For a guy about to step into the shoes of a beloved comic and influential political commentator, Trevor Noah is a pretty cool customer.
It was on view the times he’s appeared at the correspondent’s desk at “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart,” and it was evident when he did an hour of mostly topical standup in a Santa Monica theater Tuesday. And he was just as unflappable when appearing before reporters at the TV Critics Association summer press tour Wednesday, wondering how he’ll change the show when he starts Sept. 28.
“We are obviously changing the set a tiny bit,” Noah said.
But, he added, “In terms of content on the show, I guess we’re still dealing with the same issues.”
The difference, Noah said, is “it’s just a different angle that we are looking at things from, and it’s my angle, really, but the show still has its voice. It’s just that I’m at the helm taking things in a slightly different direction but still trying to get to the same end place.”
His slant will necessarily be different, he says, since “Jon is a white 52 year old Jewish guy that grew up in Jersey. I am a 31 year old half black half white South African who has lived in America for a few years on and off.”
Noah is already a bit of an international comedy star, selling out at the Edinburgh Fringe festival and being the subject of a documentary, “You Laugh but It’s True” and a Showtime comedy special “Trevor Noah: African American.”
He hosted two seasons of late night talk show in his native South Africa and made his U.S. late night debut on “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno” in 2012. He’s been a contributor for “The Daily Show” since 2014.
His standup was a confident run through relevant items about police injustice to race in America, along with a side trip over to Ebola.
Some asked him deeper questions about each of his personal stories, and he said he sometimes exaggerates them for comic effect.
In the end the standup seemed superfluous to what he’ll do at “The Daily Show,” where most of the top producers and writers will continue. It was striking, though, how unfunny his press conference was, perhaps mindful of how important this transition will be for the show.
Still, he seemed cool about it, a trait that may stand out on a show where anchors and commentators were more often tearing out their hair.
When I asked him about his demeanor, or if any issue gets him rattled, he answered this way:
“My life wasn’t the easiest life. I grew up in a home where there was domestic abuse. I grew up in a country where I witnessed violence almost daily growing up as a child, violence in society, violence in and around the way the police treated people.
“But I also saw my mother come out of that domestic abusive relationship. I see her as a beautiful woman today that’s come through it and still smiles and finds reasons to laugh. I see a country that’s come out of that madness into something that is progressive, still challenging, but it is leap years ahead of the way it was when I was a young child.
“Maybe I think I’ve been tainted by hope and optimism. That’s why I’m unflappable, because often I see things from both sides. I’m mixed, not just in my blood, but in my life. So the I way I see things has always been from both sides. I always try to interpret it in different ways, so I don’t get flapped.
“I do get riled up,” Noah said. “There are things that make me angry. But I like to think. I like to think before I speak or act.”