Tracee Ellis Ross Isn’t Waiting to Be Chosen

Tracee Ellis Ross has spent a lifetime forging an independent identity. She regales Trevor and Eugene with stories of growing up in the embrace of her iconic mother, Diana Ross, building her own beauty empire with Pattern and starring on Broadway. Together, the three candidly dissect the societal pressures women face to be "chosen," the racial biases of '90s television, and how to reclaim your agency in work and love. Packed to the brim with lessons on life, love, and picking the perfect heirloom tomato, this episode is a masterclass in belonging to yourself.

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

• 0:04Trevor Noah?

  I know when you have posted a bikini picture.

• 0:09Trevor Noah?

  I know, but I am not even on Instagram in that way. I know. Because I will just get texts.

• 0:21Trevor Noah?

  Varying degrees of Tracy.

• 0:24Speaker 01

  Oh my god, that is.

• 0:26Trevor Noah?

  Tracy, damn. Yo, bro, Tracy. Then I know, okay, Tracy has just posted something. First, let me go and see what was posted so that I can understand.

• 0:35Speaker 01

  I'm dying right now.

• 0:36Trevor Noah?

  Because with other people, it would be they've said or done something in public that has brought, you know what I mean, great shame to them and their lineage. That's what most people would be texting me about somebody. Yo, did you see what your man said? I'm like, oh, what happened?

• 0:51Speaker 01

  I'm dying so hard.

• 0:52Trevor Noah?

  With you, I know every year you are in Europe somewhere. A picture has been posted.

• 0:57Speaker 01

  Oh my god.

• 0:58Trevor Noah?

  In a pool, on a boat, in the ocean. And then I must now field dating requests from people.

• 1:05Speaker 01

  But is there no one that's been worthy?

• 1:07Trevor Noah?

  Tracy, would I not have sent them to you if I thought they were worthy?

• 1:10Speaker 01

  Okay, okay, okay. Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes.

• 1:12Trevor Noah?

  Half of them are married?

• 1:14Speaker 01

  Yes, oh god!

• 1:15Trevor Noah?

  No, but in their defense, they're not saying like a real, but they're just expressing it to me as the person. You know what I mean?

• 1:21Speaker 02

  What do they expect you to do?

• 1:22Speaker 01

  They just need to tell someone and they can't tell their wife.

• 1:24Trevor Noah?

  They just need to tell the person who's there. I don't know why.

• 1:26Speaker 02

  Oh, they need to tell.

• 1:27Trevor Noah?

  Because they're going like, you know her. Then I'm like, yes. Then they're like, yo. Then I'm like, okay, so what do you want me to do with that? Why are you doing this to me?

• 1:37Trevor Noah?

  Why are you doing this to me?

• 1:51Trevor Noah?

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• 2:26Speaker 03

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• 2:55Trevor Noah?

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• 3:39Trevor Noah?

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• 4:14Speaker 02

  Oh, Tracy, wait, wait, wait. I want to share this with someone who'll understand, because Trevor won't. I discovered heirloom tomatoes the other day.

• 4:22Speaker 01

  What color?

• 4:23Speaker 02

  Red ones.

• 4:24Speaker 01

  The yellow ones are the best.

• 4:26Speaker 02

  Yellow ones are the best?

• 4:27Speaker 01

  Yeah, I say this because I can't eat tomatoes because they're too acidic.

• 4:32Speaker 02

  Okay.

• 4:32Speaker 01

  And I love tomatoes. And heirloom tomato season in the summer, sometimes I fucking do it anyway. I'm like, fuck it, you know what? I'm just gonna have acid reflux, and I'm doing it anyway! But the yellow ones are the least amount of acidity. And they're sweeter.

• 4:47Speaker 02

  Sweeter than the red?

• 4:48Speaker 01

  Yes, yes. Unbelievable. And so you just discovered them?

• 4:54Speaker 02

  Just discovered them.

• 4:57Speaker 02

  I mean.

• 4:59Speaker 01

  It's a wonderful time to be.

• 5:00Trevor Noah?

  What were you doing that you discovered them?

• 5:01Speaker 02

  I went to the park, to the market, the Washington Square Market.

• 5:04Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 5:05Speaker 02

  And then there were average tomatoes, then I was like, I just got paid.

• 5:12Speaker 01

  No.

• 5:15Speaker 01

  No. Did you go cash your paycheck and bring all your cash for them? By the way, at the farmer's market now, do they take Apple Pay?

• 5:23Speaker 02

  Yeah, they do, they do.

• 5:24Speaker 01

  Okay, good.

• 5:25Speaker 02

  So I had the confidence of knowing that I could afford it, so.

• 5:30Speaker 02

  I went.

• 5:30Trevor Noah?

  I just got paid.

• 5:32Speaker 01

  That was wonderful. It was a connection that we were not expressing.

• 5:35Speaker 02

  I never thought anyone would say that about tomatoes.

• 5:36Speaker 01

  That's what I mean. He didn't say.

• 5:38Trevor Noah?

  So I was looking for tomatoes, and then I realized I just got paid.

• 5:41Speaker 02

  Because in all the weeks I've been going, depending on my financial situation, at first, when I didn't have enough money, I would go to where the old people are. So the stalls where the old people shop, then I'd be like, these are bargains, $2 for this. And then the more my financial situation changed, I went to where the young people were.

• 5:59Trevor Noah?

  How rapidly is your financial situation changing?

• 6:01Speaker 02

  In a week.

• 6:03Trevor Noah?

  We need to talk about how you're living your life, Eugene.

• 6:05Speaker 01

  First of all, we need to talk about what is happening here.

• 6:08Trevor Noah?

  We need to talk about how you're living your life, Eugene.

• 6:10Speaker 01

  Okay, but.

• 6:11Trevor Noah?

  First week.

• 6:11Speaker 01

  First of all, I have no need to laugh at that, but.

• 6:14Trevor Noah?

  Thank you, Tracy.

• 6:15Speaker 01

  No, no, it's not funny. But it was unexpected was what the giggle came from. Because it was farmer's market, tomatoes, and financial situation.

• 6:25Trevor Noah?

  That's what I'm saying.

• 6:26Speaker 01

  Which was not expected combo.

• 6:27Speaker 02

  How do you think I felt?

• 6:29Speaker 01

  Obviously.

• 6:29Speaker 02

  I'm the one who made the realization as I was standing by the stalls.

• 6:32Speaker 01

  Now, who called you into the heirloom tomato stall?

• 6:35Speaker 02

  First week, it was where the old people were, and I realized they were bargain shopping.

• 6:40Speaker 01

  And they didn't do heirloom tomatoes?

• 6:41Speaker 02

  No, there was no heirloom tomatoes, just normal Roma tomatoes. You know, salad tomatoes. And then I went to the other side of the market where.

• 6:48Speaker 01

  Where younger people are.

• 6:49Speaker 02

  Yeah, where you have to weigh stuff. Because I realized that's where the is. If you have to weigh stuff.

• 6:55Trevor Noah?

  Then it costs more.

• 6:56Speaker 02

  Yes. Also because you don't weigh where you've just taken the stuff. They mess with your confidence.

• 7:03Speaker 01

  There's a whole thing going on in this farmer's market situation that I'm very unaware of.

• 7:07Speaker 02

  And they play on your ego as well. Because once you've taken three heirloom tomatoes in a bag, waited in a queue, and then went to go pay.

• 7:13Speaker 01

  Oh, then you're not gonna take one out.

• 7:15Trevor Noah?

  Yeah, you have to buy them.

• 7:16Speaker 02

  Yeah, when I discovered how much they were, I was like, thank god, I'm doing well in life.

• 7:20Trevor Noah?

  You have to buy them.

• 7:21Speaker 02

  Then I took them home, and my life changed. I was never the same again.

• 7:25Speaker 01

  Everyone really wants to look up how you define heirloom tomato. Like, I know what they are, but like.

• 7:30Speaker 02

  The more grotesque, the better.

• 7:31Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 7:32Trevor Noah?

  Oh, you mean like the farmers?

• 7:34Speaker 01

  By the way, that's the same with nectarines.

• 7:36Speaker 02

  Why do they look like that?

• 7:37Speaker 01

  Nectarines and stone fruits.

• 7:39Speaker 02

  Yes.

• 7:40Speaker 01

  When they are more blemished and they have texture on the skin, they're sweeter. It's the ones that are pretty.

• 7:45Speaker 02

  The more patina, the better.

• 7:46Speaker 01

  Yeah. Heirloom.

• 7:48Trevor Noah?

  Isn't that the general issue with American fruit? Is they've made it look beautiful, and they've done that at the expense of the fruit actually being delicious.

• 7:57Speaker 02

  No way.

• 7:58Trevor Noah?

  Yeah, all American produce looks good.

• 8:00Speaker 01

  Yeah, because, and it doesn't taste like anything.

• 8:02Trevor Noah?

  Yeah, but in Europe, the produce, it's not about looking good.

• 8:04Speaker 01

  No, it tastes good.

• 8:05Trevor Noah?

  Yeah, you're in Europe like every year, aren't you?

• 8:07Speaker 01

  Yeah, and I grew up in Europe.

• 8:09Speaker 02

  Oh, wait, tell me more.

• 8:10Speaker 01

  So I moved to Paris, and then I went to boarding school in Switzerland.

• 8:15Trevor Noah?

  Wait, what?

• 8:16Speaker 01

  You didn't know all this?

• 8:16Trevor Noah?

  I didn't know all of this.

• 8:17Speaker 01

  And in season two of Solo Travel, I go back to my boarding school after 40 years, and it hasn't changed. It was like walking in a time machine. But wait, hold on, this is really interesting. Hang on.

• 8:28Speaker 01

  Heirloom tomatoes.

• 8:29Trevor Noah?

  I like how she cut out of her life to go to heirloom tomatoes.

• 8:32Speaker 01

  It's important.

• 8:33Trevor Noah?

  Wait, this is really interesting. The heirloom tomato.

• 8:38Speaker 01

  Old varieties grown from seeds passed down through generations. Prized for their diverse, complex flavors and colors. Unlike modern hybrids, they are used in many, yeah, that's so interesting.

• 8:51Trevor Noah?

  That felt like somebody was reading our, like, 23 and Me.

• 8:55Speaker 01

  Yeah, I thought that was interesting.

• 8:57Trevor Noah?

  That's like how they were talking about us.

• 8:59Speaker 01

  They are known for rich, complex, and sometimes sweet or tangy.

• 9:04Trevor Noah?

  Yeah, this sounds like a zodiac. I'm loving this.

• 9:06Speaker 01

  Yes, exactly.

• 9:07Trevor Noah?

  Keep reading.

• 9:07Speaker 01

  Open, pollinated, and grown from seeds, saved and replanted year after year. And here's the kicker.

• 9:15Speaker 02

  The grandmother, the mother.

• 9:16Speaker 01

  Not genetically modified.

• 9:18Speaker 02

  Yes.

• 9:18Speaker 01

  That's the key.

• 9:19Trevor Noah?

  So that's the key.

• 9:20Speaker 01

  Yeah, and that's why.

• 9:21Speaker 02

  I've heard that's what they do with pumpkins, with like competition-winning pumpkins.

• 9:25Speaker 01

  Oh, yeah.

• 9:26Speaker 02

  They take the mother.

• 9:27Trevor Noah?

  What competition are you winning?

• 9:29Speaker 02

  Pumpkin, pumpkin-growing competitions.

• 9:31Speaker 01

  You know, you're not in them.

• 9:33Speaker 02

  You know, they have them here in the Old County?

• 9:34Trevor Noah?

  I just like how sometimes people will say something, and then you just have to keep it moving as if things are normal. You know, like I've noticed that in pumpkin-growing competitions, or pumpkin, you just said pumpkin competitions, in fact.

• 9:45Speaker 02

  You don't know this pumpkin?

• 9:46Speaker 01

  Yes, but he just doesn't understand why you know about them.

• 9:49Trevor Noah?

  Yeah, but you said it. This is what Eugene does.

• 9:52Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 9:53Trevor Noah?

  Thank you. I'm glad Tracy's here now. Because now I have somebody who can at least see my point of view. You said. Yeah, it's the same thing as in pumpkin competitions.

• 10:02Speaker 01

  As if you're in them.

• 10:03Trevor Noah?

  Thank you.

• 10:05Speaker 01

  Have you ever been in a pumpkin-growing competition?

• 10:07Speaker 02

  No, but I've seen them on YouTube.

• 10:09Speaker 01

  Okay.

• 10:10Trevor Noah?

  This is what I'm, you have like very strange.

• 10:12Speaker 01

  Your hope is to go to one?

• 10:13Trevor Noah?

  Yeah.

• 10:14Speaker 01

  Okay.

• 10:14Trevor Noah?

  But wait, Tracy, I want to go back. I want to go back.

• 10:16Speaker 01

  Yes, okay.

• 10:16Trevor Noah?

  I want to go back with you.

• 10:17Speaker 01

  To growing up.

• 10:18Trevor Noah?

  I didn't know, I didn't know, yeah, you, you. I want to go back.

• 10:23Trevor Noah?

  What do you mean you grew up in Europe?

• 10:24Speaker 01

  Okay, so I was born in Los Angeles.

• 10:28Trevor Noah?

  Yeah.

• 10:28Speaker 01

  And then my mom moved to New York to do the whiz.

• 10:32Trevor Noah?

  Your mom Diana Ross?

• 10:33Speaker 01

  Correct.

• 10:33Trevor Noah?

  Okay.

• 10:34Speaker 01

  That is who that is.

• 10:34Trevor Noah?

  Just so, in case you don't know.

• 10:36Speaker 01

  Yes, and so we were here nineteen seventy nine.

• 10:40Trevor Noah?

  Yes.

• 10:41Speaker 01

  And then in about seventh grade, my mom was moving to Paris to do a movie that didn't happen.

• 10:48Trevor Noah?

  Okay.

• 10:48Speaker 01

  But we moved to Paris and shortly before that she had met my stepfather and they were dating. And he had three kids, my mom had three kids. And we moved into this beautiful apartment in Paris on the avenue Montaigne, right three doors down from the Plaza Antoinette Hotel.

• 11:04Trevor Noah?

  Damn.

• 11:05Speaker 01

  There's some really wonderful stories about that.

• 11:07Trevor Noah?

  Damn.

• 11:07Speaker 01

  And then we went to boarding school in Switzerland. My stepdad's kids were there and I went to a boarding school called Le Rosey, which is in Arles, which is just outside of Geneva.

• 11:21Trevor Noah?

  Do you parlez français?

• 11:22Speaker 01

  Oui, je parle français.

• 11:22Trevor Noah?

  Oh, okay, yeah, because the way you're saying all those words. I was like, you better speak French.

• 11:28Trevor Noah?

  You better speak French if you don't.

• 11:29Speaker 02

  Rol, rol, rol. Avenue de Montagne.

• 11:33Speaker 01

  Avenue Montagne.

• 11:34Speaker 02

  Avenue de Montagne.

• 11:35Speaker 01

  Stade.

• 11:37Speaker 02

  Avenue.

• 11:37Speaker 01

  En Suisse.

• 11:38Trevor Noah?

  You see?

• 11:39Speaker 01

  So, yeah, so we then went to boarding school. What do you want me to do?

• 11:45Trevor Noah?

  What's wrong?

• 11:48Speaker 01

  When you say down like this?

• 11:49Trevor Noah?

  Oh, yeah, yeah, oh, what is it? Who, me?

• 11:53Speaker 01

  No, it's okay, like this? Yeah, yeah. Okay, great, perfect. I moved it when I coughed.

• 11:58Trevor Noah?

  I like how you moved it again, then have to do the work again.

• 12:00Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 12:01Trevor Noah?

  But technique, flawless.

• 12:02Speaker 02

  Yeah, yeah, you are.

• 12:03Speaker 01

  Yeah, I don't want to cough.

• 12:03Trevor Noah?

  You can tell people who've like worked in the business for a while.

• 12:06Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 12:06Trevor Noah?

  Like a professional singer. And I know.

• 12:10Speaker 01

  And then they go, no.

• 12:11Trevor Noah?

  That you will know.

• 12:13Speaker 01

  Or when the note gets big, you go, ah.

• 12:15Trevor Noah?

  Oh, is that what they're doing?

• 12:16Speaker 01

  Otherwise you're ha. Yeah.

• 12:19Trevor Noah?

  But I just loved your technique there. You know, and like haggard, but like a performer who's been in the game forever.

• 12:25Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 12:25Trevor Noah?

  And they have like the autopilot of the performance part.

• 12:27Speaker 02

  Yeah, yeah.

• 12:28Trevor Noah?

  You know, so they're on stage.

• 12:29Speaker 02

  Those old Vegas videos.

• 12:29Trevor Noah?

  Body is falling apart. They get like wheeled out onto the stage and you basically hit play and they just know how to do it. And they just get out there and it's, and then it's like silky smooth. And I dream of a world where.

• 12:45Trevor Noah?

  You find me.

• 12:48Speaker 01

  Yep.

• 12:48Trevor Noah?

  And the audience has no clue this person is dying in front of them. No clue whatsoever.

• 12:53Speaker 02

  Do that again, but mute the cough.

• 12:55Trevor Noah?

  What do you mean?

• 12:55Speaker 02

  So the cough has to happen, but no sound.

• 12:56Trevor Noah?

  Oh, yeah, yeah. And you find me again.

• 13:01Speaker 01

  Exactly, no, yeah, yeah.

• 13:02Trevor Noah?

  Dreaming of you.

• 13:05Speaker 01

  That's dreaming of you.

• 13:06Trevor Noah?

  That's like, you did it so flawlessly. Um, okay, wait, so, so.

• 13:11Speaker 01

  Boarding school in Switzerland.

• 13:12Trevor Noah?

  How old are you, boarding school?

• 13:13Speaker 01

  Uh, thirteen and fourteen.

• 13:15Trevor Noah?

  Did you, did you like boarding school? I'm always torn on boarding school, like some people say they love it.

• 13:19Speaker 01

  I found it really terrifying. I mean, especially I'd lived at home with my sisters and my family. I mean, my sisters were there.

• 13:26Speaker 02

  How old were you?

• 13:27Speaker 01

  Twelve, thirteen.

• 13:28Speaker 02

  Perfect age to get rid of someone.

• 13:31Speaker 01

  My mom went to London with my two, her, my step, my youngest stepsister and my youngest sister. Me and my older sister Rhonda and Katinka, my stepsister, we were all at Rosey. There for a year and a half and then when my mom got pregnant with my brother Ross and Evan, we moved home to the States. But my stepdad always had a place in Switzerland, so for the next ten years, every summer, Christmas, we were back in Switzerland. So Switzerland was a huge part of my growing up, but also those are such formative years. Um, twelve to fourteen.

• 14:06Speaker 02

  Perfect age to get rid of someone.

• 14:07Speaker 01

  He keeps saying this. And yet, and yet you might, you mean because that's a tough age. Do you have kids?

• 14:14Speaker 02

  Uh, yeah.

• 14:14Speaker 01

  How many, how many kids and how old?

• 14:18Speaker 01

  Jesus, how many does he have? Oh my God, that was like, what happened there?

• 14:23Speaker 02

  There was one in Bangladesh.

• 14:25Speaker 01

  No, no, no, no, no. How many kids do you have?

• 14:28Speaker 02

  My daughter's nineteen now.

• 14:29Speaker 01

  Nineteen, okay.

• 14:29Speaker 02

  I mean, turning eighteen, sorry.

• 14:30Speaker 01

  So you made it through the tough years.

• 14:32Speaker 02

  Yeah, yeah, but I did contemplate boarding school at thirteen.

• 14:35Speaker 01

  You contemplated shipping her off.

• 14:36Speaker 02

  I just, I just didn't have the guts to do it.

• 14:38Speaker 01

  Hmm, but you did it.

• 14:39Speaker 02

  You know what would help you ship off your child?

• 14:41Speaker 01

  Hmm.

• 14:41Speaker 02

  A new spouse.

• 14:44Speaker 02

  Because alone it makes.

• 14:50Speaker 02

  If I had one of those, you'd have been long gone.

• 14:53Speaker 01

  I mean, the thing that's ridiculous, what's so ridiculous is my mom had a new spouse.

• 15:00Speaker 01

  I've never thought of it from that perspective. But you did, you kind of, you put it in a, you know, different frame, maybe, I don't know. I loved it, it changed my life.

• 15:10Trevor Noah?

  Did it, did it?

• 15:11Speaker 01

  Yeah, it changed my perspective. I became a child of the world, not an American.

• 15:15Trevor Noah?

  Hmm, oh.

• 15:16Speaker 01

  And that completely changed everything. Also, I learned another language. I was living with and around kids from all over the world, like everywhere. So I became a child of the world and you, I realized, I mean, there's a thing as Americans that you're very American. There's that sense of patriotism that is unlike anywhere else in the world. And slightly bizarre, you know, um, when you go elsewhere, you realize like it's like, what is it for? That sense of that kind of patriotism.

• 15:45Trevor Noah?

  Right.

• 15:45Speaker 01

  Um, because I'm, I love the connection of being a human. And when you live elsewhere, you really go, God, we're all the same.

• 15:53Trevor Noah?

  Mm-hmm. Yeah, I think, I think sometimes America's patriotism is a little adversarial. And I find, I find in other places, and it's also because America's been so big and so dominant for so long, that it, it, it, it's sort of, it makes sense, you know, not in a negative way, but it's like, it's very like America versus.

• 16:11Speaker 01

  Correct.

• 16:11Trevor Noah?

  America, you know what I mean?

• 16:12Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 16:12Trevor Noah?

  But most people in the world who come from most countries, you just come from your country.

• 16:16Speaker 01

  You just come from your country.

• 16:17Trevor Noah?

  That's it.

• 16:18Speaker 01

  And I mean, listen, I am, depends on how you want to define patriotism. I mean, I love being an American, I love America, you know what I mean? Absolutely, but there's a different thing that I, if you only have lived here, you haven't experienced that other thing of like, yeah, this is where I'm from and these are the special things that we do here, this is part of our culture. And so I just had a sense and an ability to kind of learn the world in that way and also to be comfortable traveling. Like from a young age, my sister and I were on planes by ourselves, we would take the train.

• 16:48Trevor Noah?

  Europe is like that.

• 16:49Speaker 01

  Europe is like that, you know, you, we would take the train from the Geneva Airport to Arles and, and just, you know, you're just figuring it out, you like do that, but there's a sense, um, and that was, that's very European to do.

• 17:02Trevor Noah?

  Yeah, you see teenagers on trains there all the time.

• 17:05Speaker 01

  All the time.

• 17:06Trevor Noah?

  Little crews of backpacks.

• 17:07Speaker 01

  Yep.

• 17:07Trevor Noah?

  Just rolling, hopping on a train, going to Italy and then Belgium and then the Netherlands and then like, it's, it's, huh. I never thought of that as a.

• 17:15Speaker 01

  It's really nice.

• 17:15Trevor Noah?

  As a, yeah, as a way of like, it's interesting because America's quote unquote very free, but I'll say more restrictive than any other country when it comes to its parenting.

• 17:24Speaker 01

  Yes, I, that, that I agree.

• 17:26Trevor Noah?

  Kids are not free in America.

• 17:27Speaker 02

  How so?

• 17:29Speaker 01

  Well.

• 17:29Trevor Noah?

  You, you've walked around New York for like a few weeks now?

• 17:32Speaker 02

  Mm-hmm.

• 17:32Trevor Noah?

  Have you, have you, have you seen the, the kids in the streets?

• 17:36Speaker 01

  Tethered to each other?

• 17:38Trevor Noah?

  Literally.

• 17:39Speaker 02

  Yeah, yeah.

• 17:39Trevor Noah?

  Have you seen them like walk?

• 17:40Speaker 02

  The teachers are shouting and.

• 17:41Trevor Noah?

  Like, uh, like, um.

• 17:43Speaker 01

  Like on a leash.

• 17:43Trevor Noah?

  Like a prison gang, you know, you know, in, like.

• 17:45Speaker 02

  The chain gang.

• 17:46Trevor Noah?

  In, uh, what's that, what's that movie?

• 17:47Speaker 01

  That's, that's a bit, it, it.

• 17:49Trevor Noah?

  What's the Nicolas Cage movie where they're all, uh, it's the famous one.

• 17:54Speaker 02

  Con Air.

• 17:54Trevor Noah?

  Con Air, thank you, Con Air, yeah, yeah, there's that scene where they're all like walking to.

• 17:57Speaker 01

  It's not quite like that, but yes, but it is.

• 18:00Trevor Noah?

  It is like that though.

• 18:00Speaker 02

  They were rescuing me.

• 18:01Speaker 01

  They don't have, it's not chains, but it's leash.

• 18:03Trevor Noah?

  Yeah, but it's like mega, it's like a whole squad of leash.

• 18:06Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 18:06Trevor Noah?

  Go to a park.

• 18:07Speaker 01

  Yep.

• 18:07Speaker 02

  Yes.

• 18:07Trevor Noah?

  No kid is playing without their parents.

• 18:09Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 18:10Trevor Noah?

  Kids don't just like walk home alone.

• 18:12Speaker 01

  No, I mean.

• 18:12Trevor Noah?

  There's like a, there's, I'm just saying, there's a, there's a different level of like.

• 18:16Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 18:16Trevor Noah?

  Clamp down on kid.

• 18:17Speaker 01

  Yeah, I mean, I also think now with safety and security, I mean, growing up, you know, latchkey kids and all of this. And New York is different, being in a city is different, growing up in, in New York versus being in the suburbs, but, um, but yeah, I mean, it, it did change my life. It's kind of.

• 18:31Trevor Noah?

  Who was your first friend in boarding school? Like who's the first like international friend you got?

• 18:37Speaker 01

  Well, there was Fabio and Fabiola, who were.

• 18:39Trevor Noah?

  Fabio and Fabiola?

• 18:40Speaker 01

  They were twins, Brazilian. There were, um, my best friend was Mohamed Al Kureji and Khalid Al Zubedhi. And I dated, I mean, when you say dated at that age, like what did we do? I don't know, we kissed on the lips once or something, maybe kissed on the cheek, but Juan Jose Puana Fernando Luis.

• 18:57Trevor Noah?

  Damn.

• 18:58Speaker 01

  Who we called Puti. But my two best friends were Mohamed Al Kureji and, um, and Khalid Al Zubedhi. And Mohamed and I are still friends.

• 19:07Trevor Noah?

  Till this day.

• 19:08Speaker 01

  Mm-hmm. And I dated, um, also, I say this, it's so funny to me, but I was in love with him, um, this guy Moody Al Fayad.

• 19:15Speaker 02

  You've ended two relationships now.

• 19:17Speaker 01

  Yeah, just, I was just tossing him, tossing him, tossing him.

• 19:21Speaker 02

  Tracee Ellis Ross.

• 19:22Speaker 01

  Yeah, I was Tracy Silverstein then, Tracy, I don't know, Tracy Joy Silverstein is my real name. And, um, and then who else? Um, the, the twins, Jada and Rosie Ardizzone, these two Italian girls had the best style in the world and changed. Like I feel like I, I, I became a style person when I was in Switzerland.

• 19:44Trevor Noah?

  What was the school, was like a specialty?

• 19:46Speaker 01

  Very fancy, very expensive boarding school called Le Rosey. L E R O S E Y. And for the winter season, so it was three semesters.

• 19:55Trevor Noah?

  Yeah.

• 19:55Speaker 01

  And we were in Arles for the two summer and, um, spring or the first whatever, fall, spring.

• 20:01Trevor Noah?

  Skiing for the final one.

• 20:02Speaker 01

  Yeah, we were in Stade.

• 20:04Trevor Noah?

  Oh, so you did go skiing.

• 20:05Speaker 01

  Every day for sport.

• 20:06Trevor Noah?

  There you go. There you go.

• 20:09Speaker 01

  Fancy mancy.

• 20:10Trevor Noah?

  I, this answers so many questions I've always had about you.

• 20:12Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 20:13Trevor Noah?

  Because you, from the first time I met you, you've always seemed like the most normal, like born celebrity person I know.

• 20:22Speaker 01

  Hmm, that's kind.

• 20:23Trevor Noah?

  But you also exude levels of luxury that I've never quite understood.

• 20:29Speaker 02

  Hmm, je ne sais quoi.

• 20:30Trevor Noah?

  Yeah, true, je ne sais quoi.

• 20:32Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 20:32Trevor Noah?

  Because you don't, you don't have it like, like you have money. That, that's different. That's not what I'm saying.

• 20:36Speaker 01

  Hmm.

• 20:36Trevor Noah?

  I'm saying like, there are some people who exude like a, it's like a thing about them. And you're just like, what, where is this from?

• 20:44Speaker 01

  Hmm.

• 20:44Trevor Noah?

  Cause you, you're extremely, you're one of the funniest people I know, genuinely.

• 20:47Speaker 01

  That's li- from Trevor.

• 20:49Trevor Noah?

  No, no, no, no. You, comedy, and you know what I mean? Tracy just lives in like, it's like the music is always playing comedy. She can just like, she can just jam anytime with anyone.

• 20:59Speaker 01

  Oh, thank you.

• 20:59Trevor Noah?

  You know those musicians, you know those musicians where it's like, you can be like strumming something and then they can just jump in.

• 21:07Trevor Noah?

  And you can just, they can just jump in with you. They can just jump in, start playing with you. That's what you have with comedy.

• 21:11Speaker 02

  Yes.

• 21:12Speaker 01

  Thank you, Trevor.

• 21:13Trevor Noah?

  But, but then you're very normal for a very funny person, which is abnormal.

• 21:18Speaker 02

  That one is not normal.

• 21:19Trevor Noah?

  That's not normal.

• 21:20Speaker 01

  But you're also normal for a funny person. Nobody is. No, no, you are. You totally are. I mean, Trevor and I, we have dined multiple times.

• 21:32Speaker 02

  Hard to be normal.

• 21:33Speaker 01

  Do you know you don't? Shut up. That's ridiculous. By the way, when I said to you before, I looked back at my phone and you were like, that's was ages ago. It was twenty twenty four. It's been two years since I saw you.

• 21:44Trevor Noah?

  No.

• 21:45Speaker 01

  It's been two years.

• 21:47Trevor Noah?

  That was the last time we, we went to the museum. Was the airport a museum? When was the last time we saw each other?

• 21:51Speaker 01

  Museum was before the airport.

• 21:53Trevor Noah?

  No way.

• 21:53Speaker 01

  Yes, it was.

• 21:55Trevor Noah?

  Damn time.

• 21:56Speaker 01

  Yeah, it was two years ago. I was like, that is embarrassing.

• 21:59Trevor Noah?

  No, if I'd bet money on it, I would have said like, six months, eight months.

• 22:02Speaker 01

  That's why when you said that was ages ago, I'm like, what are you talking about? Like, I just saw you. I text you, I text you after whatever the last thing you hosted. I text you then and, but I haven't seen you. When I look back, the last time I saw you was twenty twenty four. It's weird. Cause I text you to tell you, I text you to tell you, you did a great job hosting.

• 22:24Trevor Noah?

  Thank you.

• 22:24Speaker 02

  Did he reply?

• 22:25Speaker 01

  Huh?

• 22:25Trevor Noah?

  Did he reply?

• 22:26Speaker 01

  Yeah, he did.

• 22:26Trevor Noah?

  Okay.

• 22:27Speaker 02

  What is that supposed to mean? Ah, you, you check, Angie.

• 22:29Trevor Noah?

  Wow, Eugene.

• 22:30Speaker 01

  What is Angie? What's that?

• 22:32Speaker 02

  Onje.

• 22:33Speaker 01

  Onje.

• 22:33Trevor Noah?

  Onje is just, it's like, you, you know, just, I'm just checking.

• 22:38Speaker 01

  Yeah, I said hi, uh, oh, I, first of all, I said the Ta-Nehisi Coates interview, uh, interview or conversation was great. You said thank you, um, and great job tonight as usual. Thank you, Tracy. Yeah. That was at February second. That must have been after the.

• 22:53Trevor Noah?

  That is so insane.

• 22:54Speaker 02

  Add the words as usual.

• 22:55Speaker 01

  Yeah, but this, yes, look, um, sixteen, July twelfth, twenty twenty four, that's when I saw you.

• 23:02Speaker 02

  How often do you see your friends from boarding school?

• 23:04Speaker 01

  I, I'm not, uh, Mohammed, very rarely because he lives overseas.

• 23:08Trevor Noah?

  Isn't this like the ultimate curse of being, I, I sometimes feel this. The more you've traveled and the more you've had the privilege of living in different places, the more you also have the joy of knowing different people. But it also means as life progresses, your people are just everywhere. You don't get to like, there, there is like a charm of coming from a place and staying there because.

• 23:28Speaker 01

  Yes, yes, yes. And then you have your people. I mean, I have my group of friends. We travel every year in July together. Um.

• 23:35Trevor Noah?

  I've seen those on Instagram.

• 23:36Speaker 01

  You know that group, yeah.

• 23:38Trevor Noah?

  Can I tell you?

• 23:38Speaker 01

  Hmm.

• 23:39Trevor Noah?

  The amount of, how can I phrase this? There are two people in my life that I loathe hanging out with in public or having people know that they're attached to me.

• 23:52Speaker 01

  Huh.

• 23:53Trevor Noah?

  It's Tracee Ellis Ross.

• 23:54Speaker 01

  Why?

• 23:55Trevor Noah?

  And it's Idris Elba.

• 23:56Speaker 01

  No, no, no, no, I need to understand this.

• 23:58Trevor Noah?

  The amount of first messages I get.

• 24:03Speaker 01

  What are you talking about?

• 24:04Trevor Noah?

  On your behalf.

• 24:04Speaker 02

  Secondhand first messages.

• 24:05Trevor Noah?

  Let me tell you something, Tracy.

• 24:07Speaker 01

  But are they ever people that you should set me up with and are you failing as my friend?

• 24:10Trevor Noah?

  Tell you something, Tracy.

• 24:13Speaker 01

  I need to hear this.

• 24:14Trevor Noah?

  Let me tell you something.

• 24:15Speaker 01

  I'm so ready.

• 24:16Trevor Noah?

  Let me tell you something.

• 24:17Speaker 01

  No, tell me.

• 24:18Trevor Noah?

  I know when you have posted a bikini picture.

• 24:23Trevor Noah?

  I know, but I am not even on Instagram in that way.

• 24:27Speaker 01

  So dead.

• 24:28Trevor Noah?

  I know.

• 24:29Speaker 02

  Ah, man.

• 24:30Trevor Noah?

  Because I will just get texts. Different, ve- ve- varying, varying degrees of Tracy.

• 24:37Speaker 01

  Oh my god, that is.

• 24:39Trevor Noah?

  Tracy, damn. Yo, bro, Tracy, that's, then I know, okay, Tracy has just posted something. First, let me go and see what was posted so that I can understand.

• 24:49Speaker 01

  I'm dying right now.

• 24:50Trevor Noah?

  Cause, cause with, with other people, it would be, they've said or done something in public that has brought, you know what I mean? Great shame to them and their lineage. That's what most people would be, that's what most people would be texting me about somebody. Yo, did you see what your man said?

• 25:04Speaker 01

  Oh my god, I'm dying so hard.

• 25:06Trevor Noah?

  I know every year, you are in Europe somewhere.

• 25:09Speaker 01

  Yep.

• 25:10Trevor Noah?

  A picture has been posted.

• 25:11Speaker 01

  Oh my god.

• 25:12Trevor Noah?

  In a pool, on a boat, in the ocean, and then I must now, I must now field dating requests from people.

• 25:19Speaker 01

  Is there no one that's been worthy?

• 25:21Trevor Noah?

  Tracy, would I not have sent them to you if I thought they were worthy?

• 25:23Speaker 01

  Okay, okay, okay. Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. Yes, yes.

• 25:26Trevor Noah?

  Half of them are married.

• 25:27Speaker 01

  Yes, oh god.

• 25:29Trevor Noah?

  No, but in their defense, they're not saying like a real, but they're just expressing it to me as a person. You know what I mean?

• 25:34Speaker 02

  What do they expect you to do?

• 25:36Speaker 01

  They just need to tell someone and they can't tell their wife.

• 25:38Trevor Noah?

  The person who's there. I don't know why.

• 25:40Speaker 02

  Oh, they need to tell.

• 25:41Trevor Noah?

  Cause they're going like, you know her. Then I'm like, yes. Then they're like, yo. Then I'm like, okay, so what do you want me to do with that? Why are you doing this to me? Why are you doing this to me?

• 25:51Speaker 02

  Such a burden, eh?

• 25:52Trevor Noah?

  Ah, bra. Idris Elba is the other one.

• 25:55Speaker 02

  Such a.

• 25:55Speaker 01

  I can imagine.

• 25:56Trevor Noah?

  Let me tell you something. Let, let Idris Elba be anywhere close to me, shake my hand, hug me. Guys, it's finished. It is finished. It is finished.

• 26:04Speaker 01

  The women in your life just lose it.

• 26:06Trevor Noah?

  That knows that I have a phone number, uses it. And those people all said the same thing. Idris, ooh, that man, ugh.

• 26:18Speaker 01

  That's hilarious. Sorry about that.

• 26:19Trevor Noah?

  No, don't be. I'm just letting you know.

• 26:21Speaker 01

  Okay. Well, I'll, I'll trust it.

• 26:23Trevor Noah?

  I know about your yearly trips to Europe.

• 26:25Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 26:26Speaker 02

  How many friends?

• 26:27Speaker 01

  Um, there's a group of us, Samira, Romy, Karen, Monica, Kevin. And there's five of us that are always there. And we've been doing it for twenty one years. This was the first year.

• 26:38Trevor Noah?

  Twenty one years?

• 26:39Speaker 01

  Same place. And this is the first year I didn't go because I was doing the play.

• 26:43Speaker 02

  So how many, how many, how many of the frie- of, of the six are civilians? And how many are?

• 26:48Speaker 01

  Everybody's a civilian. I think Trevor might be the only like famous person I know.

• 26:54Trevor Noah?

  In that group, that can't be true.

• 26:55Speaker 01

  No, I mean, I'm just not, I, I, my friends, I've known them for thirty, forty years now.

• 26:59Speaker 02

  They have normal jobs?

• 27:00Speaker 01

  Um, yeah, Monica is a creative director and, um, uh, creative director. Uh, Samir is the editor in chief of Harper's Bazaar. Romy's a makeup artist. Um, Karen is a designer that works, you know, for different brands and her own brand. Um, Kevin, uh, works with Martha Stewart.

• 27:19Speaker 02

  My hero.

• 27:22Speaker 01

  So, but no, I, I mean, and then I think of my other best friends, um, Anna is the manager of, um, um, uh, vintage, uh, so, uh, vintage stores in Los Angeles.

• 27:33Trevor Noah?

  Yeah.

• 27:34Speaker 01

  Um, and, uh, my other friend Anna is a therapist. Um, so yeah.

• 27:39Speaker 02

  This is sounding more like your friend group.

• 27:41Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 27:41Trevor Noah?

  But I've, remember, I've always said this.

• 27:43Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 27:44Trevor Noah?

  I have a, I don't want to say this in a way that sounds too judgmental, but I'm always suspicious of celebrities that only have celebrity friends.

• 27:52Speaker 01

  Me too.

• 27:53Trevor Noah?

  I just find it weird.

• 27:54Speaker 01

  I don't understand.

• 27:55Trevor Noah?

  All your friends.

• 27:56Speaker 01

  I don't get it.

• 27:57Trevor Noah?

  All your friends.

• 27:58Speaker 01

  Yeah, it makes me uncomfortable.

• 27:59Trevor Noah?

  It's different if like, your friends are celebrities that you've worked with.

• 28:02Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 28:03Trevor Noah?

  That I understand. You've been on a movie for six months. You did a TV show for ten years.

• 28:06Speaker 01

  But if all your friends.

• 28:07Trevor Noah?

  I'm saying all your friends. And then you get new ones as well, by the way. I've seen people get new friends along the way. And then their new best friend is also a celebrity.

• 28:14Speaker 01

  The.

• 28:14Trevor Noah?

  And then they're at their wedding and the celebrity is there. I'm like, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait.

• 28:18Speaker 01

  The only thing I'll say is that some people that grew up in the business, like that's just who they know. Um, I'm, I'm, one of my best friends is Kelvin Harrison, who played my son in The High Note. We remain.

• 28:29Trevor Noah?

  DJ?

• 28:30Speaker 01

  No.

• 28:30Speaker 02

  Kelvin Harris.

• 28:31Trevor Noah?

  Oh, sorry.

• 28:31Speaker 01

  Harrison Jr.

• 28:32Trevor Noah?

  Oh, oh, oh, sorry. Okay, yes.

• 28:34Speaker 01

  Um, and he and I remained just best friends. Um, he's like a really close friend who's an actor. Um, I was trying to think.

• 28:43Speaker 02

  The fact that you have to think.

• 28:44Trevor Noah?

  That's what I'm, I'm talking about the all.

• 28:46Speaker 01

  Yeah, yeah, I know. I, I, I do.

• 28:48Trevor Noah?

  That's what I love about like, so for instance, like Rihanna.

• 28:50Speaker 01

  Hmm, nope.

• 28:51Trevor Noah?

  Have you ever seen like her?

• 28:52Speaker 01

  It's her peeps.

• 28:53Trevor Noah?

  When she posts, now she like posts like more like Fenty stuff and everything, but when Rihanna used to post like her travels.

• 28:58Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 28:58Speaker 02

  No way.

• 28:59Trevor Noah?

  Who's that? Uh, it's none of your business. That's who it is.

• 29:02Speaker 01

  Yeah, the only one, the only one we, there's one we know.

• 29:05Trevor Noah?

  Yeah.

• 29:05Speaker 01

  Um, but other than that, and we know her through Rihanna.

• 29:08Speaker 02

  No way.

• 29:08Speaker 01

  Oh yeah, no, it's her friends from her friends.

• 29:11Trevor Noah?

  That's like one of, I think that's one of the most important things you should try and maintain or keep.

• 29:16Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 29:17Trevor Noah?

  Is just like, people from all walks of life.

• 29:20Speaker 01

  But it's also something that for me, like my, um, with my people that have known me forever, that know my family, that know my siblings. Like they just know my people. My, and there's, my entire nervous system calms down. Like there's, you don't have to do anything. You're just yourself.

• 29:36Trevor Noah?

  Be someone.

• 29:37Speaker 01

  Yeah, you know, um, and we, when I'm here, go to dinner at there, you know, we cook dinner at someone's house or whatever. Like we're all going over to Kevin's on the thirteenth and it's so nice. It's so nice to just be with your people.

• 29:50Speaker 02

  Kevin's the only guy in this group?

• 29:51Speaker 01

  Um, he's one of the only guys. There's husbands and stuff, but he's.

• 29:54Trevor Noah?

  Husbands?

• 29:55Speaker 01

  Yeah. There's husbands and children, they like Monica, like my best friend Monica from college. Yeah, Monica from college, her, he, she had the first kid of the group. He's going to college, like we met in college.

• 30:10Trevor Noah?

  Does that make you feel like now?

• 30:11Speaker 01

  It's crazy. I mean, I have so much pride, but also like, like I, we knew each other in college and now her kid is college age.

• 30:19Trevor Noah?

  Yeah, yeah, yeah.

• 30:20Speaker 01

  Like, I remember when he came out, do you know what I mean? Like, I remember the night we went to dinner before he get like, there's like so many things like that that are just nutty to me. But then also I have a really big family and I'm really close with my siblings.

• 30:31Trevor Noah?

  Seven.

• 30:31Speaker 01

  Um, no, there's five of us and then there's three step siblings. But the five of us are really close and all of their kids, we're really close. So I'm the only one that doesn't have kids in my family. Um, so my older sister Rhonda, her son is about to turn seventeen, Raif. He, um, lives here in the city with her. My sister Chudney has two kids, Callaway and Everly, who were just here, came to see the play and came over to the apartment the other day. And then Ross has two kids, um, Indigo, Leaf and Indigo, beautiful names. And then Evan has two kids, um, Jagger and Ziggy. And so there's like, we have a big squad of a family.

• 31:12Trevor Noah?

  That was another thing that blew up my phone is there was a post going around about you that said you were looking for a sperm donor? And then you, or you had accepted one?

• 31:21Speaker 01

  That I was pregnant, that was the weirdest, by the way, I was like, was that a slow news day? Like what, who out of nowhere decided to come up with, and they took a picture of a pregnancy test? My favorite thing was whoever was holding the pregnancy test, everyone underneath was like, those aren't Tracy's fingers.

• 31:38Speaker 01

  Those aren't her nails, that's not her, uh-uh. That shit was nuts. I thought that was crazy. I was like, what are you guys talking about? What are you talking about?

• 31:46Trevor Noah?

  I never understand things like that.

• 31:49Speaker 01

  Was like, like I, if there had been a picture of me with like a bloated tummy, I would have been like, okay.

• 31:54Trevor Noah?

  No, it just was a, so, so what I've learned in, in the weeks, you know, or months since that story came out is there are, I don't even know if you call them like companies, there's like a bunch of people online who generate fake content.

• 32:09Speaker 01

  Is that true?

• 32:10Trevor Noah?

  Yeah, yeah, yeah. And, and all they're trying to do is create engagement and they just, no, they just create fake stories about everyone, everywhere.

• 32:16Speaker 01

  But what does that do for them?

• 32:18Trevor Noah?

  Uh, gets clicks, clicks, views and clicks. And look at how much this story, it's views and clicks and it gets aggregated and it goes and it blows up and it blows up and it blows up and it blows up. And they're getting money from it and then they get, yeah, you get paid. If your tweet gets viewed a certain amount of times, you get paid. If your Facebook posts get viewed a certain amount of time, you get paid. So now, because we live in a world where, um,

• 32:37Speaker 01

  Clickbait is?

• 32:38Trevor Noah?

  Yeah, you, you're rewarded for attention. People now use any means to get attention. So you find that's one of many stories about you.

• 32:46Speaker 02

  Oh, just the one that's popular.

• 32:48Trevor Noah?

  So they'll, you find they'll make up, I've seen ones about me that range everywhere from, I like retired with my family on an island somewhere.

• 32:57Speaker 02

  You didn't?

• 32:57Trevor Noah?

  Yeah, with my wife and kids, I'm like on an island.

• 33:00Speaker 01

  You have a wife and kids?

• 33:00Trevor Noah?

  Yep, apparently.

• 33:01Speaker 01

  Neat.

• 33:02Trevor Noah?

  And then there's another one where, uh,

• 33:04Speaker 01

  Does she seem nice?

• 33:07Speaker 01

  That's so nice.

• 33:09Trevor Noah?

  There's another one, my favorite one is like, there's a series that does very well on Facebook where I like save people's lives. And it does very well on Facebook.

• 33:18Speaker 01

  I'm so dead right now.

• 33:19Trevor Noah?

  I save people's lives.

• 33:20Speaker 01

  Oh, in what way? Like, like you rescue them from the water?

• 33:23Trevor Noah?

  Like randomly, it'll be like, it'll be like, um, uh, let me tell you a story about Trevor Noah that no one else will. One day, my family and I were in our car and we'd just been in an accident. The car caught a flame and started burning. We thought we were surely going to die. I then heard a tapping sound on my window.

• 33:43Speaker 01

  No.

• 33:43Trevor Noah?

  I looked, there was a man beckoning for me to move away. He smashed the window, then pulled me out, then proceeded to pull out every single member of my family.

• 33:51Speaker 01

  And it was Trevor Noah?

• 33:52Trevor Noah?

  At the end, I looked up, it was Trevor Noah. At first I thought, and this is whole story, and then like people in the comments like, yeah, I knew it was a great guy. Wow, this is so good, this is beautiful. And I'm just like, this is weird.

• 34:03Speaker 01

  That is crazy.

• 34:04Speaker 02

  It doesn't, it doesn't sound very farfetched.

• 34:07Speaker 01

  I could see you saving someone from a car.

• 34:09Trevor Noah?

  I, I wouldn't save, I wouldn't save a person in America, I would save someone everywhere in the world.

• 34:13Speaker 01

  You know what?

• 34:14Trevor Noah?

  Let me explain why, let me explain why before you judge me, let me explain why.

• 34:17Speaker 01

  I have judged you.

• 34:18Trevor Noah?

  My lawyers have told me, my lawyers have told me, they've said, in America, if you make that mistake, you can lose everything.

• 34:26Speaker 01

  What do you mean?

• 34:27Trevor Noah?

  If you help somebody who is in an accident, they can then sue you and say that you are the reason that they are now hurt or disabled or paralyzed, whatever it may be.

• 34:37Speaker 02

  Wait, do you have to be famous to avoid that trap or just anybody?

• 34:39Trevor Noah?

  Anyone, anyone, anyone. No, no, and this, hey man, I'm being, it's, it's something I hate, but it's like, because the country's so litigious. If you, let's say you, someone's in their car burning and you pull them out.

• 34:51Speaker 01

  If they're injured.

• 34:52Trevor Noah?

  They had a spinal injury.

• 34:53Speaker 02

  Their skin peels off.

• 34:54Trevor Noah?

  Whatever, yeah.

• 34:55Speaker 02

  And most of it is in your hand.

• 34:56Trevor Noah?

  There you go.

• 34:56Speaker 02

  And then they just huff, now they're like a zebra.

• 34:59Speaker 01

  Listen, you've gone too far. Now they're like a zebra, we've gone into another story. This is, this, you're wonderful, you, you, you, but this is too far. Okay, because, yeah, it's okay. And I really enjoy your company.

• 35:18Speaker 01

  I think he feels wounded. He's picking lint off his pants.

• 35:26Trevor Noah?

  But yeah, you can, they can, they can sue you.

• 35:27Speaker 01

  That's really interesting, good to know.

• 35:29Trevor Noah?

  They can say you caused the injury and then you'd have to disprove it, you'd have to go to court, it's a whole thing, it's a whole thing.

• 35:34Speaker 01

  Wow.

• 35:34Trevor Noah?

  Yeah, so you have to, you have to be very careful. It's, it's sad, but it's, it's a real thing. So I would try to save people in almost every country in the world. In America, I would be like, eh, this is risky. It's a tough one.

• 35:47Speaker 01

  Very interesting. I mean,

• 35:49Trevor Noah?

  Aren't you, haven't you been told these things? I was told once, if I'm ever in a car that has a, an accident, I must jump out immediately and just walk away. Not me driving.

• 35:59Speaker 02

  Even if you're not driving?

• 36:00Trevor Noah?

  Yeah, especially if I'm not, if I'm driving, I have to stay at the scene.

• 36:03Speaker 01

  Who's telling you these things?

• 36:04Trevor Noah?

  If I'm driving a, Tracy, do you not get the celebrity Snapple that has the fact on the bottom that tells you what to do if you're a celebrity?

• 36:12Speaker 01

  I've never, I don't drink Snapple, maybe that's why. Does Snapple still exist?

• 36:17Trevor Noah?

  It does, fully, fully exists. No, but this is, this is another thing, you've never been told this?

• 36:22Speaker 01

  No.

• 36:23Trevor Noah?

  Damn, maybe my, maybe the people I've met in life have just been like, ultra cautious or they've just been scamming me. I was told.

• 36:30Speaker 02

  I'll go with ultra cautious.

• 36:30Speaker 01

  Wait, do you have more?

• 36:31Trevor Noah?

  No, no, I'm, that's the, the one I was told. If I'm being driven, you know, like those SUVs come and pick you up?

• 36:37Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 36:37Trevor Noah?

  That car gets into an accident?

• 36:39Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 36:39Speaker 02

  Get out.

• 36:40Trevor Noah?

  Get out, walk away.

• 36:41Speaker 01

  Well, now I know.

• 36:42Trevor Noah?

  Because otherwise, the person will now make it about you, not the driver in the car.

• 36:47Speaker 01

  Oh.

• 36:48Speaker 02

  So how will they make it about, they'll be like?

• 36:49Trevor Noah?

  Because they'll go, Tracee Ellis Ross's car hit me. And you're like, it's not my car. And they're like, no. We'll find a way to make it your thing because you are the person who has the highest possibility of paying, like, uh, like you, you can pay a high amount of money.

• 37:04Speaker 02

  Yeah, wasn't there a story of, um, someone who rescued someone from a building and then, or they caught them jumping? And then they broke their fall and then that person sued them for breaking their fall?

• 37:14Trevor Noah?

  Yeah. I'm, I'm shocked you don't know these things.

• 37:18Speaker 02

  Because of breaking the fall.

• 37:19Trevor Noah?

  What's the craziest thing? Surely your mom like taught you like crazy things that like you can and cannot do.

• 37:24Speaker 02

  First of all, Trevor, please don't use the word your mom, just let me know when someone's mom is Diana Ross.

• 37:29Speaker 01

  No, no, but it is my mom.

• 37:30Speaker 02

  No, but Tracy, it's okay, I'll take this one.

• 37:33Speaker 01

  No, no, okay.

• 37:41Speaker 01

  Go, okay, go.

• 37:45Speaker 01

  Oh, yep, okay, please.

• 37:49Speaker 02

  You can just say, oh, so, how must I say it?

• 37:52Speaker 01

  No, he said it right, because we're,

• 37:54Speaker 02

  Miss Diana Ross, your mom.

• 37:55Speaker 01

  No, because,

• 37:56Trevor Noah?

  Oh, that's a nice way to say it.

• 37:57Speaker 01

  Okay, that's nice.

• 37:58Speaker 02

  Because also we mustn't pretend.

• 38:00Trevor Noah?

  No, no, but okay, that's a nice way to say it.

• 38:01Speaker 02

  That's just for me.

• 38:02Trevor Noah?

  I, I appreciate, okay, I'll do that.

• 38:04Speaker 02

  And everyone else who feels like I do.

• 38:05Speaker 01

  Okay, okay, okay.

• 38:06Trevor Noah?

  So Tracy, what, what were you taught by, um, or, or were there any lessons you gleaned about the world of fame from Miss Diana Ross, your mom?

• 38:16Speaker 01

  Is that good? I thought that was good.

• 38:18Trevor Noah?

  That's very good, thank you.

• 38:20Speaker 01

  Although I have to say, maybe for the podcast and for you, but like, if we were at dinner and you did that, I would punch you.

• 38:27Speaker 02

  And then you'd have to walk away.

• 38:28Speaker 01

  I would be like, Trevor, go to your room.

• 38:30Speaker 02

  You'd punch him and then get away, so he doesn't sue you.

• 38:33Speaker 01

  Exactly, exactly. And then I'd run, so he doesn't sue me. Good, circle back, nicely done.

• 38:39Speaker 02

  Finger, finger.

• 38:39Speaker 01

  Oh, exciting.

• 38:42Trevor Noah?

  So.

• 38:44Speaker 01

  Not sure about that.

• 38:47Speaker 01

  Music. I don't, I did it, but then I was like, I don't, I don't know if I liked it.

• 38:53Trevor Noah?

  Oh, man.

• 38:54Speaker 01

  Um, I don't know if there's some lessons. That's really interesting. I mean, I think there's so many things I learned that I don't know that I learned.

• 39:01Trevor Noah?

  You must have seen.

• 39:02Speaker 01

  I mean, there's tons, but I, you know, because I grew up in this, so it's different than coming into it and then sort of someone giving you lessons. There's many things that I'm very aware of that I know other people are not aware of.

• 39:14Trevor Noah?

  Okay.

• 39:14Speaker 01

  That I, I, I mean, I scan a room. I, I can, I can feel and see and know what's happening in a room. I can tell people that are, you know, for example, so I'm doing this play right now.

• 39:25Trevor Noah?

  Yeah.

• 39:25Speaker 01

  Um, every brilliant thing. And in the beginning of it, in the pre-show, it's an interactive play. So there's.

• 39:31Trevor Noah?

  What does that mean?

• 39:31Speaker 01

  That means that I tell the story with the audience. So.

• 39:35Trevor Noah?

  No way.

• 39:36Speaker 01

  Yes. So there are, um, I'm, I'm telling a story and there's a list in the story. And when I say numbers in the list, we've given out cards and people throughout the audience from balcony to on the stage.

• 39:48Trevor Noah?

  Yeah.

• 39:49Speaker 01

  Um, say the things that are on the card. And then we also cast five roles from the audience in the pre-show and we bring, so we, so in that moment, I'm scanning the room along with the three other associate directors and we are looking for the right people who are willing, who are a little bit reluctant.

• 40:09Trevor Noah?

  Little bit reluctant.

• 40:10Speaker 01

  He, he would be a no.

• 40:11Trevor Noah?

  He lost you. You see how high your arm went?

• 40:13Speaker 01

  I mean, he didn't even let me finish.

• 40:15Trevor Noah?

  You said willing and your arm was up.

• 40:16Speaker 01

  Exactly.

• 40:17Trevor Noah?

  It's a little bit reluctant. Uh, almost too high.

• 40:19Speaker 02

  Timing is too much.

• 40:20Speaker 01

  So, um, and we look for five people who are willing to do five of the roles that make that part of the story better if I do them with someone.

• 40:30Trevor Noah?

  Why do they have to be a little bit reluctant?

• 40:32Speaker 01

  Um, because the onus on me is to keep the story moving.

• 40:37Trevor Noah?

  Okay.

• 40:37Speaker 01

  And to sort of conduct the room and the energy in the room. If people are too eager and they try to perform or be funny or act, it pulls us into.

• 40:48Trevor Noah?

  Okay.

• 40:48Speaker 01

  And away from the story. And so.

• 40:50Trevor Noah?

  You get people who are gonna come to the show to try and make this their audition.

• 40:53Speaker 02

  Yeah, ready to act.

• 40:54Trevor Noah?

  Yeah, yeah, okay.

• 40:55Speaker 01

  And it, it, it doesn't work.

• 40:56Trevor Noah?

  Yeah.

• 40:57Speaker 01

  The main thing that we ask of people is to be kind. Everything works if you're kind and if you're open and you're honest and you listen. If you try to perform and be funny and pull the attention, even me, like my job is not, it's not about me. I'm there to be of service to the story. And so in those moments, this is back to the mom thing.

• 41:17Trevor Noah?

  Yeah.

• 41:17Speaker 01

  Um, Ms. Diane Ross. Um, so in the moment of scanning the room, I'm very aware, and this comes from my childhood, I'm very aware of which people are, um, real fans, which people are pulling attention. Like, have you ever been in a room and you can tell people know that you're there and so they start laughing louder because they're being, they're conscious that you're there and they are trying to be comfortable?

• 41:45Trevor Noah?

  I've never caught the laughing one, but there, there's certain, mine is the opposite, silence.

• 41:50Speaker 01

  Ah.

• 41:50Trevor Noah?

  I, I know when the silence around me is artificial.

• 41:53Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 41:54Trevor Noah?

  So people just quiet down because now they're listening to your conversation with your friends or whoever you are.

• 42:00Speaker 01

  Or they're, or they're, or they're doing this?

• 42:02Trevor Noah?

  Yes, very casually doing that.

• 42:04Speaker 01

  Mm-hmm. So I grew up.

• 42:06Trevor Noah?

  Then you just know, you also know because they've been cutting the same piece of steak.

• 42:09Speaker 01

  For a while.

• 42:09Trevor Noah?

  For like five minutes.

• 42:13Trevor Noah?

  You know what happens in a weird way? No, it's really strange. Like people turn into background extras. They're just. Oh, because they're listening.

• 42:21Speaker 01

  Well, people get, also people just get uncomfortable, you know, they haven't seen somebody famous that they, you know, know from a TV show or from.

• 42:28Trevor Noah?

  Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

• 42:29Speaker 01

  Your stand-up.

• 42:30Trevor Noah?

  It's always malicious.

• 42:30Speaker 02

  It's understandable.

• 42:31Speaker 01

  Yeah, it, you know, it's like, it's like when you, this is what I was liking it too. Like if there's a, a guy or someone that you're flirting with, you like or whatever, and all of a sudden you're like, what do I do with my hands?

• 42:42Trevor Noah?

  Hands are weird.

• 42:43Speaker 01

  Like all of a sudden, your hands become these like, these things that are just like, hello?

• 42:50Trevor Noah?

  Oh, shame. You know, this, this happened to me. This happened to me yesterday. I was playing, uh, I was playing pickleball yesterday and it was like a random session where no one knew anyone.

• 43:00Speaker 01

  Mm-hmm.

• 43:01Trevor Noah?

  And then.

• 43:02Speaker 02

  Wait, what?

• 43:03Trevor Noah?

  It was, it's a random session where nobody knew anybody.

• 43:06Speaker 01

  Okay.

• 43:06Speaker 02

  You, do you guys find more ways to make this sport more awkward than it already is?

• 43:13Trevor Noah?

  So, so the place I was playing at has giant windows that look out onto the street.

• 43:20Speaker 02

  Have you been there before?

• 43:21Trevor Noah?

  Like the street, yeah, I know this, the street street. So if you're playing on the one court in particular, people are just walking by you in New York.

• 43:27Speaker 02

  Not one way.

• 43:28Trevor Noah?

  Two-way glass. People are walking by you in New York. So at some point, some, no, a whole group of people gathered.

• 43:35Speaker 01

  Shut up.

• 43:36Trevor Noah?

  But they were really funny. It was like these kids, it was like, I want to say like eight, like 13-year-old white boys with like fluffy hair, just like, they looked like they were having a lot of fun. And they came and stood by the window and then they saw it was me. So first they were like, oh, it's Trevor. Then they made it like seem like they were watching the US Open, which made it so funny because it's pickleball. So they were like cheering, they were screaming. Then when a point would go wrong, they'd be like, no.

• 44:03Speaker 01

  That's actually amazing.

• 44:05Trevor Noah?

  It was amazing. They were doing the most like extreme version of it. But then the people who we were playing with, shame, there was one kid, because we're in like random rotations, one kid I was playing with, he didn't know what was happening. So he turned to me and he went.

• 44:18Speaker 02

  Say it, kid, you played against.

• 44:19Trevor Noah?

  No, I played with, because I played against him, but I also played with.

• 44:22Speaker 02

  You're gonna get sued.

• 44:23Trevor Noah?

  Oh, yeah, you're right. Sorry. There was a kid who was on the team that I was on.

• 44:26Speaker 02

  Thank you.

• 44:26Trevor Noah?

  Thank you, Eugene. Thanks, always looking out for me. So the kid then, he just turned to me and he went, what is going on? He's like, why do these guys love pickleball so much?

• 44:35Speaker 01

  That's so cute.

• 44:37Trevor Noah?

  Yeah, but then he couldn't, he couldn't play. He's like, he's like, I can't do this. This is so distracting. Why does that guy have his shirt off?

• 44:43Speaker 02

  And one of the guys had his shirt off and was swinging it around and they were cheering.

• 44:46Speaker 01

  That's amazing.

• 44:47Trevor Noah?

  I wish people would be more like that. Just like, just acknowledge it.

• 44:50Speaker 02

  Or be obvious.

• 44:51Trevor Noah?

  Yeah, yeah. Be like super, super obvious. As soon as Tracee Ellis Ross sits down next to you, just be like, Tracee Ellis Ross just sat down next to me while my dinner got more interesting.

• 45:02Speaker 02

  And then that's out the way.

• 45:03Trevor Noah?

  It's out of the way now.

• 45:04Speaker 01

  Now it's out of the way. I mean, people get uncomfortable. I don't know. I mean, it's such a funny, it's a funny thing. And our culture and American culture is so obsessed with.

• 45:13Trevor Noah?

  It is.

• 45:14Speaker 01

  Fame, in a way that's odd.

• 45:17Trevor Noah?

  You know what I think it is? I think it's because America doesn't have royalty.

• 45:21Speaker 01

  Maybe. I was gonna say, because I also think like I was, I took some time to figure out like with sports and professional athletes.

• 45:29Trevor Noah?

  Yeah.

• 45:29Speaker 01

  And I was like, they're modern day warriors.

• 45:31Trevor Noah?

  They are.

• 45:32Speaker 01

  Mm-hmm. So it's similar to, you know, it's like they're these, these gods that like do this thing. And then I guess celebrities, yes, it's, it's royalty in a way. It's this, you're, you're held up in this way that you are super.

• 45:45Speaker 02

  I think this country understands, or the reason why it loves celebrities so much is because it understands that fame is a, it could come to you at any time.

• 45:54Speaker 01

  Hmm.

• 45:54Speaker 02

  So people believe that if they're really good.

• 45:56Speaker 01

  Now I think people believe that. I don't think that always is the case.

• 45:58Speaker 02

  Now I think they do.

• 46:00Speaker 01

  I mean, and it can, by the way.

• 46:01Speaker 02

  You can be that person now.

• 46:02Speaker 01

  It was that people, they, that was unreachable.

• 46:05Speaker 02

  There's super famous kids that you and I don't know about. But in their world, on YouTube or whatever.

• 46:10Speaker 01

  Oh, for sure, for sure.

• 46:11Speaker 02

  They make a lot of money.

• 46:13Speaker 01

  Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.

• 46:14Speaker 02

  But we don't know them.

• 46:15Speaker 01

  No, no, no. We don't even understand, I don't even understand some of that. I mean, there's people, there were these kids that became famous for like opening up toy boxes.

• 46:22Trevor Noah?

  Yeah, yeah, huge.

• 46:23Speaker 01

  Like, like massive, massive, massive.

• 46:25Trevor Noah?

  Huge following.

• 46:26Speaker 01

  Yeah, fascinating.

• 46:27Trevor Noah?

  Only in America. Ryan, I think is his name.

• 46:28Speaker 02

  Yeah. Is he still a kid?

• 46:30Trevor Noah?

  I actually don't, that's gonna be interesting.

• 46:31Speaker 01

  Who?

• 46:32Trevor Noah?

  Ryan's gonna grow up.

• 46:33Speaker 02

  Yeah, the kid, yeah.

• 46:34Trevor Noah?

  He was massive, massive, massive, massive. We're gonna continue this conversation right after this short break.

• 46:44Trevor Noah?

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• 47:23Trevor Noah?

  It's everything you already love about YouTube, just somehow even better. Yeah, one of my favorite YouTube Premium features is smart downloads. Because how many times have you gone somewhere and realized, ah, I forgot to download anything? And now you're on the way to the airport and you're like, download, download, download, download. You're on the plane, download, download, download, download. There's no wifi. I wish I downloaded. Now, all of those things that you were gonna watch are, are just on the internet. Smart downloads basically thinks ahead for you. It automatically downloads recommended videos based on what you like to watch. So even when you forget to prepare, YouTube Premium didn't. I love it. It's like packing for a trip and discovering somebody already remembered the thing you always leave at home. It's always

• 48:05Trevor Noah?

  the underwear. If you like YouTube, you'll love YouTube Premium. Sign up now for your free trial at youtube.com/premium. Terms apply. Cancel anytime.

• 48:17Trevor Noah?

  Fall has a way of turning an ordinary night into a reason to gather. Whether it is a football game, a Halloween party, or a dinner on a cold evening. Whole Foods Market makes those moments easier with comfort food, seasonal treats, and quality standards built into every aisle. Start with a Whole Foods Market Kitchen's lasagna, packaged soup, or a build-your-own-family meal from the prepared foods counter, which feeds four for thirty-five dollars. For game day, add made-in-house wings, frozen pizzas, and three sixty-five brand chips and dips. The limited-time bakery lineup brings the season home with pumpkin blondies,

• 49:02Trevor Noah?

  apple brown butter cookies, and chocolate bourbon pecan pie. And with no artificial sweeteners like sucralose, artificial colors like red dye number forty, or high-fructose corn syrup store-wide, nothing gets in the way of the flavors you came for. Shop fall flavors with higher standards at Whole Foods Markets. I think one of the things you realize when you start caring about clothes is that simple doesn't have to mean basic. 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 way it 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.

• 49:45Trevor Noah?

  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. It feels premium without feeling like you're trying too hard. It's effortless. So find your next fall favorites at Quince. Download the Quince app for app-exclusive offers or go to quince.com.

• 50:28Trevor Noah?

  Get free shipping on your order and three hundred and sixty-five day returns. Now available in Canada and the UK too. Hello over there. Oh, and if Quince asks you where you heard about them, let them know it was What Now with Trevor Noah. It's the best way to support the show.

• 50:53Trevor Noah?

  Is this your first time on Broadway? No.

• 50:54Speaker 01

  My debut.

• 50:55Trevor Noah?

  I heard that the other day. I was like, that can't be true.

• 50:57Speaker 01

  And it's a one-person show, a Tony-nominated one-person show.

• 50:59Trevor Noah?

  No.

• 51:00Speaker 01

  Yeah. It's amazing.

• 51:03Trevor Noah?

  Giving the fist bump if you don't want to.

• 51:08Speaker 01

  Is this something you do with other people?

• 51:10Trevor Noah?

  How is this the first time?

• 51:11Speaker 02

  The finger touch forces us to engage.

• 51:13Speaker 01

  Yeah, that is very intimate.

• 51:15Speaker 02

  And also the attention that is required.

• 51:17Speaker 01

  Yeah, you have to take a lot of focus.

• 51:19Speaker 02

  Which is very random.

• 51:20Speaker 01

  Yeah, no, no, and it's like, bleh, you know.

• 51:22Speaker 02

  But the next level of it is locking in eye contact. Wow.

• 51:26Speaker 01

  That's too much.

• 51:27Trevor Noah?

  Okay, Sharp, you were telling us about this.

• 51:28Speaker 01

  No, sir. We'll get there. We're not there yet. That's the we've gone too far.

• 51:33Trevor Noah?

  No, but congratulations.

• 51:35Speaker 01

  Thank you. It's been really exciting.

• 51:38Trevor Noah?

  Why has it taken you so long is maybe the first thought in my head. And I mean, I mean, I mean, this is a compliment because someone said this to me the other day. They said, this is Tracy's debut on Broadway. I was like, no, that's wrong. I confidently was like, nope, that's wrong. They were like, no, it is. I was like, nope, that's wrong. It can't be. But it is.

• 51:56Speaker 01

  I mean, it's interesting. It's felt like coming home in all honesty.

• 51:59Trevor Noah?

  That's what I mean.

• 52:00Speaker 01

  Yeah, I mean, I, and this play in particular is extraordinary because it uses every aspect of my skill and my ability. Like, it's the, there's improv, there's me telling the story, there's some singing in the middle of it, there's humor. It's really, it's a story about mental health and depression and suicide and removing the stigma around that. So there's that underneath it, but it's this.

• 52:27Trevor Noah?

  Wait, the stigma around committing suicide or?

• 52:29Speaker 01

  Yeah, it's a story about a person whose mother has made multiple attempts.

• 52:36Trevor Noah?

  Oh, wow.

• 52:36Speaker 01

  And in response to that, this seven-year-old comes up with this idea of making a list of everything brilliant about the world. And so it's, it's, it's both heavy, but it's told in this joyous, buoyant, like, life-affirming way. And it's a really beautiful piece of material. And it's like seventy-five minutes, eighty minutes. And it's, you know, house lights up, there's audience on the stage with me. It's participation with the entire room. And it's not stand-up because there's a script.

• 53:14Trevor Noah?

  Yeah.

• 53:14Speaker 01

  But there's, there's an, there's an element of, of that, that sort of energy. And it's glorious. It's glorious.

• 53:25Trevor Noah?

  It seems like you're having fun.

• 53:26Speaker 01

  I'm having.

• 53:26Trevor Noah?

  How long have you been, how long have you been going now?

• 53:28Speaker 01

  I did a five-week run. I'm in my last week right now.

• 53:32Trevor Noah?

  And then it's done?

• 53:32Speaker 01

  Mm-hmm.

• 53:33Trevor Noah?

  Oh, no.

• 53:34Speaker 01

  Yeah, and.

• 53:35Trevor Noah?

  Yes, but oh, no.

• 53:36Speaker 01

  Yeah, I mean, it's, it's, it's been the perfect amount of time. It's been wonderful. I did, I took about two weeks to learn the material. I got to rehearsal pretty much off-book, and so I had three weeks of rehearsal. And when I first started, it genuinely felt like swallowing a whale. Like, have you ever tried that? Eh, it's a lot.

• 53:55Trevor Noah?

  I'm, I'm trying to understand what that analogy means.

• 53:58Speaker 02

  Too much.

• 53:59Speaker 01

  Exactly. It was just like, what is this?

• 54:02Trevor Noah?

  Trevor's like, I can swallow a whale. What's wrong with you? It's, okay, it's weird when you've been alive for more than forty years and then you hear a phrase you've never heard before.

• 54:11Speaker 01

  Correct.

• 54:12Trevor Noah?

  I've never heard it's like swallowing a whale before.

• 54:14Speaker 01

  I was, I was trying to figure out what it felt like. And it felt like trying to swallow a whale and then mama bird it back to the audience like it wasn't a whale. Like, it was just the thing that I was delivering. And even though I had learned the material, because of the improv, the novelty of every performance is different, choosing the people, like, the whole thing was just like, what? And so even in rehearsal, you are sort of gaining your way. It's so, it was, I don't even know how to explain it.

• 54:51Trevor Noah?

  Makes total sense.

• 54:52Speaker 01

  By the, by the second week in rehearsal, in the rehearsal space, there's twenty-five people in the room that you don't know, and you're all of a sudden doing the play, bringing these people.

• 55:03Trevor Noah?

  Bringing those people into it.

• 55:03Speaker 01

  And so it was just like, I felt like every cylinder was firing. And then you get into the theater at the end of your third week of rehearsal. And on Broadway, I didn't know this was a thing, but your dress rehearsals are called invited dress. And they invite other Broadway people who can't necessarily go to other shows because they're doing shows. And my dress rehearsals are at different times, and so the.

• 55:29Trevor Noah?

  Industry nights.

• 55:30Speaker 01

  Mm-hmm, but it's during the day, like, they're weird times when there aren't shows. And the first dress rehearsal had a hundred and fifty people. The second dress rehearsal had four hundred people.

• 55:42Trevor Noah?

  Jeez.

• 55:43Speaker 01

  And then all of a sudden, it's the first night and the theater's full. And you're like, here we go. And I felt like I was flying with my feet on the ground.

• 55:54Trevor Noah?

  Damn, that was crazy. Where did that come from? Who was that? And then all of a sudden, here we go.

• 56:01Speaker 02

  That was so brilliant. Yo, that was so good.

• 56:04Speaker 01

  It was like nuts. I was like, okay, and we're off. Like, it was.

• 56:09Trevor Noah?

  Have you done animation?

• 56:11Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 56:11Trevor Noah?

  Okay, thank God. Thank God. I was hoping, I was like, surely there's like every, every, every different platform I would hope has, has like reached out to you.

• 56:20Speaker 02

  Which animation did you do?

• 56:21Speaker 01

  Huh?

• 56:22Speaker 02

  Which, which show?

• 56:22Speaker 01

  Oh, God, I did Rugrats at one point.

• 56:25Trevor Noah?

  No.

• 56:26Speaker 01

  I did a fun, silly role on there. I did a series recently that I had so much fun doing. I don't know why I can't think of what it's called. I'm about to do another one right now, a really fun one.

• 56:41Speaker 01

  I think I've done about five things. The series I did, what was that series called? I loved it.

• 56:47Trevor Noah?

  What were you doing in it?

• 56:48Speaker 01

  I, I was playing a, like a blob. And I, it was, God, what was that called? Rachel, what was that called?

• 56:56Trevor Noah?

  Rachel, what was it called?

• 56:57Speaker 02

  Where's Rachel?

• 56:58Trevor Noah?

  Where's Rachel? Rachel is just what Tracy says when she can't think of an answer.

• 57:01Speaker 01

  Rachel's my alter ego. Rachel, what was that called?

• 57:05Trevor Noah?

  They're telling Tracy's AI.

• 57:08Speaker 01

  That series was so fun, and I played a.

• 57:12Trevor Noah?

  Blob.

• 57:13Speaker 01

  Yeah, it was like a blob. I also just did another one that isn't out yet about the planets. That was fantastic. That is all about the relationship of the solar system.

• 57:27Trevor Noah?

  Solar system, yeah.

• 57:27Speaker 01

  But we're, you know, humanized. And I played, I want to say I was Saturn? I don't know. And I had a really funny voice.

• 57:35Trevor Noah?

  You always seem like you're having fun.

• 57:37Speaker 01

  I enjoy what I do.

• 57:38Trevor Noah?

  No, genuinely, like, every time I, I.

• 57:42Speaker 01

  I mean, otherwise, what's the point?

• 57:43Trevor Noah?

  But like, how do you, how do you, how do you keep finding the fun? How do you keep enjoying it? How do you keep?

• 57:50Speaker 01

  Some of it's gratitude.

• 57:51Trevor Noah?

  Yeah.

• 57:51Speaker 01

  I feel grateful to be able to do what I love.

• 57:54Trevor Noah?

  Mm-hmm.

• 57:55Speaker 01

  You know, I run a business. I have a beauty company and I'm a CEO and founder and I'm day to day in that business.

• 58:02Trevor Noah?

  But this is like a real company.

• 58:04Speaker 01

  No, no, no, like a real.

• 58:05Trevor Noah?

  No, no, I'm just saying this because you know some people.

• 58:07Speaker 01

  Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes.

• 58:08Trevor Noah?

  Founders and CEOs.

• 58:09Speaker 01

  Yeah, yeah, of nothing.

• 58:10Trevor Noah?

  Yes, and I say this with respect to them.

• 58:13Speaker 02

  Every time someone says that, there's no respect included. Because if it was respectful, we'd need to mention the respect.

• 58:18Speaker 01

  No, but sometimes.

• 58:19Trevor Noah?

  But a lot of people say CEO and founder.

• 58:22Speaker 02

  And the next thing is not.

• 58:22Trevor Noah?

  And they are, but they are the only person in the business.

• 58:25Speaker 02

  Yeah, they're just an IP address and them.

• 58:26Trevor Noah?

  Yeah, yeah, yeah. So no, this is like a real thing.

• 58:29Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 58:29Trevor Noah?

  How many, how many years has Patton been going now?

• 58:31Speaker 01

  Uh, we're about to be seven. Um, and, uh, you know, we have 11 retail partners and.

• 58:37Trevor Noah?

  It's huge now.

• 58:38Speaker 01

  Yeah, it's really, it's a, you know, booming company and it takes a lot of work. So there's that part of my life and I'm very good at that and I love it and I love being a boss lady and I love going um, to the office and I love that kind of um, solution work that I do and the creativity that's in that. For me, because the, the um, marketing and branding is really my and storytelling and visual language. That is really my wheelhouse. Um, and I love that. But every time I get to be an actor, every time I get to play, to have a sense of play, to use my imagination, to be this like, you know, just creature who is not afraid of anything and just has complete liberation within my body and my mind and all of that and, and to just do that, I am

• 59:23Speaker 01

  lit up in a way that I cannot explain and I'm so grateful. I mean, also, you know, I'm a black actress in Hollywood. It's not like they throwing parts at me. Do you know what I mean? If that's not the way this business works.

• 59:35Trevor Noah?

  Still?

• 59:36Speaker 01

  Still, I mean, I get great work, do you know what I mean? But it's still, it's a thing, you know, you gotta figure that it's a thing. And so when I, and, and I do say no to things now, like, you know.

• 59:46Trevor Noah?

  That's a good place to be in.

• 59:47Speaker 01

  It's wonderful. Some of it is pattern. Like I've been able to, I have, you know, an income and I, I've made good money. And I don't have to do things to uphold my life. And that is wonderful. And I say thing, I say yes to things that either, not for financial reasons all the time. Sometimes it's just that it like lights me up. You know what I mean? Like it's just something I really want to do or try. And um, I just feel grateful. I love, I love it. I love being a human. I love what being an artist and an actor allows me to do as a human, to touch other people's humanity.

• 1:00:21Trevor Noah?

  Yeah.

• 1:00:22Speaker 01

  I love being silly. I love, you know what I mean? Like, I always say to people, um, like when it comes to dating, one of the things I'm like, you can't think that I'm gonna be the prize on your arm and be that thing. Where in my life I get to fly like an eagle every day! And be as big as I wanna be and as small as I wanna be and as sexy as I wanna be and as like, to do all this and then I'm just gonna, I'm gonna cook it, like, you know. And don't get me wrong, like I'm a caretaker and I'm gonna cook for you and all those kinds of things, but not because you expect it, not because you want it.

• 1:00:56Trevor Noah?

  Just because that's part of who you are.

• 1:00:57Speaker 01

  You're not gonna put me in a box and just be a little thing over here. Like I'm a, I'm a full planet.

• 1:01:02Trevor Noah?

  Does that make dating hard?

• 1:01:03Speaker 02

  You're a solar system.

• 1:01:04Speaker 01

  I don't know. Yeah, I'm a solar system.

• 1:01:06Speaker 02

  Yeah, I don't think you're a planet.

• 1:01:07Speaker 01

  I think I'm a solar system.

• 1:01:08Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 1:01:09Speaker 01

  And um, I don't know that it makes dating hard. Um.

• 1:01:12Speaker 02

  It does.

• 1:01:13Trevor Noah?

  You think it does?

• 1:01:14Speaker 02

  A hundred percent.

• 1:01:15Trevor Noah?

  Why?

• 1:01:16Speaker 02

  I think what you've just explained is what a potential partner sees.

• 1:01:20Trevor Noah?

  And can I, can I tell you?

• 1:01:21Speaker 02

  Just explain.

• 1:01:22Trevor Noah?

  What you've just, no, but also what you've said. One of the greatest pieces of advice I got too late in my life.

• 1:01:30Speaker 01

  Hmm.

• 1:01:31Trevor Noah?

  And, but I wish everyone got was from Esther Perel.

• 1:01:34Speaker 01

  Hmm.

• 1:01:35Trevor Noah?

  She was a guest on the podcast and she said, the number one thing she would encourage people to do

• 1:01:40Speaker 01

  Hmm.

• 1:01:41Trevor Noah?

  is date as friend groups. And I was like, what do you mean?

• 1:01:44Speaker 01

  Oh, explain that.

• 1:01:45Trevor Noah?

  And she said, one of the worst mistakes people make is they go on dates as individuals. And when you're on that date, you're only seeing one side of the person. Because it's, it's a very natural thing. It's not like, you know, it's not always like people are pretending or not pretending. But it's very difficult to be all sides of yourself.

• 1:02:01Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:02:02Trevor Noah?

  When you are with one person.

• 1:02:03Speaker 02

  Okay.

• 1:02:04Trevor Noah?

  But they said like, if you go out as groups of friends, like literally she said, people should try their best to go, hey, me and my friends are going to do this. Would you like to bring some of your friends and we're gonna hang out? She said, you'll be shocked at how quickly you get to know the person, like really, really quickly.

• 1:02:16Speaker 01

  That's actually sweet.

• 1:02:17Trevor Noah?

  Because the other person can't hide themselves when all their people are around.

• 1:02:21Speaker 01

  No, you can't.

• 1:02:22Trevor Noah?

  So you'll, you'll see them. Like you might be shy with strangers, but when you're with your friends, you, you really come alive. You might be nice with strangers and with your friends, the asshole really.

• 1:02:32Speaker 01

  You're an asshole.

• 1:02:33Trevor Noah?

  Yeah. And, and that thing, you know, to what you're saying now?

• 1:02:37Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:02:38Trevor Noah?

  It reminds me of that idea. I, I, I get what Eugene is saying. Because if somebody meets you as Tracy

• 1:02:43Speaker 01

  Hmm.

• 1:02:44Trevor Noah?

  in one dimension.

• 1:02:45Speaker 01

  Yeah, yeah, yeah.

• 1:02:45Trevor Noah?

  In one planet of your solar system.

• 1:02:46Speaker 02

  And they have met you.

• 1:02:47Trevor Noah?

  Yes, I can see them, I can see them going,

• 1:02:50Speaker 01

  Hmm.

• 1:02:50Trevor Noah?

  oh, this is who she is.

• 1:02:51Speaker 01

  Mm-hmm.

• 1:02:52Trevor Noah?

  All the time.

• 1:02:53Speaker 01

  Ah.

• 1:02:54Trevor Noah?

  And then the boss lady comes up and they're like, whoa, I'm a little intimidated by that.

• 1:02:57Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:02:58Trevor Noah?

  Wait, she can just go to Europe when she wants to and.

• 1:03:02Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 1:03:03Trevor Noah?

  Like I, I've always, I've always wondered that genuinely, especially, especially when it comes to ultra-successful women.

• 1:03:08Speaker 01

  Hmm.

• 1:03:09Trevor Noah?

  Is how much harder it is to date.

• 1:03:10Speaker 02

  But I think ultra, ultra-successful.

• 1:03:12Trevor Noah?

  Men can be very insecure about being with an ultra-successful woman.

• 1:03:16Speaker 01

  Hmm.

• 1:03:16Trevor Noah?

  Because what do I bring to the table?

• 1:03:18Speaker 02

  No, but that, I think that, that cuts across everyone. I think what ultra-successful and famous people take for granted.

• 1:03:23Trevor Noah?

  Yeah.

• 1:03:24Speaker 02

  Is the fact that their potential partner wants what a normal partner would want. They want exclusivity.

• 1:03:29Speaker 01

  Uh, uh, so.

• 1:03:30Speaker 02

  They just wanna be.

• 1:03:30Speaker 01

  And so do I.

• 1:03:31Speaker 02

  Yeah, they wanna be with, but also if you're ultra-famous, people already know you.

• 1:03:35Speaker 01

  Mm-mm.

• 1:03:36Speaker 02

  And they've already known you before you knew them.

• 1:03:38Trevor Noah?

  Yeah.

• 1:03:38Speaker 01

  Interesting.

• 1:03:39Speaker 02

  They can't pretend they've never seen you before.

• 1:03:40Speaker 01

  Interesting, yeah.

• 1:03:41Speaker 02

  So they want a side of you that has never been.

• 1:03:43Speaker 01

  The guy who played pickleball didn't know who Trevor was.

• 1:03:44Trevor Noah?

  But he was a 14-year-old kid.

• 1:03:46Speaker 01

  Don't date him.

• 1:03:50Speaker 01

  This is not appropriate, Trevor. For me or for you. Sorry. I don't know where that went, but. I just, I'm sorry. I realized it was not what I thought.

• 1:03:59Trevor Noah?

  You see the comedian.

• 1:04:00Speaker 01

  I thought he was a grown person. So when you said that, I was like, oh, no. Don't, that is a no.

• 1:04:06Trevor Noah?

  You see what I mean now. This is what I mean.

• 1:04:08Speaker 01

  That was so funny. I had not pictured him as a 14-year-old.

• 1:04:11Trevor Noah?

  No, oh, I'm sorry, yeah.

• 1:04:12Speaker 01

  That's so funny. For some reason, when you were painting the picture, I didn't picture him that way. So when you said that, I was like, ah, no! Sorry, okay.

• 1:04:23Trevor Noah?

  The exclusivity thing is, it's, it's an interesting.

• 1:04:25Speaker 01

  That's interesting.

• 1:04:25Trevor Noah?

  It's an interesting, interesting idea.

• 1:04:27Speaker 01

  And also, you're, you're loved by more. Like, I mean, you know, if you're dating me and then I put up a bathing suit picture and Trevor's getting.

• 1:04:33Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 1:04:33Trevor Noah?

  Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

• 1:04:34Speaker 01

  Yeah, I mean, I don't know. It's interesting.

• 1:04:36Trevor Noah?

  Who do you, who do you think it's been easier for you to date? Civilians or fellow celebrities?

• 1:04:41Speaker 01

  I've not really dated fellow celebrities a couple of times. No, no, I have a little bit. But um, but not, not so much. Um, I don't know. I mean, I feel like right now there's a question. I'm like, should I be dating, like, cause I'm 53. I'm like, should I be dating like a 62-year-old man?

• 1:04:58Speaker 02

  No.

• 1:04:59Speaker 01

  What? He's so quick with his answers.

• 1:05:02Speaker 02

  No, no, no.

• 1:05:02Trevor Noah?

  He's already like.

• 1:05:03Speaker 01

  Like he's.

• 1:05:04Trevor Noah?

  Cause he believes, he believes in each other.

• 1:05:06Speaker 01

  No, no, I know. But so here's the question then.

• 1:05:07Trevor Noah?

  Uh.

• 1:05:08Speaker 01

  Make my profile. Like, what are we doing? Like, go!

• 1:05:10Speaker 02

  Maybe like, at a stretch, 45.

• 1:05:14Speaker 01

  At a stretch, what?

• 1:05:15Speaker 02

  Yeah, if, if you're like, I'm dating someone who's old, at your age and your looks and your ability.

• 1:05:20Speaker 01

  But 62 is not.

• 1:05:22Speaker 02

  And your effervescence.

• 1:05:23Speaker 01

  I have effervescence.

• 1:05:24Speaker 02

  It will overwhelm any 61-year-old.

• 1:05:26Speaker 01

  Really?

• 1:05:27Speaker 02

  Yeah, you should be with someone who's as sprightly.

• 1:05:31Trevor Noah?

  This guy said sprightly.

• 1:05:33Speaker 01

  I know, I know, no, I had to move it away.

• 1:05:34Trevor Noah?

  This guy said sprightly.

• 1:05:36Speaker 01

  By the way, I moved it away, I moved it away like it was him.

• 1:05:40Speaker 01

  Sprightly, get the fuck out of here. I'm not dating. Oh my God. I don't know. I mean, I've dated younger guys.

• 1:05:46Trevor Noah?

  There we go.

• 1:05:47Speaker 01

  And that's been interesting. And then sometimes it's not, I mean, it's individual. Do you know what I mean?

• 1:05:52Trevor Noah?

  Yeah, it's always individual.

• 1:05:53Speaker 01

  Um, I, men my age, um, often, I don't, I don't know. I don't know. I think it's individual. Every, every guy is different. I will tell you.

• 1:06:02Speaker 02

  Finish your sentence first. Men your age?

• 1:06:04Speaker 01

  No, I'm not doing it. I'm not gonna do it. But what I will say is, there are really great guys out there. I'm not, I'm not gonna, I'm, I'm not one of those women who's like, I don't know, ain't nobody, like, I don't agree with that. I think there's really great guys out there. I think my thing is, think of how many people I know like me. Not so many. So maybe it'll take some time for me to meet the person that's a match for me. I don't know. I mean, how many people are out in the world like you? You're pretty unique.

• 1:06:33Speaker 01

  I don't know you well enough to say that about you. Do you know what I mean? I, I don't, I don't wanna, I don't wanna leave you out, but like I, I know Trevor decently well.

• 1:06:41Trevor Noah?

  You're a great guy.

• 1:06:43Speaker 01

  No, no, no.

• 1:06:43Trevor Noah?

  You have lots of options for you on the other hand.

• 1:06:46Speaker 01

  I don't know you.

• 1:06:46Trevor Noah?

  You just discovered heirloom potatoes, man.

• 1:06:49Speaker 01

  Heirloom potatoes. Yeah, and you use words like sprightly and you make me do things like this. I don't know. I don't know you yet, okay?

• 1:06:56Trevor Noah?

  I don't know if you gonna end up with any money, man.

• 1:06:58Speaker 01

  I don't know you, okay? But I know him and what he said was.

• 1:07:06Trevor Noah?

  Okay, so I'll tell you, this is what I've learned from my, for myself and from my, from my life.

• 1:07:14Trevor Noah?

  There is, it, it, it's interesting. I was, I was having a conversation. I was in, um, in Sweden. I was in Stockholm. I was at some random dinner. It was an event with mixed, you know, business people, actors, blah, blah, blah. Just a, a, a real smorgasbord, as they say, of people, right? And, um, I was sitting next to this woman who's just like, man, you want to talk about a boss lady? Like has connected everyone in the world of business and she's run successful businesses. She's like killed it. You know, she like vacations on yachts and like, like full on, full on, full. You can even tell how far I am from her because I say yachts. Because rich people say boats. That's what I've learned. Yeah, if you've grown up with money, you say boat.

• 1:07:53Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 1:07:53Trevor Noah?

  To you, it's a boat. If you haven't grown up with money, you say yacht. Like I say yacht.

• 1:07:56Speaker 01

  That, that is correct.

• 1:07:57Trevor Noah?

  That exposes how I grew up. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. I haven't like internalized money. It is a tell.

• 1:08:02Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:08:02Trevor Noah?

  But when you, when you've grown up around money. Yeah. You say boat, always. Do you want to join us on Gerald's boat?

• 1:08:08Speaker 01

  And, and, and the boat could be as big as a city.

• 1:08:10Trevor Noah?

  It will be as big as a city.

• 1:08:12Speaker 01

  But it's a boat.

• 1:08:12Trevor Noah?

  Yes, you always say boat when you have money and you've grown up in money is the important thing. When you haven't, you'll say yacht. A yacht. So anyway, she's, as she would say, she's on boats. I was like, oh, she vacations on yachts. So, um, we're talking, we're talking, we're talking. And then she said to me, it was really interesting, we were having this conversation, and then she said, I feel like I'm a failure in life. I was like, this is strange. You've just told me about the greatest list of accomplishments ever. What do you mean? You're, you think, you think you're a failure? And she said, well, I'm sixty, sixty-two years old. I, you know, my kids are amazing and they love me and we vacation all the time and they're great and they're doing well and

• 1:08:52Trevor Noah?

  my businesses are doing well and like, you know, my friends and my, like, my, my ventures and everything I touch turns to gold. But I just, I can't find the person for me and, you know, it feels like love is a story that I will never, you know, complete and I feel like a failure and.

• 1:09:07Speaker 01

  That's hard, hard perspective.

• 1:09:08Trevor Noah?

  Yeah, but it was interesting because I said to her, I said, maybe it's because it's so clear to me because you're saying it from the outside. But I found it interesting that she was willing to define her entire life.

• 1:09:20Speaker 01

  Through that.

• 1:09:21Trevor Noah?

  Through one lens alone, when every other metric, and I mean every other, she's in shape, she's.

• 1:09:27Speaker 01

  But you know, I've done speeches about this.

• 1:09:28Trevor Noah?

  Really?

• 1:09:29Speaker 01

  Oh, yeah. But that's societal. She's pushing, pushing up against, against a societal norm and a cultural and a patriarchal and misogynistic norm.

• 1:09:40Trevor Noah?

  Okay.

• 1:09:40Speaker 01

  That is, you, even if you don't know that's what you're fighting against, that's what you're fighting against.

• 1:09:48Trevor Noah?

  The thing that defines your value as a woman.

• 1:09:50Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:09:50Trevor Noah?

  Who wants you.

• 1:09:51Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:09:51Trevor Noah?

  Oh, damn.

• 1:09:52Speaker 01

  And, and, and I, I won't subscribe to it. I don't. My life is wonderful and it does, and I experienced loneliness and all of it, and I want a partner. And I might not find one. I don't know, you know? And I'm not going to make that mean something about me. And I'm not going to decide that because I, and you know, and then the other thing is on Girlfriends, I talk about this all the time, but on Girlfriends for eight years, a hundred and seventy-three episodes, I was a successful woman who couldn't find a partner and was waiting to be chosen. And I didn't realize it, but when I left the show, I have spent years, and I talk publicly about it now because I didn't realize how much I had spent years waiting to be chosen.

• 1:10:38Speaker 01

  And I started to realize, I'm like, what the, I'm the chooser. I can choose my partner and I can choose, I don't have to sit around being a prize, making a life so that I get chosen. I'm also the person looking for a partner. And society tells women that that's our worth, that having children. And, I mean, not everywhere, but that is.

• 1:10:59Trevor Noah?

  Yeah, yeah, for the most, no, for the most part. No, it is.

• 1:11:01Speaker 01

  And, and finding a partner. I mean, and then it's a thing that people ask you all the time and I'm like, oh my God, why are we so interested in this? You know, um.

• 1:11:09Trevor Noah?

  You know what I've noticed though? It's, it's similar to alcohol. People press you until you say you went too far and you've stopped.

• 1:11:16Speaker 01

  But if you just say, I'm, I'm not drinking.

• 1:11:19Trevor Noah?

  So you say, no thanks. If you go, people will press you. Do you like a drink? And you go, I don't drink alcohol. They go like, why not?

• 1:11:24Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:11:25Trevor Noah?

  Why do you don't want to drink? But if you say, I stopped, people are like, oh, oh, oh.

• 1:11:30Speaker 01

  Oh, it's one of those.

• 1:11:30Trevor Noah?

  Same thing with, with your relationship status. If people say, are you single or are you married? You say, no, never married? You've never been, no, you've, but if you go like, yeah, divorced and, um.

• 1:11:39Speaker 01

  No, they're, they're like, oh, I understand. I understand. Yeah.

• 1:11:43Trevor Noah?

  You, you have, okay, okay.

• 1:11:45Speaker 01

  Or here's my favorite, you know, I'm fifty-three, people are like, for a while there, there was, have you ever thought about having children? No, never thought about it. I'm so glad you brought it up. Should we talk about it now, you and I? Should we talk about what? Let's, well, let's get into it. What the fuck are you asking me?

• 1:12:00Trevor Noah?

  I've never thought about, I'm so glad you brought this up, sir.

• 1:12:03Speaker 01

  I'm so glad you brought this up. I never thought, do you think, what is, I mean, is it time? Do I do it now?

• 1:12:07Trevor Noah?

  Man, I would hate to meet you on the wrong day in the wrong setting. You're brave, because you see, that's what I mean. You're the perfect combination. All cylinders. Yeah, but like, she's too smart and too funny to not eviscerate you. Now imagine meeting this person randomly.

• 1:12:21Speaker 01

  Can I tell you a funny?

• 1:12:22Trevor Noah?

  Stipping on the wrong landmine, bruh. It's finished, bruh. You're finished.

• 1:12:25Speaker 01

  And you don't know what happened and I'm laughing. I'm like,

• 1:12:29Speaker 01

  can I, can I tell you a really funny story about a famous, a very famous comedian?

• 1:12:33Trevor Noah?

  Yes.

• 1:12:34Speaker 01

  Who came on, I'm, I'm going to make it as vague as I can so that no one feels called out. Who came on a show that I, was my show.

• 1:12:42Trevor Noah?

  Yeah.

• 1:12:43Speaker 01

  Um, and came and was doing a funny bit and decided in front of everyone to try and eviscerate me with his comedy.

• 1:12:54Trevor Noah?

  Ooh, wee.

• 1:12:55Speaker 01

  Tried to think that the pretty girl who was, this was back in the day, nobody really knew what I was capable of or not. But you know, when I get pushed into a corner, I.

• 1:13:05Trevor Noah?

  You have that.

• 1:13:05Speaker 01

  I, that's going to happen. And so I, with humor, on camera, in front of everybody, and it was my house, you know what I mean? I eviscerated him. And I was like, and then when I walked away, I was like, wow, that was harsh. But I was like, he did it to me first.

• 1:13:22Trevor Noah?

  Yeah, no, no, no, that thing.

• 1:13:23Speaker 01

  But you know, when two stand-up comedians.

• 1:13:25Trevor Noah?

  Don't put us in the corner.

• 1:13:26Speaker 01

  Don't do that.

• 1:13:28Trevor Noah?

  I've seen people do it with Eugene, where I watch and I see Eugene's eyes, like slowly like build and I'm like, oh goodness. Oh goodness, you'll get him on, no, I've seen you, you'll get Eugene on like a chill day. And then you get like random people like, look at this, what's up with that shoe and what, you look like a, and they start like, and you just see Eugene like sitting there like.

• 1:13:47Speaker 01

  You know what it reminds you of? A fighter that's like.

• 1:13:49Trevor Noah?

  That's what I, yes, that's exactly what I'm saying.

• 1:13:51Speaker 01

  These are lethal weapons.

• 1:13:53Trevor Noah?

  It's like, but like, he's in the movie and he's that guy who like stopped fighting long ago and he's just sitting there. And guys are like, hey man, you're gonna get up, you're gonna do something? And he's just there like.

• 1:14:02Speaker 01

  He's like, don't make me do it. Breathe, breathe.

• 1:14:05Trevor Noah?

  And then when Eugene starts, you're like, you have that. But I think we all have that.

• 1:14:09Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:14:09Trevor Noah?

  If you have like a comedic, like real, it's not about being funny.

• 1:14:13Speaker 01

  No, no, no, no.

• 1:14:14Trevor Noah?

  I'm not a funny person. It's not that. You have this thing where it's like, oh man, don't, don't put me in a corner. That, that version of Trevor, I call him the Shabine Queen. Yeah, he does.

• 1:14:22Speaker 01

  The Shabine Queen?

• 1:14:23Trevor Noah?

  Yeah. So in, in South Africa, uh, we had shabines, taverns. I don't think, well, speakeasies vibes, like, like in America and, uh, but in the, it's funny. In black America, you had it as well, where it was like the woman who ran the underground, the Duke joint, I think it was called.

• 1:14:40Speaker 01

  Yeah, yeah, yeah.

• 1:14:41Trevor Noah?

  And they ran it. And they had a comeback for every drunk man in there. They had a line for the cops. They had a, like, they were ready all the time. Eugene calls me that. He calls me a Shabine Queen. He's like, you don't want Trevor Shabine Queen to come out.

• 1:14:54Speaker 01

  That's fantastic.

• 1:14:56Trevor Noah?

  Because I'll be very chill and then at some point I'm like, all right, all right.

• 1:15:00Speaker 01

  But also, you know, what I love, what I love about you, Trevor. Which is, which is similar to me is that your humor is kind.

• 1:15:08Trevor Noah?

  Yeah, I don't, I don't try like, yeah.

• 1:15:09Speaker 01

  No, no, I'm, I'm not that person either. I'm not mean at all, but.

• 1:15:13Trevor Noah?

  Don't push me in a corner, man.

• 1:15:16Speaker 01

  You will lose.

• 1:15:17Trevor Noah?

  Don't, don't put baby in a corner. Don't put baby in a corner.

• 1:15:22Speaker 01

  I was, yeah, yeah. I mean, and I know, and also they don't always expect it from a woman.

• 1:15:26Trevor Noah?

  No, never. Yeah, never. Don't press anything. We've got more. What now? After this. Earth can be a lot sometimes. Heat waves, gas prices, bad hair days. Why not go where life is good? Escape to Pluto TV. Turn off your problems and turn on your favorite movies and shows. You know, the ones you already love. From Anchorman, the legend of Ron Burgundy, to Dirty Dancing, to Top Gun Maverick, from Alias to The X-Files. It's all here and all free. Go where the TV is always good. Escape to Pluto TV. Stream now, pay never.

• 1:16:08Trevor Noah?

  Therapy is one of those things lots of people talk themselves out of without even realizing it. Like it's too expensive or it's too overwhelming figuring out even where you're gonna start. But Rula is one way to make that first step feel a lot more doable. Offering accessible, affordable therapy that fits your needs. Sign up in just a few minutes and get matched with a therapist who fits what you're looking for. Need to talk to someone quickly? Appointments are often available as soon as the next day. And with insurance, sessions average around a fifteen-dollar copay. You can also see estimated costs upfront, so there's a lot more clarity going in. And in terms of outcomes, ninety-three percent of Rula patients report symptom improvement.

• 1:16:53Trevor Noah?

  If therapy's been sitting in the back of your mind, Rula is a pretty simple way to take that first step. So, turn off the talk track that's keeping you from progress and head to rula.com. That's R U L A dot com to find a therapist the easy way.

• 1:17:44Trevor Noah?

  Girlfriends.

• 1:17:46Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:17:46Trevor Noah?

  Why didn't Girlfriends get the mainstream acclaim it deserved? As, as, as.

• 1:17:51Speaker 01

  You think of the time period, think of what was happening then. So it was 90s and it was very segregated television at the time.

• 1:17:58Trevor Noah?

  Was it really?

• 1:17:59Speaker 01

  Oh, yeah.

• 1:17:59Trevor Noah?

  So I'll give you my perspective, just so you understand why I'm so confused by this. In South Africa, Girlfriends was one of the biggest sitcoms on television.

• 1:18:06Speaker 01

  Really?

• 1:18:06Trevor Noah?

  So in our world, in my world, in fact, when I hear people talk about shows like Friends, I don't say this with any like disrespect.

• 1:18:15Speaker 01

  Dispreachingly.

• 1:18:16Trevor Noah?

  I'm not just saying this disparagingly, but I go, what bullshit are you coming with? Telling me that this is the greatest sitcom of all time.

• 1:18:22Speaker 01

  I like him.

• 1:18:23Speaker 02

  He means no disrespect.

• 1:18:24Trevor Noah?

  Yeah, but.

• 1:18:25Speaker 01

  No, no.

• 1:18:25Trevor Noah?

  Yo, I grew up where Friends and.

• 1:18:30Speaker 02

  Girlfriends.

• 1:18:30Trevor Noah?

  And Girlfriends and all of these came on around a similar time.

• 1:18:33Speaker 02

  Yeah, yeah.

• 1:18:34Trevor Noah?

  So I was watching them back to back. Granted, I was much younger, but still.

• 1:18:37Speaker 01

  On the same level.

• 1:18:38Trevor Noah?

  Yeah, and, and they, and we didn't have the hierarchy that American TV had. So Family Matters and Full House were all like, let's go, baby.

• 1:18:47Speaker 02

  Back to back.

• 1:18:47Speaker 01

  That's so interesting.

• 1:18:48Trevor Noah?

  Same channel.

• 1:18:48Speaker 01

  Really?

• 1:18:49Trevor Noah?

  Yeah, so there was no like, oh, this is, there was no indicator.

• 1:18:52Speaker 02

  Which is a mixed bag of, of similar.

• 1:18:54Trevor Noah?

  So there was no indicator that one should be perceived in a way differently to the other. So for me, I remember watching Girlfriends going, the comedy, the situation.

• 1:19:04Speaker 02

  Timing.

• 1:19:04Trevor Noah?

  The, the, the, the elements of the story, what is being defined here? That to me was revolutionary, but it was never credited with the revolution, which was weird to me.

• 1:19:13Speaker 01

  No, and in the, um, it's been given that in hindsight.

• 1:19:18Trevor Noah?

  Oh, it has?

• 1:19:19Speaker 01

  A little bit.

• 1:19:20Trevor Noah?

  Okay, good.

• 1:19:20Speaker 01

  Um, but we certainly didn't have it back then. No. I mean, never had gotten, no talk shows, no Tonight Show, no David Letterman, no, uh, no Emmys. Had never been to the Emmys.

• 1:19:32Trevor Noah?

  You are lying.

• 1:19:33Speaker 01

  Had never been to any.

• 1:19:34Trevor Noah?

  You were never asked on a late night show?

• 1:19:36Speaker 01

  No, as a matter of fact, I have a story. Um, it was Jay Leno and I had Girlfriends. And the comment was, we love Tracy. Call us when she gets something.

• 1:19:48Speaker 02

  While on Girlfriends?

• 1:19:49Speaker 01

  Oh, yeah. And I was like, I, I remember thinking, get what? Like, what else do you have to get? I don't know. And it, it just was not, we love her, but it was not considered. And the other thing was, I remember, this I remember specifically, the show Monk. Do you remember that show with Tony Chalou? That show had a quarter of our viewership, a quarter of our viewership. And I remember seeing him on the show and I was so confused. And I was like, I don't understand. Is it viewership? And the only thing you can boil it down to, you're like, is it just racism? Like, I don't like, I'm not sure how to, like, how do you categorize it? Like, I don't know what it is. Um, never went to the Emmys. The first time I went to the Emmys was on Blackish.

• 1:20:33Trevor Noah?

  Yo, this is crazy.

• 1:20:34Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:20:35Trevor Noah?

  This is like, this is, to me, this is mind blowing.

• 1:20:38Speaker 01

  So, yeah, it just wasn't that.

• 1:20:39Trevor Noah?

  They all existed in the same.

• 1:20:40Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:20:40Trevor Noah?

  And, and ignorantly, because we're in South Africa, we're just watching this going, these are all the same. Like, they all, they all occupy the same level.

• 1:20:48Speaker 01

  That's so interesting. I've, I've never heard that before. Thank you for sharing that.

• 1:20:51Trevor Noah?

  Quality, um.

• 1:20:53Speaker 01

  The show was great.

• 1:20:53Trevor Noah?

  Prestige, all of it. So we didn't, we at no point watched any of these shows and thought that they were not of the same caliber whatsoever. It was really interesting to me when I came to America and, wait, why? Girl, and then it was like, almost only black people knew about Girlfriends.

• 1:21:10Speaker 01

  And by the way, when I first did Blackish, I remember I first went in to do my, uh, looping session, like, you know, for voiceover or whatever, with the stuff, the lines that weren't working. And I remember the team was like an old school, like, um, TV, like, um, veterans.

• 1:21:28Trevor Noah?

  Okay, yeah, yeah, yeah.

• 1:21:29Speaker 01

  And the guy was like, my God, I mean, it's like, it's like you've done this before.

• 1:21:35Trevor Noah?

  Oh, God.

• 1:21:35Speaker 01

  And I said.

• 1:21:36Trevor Noah?

  Eugene and I talk about that all the time.

• 1:21:38Speaker 01

  And I said, I said, no, but, but, but I have. And he was like, I mean, but it's not like you were on a comedy. And I said, no, I was on a comedy. He's like, I know, but it's not like you were a lead. And I was like, no, but I was. He's like, well, it's not like it was network. And I swear to God.

• 1:21:53Speaker 02

  Who is this guy?

• 1:21:54Speaker 01

  Exactly. And I said, no, but it was. And he was like, but it wasn't primetime. I mean, he kept going. It was like, it was like a comedy. Exactly. And I was like, but it was. And he was like, oh, I see. What was it called?

• 1:22:08Trevor Noah?

  Oh, wow.

• 1:22:08Speaker 01

  And I was like, Girlfriends. And he was like, I'll have to look that up.

• 1:22:12Trevor Noah?

  Wow.

• 1:22:12Speaker 01

  And I remember thinking, wow, it's like we were just not even, it didn't even exist. But, you know, again, back to my gratitude, I'm like, but I had eight years. I started on Girlfriends. I was pretty talented, you know what I mean? I thought I was pretty whatever, but I became a seasoned actress. I became a, you know, 173 episodes.

• 1:22:33Trevor Noah?

  Yeah, you're okay. Yeah.

• 1:22:35Speaker 01

  You learn how to do it, you know, and it's different than movies, but like, it's, it's a real thing. You learn, you get, you become a veteran, a veteran, you know? I had an opportunity to do 173 episodes of a show. It's no joke. And then I did 170 some odd episodes of Blackish. 16 years of my life on shows, 16 years. I'm like, girl, that's okay career. Do you know what I mean?

• 1:23:04Trevor Noah?

  Yeah, no, for real.

• 1:23:04Speaker 01

  Like, that blows my mind. And I remember after Girlfriends, I remember Christina Applegate, um, she had her third, so it was Married with Children, um, and then there was the third show. Her and Julia Lee, Julia Louis-Dreyfus were two actresses that I was like, I want that career. I want that. I wonder if a black woman could get that. I wonder if I could do that. I've done it.

• 1:23:27Trevor Noah?

  That's.

• 1:23:28Speaker 01

  I mean, it's pretty, it's, it, it blows my mind. Like, at 53, there, you know, you take stock, you look at things and you're like, okay. And I just go, wow. And then even with this Broadway show, you know, it came to me. It just felt like a divine moment. And I'm like, I didn't go looking for it. And it came to me and I thought, wow, in this chapter of my life, which is such a beautiful chapter at 53 years old, to experience something that like is a dream, a dream, my first time on Broadway, a one person show, a Tony nominated show that I didn't ask for. And I came in here and I'm like, what a, what a treat. Like, look at this. I'm still working. This is great.

• 1:24:09Trevor Noah?

  This explains, no, this explains it now.

• 1:24:11Speaker 02

  You sound like how I sound inside whenever I'm doing something.

• 1:24:15Speaker 01

  Just like.

• 1:24:15Trevor Noah?

  No, no, no, like, can I tell, you know, you know what's funny is you have that. One of the greatest gifts in my life is how Eugene reminds me to do that about like, um, the world. I'm good at doing that for like work things. Strangely enough, I've struggled to do that with the world.

• 1:24:32Speaker 01

  Mm-hmm. I understand that.

• 1:24:33Trevor Noah?

  So Eugene is the person who'll go, man, do you ever appreciate all these trees that we get on our walk?

• 1:24:39Speaker 01

  Oh.

• 1:24:43Trevor Noah?

  And I'm genuinely like, I'm never actually, yeah, I mean, the trees. And it's like Eugene's like, no, man, look at, yo, look at these trees.

• 1:24:50Speaker 01

  That's really.

• 1:24:52Trevor Noah?

  Okay. He's like, yo, look at, I mean, look at the, wow, look at that river there. I can't believe that river just flows like this.

• 1:24:59Speaker 01

  I am very much that person.

• 1:25:00Trevor Noah?

  Yeah, so, but you, you have, I would argue, the super combination of us. Cause I can do it with like work things. I always appreciate.

• 1:25:08Speaker 02

  He sees around the corner very quickly.

• 1:25:10Trevor Noah?

  I have to remind him on the work things and then he has to remind me on the life things. But even when I've been with you, when we're in an art gallery, a museum, at dinner, you have, that's a real, now it, it actually explains it to me now. I've always wondered how you are so, not just normal, but radiant. But I, I. I wonder where you get, where do you think you got it from?

• 1:25:38Speaker 01

  I think I was born with it. I do. I think I came out with a, I mean, my middle name is Joy. And my mom said.

• 1:25:46Speaker 02

  No way. You wanna know what my middle name is?

• 1:25:48Speaker 01

  What?

• 1:25:48Speaker 02

  Ntorozo.

• 1:25:49Speaker 01

  Which means?

• 1:25:49Speaker 02

  Joy.

• 1:25:51Trevor Noah?

  There you have it, folks.

• 1:25:55Speaker 01

  I want you to know I a little bit feel like ET when we do it.

• 1:25:58Speaker 02

  That's exactly what it comes from.

• 1:26:01Speaker 02

  From one species to another.

• 1:26:05Speaker 01

  Fantastic.

• 1:26:06Trevor Noah?

  Oh, Joy. Okay.

• 1:26:07Speaker 01

  Yeah, um, but I don't know. I mean, you know, I also know that for me, the capacity I have for joy is matched on the spectrum with the capacity I have for darkness.

• 1:26:19Trevor Noah?

  Oh, interesting.

• 1:26:20Speaker 01

  You know, I.

• 1:26:20Speaker 02

  Would say more.

• 1:26:21Speaker 01

  I just, that full spectrum of who I am.

• 1:26:24Trevor Noah?

  Yeah.

• 1:26:25Speaker 01

  Um, but the truth is my, my genuine temperament is joy.

• 1:26:33Trevor Noah?

  Okay, that's, that's, that's your.

• 1:26:35Speaker 01

  It's my, it's my default.

• 1:26:37Trevor Noah?

  The way I think of it is, like, I always think of like people like coins when we're spinning. There are two ways the coin can spin. It can be spinning almost silently and, and balanced. And then it can be spinning like in a wobble. And I go like, you wanna be your, your ideal spin, but there's also the other side of your spin, which is like, it's still going, but it's like, and okay, I hear what you're saying. So your default.

• 1:26:59Speaker 01

  Yeah, my default is joy. Um, I ran at a pace of anxiety for many, many years of my life. And I don't anymore. I mean.

• 1:27:12Trevor Noah?

  When did it stop and what changed it?

• 1:27:13Speaker 02

  I've said this to him the other day.

• 1:27:15Speaker 01

  About you or about him?

• 1:27:16Speaker 02

  About myself, yeah.

• 1:27:17Speaker 01

  Yeah, you, you've settled?

• 1:27:18Speaker 02

  Yeah, there was a time.

• 1:27:18Speaker 01

  How old are you?

• 1:27:19Speaker 02

  Forty-five this year.

• 1:27:20Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:27:21Trevor Noah?

  Wait, what, what, what changed?

• 1:27:22Speaker 02

  Hundred percent.

• 1:27:24Speaker 01

  All the work I've done, um.

• 1:27:26Trevor Noah?

  Yeah, but something must have changed. Like what, I, I, I, I wanna dig and understand this because I, I think it's valuable selfishly to me, but to anyone else is like, what clicks? Some people will, won't hit that until 70. Some people don't hit that until their deathbed. Some people never hit it. So my question is, what changed? Cause you had, like you just said, eight years on a primetime show, eight years on another.

• 1:27:51Speaker 01

  I was terrified and anxious through Girlfriends.

• 1:27:53Trevor Noah?

  Okay.

• 1:27:54Speaker 01

  Um, not comfortable in my skin.

• 1:27:56Trevor Noah?

  Yeah.

• 1:27:56Speaker 01

  Um, I've done a lot of work that has felt like chewing on ground glass. Um, in the attempt to, um.

• 1:28:08Speaker 01

  Get comfortable being where I am. Um, and trusting like trusting that I'm okay. And that has been um hard earned. And it's something, it's a daily reprieve, you know?

• 1:28:22Trevor Noah?

  Yeah.

• 1:28:22Speaker 01

  Um, and then blackish, I started to settle. I think I became a woman during girlfriends, but I didn't have time to integrate who I had become. Um, and then I spent years, you know, thinking the pearly gates of Hollywood were gonna open. Um, they didn't. And having to self generate um my own sense of creativity and ambition. And um make my own way. Um, I spent, you know, my childhood tangled in the rainbow of my mother's um extraordinary light.

• 1:28:57Trevor Noah?

  Yeah, right.

• 1:28:58Speaker 01

  Also in her embrace, not in her shadow, in her embrace. I've never felt um, but it it fanned a flame for me to figure out who I am. Um, I felt like a fraud if I just enjoyed her attention.

• 1:29:14Trevor Noah?

  Okay, that's interesting.

• 1:29:15Speaker 01

  Um, I needed to know who I was and fill up my own light and my own planet and my own system, you know? Um, and then blackish um has been extraordinary, was an extraordinary experience for me. And that partnership with Anthony was something. Um, I found a sense of safety and an ability to um explore my gifts and my talents in a way that I hadn't before. Um, pattern occupied something for me. I felt like I built something that meant something.

• 1:29:48Trevor Noah?

  Yeah.

• 1:29:49Speaker 01

  That had purpose. Um, pattern was the first thing that I made that was just absolutely mine.

• 1:29:59Speaker 01

  What was that?

• 1:30:00Trevor Noah?

  What do you want to do?

• 1:30:01Speaker 01

  Mm hmm. There's a thing that you wanna do that?

• 1:30:03Trevor Noah?

  No, I was saying, I was saying to Eugene, literally in the car on the way here, I said to Eugene, one of the things we take for granted in life is that we very seldom have been asked the question, what do you want to do?

• 1:30:17Speaker 01

  What do you wanna do?

• 1:30:18Trevor Noah?

  And people be like, no, people also, eh, what do you wanna? No, no, no, not casually. I mean, like in in the in the meaningful moments of your life.

• 1:30:24Speaker 01

  Hmm.

• 1:30:25Trevor Noah?

  How many times we take it for granted, li- literally from the beginning of our lives? When you're a child, you are very lucky. If your parents or carers, whoever caregivers, whoever say, what do you want to do? Like, and really mean it.

• 1:30:39Speaker 01

  Mm, mm, mm.

• 1:30:40Trevor Noah?

  What would you like? If you have all your agency, what would you like to do?

• 1:30:45Speaker 01

  Hmm.

• 1:30:46Trevor Noah?

  And then facilitate it, not not not a platitude.

• 1:30:48Speaker 01

  Mm hmm.

• 1:30:49Trevor Noah?

  And then you look at it like when you're older, what would you? Then you become an adult. Your work doesn't ask you what would you like to do?

• 1:30:56Speaker 01

  No.

• 1:30:57Trevor Noah?

  The things you do in life don't ask you what would you like to do? And it's interesting, as you keep moving through life, when you stumble upon it, you go, oh, this is the first time it was what I wanted to do.

• 1:31:12Speaker 01

  Not where I was pulled, not what I was offered, not what I-

• 1:31:15Trevor Noah?

  What I'm good at. No.

• 1:31:16Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:31:17Trevor Noah?

  Yeah, what do you want to do?

• 1:31:19Speaker 01

  Talent can be a trap.

• 1:31:20Trevor Noah?

  Yeah, absolutely.

• 1:31:21Speaker 01

  That's really interesting.

• 1:31:22Trevor Noah?

  Yeah, then people assume.

• 1:31:24Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:31:24Trevor Noah?

  Just because you have it, you must use it.

• 1:31:26Speaker 01

  Hmm.

• 1:31:27Trevor Noah?

  Then they give you what they think is good for you.

• 1:31:29Speaker 01

  Mm hmm.

• 1:31:29Trevor Noah?

  And then you start feeling ungrateful for not taking what they think is good for you.

• 1:31:32Speaker 01

  It is, especially, I think, I don't know if it's the same as a a man, as a African man. Um, but as a woman, to not take what you're offered.

• 1:31:43Trevor Noah?

  Same.

• 1:31:43Speaker 01

  And as a black woman is like, woof, is is it takes a a lot to learn how to do that. It's the same?

• 1:31:51Trevor Noah?

  Yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, I I think it's layered for us because it's like, one, you've got the color side of things. So remember, in in South Africa, we saw the first generation of non-white TV or or or public anything, right?

• 1:32:04Speaker 01

  Wow.

• 1:32:05Trevor Noah?

  Comedy wasn't legal in the country before nineteen ninety-four.

• 1:32:08Speaker 01

  Mm hmm.

• 1:32:08Trevor Noah?

  So there wasn't even like a comedian that you could like look up to. That wasn't a concept as a child.

• 1:32:17Trevor Noah?

  So that's why the the American TV we saw was so formative, cuz it was like, oh, that's a thing. And then people laugh and then, you know? Um, but when we entered those spaces for the first time, the custodians were still generally white people who, without realizing it at times, still approached you with an attitude of, hi? You, oh, wow, well, you you're lucky to-

• 1:32:42Speaker 01

  Oh, you you're lucky to be here.

• 1:32:44Trevor Noah?

  There there was that feeling. And so I think that that still has. And then, I mean, I know for us sharing this, like, coming from very modest backgrounds, there's also that element where it's like, you should be grateful for everything, even if you do not wish for it to be.

• 1:33:00Speaker 01

  Oh, yeah, I mean, the politics of gratitude are intense as a black person, intense.

• 1:33:05Trevor Noah?

  So you just, you just have to be, you have to, have to, have to, have to, have to, have to. But then what people don't realize is gratitude isn't gratitude when it's forced.

• 1:33:13Speaker 01

  No, it's very different.

• 1:33:15Trevor Noah?

  Then that's a compliance. Yeah, that's acknowledgement. I can acknowledge what I have. To be grateful for it is different.

• 1:33:21Speaker 01

  Yeah, it's very different.

• 1:33:22Trevor Noah?

  So people will say like, I'm grateful for everything. You must work, no, no, no, I get that. But then you, I genuinely believe sometimes you're just acknowledging that you have it. Being grateful for it is is the differ- it's like, it's the difference between eating something and being full.

• 1:33:37Speaker 01

  Hmm.

• 1:33:38Trevor Noah?

  And tasting and savoring something going, oh, oh, my god.

• 1:33:42Speaker 01

  To be in the actual enjoyment of it.

• 1:33:44Trevor Noah?

  Is to go, wow, what a delicious, I'm sorry, where's this from? You know, it's like, it's that feeling.

• 1:33:49Speaker 01

  You just said the word compliance, which is really interesting in that context. Gratitude as, I think that's in the politics of gratitude, is there's a sense of compliance. It's like, it is a um, a way to be deferential and to say, yes, I'm grateful for what you've given me as opposed to this sense of being of this is what is mine.

• 1:34:11Trevor Noah?

  Yes, yeah.

• 1:34:11Speaker 01

  This is what I'm, this is what I'm worth. This is me as a human being. You can, whatever you're doing out there.

• 1:34:17Trevor Noah?

  Yeah.

• 1:34:18Speaker 01

  But this is, and I think that is what shifted for me, a sense of um

• 1:34:27Speaker 01

  belonging to myself, a sense of um belonging to myself. And and also to my humanity, which I think is something that I've grown into and discovered. And having a sense of that for myself has allowed me, not every in every moment. I mean, you know, I'm human. Um, but it really has allowed me to be inside my life in a different way that I'm deeply grateful for.

• 1:35:00Trevor Noah?

  Hmm.

• 1:35:01Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:35:01Trevor Noah?

  See, that's beautiful. That's that's, that's where it is, that's, that to me is-

• 1:35:06Speaker 02

  Now, your friendship makes sense to me.

• 1:35:08Speaker 01

  These two?

• 1:35:09Speaker 02

  You two.

• 1:35:09Speaker 01

  Yeah, these two.

• 1:35:12Speaker 02

  It makes so much sense.

• 1:35:13Speaker 01

  Yeah. I mean, it's so funny, I mean, I, Trevor, I I know, I think you know this, I don't know, but like, I don't, you know, I've gone to your house for dinner.

• 1:35:20Trevor Noah?

  Yeah, yeah.

• 1:35:21Speaker 01

  And like, that's not something I do. Like, I don't, I'm not-

• 1:35:24Trevor Noah?

  I don't have people over.

• 1:35:25Speaker 01

  Yeah, no, you know what I mean?

• 1:35:26Trevor Noah?

  He will tell you this.

• 1:35:27Speaker 01

  Yeah, and like-

• 1:35:28Trevor Noah?

  Even you saying you've been to my house for dinner is like a, some people who know me will be like,

• 1:35:31Speaker 01

  What?

• 1:35:31Trevor Noah?

  She's been to your-

• 1:35:32Speaker 01

  By the way, same thing with me. The people that have been to my house for dinner, I'm like, uh, people are like, oh, so and so, maybe I can come over. I was like, no.

• 1:35:41Speaker 01

  No, no, maybe I can join dinner. I don't think so. I'm, I'm so, um, like, I just don't, you know, I don't do that. And um, and it's, there are certain people that you go, oh, that feels safe, that'll be, that'll be good. This is a real person, like, it's always your same friends.

• 1:35:58Trevor Noah?

  Yeah, yeah, yeah.

• 1:35:59Speaker 01

  You know, um, and by the way, the guy like we share now makes the food, you know? So, and those are things that like I don't take for granted. In this industry that we're in, you know, there's a lot of, there's a lot of stuff. There's a lot of bells and whistles, there's a lot of fun, it's nice, it's fun, I love to enjoy it and all that kinda stuff. But then there's something different, you know? And um, and I'm, I'm grateful for those touchstones that do exist, that you see. You know, you, we see each other at events, you're like, I I know him. You know, that's a good one. But, you know, you, it's a, it's a, the business is funny.

• 1:36:32Trevor Noah?

  Yes.

• 1:36:33Speaker 01

  And it will take what it can from you.

• 1:36:37Trevor Noah?

  I think, I think, I think life is like that.

• 1:36:39Speaker 01

  Hmm.

• 1:36:39Trevor Noah?

  The business is a, is an amplified version of it.

• 1:36:42Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:36:42Trevor Noah?

  But I think life is like that.

• 1:36:44Speaker 01

  That's true.

• 1:36:44Trevor Noah?

  And and in life, I I'll, I'll often say this, you know, like now, I'll, I'll be asked to like talk to high school kids or whatever, go and do these things, I was feeling, I'm like, what am I doing? Cuz I still feel like a high school kid.

• 1:36:56Speaker 01

  Hmm.

• 1:36:57Trevor Noah?

  But-

• 1:36:57Speaker 01

  Keep that forever.

• 1:36:58Trevor Noah?

  But genuinely, one of the only pieces of advice I'll give them is something I wish I had when I was younger. And that is, I go, choose your friends by how they make you feel.

• 1:37:07Speaker 01

  Oh, yes, Trevor.

• 1:37:08Trevor Noah?

  That's like the big one.

• 1:37:09Speaker 01

  Trevor, you wanna do it?

• 1:37:11Trevor Noah?

  No, that's his thing.

• 1:37:13Speaker 02

  Yeah, there's rock papers that is-

• 1:37:18Trevor Noah?

  No, like choose your friends.

• 1:37:19Speaker 01

  But it's true.

• 1:37:19Trevor Noah?

  Yeah, but and.

• 1:37:20Speaker 01

  By the way, this is also what I say about dating.

• 1:37:22Trevor Noah?

  Yeah.

• 1:37:22Speaker 01

  I always say to people, when you leave that date, ask yourself how you feel.

• 1:37:27Trevor Noah?

  Yeah, even when you're on it.

• 1:37:28Speaker 01

  Ask yourself how you feel, not what you're doing, not what he looks like now.

• 1:37:32Trevor Noah?

  No.

• 1:37:33Speaker 01

  How do you feel? Did you feel small? Did you feel like yourself? Did you feel like all those things? Because people forget to ask themselves those questions and they don't check in.

• 1:37:41Trevor Noah?

  Yeah.

• 1:37:42Speaker 01

  And then you're like in a relationship and you're like, you're like, yeah, well, how did he make you feel on the first date?

• 1:37:48Trevor Noah?

  Yeah, the thing I say to people is you you should never take for granted that every part of you is you, right? I I've I've always I like I shouldn't have, but I've like, I fought with a few like gurus and monks. Who I have, man.

• 1:38:08Speaker 01

  He just said I fought with, maybe that's what's.

• 1:38:10Trevor Noah?

  I have, man, I have. No, I have.

• 1:38:14Speaker 01

  I'm dead.

• 1:38:14Trevor Noah?

  You know me, bro. You know me too well, like. Because I like if I there's something I don't agree with or I don't understand, or I think it could be like clarified, I I just, I'll say it. And it's like a few gurus and monks will be like, you know, there's one who was like, he's like, you are not, you are not nervous, that is not a part of you, that nerves is an external.

• 1:38:31Speaker 01

  Throw something.

• 1:38:31Trevor Noah?

  And I was like, yo, man, I was like, yo, I don't agree with you. I was like, no, you are nervous.

• 1:38:36Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:38:36Trevor Noah?

  All of these things are a part of you. The difference is there's a state that you are most not comfortable, but you you you're sort of vibrating at your best frequency.

• 1:38:49Speaker 01

  I call my favorite part of me.

• 1:38:50Trevor Noah?

  Yeah, you're, that's the best way to put it, your favorite part of you. And so when I'm, when I think about my life.

• 1:38:57Speaker 01

  Outside Eugene?

• 1:38:59Trevor Noah?

  Yeah. Yeah, you're going, who are the people in my life? Who in some way, shape or form remind me of that person? So even when I'm not them, they sort of go like.

• 1:39:09Speaker 01

  Hey, hey.

• 1:39:10Trevor Noah?

  Hey, where are you? Then you're like, oh, yeah. Okay, that's a nice, thank you, without judging you, without pushing you, without pressuring you. And there's even like work that you will do or activities that you will do that will remind you of like.

• 1:39:21Speaker 01

  That part of you.

• 1:39:22Trevor Noah?

  That part of you. And those things, like everything you've said clicks. It's funny you say this. I haven't asked her about this, because I mean, it's not like we're like friends and speak. But from the few conversations I've had with Rihanna, she had like that like. And I don't say this in a familiar way, honestly, but she she just like.

• 1:39:41Speaker 01

  She's real.

• 1:39:41Trevor Noah?

  She may have always had it. But man, you cannot deny that Fenty like it just. Because what it does is i- i- it's exactly what you said about Patton.

• 1:39:54Trevor Noah?

  Depending on who you are in life, depending on where you are in life, you may feel like you are always in a position where you are waiting on.

• 1:40:02Speaker 02

  Yes.

• 1:40:02Trevor Noah?

  So you're waiting for a train to stop and pick you up, you're waiting for the bus to stop and pick you up, you wait, you're always waiting for the thing, you're always on the platform. And then if you're lucky enough, you get to build your own station and you're the one now.

• 1:40:14Speaker 02

  You're the conductor.

• 1:40:15Trevor Noah?

  You're the conductor.

• 1:40:16Speaker 01

  Yeah. You know what's interesting about Rihanna? I mean, I'm, I I really enjoy her. She's, I just, not not necessarily personally, but just what. But I remember when she did the halftime show, I saw something I'd never.

• 1:40:29Trevor Noah?

  That's what I'm saying, yes.

• 1:40:30Speaker 01

  Fucking amazing.

• 1:40:31Trevor Noah?

  Yeah, that's what I mean.

• 1:40:32Speaker 01

  She was like.

• 1:40:35Speaker 01

  I, we had never seen it.

• 1:40:36Trevor Noah?

  No.

• 1:40:36Speaker 01

  A black woman who at the height that she is at and who she is.

• 1:40:40Trevor Noah?

  No.

• 1:40:41Speaker 01

  Do it in this way of like, I'm not giving you guys all of me, I'm gonna give you, give you what I want to give you. And I'm doing this, it was, I don't even know how to describe it.

• 1:40:50Trevor Noah?

  Here's what it felt like to me. It felt like Rihanna was saying, I'm happy to be here, but you are also happy to have me here.

• 1:40:58Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 1:40:59Trevor Noah?

  So the halftime show is not me coming to peddle my wares. It's not me coming to.

• 1:41:04Speaker 01

  So beautiful.

• 1:41:04Trevor Noah?

  It's a showcase. And I'm enjoying this showcase and I'm having fun. And I'm like hitting my little, you know what I mean? It's like, and she had, you're not wrong. It wasn't like a.

• 1:41:13Speaker 01

  So beautiful.

• 1:41:13Trevor Noah?

  Please go out and buy my records and this is why you should love me as a performer.

• 1:41:17Speaker 01

  This is why she, there was none of it.

• 1:41:19Trevor Noah?

  She was like, ah, ah, ah, ah.

• 1:41:20Speaker 01

  And then she, and then she whipped open that Fenty mirror and I was like, girl. It was.

• 1:41:24Trevor Noah?

  Come on.

• 1:41:25Speaker 01

  It was so beautiful. Watching her is so beautiful in a way that we don't talk about it enough.

• 1:41:31Trevor Noah?

  No.

• 1:41:31Speaker 01

  But I really, it's, it's really beautiful. And it teaches us something.

• 1:41:36Trevor Noah?

  You can even.

• 1:41:36Speaker 01

  When we see it.

• 1:41:37Trevor Noah?

  You can even see it in her interviews. Look at, look at her interviews when before she has Fenty and people are asking her about when the new music is coming out. Look at how she responds and then look at her interviews when Fenty's come out and they ask her, where's the new music?

• 1:41:51Trevor Noah?

  Previously, she would have like a slightly like apologetic, like, ah, yeah, you know, I'm working on it and we're trying to find, yeah, you know, the album and we're getting the, you know. And then after Fenty, people ask her, yo, the music, she's like, yo, bro, relax with that question. The music will come when it comes. She's just got like a, not an asshole, but she's like, no, man, why are you doing this?

• 1:42:10Speaker 01

  She.

• 1:42:11Trevor Noah?

  The music will come when it come, the same way, we can't ask Shadé, when's the music coming out? If Shadé comes back, she comes back.

• 1:42:18Speaker 02

  If she doesn't, she doesn't.

• 1:42:20Trevor Noah?

  But it's, it's it's something I wish for everyone in life, i- in any part of your life.

• 1:42:25Speaker 01

  I agree.

• 1:42:26Trevor Noah?

  Is just the ability, you said, you said articulately, to feel like you belong in yourself. That's it.

• 1:42:34Speaker 01

  And you see it in her and it's beautiful.

• 1:42:36Trevor Noah?

  Yeah, no, thousand percent.

• 1:42:37Speaker 01

  Yeah, I really, it's, it's, um, that, that Super Bowl moment was something very special for everybody.

• 1:42:44Trevor Noah?

  No, man.

• 1:42:44Speaker 01

  Especially from a black woman. This is lovely.

• 1:42:48Trevor Noah?

  This is you, this is.

• 1:42:49Speaker 02

  You are lovely.

• 1:42:50Speaker 01

  Aw, come on, one more.

• 1:42:54Speaker 01

  Also, when he does it, he goes.

• 1:42:55Trevor Noah?

  Yeah.

• 1:42:56Speaker 01

  It's really good.

• 1:42:57Speaker 02

  Channeling all the energy.

• 1:42:58Speaker 01

  Oh, is that what you're doing?

• 1:42:59Trevor Noah?

  He like focuses it. Do you have a, do you have a show tonight?

• 1:43:02Speaker 01

  I do. Yeah, I have a show tonight, um.

• 1:43:05Trevor Noah?

  I don't want to, I want to let you, what's your, what's your pre-show routine? I don't want to like, what's your?

• 1:43:09Speaker 01

  I usually, I like to be there an hour and a half before we open the doors because I'm in the audience for the door opening. Um, and I do vocal exercises.

• 1:43:18Trevor Noah?

  What do you do, lip trills?

• 1:43:19Speaker 01

  I do trills, I do hums, I do.

• 1:43:21Trevor Noah?

  Do you do the, the blowing straw? No, okay.

• 1:43:24Speaker 01

  I do ha ha ha's. Um, I had two weeks, about 10 days where I was sick as a dog.

• 1:43:31Trevor Noah?

  You're lying in the middle of the run.

• 1:43:33Speaker 01

  And I had to keep going.

• 1:43:33Trevor Noah?

  No.

• 1:43:35Speaker 01

  Let me tell you something.

• 1:43:36Trevor Noah?

  No understudy.

• 1:43:36Speaker 01

  First, no, it's just me.

• 1:43:38Trevor Noah?

  No.

• 1:43:38Speaker 01

  First of all.

• 1:43:39Trevor Noah?

  I could have come on and I could have done it.

• 1:43:40Speaker 01

  You could have, by the way.

• 1:43:41Trevor Noah?

  I could have come and done Tracy.

• 1:43:42Speaker 01

  No one would have known. I would have been like, you guys haven't seen me in person, you don't know, that's what I look like, I look like Trevor Noah, I do. But I will tell you, it's fascinating what your body can do when it's sick, you can still do it.

• 1:43:53Trevor Noah?

  Yeah.

• 1:43:54Speaker 01

  But what is crazy is the show I did with a fever. I have no, I, it felt like a fever dream.

• 1:43:59Trevor Noah?

  Yeah, you have no memory of it.

• 1:44:00Speaker 01

  I was like, wow, but I, you know, my body knows what it's doing. It's done the show enough.

• 1:44:05Trevor Noah?

  Yeah.

• 1:44:06Speaker 01

  It does it. And it was still a great show, but boy, did it feel fucking wonky.

• 1:44:10Trevor Noah?

  No, yeah, yeah.

• 1:44:11Speaker 01

  And then for a minute there, I couldn't hear out of my right ear. And thank God I didn't have anything contagious, I had no, um, you know, I'd been, I tested for everything. So I was sure that I wasn't like spreading it around everybody. Um, and then there was that one show that I was just like.

• 1:44:28Trevor Noah?

  You just hit like the.

• 1:44:30Speaker 01

  It was, it was, you know what it was that made me feel like I was so out of it? That night I hadn't slept, I couldn't sleep. And I, you know, I'm a sleeper, so if I get my sleep, then I can do all these things and I can really be present. You got to sleep, right?

• 1:44:44Trevor Noah?

  Got to sleep.

• 1:44:45Speaker 01

  Got to sleep.

• 1:44:46Trevor Noah?

  Got to sleep.

• 1:44:46Speaker 02

  Professional sleeper.

• 1:44:47Speaker 01

  Yeah, and my sleep etiquette is like no joke.

• 1:44:50Trevor Noah?

  To sleep.

• 1:44:51Speaker 01

  I don't fuck around with my sleep.

• 1:44:52Trevor Noah?

  Now, you have good sleep etiquette. I just focus on my sleep, but your etiquette is impeccable.

• 1:44:56Speaker 01

  I have very good sleep etiquette.

• 1:44:58Trevor Noah?

  Yeah, she does.

• 1:44:58Speaker 01

  Yes, I do. I, the wind down.

• 1:45:01Trevor Noah?

  Yes. Now, Tracy's a G A when it comes to this.

• 1:45:04Speaker 01

  No, otherwise.

• 1:45:04Trevor Noah?

  There's a wind down?

• 1:45:05Speaker 01

  There's a wind down, there's a, you know, no sugar, like before bed and stuff like that, like I just, and I, the screen goes away, I.

• 1:45:14Trevor Noah?

  How long before?

• 1:45:15Speaker 01

  At least, at least a half an hour, if not more.

• 1:45:18Trevor Noah?

  Because the audience is coming in and then she has to.

• 1:45:25Trevor Noah?

  The Shebin Queen is out.

• 1:45:27Speaker 01

  The Shebin Queen.

• 1:45:28Trevor Noah?

  Yep, yep.

• 1:45:30Speaker 01

  Is it the Shebin's time?

• 1:45:32Trevor Noah?

  Yeah, there's a, there's a 12, there's a 12 o'clock spike.

• 1:45:35Speaker 01

  Oh, my God, I'm dead.

• 1:45:36Trevor Noah?

  And then there's a 3 P M spike. And then from 6 P M, I'm always like, guys, you're in God's hands now.

• 1:45:41Speaker 01

  Oh, my God, that's so funny.

• 1:45:43Trevor Noah?

  So now the time is 2 o'clock.

• 1:45:45Speaker 01

  2 o'clock.

• 1:45:45Trevor Noah?

  Yeah, so we're in, we're in between two time zones.

• 1:45:48Speaker 01

  Yeah, I'm gonna, I'm gonna try and get myself some lunch and then, um.

• 1:45:52Trevor Noah?

  This was, this was so beautiful, thank you.

• 1:45:54Speaker 01

  So nice, thank you.

• 1:45:54Trevor Noah?

  Let's not, let's not make it.

• 1:45:55Speaker 01

  Two years.

• 1:45:57Trevor Noah?

  I can't believe it.

• 1:45:57Speaker 01

  That is stupid.

• 1:45:59Trevor Noah?

  I, I will say this, though. When you have that feeling with people, that's when I feel like you guys like vibe.

• 1:46:05Speaker 02

  You like them.

• 1:46:05Trevor Noah?

  Yeah.

• 1:46:06Speaker 01

  And then it's, it's normal where, whenever you.

• 1:46:08Trevor Noah?

  But I, but I also think that becomes the downside is that you genuinely, until you said it, I did not, like now when you're like.

• 1:46:16Speaker 01

  That's what I said, I was like, what?

• 1:46:17Trevor Noah?

  Not two years, but.

• 1:46:19Speaker 01

  Two years seems crazy.

• 1:46:20Trevor Noah?

  It is crazy.

• 1:46:21Speaker 01

  But, um, I am in the city for the next two or three weeks, so maybe we'll go to dinner or something.

• 1:46:25Trevor Noah?

  You let me know.

• 1:46:25Speaker 01

  Okay, great.

• 1:46:26Trevor Noah?

  You let me know. All right, this was great.

• 1:46:29Speaker 01

  Fantastic.

• 1:46:30Speaker 02

  You are amazing.

• 1:46:31Speaker 01

  Fantastic.

• 1:46:34Trevor 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.

• 1:47:06Speaker 04

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• 1:47:34Speaker 05

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