Trevor Noah explains the how and why of his Daily Show exit: Didn't want to stay until people said they're glad 'that dick is out of the building'.

by Thinus Ferreira

The South African stand-up comedian Trevor Noah (38) who will be back in the country in December after stepping away from his 7-year run as host of The Daily Show on Comedy Central is explaining his shocking decision in his own words for the first time, saying he didn't want to wait until people got tired of him and said something like they're glad "that dick is out of the building".

In a new cover story for The Hollywood Reporter, it becomes clear that Trevor Noah told nobody that he was going to announce his exit from The Daily Show desk on 29 September this year to gasps from the in-studio audience.

Jen Flanz, The Daily Show showrunner was sitting at the producers' desk when Trevor Noah made his shocking announcement. She turned to Zhubin Parang, supervising producer and show writer and said: "What is he doing?" She asked: "Did you know?" with Zhubin Parang who replied with, "Does it look like I knew?".

In the interview, Trevor Noah explains that "Part of the reason I did it that way is because I didn't want anybody to be the person who then tells somebody else, who then tells somebody else, who then tells somebody else".

The final episode of The Daily Show with Trevor Noah will be on Comedy Central (DStv 122) on 8 December.

In the article, Trevor Noah mentions that he is selling his New York apartment which is currently on the market for $12.95 million and that he doesn't know if he will buy another property again in New York. 

He explains that his decision to leave was motivated by a feeling of exiting while people still want you and like you: "I'd rather people be sad than people be happy, like 'Good riddance, that dick is out of the building".

Trevor Noah says "I wish someone had told me what a grind it was. You're also running the show, so everything from HR to designing the set, you're a part of, and it doesn't stop when you leave the building. There's no moment when breaking news happens where I go, 'Oh, wow, I don't care.' No, I have to care; being informed is part of my job".

The Daily Show with Trevor Noah on Comedy Central heading back to old studio from 11 April with in-studio audience returning.

by Thinus Ferreira

South Africa's Trevor Noah will return to his old studio for The Daily Show with Trevor Noah for episodes recorded from 11 April in New York City and the show will also be welcoming back its in-studio audience after two years, Comedy Central announced.

When the global Covid-19 pandemic started, Trevor Noah shifted production and recording of his show to his New York highrise, working remotely, and renamed it The Daily Social Distancing Show.

Six months ago the show went back to studio but to the new location of inside Paramount's head office at 1515 Broadway.

Now The Daily Show with Trevor Noah on Comedy Central (DStv 122) will return to its studio inside 733 11th Avenue, with the audience that will also return, Comedy Central said in a statement.

The Daily Show with Trevor Noah will be taking a scheduled break from Friday 18 March as Trevor Noah prepares to host the postponed 2022 Grammy Awards on 3 April.

"After earning widespread praise and record audience engagement through the pandemic with uniquely honest conversations and thought-provoking commentary on race and politics, the homecoming will continue to combine the Emmy-nominated show's classic news satire with the intimacy and creative elements imbued from The Daily Social Distancing Show," Comedy Central says.

With Trevor Noah as host, writer and executive producer, the show uses correspondents Ronny Chieng, Michael Kosta, Desi Lydic, Dulcé Sloan and Roy Wood Jr., along with contributors Lewis Black and Jordan Klepper.

The Daily Show no longer socially distanced as Trevor Noah returns for season 27 on Comedy Central.

by Thinus Ferreira

The Daily Show is no longer socially distanced as Trevor Noah returns to a new studio tonight for season 27 of the late night show on Comedy Central (DStv 122) at 23:11.

After its American summer break, The Daily Show is back for a new season with South Africa's Trevor Noah as the host, with the show that is returning to studio, and with South Africa seeing an episode broadcast locally the day after it's seen in America.

After having retitled The Daily Show as "The Daily Socially Distancing Show" and recording episodes from his New York City apartment during the Covid-19 pandemic for a year and a half, Trevor Noah is now returning to a new studio inside ViacomCBS headquarters at 1515 Broadway.

"As the show moves from Trevor's apartment to the heart of New York City, it drops the Social Distancing moniker while holding onto the intimacy and creative elements that drove the success of the Emmy-nominated hit during the pandemic," Comedy Central says in a press release.

"The new studio will include state-of-the-art production capabilities, allowing the show to create and deliver a greater range of content across all platforms."

Trevor Noah who is also a writer and executive producer on the show, says "Just like the rest of the world we’re excited to leave our homes and get back to working in the same space as other human beings. We're not 100% back to normal yet but we're gonna make the best of it and enjoy making the show from the heart of Times Square."

Trevor Noah is back with correspondents Ronny Chieng, Michael Kosta, Desi Lydic, Dulcé Sloan and Roy Wood Jr. along with contributors Lewis Black and Jordan Klepper.

The four guests of the first week of season 27 of The Daily Show will be Dr Anthony Fauci (America's National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases director), actress and producer Gabrielle Union, NBA star and author Carmelo Anthony, and the actor and director LeVar Burton.

Trevor Noah doing The Daily Show from South Africa for a special Tuesday night episode on Comedy Central, entitled Trevor Noah: Self-Deportation Edition.

The comedian Trevor Noah is doing a special episode of The Daily Show from South Africa that will be broadcast on Comedy Central (DStv 122) worldwide on Tuesday night at 22:00, entitled The Daily Show with Trevor Noah: Self-Deportation Edition.

Trevor Noah that visited Johannesburg over the weekend to host Sunday's Mandela 100: Global Citizen Festival 2018 at the FNB Stadium in Soweto decided to do an episode from South Africa instead of taking leave.

Last month before America's so-called "midterm" elections he took the show, usually recorded in its studio in New York, on the road to record four "undesked" shows in front on a studio audience in Miami where he also got the keys to the city from Miami's mayor.

In Tuesday's "self-deportation edition", the first new episode of the week with The Daily Show going out on Comedy Central Tuesdays to Fridays, Trevor Noah will show the world a bit about his life before The Daily Show and give viewers a look at his hometown of Johannesburg.

In the episode he will also visit some of his old haunts, and will explore Nelson Mandela's legacy on South Africa, after which he will head back to New York to resume doing The Daily Show from there.

South African comedian Loyiso Madinga joins The Daily Show with Trevor Noah to do replacement segments for the Africa broadcast of episodes of The Daily Show.

The South African comedian Loyiso Madinga is joining The Daily Show with Trevor Noah to do replacement segments for the Africa broadcast of episodes on Comedy Central (DStv 122).

Viacom International Media Networks Africa (VIMN Africa) says the replacement inserts instead of the full American episode of The Daily Show will be broadcast intermittently on Comedy Central.

The first replacement piece, a field report from the African National Congress's (ANC) recent elective conference will be broadcast in The Daily Show episode of Thursday night on Comedy Central at 21:30.

The locally produced Africa segment done by Diprente was directed by Kagiso Lediga with Tamsin Andersson as producer.

The writers are Kagiso Lediga, Karabo Lediga, Christopher Steenkamp, Muzi Dlamini, Mpheng Morobe, Camilo Saloojee, Lazola Gola and Simi Mngomeni.

The relatively unknown stand-up comedian Loyiso Madinga has shared the comedy stage with Tom Segura and David Kau and has appeared in satirical TV shows like eNCA's cancelled Late Night News with Loyiso Gola and The Bantu Hour on SABC2.

Trevor Noah says "as wild as Donald Trump is for America, many countries around the world have Trumps of their own and since The Daily Show is in many countries, we thought 'why not give each country a chance to show off their stable geniuses?"

Loyiso Madinga says he's "excited to create a voice for local satire. What is really great is this places an authentic spotlight on local comedy and presents a reality that combats the stereotypical perception of Africa".

Dillon Khan, vice president for Comedy Central and creative services for VIMN Africa says "Loyiso's comic timing and fast-thinking humour make him the ideal choice as a Daily Show correspondent. He is indicative of the diverse and deep pool of talent that shines on our continent and beyond its shores."

Alex Okosi, executive vice president and managing director for VIMN Africa says "one of our key objectives as VIMN Africa is to provide a platform through our brands for great African talent and content".

"We are excited that through this localised segment on Comedy Central's The Daily Show, Loyiso has an opportunity to continue showcasing his great comedic talent to audiences across Africa and around the world."

Trevor Noah and M-Net (DStv 101) will soon start production on his new Trevor Noah Presents... show for M-Net, a local stand-up comedy talent series in 13 episodes that will give rising South African comedians a platform to showcase their skills.

The Daily Show with Trevor Noah on Comedy Central on DStv moves to a new later timeslot of 9:55pm from 2017.

Comedy Central (DStv 122) is moving The Daily Show with Trevor Noah to a later timeslot of 21:55 from 2017 for South African and African viewers.

It is the first timeslot change for The Daily Show with Trevor Noah since the version of the show with Trevor Noah as its host started in September 2015.

The Daily Show with Trevor Noah returned on 4 January 2017 to Comedy Central in America and on MultiChoice's DStv and is no longer broadcast at 21:00 but 21:55.

South African and African viewers are still being shown the latest episode of The Daily Show with Trevor Noah broadcast on Comedy Central in America, within 24 hours on Comedy Central Africa.

The Daily Show with Trevor Noah is broadcast Tuesday to Fridays.

Comedy Central Africa and Viacom International Media Networks Africa (VIMN Africa) didn't want to give a reason for the latest timeslot shift, but it very likely has to do with the mercurial nature of The Daily Show that often stops and takes production breaks, making it very difficult to guarantee stability in the form of 4-day a week new content during the 21:00 prime time timeslot.

With The Daily Show moved an hour later, VIMN Africa's Comedy Central Africa bosses can plan better and strip more "regular" 5-day a week, weekday "new" content during the hour that creates more stable ratings.

Today's interesting TV stories to read from TV with Thinus - 12 November 2015

■ Mikhail Lesin, the founder of the Russian TV news channel RT (DStv 407) dead in a hotel room.
Apparently died from a heart attack in Washington hotel room, but conspiracy theories now swirl.

■ India news channel NDTV (DStv 413) apologises for disastrously wrong coverage.
NDTV chairman Prannoy Roy apologises for totally botched Indian election coverage; "we've never made such a big error - we've made big errors - but not as big as this one"; blames pollsters' statistics.
- NDTV which just posted its Q2 results, is actually still running at a loss as a TV news channel.


■ Turkey dramatically clamping down on freedom of speech gives CNN Türk a massive fine for simply having someone voice opposition to the government.
- Meanwhile TRT World starts as Turkey's new state-run 24-hour TV news channel, mimicking CNN International with its on-screen lower-third graphics.
- The Istanbul based news channel will have studios in Washington, Kuala Lumpur and London.


■ Snowpiercer the movie adapted as a new science fiction TV series.

■ The Daily Show has dropped and lost 38% of its viewers with Trevor Noah.
Hollywood Reporter chart reveals the new pecking order and where the Comedy Central (DStv 122) late-night show now fits in ratings wise.

■ South Africa's StarSat from StarTimes expands into Zambia.
Enters the market with extremely low monthly subscription packages to compete with MultiChoice's DStv.

■ "Poor people will get 100% subsidies for set-top boxes for digital terrestrial television migration," says embattled communications minister Faith Muthambi.
Says poor households earning less than R3 200 per month will get one of the 5 million STBs needed for the switch from analogue to digital migration.

■ The Netflix effect: More streaming means more and better TV shows.
Internet video economics and the growth in video-on-demand (VoD) services mean more,original, and higher-value production TV shows.
- Netflix boss says there's not "nearly enough TV content".

■ And why the Golden Age of "Peak TV" isn't going to end soon.
There's just more and more great, original TV shows: Why there's no TV bubble to burst.

■ Moronic Nigerian lawmakers "alarmed" over "immoral" content on DStv.
Clueless and out-of-touch Nigerian politicians who know nothing about television nor broadcasting condemn MultiChoice Africa and wants more censorship of DStv. Political idiots in Nigeria worried about the "spate of uninhibited display of obscenities and uncensored programmes on the Nigerian airwaves".


■ The "Age of Denial" of American broadcasting TV.
American broadcasters no longer want to admit shows are bad and are cancelled - they now just give "reduced episode orders".
- How broadcasters are now cancelling TV shows without you knowing.

■ Jeremy Clarkson of BBC's Top Gear "showed a lack of respect" to colleagues.
Script editor who've worked on Top Gear for 13 years trashes the disgusting Jeremy Clarkson in his new book, saying he let the crew down and his apology was "half-hearted".

■ Wendy Williams Show on BET (DStv 129) extended for several more years.
Although the actual talk show's contract hasn't been extended itself, it's basically a formality as a 7-year extended contract has been signed between Wendy Williams and Lionsgate.

■ Shonda Rhimes doesn't know how Grey's Anatomy will end but has the end of Scandal! planned.
Creator and writer of both shows seen on M-Net (DStv 101) in South Africa where Scandal! is renamed The Fixer, doesn't know how Meredith Grey's story will end, but is sure of what will happen when Scandal! eventually finishes.

Trevor Noah's Daily Show debut last week is a new ratings record for Viacom's Comedy Central channel on MultiChoice's DStv.

The start of The Daily Show with Trevor Noah on Comedy Central (DStv 122) last week pulled 352 855 DStv viewers, making the 2.6 rating the highest viewership ever achieved by Comedy Central in South Africa since the channel launched in Africa on MultiChoice's DStv satellite pay-TV platform in December 2011.

The record rating for Trevor Noah's debut comes with a caveat: MultiChoice opened the channel from Viacom International Media Networks Africa (VIMN Africa) usually reserved for DStv Premium subscribers for a week, from 28 September, to the lower-tiered DStv Compact subscriber base as well making the channel and the start of the show accessible to a lot more viewers.

Interestingly, the start of The Daily Show and Trevor Noah's debut surpassed Comedy Central's previous viewership record which also had Trevor Noah: The Comedy Central Roast of Steve Hofmeyr which had Trevor Noah as the Roast master in 2012 and scored a 2.0 rating.

What the viewership of Trevor Noah's debut as new host of The Daily Show means, is that almost 10% of all viewers watching DStv, watched Trevor Noah and Comedy Central last Tuesday night, 29 September.

In America the start of The Daily Show with Trevor Noah on Comedy Central grabbed 7.5 million viewers where Viacom broadcast the show not just on Comedy Central but across all of its channels like MTV, BET, VH1 and other channels to give potential audience sampling of the new show the biggest possible reach.

Viacom says that on the multi-platform front Trevor Noah's full episode premiere has been streamed over 750 000 times and that clips from the episode have recorded nearly 4 million viewers across platforms.

The Daily Show with Trevor Noah is broadcast Tuesdays to Fridays in Africa on Comedy Central at 21:00.

Trevor Noah's Twitter scandal was 'very unpleasant' for Viacom and Comedy Central bosses; admits Trevor's Twitter feed wasn't vetted.

The Comedy Central boss has admitted that Trevor Noah's Twitter scandal which broke the day after he was announced as the new host of The Daily Show was "very unpleasant" and that everyone forgot to look and vet at Noah's Twitter history.

At the Promax BDA conference in Los Angeles, Doug Herzog, Viacom Music and Entertainment Group chief, said that everyone forgot to look at Noah's Twitter feed and wasn't aware of the bad sexist and anti-Semitic jokes he had made.

"Truthfully, it never occurred to us," said Doug Herzog, who admitted that his boss immediately wanted to know if Trevor Noah's Twitter past was vetted before the announcement was made that he would be taking over from Jon Stewart on Comedy Central (DStv 122).

“We did not, and of course that's the first thing my boss asked me."

Doug Herzog was however adamant that there were no plans to replace Trevor Noah after the controversy erupted.

Viacom International Media Networks Africa (VIMN Africa) will bring The Daily Show with Trevor Noah from 29 September to Comedy Central (DStv 122) on MultiChoice's DStv satellite pay-TV platform, less than a day after episodes are broadcast.

About Trevor Noah's Twitter jokes Doug Herzog said that "when we looked back on it, many of them were taken out of context, some just weren't funny enough, and I think that's where a lot of people's problems were with it."

"I'm not sure what we really could have done. I'm not sure we would have said, 'Wait that guy's not for us because he made that joke five years ago in response to something that happened that day.' I'm not sure what we would have really done. But it should be a lesson to us all."

Doug Herzog said he watched Twitter explode. "It was unpleasant. But that's a very particular dark place." 

He said Viacom and Comedy Central should have been more prepared. "We should have been more mentally prepared for how people would react when the announcement was made, no matter who it was. And there was certainly an unfortunate misstep in there."

"Trevor will go on, and there will be people who love him the first night, there will be people who hate him the first night, but he's coming back for night two, he's coming back for night three. He's going to be there for a long time," said Doug Herzog.

"From the very moment we saw him, and I think Jon felt the same way, we said, 'This guy is going to host The Daily Show some day.' I don't think anybody expected that day to be as soon as it turned out to be," said Doug Herzog.

"The Daily Show now demands somebody who's funny, who's insightful, who's smart, who understands world events and the news. It's not everybody who can bring all that together. We thought Trevor was one of the few guys who could, and who could speak in their own distinctive voice. I believe Trevor has that," said Doug Herzog. "Ultimately, we thought he was the right guy for the job."

The Daily Show with Trevor Noah set to start on Comedy Central on DStv on 29 September at 21:00 in South Africa.

When South African comedian Trevor Noah takes over from Jon Stewart on 28 September as new host of The Daily Show, episodes will be broadcast on Comedy Central (DStv 122) on DStv on the African channel feed a day later from 29 September.

Viacom International Media Networks Africa (VIMN Africa) which runs Comedy Central Africa says Trevor Noah's first The Daily Show will be broadcast on Tuesday 29 September at 21:00 in South Africa and the rest of Africa.

After that a new episode of The Daily Show with Trevor Noah will be shown Mondays to Fridays at 21:00 on Comedy Central.

It means that South African viewers will be able to follow the show and its topical discussions, interviews and jokes less than 24 hours after an episode is shown in America.

"Trevor Noah's inauguration as The Daily Show host is going to be one of the biggest moments in South African television history, with the whole nation making a date to see this huge local  talent make his debut as host," says Evert van der Veer, the head of Comedy Central Africa.

Jon Stewart last month announced that he will depart with his last show on 6 August after 16 years of hosting.

It incorrectly led to erroneous reports that Trevor Noah would be taking over on 7 August, not keeping in mind the hiatus between seasons and that the new American TV season only kicks off in mid to late September.

The 28 September starting date gives Trevor Noah less than two months to put together his type of The Daily Show.

Meanwhile anticipation and speculation is also building that Trevor Noah might be announced as the host of the 2015 MTV Africa Music Awards (2015 MAMAs) taking place in Durban on 18 July since MTV Base which will broadcast the awards ceremony live is a sister channel of Comedy Central.

Not only is the theme of the 2015 MAMAs "Evolution" - something playing perfectly into Trevor Noah's professional career transition to Comedy Central - but hosting the 5th edition of the African music awards show will put him in front of million of viewers on MTV Base in an unrivaled marketing opportunity shortly before VIMN Africa will want viewers to tune in regularly to Comedy Central from September.

It will presumably also be slightly easier for VIMN Africa to acquire Trevor Noah's buy-in for the 2015 MAMAs hosting gig since as talent he's already inside the Viacom corporate fold.