotton has this really smooth, premium feel to it, the fit is great, and it just lays really nicely. And I think that's what you sometimes take for granted with simple clothes. When they're done really well, they become the foundation of an entire outfit. You can throw on a jacket, a sweater, whatever you want, but everything works because you started with the right thing. That's what I like about Quince.

• 59:32Trevor Noah?

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• 1:00:12Trevor Noah?

  In Peru, a lot of the dogs there, they just roam in the streets.

• 1:00:15Speaker 02

  Oh, yeah, I love those.

• 1:00:16Trevor Noah?

  There's a lot of countries where like, there's a lot of countries where nobody owns dogs.

• 1:00:19Speaker 02

  Yeah, yeah.

• 1:00:19Trevor Noah?

  The dogs just live there.

• 1:00:21Speaker 02

  Like chickens sometimes.

• 1:00:22Speaker 01

  Yo, it used to be like that in America. I haven't seen a stray dog in like, I don't know how long, like, like twenty years.

• 1:00:28Trevor Noah?

  I think now they put them in shelters.

• 1:00:29Speaker 01

  There used to be stray dogs all the time.

• 1:00:31Trevor Noah?

  You guys had that?

• 1:00:32Speaker 01

  Hell, yeah.

• 1:00:32Trevor Noah?

  I never knew you had that.

• 1:00:33Speaker 01

  We used to have stray dogs and stray cats. I never seen them.

• 1:00:36Trevor Noah?

  No, I didn't know that. I assumed it was just never a thing in this country.

• 1:00:40Speaker 01

  No, it definitely was a thing. I remember being a kid and you, you see a stray dog and you get chased or some shit.

• 1:00:45Trevor Noah?

  You, you grew up here, right?

• 1:00:46Speaker 01

  I grew up in Lower East Side Manhattan, yeah. And then I moved to Jersey City when I was a kid, and I moved back to Manhattan. I've been back and forth.

• 1:00:54Trevor Noah?

  Damn, so you like see New York.

• 1:00:55Speaker 01

  Ah, New York is like, yeah, I got a love affair. It feels like this is home. It, it, it's ruined traveling for me.

• 1:01:04Trevor Noah?

  Wait, why?

• 1:01:05Speaker 01

  Cause after like a week or two, I'm like, I gotta get back.

• 1:01:08Speaker 02

  Nothing compares.

• 1:01:09Speaker 01

  Nothing. Nothing.

• 1:01:11Trevor Noah?

  Do you hate non-New Yorkers? Not, not, not like hate, but I mean like, are you?

• 1:01:17Speaker 01

  They, they make the city, the city. It's, it's always been like, I don't know why, you know, a lot of people always complain about transplants and gentrification like, that's been happening my entire life, bad places getting nicer and.

• 1:01:30Trevor Noah?

  Yeah, yeah, yeah.

• 1:01:30Speaker 01

  Also, when you from New York, I'm from, you know, we from like public housing, we from, you know, I don't know money, so, like I remember how dangerous New York was and seeing certain elements of New York, seeing certain parts of New York nicer and, and more fit for families.

• 1:01:49Trevor Noah?

  Yeah.

• 1:01:49Speaker 01

  I get the corporate shit and the gentrification and pricing people out sucks. I wish that there was a middle ground of affordable safety. It feels like we have to sacrifice one for the other too much in this country where if a place is nice, now nobody could afford to live here. But if we don't make it nice, then it's dangerous and, you know, all the places that poor people have to live, you have to worry about cuttings and muggings and nothing for the kids and, you know, so it's, it's, it's, we need to figure that out and hopefully this mayor.

• 1:02:24Trevor Noah?

  I think a lot of the time, I think a lot of the time that's, yeah, that's by design.

• 1:02:27Speaker 01

  Oh, definitely.

• 1:02:28Trevor Noah?

  If I, if I look at it, particularly in America, but in most places in the world, people aren't protected, capital is protected, right?

• 1:02:35Speaker 01

  Right.

• 1:02:36Trevor Noah?

  So money gets protected no matter where it is.

• 1:02:38Speaker 01

  Right.

• 1:02:39Trevor Noah?

  So when, when money is somewhere, police go, I have to respond to that because not even the policeman. I'm saying police the idea because the police chief is connected to a superintendent, connected to, who is connected to that money. And that person goes, yo, your mayor, I'm the person who helped your mayor get, so I'll call your mayor and tell him that you guys are making, my capital is burning down, you guys better do something about it. So there's a different incentive structure.

• 1:03:06Speaker 01

  For sure.

• 1:03:07Trevor Noah?

  That, that just happens in that, in that way.

• 1:03:09Speaker 01

  And when you get that far up, it's not even about, you're not even looking at people, you're just looking at numbers.

• 1:03:14Trevor Noah?

  No, you're not.

• 1:03:15Speaker 01

  You're looking at stats.

• 1:03:16Trevor Noah?

  Yeah, one hundred percent.

• 1:03:17Speaker 01

  And, and a lot of times, poor people are the brunt of those stats, you know?

• 1:03:22Trevor Noah?

  That's why I'm hopeful for Mamdani.

• 1:03:24Speaker 01

  I am too. I, I mean, he seems like of all the mayors, the, of all the people we've had, he seems like the one that sort of looks at New York from the lens of New Yorkers. And, and it's, it's refreshing. I think that's what people really, really like about it, is that he's like, everything that he wants to bring to the city is something that I believe he would enjoy about the city, you know? And it's, it's sort of like, I don't think we've had anybody like that.

• 1:03:54Speaker 02

  It's like the theater of yours, it's built by artists.

• 1:03:56Trevor Noah?

  Oh, yeah, yeah, that's exactly it.

• 1:03:57Speaker 01

  Same kind of thing, same kind of deal. But man, that's the first thing you said that made sense today.

• 1:04:05Speaker 01

  No, wait, no, no, no.

• 1:04:08Speaker 01

  I mean that in a, I'm, I'm being, I mean that as a compliment.

• 1:04:14Speaker 01

  Crazy as hell.

• 1:04:19Speaker 01

  That's the first thing you said.

• 1:04:21Trevor Noah?

  You know, it's, it's interesting, cause like, so like, my brothers, I got two brothers that's, that was retired NYPD, right?

• 1:04:29Speaker 02

  Wow.

• 1:04:29Speaker 01

  Ain't that something?

• 1:04:30Trevor Noah?

  Older brothers, I'm assuming.

• 1:04:31Speaker 01

  Older brothers, yeah. I'm the youngest. And I remember my brother was telling me about how he was having an argument. I won't say which brother to, to protect his reputation in his department, but I remember one of my brothers telling me, he was like, he was having an argument with this, uh, this white guy that's also a cop. And, um, not an argument, but just like a debate, like a discussion.

• 1:04:54Trevor Noah?

  Heated debate.

• 1:04:55Speaker 01

  And he was like, I just don't understand, the white guy was saying, I just don't understand why, you know, we go to the hood and, and, and these kids, we, we, why don't they just stay off the corners? Like, why? They know we're coming, you know, they, they know what we're trying to do, what, what, what we have to do. Why are they just always hanging out on the corners? And, and what, what is the point? Like, why? We move them, they just end up on another corner?

• 1:05:19Trevor Noah?

  Yeah.

• 1:05:19Speaker 01

  And my brother's like, where are they gonna go?

• 1:05:22Trevor Noah?

  Yeah.

• 1:05:22Speaker 01

  To their backyard, to their, you know, like you don't know. Go home. You don't know what's in that home. You don't know what situation, what living condition they have. You don't know how many people's in there. You don't, you don't know. I'm not saying that every situation is that, but you don't know. And, and he knows that because of the way we grew up. And when we grew up, you know, it was a crowded house, it was seven kids and, and, and, you know, cousins and, and a three bedroom apartment, apartments crowded.

• 1:05:52Trevor Noah?

  You had to be outside.

• 1:05:54Speaker 01

  And that's where you go. And, and when he said it, I kind of didn't even realize it. I was like, yeah, I remember I used to just hang out at the bodega. And they would chase us out of the bodega and then we'd just go to another bodega.

• 1:06:03Trevor Noah?

  Yeah.

• 1:06:03Speaker 01

  Or whatever it is, but it's like, we didn't, that's where we went.

• 1:06:06Trevor Noah?

  That was with Spaza shops.

• 1:06:07Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 1:06:07Speaker 01

  Where was we gonna go? You know, so it's like, I think that there's, there's a difference. I say all that to say, I think there's a difference between, these are two cops working in New York City, one's from the city, one's just policing the city. And I think we've had a lot of mayors that look at it the way that guy is like, why don't you just do this? And then Mamdani kind of feels like a mayor that understands why this kid is hanging out on the corner. So how can we put something healthy for him to do that?

• 1:06:37Trevor Noah?

  Let's put lights on the tennis court.

• 1:06:38Speaker 01

  Let's do something, you know what I mean? That, that gives him a place to go and, and, and serves both needs. So that this is a dope New York for even that kid, not just the people who have a lot of money and resources and access

• 1:06:51Trevor Noah?

  Yeah.

• 1:06:51Speaker 01

  to pay for safety. You shouldn't have to pay for fucking safety in this country. I mean, as much money as they take from us. I mean, Trevor, I know.

• 1:07:03Trevor Noah?

  This guy.

• 1:07:03Speaker 01

  I know. Every about December, January, you looking at that check you gotta write. And you like, you got to be fucking kidding me.

• 1:07:14Speaker 01

  For what?

• 1:07:15Trevor Noah?

  Oh, man.

• 1:07:16Speaker 01

  I know, Trevor. Oh, it's the worst day. It's the worst.

• 1:07:21Trevor Noah?

  You know, you know, the, the funniest thing about it is that I always say, I don't understand why people don't selfishly want neighborhoods to get better. Completely selfish. Forget altruism. Forget altruism. I go, they're like, why should my tax dollars go to paying for some kids in Harlem to have a, a this or have, then I'm like, I'll tell you why. Just selfishly, forget even acknowledging them as human beings and what they should or shouldn't have, forget that. You don't want them on the corner. You don't want them running through the street. You don't. So just selfishly, just selfishly, provide amenities that change how people, you know, people like, oh, those kids are up to no good.

• 1:08:05Trevor Noah?

  There is no kid that is up to no good. Most kids are just up to the thing that they're afforded. That's it.

• 1:08:11Speaker 01

  Literally, you're just trying to burn this frigging energy, lit, you know.

• 1:08:15Trevor Noah?

  You just do what you do.

• 1:08:15Speaker 01

  And they don't, but that's, that's the thing. They don't see us as kids.

• 1:08:19Trevor Noah?

  Oh shit, that's true as well.

• 1:08:21Speaker 01

  Yeah, I ain't been a kid since I was maybe eleven, ten years old.

• 1:08:24Trevor Noah?

  Oh shit, that's true as well.

• 1:08:26Speaker 01

  You know what I'm saying? They don't see us as kids. We, we threats.

• 1:08:30Speaker 02

  Your potential threat.

• 1:08:31Speaker 01

  I was, first time I was handcuffed, I was maybe ten.

• 1:08:36Trevor Noah?

  For real?

• 1:08:36Speaker 01

  First, never forget, we first moved to Jersey City. I'll never forget that. We moved to Jersey City.

• 1:08:43Speaker 01

  I had a, I had a video games, like a Sega Genesis or something like that.

• 1:08:46Trevor Noah?

  Oh, yeah, I remember those.

• 1:08:47Speaker 01

  And we went to go, you know, I didn't have that many video games, it was expensive. So we would rent the video games from the video store.

• 1:08:53Trevor Noah?

  Blockbuster used to do that.

• 1:08:54Speaker 01

  Blockbuster, this one was called Palmer Video.

• 1:08:57Trevor Noah?

  Oh, nice.

• 1:08:57Speaker 01

  It was like a smaller chain and we was walking, we had to walk to the video store in Jersey City. We just moved there maybe like six months. And the cops rolled up on us, asked us for ID. We didn't know what the fuck ID, you know what I mean? Like, ten, what, what ID? No identification, who's your parents? He handcuffed us, sat us on the floor, asked us who we are. And I'll never forget when they unhandcuffed us and let us go in our way, the cops, never forget him, his name was Robocop. He said, uh, that's not his real name. His name, we, we called him Robocop, cause he was like, he was like a, he was like a notorious dickhead.

• 1:09:35Trevor Noah?

  Right.

• 1:09:35Speaker 02

  Oh, so he was his nickname?

• 1:09:37Speaker 01

  It was his nickname, Robocop.

• 1:09:38Speaker 02

  Oh.

• 1:09:39Speaker 01

  And anybody listening to this in Jersey City knows Robocop.

• 1:09:41Trevor Noah?

  Yeah.

• 1:09:42Speaker 01

  But, um.

• 1:09:45Trevor Noah?

  So Robocop as you're walking away.

• 1:09:47Speaker 01

  As, as, as we're walking away, he said, welcome to the neighborhood. Cause we told him, we just moved there from New York. He, he'd never seen us before. It was just him getting to know us.

• 1:09:57Speaker 01

  I'll never forget that. But that's my point. And, and the weird thing is, we didn't go home and say, you're not gonna believe this, mom, or no. We thought that's just what you, that's what's supposed to happen. They're supposed to be a little threatened by us, I guess. Like that's, yeah, they, I guess, I guess we thugs, you know what I mean? Whatever it is, as a kid, you don't know. You don't, you think you're grown. You don't know that you're a kid until you see a kid. You know what I mean? Like, I, like, I remember like what we used to do in the city and like being like thirty. And then you see like little kids playing around in the train, you're like, where, what are you doing out here? And he's like, oh, I used to do that. And they don't know that they kids, they just, cause they, the world doesn't look at them like kids. So.

• 1:10:42Speaker 01

  I I mean, I think that's kind of why they don't take care of us like they take care of kids. You know? Because they don't see us as that. They don't see that this could happen. Even the most liberal, the most liberal of white people, when something happens to like a black kid, they're like, man, I have friends. That could have happened to any of my son's friends. You know, they don't ever say that could happen to me.

• 1:11:06Trevor Noah?

  Yeah, yeah, yeah.

• 1:11:07Speaker 01

  Or that could happen to my kid. They don't look, they know it can't happen to them in that way.

• 1:11:11Trevor Noah?

  It's an externalized idea of what a kid could be at the, yeah, yeah, but I know what you mean. It's not a.

• 1:11:17Speaker 01

  No, yeah, it's not, no, this affects me.

• 1:11:20Trevor Noah?

  How did you get into comedy?

• 1:11:22Speaker 01

  Uh.

• 1:11:24Trevor Noah?

  Cause like Brother Cop, Brother Cop, Michael Che comedian.

• 1:11:28Speaker 01

  I think um it was something that's like a fantasy as a kid, like when you're watching comedians, watching Carlin, watching Chris Rock, watching, you know, uh, Bill Cosby, Eddie Murphy, shit like that. You.

• 1:11:51Speaker 01

  May he, may he rest.

• 1:11:53Trevor Noah?

  Don't worry, bro. Who, who in that list is a quarter?

• 1:11:56Speaker 02

  It's okay.

• 1:11:58Speaker 01

  Watching those guys, Damon Wayans was my guy.

• 1:12:01Trevor Noah?

  Oh, man.

• 1:12:01Speaker 01

  I love Damon Wayans to this day, man. And I think like, you know, my family was like a big comedy house. Like they love, we watched Hollywood Shuffle, we watched Living Color, we watched uh uh uh, I'm gonna get you sucker, Eddie Murphy Raw, like everything that was comedy, we watched it himself. Uh, yeah, so I think like that power, my grandfather's a pastor.

• 1:12:29Trevor Noah?

  Okay.

• 1:12:30Speaker 01

  So like, you know, that's sort of holding court, you know, family gatherings, everybody just snapping and going at it. And the people that were the funny ones were kind of the special ones. They was like, oh, wait till Jerome go, wait till Uncle Nick. Wait, you know, there's all these people that was like super, super, my brother was really funny. And um, you know, I had one of those families that would just snap all night. And so there was sort of a currency. I think like when you don't have a lot of money, something else is gonna become your currency. You know, it's gonna be.

• 1:12:59Trevor Noah?

  It has to.

• 1:12:59Speaker 01

  Has to be. It could be funny, it could be uh sports. Some families are sports families. Some families are just.

• 1:13:07Trevor Noah?

  Food.

• 1:13:07Speaker 01

  Food, whatever it is, you know, some barbecue families or like that, like that was our currency was who was the funniest? Who could really get you? Who could make my grandmother laugh the hardest? You know what I mean? So like that was kind of always held a special place. And I think when I started to see HBO specials and Chris Rock and Carlin, like those guys, and I started to see it kind of put together, you know, in a smart way. I was like, oh, you could like, kind of say what you think, you know, like your frustrations for real. It doesn't have to just be Def Jam, it could be, you know, kind of pointed. And and, you know, being in school, you're sort of like the smart aleck and the class clown and always asking questions

• 1:13:50Speaker 01

  and trying to challenge a teacher, real shitty kid things, but it was making my brain sharp, you know? And um, I had a reputation for it. And I had buddies that were like, man, you should, you should do it. And I never thought I could do it because I didn't know anybody that had done it.

• 1:14:08Trevor Noah?

  Was doing it.

• 1:14:08Speaker 01

  Yeah, so it was like, where do you even start? I had, I didn't know anybody in show business. And then one day, uh, I was just kind of like in between really bad jobs and.

• 1:14:21Trevor Noah?

  What were you doing? What was your first job?

• 1:14:23Speaker 01

  My first job, I worked at a car dealership.

• 1:14:28Trevor Noah?

  That's a pretty first job. Wait, doing what? Wait, doing what?

• 1:14:30Speaker 01

  It was like reception work, kind of like. I was like the guy calling in the checks and.

• 1:14:35Trevor Noah?

  Okay, no, that's not bad, okay, okay.

• 1:14:37Speaker 01

  It was, it was like ten dollars an hour, kind of.

• 1:14:40Trevor Noah?

  Okay, no, no, okay.

• 1:14:41Speaker 01

  Uh, I didn't have a license, so I couldn't, I couldn't sell cars.

• 1:14:46Trevor Noah?

  That's like most New Yorkers don't have a license.

• 1:14:47Speaker 01

  Yeah, I didn't have a license, so I couldn't, I couldn't sell cars. You need a license.

• 1:14:51Trevor Noah?

  You know, you can't even do your driving test in Manhattan.

• 1:14:54Speaker 02

  What do you mean?

• 1:14:55Speaker 01

  Nah, how you gonna do that? You never see no drivers.

• 1:14:58Trevor Noah?

  What do you have to do it? You can't do your driving test in Manhattan, bro.

• 1:15:00Speaker 02

  No man.

• 1:15:01Trevor Noah?

  Yo, the rules of driving do not apply to this island.

• 1:15:03Speaker 01

  Yeah, it's different.

• 1:15:04Trevor Noah?

  You can't, you can't teach a person, you can't even check if a person knows how to drive here. Cause here it's like everywhere else, the rules are when a person is in the road, you can't enter the crosswalk and you can't turn when a person is in the crosswalk and you gotta wait for the light to do this. And parking spots and this and, and you can't use your horn, except if it's an emergency. And you check your blind spot and following distance.

• 1:15:25Speaker 02

  Speed harms.

• 1:15:26Trevor Noah?

  Everything that is taught to you in Manhattan does not exist.

• 1:15:31Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:15:31Trevor Noah?

  So when you take your test, you gotta go to one of the other burrows.

• 1:15:34Speaker 01

  Mm-hmm.

• 1:15:35Trevor Noah?

  And then they'll take you to places where you can drive and that's where you learn how to drive. Then they're like, all right, go, good luck in Manhattan.

• 1:15:41Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:15:41Trevor Noah?

  You can't, you can't, you can't, you just can't.

• 1:15:43Speaker 01

  You never drove here?

• 1:15:44Speaker 02

  Is the insurance more, more expensive living in Manhattan?

• 1:15:46Trevor Noah?

  I don't know, but I, but you can't, you just can't drive. You, you know, you, you're not, it's not, it's literally like being a taxi driver in a taxi rank in South Africa, like where everyone, everything, all the time. Yeah, you go and the light's red.

• 1:15:59Speaker 01

  Africa fucked up too. Uh, I went to Egypt and they were.

• 1:16:02Trevor Noah?

  Oh, Egypt, yeah, yeah, Egypt, Cairo.

• 1:16:05Speaker 01

  Yeah, they don't care, yo.

• 1:16:06Trevor Noah?

  Yeah, Cairo's fire, bro.

• 1:16:08Speaker 01

  The buses don't even stop, they just jump off and jump on.

• 1:16:11Trevor Noah?

  Yeah, no, no, Cairo was, I was like, okay, yeah, Cairo's doing it.

• 1:16:14Speaker 01

  Yeah, they're crazy.

• 1:16:14Trevor Noah?

  Cairo's crazy.

• 1:16:16Speaker 01

  Yeah, that's the craziest I ever seen.

• 1:16:18Trevor Noah?

  What made, what made Cairo crazier for me was the fact that it was also fast paced as well. So I've been to places that have crazy traffic, but it doesn't really move.

• 1:16:27Speaker 01

  Mm-hmm, mm-hmm.

• 1:16:28Trevor Noah?

  Cairo, there's crazy traffic and then the traffic moves together at like a high speed. And you're like, yo, guys, this is everyone cutting, flying, turning. You're like, yo, I know, driving here. Yeah, no, Cairo, Cairo.

• 1:16:42Speaker 01

  That's the craziest I've ever seen.

• 1:16:43Trevor Noah?

  I've driven in New York.

• 1:16:43Speaker 02

  And?

• 1:16:44Trevor Noah?

  When I first came to New York, man, I'll never forget, so.

• 1:16:46Speaker 01

  You don't drive the kind of cars you wanna drive in New York, though.

• 1:16:48Trevor Noah?

  I don't, I don't have any cars now, but when I was in, no, really, let me tell you what happened.

• 1:16:53Speaker 01

  This motherfucker's full of shit.

• 1:16:55Trevor Noah?

  My man, which car do I have now?

• 1:16:57Speaker 01

  Doesn't?

• 1:16:57Trevor Noah?

  Yeah.

• 1:16:58Speaker 01

  Really?

• 1:16:58Trevor Noah?

  So let me tell you what happened. First got to New York, I had my cars in South Africa. No, I had my cars in South Africa. And then I was like, get to New York. And everyone's like, you don't drive in New York, you don't drive. So I was like, you don't drive in New York. That was it. Then Jerry Seinfeld invites me to do comedians and cars. He's driving around, he's like, do you like cars? I actually do love cars. We start talking about cars. I was like, where do you have all your cars? He's like, oh, so I have them, I've got the special house building elevator type thing. He goes, but I go driving. And he tells me about these roads. He's like, you should take cars and go drive there. So then what I did was I started renting cars to go and drive out in the Cats, not Catskills, but I guess Catskills adjacent, like Bear Mountain and, and those places. And then.

• 1:17:41Speaker 02

  There's a place called Bear Mountain?

• 1:17:42Trevor Noah?

  Yeah. Where the, I did bump into a bear.

• 1:17:45Speaker 01

  Is a beautiful state.

• 1:17:46Trevor Noah?

  Yeah.

• 1:17:46Speaker 01

  You gotta, you gotta leave.

• 1:17:48Trevor Noah?

  You'd love it.

• 1:17:48Speaker 01

  This block.

• 1:17:52Speaker 02

  I wish I had a rock and roll.

• 1:17:53Speaker 01

  You gotta leave this block, man. There's a lot to see out there, brother.

• 1:17:56Trevor Noah?

  We can't keep seeing you on the corner, Eugene. Come on, man. You gotta go to another corner.

• 1:18:00Speaker 01

  To a different Dwayne Reed, man.

• 1:18:05Trevor Noah?

  So, so yeah, so I, I was, I was driving and then there were.

• 1:18:09Speaker 02

  So you rent a car and then you go?

• 1:18:10Trevor Noah?

  So I'd rent a car and then I'd go out there and drive. Few things that got me, one, it takes like an hour just to leave Manhattan.

• 1:18:16Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:18:17Trevor Noah?

  To go to the place, that was too much for me. And then secondly, the place where I'd rent the car was in Manhattan and driving in Manhattan. So the first thing I rented when I got here, cause after Seinfeld, it's like, oh, I should do this. I rented a Lamborghini.

• 1:18:29Speaker 01

  My man.

• 1:18:29Trevor Noah?

  And then I was like, I'm gonna drive through Times Square with my Lamborghini.

• 1:18:35Trevor Noah?

  Never before have I felt, you know, in most parts of the world, Lamborghini plus person.

• 1:18:43Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 1:18:44Trevor Noah?

  Equals ultimate levels of cool.

• 1:18:45Speaker 02

  Yeah, no, next level.

• 1:18:47Trevor Noah?

  Come to New York, drive a Lamborghini or Ferrari or anything inside Manhattan, Times Square.

• 1:18:52Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:18:52Trevor Noah?

  People look at you like you wore a tank top on a rainy day.

• 1:18:58Speaker 01

  Yeah, yeah.

• 1:18:59Trevor Noah?

  Everyone looks at you like, what are you?

• 1:19:02Speaker 02

  I see Tracy Morgan does it all the time.

• 1:19:04Trevor Noah?

  Yeah, that, that's exactly, it's Tracy. That answers, that answers your question. You, did you see, remember when Tracy's car got hit by an Uber?

• 1:19:11Speaker 02

  No.

• 1:19:11Trevor Noah?

  Tracy got hit by like a, like a, like a small little Nissan run around type thing. Yo, Tracy, they hit.

• 1:19:17Speaker 01

  Tracy is a wild boy.

• 1:19:18Trevor Noah?

  He just bought the Bugatti. He drove out of the dealership, I think it was his second Bugatti, drove out of the dealership. And then some random Uber driver just like bam, hit Tracy Morgan in his, in his Bugatti.

• 1:19:28Speaker 01

  I remember when Tracy first came home from like the accident, like from the hospital and we first seen him. And it was like rumors, like Tracy's back, Tracy's back. We didn't know if he was okay or not, like how okay he was or whatever. We was just so thankful that he was alive.

• 1:19:45Trevor Noah?

  Him and Artie.

• 1:19:46Speaker 01

  Yeah, him and Artie. We had seen Artie though.

• 1:19:48Trevor Noah?

  Oh, okay.

• 1:19:49Speaker 01

  Tracy. And I remember we were at the cellar and, you know, we were just talking like, man, Tracy's okay, you know, like, man, I'm so happy. Everybody's like, kind of like, happy but worried.

• 1:20:00Trevor Noah?

  Yeah.

• 1:20:00Speaker 01

  And I remember it was coming down, coming down the stairs of the olive tree and a white Phantom Rolls Royce was driving. And it's Tracy hanging out the window going, I can't spend this much money, Trey.

• 1:20:17Speaker 01

  I was like, I guess Tracy's fine.

• 1:20:22Speaker 01

  A white fan of, I've never been getting, I can't spend this much money. It's like, alright.

• 1:20:30Speaker 01

  Man, uh, uh, he's been trying, but he can't.

• 1:20:34Trevor Noah?

  I used to bump into him all the time because the Bugatti place is a block away from the Daily Show.

• 1:20:38Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:20:39Trevor Noah?

  And so I'd bump into him when he's like servicing his car or buying another car or, you know what I mean?

• 1:20:44Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 1:20:44Trevor Noah?

  And Tracy's that, like, I'd be walking out and you'd just bump into a Tracy more in traffic in a Bugatti, rolling down a window, cause I'm looking in the car like, damn, it's a Bugatti.

• 1:20:54Speaker 01

  Smooth criminal or some crazy.

• 1:20:55Trevor Noah?

  That would be him. And then he'd just like lean out the window and just shout random things at me. It would take me like two, three seconds to realize who it was. You know what I mean? Then he'd be like, how you gonna be walking when that Bugatti's in the dealership? I'm like, yeah, Tracy, come on. Tracy, bruh.

• 1:21:12Speaker 01

  My, my sister was at a Knicks game and she, I was like, how was the game? And she was like, I saw Tracy, he told me to tell you that he got you, don't worry. And I was like, what is he talking about? I have no idea. I was like, well, I don't know what he's talking about.

• 1:21:26Speaker 02

  He got you, man.

• 1:21:26Speaker 01

  I got you. Tell Mike I got him.

• 1:21:29Trevor Noah?

  Oh damn. Nah, man, I love that for him. I was just like, he's just like, he's just like a ball of comedy, a ball. One of my favorite Tracy Morgan stories ever. It was, uh, Angelo Lozada told me this, may he rest in peace, man. Angelo. And apparently they were on, they were on the road.

• 1:21:45Speaker 01

  Damn, we lost a lot of guys, huh?

• 1:21:47Trevor Noah?

  Yeah, we did, man. We did. And Angelo was telling me this story. Tracy was with his crew in the car, they're on the road touring. And one of, one of his guys that's opening, but he's, he's like his dude, he's dude, you know? It's not like he looks down on him. They're all in the car together. And this guy had his comedy joke book, but like his life, you know how it is. If a comedian has that book, that's their life. Every joke, every idea is in that little book. And they're sitting in the car and he's there and he's been doing his thing. And, and Tracy's like, he's like, yo, man. He's like, what you doing over there? And he's like, alright, man, Tracy, come on, man. You know, I'm, I'm writing some stuff for tonight. What? And then Tracy's like, let me see that. And he takes the book, opens the window, throws it out. And then Tr- yo, this guy, apparently he was like,

• 1:22:28Trevor Noah?

  yo, what the fuck? On the highway. Yo, what the fuck? And then Tracy's like, man, if you funny, that shit gonna come from inside you, man. You can't be writing that shit down. He's like, yo, yo, let me tell you something. If you funny, that shit gotta come. Yo, they said that guy almost cried. They had to hold him off Tracy. And Tracy was probably, you know what? This guy wants to kill him. And Tracy's like oblivious to the whole thing. And he's just like, man, if you funny, that shit gonna come from inside you.

• 1:22:54Speaker 01

  That's Tracy. Oh, that's great. That's great. I heard, uh, Chris Rock used to do that. Somebody told me that he, uh, one of SNL writers used to always work at the, he used to also work at the Chris Rock Show.

• 1:23:06Trevor Noah?

  Yeah.

• 1:23:07Speaker 01

  And back then, they used to write on typewriters. Like, they had to write scripts out, you know?

• 1:23:13Speaker 01

  And he said, Chris would like walk into the office, see like a sketch or whatever, like on their desk, go, nice sketch, nigga, and throw it out the window.

• 1:23:24Trevor Noah?

  Man, I love, you see stories like this.

• 1:23:25Speaker 01

  You're like, what the fuck?

• 1:23:27Trevor Noah?

  Stories like this. I love.

• 1:23:28Speaker 01

  Start all over again.

• 1:23:29Trevor Noah?

  I love stories like this.

• 1:23:30Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:23:31Trevor Noah?

  Cause I feel, I don't know. I feel like there was a moment in comedy where, I mean, I obviously say this knowing that times are good, but like, there was a moment in comedy where it feels like comedy wasn't as big, comedy wasn't as popular, comedy didn't have as much money. And so comedy was crazier.

• 1:23:48Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:23:48Trevor Noah?

  Like sometimes when I see us as comedians now, I go, I think sometimes we take ourselves way too seriously. Yeah, but we also take ourselves too seriously.

• 1:23:56Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:23:57Trevor Noah?

  Like I, I see comedians now, I have to remind myself all the time. I go like, yo, do not forget, you're a loser, you got bullied, you're an idiot, you're a clown, you're stupid, you're not cool. You, I have to remind myself of that because now comedy has like ascended in a way that like, now comedian's a rock star. Now you walk out on stage, now there's like a, and it's like, no, but don't forget what this thing like is and was.

• 1:24:22Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 1:24:23Trevor Noah?

  Yeah, you might be beloved and cool, but just don't forget that side of it.

• 1:24:26Speaker 01

  We started believing the, the adjectives, you know? Like a lot of times, I, I do think there was a time when they started writing about comedy.

• 1:24:35Trevor Noah?

  That's what I mean.

• 1:24:36Speaker 01

  In the most romantic way. And now we, now we all think we're brilliant and genius and, and all of this shit. And we're not, we're just funny at best. Like the best, best case scenarios were funny.

• 1:24:49Speaker 02

  It feels like comedy is going through what chefs went through.

• 1:24:51Trevor Noah?

  Yes. Yeah, yeah, actually. Yes. It was about cooking delicious food that people like.

• 1:24:55Speaker 01

  Damn, that's true. Chefs too.

• 1:24:57Trevor Noah?

  Then it became like a, I don't cook. It's not about the food.

• 1:25:02Speaker 01

  I don't know why it came so like, like the army too. Like what the fuck?

• 1:25:06Trevor Noah?

  Well, the, the chefs thing.

• 1:25:08Speaker 01

  Yeah. Yeah, chef. Like, what is that?

• 1:25:13Speaker 01

  Marines all of a sudden. Every time I watch a cooking show, it's some crying.

• 1:25:17Trevor Noah?

  I don't, I don't know why. You know who had, we had a, we had her on the show.

• 1:25:22Speaker 02

  Asma Khan.

• 1:25:22Trevor Noah?

  We had Asma Khan on the show. She's one of the funniest, like amazing chefs you've ever come across. She has a restaurant in, uh, in London. And Asma's, she's like, she said it so succinctly and beautifully. I was like, we asked her that question, like, what do you think that is? And she's, she was like, she's like, Trevor, can I tell you something? She's like, I just think that's white men trying to make the job look harder than it actually is.

• 1:25:45Speaker 01

  Damn.

• 1:25:46Trevor Noah?

  Because for generations, women and women of color have been doing what they're doing now without any fuss.

• 1:25:53Speaker 02

  Without shouting.

• 1:25:54Trevor Noah?

  She's like, without, we don't need to shout, we don't need to, to pump somebody's face into a wall. We don't, she's like, Trevor.

• 1:25:59Speaker 01

  That's hilarious.

• 1:26:00Trevor Noah?

  But they have to, because they're like, I have to show you how hard it is.

• 1:26:03Speaker 01

  Yeah, what is that?

• 1:26:04Trevor Noah?

  She's like, yo, bruh, that's just performance. Machismo performance.

• 1:26:08Speaker 01

  It's crazy. I'm like, why are they crying?

• 1:26:10Trevor Noah?

  She said, it's a bunch of white guys who are trying to make it like, you know how hard this is? And she's like, yo, women have been doing this. Calm down.

• 1:26:16Speaker 01

  Yeah, my mother did. She, my mother yelled though. I ain't gonna lie. She cooked.

• 1:26:20Speaker 02

  While cooking?

• 1:26:20Speaker 01

  Oh, geez. Yeah, definitely.

• 1:26:22Trevor Noah?

  Get out of this kitchen.

• 1:26:23Speaker 01

  Yeah, yeah. She was, my mother's wild.

• 1:26:25Trevor Noah?

  Were you allowed in the kitchen when your mom was cooking?

• 1:26:27Speaker 02

  Yeah, yeah.

• 1:26:28Trevor Noah?

  Oh, really?

• 1:26:28Speaker 02

  That was our quality time.

• 1:26:29Trevor Noah?

  Oh, that's why you can cook.

• 1:26:30Speaker 01

  You can cook?

• 1:26:32Trevor Noah?

  Well.

• 1:26:32Speaker 01

  Nice.

• 1:26:33Speaker 02

  Yeah, that was our, that was our quality time.

• 1:26:34Trevor Noah?

  Eugene cooked for me and I'll be honest with you, I didn't know how to process what was happening.

• 1:26:40Speaker 01

  Really?

• 1:26:42Trevor Noah?

  No, can I tell you why?

• 1:26:43Speaker 01

  What you cook? What, like, what you cook? Like?

• 1:26:44Trevor Noah?

  Anything.

• 1:26:45Speaker 01

  Really?

• 1:26:46Trevor Noah?

  I didn't know how to process what was happening.

• 1:26:48Speaker 01

  Like, I could cook. They'd be like salmon and fettuccine.

• 1:26:50Trevor Noah?

  No.

• 1:26:53Speaker 02

  He picked the most white girl thing ever. Salmon and fettuccine.

• 1:26:57Speaker 01

  No, no, no.

• 1:26:57Trevor Noah?

  No, for real.

• 1:26:58Speaker 01

  Black girls cook salmon.

• 1:26:59Speaker 02

  Salmon and fettuccine.

• 1:27:00Speaker 01

  And fettuccine.

• 1:27:02Trevor Noah?

  No, no, no. You, and he, he cooked and I was like, I, I didn't know how to, I didn't know what was happening. And he cooked my favorite thing.

• 1:27:08Speaker 01

  Really?

• 1:27:08Trevor Noah?

  He just surprised me one day. When we're in Johannesburg and he just surprised me. It's pig feet.

• 1:27:16Trevor Noah?

  That is the appropriate response, by the way.

• 1:27:18Speaker 02

  Perfect response.

• 1:27:18Speaker 01

  Is that, I don't know if he was making fun of me.

• 1:27:21Trevor Noah?

  No, no, no. Pig feet.

• 1:27:23Speaker 01

  For real pig feet?

• 1:27:24Trevor Noah?

  Yeah, like the trotters of a pig. That's bar none across every culture. I love.

• 1:27:29Speaker 01

  You eat pig feet?

• 1:27:30Trevor Noah?

  Sichuanese pig feet, South African pig feet, curry, curry pig feet. He'll die. He can't eat that. He can't eat that. It's too much.

• 1:27:38Speaker 02

  You would never.

• 1:27:39Trevor Noah?

  It's a sensory overload for him.

• 1:27:40Speaker 02

  Sensory overload. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah.

• 1:27:43Trevor Noah?

  This guy grew up with McDonald's, bruh.

• 1:27:44Speaker 01

  Pig feet?

• 1:27:45Speaker 02

  Yeah, yeah.

• 1:27:45Speaker 01

  You eat pig feet?

• 1:27:46Trevor Noah?

  And they in the, like, they still look like that.

• 1:27:49Speaker 01

  Trevor Noah.

• 1:27:50Speaker 02

  Like this.

• 1:27:51Speaker 01

  You don't eat no damn pig feet. Yeah, y'all fucking with me.

• 1:27:54Speaker 02

  For real, for real. Who wouldn't lie to you?

• 1:27:57Speaker 01

  With like a, like a fork and a knife?

• 1:27:59Trevor Noah?

  No.

• 1:27:59Speaker 02

  Bare hands.

• 1:28:00Trevor Noah?

  Bare hands, bro.

• 1:28:00Speaker 02

  Bare knuckle.

• 1:28:01Trevor Noah?

  Because the bare knuckle.

• 1:28:06Speaker 01

  I don't believe.

• 1:28:07Trevor Noah?

  No, you got, you, you can't.

• 1:28:08Speaker 01

  I don't believe. It's like in a stew, like a jar?

• 1:28:12Trevor Noah?

  No, so generally, generally it's in a stew, the one I like, but there's also a braised version.

• 1:28:17Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 1:28:17Trevor Noah?

  That's cooked over a flame. Um, I'll take you one day. We'll go in New York.

• 1:28:21Speaker 01

  No, you won't.

• 1:28:26Speaker 01

  You for real?

• 1:28:27Trevor Noah?

  I'm for real.

• 1:28:27Speaker 01

  No, you're not.

• 1:28:28Speaker 02

  You've never.

• 1:28:29Speaker 01

  No. But that's what I'm saying. You eat like, like chitlins too?

• 1:28:34Trevor Noah?

  So I don't think chitlins have as much flavor as they could. I, we do eat chitlins where we're from, but I think.

• 1:28:40Speaker 01

  Where are you from for real?

• 1:28:42Trevor Noah?

  No, in South Africa. We eat like, but we call, like it's our, we have a different thing, malamukhud.

• 1:28:46Speaker 02

  Tribe.

• 1:28:46Trevor Noah?

  Yeah, tripe. So it's like the intestines of an animal.

• 1:28:49Speaker 01

  Chinese restaurants. Is that the same thing as?

• 1:28:51Trevor Noah?

  Yes. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But this version, cause chitlins will be like certain parts, everyone has a different idea of like what, what they'll include of the insides of an animal.

• 1:29:00Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 1:29:01Trevor Noah?

  But I think, I've had chitlins everywhere in Atlanta. Everyone's like, you gotta have chitlins. Love the, the texture and the vibe. I just think, you can see that there were no Indians involved, is what I'm saying.

• 1:29:11Speaker 02

  There's no spice and flavor.

• 1:29:12Trevor Noah?

  Yeah, yeah, yeah. Like, you just need a little.

• 1:29:13Speaker 01

  You know what's funny? You say that because I didn't know how bland American food, not bland, but like, we don't, I've always been afraid of Indian food because like, it's just culturally, I think it's just very different from American food.

• 1:29:29Trevor Noah?

  Americans are afraid of American food.

• 1:29:31Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 1:29:32Trevor Noah?

  When I introduced.

• 1:29:33Speaker 01

  That's true.

• 1:29:33Trevor Noah?

  Indian food into the Daily Show's ru- routine. So the Daily Show would have like normal catering every day. And then there'd be one day, you remember a week where they would like get food from a place.

• 1:29:43Speaker 01

  That's right.

• 1:29:43Trevor Noah?

  And generally they would get like an Italian sandwich, like pastrami and blah, blah, and then get, but it would be like food from a place. And after like a bunch of rotations, one week I was like, yo, why do we always get like those like big sandwiches?

• 1:29:56Speaker 01

  Yeah. And then we gotta work.

• 1:29:57Trevor Noah?

  And they were like, oh, we love it. I was like, wait, but we can get from anywhere. And they're like, yeah. And I was like, but you get from there. And they're like, yeah. And they said, wow, what, what would you wanna get? I said, uh, we should do Indian food one week. And that week, the amount of complaints and like.

• 1:30:13Speaker 02

  No, man.

• 1:30:14Trevor Noah?

  No, but like people were really like, yeah, no, can't do, we saw that.

• 1:30:18Speaker 02

  For real?

• 1:30:18Trevor Noah?

  Indian foods on the, we can't, we can't, we can't. Then, so we ordered, we had to order like a second meal for the people who couldn't, weren't gonna do the Indian food. But then everyone ate the Indian food. And then people came up to me and they're like, oh, I didn't know that this is what Indian food was. I've never.

• 1:30:32Speaker 01

  Yo, me neither. I was scared of it. It's, I was scared of it. I don't know what it is. It's cause like, it's like a, I don't know. I think, I think a lot of times too, like,

• 1:30:42Speaker 01

  a lot of Indian food, like it.

• 1:30:46Speaker 01

  It looks, it's like a lot of stewed shit, you know? So a lot of times you see it and you're like, I don't know, I can't.

• 1:30:54Trevor Noah?

  Can't identify the meat.

• 1:30:55Speaker 01

  I can't identify anything, you know what I mean?

• 1:30:57Trevor Noah?

  Like, I don't. Is it a potato?

• 1:30:58Speaker 01

  The smell of the meat. It's brown, but it's sweat, yellow, you're like, I don't know what's going on here.

• 1:31:05Trevor Noah?

  It's brown yellow.

• 1:31:06Speaker 01

  Yeah, like, what is this? It's so, so it's like, it's just so unlike a hamburger and a hot dog.

• 1:31:12Trevor Noah?

  Oh, man.

• 1:31:13Speaker 01

  So when I tried it, it was, my mind was blown, because I, you know, you start to think, well, damn, how much have I been just?

• 1:31:20Trevor Noah?

  Missing out.

• 1:31:20Speaker 01

  Missing out, yeah. And then especially like African, African food, or like Caribbean food.

• 1:31:27Trevor Noah?

  Now Caribbean is maybe the best because it's African meets Indian.

• 1:31:31Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 1:31:32Speaker 01

  See, I, but I, I could see the lineage is what I'm trying to say. So like, when you start to like, oh, okay, so I think about like soul food.

• 1:31:39Trevor Noah?

  Yes.

• 1:31:39Speaker 01

  And then I think of, okay, what's the West Indian version of that? Or what's like the Nigerian version or whatever it is? Then you're like, oh, I start to see that this is just our version of that with what we had here.

• 1:31:52Trevor Noah?

  Exactly, it's exactly the same thing.

• 1:31:53Speaker 01

  But I, it took me years to know that, but as a kid, I was like, no, sir, give me pepper steak, you know what I mean? Chicken nuggets. It was like real bland stuff. There was, there's an Indian spot that I think is like hacked to people, I guess, that really, really like Indian food. But like, that's their place, uh, Jim Kana?

• 1:32:09Trevor Noah?

  Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.

• 1:32:11Speaker 01

  Uh, it's one of my favorite restaurants. I, I go there all the, every time I'm in London, I go there. And I don't know, maybe y'all know some shit better, but as you smile.

• 1:32:20Trevor Noah?

  But I wanted to show, no, I wanted to show you how funny.

• 1:32:23Speaker 02

  Da Jiling Express?

• 1:32:24Speaker 01

  But Jim Kana is my favorite spot. And.

• 1:32:29Trevor Noah?

  Just like, next, next time you go there?

• 1:32:33Speaker 01

  You're the guy to ask.

• 1:32:34Trevor Noah?

  I'll tell you, but I'll tell you next time you go. I wanted to show you like.

• 1:32:36Speaker 01

  Okay.

• 1:32:36Trevor Noah?

  No, Jim Kana is there, it's up there. London has some of the best Indian food in the world.

• 1:32:40Speaker 01

  I've heard that.

• 1:32:41Trevor Noah?

  Yeah.

• 1:32:41Speaker 01

  I've heard that, but I'm late to everything. I'm late, this is all within like the last seven years.

• 1:32:47Trevor Noah?

  You have, you have become a, even in the time I've known you, I've watched you go from being a ve- very insular person to like slowly like exploring outside of your comfort zone.

• 1:32:58Speaker 01

  Because?

• 1:32:59Trevor Noah?

  Bidets was another one.

• 1:33:01Speaker 01

  Bidet, yo.

• 1:33:02Speaker 02

  You need to leave the block more.

• 1:33:06Speaker 02

  Some wise man gave me that advice. Never look back.

• 1:33:10Speaker 01

  You don't, yeah. I deserved that. I deserved that. Man, I feel so stupid wiping my ass without water for so, I've wasted so many years. So many years with a scratchy booty.

• 1:33:25Speaker 02

  Brett loves bidets.

• 1:33:26Speaker 01

  Yo, I got a bidet. I, I won't, I won't do it, I'll wait.

• 1:33:30Speaker 02

  I've never used a bidet.

• 1:33:31Trevor Noah?

  What?

• 1:33:32Speaker 02

  Brett was trying to convince me to use a bidet.

• 1:33:34Trevor Noah?

  Ah, my friend.

• 1:33:35Speaker 02

  There's new plumbing here, the bathroom.

• 1:33:36Speaker 01

  This is why you angry. This is why you angry.

• 1:33:41Speaker 02

  Because I'm trying to separate my hand from my ass.

• 1:33:43Trevor Noah?

  Let me tell you something, bro.

• 1:33:44Speaker 02

  Guys.

• 1:33:45Trevor Noah?

  And the technology, not just bidet, go Japanese bidet.

• 1:33:49Speaker 02

  What's the difference?

• 1:33:50Speaker 01

  Let me ask you a question.

• 1:33:51Speaker 02

  Yes, yes.

• 1:33:51Speaker 01

  If you got

• 1:33:54Speaker 01

  a little poop on your hand and I gave you a piece of tissue to clean it off? What would you say?

• 1:34:04Speaker 02

  This is me right there.

• 1:34:05Speaker 01

  Would you, would you say that that's sufficient for the day?

• 1:34:08Speaker 02

  No, obviously not.

• 1:34:09Speaker 01

  Okay. Now, now why would it be, why would you not introduce water?

• 1:34:14Speaker 02

  I'm gonna see poop in my hand.

• 1:34:15Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:34:16Speaker 02

  You see, my thing, my, ah, fuck.

• 1:34:19Speaker 01

  Anywhere, if you got poop anywhere on your body and I gave you a piece of tissue to clean it? Would that be sufficient?

• 1:34:27Speaker 02

  Okay, but Michael, I would need.

• 1:34:28Speaker 01

  On the middle of your back.

• 1:34:30Speaker 02

  I would need, I would need water and soap, right? So here's my thing, do bidets quit out soap as well?

• 1:34:36Speaker 01

  No, you need a hose. It's, it's literally.

• 1:34:39Speaker 02

  A hose.

• 1:34:40Speaker 01

  A hose.

• 1:34:40Speaker 02

  But no soap.

• 1:34:41Speaker 01

  You don't need soap.

• 1:34:43Speaker 02

  And then how do I dry my ass after the ass shower?

• 1:34:46Trevor Noah?

  So now, remember when I told you about Japanese bidets? Do you remember this? Allow me to introduce you to the Toto.

• 1:34:52Speaker 01

  That's right.

• 1:34:52Speaker 02

  You see what he's introducing you to instead of things that really matter?

• 1:34:55Speaker 01

  No, no, no, this matters, trust me. This gonna change your life. Change your life, brother.

• 1:35:00Speaker 02

  Someone's blowing air up your ass.

• 1:35:02Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:35:03Trevor Noah?

  My friend.

• 1:35:04Speaker 01

  Dries it. Oh, you, yeah, you bugging.

• 1:35:06Trevor Noah?

  My friend.

• 1:35:07Speaker 02

  Wait, wait, wait.

• 1:35:07Speaker 01

  Sometimes I use it when I don't even got a poop. I just, just go for a sprint. I go for a nice little sprint. I read a book. Oscillate.

• 1:35:19Speaker 02

  Oscillate?

• 1:35:20Speaker 01

  Oscillate, baby, oscillate. Yo, you gotta, you gotta, man.

• 1:35:25Speaker 02

  Never.

• 1:35:25Trevor Noah?

  Oh, my friend.

• 1:35:26Speaker 01

  Dude, you gotta, man.

• 1:35:27Trevor Noah?

  Oh, my friend, you're, yeah, you're, you're missing out on this.

• 1:35:29Speaker 01

  That's what's your problem. I can see it.

• 1:35:31Speaker 02

  So it hits su-su-su-su.

• 1:35:33Trevor Noah?

  Yeah.

• 1:35:33Speaker 02

  Su-su-su-su.

• 1:35:34Speaker 01

  It do whatever you, it do whatever you want.

• 1:35:36Trevor Noah?

  Yeah, and then it dries.

• 1:35:38Speaker 02

  And then you're out of there.

• 1:35:39Speaker 01

  Do you have a girlfriend?

• 1:35:41Speaker 02

  And then, so it sprays your ass and then you're out of there.

• 1:35:44Speaker 01

  Do you have a girlfriend?

• 1:35:45Speaker 02

  Does it, get to the ball, boy, just ass only.

• 1:35:47Speaker 01

  Do you date? Do you go on dates?

• 1:35:50Speaker 02

  I like dates.

• 1:35:50Speaker 01

  You like dates?

• 1:35:51Speaker 02

  Yeah, the fruit.

• 1:35:56Speaker 01

  I'm telling you, if you got somebody in your life and they use the ba- they wanna use your bathroom and you got you one of them?

• 1:36:04Speaker 02

  I'm in.

• 1:36:05Speaker 01

  She gonna be like, this guy's nice.

• 1:36:08Speaker 02

  Yeah?

• 1:36:09Speaker 01

  He knows how to take care of something delicate.

• 1:36:11Speaker 02

  Yeah?

• 1:36:12Speaker 01

  Yeah, man, absolutely, brother. Absolutely gonna look at you different.

• 1:36:17Speaker 02

  For real, for real.

• 1:36:18Speaker 01

  For real, for real. Listen, I don't have one book in my house. I got a Toto, they think I'm smart.

• 1:36:26Speaker 01

  I'm telling you, bro. I'm telling you. Change your life. Change your life, man.

• 1:36:33Speaker 02

  Oh, man.

• 1:36:36Speaker 01

  Beautiful.

• 1:36:36Trevor Noah?

  No, it's, it's, well, okay, okay. Not together though, but.

• 1:36:41Speaker 01

  I didn't know we grew, we grew up so similar though.

• 1:36:43Trevor Noah?

  Yeah.

• 1:36:44Speaker 01

  See, I honestly thought, I, I, I don't, I don't know why, but I honestly thought like, like, oh, man. See, I always think, I just, maybe it's like a grass greener type thing. Like, I, I thought, I thought you had like, you had a set out there.

• 1:36:57Trevor Noah?

  No.

• 1:36:58Speaker 01

  I ain't know.

• 1:36:59Trevor Noah?

  No, we, that's one of the things that I always felt.

• 1:37:04Trevor Noah?

  Sometimes it'd be in a sad way, but in a beautiful way as well. It was like the one thing that connected me to black people all over the world was I was like, we'll sound different because of our accents, we'll like, but I can talk to a guy who grew up in Brazil in the favelas and I can tell him stories from South Africa in the hood and he'll be like, wait, we did that.

• 1:37:24Speaker 01

  Ain't that something?

• 1:37:25Trevor Noah?

  And then I'll talk to a black person in New York and they'll be like, we did that. And then I'll talk to, and I'll talk to, it, it's, it's this fast, it's what you said about the soul food.

• 1:37:33Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:37:34Trevor Noah?

  Everyone took the culture and whatever they had and it was molded by the place they were in.

• 1:37:39Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 1:37:40Trevor Noah?

  But you can bring all the threads back and you can connect all the moments. The same thing, the, you know, everyone will have a different word for it, but the barbecue, the bri, that wherever people are cooking meat and then people are roasting each other and it's informal and the grandmother's cooking. And, and you, and the kids are all in the street and you can't be in the house, you gotta be outside. But then you better get back in the house at the right time and, you know what I mean? It's like, oh, and you, and you, you're playing and it's like a, you gotta watch out for the cars at the right time and the, all of this.

• 1:38:08Speaker 02

  Sharing clothes.

• 1:38:09Trevor Noah?

  Is a universal experience.

• 1:38:11Speaker 01

  See, this, this is deep, because like, I feel like as black Americans, just recently, one of the cool things about like the past ten, fifteen years is seeing black Americans connect with Africans.

• 1:38:24Trevor Noah?

  Yeah.

• 1:38:25Speaker 01

  Connect with black people in other, other countries.

• 1:38:28Trevor Noah?

  Right.

• 1:38:28Speaker 01

  Because we thought a whole other thing, you know what I mean?

• 1:38:34Trevor Noah?

  Yeah, yeah, yeah.

• 1:38:34Speaker 01

  And I think, I always liken it to like,

• 1:38:39Speaker 01

  when your father got kids on the other side of town and, you know, they mother don't like you and your mother don't like them. So y'all, all y'all know is what y'all don't like about each other.

• 1:38:49Trevor Noah?

  Yeah.

• 1:38:49Speaker 01

  But then you get older, you reconnect and y'all start to realize, oh, that's my brother. Like, yo, we got the same face, we, we kinda came from the same spot.

• 1:38:56Trevor Noah?

  Yeah.

• 1:38:57Speaker 01

  You still may have those, those hangups.

• 1:38:59Trevor Noah?

  Yeah.

• 1:39:00Speaker 01

  But you start to undo a lot of, a lot of the bullshit you've been told.

• 1:39:05Trevor Noah?

  That's exactly it.

• 1:39:06Speaker 01

  And I think like, you know, as kids for us, like African was like, that was like a bad, that was like a diss to say something.

• 1:39:14Trevor Noah?

  Yeah, booty scratcher, African booty scratcher. I remember when I saw that, it was like from a comedy, who said, was it Jamie who said it? It was funny, but I remember like, I remember going, wait, that's an insult?

• 1:39:24Speaker 01

  They would say that they.

• 1:39:25Trevor Noah?

  They'd be like, look at this African booty scratcher. And I was like, wait, why is that?

• 1:39:27Speaker 01

  That's why I'd be, you know, and, and that's the crazy thing too, because it's like, as, as black people, like, I don't even really get mad too much about like when white people kinda grow up with these crazy prejudices and stereotypes for us. I, I can't be mad because we was taught the same shit and we believed it too.

• 1:39:46Trevor Noah?

  Huh.

• 1:39:47Speaker 01

  You know what I'm saying? Like, we believe a lot of the bullshit that they told us too. We learn from the same places.

• 1:39:52Trevor Noah?

  Yeah, yeah, yeah.

• 1:39:53Speaker 01

  We watch the same movies, we watch the same show, we, we heard the same diss, so a lot of the stuff that's, that's kinda perpetuated uh, as stereotypes, we participated in it, so we can't be that mad because we got tricked too, you know? And I think it's cool now to see that those lines are starting to sort of fade and, and we're starting to kinda see how much we got in common.

• 1:40:16Trevor Noah?

  But that's what I like about your analogy though, is I think for a long time, people made the mistake of assuming because people shared the same dad, they were the same person.

• 1:40:24Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 1:40:25Trevor Noah?

  And it's like, no, Africans, even within Africa, and then African Americans, like, there are so many differences in a good way. But then there are so many commonalities in a good way. So it's like, don't flatten the people and be like, we're all the same. It's like, no, we have a lot in common.

• 1:40:42Speaker 02

  Hmm.

• 1:40:43Trevor Noah?

  And it's cool to bump into those things. And then we also have so many differences. It's also cool to bump into those things.

• 1:40:48Speaker 02

  Hmm.

• 1:40:48Trevor Noah?

  So I think that's what I've enjoyed as the evolution of it, is people going, oh, that's where we're, oh, okay, pig feet? Oh, yeah, I don't, that's.

• 1:40:56Speaker 01

  Yeah, but that's where it's fly though, because I could have the same conversation with somebody from Alabama. You know what I'm saying? Like, it, it ain't that far away.

• 1:41:04Trevor Noah?

  Yeah, yeah, yeah, right.

• 1:41:04Speaker 01

  It's like, you know, like, like, like I joke about this, but it's true. If I have kids now, when they grow up, they gonna grow up a lot more like white kids in the suburbs than they, than, than me. And we just, they right from me, you know what I'm saying? So like.

• 1:41:26Speaker 01

  Twenty thousand miles away, whatever the fuck, you know what I mean? Like in Africa, wherever. It's a lot, a lot can change. We could be the same exact person, but the dynamic of the environment that we're in makes us completely different.

• 1:41:38Trevor Noah?

  It's one of my, it's one of my favorite jokes you've told, by the way. Like, you know, when you hear a joke and it'll just make you chuckle whenever you feel like chuckling? Was Michael say, has a joke where he says, I just realized I grew up, you know, a certain way. And I'm, I'm just paraphrasing, you know, I grew up a certain way. And he's like, and my kid, if I have a kid, my kid is gonna live a much better life. They're gonna be well adjusted, they're gonna be good, they're gonna be this, you know, they're gonna like, they're gonna live a good life. They're gonna be a better person, blah, blah, blah. And he's like, I don't wanna see that.

• 1:42:10Speaker 01

  It's true, though. I don't know how to, I don't know how to process that. I don't know how to process that. But it's, but it's real, to me, like, it's, um, the, the joke is kind of from an insecurity of, like, I'm bringing up a kid.

• 1:42:29Trevor Noah?

  And envy as well.

• 1:42:30Speaker 01

  And this world, and envy, yeah. But also.

• 1:42:33Trevor Noah?

  You, you're the first generation.

• 1:42:35Speaker 01

  They're gonna be sharper than me in ways that I couldn't even fathom. You know, like, the way I grew up, we was, we was beaten to submission, you know what I'm saying? Like, we was kinda taught, like, you, you either go and work or you gonna die, you know, like that sort of thing. Like, it's a scary way. I don't know how to parent in a world where kids have everything, you know what I'm saying?

• 1:42:55Trevor Noah?

  Autonomy, agency, access.

• 1:42:57Speaker 01

  It's insane.

• 1:42:58Trevor Noah?

  Yeah.

• 1:42:59Speaker 02

  And the emotional intelligence of a well-adjusted kid will surpass an adult's way of thinking.

• 1:43:04Speaker 01

  Oh, we're dinosaurs.

• 1:43:05Speaker 02

  Any given time.

• 1:43:06Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:43:06Speaker 02

  Like, I've seen, sometimes my daughter will just let me think what I want to think without having to fight me. Cause she knows that it's, it is what it is. And then she'll be like, okay, then we'll just end there. Cause you know, in my world, you fight for your stake, like you said, beat the person to submission. They'll just be like, okay. Then you'll come around and be like, yeah, but that, that was wrong. They, and I'm like, you, you are fifteen or you're twelve or you're thirteen. You really can beat me logically because of, of how well-adjusted you are.

• 1:43:35Trevor Noah?

  Yeah.

• 1:43:35Speaker 02

  You realize that this is not gonna.

• 1:43:37Trevor Noah?

  But doesn't that make, cause I mean, you've been on the journey.

• 1:43:39Speaker 02

  Hmm.

• 1:43:40Trevor Noah?

  I wonder if, cause I understand what you're saying as an insecurity and a fear. Isn't there like a little spark of like, maybe like joy that comes into your head going like, it's, i- is there a little excitement that you have at the idea of them experiencing that? Like you are the person who is, just imagine this for a moment, I always think about this. To be the first of your generation, the first of not your generation, the first of your lineage.

• 1:44:04Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:44:05Trevor Noah?

  To break out of something in a good way. Man, just think about that for a moment.

• 1:44:11Speaker 01

  Yeah, but it, you know, it also just makes me think of like, what's that, uh, imposter syndrome?

• 1:44:18Trevor Noah?

  Yeah.

• 1:44:19Speaker 01

  Kind of thing, cause you know, you know, I think of like my grandmother, she's like washing floors for, with no headphones and shit, you know, like that was her, and she's a better person than anybody sitting here, you know what I mean?

• 1:44:33Trevor Noah?

  Right, right, right.

• 1:44:34Speaker 01

  Because I could do jokes, I get to learn what it's like to have water shoot up your butt after you poop, you know? She'll never know that joy, you know what I mean? Like that kind of thing, like you.

• 1:44:45Trevor Noah?

  Is your grand still alive?

• 1:44:46Speaker 01

  No, she's gone, she, she died of COVID.

• 1:44:49Trevor Noah?

  Oh, yes, I remember this, I'm sorry, yes.

• 1:44:51Speaker 01

  No, no, it's not your fault.

• 1:44:52Trevor Noah?

  No, no, but I remember this.

• 1:44:55Trevor Noah?

  No, I'm sorry for forgetting is what I'm saying.

• 1:44:58Speaker 01

  Uh, uh, this, this is how I process things.

• 1:45:02Speaker 01

  No, but she, you know, she passed away.

• 1:45:03Trevor Noah?

  The reason I say I'm sorry as well is be, again, it's cause I, I flashback to one of my favorite lines. Where he said, I refuse to believe this shit happened because some Chinese nigga ate a bat. And I remember, I couldn't believe, I was so sad listening to the rest of the story. And you said that line, and I remember going, I don't know what's happening right now in my body.

• 1:45:27Trevor Noah?

  Yo, you were like, I refuse.

• 1:45:29Speaker 01

  The worst food poisoning ever.

• 1:45:31Trevor Noah?

  You're like, I don't believe, you're like, I don't care about conspiracy theories. I'm not getting involved in politics, but I'm just letting you guys know. I refuse to believe that this, my world has collapsed. Because some nigga ate a bat.

• 1:45:45Speaker 01

  That's just a hard, that's a hard sell in my, in my household.

• 1:45:49Trevor Noah?

  So do you never, do you never think to yourself though, that like, uh, maybe I'm, I'm saying this because it's how I, I process things. I think of it as a, as a culmination.

• 1:45:57Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:45:58Trevor Noah?

  So I don't think of it as because I tell jokes or because I did this, I have this life. I go, man, my grandmother worked, my grandmother worked cleaning things and then working in a factory till her hands couldn't close anymore. Like my grandmother, like when she passed away, her hands were like basically like this, she couldn't like hold anything.

• 1:46:20Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:46:20Trevor Noah?

  You know? She literally worked her hands down to the bone.

• 1:46:24Speaker 01

  Literally.

• 1:46:25Trevor Noah?

  But like, when I think of the moments that we got to share, where at least she got to like see the family get better and she's, you, you know? A, she was appreciative of things that I took for granted.

• 1:46:39Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:46:40Trevor Noah?

  She didn't care for them.

• 1:46:43Trevor Noah?

  And like, for instance, freedom was the biggest one for her.

• 1:46:46Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:46:46Trevor Noah?

  Like for real, for real, for real. I would still talk about like, ah, what does it mean? You know, the family, now you see we got a house that's bare, you know, we always used to, we all used to sleep in one room. My grand is like, she's like, what? She's like, no, Trevor, I'm like, what do you most appreciate? She's like, oh, we are free. She says, oh, Trevor, you don't, you don't know what it was like. Then I'm like, what do you, what do you mean? I know it was bad, she's like, no, you don't know what it was like. She's like, oh, you, you can just walk now. You can just go outside.

• 1:47:11Speaker 01

  Walk now.

• 1:47:12Trevor Noah?

  Yeah, like, and I was like, damn, for her, she's really processing this from a different place. I'm looking at it sort of from an amenities and luxuries perspective. I'm like, look at what we can have.

• 1:47:25Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 1:47:26Trevor Noah?

  She's going, no, look at what we can be.

• 1:47:28Speaker 02

  Hmm.

• 1:47:29Trevor Noah?

  She's like, you could just go to a school and read and she's like, wow, you can walk in the streets now? And I was like, damn, so that's what she was grateful for?

• 1:47:39Speaker 01

  That's deep. I, I look at it sort of in the middle of that, cause I, I do think those two things are connected. I think like, first of all, I, I do deeply in my heart believe that black people are naturally socialist people. Cause we're just community people and, and our stake in the community, our standing in the community is kind of more important than anything. But I do think where money comes in is,

• 1:48:09Speaker 01

  I, I think it costs a lot of money to feel free for black people in this country.

• 1:48:15Trevor Noah?

  For me in particular. Everywhere, I think.

• 1:48:17Speaker 01

  Yeah, I, I could only speak for myself though, like I, like, I, I realize, I'm like, a lot of money, like I probably, hopefully won't spend the, my, the money that I've made in my lifetime. Cause I don't even want the stuff, you know, I don't even really want, like, how many cars do you want? How, how big of a house do you need? Like, it don't really cost a lot of money to be me. I wear a lot of hoodies and sneakers from the nineties, you know what I'm saying? Like, shit ain't that expensive. Uh, I do think though, there's an amount of money where I feel like they won't treat me like they did.

• 1:48:56Trevor Noah?

  Damn.

• 1:48:57Speaker 01

  You know what I mean? And, or I can go wherever I want, dressed how I want and, and they'll say, oh, that's Michael Che. You can't get in here with, oh, no, I know, yo, you come in, come on in. Like the freedom of just being able to live wherever I want or to, to eat wherever I want or to wear what I want or to not need permission, that's like what I need money for.

• 1:49:22Trevor Noah?

  Can I, can I challenge you?

• 1:49:24Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 1:49:24Trevor Noah?

  On one part of it, not, not to dismiss it?

• 1:49:26Speaker 01

  No, please.

• 1:49:27Trevor Noah?

  I think you're making a mistake of conflating the money with the familiarity of fame. I would argue that you would have exactly all of these same things.

• 1:49:38Speaker 01

  Mm-hmm.

• 1:49:39Trevor Noah?

  With fame, because what fame does is frame, fame bridges the gap of ignorance.

• 1:49:44Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:49:45Trevor Noah?

  What fame does is it allows somebody to see you apart from the collective, as you said in the beginning of our conversation, the numbers. So now with fame, you're not one of those black kids on the corner, you're not some sketchy guy with a hoodie, you're not, it's like, yeah, there was this guy, oh my God, it's Michael Che. You see that thing? Like, you, you, you go from being a blur in a lineup to being a face.

• 1:50:09Speaker 01

  Sure.

• 1:50:09Trevor Noah?

  Does that make sense?

• 1:50:10Speaker 01

  I think that absolutely makes sense.

• 1:50:12Trevor Noah?

  The money thing, I, no, the reason I say is because like, I think sometimes we conflate the money with the, the access or with the preference or with that. But it's like, no, it, to me, it's like, oh, I've seen black people with money who sort of don't like have that still.

• 1:50:27Speaker 01

  But I think a lot of times that's why black people wear their money.

• 1:50:32Trevor Noah?

  Oh, definitely.

• 1:50:33Speaker 01

  I think that's when you see like a, like a black guy that's not famous, he's got on forty necklaces.

• 1:50:39Trevor Noah?

  Yeah, yeah, yeah, definitely, no, a hundred percent.

• 1:50:41Speaker 01

  I think, I think it's sort of a.

• 1:50:43Trevor Noah?

  A signaling of your prominence, yes.

• 1:50:45Speaker 01

  I'm, you don't have to use the baton, officer, you know what I mean? It's that kind of thing, like, I, I, I make a lot of money, I'm okay. It's, it's sort of this, it's sort of this, um, signaling, like you said.

• 1:50:58Trevor Noah?

  No, no, I completely agree with that.

• 1:50:59Speaker 01

  I think, I think there's something to that, it's all, and, and, you know, again, I wish we lived in a world where everybody could just kind of experience that sort of freedom. It's not just because you have money, you know what I mean? Or not just because you're famous. I, I can't tell you how many times I've gone to a restaurant or a club or a bar or whatever and, you know, they're like, no. And then someone runs down and say, we are so sorry, we didn't know.

• 1:51:27Trevor Noah?

  We didn't know we were.

• 1:51:28Speaker 01

  Yeah, but.

• 1:51:28Trevor Noah?

  Yeah.

• 1:51:29Speaker 01

  That, I wouldn't feel comfortable there just be, you know, you want me there just because it's me. What about everybody else that looks like me?

• 1:51:36Trevor Noah?

  Yeah.

• 1:51:37Speaker 01

  Now I know who's in there, you know what I'm saying? And it ain't nobody that look like me, so this probably isn't the place for me. So it's, you know, it's that kind of thing where you, you know, there's this insecurity that nobody wants you here.

• 1:51:51Speaker 01

  You feel that way.

• 1:51:54Trevor Noah?

  Coming up on What Now. The gift is the success, but because of the success, you don't get to see each other. And there was a point where I was seeing this guy every week.

• 1:52:03Speaker 01

  That's right.

• 1:52:04Trevor Noah?

  Maybe twice a week at least. And then you bump into each other in Australia, oh, you here in Australia? Oh shit, you're in Canada? They'd be like, Michael's here, Michael's here?

• 1:52:11Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:52:12Trevor Noah?

  Then now you're like, well, I guess I'm getting drunk. And then it's like, like, oh, Hannibal's here, I guess we're not waking up tomorrow. Then it, it became this thing.

• 1:52:20Speaker 01

  My favorite is like when it would overlap at like the cellar, you would just see like, Trevor, Trevor, Trevor, Trevor, Trevor, on the lineups, you just, Trevor, Trevor, Che, Che, Che, Che. That's the best, man, you just like literally, sometimes it would align when we're just all in town.

• 1:52:35Trevor Noah?

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• 1:53:20Trevor Noah?

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• 1:54:05Trevor Noah?

  Terms apply. Cancel anytime.

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• 1:55:30Trevor Noah?

  Man, it's amazing how time moves and how, you know, your experiences shape you.

• 1:55:37Trevor Noah?

  Around the same time you were getting on to SNL

• 1:55:43Trevor Noah?

  was around the same time

• 1:55:45Speaker 01

  Almost exactly, yeah.

• 1:55:46Trevor Noah?

  I was getting on The Daily Show was around the same time Michael B. Jordan got Fantastic Four.

• 1:55:56Trevor Noah?

  And it was so funny. I remember like these random conversations. One I had was with, um, with Michael. And I said to him, I think it was at a Met Gala, one of those, some event. It was not the right place to have this conversation, but I just said to him, I was like, "Hey, man, how are you dealing with this?" I think because selfishly, I wanted to know.

• 1:56:12Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:56:13Trevor Noah?

  I was like, "How are you? I'm watching everyone say like, 'The torch can't be a black man.'" Like, "How are you dealing with? How are you?" And now, when you look at it now, people will be like, "Michael B. Jordan." No, no one was saying that. Now he seems obvious and now he's entrenched.

• 1:56:25Speaker 01

  Right.

• 1:56:26Trevor Noah?

  Now he's doing, you can do anything he wants.

• 1:56:28Speaker 01

  Literally one of the few movie stars left in the world.

• 1:56:31Trevor Noah?

  Yes, yeah. But there was a time, literally, where people were just like, "The Human Torch." It was as simple as that. "Human Torch is not a black guy." "Human Torch is not..." And I remember asking Michael, I said, "Yo, how do you, how do you feel? How are you dealing with this?" And he said something that was really, really powerful. He said, "I struggled with it. I doubted." He says, "And then one day, I just went like, 'If not me, then who?'"

• 1:56:55Trevor Noah?

  And he was like, "Yeah, if not me, then who? You don't want it to be me, but then, but then who? In all of these situations, if not me, then who?" So instead of me constantly going, "Ah, I don't belong here." It's like, "Okay, but then if not me, then who? Someone's gotta be in that space. Someone's gotta do stuff. Someone's gotta..." That stuck with me. And then the other one was for us. I mean, it was a similar thing. We both were in a position where we took over a beloved white man's spot. Yo.

• 1:57:23Trevor Noah?

  One of the only things that kept me going at The Daily Show was seeing the hate that you were getting.

• 1:57:28Speaker 01

  Glad somebody got some use out of it.

• 1:57:30Trevor Noah?

  No, you know why? Because like

• 1:57:32Speaker 01

  No, I know exactly what you're saying.

• 1:57:34Trevor Noah?

  Because then it made me realize, "Oh, it's not personal, Trevor."

• 1:57:36Speaker 01

  Yes, exactly.

• 1:57:38Trevor Noah?

  Because at first, at first, I was like, "It's about me." Then I was like, "No, it's not about you." Because they said like, "Oh, his accent, where he's from. He doesn't understand that he's this."

• 1:57:48Speaker 01

  How could you talk about American politics?

• 1:57:49Trevor Noah?

  All of it. They gave me a full list. And I believed it. Genuinely believed it. Then I read people's articles, comments, tweets, posts about Michael. And then I went, "Wait, but he's none of..."

• 1:58:02Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:58:03Trevor Noah?

  "Well, he's none of those things." And then they, but then they found more things. They're like, "Oh, you know, how are you gonna wear Jordans with a suit at the desk? And that's no respect for the... And look at the way he carries and those earrings. You're gonna..." "Does the SNL desk really need swag?" And they put the swag in like the quotes. You know, it's like, "Is swag the right thing for the desk?" And then they would always couch it with things. When Eddie Murphy came to SNL, you could argue that at that time, he was a... "But is Michael Che really the...?" And it's just, it was such an interesting... And by the way, just to be clear on this, this wasn't coming from like, quote-unquote, like, "The racists," if I can say it that way. You know, like the cliched racist, the way you always talk about them in America? No.

• 1:58:47Trevor Noah?

  It was from like, the like liberal spaces and the think PCs. Yeah. And I remember being like, and I would read these of Michael Che. And I was just like, "I, I, I'm sorry to say it, but it really gave me like a bit of peace." Because I was just like, "Oh, okay." And I remember even talking to you about it. And I'd be like, "Yo." Whenever I'd bump into you in the cell, I'd be like, "Yo, man, how you doing? How you feeling about this shit?" And we'd commiserate and we'd talk. And he'd be like, "How you doing?" It's funny because you always thought I had a harder job. You're like, "Man, you're replacing John."

• 1:59:20Speaker 01

  Yeah. I was like, "No, but you're doing..." I still stand by it. I remember one time I was like, I like confessed how jealous I was of how much time you get on a subject to kind of dive in and do that. And he was like, "I fucking love that you just get to do a joke and move the fuck on." Like, literally, like, you get to kind of do that. That would be so much more fun. It's like a weird thing. Again, you're just like looking at, you know, on the other side of the fence. You're like, "Wow, that, that looks like the move." And

• 1:59:48Trevor Noah?

  Yeah, but that, but that thing, you don't understand how you being there helped me be there.

• 1:59:54Speaker 01

  And vice versa.

• 1:59:55Trevor Noah?

  Like, like genuinely, genuinely, genuinely. On a Saturday, I'm not working. I'll get to sit and watch Michael Che. And I'll be like, just like in my own little world, it would be me and Kiboka. And we're just like, we were religiously on, we can up there, we'd watch that with you. And we were just like, "Damn." "Michael's doing it."

• 2:00:11Speaker 01

  That's the dope part too, is like, if we're both doing it, then you don't have to do all things and I don't have to do all things. Like, so the more of us doing it, being in our niche and our corners, we don't have to do everything.

• 2:00:25Trevor Noah?

  Yeah, and you don't have to do all things as well.

• 2:00:27Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 2:00:28Trevor Noah?

  You don't have to be the perfect one. You don't have to be the, yeah.

• 2:00:30Speaker 01

  When, when you would cover something, the way you would cover it in the detail, you would go through every subject, I could do a slight joke now. You know what I mean?

• 2:00:40Trevor Noah?

  Yeah, I never thought of it like that.

• 2:00:41Speaker 01

  It's been done. You know what I mean? It's been covered. We can be punchy, you know what I mean? Or whatever the fuck. It could be different. And it, and you, now you have both. So it's, it's kind of dope.

• 2:00:50Trevor Noah?

  I never thought of it like that.

• 2:00:50Speaker 01

  Yeah, that's, that's

• 2:00:51Trevor Noah?

  When there is one, they have to be everything.

• 2:00:53Speaker 01

  They have to be everything.

• 2:00:54Trevor Noah?

  And then you don't get to be like just you.

• 2:00:59Trevor Noah?

  Damn.

• 2:01:00Speaker 01

  Yeah. That's why

• 2:01:01Trevor Noah?

  And now, now, I, now I can't, I can't... There are people I've seen who cannot see any other possible reality other than you being at that desk.

• 2:01:12Speaker 01

  Yeah, yeah.

• 2:01:12Trevor Noah?

  Do you, do you, do you sometimes think about how crazy that is now? How you have become the default?

• 2:01:17Speaker 01

  I don't know.

• 2:01:18Trevor Noah?

  No, in a beautiful way, though.

• 2:01:19Speaker 01

  Well, in this, you gotta understand, for me, it's different for me because I'm at that show all the time. And I've seen, I mean, I've seen Kate McKinnon leave. I've, you know, you, you see stars, superstars leave, the motherfuckers that you can't imagine leaving, leaving. And so it's like, "All right, it'll move on. It'll be something else." But I think

• 2:01:44Trevor Noah?

  No, but what I mean though is, imagine your, your trajectory and your journey. I wonder if you ever consider the fact that, not for everyone, but for many outsiders, not speaking for SNL, because they're the ones who picked you. But you came in as the outsider, the not-belonger, the doesn't have the polish, doesn't have the this, doesn't have... And now, I watch you, when you and like Colin do joke swap? Come on, man.

• 2:02:10Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 2:02:11Trevor Noah?

  Like, you, you are so default now.

• 2:02:14Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 2:02:14Trevor Noah?

  Do, do you ever think about how crazy that is?

• 2:02:16Speaker 01

  It is, it's crazy when it's told to me. But to us, it's always like, you always just, I don't know, it's, it's never sort of a sense of, "Yeah, we are The Rock." You know what I mean? Like, it's never, it's never gonna feel like that. But when people say like, "Oh, that's the steady part of the show," or when, you know, they kind of, we end up being like sort of an afterthought sometimes. Like, sometimes we don't even get to rehearse because they spend so much time working on the other stuff that they're like, "Oh, yeah, you guys just roll in." I'm like, "We're gonna just roll in? We're the only ones that don't get to rehearse? And we just gotta kind of go out there." Like, that happens. That's strange.

• 2:02:55Trevor Noah?

  Okay.

• 2:02:56Speaker 01

  That's, that's when it's like, hard to understand. That's when, that's when you feel it. But it happens. Yeah, it's interesting.

• 2:03:05Trevor Noah?

  You, uh, but you still, you've still maintained your love of stand-up. Was that, is that, is that hard for you? Or like, do you have to make a conscious effort to go out and do stand-up? Or does stand-up pull you?

• 2:03:13Speaker 01

  Stand-up, I get the urge a lot, but, um...

• 2:03:20Speaker 01

  Trying to get this special done this year, like the past year. Uh, I've, I've been doing it a lot more and it's, you know, it's just something about the speed of stand, stand up, man, like. My brain never feels more alive than being on a stage.

• 2:03:39Trevor Noah?

  There's nothing like it.

• 2:03:40Speaker 01

  Or killing and bombing, you know what I mean? Like just sort of that. Whole thing, just the whole thing of it. It's harder than it was when I was younger for some reason. Um, I think it's because.

• 2:03:56Speaker 01

  You know, like when you're younger and you're doing stand up, it's like, who cares? Like this could work, this could not work, whatever. But like, at this point in your career, they got a babysitter.

• 2:04:10Trevor Noah?

  What did I say to you the other night?

• 2:04:12Speaker 01

  They got it.

• 2:04:12Trevor Noah?

  Only job that gets exponentially harder. What did I say to you?

• 2:04:15Speaker 01

  They got their hair done.

• 2:04:16Trevor Noah?

  Stand up is the only job that get exponentially harder.

• 2:04:18Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 2:04:19Trevor Noah?

  It's, it's a, it's a strange, like I watch musicians. The longer they go, the easier it gets. I'm not saying performing is easy. But now you have your catalog. You have two albums, three albums that, and the people already come in knowing you're gonna do that album and, and there's like a.

• 2:04:36Speaker 01

  Coming for that.

• 2:04:37Trevor Noah?

  Yeah, now the, the hard part is doing the show and putting on a great show. So I'm not minimizing it.

• 2:04:41Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 2:04:41Trevor Noah?

  But the curve is, is so different, I find with, with comedy, it's easier in the beginning. Nobody knows you, nobody expects anything, nobody, you can surprise them, you can, you know?

• 2:04:52Speaker 01

  Best featuring was the sweetest part. Oh my God, it was the, it was like a surprise. It was like literally. You was the toy in the Cracker Jack box. They bought the Cracker Jacks, you was the toy and they're like, what a whistle, is that? That you was better than the deadline, you know, all you get all that shit, that you're fifteen, twenty minutes, man, you smoke them. They can't believe you came out of nowhere. Now they're like, let's see what he got for an hour.

• 2:05:20Trevor Noah?

  And they compare you to you.

• 2:05:23Speaker 01

  They compare you, man, that other thing you did.

• 2:05:26Trevor Noah?

  That was still, you, that was still your, that was way funnier. I mean, this was cool.

• 2:05:29Speaker 01

  This is cool.

• 2:05:30Trevor Noah?

  But come on.

• 2:05:31Speaker 01

  Hey, man, why you ain't do that thing about the thing? Yeah, brother. No, you one hundred percent. You're, you're trying to top yourself.

• 2:05:40Trevor Noah?

  Yeah.

• 2:05:40Speaker 01

  You're, you're, it, it's, it's tough, but it's, if it wasn't tough. Would it be as exciting?

• 2:05:47Trevor Noah?

  I don't think it would be as rewarding, man.

• 2:05:49Speaker 01

  You know what I mean? Yeah.

• 2:05:50Trevor Noah?

  I don't think it was rewarding.

• 2:05:51Speaker 01

  When you, when you nail it, ain't nothing like it. Ain't nothing like it, brother.

• 2:05:57Trevor Noah?

  Ooh.

• 2:05:59Trevor Noah?

  Oh man, I'm glad. This has been great, man.

• 2:06:01Speaker 01

  This is so much fun.

• 2:06:02Trevor Noah?

  This is so much fun.

• 2:06:03Speaker 01

  I can't, you know, I think this is the first time we've ever done anything like this.

• 2:06:06Trevor Noah?

  Ever.

• 2:06:07Speaker 01

  Like I've never even did The Daily Show.

• 2:06:09Trevor Noah?

  No, never, never. We've never, we've never done anything.

• 2:06:12Speaker 01

  This is bonkers.

• 2:06:13Trevor Noah?

  Recorded anything. Yeah, but I was telling Eugene though.

• 2:06:16Speaker 01

  Yeah, yeah.

• 2:06:17Trevor Noah?

  Genuinely, I, I look at you as one of my like. It's, it's just like the people who possess a special place in my heart because I go. Where our journey began and how it began. Like I know you as Michael Che before you were like the Michael Che. And I was a fan of your comedy before like everyone was a fan of the comedy.

• 2:06:37Speaker 01

  Saying this the other week, yeah.

• 2:06:38Trevor Noah?

  And, and, and then the gift and the curse of it is you, me, Hannibal, you know, Ronnie, all these people. Then we don't get to see each other.

• 2:06:46Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 2:06:47Trevor Noah?

  Because ironically, the gift is the success, but because of the success, you don't get to see each other. There was a point where I was seeing this guy. Every week.

• 2:06:54Speaker 01

  That's right.

• 2:06:55Trevor Noah?

  Maybe twice a week at least. And then you bump into each other in Australia. Oh, you here in Australia? Oh shit, you're in Canada. They'd be like, Michael's here. Michael's here?

• 2:07:02Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 2:07:03Trevor Noah?

  Then now you're like, well, I guess I'm getting drunk. And then it's like, like, well, Hannibal's here. I guess we're not waking up tomorrow. Then it, it became this thing.

• 2:07:10Speaker 01

  My favorite is like when it would overlap at like the cellar. You would just see like. Trevor, Trevor, Trevor, Trevor, Trevor, on the lineups, you just Trevor, Che, Che, Che, Che, Che. That's the best, man. You just like literally. Sometimes it would align when we're just all in town working.

• 2:07:24Trevor Noah?

  And you all on the table, you're sitting there together.

• 2:07:27Speaker 01

  Yeah, man.

• 2:07:27Trevor Noah?

  And it just became like, like, not even forced is the wrong word, but it became like forced community in a good way. So you go, oh shit, I'm gonna spend the whole night with Michael Che.

• 2:07:36Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 2:07:37Trevor Noah?

  He's gonna jump on, come on, then I'm gonna go down and come, then we have to wait for the next show. And then we go down, come up and we, that's why I was saying to SD, I was like, I'm both happy and sad that the cellar has so many rooms.

• 2:07:47Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 2:07:48Trevor Noah?

  Happy for them, happy for comedy, cause more comedians can work, happy for the audience, cause more people can see a show. But sad, cause we spend less time at that table.

• 2:07:56Speaker 01

  Ships at the, ships in the night, we just passing by, yeah, yeah. Remember that time it was me, you and Dave just at the cellar on, on stage for like an hour? That was fucking crazy. It was, it'd be like that we're just, and nobody planned it, nobody called, nobody, we just ended up there, you know, and it, and it's just.

• 2:08:14Trevor Noah?

  Yeah, but what I don't like about, this is, this is my, my pet peeve with Dave Chappelle. And I tell him this. Dave Chappelle refuses to accept the idea that I'm a fan of his comedy. He refuses that idea.

• 2:08:26Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 2:08:26Trevor Noah?

  I, you know me.

• 2:08:27Speaker 01

  Yeah, yeah.

• 2:08:28Trevor Noah?

  I love watching stand up comedy. I love, there's comedians where I go, if they say Michael Che's performing and I can watch Michael Che.

• 2:08:34Speaker 01

  You will.

• 2:08:35Trevor Noah?

  I'm gonna perform, I'm gonna watch Michael Che, I'm not going to perform. Dave will go, Dave's in town. Yo, Dave's in town, you gotta come. I'm gonna come. And then I'm in the audience and then Dave goes, yo, I heard Trevor know it.

• 2:08:47Speaker 01

  Where's Trevor?

• 2:08:51Trevor Noah?

  He's like, I'm here to watch you, my friend.

• 2:08:54Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 2:08:54Trevor Noah?

  Michael, come, Trevor, come.

• 2:08:58Trevor Noah?

  You, I'm like, Dave, I'm, ah, man, I just, I just came to watch you. And he's like, no, man, why don't you wanna get on stage? I'm like, Dave, I, I know it's hard for you to maybe believe or accept. I, I do not only wish for stage time in life.

• 2:09:13Speaker 01

  Dave is a different kinda animal, man.

• 2:09:15Trevor Noah?

  But I wanna watch you. I want to watch you sitting in my chair and unable to participate in any way, shape or form. But he just, Dave is like a kid who wants to play with all of his friends in his favorite thing and that thing is comedy. And that's what I always tell him is I go, thank you for always reminding me what comedy is and how it's supposed to be.

• 2:09:36Speaker 01

  I think it's, it's, it's like, um, it's like a sparring with him, you know, like to me. I, I've never talked to him about it, but I, but I do believe it keeps him sharp, like. When he knows you got a, a fast blade, he knows you got a sharp blade. He wants to be on that stage with you. Let's go.

• 2:09:55Trevor Noah?

  Yeah.

• 2:09:55Speaker 01

  He, he likes it, you know, like to him, it's like, it's like, um.

• 2:10:00Trevor Noah?

  Steel, sharp and steel.

• 2:10:01Speaker 01

  Steel, sharp and steel, but it's, it's like, it's like a, a jazz club, you know, where all of the best musicians are there. And we, let's see what everybody got and let's, let's answer each other. Let's see who's really quick, you know, like I think it keeps him sharp. I think is. It's the, it's the most fun and, you know, there's times where I'm like, I don't wanna get on stage, you know, I don't wanna do this shit, man. Cause he can, he can do that all the time.

• 2:10:25Trevor Noah?

  Yeah.

• 2:10:25Speaker 01

  And I gotta remind myself, like, these are special times, you know, that we're not gonna always be able to do this just because of the way time works. And I'm gonna look back at every single one of those times and, and wish for them. So it's, it's, it's dope that he takes pictures of everything, like the way he documents.

• 2:10:46Trevor Noah?

  He's, he, he's gonna have a museum of comedy that no one.

• 2:10:49Speaker 01

  He already does pretty much, you know what I mean? Like, he kinda already does.

• 2:10:53Trevor Noah?

  We will all look and go, we are grateful that he.

• 2:10:56Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 2:10:57Trevor Noah?

  Memorialized all of us.

• 2:10:59Speaker 01

  Seriously.

• 2:11:00Trevor Noah?

  Like in ways that you, you just take for granted, man.

• 2:11:02Speaker 01

  Yeah, you, you can't take it for granted and we do, but. Yeah, those nights, you, I remember, I, I'll never forget them and, um. Yeah, I think it just, I think, I think he just likes the, I think he just likes the, the, the sparring of it.

• 2:11:19Trevor Noah?

  Yeah, he does. No, he definitely does.

• 2:11:20Speaker 01

  The gamesmanship, you know? And it makes me like it too, you know, like I like to do it on the road and, you know, you just have some friends like, let's just go out there and just fuck around and see. Just see, cause something special might happen.

• 2:11:31Trevor Noah?

  Yeah, yeah, yeah, right, right. I, I don't like it at all. At all. No, I told Dave, I'm like, no, man, I don't, I want to watch the show.

• 2:11:39Speaker 01

  That was fun though.

• 2:11:40Trevor Noah?

  For you. When I'm, when I'm watching a show, I'm watching a show. My brain has a very different, like, you know me. Man, when I'm going to do comedy.

• 2:11:51Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 2:11:52Trevor Noah?

  My brain has to be in a very different place.

• 2:11:54Speaker 01

  But when you're, when you're dropping in, like let's say you're just working on it.

• 2:11:57Trevor Noah?

  I don't drop in.

• 2:11:58Speaker 01

  Nine in South Africa?

• 2:11:59Trevor Noah?

  I don't drop in anywhere.

• 2:12:00Speaker 01

  Really?

• 2:12:01Trevor Noah?

  Yeah.

• 2:12:03Trevor Noah?

  Val and Liz and everyone at the comedy set will still say to me, you wanna drop? I'm like, no, I don't want to drop in. I never want to drop in. I do not.

• 2:12:10Speaker 01

  I never knew that.

• 2:12:11Trevor Noah?

  No, I will plan a show, book a show, do a show. I, I, I'm not just gonna pop in and. This thing is so like, you see what you said about how you feel about comedy even in the beginning? It, it, to me, dropping in would be like I'm a boxer and then I just pop in. To a random place where they're having a fight and be like, yo, let me do two rounds. No. I have to warm up backstage. My body and my mind have to be in a certain place. I, and I actually like that feeling. I like knowing that I'm gonna box today. I, I don't just wanna jump in the ring and just tip, tip for a little bit. No, no, no, I don't want that. Don't do that to me. So I love just bumping into comedy and watching it, but I do not, I never wanna jump on. He'll tell you, never, never, never.

• 2:12:52Speaker 01

  Wow, I think.

• 2:12:53Trevor Noah?

  Yo, you wanna jump on? No, I do not.

• 2:12:54Speaker 01

  Sometimes I like it just to feel. Just to see that I need it, you know? Like if it, if I go up there and I got nothing, it makes me wanna write. And if I go up there and I got something, it makes me wanna write. You know, like it kinda like.

• 2:13:10Trevor Noah?

  Okay.

• 2:13:10Speaker 01

  It's my motivation to give a shit.

• 2:13:12Trevor Noah?

  Makes you feel something.

• 2:13:13Speaker 01

  You know what I mean? Yeah, it lets me know where I'm at. And then I'm like, oh, all right, I gotta, I gotta get going.

• 2:13:18Trevor Noah?

  Okay, I'm on the road or I'm working so much in stand up that I don't need that as a.

• 2:13:23Speaker 01

  So what do you start with?

• 2:13:25Trevor Noah?

  What do you mean?

• 2:13:26Speaker 01

  Like when you're on, like, okay, I'm gonna work on an hour, I'm working on that, I got some dates. What are you starting with? What's that first hour comprised of?

• 2:13:35Trevor Noah?

  So I always have. Multiple hours running concurrently in my head.

• 2:13:41Speaker 01

  Hmm.

• 2:13:42Trevor Noah?

  That's what I always, always, always have. And then I think Eugene and I are similar in that like, if we haven't been on stage for a while. And you'll correct me if I'm wrong, we'll maybe like go to something we just like know.

• 2:13:55Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 2:13:55Trevor Noah?

  But then very quickly, it's back to generation mode. It's like, okay, now it's all the stuff we don't know.

• 2:14:01Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 2:14:01Trevor Noah?

  So what I'm trying to do is I get on stage and I go. Do I feel funny? Do if I don't, do the things where you know they're funny and you you like

• 2:14:12Speaker 01

  Jump start yourself.

• 2:14:13Trevor Noah?

  Yeah, jump start yourself.

• 2:14:14Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 2:14:14Trevor Noah?

  And then when I'm in that mode now, it's like, okay, okay, I'm going now. Now I'll I'll do everything. But I I have, I've always had concurrent hours in my head. And then what happened is COVID created such a backlog that I still haven't caught up.

• 2:14:31Speaker 01

  Wow.

• 2:14:32Trevor Noah?

  So so what I do now is, there are some ideas that I'm like working on or pondering or thinking about where I still haven't like figured them out, or the time isn't right, or the so I I I'll I'll just be like, and then and then I think the zeitgeist matches you in a moment. You're like, oh, okay, now it's time. I I can say this and I can put this out.

• 2:14:51Speaker 01

  Yeah, yeah, I call it the junkyard. I'll just have like, just pieces in the junkyard and it'll it'll it'll make sense.

• 2:14:58Trevor Noah?

  That's exactly it. Yeah.

• 2:15:00Speaker 01

  A doc in the Back to the Future, just got a bunch of pieces to shit.

• 2:15:04Trevor Noah?

  There you go.

• 2:15:04Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 2:15:05Trevor Noah?

  That's exactly how I feel like it. That's that's that's how I feel about it. That's how that's what I enjoy. So I I don't ever think of like, I'm trying to build this hour.

• 2:15:14Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 2:15:14Trevor Noah?

  You know?

• 2:15:15Speaker 01

  Hmm.

• 2:15:16Trevor Noah?

  Yeah, because I'm like, what is this hour? What is this? It's like, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. Let me, let me generate, let me generate, let me generate, let me generate. Every country, I'll do a different set, every place, every world, every like.

• 2:15:27Speaker 01

  That's crazy.

• 2:15:30Trevor Noah?

  But that's how we we've always genuinely, him and I are very similar in like our sort of comedy vibe and philosophy.

• 2:15:36Speaker 01

  That was one of the things that I that I noticed about like, like overseas, like when I would do those festivals, international festivals, I noticed like, guys not from America would have these sort of, like, they would launch into like stories.

• 2:15:58Trevor Noah?

  Yeah. Yeah, yeah.

• 2:16:00Speaker 01

  And I just could not figure out how you could even do that. I think it's got a lot to do with the audiences are like, willing to listen. I think like, American audiences are usually, our attention span is like, you gotta be fast, you gotta talk to them, you gotta like, you know what I mean? Like, you gotta like, pop, pop, pop, pop, pop, pop. Then you earn the right to tell a story. But like, I would watch like, a guy come out and he's starting a story, no last of ten minutes, but the laugh that he gets after the ten minutes is huge because they were engaged.

• 2:16:29Trevor Noah?

  Yeah.

• 2:16:29Speaker 01

  You know what I'm saying?

• 2:16:30Trevor Noah?

  Took him on a journey.

• 2:16:31Speaker 01

  They were so, they're they're much better sort of, I don't know, presenters in that way. But I feel like in in a in in New York, it's like, you gotta be funny ten times in ten minutes at least before you could even start thinking about being a telling a fucking story. You know what I mean? Like, are you kidding me? You gonna start with a story, nigga? We don't even know who you are. You know what I mean? Like, really? Like, it's just like, like even for me, like, I'll be on stage for my audience. If I don't get a laugh in about three minutes, they like.

• 2:17:05Trevor Noah?

  Three minutes? Yeah, no, that's crazy to us. Three minutes? That's crazy.

• 2:17:09Speaker 01

  Three minutes?

• 2:17:10Trevor Noah?

  Yeah, that's crazy to us.

• 2:17:11Speaker 01

  No man. Three minutes. The first line preferably should be something. In five minutes, they'll give you three, they'll give you about five charm minutes. You could be charming.

• 2:17:21Trevor Noah?

  Okay.

• 2:17:21Speaker 01

  Uh, happy to be here.

• 2:17:22Trevor Noah?

  Let you get away with it, yeah. Yeah, but remember this, though.

• 2:17:24Speaker 01

  Three minutes, hmm.

• 2:17:26Trevor Noah?

  These guys had no space, no time, like, think about how many people were doing comedy. Think of how big comedy has been. Think about, we were the opposite. You guys were like, hey, we'll give you three minutes.

• 2:17:39Speaker 01

  Mm hmm.

• 2:17:39Trevor Noah?

  I remember that when I first came to America and then I was at the Laugh Factory in in in L A.

• 2:17:46Speaker 01

  Oh, L A, yeah, yeah, yeah.

• 2:17:46Trevor Noah?

  Yeah, with chocolate sundaes. And then they were like, all right, like after many weeks, they're like, okay, you can go up. And I was like, okay, finally, I can go up. And then they're like, you you're doing three. I was like, what, three spots? And they're like, no, three minutes.

• 2:17:58Speaker 01

  Oh, yeah, yeah. It's that the new jack.

• 2:18:00Trevor Noah?

  Then I then I was like, my friend, what do you, I was like, what do you say in three minutes?

• 2:18:05Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 2:18:06Trevor Noah?

  They're like, well, you better figure, you better be funny.

• 2:18:08Speaker 01

  You gotta be funny.

• 2:18:08Trevor Noah?

  And that was it. They're like, you got three minutes. Then I realized, no, because there's such a saturation of talent and potential, like, people are waiting.

• 2:18:17Speaker 01

  Hmm.

• 2:18:17Trevor Noah?

  They're like, we don't have time to see if you're good or funny or anything. But on our side of the world, there were so few comedians, and comedy is such a like rare thing in that way in that way, that people were going, there's two comedians. This audience is expecting a one hour, one and a half hour show.

• 2:18:35Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 2:18:36Trevor Noah?

  So can you do forty five? And you're like, I just started last week.

• 2:18:44Trevor Noah?

  You remember this.

• 2:18:45Speaker 01

  A hundred percent.

• 2:18:45Trevor Noah?

  They'll be like, for forty five, you're like, I just started last week. They're like, yeah, just

• 2:18:49Speaker 01

  Just do, man.

• 2:18:50Trevor Noah?

  Just keep going. And you'd be like, looking at your what? Like, sure, okay, I guess that's seven. Um, um, what else?

• 2:18:57Speaker 01

  That's crazy.

• 2:18:58Trevor Noah?

  There'll be times where they're like, yeah, just keep going. You're like, hit forty five, they're like. You're trying to get off, we had the opposite, we had the opposite of a life.

• 2:19:04Speaker 01

  I know there's comedians now.

• 2:19:06Trevor Noah?

  People be like, go back.

• 2:19:07Speaker 01

  I I know there's comedians now with with like, maybe five to ten years experience, that's probably never done a full hour.

• 2:19:14Trevor Noah?

  No way.

• 2:19:14Speaker 01

  Easy.

• 2:19:15Trevor Noah?

  Yeah.

• 2:19:15Speaker 01

  Absolutely.

• 2:19:16Trevor Noah?

  Yeah.

• 2:19:17Speaker 01

  In their life. In their life, they've never done a full hour. Hell, yeah. Where are you gonna do it?

• 2:19:25Trevor Noah?

  This is what I've been telling you.

• 2:19:26Speaker 01

  Yeah, I know, it makes sense. Where are you gonna do it?

• 2:19:30Trevor Noah?

  Yeah, I know. I always say like, America taught me about jokes, you know, in a fantastic way. The the two and a half, three years that I spent on the road here.

• 2:19:37Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 2:19:38Trevor Noah?

  You know, doing the flappers, comedy, you know, the the random, the B clubs, not, I was never in an improv or any of those. I was always in the second tier club in the city.

• 2:19:47Speaker 01

  Is that right?

• 2:19:48Trevor Noah?

  Yeah, I just never got into the the the top clubs. So I would always like, let's say like Neil Brennan, I bump into, he would be at the improv and then I would be at the the whatever, the hokey poke. And I was, I was always that guy at that club.

• 2:20:02Speaker 01

  The hokey poke.

• 2:20:03Trevor Noah?

  Yeah, it was always that kind of, you know, it was always that kind of name. And then, um, that taught me like, okay, because when I first came to America, I came with our thing. I remember my first line, man. Chris Spencer, you know, Chris Spencer.

• 2:20:16Speaker 01

  Of course.

• 2:20:17Trevor Noah?

  I'll never forget this, man. I I I go to, um, the Comedy Store, had another show, Tripping on Tuesdays, I think it was called. So you, I go there, they're like, okay, if you're gonna go on, great. Get on stage.

• 2:20:31Speaker 01

  And tell me you greeted.

• 2:20:33Trevor Noah?

  Good evening.

• 2:20:33Speaker 01

  Ah, man.

• 2:20:35Trevor Noah?

  Greeted, my man. I greeted, because where where we from, we greet.

• 2:20:42Speaker 01

  Good evening.

• 2:20:43Trevor Noah?

  Greeted, all black audience, every, and every comedian who came on before me, the band and the music would play, they would come on, they would like, yeah, yeah, come on, come on, I don't cut the, cut it, give me that shit back. Well, man, what y'all know, eh, man. And then they'd go in and they'd start hitting it, you know, and they'd be funny. And then I came on, and now I'm at the mic, waiting, I'm like, when is the music gonna stop? I'm waiting.

• 2:21:05Speaker 01

  I'm here, yeah.

• 2:21:05Trevor Noah?

  I'm just standing there at the microphone. These guys are probably like, yo, is he not gonna acknowledge the music or anything?

• 2:21:12Trevor Noah?

  It's like, good evening. Yo, the crowd went, I don't know if there's an opposite, like, anti-silence.

• 2:21:18Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 2:21:19Trevor Noah?

  It wasn't just silence, it was like a vacuum.

• 2:21:21Speaker 01

  Yeah, yeah.

• 2:21:22Trevor Noah?

  Good evening. Nobody responded. Then I went, good evening. And then a few people were like, yeah, good evening, but like,

• 2:21:32Trevor Noah?

  like, what, are you making an announcement?

• 2:21:34Speaker 01

  Good evening, officer.

• 2:21:35Trevor Noah?

  Yeah. And then I went and I started doing my thing, started doing. Silence and confusion filtered through the whole set and then I was done. Nobody hated me. Nobody liked me. It was just confusion. It was just, what was this?

• 2:21:53Speaker 01

  Yeah, what happened here?

• 2:21:54Trevor Noah?

  And Chris Spencer, I'll never forget, came up to me afterwards and he was like, hey, man, he's like, where you from? I was like, from South Africa. And he's like, oh, so for real? I I thought it was like a bit or something. Like, I thought you were like, nigga from Brooklyn and you were putting on it. I was like, no, I'm from South Africa. He's like, man. And he's like, man, you got, you gotta know how we experiencing. You're like, and they came backstage and he was like, good evening.

• 2:22:15Trevor Noah?

  And and and then Chris was just like, yo, you you you gotta understand the time and the space and who the audience is and how we perceive you and what they expect of you. And it was, he was one of the, my custodians, I always think in life, and he helped me. And then, and as I would grow, I was like, oh, America had this thing of like, yo, come on, let's go. You get on stage, I would always be like offended, because Americans used to come to South Africa, and then they would get on stage, wouldn't greet.

• 2:22:38Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 2:22:39Trevor Noah?

  They just walk and be like, give it up for Michael Che. And then the American would come on and just be like, so the other day, I'm looking at my wife, right? My wife's in the kitchen. And I'm like, ah, ah, my man. Who's your wife? Who are you? Who is your family? You can't just start a story like that, my friend. My wife, no, my brother, no, good evening. So you don't see us. Ah, this guy just comes out and starts telling us about his thing. You guys ever notice how, ah, ah, we noticed how you didn't greet us, my man. Don't worry about noticing. So then I learned that in America.

• 2:23:09Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 2:23:10Trevor Noah?

  But then when I went to those fest, Ireland, you know, doing shows in Dublin, doing shows in Scotland, all of that, they were almost like, comedians were like, Trevor, why you? It feels like you're you're you're Russian, like you're trying to like, get to a joke. And I was like, what do you mean? They were, you can, you know, you can take a bit of time, explain the story a bit more. I was like, take a bit of time? They're like, yeah. Their comedy festivals, even the like opening sort of spots, was like fifteen minutes.

• 2:23:37Speaker 01

  That's an opening spot.

• 2:23:38Trevor Noah?

  Yeah, at a comedy, yeah. So so I liked that, like, I always say Edinburgh taught me how to like, share an idea with an audience and think through it. And and Dublin taught me how to think of a story and its purpose and what I'm doing. America taught me about jokes.

• 2:23:53Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 2:23:54Trevor Noah?

  South Africa taught me about like, like vibe and like the the juice inside of something, the texture. It's like, no, it's not just about what you're saying. It's like, yeah, man, are you?

• 2:24:03Speaker 01

  Why are you saying it?

• 2:24:04Trevor Noah?

  Like, you know what I mean?

• 2:24:05Speaker 01

  When are you saying it?

• 2:24:06Trevor Noah?

  There's things, so, yeah, so that thing is, have you done comedy in South Africa?

• 2:24:10Speaker 01

  Never. I still never been.

• 2:24:12Trevor Noah?

  Come on, Michael Che.

• 2:24:12Speaker 01

  Still never been. You know, every time I talk to you, I feel like, we get to a point where you're like, you gotta come to South Africa.

• 2:24:19Trevor Noah?

  We gotta get you off the block, Michael. You're killing us, man.

• 2:24:23Speaker 01

  I gotta go, they got to win, we there?

• 2:24:24Trevor Noah?

  We're gonna do it. Nah, man, this this is dope. We're gonna do it. Let's do it.

• 2:24:27Speaker 01

  I'mma, you always say that.

• 2:24:28Trevor Noah?

  We, but we've got to do it, though. It says you're a very busy man, but you have, what, three months off on, how long is your break? Normally?

• 2:24:34Speaker 01

  We're done. Well, we got three months off in the summer.

• 2:24:37Trevor Noah?

  That's what I mean.

• 2:24:37Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 2:24:38Trevor Noah?

  So it's three months?

• 2:24:39Speaker 01

  We're like June, July, August.

• 2:24:40Trevor Noah?

  Just one trip?

• 2:24:41Speaker 01

  Yeah. I would love to.

• 2:24:43Trevor Noah?

  Just one trip?

• 2:24:44Speaker 01

  I would love to do it.

• 2:24:45Trevor Noah?

  The place is beautiful, so even if you hate the comedy, you'll love the place?

• 2:24:49Speaker 01

  I've only heard really, really cool things.

• 2:24:52Trevor Noah?

  You'll never look back.

• 2:24:53Speaker 01

  Word?

• 2:24:54Trevor Noah?

  Yo, yo, I don't even think you understand. Our audiences are some of the best in the world.

• 2:24:59Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 2:25:00Trevor Noah?

  The vibe that you'll feel in the room, the like.

• 2:25:03Speaker 01

  Yeah?

• 2:25:04Trevor Noah?

  Yeah.

• 2:25:05Speaker 01

  I don't know.

• 2:25:06Trevor Noah?

  I'm I'm so jealous of him. Yeah.

• 2:25:08Speaker 01

  I would die to go to South Africa. There's so many South African girls in my, uh, algorithm on Instagram.

• 2:25:17Speaker 01

  My whole algorithm is just, I now, that's how I learn flags is my algorithm.

• 2:25:25Speaker 01

  I learn flags like a motherfucker. South African flag is popping on my, just, I'm telling you. I'm sure, I'll show you. I'll show you, brother, oof.

• 2:25:37Speaker 01

  Some women out there. Oh my god.

• 2:25:42Speaker 01

  I'll go, let's go. I'm down. I'm saying yes. I'm saying yes.

• 2:25:48Trevor Noah?

  You know what? I'm just picturing Michael Che on his phone. And he's just like, Grenada, Trinidad, South Africa.

• 2:25:57Speaker 01

  No, South Africa, crazy.

• 2:25:59Trevor Noah?

  Just the idea that he's learning about the world.

• 2:26:01Speaker 01

  I didn't know. I started looking at the flags. I was like, damn, this Dominican girl, crazy.

• 2:26:07Trevor Noah?

  Oh man.

• 2:26:07Speaker 01

  This Dominican girl crazy too. Oh man.

• 2:26:12Trevor Noah?

  I started looking at the flags.

• 2:26:14Speaker 01

  I look at the flags.

• 2:26:16Trevor Noah?

  Nah, this is dope, man. Michael Che, thank you.

• 2:26:18Speaker 01

  Yo, thank you, brother. I can't believe it's been this long, Trevor.

• 2:26:21Trevor Noah?

  It's been too long.

• 2:26:21Speaker 01

  For real.

• 2:26:22Trevor Noah?

  We've got to make it less long.

• 2:26:27Trevor 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 Parduth. Thank you so much for listening. Join me next week for another episode of What Now.