Silly us. We were so afraid of change that we clung to the idea that only Jon Stewart could skewer the pompous, shame the bigots and call out the liars.
Change isn’t easy, but this week Trevor Noah proved more than up to the task of carrying forward “The Daily Show.”
Not only did Noah use his outsider status to his advantage — giving the show an international outlook — he changed the tone from angry host to interested student of America. Physically, racially, he brings a profoundly fresh look (along with redesigned graphics and set) signaling the next chapter.
His opening-night joke that dad is gone and an unfamiliar stepdad is here — and stepdad is black — is no joke. The South African, who also quipped that as a child he never expected to have either indoor plumbing or a gig hosting “TDS,” is quite a radical departure.
He’s not easing us in so much as he is quickly dragging his mainstream audience into a new era.
From the start, he introduced more minority “special correspondents” and a more globally aware stance.
Unlike Stewart, exhibited a bemused, rather than exasperated, attitude toward U.S. politics. The ineptitude of American governance puzzles him, he suggested, in the same way it did Englishman John Oliver.
And while many of his lines this first week could have come out of Stewart’s mouth (crafted by many of the same Emmy-winning writers), his autobiography made several of his personal choices remarkable.
Notably, the song played in a preview commercial, aired on Comedy Central on Monday leading into the show, was Kanye’s “Power.” The lyrics include this line: “I guess every superhero need his theme music.” But the choice goes deeper.
, a political science professor at Hiram College, wrote in a column for NBC Blk that it was a Johnson observed that Noah’s quite deliberate choice was intended to reflect the white audience’s fear of a black man in power.
“No one man should have all that Power” is a reference to a white police officer … frightened by Malcolm X managing a spontaneous protest on behalf of Johnson Hinton, an unarmed black man beaten by New York City cops in 1957; (The scene was shown in Spike Lee’s X docu-drama as well),” Johnsonwrote. “It reflected the fear of a powerful black man in the face of institutional violence and racism.”
As if there were any question that a new day had arrived.
On the pure entertainment front, Noah proved capable of delivering zings, bantering and laughing. But he may be even better and more powerful when he allows himself to be somewhat serious.
Interviewing takes practice and Noah will no doubt improve. Remember, Stewart wasn’t the best interviewer at first, either. Still, Noah has an advantage in the way he approaches his subjects: He is an alien in this strange land. At midweek, he cleverly couched questions to presidential contender Gov. Chris Christie with a sweet naiveté, suggesting this immigrant just doesn’t understand how things work here, please explain this idea of yours about tracking immigrants like FedEx packages. …
Christie responded by pointing at the host, turning to the audience and announcing, “He’s tricky!”
Tricky or clever? Either way, he’s only going to get better.
Joanne Ostrow: 303-954-1830, jostrow@denverpost.com or @ostrowdp
