Trevor Noah, who takes over The Daily Show from Jon Stewart in just a matter of weeks, is still an unknown commodity. He tried to introduce himself at the Television Critics Association Press Tour on Wednesday and assured critics that what we love about The Daily Show will still be there, albeit a bit differently.
Noah stressed that he is taking over The Daily Show during a different media environment than what Stewart had to deal with. In 1999, the 24-hour news cycle was just coming into its own, but now there are other media outlets to make fun of.
“It’s no longer predicated around 24 hour news,” Noah said of today’s news environment, notes Entertainment Weekly. “There are so many different choices. Half of it is online now. Now you’ve got the Gawkers, the BuzzFeeds. The way people are drawing their news is soundbites and headlines and click-bait links has changed everything. The biggest challenge is going to be an exciting one I’m sure is how are we going to bring all of that together looking at it from a bigger lens as opposed to just going after one source—which was historically Fox News.”
Of course, regular viewers of the Daily Show will know that Stewart and his team of writers have often made targets out of the online media already. Noah will have to figure out how to adapt the show further to new changes in the media landscape.
Noah said that the set will change, but there will be few changes behind the scenes. The Washington Post notes that five of the show’s longtime executive producers will stay with Noah to help with the transition.
Still, Noah’s perspective is completely different from Stewart’s. Noah, 31, was born in South Africa with a black father and white mother and only emigrated the U.S. in 2011. He is also better known outside the U.S., which might explain why Comedy Central invited a few critics to Noah’s Tuesday night stand-up show in Santa Monica.
Even though Noah has already addressed the tweet controversy that came up shortly after he was named Stewart’s successor, he was still asked about it Thursday.
“I don’t strive to be offensive. But you can never control what people find is offensive or not. Any joke can be seen as offensive. When people get to know you, and when you know a person, you know the context of a joke,” Noah explained. “Luckily, Comedy Central hasn’t limited me to 140 characters on the show, so I should be able to [better articulate context].”
Noah will face his first significant test almost instantly. He takes over the Daily Show in the midst of the 2016 presidential campaign, so viewers will be expecting him to be at his best right away to skewer candidates like Stewart did.
Noah takes over on Sept. 28.
image courtesy of Comedy Central