Funny, cerebral and audacious, Trevor Noah is one of the most celebrated stand-up comedians on the planet. He’s also the intensely amusing host of Comedy Central’s ‘The Daily Show’. Noah’s awesome ability to cut bullies, blackguards, racists, and homophobes down to size is legendary.
Throw in his astute observations of Donald Trump, arguably the most reviled man in the world after the usual suspects like Kim Jong Il, Vladimir Putin, Jacob Zuma, and Bashar Al-Assad and you’ve got a talented ‘ou’ from South Africa who can peel away the layers and get right to the core of the matter… without offending too many humourless souls in America and far, far beyond.
Noah is like one of those Uptown Pokies bonus codes. He’s the key that unlocks a steady stream of dazzling entertainment that’s enriching in so many different ways. He can take disturbing news stories and water them down with a sprinkling of funny stuff without losing the seriousness of the messages that hook them into the news agencies in the first place.
Although the impish funny man with his dimples and endearing Soweto swagger is first and foremost a comic, he’s also a talented writer, producer, and actor. Noah’s well-received origin story and first foray into writing, ‘Born a Crime’ hit the bestseller list in New York when it was first published in 2016 and again in 2019 when it unceremoniously grabbed the top spot in the paperback non-fiction category.
His riveting autobiography – which BTW is about to hit the silver screen with the delightful Lupita Nyongo’o as his inimitable mama Patricia – is now part of the US school’s curriculum in select New Jersey schools. How’s that from a man who, in the Trumpian universe, hails from a sh*thole country!
In between his sold-out one-man comedy shows, regular appearances on late-night TV shows and hosting the Oscars with his lovely compatriot, Charlize Theron, Noah isn’t just chilling out with a babe and a smile. No sirree, he recently made a voice-over cameo appearance in the Marvel superhero box office blockbuster, Black Panther, a movie that grossed more than $1,3 billion. He was also a red-carpet guest star on the mid-season finale of Nashville.
What is Trevor Noah’s net worth?
So, what is a talented guy like Noah worth? The fact of the matter is no-one really knows. Guess-timates of his fortune waver around the $35 million to $40 million mark… that’s a heap of cash in anyone’s books. Down in the boondocks where he grew up, that kind of money equates to a cool R288 million big ones.
What we do know – or we think we know – is his annual take-home salary from ‘The Daily Show’ is approximately $4 million, a figure that has surely increased since his contract was extended through 2022. Then there are the royalties from his books, the crisp hard cash he earns for his comedy shows and the filthy lucre that’s attached to his multiyear contract with Viacom.
One indication that Trevor Noah, comedian extraordinaire, is seriously well off is his recent purchases of a super-sized New York penthouse with sweeping views of the city and a palatial hillside home in West Belair.
His ‘humble’ LA abode is said to consist of a humongous VIP suite, countless bedrooms, an infinity pool, home theatre and a saltwater aquarium that’s big enough to accommodate a killer whale… kind of! The combined value of this real estate is thought to be $30 million or more.
Who is Trevor Noah?
Okay, okay we know Trevor is a smart and sassy satirist… but where does he come from and how did he get to the USA? Trevor Noah was born in South Africa in 1984 on what was effectively the cusp of a bright new future. Just 10 years later the first democratic elections were held in the country, heralding the official demise of the abhorrent apartheid system.
Trevor’s dad was a white guy with Swiss German roots and his mom was a black woman belonging to the Xhosa tribe. As a result, his inception and birth were a crime. In fact, his mother was jailed and fined for her part in the apartheid-era misdemeanour. For his ‘sins’ Noah was classified ‘coloured’ and brought up in the township of Soweto in a single-parent home.
His mother, Patricia, eventually settled down with a local man and had two sons, Andrew and Isaac, Trevor’s half-brothers. Sadly, Patricia’s new husband was an abusive drunk who frequently beat both herself and Trevor.
After years of abuse, Patricia ended the relationship and hooked up with a much nicer guy. What should have been a happy time, ended in near tragedy when Patricia was shot through the head by the bully of a drunk she’d divorced years previously. Fortunately, she survived and remains Trevor’s confidante, inspiration and friend.
Noah confronted the bully but was threatened instead and decided to relocate to Los Angeles. That was in 2011 and the rest, as they say, is history!
What’s my best Trevor Noah moment? The time when he broke the internet by speaking Xhosa at the 91st Academy Awards. He went on to translate what he’d said as “In times like these we are stronger when we fight together than when we fight apart.” In reality, what he said was “White people don’t know I’m lying”.
