Trevor Noah says one of the “first things you lose” in authoritarianism is comedy and that fellow comics are “s‑‑‑ting themselves” under President Trump.
“When I was growing up until I was 6 years old, maybe even like closer to 10, free speech wasn’t a thing,” Noah, who was born in South Africa, said during a stand-up routine posted on his YouTube channel Wednesday.
“You couldn’t just say whatever you wanted. There was no stand-up comedy in South Africa because you’d go to jail.”
“One of the first things you lose, funny enough, in an authoritarian regime is comedy — this crazy trend that you can follow throughout time. Go to Russia, South Africa,” Noah said.
The former “Daily Show” host’s comments came in response to a question from an audience member about Noah’s reaction to several high-profile U.S. comedians who performed at the Riyadh Comedy Festival in Saudi Arabia.
Saying while the Middle Eastern country is far from “perfect,” Noah told the crowd that “in a weird way, I almost feel like [Saudi Arabia] is moving in the right direction” by allowing comedy shows.
“Meanwhile, here, comedians are s‑‑‑ting themselves,” Noah said, before referencing the shooting death of Charlie Kirk. The 31-year-old conservative activist and Turning Point USA co-founder was assassinated last month while speaking at an event in Utah.
In the wake of his death, Noah said, comedians were repeatedly advised not to “say anything about Charlie Kirk” because there was “nothing funny about it.”
“Now you tested me — I mean, there’s nothing funny about it?” Noah said.
“Don’t say that, because then I’ll be like, ‘I’m sure there’s something funny about it,'” he continued.
“The guy was shot while defending guns. Do you understand? I’m not even writing that as a joke. As a human, you have to admit that is an incongruous funny thing that happened,” Noah, 41, said.
“That would be like if the captain of the Titanic was giving an impassioned speech about icebergs right before it happened,” he said to laughs.
“I don’t think there’s anything funny about it,” Noah said of Kirk’s death, before pushing back on critics who would tell him “don’t say anything.”
“That’s literally what comedians do. That’s the whole point of it. There’s nothing funny about most things in our lives: Nothing funny about death, nothing funny about life, nothing funny about struggling. No, that’s the whole point of it is to find a moment of solace,” he said.
The “Born a Crime” author also railed against gun violence and the reaction to Kirk’s death.
“It is pretty crazy that America’s response to the guy getting shot was to limit speech instead of limiting the thing that ended his life,” Noah said.
“What happened to Charlie Kirk? He got shot. All right. Tell people to shut up,” Noah said.
“We gotta get some word control out in these streets,” he quipped.
“Let me tell you something: Jokes will never kill you. Never.”
Noah also told the audience that comedians “don’t have the latitude” that political leaders are granted.
“These comedians, they’ll tell a joke, and people are like, ‘Don’t you dare! Ah!’ and then [Trump] literally said, ‘Maybe I’ll go for a third term. Maybe I will. Maybe I’ll stay.’ And people are like, ‘What?'” Noah said.
“And then when they asked [Trump’s] people, they’re like … ‘No, he’s joking.'”
The president said in March that he was “not joking” about seeking a constitutionally prohibited third term. In August, Trump said he would “probably not” seek another term.
“I was like, oh, so … the president jokes,” Noah said. “Comedians, no.”