‘The Daily Show’ Debut Of Trevor Noah, ‘Some Random Kid From Africa’

Monday saw the long-awaited debut of South African comedian Trevor Noah on The Daily Show. Thrilled and nervous to be there, one of the first things he explained was how, after growing up on the dusty streets of South Africa, he now has two things he thought he would never have — an indoor toilet and a job as host on The Daily Show.

As South Africa no doubt looked on, Noah made several references to his African heritage. Another of his opening lines as he took over the seat was that he would do his best not to make Jon Stewart look like a “crazy old dude who left his inheritance to some random kid from Africa,” and that, “Once more a job Americans rejected is now being done by an immigrant.”

It must have been a nerve-wracking experience taking over the reins from Stewart, who spent 16 years of his life juggling both politics and the media, before handing over the job to 31-year-old Trevor Noah. While the set is new, Noah has kept the majority of the original staff, as well as the theme music and the show’s general format.

A time-lapse view of the new #DailyShow set being built. See it in action tonight at 11/10c pic.twitter.com/CeJ2SZxybh

— The Daily Show (@TheDailyShow) September 28, 2015

Noah paid tribute to his predecessor, saying that Jon Stewart was “more than just a late-night host” and again joked about his own origins.

“He was often our voice, our refuge and in many ways our political dad.”

“And it’s weird because dad has left and now it feels like the family has a new stepdad — and he’s black.”

He did say he thought that a woman or an American should have been chosen for the job, but that Comedy Central had offered the position to both, but got turned down.

Once the intro was over, Noah moved on to current events of importance, including a funny segment on the visit of Pope Francis to the USA. Speaking of the Pope, Noah quipped that with his stance on climate change and immigrants, Pope Francis was “like a young Bernie Sanders.” He then went on to speak about the resignation of House Speaker John Boehner (rather coincidentally almost immediately after Boehner had a meeting with the Pope).

Noah then skillfully tied together two important pieces of news by talking of the announcement Monday by NASA that water had been discovered on Mars, saying that this major discovery now gives us “a new planet to colonize, just when we find out that Volkswagen has been destroying the Earth.”

IOL News did point out that one major difference in the show was that censorship seemed a little lighter to Stewart’s time on The Daily Show. Trevor Noah used several expletives that went past censorship and could clearly be heard.

The latest version of The Daily Show was reportedly simulcast across multiple Viacom networks, including MTV, VH1, BET, and Nick at Nite, and Comedy Central included a stand-up special by Kevin Hart just before the show, giving many reminders of how Hart would be Trevor Noah’s first guest on The Daily Show.

Comic Kevin Hart arrives on the set and hands over a box of ties to Trevor Noah, who received the gift joyfully, but the Guardian dubbed the interview “toothless and unironic” and that it mainly consisted of Hart congratulating himself and speaking of his huge tour.

Check out the #DailyShow‘s first week guests: a presidential candidate, musician, entrepreneur, and superstar comic. pic.twitter.com/t7tMZKgLCe — The Daily Show (@TheDailyShow) September 23, 2015

As reported by the Inquisitr, Noah was declared South African of the Year recently for his achievement in hosting The Daily Show.

That article also pointed out that while Monday’s episode featured an interview with a comedian, Tuesday’s episode of The Daily Show will head into the dating scene with Whitney Wolfe, founder and CEO of Bumble, taking the seat.

She will no doubt be talking about Bumble, a dating app which might look a lot like other digital dating tools, with the difference being that while each time the two parties feel mutual attraction, they both swipe right, it is only the woman can make the initial contact. Definitely loads of potential for jokes right there.

Wednesday will see Noah moving into a more political sphere, with GOP hopeful Chris Christie in the spotlight and Thursday will head into the musical sphere with musician Ryan Adams in the hot seat.

[Photo: Trevor Noah on The Daily Show by Brad Barket / Getty Images Entertainment]