South African Comedian, Trevor Noah bid emotional farewell to the satirical news program, “The Daily Show” after seven years.
Noah signed out from “The Daily Show” for the last time on Thursday after transitioning from being an unknown to American TV viewers to a humorous, satirical voice on Comedy Central.
In front of a live audience at the studio in New York where the program is recorded, Noah was thoughtful and reflective, frequently reminiscing on a seven-year journey that started when Jon Stewart handed over the host chair of the renowned talk show.
“I’m grateful to you, every single one of you,” he said. “I’m so grateful. I remember when we started the show, we couldn’t get enough people to fill an audience.”
He further thanked those who “hate to watch” the show for boosting the ratings.
“Thank you to the people who watch, the people who share the clips, everyone who’s had an opinion, everyone who’s been kind enough and gracious enough.”
“It was a wild journey,” Noah said on his show. “The craziest journey I didn’t predict, I didn’t expect.”
Noah succeeded Jon Stewart in 2015, who quit the show after 16 years. He said, “When I started this show, I had three clear goals. I was like, ‘I’m gonna make sure Hillary gets elected. I’m gonna make sure that I prevent a global pandemic from starting, and I’m gonna become best friends with Kanye West.'”
Noah gave the show a more universal perspective (from comparisons of Donald Trump to African dictators).
While Noah was in charge of things, the median age of the audience grew younger even as “The Daily Show ratings decreased due to viewers switching from traditional TV to streaming.
At the final recording, the comedian thanked Black women for educating him and for what he saw as their capacity to guide the rest of the country out of the wilderness on significant issues.
“If you truly want to learn about America, talk to Black women. Unlike everybody else, Black women can’t afford to f*** around and find out. Black people understand how hard it is when things go bad, especially in America,” Noah said with tear-filled eyes.
Prior to taking the mantle from previous host Jon Stewart, Noah was a successful comedian selling out venues and likely would have continued apace.
He wasn’t even that familiar with the show before Stewart called him up and asked him to make a few guest appearances to get his feet wet before ultimately tapping him as his successor.
Now, Noah’s leaving because it’s as good a time as any to leave, and there’s so much more life out there to be had.
There’s no big gig on the horizon, no secret announcement that he’s got some other job lined up. The host explained his surprise exit best in a recent interview with The Hollywood Reporter, noting how deeply American it is to hold on to something forever.
“Maybe this comes with not being raised in America, but I believe that everything should end,” says Noah.
“A lot of American business and American media is just like, ‘Keep it going as long as possible,’ but I think it’s healthy for things to end when they’re still in a good place. I want to leave before I’m burnt out, because there are many other things I’d like to do.”
In the show, Noah said it in quippier fashion. “You should be happy that an African leader is peacefully leaving power,” he told the audience. “That’s never a guarantee.”
Brennan, a respected comedian who’s known Noah for 13 years, joked that, even still, he was worried about how Noah would feel the next day, when he wakes up and he’s no longer the host of The Daily Show: “You’re just going to be a best-selling author who does comedy in sold-out arenas around the world.”
Brennan was, perhaps for some, a surprising final guest for Noah; a comedian who rose to fame as Dave Chappelle’s writing partner, and who is currently receiving warm reviews for his new special, Blocks. But the candor between Noah and Brennan was pleasant and added to the nostalgic feel of the finale.
The conversation arrived at a thoughtful place as Brennan spoke about his struggles with depression and anxiety. He’s treated his mental health issues with everything from transcranial magnetic stimulation, ketamine therapy, and ayahuasca.
Noah leaned in to the potential tenderness of the moment, asking Brennan to give advice to viewers who might also be struggling with their mental health.
“Just keep saving your money,” Brennan quipped. “Invest in a Roth IRA.” He followed that up with a more sincere note, encouraging people to try different treatments. If one doesn’t work, he said, try something else. “It’s like stand-up,” he said. “You do a joke and you go, ‘Oh, you don’t like that? All right, we’ll do another one.’”
Some of the episode’s other highlights included a check-in with the show’s correspondents—Michael Kosta, Desi Lydic, Dulce Sloan, Ronnie Chieng, Roy Wood Jr., and Jordan Klepper.
There was also a star-studded video tribute that included Oprah, Issa Rae, Tracee Ellis Ross, Vice President Kamala Harris, and more, all saying goodbye to Noah and thanking him for getting them through hard times…which, coincidentally, they joked, started when he began hosting the Daily Show. (Trump? The pandemic? Makes you think…)
The episode closed with Noah thoughtfully monologuing about three main lessons he’s learned from living in America, including: politics is just a way to solve issues and we shouldn’t devolve into tribalism; context matters; and the world is friendlier than the internet and social media would lead you to believe.
“We’re all human beings, we’re all trying to get somewhere,” Noah said. “And, at the end of the day—we’re all trying to smash.”
He then thanked all the producers and executives who brought him on the show. “This has been an honor,” he said.
For the show’s final moment, the audience got up and sang “You’ll Never Walk Alone,” by Gerry and the Pacemakers.
In September, 2022, Noah announced he was leaving the program to focus on traveling, family, and friends.
The network said it will try out a rotating roster of guest hosts before settling on a permanent replacement.
The high-profile list includes Chelsea Handler, Al Franken, Hasan Minhaj and many others.