Mmm, Hello, and welcome back to another episode of Do Really Back at Your Service, a podcast series in which I sit down with some of the most inspiring minds alive, including today's very special guest, Trevor Noah, a comedian, author and a host of The Daily Show for the past seven years. Before we dive in with Trevor, I'm going to answer an email we got from Melissa from Sweden who wanted to know what some of my favorite movies are. Thank you so much for that question, Melissa. Actually, we've got a lot of emails asking for my movie list, so I'm very happy to oblige. Some of my favorite movies. I mean, recently, I've just been diving back into pedreal mode of our movies, and I have to say, Women on the verge of a nervous breakdown, have Black on a Voliver. Those are all some of my favorite films. I just think He's I think He's incredible. And then I mean, there are so many incredible movies. But I love The Florida Project, I love Rock and Roller, I love Train Spotting, I love About Time, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Lost in Translation, New Country for Old Men. Yeah, those are some of my absolute favorites, so I hope you enjoy them. Oh and Snatch, I really like Snatch two. After a short break, join me as I introduce you to this week's At your Service guest, Trevor Noah. Welcome back everyone. A few months ago I read Late Night host Trevor no memoir Born a Crime, which I absolutely loved. It's a beautifully written book that chronicles his childhood in South Africa under apartheid, a dehumanizing policy of segregation and political, social and economic discrimination against the country's non white majority. The government here claims, with some justification, that things are changing in South Africa, that those blacks lucky enough to be allowed to live in cities are becoming better off. But all the time, this major exercise in social engineering is going on, uprooting and transplanting millions of blacks, whether they like it or not. In Soweto, twenty five domestic murders a weekend where routine. Due to a constant state of police surveillance and the illegality of his parents interracial relationship, Trevor was often hidden away in his own home. Tho apartheid was repealed in the early nineties, it deeply affected Trevor's formative years, and its legacy remains a powerful force in South African society. It feels strange to tell you how much I enjoyed Born a Crime, considering it's heavy object matter, but I found it to be totally moving and occasionally quite funny. It was also the reason I wanted to speak to him for this week's episode. That and of course, his time hosting the Daily Show, a position that has recently been thrust back into the spotlight. And I realized that after the seven years, um my time is up. I uh yeah, but in in in the most in the most beautiful way. Honestly, you know, we've we've laughed together, we've cried together. But after seven years, I feel like it's time, you know. For the past seven years, Trevor has been the host of one of the most popular late night series in the USA, succeeding John Stewart. Trevor's Daily Show embodied the perfect blend of humor, warmth, and empathy. His guest interviews regularly go viral because of the way he conducted conversations, approaching each with genuine curiosity and unafraid to inject more serious moments with his trademark WIT Superstar k part band BTS has announced that its members will soon begin reporting for adatory service in the South Korean military. Yeah, which is great news for South Korea because the army is basically unstoppable. Now there's no army in the world. It's gonna take a shot at these guys. Are you kidding me? Who's gonna be stupid? Up? Take a shot? Everyone's a fan. During our conversation, you'll hear him talk about not only the powerful memoir that first drew me to his work, but his thoughts about his time on The Daily Show and what he's managed to achieve during his monumental seven year run there, and he also gives us a glimpse of what could be next for him. Please join me in welcoming this week's at your Service guest Trevor Noah Hi. Oh yeah, it's like a recording session. Let's do this and are you ready? Sings the song I'm ready to sing a song. That's why I'm here. I'm here. We had a feature on the album, That's what I'm here. What's going on? How are you? I'm good? I'm really good. I'm in New York, just kind of wrapping up some work before I head back to London. I'm also in New York. Oh no way, I'm here just for the week and I had UM Sunday night, and I spend most of my time out here. How many we do the show from out here, so you know, New York's the best. Um, it's really good to see you. I feel like every time I see you, we're always like running around at some award show or something and it's just hey, Hi, how are you doing. It really feels like that. It's like, I feel like, you know, one of the greatest gifts and curses of being successful in the entertainment industry is that you get to meet some of the most interesting people in the world. But then if you're successful enough, you never get to see each other. So you see each other at an award show, you see each other in event, and then it's a lonely but successful journey. So yeah, it's it's nice to see you like this, I guess, which it's nice to see you too, and to have like a a nice proper conversation to really get to know each other. And I had the pleasure of reading your book, which I really enjoyed. Thank you very much, thank you, And I guess, I guess I just want to start the conversation. I want to know a little bit about your early life and the journey. You know, you're the host of one of the most popular eight night TV shows in the world, and you also got nominated for an incredible seven Emmy's Oprah Winfrey. You know, you're doing all the podcasts and the chats, and even she said, you know, you're the only famous person that she knows that grew up poorer than she did. And I guess you went against all odds. And I'd love to hear about like your early life and growing up in South Africa and what that was like and the journey that it took for you to get to where you are now. Well, it's interesting. I I never felt like I grew up in particularly tough circumstances, and it's because I grew up in a world where many people were living the way I was, you know, in South Africa during apartheid and then post apartheid, before democracy, and then after democracy. I found that I was just one of the kids. We all lived in the township, and most of us lived in a multi family household. Most of us didn't have like a wall at the front of the house, and most people didn't have a car, and there were no backyard, there's no pool, none of these things. It was an idea. You know, we're playing in the streets. Most of the streets were dirt. But I never felt like I was suffering because it was ubiquitous. It was what everyone was going through. I do remember having a lot of fun. I do remember having great friends. I do remember laughing a lot, running around a lot, breaking things, getting into trouble. But yeah, it's really interesting to look back at your life through the lens of where you maybe today, because I think it does one of two things. On the one hand, it gives me perspective, and it also gives me gratitude because I think the way the human brain works, you know, the hedonic treadmill always makes us readjust our priorities. What's the new problem, what's the new idea, what's the new thing that I'm going through? And as soon as we solve that, we then want to go to the next problem. Oftentimes we don't take a moment to appreciate the fact that we've just overcome a giant hurdle, and so when I look back, I'll see my like my grandmother's house that we all lived in. Every time i'd go back to it, it always seemed bigger in my brain, like how do we live here? You know what I mean? Yeah, how you remember things as a child is really it's so interesting. Also, I think it's a testament to your mother, and I think there's sometimes too. You know, my parents is everything that they went through in life. My parents were refugees and they moved from Cosvo to London. They were working multiple jobs, they were trying to study to get an education at the same time, and never made me feel like I was missing out from anything that the other kids had. And now looking back, I was like, Okay, we had a very different circumstance. But I think as a child you just kind of see things differently that now as an adult, when you look back at it's a very different outlook. In your memoir, Born a Crime, that was one of the clearest depictions of life under apartheid that I've ever read, And after reading it, I felt like I really understood the horror of the system, and it was a very carefully designed system that you have described so poignantly, and tell me why you decided to call it born a crime. It's actually funny. The reason the book got that title is because of a story that I was telling to a friend of mine who's a comedian by the name of It. Years odd. I was doing some shows in Edinburgh, Scotland, and we were chatting about our lives, you know, comedy life, how we came to be who we were, and I had to basically break down the way I had grown up, how I had lived, and why I had to live the way that I did so Apartheite was a system of laws in South Africa that basically dictated how people lived their lives based on the color of their skin and based on their tribal affiliations. You know, everything, everything in your life was defined by the color of your skin, and it it tasted everything, like even how you were treated in prison. You'd get different food if you were a black, White, Indian, Asian, whatever it may be. Everything was divided up. You know, you had different jobs that were afforded to you, you have different neighborhoods that you could live in. And so this was particularly weird for me growing up because my mother's a black woman plus a woman from South Africa, right, and then my father's Swiss from Switzerland and white man. So you know, they broke the law being together. That was called the law of misagenation, I believe, and this was a law that forbade anybody of different races from intermingling, and you'd get arrested if you did. My mom got arrested a few times, you know, for doing it. And Eddie said, I don't understand. So if this was illegal, then what does that mean for you? And I said to it, I was like, well, I was born a crime. And that was the first time I remember saying that. Like my mom had to lie on my birth certificates. When they asked her who my dad was, she just like made up a person, but it was she was more like, oh, yeah, he's he's from Swaziland, and that this, I guess explained why his skin is lighter than hers. I grew up in a world where, if you can imagine it, according to the law in the country, I was superior to my mother. She was inferior to me, but then my dad was superior to both of us, and then I technically couldn't live with my mom, and I also couldn't live with my dad, you know. So my grand would always tell me stories of how she was always terrified that the police would discover me at her house and they would take me away to an orphanage to be raised as what they called in South Africa, a colored child. So it was really tough for people, and I always tell people it was tougher for my family. It was tougher for the generation before me, because that was their life for most of their life. I was six years old when apartheid ended, and I was ten when we had our first democratic election. So yeah, I knew a few things were strange. I knew we didn't go certain places. I knew my mom would dress a certain way, like you know, she would act like she was my you know, my my nanny. But I didn't think of this as a kid. I just thought my mom had weird fashion. That was it, you know, and so and so. Yeah, it's really a amazing how to what you were saying with your parents. My mom didn't make me feel like I was being oppressed. My mom didn't make me feel what was actually happening in the country, and had it not changed when I got older, obviously I would have now realized the environment I was growing up in. But I think she did a magical job of giving me the most normal childhood experience that someone possibly could. That's amazing. I mean, it's unbelievable hearing some of the stories and and the separation that was happening in South Africa at that time. And I also listened to your podcast with Oprah, and like I said, I read the book with the fact, you know, your grandmother had to hide you under the bed and you had no idea what that was about, you like a game, just so it's kind of a child's innocence in that. And you know, I guess your family did a really really good job by protecting that, which is a true testament to them. Yeah, every it's funny everything I read in you know from your story as well, is it's parents who understand the situation they're in. You know, I don't know if you had a similar experience where you know the world your family comes from and it's a part of you, but they also give you access to a whole different opportunity, whether it's because of how they move, or because of how they work or what they do it's just you know, I don't know if you experienced it in a similar way. Absolutely, I mean just the idea of like and and my parents always go, oh, you'll never find out until you've become a parent yourself, whatever, what it's like to want your child to essentially have things that you couldn't have. And you know, when I moved back to Cosovo at the age of eleven, that's when I really kind of started to understand the implications of war. Like I always knew about it in some loose way because I was so so young, but it was when I lived there and I kind of saw the real effects it had on people. And then you know, the friends that I made there and I started understanding the stories, and then I started to kind of feel the trauma that also my parents went through. It's it's a very interesting experience. We'll be back with Trevor Noah right after this short break. In your memoir Born and Crime, you talk about how you discovered early on in life that having a quick wit and being an incredible moment could save you in difficult situations. And it strikes me that this is a gift that you kind of used as a survival strategy in the beginning. Um, and now it's evolved into a career. When did you realize that you could harness that gift to really make something of yourself. Oh wow. I don't know when the exact moment was, but I know, my whole life, I've tried to learn other languages. I've tried to speak the way other people do. I've tried to mimic their voices because we have so many different accents in South Africa. There's a little kid I wanted to fit in, you know, So I meet other kids, and I meet other people who speak a certain way, and subconsciously I go like, oh if I if I sund like them, I can be like them. And then what happens is, over time you migrate that thinking to language you know, and then as more time passes, you start migrating that to like mimicking actual people. And so my mom hates it because I'll do a pretty good job of mimicking her, and like, like in the house, sometimes what I would do is I would she would like call people. She has a very very musical way of speaking, my mom, you know, so like whenever she'd call me or something, she'd be like let's I'm across the house and she'd be like, Trevor, you know, like that, that's like it's always like a rhythmic thing. And she'd be like Trevor. And then I would sometimes do it back to her in the house, or I'll call other people, you know, she'd be like treever and then I'll be like, get curious, and she'd be, actually, are you mocking me? I'd be like, I don't know what you're talking about. It was an echo. I just loved it, and you are right. It was a tool in many ways. Like I remember the bullies in school. I would mimic them and then they would laugh, but they wouldn't know why they were laughing, and everyone else would laugh around them, and then they didn't want to give away that they didn't know the jokes, so they would just, you know, they'd laugh along, join in. And it's something that I definitely developed as a tool. And then it just makes me laugh by myself, you know, in a corner, I just if I hear someone that speaks a certain way, I always I listen to the musicality of voices and I find myself trying to mimic that. I find it it's quite entertaining. In your book, you know, you say that you've learned five different languages. I thought that was so incredibly impressive, and the idea of trying to fit in, but you know, being like I look different, but if I sound the same, then I am you. And I thought that was so interesting also just in the grand scheme of the world as well, you know, knowing so many different languages, being able to connect with people in different ways as such a such a beautiful thing as well, because there is a sense of community and togetherness and that as well that I am I really loved and I was just really impressed by it. Thank you. Did your way ever get you in trouble? I think the correct question is where did you not get you in trouble? We will spend less time on that. Man, I am. There are a few better ways to describe me than you know. He was just like a little shit. I was always I'm probably still always in trouble. It's just I guess now I can pay my own rent um. It's funny. I met a woman who I went to school with obviously as a girl, and she came up to me and it was the South African Heritage Day celebration and she comes up to me. She's like, Trevor, do you remember me? And I'm like Jane and she's like, yes, me Jane. And she looks at her family and she's like, no one to travel one and she's like, this is the guy that always got me kicked out of class. And I was like, wait, wait, wait, what have you been telling your family? And she's like, you always used to make jokes and I would get kicked out of class travel and because of you, I was kicking and I was like, no, you laughed, That's why you got kicked out. I didn't get you kicked out. I said things that you laughed and that you responded to. But I guess this has always just been me. You know, I didn't even remember that that that you know how much I did it in school. My mom still says I do it too much. I've been in terrible situations where I still find reason to laugh, oftentimes at the wrong time, and I always trying to explain to people it's not that I don't think anything is serious. It's that even in the most serious situation, I can find something funny and it makes life a lot more bearable. It reminds me that not everything is as more rose as you know. Sometimes the world will have you feel Yeah, I completely agree with that. Let's let's talk about that a little bit. Let's talk about you know, pain and comedy, because I feel like you really intertwined that well in your book, and you know, you're talking about very difficult subjects like apartheid and also domestic violence, but there's a lot of lightness and humor in it. I'm wondering, in the current climate, do you ever find yourself self censoring on how far you take a joke. Well, I don't even think of it as censoring. I think of it as remembering and acknowledging context or lack thereof. I see a lot of people say, oh, the world has become more sensitive and the world has become mothers, and everyone wants to fight about it. At the core of it all, context is the very bedrock of comedy. The only reason you find something funny is because of the context through which you are looking at it. You and your friends will laugh about something that nobody else will find funny because you all share a context. One of the greatest gifts and one of the most wonderful things we received from social media and television that goes globally is that we get to experience people from all over the world. The one downside that nobody prepared us for is that we lose the context of how those people came to be and why they came to be. I mean, you know, this is somebody growing up in the UK. There are words that you'd say in the UK that means something completely different when you're traveling on the other side of the world. Literally the world. The world doesn't mean anything bad. That's just what somebody says just doesn't translate the same way. So with with with that, what I'm always trying to remember, and I can never be perfect, do I try to be, is that there is context. And so what I spend more time doing now is providing the context behind my humor so that somebody can understand why I think something is or isn't funny. I think that can help a lot of us in life, by the way, is understanding that's sometimes the reason you're offended. Sometimes the reason you hurt is not because something was intended to hurt you, not because something was directed at you, but rather because you may not understand the context. You know, if you take comedy out of a comedy club, it immediately loses some of its context. So now someone watches a clip from a comedy club or a comedy show and they go, oh, I'm offended. It's like, you may be because you weren't in the comedy club. You know, if if people run around boxing each other, that's assault, But if they do it and there's four ropes around them in a spongy ring, now it's boxing. The context is there. You know, if someone runs around cutting people open and they're probably like a serial killer. If they do it with a mask and they're wearing a white coat and they're in a hospital, oh that's a doctor. Context is everything. So that's all I think we always have to be cognizant of, is the context of what it means and why it means that. Like in music, I'm sure you experienced it as well. You know, you'll have to change a lyric here or there because a different place you go to has a different idea of what the context is. You I don't know if you come across that at all, but I know some artists have learned a line that they said in a certain country has a different context and all of a sudden, yeah, yeah, yeah, it's I I just I guess I've never heard it put in that way, but it makes it makes perfect sense. And you are very you know, obviously very funny, but your human has um it's it's very analytical, and I think that's also a big reason why people gravitate to you, because I think you also supply that context underneath all the funny jokes I tried to. You know, I feel like I've met a few comedians and I feel like something that you all have in common is really that comedy can really act as a form of therapy. And I know that you've spoken out about your own struggle with depression. What you've said is created by a survey level if a d h D, and I guess a d h D can take on many different forms. But how does it affect you and what are your coping mechanisms? And have you been able to create like a good support system around yourself? Oh definitely, you know. One of the first things I learned that helps me is just understanding. One of my favorite experiences in life is going to any type of physical therapist or person who deals with the human body, because they will teach you that sometimes a pain that you have in your neck is being caused by the way your foot strikes the ground when you walk. Oftentimes in life we think our neck is sore, which means we have to change something in our neck and we have to massage something and crack something. And but you find your neck is acting that way because your back is misaligned, and your back is misaligned because your hips are not in the right place, and your hips aren't because your knees and your n and it goes all the way down to your feet. I think the same thing applies to mental health. We do a terrible job and how we speak about in society. I think there's a shorthand that people have used understandably that creates a misnoma about what a thing is or isn't And so immediately people on the back foot, you know, you say your mental health, and some people like, wait, what are you thinking about? Something wrong with me? Nobody wants to have something wrong with them, Nobody wants to be labeled as having something wrong. What I was, you know, struggled with when I was a kid is when school told me I had to go to a therapist, and the therapist that I d h D. You know, my mom was defensive. I was defensive, was like, what does that mean? You know, of course I have at h D. I'm a kid. But then you start to learn how these things affect you. You also start to understand that it's just a measure of something that exists beyond or outside of what we deem the norm. Once you understand that, then it helps you deal with it. You know, like in singing, as a silly example, if you are a soprano, it's not good or bad, it's just understanding where your voi rests. You know, this is generally going to be a range, and so this is how you want to use your voice. Now, if you sing out of that range, things make it uncomfortable for you, and you may struggle and you know, you may hurt your voice whatever it may be. But this is generally your range. And so I think that happens with the brain as well. Whistle in the infancy of communicating two people what their brain is, and so I think we've we've we've made a huge mistake in telling people that their brain is wrong instead of just saying to people what kind of brain they have, you know, and so if anybody's brain does not match the society that their brain exists within, then all of a sudden they have a problem. And so what really helped me in learning about a d h D was first what it is, how it presents itself, and then understanding, you know, how depression can be a symptom of that. You know, everyone talks about depression, and not of the time people make it seem like, oh, you have depression. It means you sad. Oh I'm sad. Oh you know what I mean. But it's like, no, it's not. It's not like sad. Sad is like what you experience, you know, living in the UK because of the weather. That's like sad. You know, depression, Depression is more, it's more, it's more states of being. Sometimes that can be caused by a chemical imbalance, It can be caused by an emotional loop in your brain, It can be caused by a narrative, whatever it may be. Oftentimes, you know, depression itself can be a byproduct of something. And so what helped me was just learning learning why my brain works the way it does, learning why it gives me you know, what I like to call superpowers and then learning why it makes certain tasks more difficult, and in doing that it's allowed me to live a fuller life. Yeah, I think a big lessons take from that is just learning to lead with empathy and also learned to accept every part of yourself in whatever way you are. I think also the labeling doesn't help so much, especially in this age of you know, the Internet, because everyone's like, oh, well, I probably have the U and if I'm feeling this, and I probably have that, and everyone self diagnosing and people are diagnosing each other, and I think that can also be quite um overwhelming. But I'm happy to hear that you've figured out a way that you have, you know, that support system that has helped you navigate through life, and you've been accepting also of yourself. Definitely, that's really important. I keep going back to your book. I really really enjoyed your book, a really great time reading it. And there are so many iterations of Trevor. You know, you're the comedian, the DJ, the street hustler, you know, the dancer. There was a lot of dimensions to you, and you know now you're a stand up comedian and you're the host of one of the biggest, top rated late night TV shows on the fucking planet. So you know, and your world doesn't just live on TV, you know. I I see your monologues on TikTok all the time, and I feel like there's so much digital output. What's it like to host the Daily So? You know, it's funny you say the word its orations, because I feel like that would best describe what it's like. It depends on which iteration we're speaking about. What is it like to host the Daily Show when you've first taken it over? It's extremely stressful. It is debilitating at times, it is terrifying. It is a world where most people don't want you to succeed. It's grueling environment to be in. And understandably, you know, I don't even see it from the place of like, oh feel sorry for me. It's just like, well, no, it was a hell of a ride. I do love you didn't accept the job to begin with when it first kind of you know, I didn't you first you were like, I'm not going to give up the stand up, you know, touring life. No, I love, I still love. I still love the touring life. So what happened was John Stewart called me, It's so wild because I remember exactly where I was. So I was in I was Inhrods in London for the first time in my life, and I just put together my first UK tour and I chose everywhere, you know, like Battersea and Brighton and Newcastle and Manchester and here I was now in London and I was so excited. And I was standing in Herod's. Someone had told me that, like, you should go to Herod's. You know, They're like, have you been to Herod's. You have to go. I've never seen anything like Trevor. And I was like, oh, go to Herod's. And I went and I remember I was standing in front of it was an underwater scootermobile thing that you could just ride like a little motorbike underwater. And I was just staring at this thing, just enthralled. I was like, what is this and who came up with it? And who's buying it? And my phone rang and it was John Stewart's and I didn't know him at the time, and you know, he came on the phone. He's like, high Trevor. It was a random number first of all, so I was like oh who is this is going to be spam, you know. I was like, hey, is this Trevor. I was like yeah, it's like go hey, I'm speaking to John Stewart's I was like all right. So I was like, do you know who I am? I was like no, not really, like, oh, no, should you? And he's very funny by the way. He was like, well, nor should you? Like nobody knows who I am, and you know, he like giggled about it, and he's like, well, I work on a little show called The Daily Show. And I was like, oh, yeah, I know The Daily Show. And he's like, as you should, young man, as you should, and he lacked again. And immediately I was like, this guy's a really weird dude. And he was very funny, and we got into a conversation and he said he liked, um some of my comedy that he had seen online and he wanted me to come in and join the Daily Show. And I was really flattered and I said thank you very much, but you know, right now the answer would be no. And he said I'm sorry you're saying no, and I said yeah, and he said, you don't understand I'm inviting you to be on American television, and you know, and he he was really taking the piss while saying these things, but he was being sincere at the same time. And I said, yeah, I really appreciate this. But I've just, for the first time, put together an international tour and I'm loving it. And I'm so grateful to these fans, and like, you know what it's like. You know, when you have that first show, you know, you're opening this venue, and then you're moving at it's such a gradual process. Everyone knows you when the blow up happens, but it's when you're doing that one show and you're having that one moment and and you're performing. I remember when you performed. I feel like I saw you. Were you in Ukraine? Maybe I think where were you? Yeah? I did. That's so funny. I was talking about that today. You did that. You did the Champions League the final? Yeah, because I remember was in Ukraine and then I saw you there and I remember you came on to perform and it was so weird, and you know, people I remember that, people are like, who the hell is that? And I was like, it's do a leap, but let's do a lieper, you know, And it's like all these like old men who have come to watch like a football game, football match, and then's just like this person and then now there's like no one in the world who doesn't know you. And I think that journey is what a lot of people don't know about, is how gradual and incremental that you know, that processes. And so I wasn't ready to give that up. And then you know, now you know, you skipped too. It seems like it's all I've ever done, you know, and it's still ruling. It's still difficult. You know, in politics is a very sensitive issue, which I always acknowledge. But I also think the more we talk about things, the better chance we have in society of even trying to fix anything. I think we've lost the ability to have arguments as friends, and that's something I encourage people to do. So that's constantly what I'm doing on my show. I argue with myself, I argue with my colleagues, I argue with my audience, and and the point is for us to try and engage in critical thoughts so that we are just constantly living in a space where we're trying to think about the world that we're in. Yeah, to really really get into and and get stuck in and start a conversation that has some real meaning. I guess. Now you've been in The Daily Show for about seven years. Do you have any favorite moments or guests that you've had on the show or any of that you'd like to forget? That's a good one. That would be great if I just started slamming all of them. Now do live it? Tell you something? Oh, that would be so cool. I have had. I have had a lot of fun moments. I mean some because they of of how just of how monumental they were in my life, you know, like interviewing President Barack Obama in the White House. This is wild. There was a moment where I was I was sitting in the White House. It's like a random kid from South from South Africa who makes jokes and now I'm waiting for the President of the United States so that i can speak to him, you know, and then he just strolls in with all his swag and he's you know, it's like a Trevor, good to see you, everybody. How are you doing? Everybody see you? I hope you won't wait along And it's like, oh no, so even if you were. I'm the president, so that's what you do. Your wait you here you are like laughing and bantering with the president, and and then there are moments that just touch you. There are moments that stick with you, stories that people share, you know, talking to somebody amazing like Malala, you know, people like Greta Toomberg, who you know, despite all the bullying and all the trash talking, just persevered and carried on doing what she was trying to do. You speak to people who have changed the world. And then you speak to people who make you laugh. You speak to people who create some of your favorite content with its movies or you know. It's been a wonderful experience that I find myself constantly having to remind myself to be grateful for, because if you're not careful in life, you can often see everything as a given once you've experienced it for too long, and so I oftentimes have to just pause and go, like, man, this part of it has been crazy, you know, and and and funny enough. It's never the fame side for me. It's just more what the show has brought into my life, the conversations, the stimulation, the inspiration and and the challenge, I would say, m Yeah, I guess it's brought a lot of get things into your life and a lot of experiences. And I also think you do a really good job giving back to people and the community as well. And I know inen you create your own foundation, that Trevanilla Foundation, which helps provide equal education opportunities in South Africa, including for undocumented children as well, which I think is a really, really wonderful initiative. What kind of impact do you feel the foundation has had so far and what are your future ambitions for it. There are a few things that are more humbling than working in philanthropy because you realize how impotent you really are in trying to solve a problem. You know, when I started my foundation, I thought I could solve the world's problems overnight. What I've come to enjoy more and more is appreciating what the foundation does on a daily basis. And there's a wonderful friend of mine who runs at Her name is Laine, and she's really helped me find the most effective ways, in the most effective spaces to use resources that I have to help kids who have nothing. When I look at my life, all of the moments that changed the trajectory of my family forever on moments that included education. How my grandfather was educated, how my grandmother was, how my mother was educated, and then how I was. Those are all turning points in our families history, and so I knew that education would always be something that would have an outsized influence on somebody's life. So what we do is we try and take on all aspects of how a child's education can be improved. So we find schools in South Africa that are under resourced, we try and build the resources that they need to sustain themselves. So whether it be building classrooms, giving them computer labs, you know, like Microsoft will help us with that, will build out school halls. Sometimes the schools then become used as community centers, so adults coming in the evenings and they start setting up businesses and they hold meetings and it becomes literally a community hub. Will hire workers from a community in South Africa to rebuild the school that is in their community. So it's almost like parents, kids, uncles, children, everybody just going you know, together to try and move something forward. We also try and understand which curriculum helps ldren in which way. So one of the biggest programs we've been proud to introduce to schools has been psychosomatic support. We've understood how just having somebody to talk to can change a child's life. We often think in life that our job is to fix everything, and you'll be surprised at how often people just want you to listen and for them to know that there is somebody to speak to. Yes, you still want to fix the problem, but you'll be surprised at how much therapy is just giving people a safe space to be in when they express their thoughts and their feelings. And we've seen children's grades dramatically increase or improve because they now have that support. So we provide teacher training, infrastructural support for schools. We then help, as I said, with psychosomatic support for the children, and then we help get them into apprenticeships with companies because a lot of the time people are taught that the only thing that will change their lives is further education, when in fact, most people will have a better life if they just start working and earning living That's what I did. I couldn't have afford university, but I got an opportunity to work, and I've been working ever since. And so that's that's what I've been doing with the foundation, and I grow it slowly, you know, I use mostly my own money, which means I pay attention to what we're doing and make sure we're doing it properly. And yeah, it's been a blessing for me to be able to give so wonderful I was. I was just saying, just hearing you talk about it shows just how passionate you really are about it, and I can imagine it has a really positive impact on your life, all the incredible work that you're doing. So definitely, it's really amazing. We'll be back with Trevor Noah right after this break. Finally, I guess I have to ask, what does the future look like for you? You know, are there any mountains left to climb in Trevor Noah as world? Um? Let me think it's funny. Most of my mountains, I feel, are still internal. I've truly enjoyed how liberating it has been to explore therapy, to you know, work on myself as a human being. Oftentimes we don't have the luxury of time nor the resources to engage in it, but if you do, Wow, do it changes everything for you you know, that's one of the mountains I would enjoy climbing, and I still do. I've loved getting involved in filmmaking, you know. So I have a production company and you know, we produce everything from like kids shows for Nickelodeon. You know, I'll do the Time Kid of the Year Awards, which is really fun, you know, and then I get to work on you know, like Blockbuster movies as well, and you know, get to work on writing. Um. Maybe in time I'll step into the world of being you know, behind the camera in that way. But for now, I'm focused on getting back on the road. The pandemic was a little hard on me. I won't lie emotionally, you know. I know I was in a privileged position, but but man, I missed being with the people. I missed going to a country difficult two years, learning the cultures, understanding the languages, trying to create comedy for them. That's that's like the essence of who I am. That's really what I love doing. And so that's what I'm excited to get back to, is going back on the world tour and just learning about this giant, beautiful world that we live in. I'm a proud idiot, and so I'm never ashamed to say that I have more to learn. I absolutely love that, and I second that I think that's um definitely a big, big part of life, just staying curious and always having more to learn. Trevor, thank you so much for your time. I might have to make a compilation of all the accents that you did for us today. That was something I thoroughly enjoyed. But thank you, thank you. It's really been such a pleasure. I like to end my conversations by asking my guests for some recommendation lists, and I have two lists that I would like to ask you for, the first being five best stand up specials that you think we should all watch. Oh boy, that's a really tough one. I would say. Eddie years Odd is still one of my favorites of all time. If you can watch any of years odd stuff, go and watch it. An Australian comedian by the name of Kitty Flanagan is one of my all time favorites as well. I think she's phenomenal. Ronnie Chang, who I work with you on the Daily Show, is also one of my favorite comedians. I really loved Richard Pryor's Live of the Sunset strip that was I mean, that's one of the most timeless classics. And then one of mine should just watching one of mine. I'm going to be selfish and through one of mine names. I think I've made some pretty good stuff in the Pandemic, but I'll throw one of mine in the Sameless promo. Um. So that that's my five. That's the five that I'll throw in amazing, Thank you so much. And the finalists five up and coming comedians that you'd like to spotlight. So this is an interesting one. You know what I would actually tell people, because comedy is so big and yet so small, The way I would answer this question is, rather go and watch comedy at a venue near you. You know, most comedians, let's say in America, they only knew about comedians in America. They don only recommend comedians in America. And I understand that I don't even hold that against anybody in South Africa and South African comedians. What I learned is the venues are the heart and soul of stand up comedy. The only reason I got the opportunities that I did in many ways is because of the venues. You know, it was the Comedy Store when I was in London. That was one of the reasons I got to perform and meet ideas on and meet so many great comedians like Andrew Maxwell. And it's just like fantastic minds who I've been lucky enough to share a stage with in New York, places like the Comedy Seller, places like the Stand in South Africa, places like Parker's or you know, any of the other comedy clubs that will come up and go, you know, like the Goliath Comedy Club in l A. You know, the ice House and the Comedy and Magic Club, phenomenal, phenomenal club where you will get to see comedians like I remember performing there and one day Jay Leno would walk in and then you'd see, you know, Howie Mandel walk in and and so, in a in a weird way, I would say to people, find those comedy clubs, because you will find the Trevoro of today, the Trevor of tomorrow, the Trevoro of yesterday. You'll just find the comedian for you. And so that's all I would encourage people to do, is it's a fun night out. Go with your friends, don't worry about who's there. Just trust the club. Go to the place, you'll have a great time, and even if you don't enjoy anybody, you're still going to have a fun night. Trust Yeah. The weird thing about comedy is when it's terrible, it's still good, which is it's not something you could say about most of the art forms. So yeah, just just go out there and support the clubs and and you'll find the comedians for you. I love that, Trevor. Thank you so so much. It's been a real pleasure talking to you and getting to know you a little bit more beyond the book as well. And I will I will see you like stage runnings. I even said to my my friend one day, I said, every time I see Duor Leaper, it's at an award show. So now that means if I see her, my life is going well. So now I just hope to see her more so that it means my life is going exceptionally well. So thank you for You've always been really wonderful and gracious, and you've always been a really wonderful light, just like in the spaces that everybody's in. So so thank you for taking the time. I appreciate you. Thank you so much. I really appreciate it, and I'll talk to you soon, all right, Bye bye, Thanks again for listening, and thanks for the extremely funny and thoughtful Trevor noa for joining me on this week's At Your Service. Honestly, we feel so lucky that our chat is the last interview he gave before announcing his daily show parture later that week. When I listened back to this conversation with the announcement in mind, it's really given new meaning to the way he reflected upon his time there, and I'm just so excited to see what comes next for him. You can find the list of Trevor's favorite comedy sets to watch and this week's issue of Service are free newsletter available to subscribers via Service dot com. This week's issue also includes a powerful long read on the protests currently happening in Iran, as well as a profile on a restaurant in the Philippines that serves mood altering food. Make sure you're subscribed to get the issue in full in your inbox, and please keep writing in with the lists you'd like me to read aloud during next week's episode. We've received so many already, and I love knowing what you're hungry for email us at podcast at service dot com. I can't wait to see what you come up with, sending you all my loving gratitude, and I hope to see you again next week for another very special episode of Dua Lipa at Your Service two