"Trevor Noah"

Well, listen, I'm really thrilled to be here with you two today. I didn't think I was going to make it.

What happened?

JB, he was close. He almost didn't make it through the weekend, and then, the doctor, they decided to revive him with two almonds.

Yeah.

Brought him back to life.

And they come and they go, clear, pop, pop.

I was a little lightheaded yesterday, but two nuts in my mouth. really, they fix a lot.

Brought you to life. I know how you feel. Welcome to Smart, Less. Smart.

Less.

Less.

Hey, JB, JB, before Rob, Lil, Rob, show yourself again real quick. Just let's see Arm Yarv. And he said, JB, Rob says to Sean, I've got your favorite sports team on my Instagram. That's spaghetti. That's very good.

It's fun. It's good, clean fun.

It is good, clean, fun.

So good morning.

Good morning, Jason. First things first. Please, you know, I'm obsessed with medical stories. Please tell me what happened to you three, four days ago.

Oh, well, I'm still in it, unfortunately.

You still feel like crap?

Well, it's just things, things, things, things are loose. Okay.

Oh, Jesus.

And you know, it's, I think, what it is, God bless my wife. She is more on top of the health stuff than you are even, which I guess is not that high of a bar to leap over, considering you mainline a meatloaf and everything. But she gave me this, some sort of supplement for longevity, right? It's like a peptide or something or other.

New? Huh? New or been taking it?

No, no, no. Yeah. Just a couple of weeks ago. Okay. And then she had me take even a little bit more last weekend, and that's what did it.

Well, first of all, we ruled out immediately food poisoning.

Yeah.

Right. Because it would have had to have been bad lettuce.

Well, because you would have had to eat. So that's off the table. I know. I mean, it was not like flu, the flu, like. if you'd had like a stomach bug, it would have moved through you by now.

No, it's still, yeah. I'm fatigued and I can't eat and like, and look how puffy my eyes are too. It's like, whatever this thing is, like. I got to stop it and which I'm doing.

Yeah. Yeah. Very good. Yeah.

It'd be great if the longevity thing killed you.

I mean, I just, she did say she got a deal on it, but I'm glad you're, you're feeling.

better than you were before.

Yes. Yeah. Oh, yeah. Yeah. I had to cancel a day of work.

Yeah.

Yeah. And you're, you're, and you're incredible at reading ads. Did you guys just win an award for your ad reading?

Did you guys? I think we all did.

Why? Well, wait, am I a part of it?

Yeah.

Um, you want to get to our host and, um, so, um, you know, this guy is, uh, a media Titan. He's incredibly smart, incredibly funny. He, uh, is responsible for, um, one of my favorite shows. Um, I was, I was very sort of not nervous, but it's, this show has gone through a couple of hosts and I was hoping that it would, uh, land on somebody, uh, even better. And they have, um, and, uh, he's got multiple irons on the fire.

I can't, I have no idea.

He's, he's, he's, he's, he's, he's, he's started in standup, um, an additional hint. He hosted a political comedy show, um, on Comedy Central. First name starts with T, last name starts with N.

Trevor Noah.

Everybody, it's Trevor, Noah.

It's Trevor Noah. It's Trevor Noah. It's Trevor Noah. I mean. What's going on, everybody?

I was confused for a moment. I genuinely thought it was someone else. Yeah.

Usually I write these things, but this fricking job I've got in New York, it's really cutting into my prep time. So this interview is going to be even worse than the normal ones. Yeah.

I was, I was thrown, but then, um, you said the name, then I was like, okay, we're good.

Yeah. You were like, oh, it's me.

It's still me.

I mean, let's, let's, let's start right there. I mean, did you feel the pressure I felt when, uh, when you were going in there to take over this, uh, incredible show?

Yeah. Ah, I mean, so, so here's the, here's the thing. I, when I was going in to take over the Daily Show, I don't think I felt the, I don't think I felt the amount of pressure that I should have felt, um, because I didn't grow up with the Daily Show and I met Jon Stewart just as a, you know, sort of a standup comedian meeting another standup comedian. You know, we, we, and I mean, we, we still talk about that. now, you know, now that Jon has gone back to hosting the show, we'll, we'll still share the stories of how, ironically, the other day we were on the phone and, and I was saying to him, it's funny that we've gone full circle.

Because now you've got a better idea for what it is than you did then. Yeah.

Oh yeah, definitely. And the, and, and a better idea of what people, how people reacted to it. You know, that, that was, I think that was the biggest thing.

Cause it's so important. It's like this great, it's, it's sort of this, this Trojan horse that's on, that's on a network, you know, like it's, it's helping all the medicine go down a little bit easier. The medicine that's so vital for all of us to be taking in.

Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Definitely.

Definitely. What, what, what joke really kills in Dubai?

Huh?

That's an interesting one. And then tell us what joke you can't tell in Dubai.

So what joke really kills in Dubai? So I, whenever I travel, you know, for my shows, it makes it a lot harder, but what I love to do is find comedy that I could only do in that region.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

So I always try and find something, you know, whether it's an observation, whether it's an experience, but just something that, that you could only say in Dubai, and then someone who's not living there, yeah, would go, wait, what does that mean? What? Yeah. So, um, I'll try to tell a few jokes that have like an Arabic punchline, or, you know, I'll play with something in that world. I mean, isn't that, isn't Dubai like that, super rich, like, isn't, aren't they incredibly, isn't everybody incredibly wealthy?

Let's go for the definition of it. Go ahead, Sean.

Have you ever been outside the United States? Oh, of course.

I know Dubai. I was just wondering, like, what kind of jokes do you tell about, isn't, like every single human being there super wealthy? Yeah. Well, I mean, the Emiratis are pretty wealthy, but then most of the audience is, um, is, is expats. I think it's like 90, 90%.

Did you ever get up there when you were, when you were coming up in South Africa, did you ever get up there and, and, and were any of your dates up in that area?

Oh yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Like when, when I had to take over the Daily Show, I had to let go of a bunch of dates that were happening around the world. So I was, I just got a foothold into touring all over the, you know, all over the planet.

I've had to do that a lot. Let go of a lot of dates all over the world, because I just didn't want to, because I didn't want to seem like.

I want to know, you know, when you first came on the scene on the sky blue, sorry, was that.

not it?

Yeah. No, it's not. It was, that's because it's a reflection of the ocean continuing. So, um, Trevor, when you first came on the Daily Show, I, that was my first discovery of you. I was like, Oh, what a glorious, wonderful discovery of this man.

But now you can't walk down the street. I'm sure.

That's how knowing someone works.

Do you think Einstein, he apologized to physics before he learned it. Yeah, right.

Right.

Um, but you were, you were crushing it in standup, uh, such that you, uh, you met with John. Yes.

Yeah. So it was, it was really, it was really random. I was, um, so I started comedy in South Africa, performed there my whole life.

I was, I was lucky enough that we- What part of South Africa were you?

So I was, I was born in Johannesburg, raised in Soweto and Johannesburg. And then that's where I did most of, most of my comedy. We didn't have a comedy club. So, just to give you a bit of a backstory, I'm assuming, you know, but if you don't, so during apartheid, free speech was, was illegal in, in South Africa, right? And so you weren't allowed to gather, you know, a group of black people weren't allowed to be in one space, and there were all these laws.

And you were how old at that time?

No, so I only, I only got into comedy, in 94, I'm six years old. I only got into comedy when I was 20, I want to say 21.. And it was, it was still new. Like you couldn't make a living from comedy, which I, which I loved about it. It really was something that everyone was doing.

There is no- And also escape the horror of their, their upbringing.

Oh yeah. Well, I mean, I think that's what all comedy is, even in the US, to be honest with you. I think everyone's doing comedy to escape their horrible upbringing.

But you actually, you actually wrote a book about it too, right?

Yeah. Yeah, I did. I did.

Which became a, what did it sell, like 3 million copies?

I don't know. I don't like numbers, to be honest with you.

Well, it did very well.

No, no, no. I mean this honestly. You know, you know why? I don't like numbers when they're good and I don't like them when they're bad.

Right. So- You and me both. Why don't you like them when they're good?

Because, because if you live by the good numbers, then you must die by the bad numbers.

Yeah, absolutely.

I think, if you're creating, you should just create and then- Very good.

Exactly.

I'm so with you, then, you're not at the effect of outside circumstances.

You know what? Not pressure, not pressure, we, it's, it's, it's so much fun, man, it's hard to explain. So the difference between the two places, I find in America, fame is almost like royalty. Right. You know?

That's why people apologize if they may be unaware of if you had some beforehand. Yes.

I was not aware that you, of you, of your car, I apologize on my leash.

Silence, Knave.

Um, were they, were they.

In South Africa, it's just like, it's just like people know you, everyone just treats you like you, you're part of a big family. That's how it feels.

And was that, was it, was it, was it equally welcoming when you came back and you were now famous? or were they like, oh, were they sort of circumspect and like, let's see if he changed?

I was pretty well known before I left South Africa. So it was just like, oh, congratulations, you've gone and put us on the world stage doing something.

That's great. Wow. So, tell me about, I imagine, when you were doing a bunch of touring, uh, you got, you got used to life on the road and, and all the bumps and bruises that go along with it. And then you got this incredibly prestigious job and I'm sure were making a whole hell of a lot more money than you were before and getting used to thread count, nice candles and soaps and, and the lot.

It's funny. My, my life went the other way around. You know, when I first started The Daily Show, I was actually earning less than I was doing. stand up around the world. I was working hard and I was doing pretty well.

And it's not that it's not like worst part, just to clarify for the listener in that it's dangerous, and it's just more that it's shitty, really shitty.

Dangerous would be better, because then it means people are there to do something to you.

Exactly.

It's like a waste. It's like a barren wasteland of nothingness.

It is. It's a fucking nothing. Yeah.

It's just a pocket of nothing.

Um, so tell us about the meeting with John and how, and how that whole sort of idea sparked in John and how he approached you and what that conversation was like.

So I got a call. I was, you know, it's one of those moments where you remember exactly what was happening, but not because of how momentous it was in that moment, rather because of how random the thing is that I was doing. I was in London. I was doing my first tour of the UK and on this particular day I was standing in Harrods, the mega department store that sells everything. And when I say everything, I mean everything.

I have one. Yeah.

Don't bore Will. He's got one for him and all four boys. Wait, an underwater moped.

Okay. Yeah. Yeah. And I was like, you see, this is what, this is what my brain was doing. At that exact moment, my brain was doing the same thing.

you.

And, uh, and he said to me, yeah, I saw some of your stuff on, on YouTube and I want to, do you ever consider coming and doing stuff in the U S? and I was like, yeah, not really. Maybe, I don't know. And he's like, well, I work on a show called the daily show. And I was like, oh, I think I've, I think I've heard of that.

Yeah.

Yeah. And then he invited me, you know, he was just like, come in, he's like, come and hang out. I think you're funny. And I, I like the way you see the world. He's like, come and come and hang out with me when you get a chance.

So you hadn't told your agent about this phone call, who would have? probably, no, I think.

they gave him my number because they were like, it's Jon Stewart.

What if you'd hung up the phone with Jon Stewart and then the woman at the desk at Harrods said, sir, your underwater moped has been paid for by Mr. Stewart. I'm like, fuck, I gotta, I gotta go. do this. This guy, yeah, I gotta go.

I mean, then, then you say yes, immediately. Right.

Yeah, then it's like a full on, so, so he, so he tracks you down eight months later in New York.

Yeah. And then he says, come have coffee. He said, come. He said, come to the show and hang out. Yeah.

So you had no idea about the political landscape, uh, in the larger, larger, you know, in the.

rest of the world, we keep up with American politics, you know, on a, on a, on a big scale, but the, the, the finer minutiae, you know, filibustering, and, you know, no, no, sorry,

I started to interrupt again, but the John Boehner story, it wasn't about him crying in some kind of like hungover with like red wine on his teeth.

I think it was. I think it was. then. It was, it was around that point.

Yeah. Okay.

Um, so you didn't really learn all the, all the specific small time Cretans that populate the house. Yeah.

No, I did not.

All right, back to the show.

What year did you come to the U.

So, 2015,, and then you're doing a comedy tour, Jon Stewart's hassling you, and at the time, what kind of comedy stuff were you into? Like, you're...

So, you know, this is actually interesting. I remember somebody asked me, they said to me, when The Daily Show happened, they said, so, are you going to... They said, are you a political comedian? You know, The Daily Show's very political. And I said, oh, no, no, no, I'm not.

Right.

Because here, the average person doesn't.

Right, right.

Yeah, whereas in South Africa, what we consider a basic level of commenting or being involved in the system, we don't think that's political. For us, political is marching in the streets, freeing people from prison, like, protesting the system. That's being political.

Because in most parts of the world, just being engaged is sort of your civic duty.

That's the baseline.

Right, no matter where you're, in South Africa or Dubai, where isn't it full of, like, rich people or something?

Anyway. Right, that's the spot.

Well, initially, it was, I always describe the story as feeling a lot like Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, in that I popped in, I had a great time with John, and I said to him, I was like, this is, I like what you guys are doing, I guess, but this is not for me. And then we laughed about, we would just, man, because John and I, just, we get along, we really, you know, there's comedians where you click with them and your rhythm and your vibe is almost completely sympathetical, you're just in it.

I'd like to find the person that doesn't get along with John Stewart, though. I mean, he's like an all-time great guy, yeah.

But the comedy is like, you know, when it comes to comedy, I find there's a, it's like music, there's a, all musicians can play together, but some musicians can create magic together, and when you find comedians that you share that with, it's pretty special. Well, there's beats and rhythm, go ahead.

As you can see, I'm still looking.

We've got them on a separate volume and controlled forever, don't worry.

Sean, real quick, Sean, Sean, real quick, any follow-up questions about the Chocolate Factory? It's not a real place, but if you have anything that you'd like to... Isn't that full of people who like chocolate?

I have a thousand questions about the Chocolate Factory. I know, honey. Oh, my God. Last night, I made an ice cream sundae and I didn't have any whipped cream, so I made whipped cream.

Oh, great.

Oh, my God. Are you writing a screenplay about it now? Or what's happening? Hey, Trevor, would you say, would you venture to say that actually coming here, kind of a follow-up to what Jay was saying, that being an outsider gave you a perspective and almost a bit of an advantage, I would suggest, because you don't have American politics or what we've sort of takes for granted as to how the system works and what the dynamics are between the different, the left and the right, if you will, just to make it as basic as possible, because you come in with a different perspective.

And you just take it as face value, like, oh, this is a clown show, as opposed to being somewhat padded with understanding the whole political system and that it's kind of a joke anyway.

So I think it's a massive, it was a massive disadvantage and an advantage. The disadvantage is people don't like anyone who doesn't look like them or sound like them coming to tell them anything about them. So, you know, I spent weeks getting random death threats and letters. People hated how I said controversy. And then it was, you know...

But did you really get death threats, Trevor?

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. That's, I mean, that's quite, it's like, it's par for the course I've learned. As soon as you comment on American politics in a public forum, that's pretty much what happens to you. So that was a disadvantage.

Here's something I don't get about the whole phoning in or emailing in a threat, a bomb threat or a death threat. Like, aren't those the exact kind of threats you don't need to really worry about? because who the hell would warn you before they play? Like, I don't, I'm certainly not belittling it whatsoever, but I'm always like, I can't believe that someone will clear out an entire office building if they get a bomb threat. It's like, well, if they want to put a bomb in there, they're probably just going to do it and not tell you about it.

The irony that you look so much like Ted Kaczynski right now.

while you're saying this

is fucking killing me. I know.

No, I just, you know, I get that they've got to empty the building for insurance reasons, because there's going to be a record that they received the threat, but.

So to that, did you ever feel genuinely threatened in a way that was not just a sort of a random kind of.

Sure, of course.

I don't know. I mean, it's...

It's scary.

Yeah, there's a latent level of anxiety that comes with anybody threatening you. And again, I need to, you know, I need to state, I don't think it's that uncommon. You know, I'm pretty certain. all the other late night hosts have gotten death threats. It's just, it varies.

Kimmel gets one a day, I think.

I've threatened Kimmel twice this week already.

Yeah, yeah. In the beginning of Will & Grace, we used to get death threats all the time.

Oh, they used to?

In 1998.

So back then, was that like people sending.

Just for shitty jokes, or?

Yeah.

You know, we have fun, Trevor. We do. We just have fun.

No, that was because.

What were the threats about at Will & Grace?

Oh, no, yeah, they were written on.

This wasn't a death threat. One of the greatest letters we ever got was this woman wrote in to Will & Grace. Took the time,

got a pen, paper, wrote it, got a stamp, mailed it.

Like, remember, this was before the internet and everything. There's a lot of effort to really share with somebody how much you hate them. But this one woman wrote in and she said, you know, we're all going to hell. You should be ashamed for putting this on television. You're all horrible people.

Oh, wow.

And could you send me an A510?

Yeah.

Can I get some tickets for the April 12th show?

The craziest thing.

That's so fucking crazy. I guess it stands to reason that you would get threats. I mean, do you get threats immediately upon doing it? I guess I'm sure that a lot of the threats were... We can all take our pick.

Yeah.

Right? You're a liberal or... Yeah.

Well, and also you're in.

That's exactly it.

12 months later.

It was the beginning of Donald Trump and everything that America now lives in as a normal state.

Yeah. Man.

So that was the majority of your material. Yeah. And so they're going after the person that...

I mean, think about that. So you're right. You started, you came to America, as Chase says, right at the beginning of the... They were just putting the kerosene, the kindling, on the dumpster fire that we all now live in. That's been your experience of America.

It looked like a lot of fun.

It really was.

It looked like a lot of fun.

I don't want you to get the wrong impression.

Happy days are here again soon. I promise.

It's also wild that people, instead of just not watching you.

or listening to this, or watching that, or whatever,

they take the time to watch it and then comment on it. Just turn the channel. Instead of just turn the channel. Yeah. But you know, at the time, it was so hard launching The Daily Show that I actually preferred having those people than not.

Right.

No, not even an enemy. I was just like, we have viewers. These people are passionately watching the show and we need every single person to watch. So there was actually one guy I reached out to. There was a guy who was tweeting vitriol at me on, you know, just on The Daily.

100%.

People don't actually engage. People don't see each other as human beings. It's all a theoretical exercise. But you'll be surprised to find that most people, when you sit down with them and actually, if you're forced to have a type, like a conversation where you connect, people start to see each other as humans that exist beyond their political affiliation.

And a lot of assumptions going on too. Always assuming.

And it's just a game. It's like, it's like sports fans. I think American politics has become like sports, where you say everything to the opposing fans, but you don't mean it, mean it, but you go like, this is the purpose of what we're doing. We're here to tell them that they need to die and we want to kill their players, and we hate everything they do, and the ref is biased when he rules in their favor. But when you meet in a grocery store, then they're humans, because they're doing the same thing as you.

They were basically exaggerating. to make a point, you know? But yeah, when you get face-to-face with it, they get a little bit more real.

Yeah, I mean, I hate Manchester City as a football club. Wait, what? Yeah, I hate Man City. Uh-oh. But then I also like.

signing up.

But I love Pep Guardiola and I love Haaland and I love Kevin De Bruyne.

I love all the players. I've never met anybody who has like a...

Well, because I'm a Liverpool supporter, a massive Liverpool supporter.

I'm a Liverpool supporter, but I don't hate Manchester City.

Well, just because they're going to beat us. Oh yeah,

but I mean, they've spent the money and it's like, I get annoyed, but I.

My point was, I say I hate them, but then I like all the players on the team. I like Pep Guardiola. I like Haaland. I like De Bruyne. I like Phil Foden.

Trevor, now have you, have you since now?

Now that you're out of there, do you?

Yeah, you don't need to be in the swamp anymore.

So, I don't follow politics as a hobby. What I try to do is understand which conversations can exist beyond the noise. You know, I often try and explain to people when I'm having conversations with them is... So, the most interesting thing about the US system for me is the fact that it leads people to believe that there are only two ways to do something. You know, it's Republican and it's Democrat.

It's a lot of the media how they frame everything. So,

I follow it now to try and understand where the issue lies and the politics ends. Because issues are real. Politics are how we try and solve the issues. But politics is not real. It's not actually a real thing.

But Trevor, and I'm not being coy here at all. Maybe this is... I think you've probably noticed in this country, certainly, that there's not a lot of appreciation in any aspect of life for nuance in this country.

Yeah. You're either on this team or that team.

Yeah, and it's very binary, and it's always a sort of a zero-sum game. That is part of the American experience. You win, you lose. There's no nuance. That is true.

That is true. I will say, if you want to liken it back to sports, I always say to my American friends, I go, I see why soccer was never the most popular game and might never be. It's because in soccer, we have a draw. We sometimes say, you know what? Neither team won.

As opposed to compromise.

Politics should never be about winning or losing. It should be about compromising and then, you know, understanding that the majority... It's even stranger. Do you ever think about it? When you look at America's results, I'm always shocked at how states are called blue or red.

Well, if you think.

Yes. But a lot of that I will blame. To. what you said, Sean, is like, I think the media has to take a lot of blame for that. Because the media has enjoyed turning it into a game.

says, who's ever in office, they say,

well, the Democrats thought blah, blah, blah, or the Republicans thought blah, blah, blah. And it's like, you have to say the Republicans in Congress.

feel this way

or the Democrats in Congress. Because what happens is it generalizes everybody. Well, I'm a Democrat. Well, I'm a Republican. You know, now you're telling me that we all think that way?

You know what I mean? And also think about the idea that, look, it's the spring of an election year. it, of course, again, at risk of sounding completely naive, of course, they have to pit them against each other, because they need to drive ratings, because we know that all of it is driven by commerce. Everything in this country is driven by commerce. And so, if there's no race, if there's no, they have to say, so-and-so's leading by this.

And the reason is.

Yeah, because they need us to watch the commercials in between. So if you really want to get mad at it, get mad at CNN and MSNBC and Fox and all of them, because they're just, all they're doing is in service of commerce. That's it. Yeah,

it's completely in service of commerce. If I break it down into three levels, I'll go, on the media side, I wish they would stop turning it into the spectacle that they do, but they probably won't, as you say, because the money's there or that's what they want to get. once you can make a profit and change everything.

Sports get the best ratings in this country, so if they can turn it into a football game, they'll do it.

But on the ground as well, I think, as people, I, that's something that I found strange. coming to America is how people would say I am a Democrat, I am a Republican and I'll be like, what? What does that mean? Where I come from, people just talk about how they voted, but they are not the thing. Right.

Well, imagine, if you, imagine we lived in a world where you could. just, all you did was you weren't voting, there was no such thing as a party and you just voted on issues.

Yeah. Right.

We'll be right back.

Noah, so what about hosting? Like, do you still want to keep hosting? Is it something like, you're like, I did it, I'm moving on to something else?

Oh, no.

Or, like, would you, like, do you have aspirations?

to host the Oscars,

the Emmy, like award shows or anything like that? Well,

yeah, the Grammys, how many years now,

right? Oh, that's right. I forgot.

MTV.

The Grammys has been fun. I've done the Grammys a few times now.

Now, were you a huge music fan before that? Have you, as your... You mean,

was I human? That's a strange question. Who doesn't like music, No, but I mean,

like, some people are obsessed with it.

Jason doesn't know what humans do, dude.

Well, maybe a better question would be, has your, has your, has your passion for music increased since you've been behind the curtain?

And I, by the way, before I apologize, of course, I've watched you on the Grammys. I completely forgot. No, no, no, no, no, no, no,

no,

no, I know what he means, and I'll tell you why, Sean, it's funny. I don't think the Grammys is the same as like the Emmys or the Oscars or any of those shows, because- Well, I'm an actor, so I watch those more. Yeah, but also the Grammys is like hosting a concert. You know, the Emmys and the Oscars and all these other awards, they do feel like an award show. The Grammys just feels to me like a concert.

That's great.

I've definitely developed a greater appreciation for artists, seeing them rehearse, seeing how hard it is to get everything right, seeing them do it live, that's what's definitely increased. And then also my palates, like every time I'm at the Grammys, I discover a new artist that I now become a fan of.

What about a full genre? Yeah, definitely. Like country, are you a fan of country?

I listen to way more country now than I ever did, you know what I mean? Everybody, like the Luke Combs, you name it, I just got into it because you would hear the song so many times in rehearsal and you'd see how amazing it could be, and then you fall in love with it.

That Tracy Chapman performance in the Grammys was cool.

I cried my eyes out.

I know, I know.

Incredible. I'm not a huge, a lot of the music at the Grammys is not really my taste, generally.

It's all kinds of music on the Grammys.

No, but I'm such a 90s indie rock fan.

Oh, right. So they would have awarded your bands years ago.

Yeah, if it was like Phil Dispel and Dinosaur Jr. and the Pixies, I would have been like, yeah, great.

Yeah, Trevor, what is the phone number that you've gotten from hosting the Grammys all these years that you're most proud of? Which artist? What famous rocker, do you now have on your phone?

Oh, I don't have anybody's number, to be honest with you.

You don't go, hey, hey, hey. I wait to hang out.

I was in a band. You can have my number. I would gladly take your number. This is a strange thing to say, but I always found it strange that people would try to be friends just because they're in a similar space. So I don't know how to explain it.

I'm famous. We should hang out.

Yeah, but okay. So this is what would happen to me. Alright? You would all probably understand this. I remember when I first came to America and now I'd get invited to events because, you know, part of the Daily Show and you go to these events and everyone would be like, oh, we should hang out.

I'm like, wait, what?

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I don't.

And then, and then what, and then what did Justin Theroux do?

Oh, let me, let me tell you. Okay. I have the great, the greatest Jason Bateman story. for me, at least. For me, at least.

I can't remember yesterday. So chances are high.

I was, um, so I was invited to a, uh, it was a Netflix party before one of the Emmys, right? It was for like a whole bunch of nominees before the Emmys. And Ted Sarandos was hosting this event and everyone's gathered. And it was, I mean, it was star studded. It was crazy.

But last, last, right? With Sean and Will?

Yeah. I mean, you, I mean this honestly.

Going forward.

You are easily one of my favorite funny people ever. But at that time, Ozark was just, it was my life. It was the best. It was a pretty funny show. Anything I had seen that had flipped the whole genre of like, you know, drugs and everything.

One of my favorite comedies too.

Timing.

I thought it was very funny. actually.

I strive to be Paul Rudd.

And we just, and we just stared at each other awkwardly for a moment. And you said, huh, did you come here because you thought I was someone else? And I said, no. And you said, but you said Ant-Man. And I said, I would rather, I would rather say that I'm racist and you will look the same.

And what I should have said is don't worry. I'll never remember this, because I know how to pour cement over bad memories.

JB, do you remember that?

I do not.

He doesn't remember anything. Trevor, by the way, don't take it personally.

All I know how to do is remember dialogue. That my brain at an early age was formed into, that being a one trick. I'm a one trick, pony. I can remember dialogue.

What about a Coke dealer's number?

Yeah, yeah, still. Do you need some?

Yeah, you remember.

It's been 27 years.

Do you remember old dialogue, though?

No. I have a great delete button too, so that I have room on my drive for tomorrow.

To not remember the other things.

Oh, he's one of the all time great dialogue memorizer.

But I'll go to a movie with somebody and two days later I'll talk to that person. I'll go, you know what I saw a couple days ago? You've got to see this movie. I've done it a dozen times.

What does that mean? I do that too. sometimes. I'll do it to Scotty. I'm like, I was at this movie.

I mean, it's terrible. But maybe it's good because I'm with somebody who feels so comfortable.

I mean, it blocks out the bad memories, right? Early onset?

That could be. It could be just a trace.

Why are you saying early when you think you're young?

I'm not that young.

Just let it fucking compliment into yourself.

Here's another one. Here's another one. before you carry on. Can I just say, so, you know, obviously I'm a huge fan of the podcast. And I understand the format.

We've only broken in a couple times. Yeah.

So, we were at the Vanity Fair Oscars party. Right.

Yeah.

And I saw you.

Yeah.

And Will walks by. You walked straight to me, Will. But you walked to me with the confidence of somebody who knows that I'm coming on to the podcast. And you were like, hey. And then you said, yo, I'm so excited.

It was funny that you said that. Now that I remember you saying that and I was thinking like, man, he's really into Formula 1.. He's really honed in on me on the Formula 1. And he's been looking.

I was panicking. I was like, oh, I screwed the whole thing up. And then I was like, oh, let's just get into Formula 1.. And you did look at me like, man, this guy really went deep into Formula 1 in the middle of an Oscars party.

Right out of the gate.

And then you walked away. And then Jason came up to me and he said, please, you didn't say anything. You don't fuck this up. You're the surprise guest. You don't fuck this up, Trevor.

Did you say that to him, JB?

Yeah.

It's funny. I had somebody else at the thing as well. That same night after you, Trevor, I won't say it is because I don't know whose guest it is, come up to me. And it's somebody I've known a long time. And I go, what's up, dude?

Rockwell. did that, too. Poor guy.

Oh, yeah. Rockwell did.

Do you like getting gussied up like that, Trevor, and going out to those kind of events?

By the way, Trevor, let me just tell you something. You looked really good on Sunday.

Cool it, guys. You looked very sharp.

Thank you. Thank you. I've never heard that term, gussied up.

Gussied up. Yeah. We got some beauties here in this country. Oh, I like that.

You ever been to Illinois? No. Okay.

No. I've been everywhere, actually, yeah. No, I do enjoy it. Yeah. I mean, I went to – so in South Africa, in school, you wear school uniform your whole life.

Women have it so tough.

Yeah, they do.

You've got to find the gown and then those shoes on.

Yeah, I wear comfortable shoes. My toes are all individually spaced out. It's wonderful.

It's incredible.

You know, I think that when you said women have it so tough, they were expecting something a little more than the shoes and the gown. But okay. Well, it's childbirth.

This is how we get into it. This is how we get into it.

This is the entree.

The stuff they've got to deal with.

Trevor, I brought it up at the start of talking about Africa, and I want to know how often you get back to Africa. I'm so, I've never been.

I've never been either. I want to go.

And I feel like I'm depriving myself. I really want to go.

This is the same thing. This is the same thing I get in most of my hate mail. When are you going back to Africa, Trevor? Oh, jeez. Oh, no.

Well, can I, let me just add to that. Can I go with you? I want to go because you're kind of like the dude.

I go back all the time. Yeah. I'm there all the time. I go, especially, like since I left The Daily Show, I get to go back a lot more. You know, I spend time with my mom, spend time with family.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's great.

Yeah, I love it. How long a flight? 16 hours from New York, and then 20, it becomes like a weird 25-ish hour journey from LA.

So, yeah, 16 hours direct South African Airways, right? Yeah.

No, no, no. Actually, United's the only airline that flies there now.

Really?

Yeah. So, you know, life giveth and life taketh away.

And America, your new adopted home, generally, what's your take on it? Oh, I love this place. Do you like it? Do you have favorite places?

Oh, I love this place. So, here's the thing, yeah. Here's the thing about America. is, I think, again, you see, nuance is maybe what is lacking. sometimes.

Yeah, considering how they were living.

Yeah, that's exactly my point.

It's incredibly ambitious and productive.

Yes, it has that. And I think it's a wonderful trait to hold on to and to never lose. And so, while America has many faults, other countries have many. I travel all the time, so I'm under no illusion. I don't think of America as best or worst.

You're a West Coast guy or an East Coast guy?

I split it. I find the East Coast is great for your mind. The West Coast is great for your body. Yeah. And I mean your body, not physically.

Yeah, I agree with you. There's a lot. And I moved here when I was 20 from Canada, so it wasn't that far. But I do agree that there's so many great things. And I give this country a lot of shit, but I've been here a long time.