Trevor Noah Continues To Struggle Two Months After Starting ‘The Daily Show’
When Trevor Noah first started a couple months back, people said to give him some time. Although two months still isn’t a lot, it doesn’t appear that Mr. Noah has found his ground yet on The Daily Show. Critics from both the left and the right keep targeting Noah with bad criticism.
“Every night on The Daily Show, Noah fluffs lines. He is reading copy off a teleprompter – copy that he’s gone over several times before the show airs – but he just can’t nail it consistently. His regular verbal missteps destroy the comic timing of these set pieces and suggest – now that he is over two months into the show – that Noah might not be up to the task.”
Julian adds that Noah is out of his depth. Everything with him may be “cute,” but that doesn’t cut it when one is trying to skewer pomposity or deliver an evisceration of the current crop of Republican presidential candidates.
Besides the Huffington Post, Salon has previously declared that, perhaps, Trevor Noah just isn’t funny.
“Yeah, the new ‘Daily Show’ is so deadly that I have to do what I can to punch up the jokes. I’m not the only one who senses that something is lacking. Since Noah’s takeover, ‘The Daily Show’s’ ratings have fallen like a drunk heckler slipping on watermelon guts at a Gallagher show. Nielsen stats show a 37 percent drop overall.”
Salon adds that not everything is doom-and-gloom. The 18-24 demo has increased by 20 percent and on-demand streaming has increased by 44 percent. The writer, Sarah Burris, thinks that Trevor is having a rough time because his comedy isn’t the type of comedy The Daily Show is used to. Burris believes that Jon Stewart’s comedy was like Saturday Night Live, whereas Trevor Noah’s comedy is more Mad TV.
“Noah’s collapse is not just in the ratings. His clips are not making the rounds, even with a DC Media desperate to viralize clips of leftwing comedians trashing Republicans…Trust me, Noah is not being snubbed out of a sudden fit professionalism, decency, or maturity from our media overlords. Noah’s work is just not up to snuff,” Nolte claims.
However, there are some people who like Trevor Noah.
Oh my God @TheDailyShow's #cruzyourownadventure bit was gold. Hilarious. @Trevornoah is killing it
— Pat McClung (@PatMcClung1991) December 4, 2015
Perhaps Trevor Noah just needs a little more time to find himself. It’s important to note that it took Jon Stewart a couple years before he made The Daily Show a must-watch. Stewart, however, didn’t have the challenge of replacing a well-liked and influential host before him. Let’s hope that Trevor Noah can put the criticism aside and continue to develop before Comedy Central fires him.
[Photo by Paul Zimmerman/Getty Images]
