The Daily Show With Trevor Noah
I caught the first episode of the new era of the Daily Show night, helmed by Trevor Noah. Jon Stewart is an exceedingly difficult act to follow and I've had reservations about whether the relatively inexperienced Noah is right for the role.
He got off to a good start, paying tribute to Stewart in a well judged opening segment. In this section, Noah alluded to the list of candidates who turned the job down. I'd be interested to know who was on it. The only one I know is of Amy Schumer, who wouldn't have been right for it. Although she'd probably have brought a new attitude which may have appealed.
Then it was into some light heartened business about the Pope, with a couple of misfiring gags. One of them involved mistaking "AIDS" for "aides", a gag that was first made on South Park 13 years ago. You would expect someone at Comedy Central to know that. A second implying that the Pope has a big penis was salvaged by an off hand "What a waste..." tag from the new host.
I was led to believe that it was all change in terms of on screen personnel but Jordan Klepper survives from the Stewart era, fretting about the new host under the guise of John Boehner's departure as House Speaker. The funniest section probably came via new correspondant Roy Wood Jr, a disgruntled black man indifferent to the news that life may be sustainable on Mars as African-Americans will never get the opportunity to go there.
We didn't glean a great deal about Noah's interview style from his section with Kevin Hart, whose bombastic approach dominated the screen. He appears to be symbolic of the archetypical All-American ethos and may have worked hard to get to the top of the comedy business, but to me seems a triumph of style over content. It was a solid if unspectacular start to Noah's reign, hopefully in the upcoming months he'll move out of Stewart's shadow.
He got off to a good start, paying tribute to Stewart in a well judged opening segment. In this section, Noah alluded to the list of candidates who turned the job down. I'd be interested to know who was on it. The only one I know is of Amy Schumer, who wouldn't have been right for it. Although she'd probably have brought a new attitude which may have appealed.
Then it was into some light heartened business about the Pope, with a couple of misfiring gags. One of them involved mistaking "AIDS" for "aides", a gag that was first made on South Park 13 years ago. You would expect someone at Comedy Central to know that. A second implying that the Pope has a big penis was salvaged by an off hand "What a waste..." tag from the new host.
I was led to believe that it was all change in terms of on screen personnel but Jordan Klepper survives from the Stewart era, fretting about the new host under the guise of John Boehner's departure as House Speaker. The funniest section probably came via new correspondant Roy Wood Jr, a disgruntled black man indifferent to the news that life may be sustainable on Mars as African-Americans will never get the opportunity to go there.
We didn't glean a great deal about Noah's interview style from his section with Kevin Hart, whose bombastic approach dominated the screen. He appears to be symbolic of the archetypical All-American ethos and may have worked hard to get to the top of the comedy business, but to me seems a triumph of style over content. It was a solid if unspectacular start to Noah's reign, hopefully in the upcoming months he'll move out of Stewart's shadow.
Comments
Post a Comment