Trevor Noah: Where Was I

From detroit michigan, after hosting the daily show for so long. That must have been difficult to give up. A sixty eight minute standup special on netflix. He touches briefly on the dark history of germany. The history of columbus day in the united states. The use of public bathrooms.. by anyone! Gay marriage. Star wars. Germany and its new national anthem. Funny stuff. Cheerleaders and their past dating life. Lost luggage, and being left behind by his mother. Shopping in paris. And why there are so many tornados in the midwest. Trevor's history, and how he came to be where he is now. It's pretty funny! Directed by david meyer, also a long timer at the daily show.

The first few minutes was funny but then the rest of it didn't feel as natural as when I first used to watch Trevor Noah. Maybe these a need to come back to the mother land and rediscover your mojo, maybe....i don't know. It just wasn't as funny as his previous stand ups. But I did get a chuckle or two out of it so his true comedic genius is in there somewhere and I will admit his education on the history of Germany was quite enlightening for me who does love to know a bit of history, whether that would be something to at appeals to everyone is up for debate.

I do think Trevor is his strongest when he compares African cultures with other cultures, because his roots are natural to him so you can tell his not trying too hard.

Firstly, I miss Trevor so very much. Quick-witted and brilliant and more worldly than people three times his age. "Where Was I", was less stand-up and more of story telling experience; perhaps, a little TED-talky. I laughed a lot and loved his affable silliness; his impressions are world-class. He did kept it pretty light and could have elaborated a bit more on a few issues where I felt he skirted them a bit. I won't give anything away; you'll have to be the judge. Nothing earth shattering was introduced which is a bit unusually for Trevor. He is the rare comedian with the chops and the intelligence to pull off "Earth-Shattering". But... if I'm honest... I don't always want my earth shattered by a comedian. (BTW... if you haven't read Born a Crime... you should. ;-)

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.

The show was good overall, mum and I were watching Trevors clips on Youtube and we came across a clip of Trevors and at the end it advised its on Netflix and we found it. Instead of Where Was I it should be Where did I find it?

Overall a good standup set I have seen Trevor do better but this was more of a history lesson for the Americans on how they can become better than were they are at the moment. Trevor used German history to prove that point.

Points on the show were funny but I hope he comes up with a new special soon this year or next.

Trevor live is another thing I highly recommend watching him live as it hits different live.