What worried me the most was the superficial perspective expressed in the premieres comedy segments. He led with a package on Pope Francis visit to America. He wanted to take a pin to the hype, but all he did was bat the balloon around. The war-on-bullshit approach would have satirized how the media covered the pope and how the pope used the media to advance his agenda. His jokes, while energetically performed, lacked POV and veered toward irreverence for irreverences sake, most notably, the crack about the size of the popes penis.
Trolling His Holiness wasnt exactly a compelling expression of Noahs much-talked-about points of difference, either. Weve been told to expect an international perspective, an outsiders perspective. That sounds valuable, but I didnt see or hear much of that perspective at work in the premiere. Mocking John Boehner for his weepy tendencies? Thats his inspired take on this seismic shift in the Republican Party and American political life? Way to leap for the low hanging fruit, dude. Whats next? Going after Donald Trumps hair? Forget about meeting Jon Stewarts standard. Noah should focus on getting better at being high grade Trevor Noah. I look forward to getting more of his points of difference or seeing if hes truly all that interested in delivering them.
We could also talk about how bad that interview was with Kevin Hart, though to be honest, Stewarts interviews with celebs were never all that polished or interesting, either. Maybe Noah can find a way to improve the practice, not uphold it. (The biggest problem with the interviews is their brevity. Theyre always going to trend toward shallow and rough as long as theyre short and off the cuff.) To be honest, Im reluctant to draw conclusions from the premiere. There was a lot of housekeeping and get-to-know-me, which was to be expected, and a lot of self-awareness and meta-management, which was inevitable. I expect this to continue for the rest of the week. Lets assess after a week or two. You have our attention, Trevor Noah. Lets see if you can keep it. Premiere Grade: B-
