Maybe Jon Stewart is right. Maybe The Daily Show audience should give Trevor Noah a chance and not, as Noah himself contends, judge him prematurely because of a few tasteless jokes. But what if those jokes — bad or otherwise — weren’t even his to begin with? What if he stole them?
This is the new question Noah must contend with after Canadian comedian Russell Peters called the new Daily Show host-to-be a “thief” on Channel NewsAsia. When the interviewer jokingly suggested Peters wasn’t considered because Noah is “cute and skinnier,” he surprised her with his allegations:
Peters:“No! He’s also a thief, but that’s irrelevant.”
Interviewer: “Okay, now that I can’t let go. What do you mean by that?”
Peters: “He’s stolen material from David Kau, he’s stolen material from myself. You know, but whatever. That’s his gig now, and congratulations! That’s all I can say.”
Despite his obvious discomfort, Peters didn’t shy away from the topic when the interviewer asked whether or not Noah’s alleged theft was actually “borrowing.” If anything, the question animated him further:
“That’s not borrowing! You don’t borrow in this business. If you are a comedian, that’s like stealing somebody’s underwear and putting them on. That doesn’t make sense. Why would you do that?”
The interview quickly returned to The Daily Show and Peters’s reasons for not wanting such a work-intensive job. But the charge still stands.
Kau’s own charge stems from the Comedy Central Roast of Steve Hofmeyr — South Africa’s first-ever comedy roast. During his bit he accused Noah of stealing his jokes and using them during an appearance on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, but he never pinpointed a specific routine. Mahala later asked Noah about the incident:
Interviewer: I’ve always heard about the stealing jokes beef with David Kau…
Noah: That’s his way of seeing it though. His idea is “if I do an idea first, like if I think of a Mandela joke first, I’m the Mandela guy.” And no, that’s not how comedy works.
As of this writing, Noah hasn’t responded directly to Peters’s allegations. Peters hasn’t elaborated on them either. However, later on in the Channel NewsAsia he posed with the interviewer for a photo with a selfie stick. The next day, Noah posted this to Twitter:
Selfie sticks are so old school. I need to get a Cinema Rod!@baratunde
— Trevor Noah (@Trevornoah) April 6, 2015
Sounds like the Illuminati is behind this.
(Via Channel NewsAsia and Mahala)
