“The Daily Show With Trevor Noah” finally took the Emmy for talk series on Monday night, breaking the winning streak of “Last Week Tonight With John Oliver,” which dominated the category since 2016.
“The Daily Show With Trevor Noah” won the award at the 75th Emmy Awards after receiving 17 nominations over the past five years.
An elated Noah, who has since stopped hosting the Comedy Central series, accepted the award on behalf of the show. “I told you! I told you we'd beat John Oliver if he wasn't in our category,” Noah joked. “We did it. We got rid of John Oliver.”
“Can I just say this? This story has been so long. It's been crazy. It’s been wonderful,” she continued. “I start by thanking the crazy Africans who followed me to this country, David Kibuuka, Joseph Opio, thank you very much, David, Maya, my accomplice. And then team writers Roy Wood Jr. from the beginning. Jordan Klepper's flight was cancelled. Showrunner, Jennifer Flanz: This woman walked me through the trenches.”
Noah then thanked “mad genius” Jon Stewart, who invited the South African comedian to take over as president of the influential comedy talk show in 2015, when Stewart left. Noah said goodbye to “The Daily Show” in 2022, after seven seasons on the show.
“It was a wild ride,” Noah said on his show. “I didn't predict the craziest trip, I didn't expect it.”
Being black and not American (or British) made him a rarity on late-night television. Noah said that when he started hosting after Stewart's 17 years of success, Comedy Central couldn't fill the seats of the studio audience.
Noah pivoted toward more global coverage on the show (earlier in his career he made memorable, historically scathing comparisons of Donald Trump to African dictators). While ratings for “The Daily Show” declined as viewers shifted away from traditional television in favor of streaming, the average age of the show's audience grew younger while Noah was at the helm.
Younger viewers probably learned about Noah by sharing his clips on social media. As a result, she developed a large following that will continue to fill concert stadiums and boost the streaming numbers for her comedy specials.
“I never take it for granted,” he said.
Times staff writer Stephen Battaglio contributed to this report.
