Top 45 Trevor Noah Quotes

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

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.

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.’

During my New York run, I injured my voice badly. I was getting increasingly hoarse, and it finally gave up. The doctor said I had two choices. Either cancel things, or try my luck and perhaps never speak again. That’s not much of a choice.

I’ve never been afraid to fall in love, nor impatient to find it.

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

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

Most of my show is true; like, 90% of everything I say on stage is true. I just have to find the way to make it funny – that’s the difficult thing.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

I want my audience to be my friends – that is when they will get the best comedy. If they see me as a performer, they won’t get the best show.

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.

I’ve never been afraid to fall in love, nor impatient to find it.

I want my audience to be my friends – that is when they will get the best comedy. If they see me as a performer, they won’t get the best show.

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.

During my New York run, I injured my voice badly. I was getting increasingly hoarse, and it finally gave up. The doctor said I had two choices. Either cancel things, or try my luck and perhaps never speak again. That’s not much of a choice.

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.

My mom used to get arrested for being with my dad. She would get fined. She would spend weekends in jail.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Comedy is really getting quite popular in South Africa.

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.

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

I’m a quarterback. I don’t need to score the touchdown. I just need to spot the pass.

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.

Most of my show is true; like, 90% of everything I say on stage is true. I just have to find the way to make it funny – that’s the difficult thing.

There’s more outrage on Twitter about a One Direction split or about what one band member said to another than there is about institutionalized racism and something huge.

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.

Africa’s not a color – it’s a place.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

The truth is, people don’t know me. When people don’t know you, they’re going to try to get to know you as quickly as possible, because you’re now taking the place of somebody that they love dearly, or somebody that they hate sincerely, and so they need to know who you are.

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

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.

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

Africa’s not a color – it’s a place.