Trevor Noah launched the new Daily Show on Monday night and didn’t disappoint.
Less than 2 months since Jon Stewart went off the air, The Daily Show with Trevor Noah wasted no time in making clear that this would be The Daily Show you’ve come to know and love. From the jokes to the topics to the correspondents to the theme song, this is the same show, y’all.
Trevor had no problem acknowledging his predecessor is definitely gone, and that viewers are still hurting from Jon’s departure. “Dad [Jon] has left. The family has a new step dad… and he’s black.”
Answering why a woman or even an American didn’t get the gig, Trevor — a South African comedian — joked that this was just another job that went to an immigrant.
Trevor appearing on Jon’s final Daily Show last month.
“Thank you for joining us as we continue the war on bullshit,” Trevor told viewers — A nod to Jon Stewart’s final monologue in August: “The best defense against bullshit is vigilance. So if you smell something, say something,” Jon said on his final episode.
Trevor’s first subject was Syria The Pope’s visit to America, and his jokes (written by several of Jon’s Daily Show writers, who are back for the “new” show) were well-received by the audience.
From there Trevor transitioned into Majority Speaker John Boehner’s resignation, which is reportedly related to meeting with the Pope. “Why leave now — I just got here!” Trevor quipped.
Notably, he didn’t mention Donald Trump once.
I thought Trevor was edgier than Jon which felt refreshing (Thanks in part to the AIDS and Whitney Houston jokes). I also noticed Trevor ran closer to John Oliver’s Last Week Tonight in that Trevor would laugh more at his own jokes than Jon did. It wasn’t a problem, and in fact, Trevor looked like he was having a great time on stage.
Like Jon, Trevor threw it to senior correspondents after his opening monologue (Jordan Klepper and Roy Wood Jr. for tonight’s premiere). In the first correspondent bit Trevor and Jordan drew comparisons between the pressures of replacing Jon Stewart and John Boehner. In the second, Roy Wood Jr. stole the show as Senior Mars Correspondent.
I enjoyed Trevor Noah’s Daily Show! Frankly, it’s just like Jon Stewart’s Daily Show. The jokes landed and Trevor was noticeably comfortable following a week of rehearsals.
There was one difference, however:
Congratulations to @TrevorNoah tonight. @TheDailyShow's new opening credits now show Earth rotating in the correct direction.
— Neil deGrasse Tyson (@neiltyson) September 29, 2015
Watching the premiere, it’s clear that Comedy Central and Trevor Noah had no interest in messing with a very successful formula. It was Jon’s choice to leave, and Comedy Central rightfully decided to continue with what Stewart created rather than throwing it out and starting new. We still need someone to sound the bullshit alarm, and it looks like Trevor is willing to do that for us.
I’ll definitely continue to tune in for the first 10 minutes like I did for Jon — The first act of the show has always been the strongest point of the show, and it looks like that won’t be changing here.
If you’re someone who watches the whole show, here’s some good news: The end still features the “moment of zen,” a Daily Show staple.
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