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Trevor Noah Quotes

Powerful Trevor Noah for Daily Growth

I was the first in my family to board an airplane. I was the first in my family to get kicked off an airplane.

- Trevor Noah

Family, Airplane, Get, Kicked

I'm literally driving in the middle of the night, and my phone rings, and my manager says, 'How would you like to be the host of the Daily Show?' I get out the car, and I didn't have legs. You know in those movies where there's an explosion? But instead of the sound of the explosion, you hear the silence. That's literally what happened.

- Trevor Noah

Sound, Out, Show, Rings

I'm not an abrasive person. I do speak my mind, but my goal is never to offend. I don't intentionally want to strike a chord.

- Trevor Noah

Mind, Goal, Want, Intentionally

I don't think I have thick skin, but I heal fast. It's easy to break through, but I heal fast.

- Trevor Noah

Think, Through, Thick Skin, Heal

I've always been a fan of issues around race and racialism, and I've loved playing with it. People act as though it isn't an issue, but it's a recurring theme in our lives globally.

- Trevor Noah

Race, Always, Been, Recurring

Maybe it's because I come from a very utopian world of being a comedian, but I'm used to many live comedy performances going on in any city I'm in, and each of us is trying to be the best at what we do. I don't think of it as a competition so much as a thriving comedy economy.

- Trevor Noah

Maybe, Very, Thriving, Utopian

I like the anonymity, the fact that you're a stranger making strangers laugh. You aren't forcing them to laugh - it's involuntary, and that's when they give the most honest response.

- Trevor Noah

Fact, Give, Making, Anonymity

What I've always said about comedy is if you do it in the right way, you can say anything to anybody because they know where you're coming from. They know it's not malicious.

- Trevor Noah

Comedy, Always, Anybody, Right Way

When you are honest in your comedy, you have to acknowledge the world that you're in. Through a comedic voice, you're talking about what needs to be talked about, whether it's race relations or politics or anything that's happening on a global or an American scale.

- Trevor Noah

Politics, Voice, Through, Relations

I was born in South Africa during apartheid, a system of laws that made it illegal for people to mix in South Africa. And this was obviously awkward because I grew up in a mixed family. My mother's a black woman, South African Xhosa woman... and my father's Swiss, from Switzerland.

- Trevor Noah

Father, Woman, South, South African

I'm not a confrontational person or comedian. I think we can explore more things if one of us is not fighting with the other. I take it easy. But I do like comedians who are very different from myself: I love dry comics with deadpan one-liners. I look on and think, 'That's amazing; why didn't I think of that?'

- Trevor Noah

Love, Other, Very, One-Liners

I lost contact with my father for many years because of apartheid. For, like, six years, I didn't see my dad. And, now, this was the six years of being a teenager.

- Trevor Noah

Like, Six, Apartheid, Teenager

My ideal setting is I walk from the streets, backstage, and straight onto the stage. Two minutes, and I am on the stage. That way, in my head I have gone from my world and then into a social setting with my friends.

- Trevor Noah

Streets, Social, Ideal, Backstage

The first purpose of comedy is to make people laugh. Anything deeper is a bonus. Some comedians want to make people laugh and make them think about socially relevant issues, but comedy, by the very nature of the word, is to make people laugh. If people aren't laughing, it's not comedy. It's as simple as that.

- Trevor Noah

Purpose, Some, Very, Laugh

My mom, through my dad, rented the apartment next door to his... he had the lease on both places. But then, she would dress up and act like his maid... a practical maid. No fantasies.

- Trevor Noah

Door, Through, Next, Maid

As a comedian, I'm forced to have a tough skin. Until people laugh, they are detractors. You walk into a new audience where nobody knows you, they go: 'Make us laugh. Show us what you're made of. Prove why we should be listening to you.'

- Trevor Noah

Skin, Prove, Forced, Laugh

If you laugh with somebody, then you know you share something.

- Trevor Noah

Know, Share, Then, Laugh

Nobody owns comedy. Nobody owns a premise. Nobody owns an idea.

- Trevor Noah

Comedy, Idea, Premise, Owns

I don't know how to let loose when I'm dancing to the music and the people that made the music are watching me. I've never felt so much pressure in my life.

- Trevor Noah

Dancing, My Life, Made, Loose

You have two choices, two paths to take as a comedian. You can tackle the difficult subjects and be harsh about it, be brash, be abrasive. But adding hatred to racism is not going to help everybody. So I like to have fun around it.

- Trevor Noah

Everybody, Harsh, About, Paths

We get angry about the small things sometimes, I feel, so that we feel like we're doing something, so that we don't have to tackle the big things. And it's fine; let people do that. But I'm not gonna now change because of that. You know? Like, the worst thing that happens to me is you don't like me. And then what?

- Trevor Noah

Small, Doing, Big, Tackle

I always believe that funny is serious and serious is funny. You don't really need a distinction between them.

- Trevor Noah

Need, Always, Distinction, Between

We've got so many different cultural groups in my family that I've had to learn to accommodate them in different ways. My father speaks different to my mum. My mum speaks different to my grandmother. Everybody speaks different, so you find you start tweaking your language to be more accessible to people.

- Trevor Noah

Everybody, Accessible, Mum, Accommodate

Comedy is really getting quite popular in South Africa.

- Trevor Noah

South Africa, Getting, South, Popular

I was doing a show at the Comedy Store which Eddie Izzard saw, and we chatted for a bit afterwards. I didn't really know he was; we just hung out as comedians together, and when he heard my story, he said, 'Why don't you tell that on stage?' I didn't really want to burden people with all that, but he said that I could have fun with it.

- Trevor Noah

Doing, Tell, Show, Hung

If you look at it, the history of comedy has always been strongest among the nations who have been persecuted the most.

- Trevor Noah

Always, Been, Persecuted, Strongest

The older you get, the more you start to realize that you can't win an argument in a relationship. You can't win a fight with your woman. Because if you lose, you lose. And if you win, you lose.

- Trevor Noah

Woman, Argument, More, Realize

I live in a country where I'd say nine out of ten people know me when I walk through the streets. There's people taking pictures, there's tabloids trying to make up stories. I'm used to that. The same thing when I'm in Australia or the U.K.: I get stopped.

- Trevor Noah

Country, Through, Nine, Taking

We live in the Internet age. Everyone wants clicks. Clicks are what sells.

- Trevor Noah

Everyone, Wants, Sells, Clicks

If I'm doing something on stage, and it evokes an emotion, then I might show that emotion, but I also don't believe in being a preacher. If you have a point, that's a bonus. But the funny has to come first; otherwise, you shouldn't call yourself a comedian.

- Trevor Noah

Doing, Show, Bonus, Preacher

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