Couldn’t have gone to a better comedian. I like how Jon Stewart passed the baton to someone relatively unknown. Not that Noah hasn’t had any success up to this point, but I’m sure a lot of people were like, “Who?” I think that giving it to a correspondent would have been a mistake that would have made the Daily Show weak and familiar. Then we’d all wish we could take it out back and shoot it. Having someone who isn’t an American might also provide a more critical lens on the news in this country.
Completely agree. Brilliant choice. Like John Oliver, but even more so, Noah will inject a cosmopolitan voice into the discourse.
I don’t know about this - I find criticism of U.S. politics and people making fun of how stupid we can be easier to take from someone who is from this country. I have the same problem with John Oliver - funny guy, but it runs the risk of being condescending.
Read some James Baldwin. He was a Black man writing at a time when being a Black voice meant being somewhere outside the American mainstream. His writing was very harsh, very hard to take for a White person living at the time. I think that the effect here is similar. Especially when you consider the power dynamic. With the US being the undisputed prime superpower in the world, I think people who feel condescended to are experiencing a different emotion altogether: Entitlement.
I like this guy, but there was a couple of his jokes that either his delivery was too dry or the jokes too subtle for the viewers. I think he will do great.
He’s good at mimicry, which I think will serve him well in news commentary, and, oddly, is not something Stewart has ever been strong in. Stewart’s the master of the befuddled reaction shot coupled with a scathing takedown, Noah seems like he’ll be a bit more of a imperious mockery, which is going to be an interesting change of pace.
Being good at stand-up doesn’t mean being good at hosting The Daily Show. I’ve seen all the bits he did on the show, and I thought he stunk up the place. He came across as a smug know-it-all, especially on the Boko Haram bit. It was actually painful to watch. I predict he’ll be gone in a year. The question is whether or not he’ll take the show down with him.
I think it offers a good and necessary view from an outsider.
Not sure how this guy will be, but as far as Oliver is concerned, I like the fact that he comes off more like he doesn’t give shit what people think.
I love Jon Stewart and have seen every single episode from since Bush’s re-election (watched on and off prior) and he can be a little TOO even handed at times when it requires the opposite.
Though I noticed lately he’s been on fire and happily is saying “fuck you” to the people that need it.
I think a lot of people who might get offended by a non-American making fun of American stupidity are often the same people who don’t think that a lot of our non-white, accented citizens are “real Americans”.
I’m kinda disappointed because once someone suggested the possibility of Tina Fey hosting, that was all I wished for in the world. Ah well, I’m sure this guy’ll do a good job too.
I hadn’t seen him at all until just now, and at least in his standup he really seems to own the stage. It took Stewart years to really find his voice, so I am honestly excited about the new perspective he may bring.
(I was still secretly hoping for Kristin Schall though)
Don’t get me wrong - I definitely appreciate the “oustider’s view” but I feel like we’re losing an important insider’s view at the same time. And it really makes a difference - a facepalm from Stewart says “Oh my god I can’t believe we elect these people” and I nod my head and think “yes, I’m so embarrassed,” but when Oliver says “I can’t believe you elect these people” and I wag my finger and say “watch it, buddy, that’s my country you’re talking about.” It can turn people off. In my case, I’m pretty much an misangloist so anything in an English accent rubs me the wrong way. Not so much with a South African accent though.
@art_carnage: That’s kinda what I’m worried about, but to be fair I just watched that Boko Haram segment and I don’t think it was Trevor being smug so much as the tone of the bit - it was intended to be a “serious segment” talking about how ignorant Americans are about world affairs. And he was 100% right. But if every night becomes a lecture like that, I imagine a lot of people will tune out.
It always seems to me he says “we” when talking about the USA - if anything it feels that he’s appropriating some American experience that isn’t his. Perhaps that’s because he’s about the same age as me and moved to the US at about the same time and I think he should be more British what like I am… 
To be fair, I haven’t been watching Oliver’s show. I should though. That was just my attitude when he was on Stewart. I’ve warmed up to him since.
That concerned me, too: what he says might be dismissed by some because of who’s saying it.
As a non-American, I have noticed that Americans seem particularly disinclined to accept amicable criticism from foreigners - that’s a wild generalisation, of course (and as a non-American, no doubt some will automatically reject my opinion 
), but I genuinely don’t associate that defensiveness with other countries.
CSB–i was once on a trip back to the US with a middle aged German who identified as very conservative. After a few hours talking it became obvious that in the States he would be seen as slight more liberal than center.
The US is weird.
Another tendency is for people of the US to dismiss somebody as “un-Merkin” if they simply refuse to acknowledge the views put forth. I was born in the US geography and still occupy it, and many both netside and in meatspace have insisted to me that I am definitely “not from here”. One might suppose there to be more honest ways of attributing one the status of “outsider”. Sometimes it doesn’t matter where you’re really from.
Lets replace every instance of the word “American” with the word “African-American” in your reply. Cognitive dissonance.
Well I don’t think it’s a particularly American sentiment. We didn’t invent nationalism.
