I'm a huge fan of Trevor Noah and any of his Standup programs are a must-watch for me. But as this one went on, I kept asking myself more and more if he had always been this obsessed with low-bar "us and them" jokes. Yeah, he always had the occasional funny stereotype, but in this one, he seems to be playing to the lowest common denominator.
Case in point - I don't recall Trevor using this many "guy, that's how women are, right?" and "ladies, that's how men are, right?" bits in his shows. It's lowest-common-denominator humor creeping into a show that has all the world-aware potential to be much more.
As someone who has read his autobiography "Born a Crime", I also can't help but raise an eyebrow at his anecdotes of his youth. Now, don't get me wrong - a stand-up comedian has to embellish, that's his job. But it seems that Trevor has stripped every little bit of his South African childhood from his routine, not even acknowledging it and instead trying his hardest to make everything relatable to the American reality. There's nothing to learn here, only a somewhat tired filed-down, safe bit.
Speaking of embellishment, there are also outright incorrect statements here. Trevor is a Comedian who usually helps you learn stuff. He tends to talk about other countries in a way that's funny, but also educational. In this show, he outright mistranslates the German national anthem (because the actual translation wouldn't be a good punchline) along with several other factual misses. This puzzled me - I've never been aware of seeing him do that.
Ultimately, I feel confident still giving five stars based on Trevor's personality and the wit that sometimes shines through. It's entertaining enough, but I found this special extremely disappointing. From beginning to end, it feels like Trevor is running down a safe routine for an American audience that's not aware of his work so far. As a fan, I hope that this doesn't herald a new approach to his material.
