Lilly Singh and Trevor Noah have been taking notes on each other.
In a new conversation at Variety, Global’s “A Little Late” star and “The Daily Show” host sat down to talk everything late-night and adjusting their shows to the pandemic.
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Looking back on his first year hosting “The Daily Show”, Noah said, “So my first year was horrible. I will say the first two years were horrible — and it was horrible because I had taken over one of America’s most beloved institutions. And even though Jon Stewart had passed over the reins to me, it was essentially a year of people telling me I shouldn’t be doing the job and I was unworthy of being in that seat.”
He added, “It probably wasn’t the happiest year of my life, and I think the only reason I appreciate it is because my mom always says, ‘You don’t get stronger unless you struggle.'”
Singh, meanwhile, just finished her first season hosting her own late-night show, which airs on Global weeknights at 12:37 a.m. ET.
“To hear you had a hard time honestly, selfishly, makes me feel a little better. It’s really hard and the analogy of trying to figure out how to fly a plane is absolutely correct,” she admitted. “Before I started my first year, in a previous interview, you told me, ‘Don’t let anyone tell you it’s not going to consume your life, because it’s going to consume your life.’ And you were the only person bold enough to say it to me like that.”
Talking about how his show is affected by the reality of the pandemic, Noah said, “I think audiences are less concerned by what they see on TV and more concerned by the world they are living in. I always think that entertainment is oftentimes a welcome release from the world that is real, but when the world that is, really is almost too real and happening all the time, then people and audiences are in a very different space.”
Noting that as the host of a political show, he is in a unique position, he added, “I try to provide context; I try to distill it. If I think people are looking for anything from my show, they are looking for a clarification — what everything means. That’s what people want because that’s what I want. We are living in a world where nobody agrees on a fact. People are allowed to live in completely different realities, and what that creates is uncertainty that I think it’s already uncomfortable for human beings, because you don’t get to establish what your base level really is.”
Singh agreed, adding, “Comedy is such a good vehicle to talk about things that are difficult to talk about. People put down their defense mechanisms a little bit more. Right now is such a challenging, difficult and unique time. Usually, when people want to escape from their day they want to dive into comedy. I just think the desire to escape is not there anymore. I think people don’t want to escape. They want to acknowledge the real world and they want to help change it and they want to address what is happening. I think a lot of other comedians have just been providing space, honestly.”
