The first week of the newly revamped “Daily Show” has come to a finish, and critics have already begun taking their turns with it. Many are complaining about the setup of the show being the same and chastising new host Trevor Noah for not taking the opportunity to deviate from Jon Stewart’s original structure; website Indie Wire was one of the complainers, but many of those who watch “The Daily Show” have been watching for years and have grown attached to the traditional satirical setup. Noah changed the set, making it his own, but to deviate from the comical news to interview setup would change the show, and that was never the goal.
Noah has been making the show his own, bringing in two new correspondents and adding a younger feel to the show. While Stewart made jokes that surrounded older movies, classics, or events that happened further back in pop culture. Noah includes jokes about Tinder, Kanye West, and current events. The show was taken over by a younger host and it’s good that he’s not pretending to be older, compensating for the experience of a man who had been in the business for almost two decades when he’s just beginning.
With that in mind, critics like those on Salon.com continue noting Noah’s “rookie fumbles.” The main point of their unhappiness revolves around the way Noah handled the recent shooting in Oregon. Having happened so close to the air date for the upcoming episode, Noah had no time to prepare something to say, which he explained in the beginning of the episode. He acknowledged the event, saying his heart was going out to those who were affected by it and expressing the grief Americans should have for those effected, apologetically explaining that all he could do to help was make jokes, but that jokes are what get us through hard times. The episode continued as usual afterwards. Critics say that Jon Stewart would have put more thought behind his speech, quoting ways he had handled sudden situations in the past. But let's remember that Noah had been on the show for four days. He expressed his feelings as best as he knew how. Everyone handles tragedy in different ways, and when you become a public figure, every word must be chosen carefully. He did not have the decades to develop a flash news segment template as Jon Stewart has done, so it is too soon to compare them.
While some segments have flopped — we all know that QVC thing was less than funny — Noah can undoubtedly bring something to the table that Jon Stewart cannot. Having been born and raised in South Africa, Noah has a more worldly experience than Jon Stewart did, as made evident when he compared Donald Trump’s flashiness and exaggerated personality with that of some of the presidents in different countries of Africa. His point was to negate how people say Donald Trump is not fit or qualified to be president when there are presidents in the world who have the same ways about them. Jon Stewart, by no fault of his own, would not have thought of the same comparison, which brings to the Daily Show a more universal, instead of local, awareness.
Trevor Noah is new, so of course he’s going to “fumble,” but he’s already begun to get his footing on the first steps to a new but popular show.