Trevor Noah: Where Was I

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.

Trevor Noah makes use of his already well known abilities to deliver great performances, his accents are fantastic, he is likeable, relatable, and a pleasure to listen to.

As usual, his comedy is clean, his speech is perfect. Noah's trademark comedy which doesn't relly on over the top outrageousness and foul language is trully refreshing.

Lastly, IMDB declined my first review, I suppose freedom of speech isn't a thing when it comes to some sensitive topics, even though comedians joke about them constantly, and it's fine. All I'm saying is that one section of this special disappointed me and that's why it my rating is low this time.

Yes, its not over the top hilarious and Trevor Noah took his time to tell the first joke but it was enjoyable.

Its not your typical cuss words, swearing, Eff this, Eff that stand up routine... Its an intellectual and well-written show which you can enjoy with the whole family.

Also, if you are familiar with Trevor Noah's work - he always has the political, national theme to his work even before The Daily Show.

It is clean, well-written with some hard hitting facts which honestly comedian deliver way better than any of the politicians or people claiming to be on the "right" side of the things and an hour well spent.

No pun intended - I mean the title of his show already is a pun, so what could I add? Well I reckon I found something to add. That aside let's get into Trevor himself. I had a bit of an issue with him when I "discovered" him. That's quite a stretch actually - he took over the Daily Show, he already was doing shows and stuff. But he was replacing Jon Stewart ... how could he? How could anyone? But whoever was responsible for that decision ... I salute you! I reckon it was more than one person who made this possible.

After a bit of time to warm up to him, I could see the differences ... and relish in them and enjoy them. I may still have some issues or disagree here and there, but that is more than normal ... no one human is the same as the other. And yet he is probably one of the most decent comedics out there. So you will not find too many things that will offend the same way that Ricky Gervais offends with ... Trevor is not that kind of comedian! Take it or leave it one might say.

And I reckon he may talk way too much about Germany and France for Americans ... but he tries to bring some outside perspective to the US ... you have to applaud that. And while I don't think all the points he is making are 100% right, it is interesting to see him expanding and really maturing and becoming more knowledgeable! He knows: you always can learn more! And he does just do that.

And he tries to "teach" us too. Not in a bad way - or in the sense of "I know more than you". No it never comes of as demeaning. One thing is for sure: no matter where he goes - he will never be lost! (yes I just did that - with his help)