He imitates South African President Jacob Zuma wonderfully, has a fierce sense of repartee and is distinguished by the elegance of his impertinence, especially when it comes to making fun of Donald Trump. Actor and comedian, Trevor Noah is the star host of Daily Show, satirical parody of a television news broadcast by the American cable channel Comedy Central. He is a star in the United States and South Africa, his country of origin, where he developed his talents as an actor. Ah but wait, he has a second homeland: Switzerland.
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Trevor Noah was born on February 20, 1984 in Johannesburg. His mother, Patricia, is South African, of Xhosa ethnicity. His father also speaks a dialect: Robert is German-speaking Swiss. The beginning of a pretty mixed-race fable? Not really. He grew up in Soweto, in the midst of apartheid, being the fruit of a union considered a crime. A felony punishable by five years in prison. This is what inspired the title of his autobiography Born a crime. He lived his childhood mostly in hiding, with a mother regularly arrested. When she was not in prison, by dint of defying the prohibitions made to blacks, she lived in fear, for fear of being denounced, she who “erred” with a white man. The danger even came from blacks who collaborated with the apartheid police. She feared that her son would be confiscated from her.
Exile in Los Angeles
Trevor’s father will eventually leave. In 1992, the very religious Patricia married a black South African. She will have two more children but divorces four years later, victim of domestic violence: her husband has alcohol problems. When she got engaged to another man in 2009, her ex-husband reappears. This is the drama. He shoots her in the thigh, another in the head. The bullet comes out of the nostrils. Trevor’s mother miraculously survives. But the hyperactive Trevor, who is already a hit on the boards and in television shows, feels threatened. He fears for his life and decides to go into exile in Los Angeles. Her ex-father-in-law was not arrested until 2012 for attempted murder. Without ever going to trial.
“My father was not on my birth certificate. Officially, he is not my father ”
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In the United States, success is rapid. Trevor, who no longer has anything of the teenager devoured by nasty acne, becomes, in September 2015, the replacement of Jon Stewart, the star presenter of the Daily Show. It is the consecration. Last September, he learned that his program was being extended until 2022. The hidden child of Soweto, the mestizo born of a “criminal” union, the one who speaks fluent English, Afrikaans, Zulu, Xhosa, Tsonga, Tswana ( and a little German), is now overprotected by an army of communicators, who sweep interview requests. A real star status, which he also frequents in large numbers. This summer, he was one of the few guests at a very select party for Roger Federer’s 36th birthday in New York.
But let’s come back to Robert, the absent father, the one we don’t talk about much. German-speaking Switzerland. Trevor mentions it in his book. As he tells about the caterpillars that sometimes served as a meal, the day his mother threw him out of a car, in the middle of an attempted kidnapping, or his beginnings as a little thug with neighborhood friends. Trevor still doesn’t seem to really know what unites his father and his mother. Her mother defied the prohibitions by leaving her family home to go and live in Johannesburg. She first slept in a public toilet, learned the D system from Xhosa prostitutes. Then she got an apartment thanks to a German who agreed to sign the lease for her. That’s when she got to know Robert: he lived in the same building.
An absent father
“He was 46 years old. She was 24 years old. He was calm and reserved; she was wild and free, ”writes Trevor Noah. She wanted children, he didn’t. She told him that she just wanted his sperm, he replies that he is Catholic, that he does not “do that kind of thing”. Then, one day, Robert ends up agreeing to give him a child. Trevor Noah: “Why he said yes is a question I will never have an answer to.” When he is born, the doctors find him very pale. The young mother pretends that the father is from Swaziland. “My father was not on my birth certificate. Officially, he is not my father, ”says the actor in his autobiography.
One day, when he was 24, his mother said to him: “You have to find your father.” The last time he had seen her, he was 13 years old. It was when his father moved to Cape Town. Since then, nothing. He actually didn’t think he’d see him again. He doesn’t know much about himself. Only that he was a chef in restaurants in Montreal and New York before arriving in South Africa, and that he opened a few bars and restaurants. But he remembers some details: “He’s the only person I know who leaves a hotel room cleaner than when they arrived.” He was also a determined fighter for apartheid, who always sought to welcome blacks to his restaurants. Trevor still remembers the rösti he made to her. And European Christmases. But he admits it: “It’s a closed book.”
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At 24, therefore, he did some research and ended up receiving a letter from Robert. Robert still lived in Cape Town. Trevor reconnects with him. His father welcomes him home, with rösti. Like before. Above all, he shows her a file. A binder in which he had carefully kept all the press clippings evoking his son’s career. For a few moments, Trevor’s dimples widened even more.
Profile:
1984: Born February 20, Johannesburg.
2009: Year of his first one-man-show in South Africa. Threatened by his stepfather, he moved to Los Angeles in 2011.
2012: On tour for his stand-up show “The Racist”.
2015: Replaces from September Jon Stewart as star host of the Daily Show, broadcast by Comedy Central.
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