CANNES, France — The Daily Show’s former frontman Trevor Noah is a lot of things. Comedian. Grammys host. New York Times bestseller. Political commentator. Nonprofit founder. And now, podcaster.
The South African-born talent has just inked an exclusive deal with Spotify to host a weekly show that will blend his signature human and razor-sharp wit, with the global perspective that has earned him late night virality over the years.
The as-yet unnamed series will launch later in 2023, featuring in-depth and “freewheeling” conversations between Noah and influential figures from around the world.
Noah told Adweek he’s always wanted to make a podcast that puts the topics of the day “into context”—a “conversational show that takes listeners through what we’re all experiencing in life right now.”
In a previous life, he sat across from celebrities including Anna Kendrick, John Legend and Oprah, but his new venture is less about star-dusted interviews and more about experiencing life through the filters of the people shaping our society.
“I’m not trying to make a podcast about news, or a podcast about interviews,” he said. “I want to have interesting conversations with everyone;” that includes athletes, doctors, scientists, actors, performers and people, who, “beyond what they are, make for great conversations.”
He said he will be intentional in creating something “as many people enjoy as possible,” designed with a global audience in mind.
Existing in a ‘timeless, beautiful space’
Noah left his post as The Daily Show host at the end of 2022, going out on a high to explore different avenues.
After he took over from Jon Stewart in 2015, he made the top job his own by appealing to audiences through newsy, sometimes irreverent monologues that were quickly cut into online clips and millennial observations that younger audiences could relate to. A foreign observer who had relocated to the U.S. from Johannesburg in 2011 and the only host of color on late night TV, the presenter and producer proudly brought an “outsider” perspective to a format on the verge of going stale.
He’s no stranger to the mic. After a cameo role on the South African soap opera Isidingo, he cut his teeth in radio with his own slot, “Noah’s Arc,” on Gauteng-based youth radio station YFM.
He’s looking forward to returning to those roots: “I’ve always missed that side of creating. Television is so visual, and there’s obviously an auditory element, but a podcast blends so many worlds and can take [listeners] on so many journeys. Some of my favorite experiences have come from driving in the car, listening to a podcast that either takes me through history or inside someone else’s mind,” he said.
