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Trevor Noah became host of The Daily
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Show last fall just as the 2016 election
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campaign began to heat up he delivered a
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nightly satirical take throughout the
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race and nearly a week after the results
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the comedian is not shy about how he's
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trying to cope with the
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outcome if this morning you finally woke
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up from a coma well you might want to go
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back this entire result is sort of like
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Trump's hair I know it's real but my
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mind can't accept it Mr President it was
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a great honor being with you and I look
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forward to being with you many many more
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times in the future thank you
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sir that is one hell of a performance
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especially by President Obama which
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means at least one black person should
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get nominated for an Oscar this
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year okay it's a story of the election
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and FN is opening up about his own past
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in his new book it's called born a crime
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stories from a South African childhood
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Trevor describes growing up during the
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Twilight of apartheid and the difficult
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years at followed welcome back to the
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table yeah great to have you here can I
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just start with the title of the book
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born a crime I read it I got choked up a
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couple of times because I knew nothing
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about your background other than he's
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South African I've been there I think
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it's a beautiful country but wow born a
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crime means that when you were born you
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were illegal because your dad is white
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your mother is black and they were not
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supposed to get together so you spent a
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lot of your childhood hidden I did um I
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spend a lot of my time hidden from the
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authorities you know my grandmother hid
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me my mother hid me uh we had to hide
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our family in essence you know I think
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one of the the greatest gifts my parents
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gave me though was the fact that they
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didn't let me know why we were being
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hidden so as a child that was the only
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world I knew I I just knew that you know
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we were indoors a lot I I knew that my
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dad would walk on the other side of the
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road when we'd go outside I knew that my
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mom would sometimes dress up like a maid
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which I just thought was her style of
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dress at the time so I didn't know that
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we were being hidden from the
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authorities in the country that we were
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growing up in I didn't know at the time
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that my very existence was against the
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law and then you didn't fit with the
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black community you said you didn't fit
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with the white Community either well I I
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think I was I was I I didn't fit in
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terms of what the government wanted me
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to fit where they wanted me to be but I
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was really lucky in that growing up in
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an African Community I was welcomed I
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grew up as a young black man I grew up
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as an African man and so I felt
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completely at home but I mean my country
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was one where we were divided into race
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so even my mother and I were considered
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two completely different races and given
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different uh Liberties according to the
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law so how did it shape you I think it
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shaped me because it made me an outsider
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it kept me as an outsider you know and
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that's one of the greatest gifts that I
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I only came to appreciate later on in
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life and that is when you're an outsider
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you're always working to see different
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people's points of view because the
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world is never yours you know you you
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don't exist in a space where you ever
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see yourself as the as the be all and
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end all and that was one of the greatest
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gifts I got which I didn't appreciate
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for most of my life and now I see as a
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as a strength when you look back and
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think about it yeah definitely
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definitely one of the nicest things
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about this book and the a Washington
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Post reporter described it this way is
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that it's really a love letter to your
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mother it really is yeah which I didn't
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intend I won't lie I thought I was the
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hero of my story I think we all do you
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know when I wrote the book I was like
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I'm I'm a hero this is my life this is
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what I've done and I wrote all of these
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stories from my childhood and once I
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coalesced all of them I read through it
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and I went wow wow my mom is an
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incredible woman you know uh single
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women are incredible women I mean South
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Africa is a nation that because of the
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laws and because of a police that had
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taken away so many black men We're a
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nation that was raised by women but you
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described your mom as a Tom and Jerry
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relationship a cop and a criminal
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relationship she said you said she
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taught me how to be a man but she didn't
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teach me how to be a boy yeah yeah my
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mom my mom was was always after me I was
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but I I was I'm not going to lie I was a
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terror child please don't take that like
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I was a she called you a problem
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challenge stub I genuinely was I was one
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of the naughtiest children that I I know
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of uh a house burned down a house burned
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down because of me I did not burn the
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house down but I may have been involved
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in an incident where a house was burned
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down I know how C he is that is
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a you've had an interesting perch in
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America to sit and watch a political
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campaign yes uh we have now seen a a an
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election and looking at a new president
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how do you see it and and what is your
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own sense of of how we should react to
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Donald Trump well the the biggest thing
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I've seen is America is not as immune to
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the ills of the world as as it thought
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it was you know I think a a lot of the
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world is disappointed in America because
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America is is that is that Beacon is
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that Lighthouse you know a Bastion of
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democracy and when you look at what
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happened during the election I think
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it's it's sad that we're now living in a
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place where we're normalizing and moving
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on so quick quickly from two glaring
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truths that were part of what happened
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in the election I acknowledge a white
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working class that is something we can
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talk about but we cannot deny that many
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of Donald Trump's supporters were are
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earning large amounts of money they're
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doing great for themselves but there are
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people who put two things above
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everything else and that is whiteness
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and then that is also uh sex and
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misogyny is a you know people talk about
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the glass ceiling but what you don't
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realize is you can't see it because it's
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see-through and misogyny has very
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quickly gone out of the conversation
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where even as a man I have to come to
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grips with the facts that it is a tough
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world to be in when there is this
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invisible monster that keeps you down
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have a term in terms of racism goal
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implicit bias yeah yeah definitely and
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you you see that many people Hillary
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faced it throughout her life you know
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and I I keep trying to to think of that
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and unfortunately I have to use the
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metric in my head where I say if she
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were a man and the fact that I even have
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to say that means that there is a
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problem you know I have to say if she
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were a man how would I see her would you
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know her achievements would they not
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pale you know would would her
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shortcomings not pale in comparison to
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those achievements but the truth is we
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do live in this world and until we work
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on acknowledging it more we will
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never you make the point also as you
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point that out that we've got to
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understand what our values are and be
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true to our values definitely at the
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same time you say we ought to give
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Donald Trump a chance well you have to
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give him a chance because of the
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president I'm not saying I would like to
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give him a chance you have to when the
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person is the president the person is
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the president and the people have spoken
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yeah well 19% of the people have spoken
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which is strange that most of America
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doesn't feel the need to vote all right
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when you were a little kid you dreamed
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of having a driveway I'm thinking you
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have bigger dreams now well I still
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dream of having a driveway cuz in New
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York you can't get any any space true
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that is true Trevor Noah continued
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success thank you so much so much again
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and born a crime is on sale tomorrow
