Trevor Noah’s career as the new host of The Daily Show is just starting, but he’s already been haunted by tweets he made three years ago and suffered comparisons to Jon Stewart (which is to be expected, of course). Unfortunately, another bit of controversy has just arisen concerning the comic’s material. Apparently, one of his jokes is a little too similar to a bit by Dave Chappelle.
Death and Taxes reports that Noah spoke at Politicon this Saturday, and a joke he made was very familiar to one Chappelle has pulled out in the past. Is that because Noah stole the material or is it just coincidental? You decide.
Here’s Noah’s joke, with the important parts clearly bolded out by Death and Taxes:
Before I came to America, I thought I knew all kinds of racism. I’ve always considered myself something of a racism connoisseur. I appreciate the finer racism. Not to say I appreciate all racism, but a finer racism. Before I came here, blatant racism was my favorite. Blatant racism, where you know exactly where you stand, often perpetrated by old people, which I have always appreciated. They’ll just tell it to you like it is. “This is what I think about you!” Yeah, you’re going to die soon. Charming racism in America changed my life. I discovered it in a place called Lexington, Kentucky. Probably one of the most wonderful places I’ve ever been— charming, friendly people. Racism with a smile and a tip of the hat. I was walking through the streets, a man walked up to me, didn’t know me from a bar of soap, came straight up to me and looked me dead in the eye and he was like, “Good afternoon, nigger.” “Good afternoon.” I’ve never seen racism with a smile. I didn’t know what to do. He just said it like it was a fact. As if I fought him, he would have been like, “What, didn’t you know?”
And here’s Chappelle’s joke:
Traveling has made me a racism connoisseur, if you will. You know, it’s different region to region. Anyone ever been down South? So you guys know what I’m talking about. The racism down there is just fucking (bon appetit gesture) — it’s perfect. Stewed to a perfection. It’s conformable. It’s out in the open. There are no secrets in Mississippi. Everybody knows the deal. ‘Morning, nigger!’ ‘Morning, sir!’ Not up here. Here in the big cities, it’s a secret. And we should be like them. We should keep our shit out in the open and vent a little — I mean with limits. You don’t want to say whatever comes to your mind, that might be a little much. White dude be walking down the street minding his business and a brother walk up to him: ‘Hello, you white oppressor, you slave-master rapist of Africa.’ ‘Why hello, my big-lips, spear-chucking friend.’ “
Here’s a video of Chappelle doing his bit:
It’s important to note that Chappelle told the joke in 1998, so unless Noah’s been just chilling at home going through old comedy sets and rubbing his hands together, pleased with his malicious intent, it’s likely that the entire thing is a coincidence. How cocky would Noah actually have to be to go out there and use another well-established comedian’s work? Still, this isn’t the first time that Noah’s been accused of stealing material. Shortly after he was announced as the new host of The Daily Show in April, Russell Peters called Noah out for theft but, as Death and Taxes points out, he walked the claim back quickly, saying he’d been joking around.
So, what’s really going on here?
(Via Death and Taxes, h/t The Hollywood Reporter)
