Trevor Noah: Bio, Comedy Style, and Where to Watch

Who is Trevor Noah?

Trevor Noah was born on February 20, 1984, in Johannesburg, South Africa, to a Xhosa mother and a Swiss-German father. Under apartheid, their relationship was illegal. Noah grew up hiding from police in Soweto, a reality he would later turn into the subject of his bestselling 2016 memoir, Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood. That book is one of the more improbable acts of comedic alchemy in recent memory — an account of genuine poverty, danger, and racial classification transformed into something funny enough to spend years on the New York Times bestseller list.

He built his career in South Africa through television hosting and stand-up before moving to the United States in 2011, becoming the first South African comedian to appear on The Tonight Show in 2012 and on Late Show with David Letterman in 2013. In 2015, he succeeded Jon Stewart as host of Comedy Central’s The Daily Show, a position he held for seven years before stepping down in 2022 to focus on stand-up. His specials include African American (2013), Afraid of the Dark (2017), Son of Patricia (2018, Grammy-nominated), I Wish You Would (2022, Emmy-nominated), and Where Was I, which won a Grammy nomination, sold out the Hollywood Bowl, ran for ten consecutive nights at the Beacon Theatre, and set a record for tickets sold by a non-German comedian in Berlin. He has hosted the Grammy Awards six consecutive years from 2021 to 2026. He currently hosts the weekly SiriusXM podcast What Now? with Trevor Noah and continues to tour internationally into 2026.

Trevor Noah’s Comedy Style

Noah is a global comedian in the truest sense — his material is shaped by having grown up between languages, between racial categories, between countries, and between two cultures that didn’t officially recognize his existence. The cross-cultural translation is not a bit, it is the architecture of how he thinks. He code-switches effortlessly, voices characters across accents, and brings political and social observation to subjects that most American comedians wouldn’t have the context to approach.

Dropping into a room like the Comedy Cellar — one of the world’s most intimate and demanding stand-up environments — and performing a set is a specific choice for a comedian of his scale. It says something about where he wants to be.

Where to Find Trevor Noah

All specials are on Netflix and Max. Born a Crime is in bookstores and on audio. Find tour dates at trevornoah.com.

Trevor Noah has performed at the Comedy Cellar in New York City’s Greenwich Village. Check the current lineup and upcoming shows at comedycellar.com.

Catch Comedy Cellar shows live from New York on Mint Comedy at watch.mintcomedy.com.