Judging Trevor Noah as a comedian based on old tweets is unfair

by | Mar 31, 2015

Is it fair to criticize future Daily Show host Trevor Noah for jokes he made in tweets five years ago? (Or even three years ago?) Sure, that’s fair game. The tweets are there to be found, a matter of public record. Noah didn’t delete them.

But I do wonder if it’s fair to judge Noah as a comedian based on jokes he made on Twitter years ago. One day (or less) after Noah was officially announced as Jon Stewart’s replacement on The Daily Show, several interested observers went to Noah’s Twitter account and began to scroll down his timeline, looking at the jokes he’s posted there over the years. And well, a few of those attempts at humor were a bit troubling.

As a result, Noah has been taking a lot of flack for making anti-Semitic and sexist jokes. Is this the kind of person who will be taking over what’s become a late-night institution? The Daily Show is one of the only programs that will speak out against lazy media narratives and willingly point out the hypocrisy and bullshit regularly occurring in politics. And it’s now being placed in the hands of someone making fun of Jews and overweight women? Shouldn’t Noah be better than that? Shouldn’t we as Daily Show viewers expect more?

Consequently, Comedy Central is being questioned for not thoroughly vetting its new hire — or at the very least, just browsing Noah’s Twitter feed. You’d like to think the network wouldn’t use jokes written in 140 characters or less as a primary part of its hiring process. But wouldn’t you at least check to see, you know, if the guy you were about to hire for your top show was funny? More importantly, wouldn’t you check if there was anything offensive among those past tweets? Isn’t that at least what interns are for?

Noah’s stand-up comedy, along with his appearances on The Daily Show (few as they are) and maybe his work in the writers’ room, were surely far more of a determining factor. No one seemed to have a problem with Noah being hired, based on watching his stand-up bits. His Showtime special, African American, now streaming on Netflix, shows he has a sharp critical eye for cultural and media trends in this country. That’s likely a major part of what Comedy Central found appealing.

Noah’s comedy deserves to be scrutinized and examined. A day or two ago, very few of us knew he was. And now he’s going to be replacing Jon Stewart on The Daily Show, an outlet from which many of us get our news (hopefully, not all of it) and learn to form critical opinions about what’s going on in the world and what mainstream media is feeding us?

I get the concern over the jokes Noah posted on Twitter in the past. The number of jokes directed toward Jews and women raises an eyebrow. Yet we’re also talking about a handful of tweets among nearly 9,000 that he’s posted in almost six years. How many of us have tweeted something out that we may have thought was funny at the time or reacted emotionally, only to look back later with regret?

But among comedians, Twitter is an outlet in which stuff is tossed out there, tests or experiments maybe not fully formed enough to be worthy of stand-up material or a spot on The Daily Show. Really, if a comedian was putting the best stuff on Twitter instead of using it in his or her stand-up routine or for appearances on television, how smart would that really be? This is the modern-day equivalent of doing a random Tuesday night set at a club that no one knows about. And posting something on Twitter requires far less thought and planning.

The best comedians often veer close to the line, and sometimes step over it, in an attempt to find out where the humor — especially original humor — is in controversial or taboo topics. Being viewed as edgy probably leads to success. Of course, there is a line, which comedians like Tracy Morgan and Michael Richards have discovered. Being viewed as safe compels audiences to look elsewhere. Which do you think Comedy Central prefers as the next host of The Daily Show?

Noah has almost certainly developed as a comedian since those less-than-funny tweets were posted years ago. If not, it’s doubtful he would be in his current position, nor having his old jokes criticized. Or he won’t last very long behind that satirical anchor desk. Getting those groaner jokes out of his system probably helped him improve. The Daily Show obviously thinks so, and is betting heavily on his upside. Judging him for unfunny jokes or offensive (and lazy) views is understandable. But isn’t it more fair to see how he fares as Stewart’s replacement before casting a final verdict?