laughter best medicine

South Africa’s Trevor Noah: Surviving apartheid with a dose of humour

By Mabrouck Rachedi

Premium badge Reserved for subscribers

Posted on June 11, 2021 08:15

63rd Annual Grammy Awards – Arrivals © Trevor Noah arrives at the 63rd annual Grammy Awards at the Los Angeles Convention Center on Sunday, March 14, 2021. (Photo by Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP)
Trevor Noah arrives at the 63rd annual Grammy Awards at the Los Angeles Convention Center on Sunday, March 14, 2021. (Photo by Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP)

In ‘Born a Crime’, Trevor Noah, the South African comedian and television host, delivers a witty and spirited memoir.

After France’s victory in the 2018 football World Cup, Trevor Noah stirred controversy with a joke he made during The Daily Show, his satirical news programme, about how “Africa won the World Cup”. The quip was met with a scathing response by the French ambassador to the United States.

The actor, comedian and television host has a most unconventional background, as he was born to a black mother and a white father in Johannesburg in 1984 during South Africa’s apartheid era. Noah’s memoir, titled Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood, offers an in-depth account of his remarkable rise from a child growing up under apartheid to an adult landing Jon Stewart’s job as Daily Show host.

The wrong colour kid in the wrong colour area, and the government could come in, strip your parents of custody, haul you off to an orphanage.

As a child, Noah was remarkable in every sense of the

There's more to this story

Get unlimited access to our exclusive journalism and features today. Our award-winning team of correspondents and editors report from over 54 African countries, from Cape Town to Cairo, from Abidjan to Abuja to Addis Ababa. Africa. Unlocked.

Subscribe Now

cancel anytime