South Africa's Trevor Noah is apparently increasingly being "ignored" by America, with the new host of The Daily Show on Comedy Central (DStv 122) who've fallen out of favour with American audiences.
In an article entitled "Why are Americans ignoring Trevor Noah?" the influential Slate is now asking why American viewers are abandoning the South African comedian as viewership is continuing to slide for the show following the departure of Jon Stewart.
Where it used to be must-watch television, The Daily Show on Comedy Central is now called "inessential" television.
The Daily Show on Comedy Central - with episodes of the Viacom International Media Networks show seen in South Africa and Africa on DStv a day later on weekdays - has so far lost a third of its viewership compared to when Jon Stewart was the host, although more young people in America are watching the show online.
After four months as the new host of The Daily Show, Slate describes Trevor Noah's approach to jokes as "distant" and that he lacks the "outraged advocacy" that made Jon Stewart's comedy so agenda-setting and the comedian a media darling.
Where the British John Oliver - whose Last Week Tonight satirical news show was broadcast in South Africa on M-Net (DStv 101) and will be switching to M-Net Edge (DStv 102) from Sunday 21 February at 21:00 - is using his "distance" from America to make his jokes on American politics "feel even sharper and more objective", Slate says "The Daily Show hasn't decided whether to play up Noah's outsider perspective or to pretend it doesn't exist".
"Playing naïve has also undermined Noah," says Slate. "Trevor Noah tends to seem remote and jokey, rather than genuinely curious".
"Noah will have time to figure out his point of view and his writers time to figure out how to maximize his particular skills. But in the meantime, we're left with a dulled Daily Show shedding relevancy in the midst of a wild and urgent election," says Slate.
