From the vast plateaus of South Africa to the rolling highlands of Scotland to the busy streets of New York City, Trevor Noah has seen the world and is now making his return to the stage with a new comedy special Afraid Of The Dark, which dropped Feb. 21 on Netflix. Taking a breather from his political satirist duties as host of The Daily Show to get back to his roots as a stand-up comedian, Noah graces fans at NYC’s Beacon Theatre with 67 minutes of international humor, touching on everything from feminism to racism, inebriation to immigration.
Noah opens his latest hour-long with an accent-heavy bit (one of many throughout the special) that finds the comedian toying with east coast vernacular to point out the similarities and differences in street traffic of places like New York and South Africa. “Hey, I’m walkin’ ova hea!,” shouts an accented Noah, embellishing a humorous anecdote about his preconceived notion that New Yorkers are constantly dodging cars and consequently always slamming their hands on the hoods of taxis in fits of anger. The bit paves the way for Noah to make a broader point about immigration, nationalism and racism that peaks with his riffing on Brexit while cleverly pointing out that Britain’s current issues are of their own making.
Naturally — at about the 10-minute mark — the topic of Donald Trump came up, however only briefly, as Noah quipped that the realization that the real estate mogul had a 50/50 chance of winning the election prompted some shockingly unfamiliar intrigue from white people now interested in joining him on his travels back to Africa.
Noah discussed his approach to tackling the election in Afraid Of The Dark, which he taped just three days prior, in a recent Q&A:
“After the FBI came out and said they were opening up the investigation, I was like, ‘oh wow, we don’t know what’s going to happen here.’ So when I taped the special, I taped it with that in mind. And I’m lucky in that I hedged my bets, so the special didn’t lose any of its relevance.”
While Trump only made up a tiny piece of Noah’s latest special, the same can’t be said for accents, which the comedian performed on a number of occasions throughout the hour-long (Caribbean, Indian and his native South African to name a few). His Russian accent aided in explaining the inspiration behind the title of his latest special while his Scottish accent played a key role in an amusing story about his having had too much to drink one night while working in Edinburgh. “We drink to enjoy,” notes a deadpan Noah. “The Scottish drink to die.”
The Edinburgh anecdote also paved the way for a solid moment of female empowerment as the comedian shot down the old saying, “don’t be a p*ssy,” clarifying that female genitalia is anything but weak. “Vaginas can start revolutions and end wars,” he asserts. The bit closes with Noah’s affirmation and subsequent laugh-inducing demonstration that “you just sit on a penis wrong and it breaks.”
Other hilarious highlights of Noah’s Afraid Of The Dark include his James Bond discussion where he explains, despite the excitement he felt about Idris Elba playing 007, why a black man could never work as the international super spy. His bit as Nelson Mandela teaching a young Barack Obama how to better speak to the people is also definitely worth checking out.
Afraid Of The Dark, directed by longtime Trevor Noah collaborator David Paul Meyer, is available for streaming now. Watch the trailer below and catch the special in its entirety on Netflix.