Trevor Noah Under Fire For Maybe Kinda Sorta Probably Stealing A Racism Joke From Dave Chappelle

GQ- Trevor Noah did a short standup set at L.A. convention Politicon this weekend, and did a great bit about being a “racism connoisseur.” The only problem is that phrase was coined in Dave Chappelle’s HBO special nearly twenty years ago. The similarities don’t stop there. It’s possible, of course, that Noah saw Chappelle’s bit a long time ago and internalized it before writing his own piece from personal experience. But it also seems possible that he knew what he was doing, given that Noah’s been accused of stealing jokes before in a bizarre accusation-turned-prank that, um, really didn’t seem like a prank. This is the least of Noah’s concerns, with Daily Show viewership down 33% from Jon Stewart’s show at this time last year. Of course, Noah is still building an audience in the United States, and there’s no indication that he won’t gather the momentum to bring him to Stewart-level popularity. Until then, however, it’d probably be wise to make sure all the material he’s doing is 100% his own.

Well that’s not good at all for Trevor Noah.  The last thing you wanna be labeled as in the stand up world is a joke stealer. Just ask Carlos Mencia. You can be awful at stand up.  You can be a terrible joke teller. You can bomb every single night but as long as you’re bombing with your own material then people have more respect for you than a joke stealer. It’s the worst possible thing to be in that world.  You might as well get labeled a snitch in the crime world.  It’s a nearly impossible stink to get rid of once it’s on you. Before we get too far into let’s take a look and see each joke and go from there

Here’s Noah’s bit:

Before I came to America, I thought I knew all kinds of racism. I’ve always considered myself something of a racism connoisseur. I appreciate the finer racism. Not to say I appreciate all racism, but a finer racism. Before I came here, blatant racism was my favorite. Blatant racism, where you know exactly where you stand, often perpetrated by old people, which I have always appreciated. They’ll just tell it to you like it is. “This is what I think about you!” Yeah, you’re going to die soon. … Charming racism in America changed my life. I discovered it in a place called Lexington, Kentucky. Probably one of the most wonderful places I’ve ever been — charming, friendly people. Racism with a smile and a tip of the hat. … I was walking through the streets, a man walked up to me, didn’t know me from a bar of soap, came straight up to me and looked me dead in the eye, and he was like, “Good afternoon, n—er.” “Good afternoon.” I’ve never seen racism with a smile. I didn’t know what to do. He just said it like it was a fact. As if I fought him, he would have been like, “What, didn’t you know?”

And here’s Chappelle in 1998:
Traveling has made me a racism connoisseur, if you will. You know, it’s different region to region. Anyone ever been down South? So you guys know what I’m talking about. The racism down there is just f—ing — it’s perfect. Stewed to a perfection. It’s conformable. It’s out in the open. There are no secrets in Mississippi. Everybody knows the deal. “Morning, n—er!” “Morning, sir!” Not up here. Here in the big cities, it’s a secret. And we should be like them. We should keep our shit out in the open and vent a little — I mean with limits. You don’t want to say whatever comes to your mind, that might be a little much. White dude be walking down the street minding his business and a brother walk up to him: “Hello, you white oppressor, you slave-master rapist of Africa.” “Why hello, my big-lips, spear-chucking friend.”

Ummmmmm yeahhhhhhhhhh.  Those jokes are shockingly similar.  They may not be the same word-for-word jokes but in terms of a stand up joke they are super duper similar. Awful look for Trevor Noah here. Even if we give him the benefit of the doubt and say he saw the joke a long time ago, the essence of it seeped into his subconscious and he accidentally told the joke 17 years later that’s still not great. I’m guessing that’s what happened because you’d have to be pretty stupid to steal a joke from one of the greatest comedians ever and not think people are gonna realize it. We have YouTube now. Chappelle told that joke on a special. Every joke a comedian tells is recorded and consumed.  Still though, controversy is the last the newly-minted host of the Daily Show needs right now.  Before his tenure even started he came under fire for racist and simply unfunny Twitter jokes from his past. Now he’s being accused of being a joke stealer. These latest accusations are a whole hell of a lot worse than simply telling shitty jokes from a Twitter account. I wonder if he’ll address the situation on The Daily Show or simply ignore it and hope it all goes away.

Not to wax poetically about the old days when Jon Stewart was the host of the Daily Show but this stuff never happened to him.  It’s a product of the times. It’s the same reason none of us who have Twitter accounts will ever be able to run for President. We’ve put to much stupid shit out there that would get dug up and used against us.  Jon Stewart never had a Twitter account where people could dig up his old tweets and bring him under fire for them. Of course I’m not saying Stewart ever stole stand up jokes from anyone because that didn’t happen either. Noah just needs to be A LOT smarter and understand the spotlight that has been pointed in his direction with the new gig. Maybe he stole the Chappelle joke out right.  Maybe he did it on accident. It doesn’t matter now.  The court of public opinion has already ruled and they will always look at him a litttttttttle bit different from here on out.