On the new episode of his web series Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee, Jerry Seinfeld picks up Daily Show host designate Trevor Noah in a white Ferrari and whisks him to Dumbo (which, Seinfeld explains stands for “down under Manhattan Bridge” plus “overpass” because nobody wants to live in “DUMB”). Most Americans don’t know much about 31-year-old Noah, who replaces Jon Stewart starting September 28 after just three prior reports as a series correspondent. Upon his appointment, comedy nerds may have streamed Noah’s 2011 documentary, You Laugh But Its True, available on Netflix—where the South African discusses his rise from cab driver to comedian and details how his mother survived a gunshot to the head—but for the uninitiated, Esquire.com mined CCC for intel on The Daily Show’s next funnyman news anchor.
- Known to go “gig crazy,” Noah will cram as many shows as possible into a week (even if it means crossing oceans).
- He receives daily emails from his mom in South Africa.
- Young Trevor first learned the profound power of humor when he saw his black grandfather crack up a white police officer at a parade in Johannesburg.
- Though heckling is frowned upon in South Africa, he practices comebacks. When interrupted at a show in the UK, Noah replied, “Are you done? Forgive me where I’m from, normally white people come at you with dogs and tear gas. Is that all you have?”
- The Daily Show (which tapes at 6 p.m.) is going to wreck havoc on his REM cycle. “[If] my [first] show’s at 7, I wake up at 6 p.m., read the news, go into the shower, get dressed, walk out of my apartment, I walk into the venue, walk into the backstage…and then I would leave through the back, and then I’ll go have breakfast.”
- Noah feels the need to treat even when out with very wealthy Seinfeld, who just made a killing on Hulu.
- Fran Drescher will soon find herself with a well-placed fan. “Is Flushing in Queens?” Noah asks Seinfeld. “I know that from The Nanny.”
- His black mother would masquerade as his white father’s maid so the family could spend time together during Apartheid.
- She would also pretend to be Noah’s babysitter so officials didn’t think that she’d committed a crime by having a mixed-race child.
- Noah had no idea that he was in the running to takeover for Stewart.
- He got the call about Daily Show during a night drive in Dubai. “My phone rings and my manager says, ‘How would you like to be the host of The Daily Show?'” His senses reacted like he’d heard an explosion. “And then the worst thing is, you’re in Dubai, which is one of the hardest places in the world to find a drink.”
Source: esquire.com