Noah was chosen a few months ago to take over The Daily Show after Jon Stewart moved onto other things. Naturally, there was a lot on his mind — his being able to travel the world and learn new things, and of course the big news stories of the past year, from the Germanwings crash to the Ebola scare.
Noah can easily switch between two personalities as he performs: one is the calm, collected observer of absurdities, while the other is the excitable and off-kilter comedian talking at a mile-a-minute. These two sides of his on-stage act are key, because the audience can only draw laughter from tragic events once Noah exposes the ridiculousness behind them.
A big part of his act was talking about the experience of being from Africa and flying from there to the United States in the midst of the worldwide Ebola panic. He had the audience howling as he described a flight he took to Los Angeles from South Africa, which he described as the most intense flight he ever took. He observed that for a short period of time, it wasn’t Muslims who were “randomly searched” at airports; it was Africans. He said with incredulity that he also noticed the moment when things went back to “normal”; after the attack on Charlie Hebdo.
From there he launched into his most powerful commentary, and it’s part of a discussion that comes up every time someone commits a mass murder: why are acts called “terrorism” only when a Muslim commits them? Why aren’t people like James Holmes or Dylann Roof terrorists?
Then he launched into a long, tangential story that explained the difference between white and black relations with the police. Noah was at one point pulled over by a policeman and he thought he was going to die, adding more context as he talked about (with some audible outrage) the senseless deaths of Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown, Eric Garner and Walter Scott. The joke’s payoff relieved the tension, but it showed how even a silly, overblown situation can still trace its roots back to racism.
Noah was smart and sharp throughout and looks poised to take on the responsibility of helming the most influential satirical news program. His commitment to learning and experiencing new things were serve him well; after all, it was only in the United States that he learned to experience “charming racism.”
