After nearly 18 years as host of the widely popular political comedy show, The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. Jon Stewart has announced that he will be stepping down later this year. Taking his place is a 31-year-old comedian by the name of Trevor Noah.
The Daily Show is known for its bold political satire, and Jon Stewart did not sugarcoat. He ridiculed every political party, every celebrity, every stereotype, and did so with impeccable humor. He didn’t fear crossing any boundaries, which was an essential part of the show. After a very controversial skit on the show outraged certain viewers, Jon Stewart stated, “I’m not going to censor myself to comfort your ignorance.”
With Jon Stewart having such powerful stances on comedic and political views, it is difficult for die-hard Daily Show fans to accept his departure, and some question the decision to have Noah take over the show.
Trevor Noah is primarily known for his stand-up comedy. Like Stewart, the majority of his jokes are satirical. His comedy predominantly focuses on social issues such as racial stereotypes. He has appeared a few times on the Daily Show, as well as other talk shows throughout his years in the business.
With any major change in entertainment, audiences, social media users specifically, tend to go to great lengths to spark controversy. Within hours of the announcement of his hosting, the internet discovered old tweets of Noah’s that offended quite a few people. Noah responded to this criticism on twitter saying,”To reduce my views to a handful of jokes that didn’t land is not a true reflection of my character, nor my evolution as a comedian.”
Jon Stewart came to the Noah’s defense after the incident as well stating,”“Trevor Noah will earn your trust and respect. Or not. I hope you give him an opportunity to earn that trust and respect.”
The problem that is nearly impossible to avoid as a comedian is that it is too easy to offend people. Any joke made or any punchline delivered will have thousands of people outraged. This issue makes it difficult for comedians to create any content. The successful comedians are the ones that are constantly testing the lines, and they are willing to cross it occasionally. Now that the line is getting harder and harder to see, jokes that were intentionally harmless become wildly offensive.
Will this affect Noah’s career as the new Daily Show host? Probably not. Noah’s humor should fit in nicely with The Daily show. Only time will tell if Noah is capable of maintaining the quality of the show.