The Wednesday edition of the CBS Evening News hyped Jon Stewart’s successor at The Daily Show with a glowing profile of Trevor Noah to end the show that had anchor Scott Pelley gushing in the lead-in to foreign correspondent Debora Patta’s report: “It's no supernova. It’s Trevor Noah.”
Teasing the segment earlier in the broadcast, Pelley invoked Noah from the Bible to declare that the man set to takeover for Stewart is “the Noah who is about to drop anchor on late night television.”
After playing clips of Noah impersonating “a California surfer girl” and “savaging” Oscar Pistorius, Patta declared that “Trevor Noah spares no one” before expanding on his background, including the fact that he was born to a black mother from South Africa and a white father from Switzerland.
Patta added that “[t]he racial tensions of South Africa infuse his humor” along with “his Soweto roots where he was raised by his grandmother Francis” with whom “he was always getting into trouble.”
Following soundbites from his grandmother and his first agent, the South Africa-based reporter eventually turned to the controversy surrounding comments he’s made in the past: “Noah's irreverent style of humor has already caught up with him after he was named the new host of The Daily Show.”
Despite some of his comments being scrutinized for being “anti-Semitic and sexist,” Patta brushed aside the controversy: “Noah has always shown scant regard for political sensitivities. He once portrayed a drunk Nelson Mandela teasing Bill Clinton.”
In closing out her gushing profile, Patta ruled that, whenever he does assume the host duties of The Daily Show, it will be a “test” as to “whether this home-grown brand of humor has the muscle to transcend South African borders.”
The relevant portions of the transcript from the CBS Evening News with Scott Pelley on April 15 can be found below.
CBS Evening News with Scott Pelley
April 15, 2015
6:44 p.m. Eastern [TEASE][ON-SCREEN HEADLINE CAPTION: Trevor Noah]
SCOTT PELLEY: And the Noah who is about to drop anchor on late night television.
(.....)
6:56 p.m. Eastern
[ON-SCREEN HEADLINE CAPTION: Trevor Noah]
PELLEY: We end tonight with the newest star in the night. It's no supernova. It’s Trevor Noah. Debora Patta traced his comedy roots to South Africa where he was born.
(....)
DEBORAH PATTA: Trevor Noah spares no one. He likes to say he was born a crime. His mother is black, his father Swiss, their marriage once illegal during apartheid.
NOAH: I don't care, I don't care! Whoa, come tell what you love. I want a white man. Crazy, my mom, crazy, just crazy, you know? And my dad was like, you know how the Swiss love chocolate, so he was...
PATTA: The racial tensions of South Africa infuse him humor, so do his Soweto roots where he was raised by his grandmother Francis. She told us he was always getting into trouble.
(....)
NOAH’s GRANDMOTHER FRANCIS: All of his life. [IMITATING NOAH] Come and catch me and beat me again! I didn’t even feel it, you know. You see? And what do you do? You must laugh really. That’s Trevor.
PATTA: 13 years ago, his agent Gayle Orbeca (spelling?) says that Noah walked into her office as a teenager with big dreams.
NOAH’s AGENT: He was full of pimples and I said to him, what about these pimples, darling? And I think I was probably his first comedy routine.
NOAH: Yeah, You can call it that.
PATTA: Noah's irreverent style of humor has already caught up with him after he was named the new host of The Daily Show.
NOAH: And then the buffalo gets away.
PATTA: A handful of his tweets have been criticized as anti-Semitic and sexist, but Noah has always shown scant regard for political sensitivities. He once portrayed a drunk Nelson Mandela teasing Bill Clinton.
NOAH: I did not – have sexual relations with that woman. Haha, haha
PATTA: Now the test will be whether this home-grown brand of humor has the muscle to transcend South African borders.
