Noah's Art
Before the White House Correspondents Dinner on Saturday, I had a friend complain about Trevor Noah being the guest entertainer for it. "He's not funny," he said. I replied that you may not enjoy The Daily Show -- I myself don't watch it much -- but that's separate from whether or not Trevor Noah is funny. In fact, he was a fairly successful comedian (albeit on a much smaller stage) before getting hired to be host of The Daily Show -- which is specifically why he was hired. And I said he's a pretty funny guy.
And for my taste, he was wonderful at the event, for 26 minutes. It's no small feat. That's a terrible gig. Not only are you separated from the audience by a wide span, and not only are many of the people gawking around looking for celebrities and politicians and news media (and looking to see how people are reacting to jokes), but there's a pretty good chance that half the audience is not going to like any particular joke. Not only not like, but hiss.
And I think he did a terrific job. And it wasn't just because I thought the material was so good -- and there was a lot of jokes I'd love to single out here, but don't want to give any away -- but it was beautifully performed. He clearly prepared for the "half the audience is not going to like any particular joke" thing. He often didn't wait for a laugh that was only half-coming, but instead he barreled through it onto the next joke, so there were few awkward silences. And on the times when there was a silence or hiss, he was prepared to deal with it -- not by suggesting that the audience didn't like the comedian, which risks building a barrier -- but by smartly putting the focus on the subject of the joke. Along the lines of, "Oh, don't hate him, he's doing the best he can."
But also...I thought the material was so good. And some of it was great.
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