Quotes from Trevor Noah

I want my audience to be my friends - that is when they will get the best comedy. If they see me as a performer, they won't get the best show.

Living with my mom, I saw how she used language to cross boundaries, handle situations, navigate the world.

I think when you look at religion, you look at where Christianity came from. You know, my mom delved deeper into that. And she felt a deep connection.

I still live today with my mom sending me, you know, Hebrew Scriptures or phrases or celebrating.

I lived in a world where I didn't share the love for my stepfather that my mother shared for him. She married him.

I hope America manages to steer itself away from partisanship and back to patriotism; we are all Americans. And as long as I can make people laugh and feel better, I'm happy.

Comedy is a great tool. We [comics] are trying to find ways to use humor to enlighten people without preaching to them.

I don't know how to let loose when I'm dancing to the music and the people that made the music are watching me. I've never felt so much pressure in my life.

Africa's not a color - it's a place.

What I've always said about comedy is if you do it in the right way, you can say anything to anybody because they know where you're coming from. They know it's not malicious.

I live in a country where I'd say nine out of ten people know me when I walk through the streets. There's people taking pictures, there's tabloids trying to make up stories. I'm used to that. The same thing when I'm in Australia or the U.K.: I get stopped.

You have two choices, two paths to take as a comedian. You can tackle the difficult subjects and be harsh about it, be brash, be abrasive. But adding hatred to racism is not going to help everybody. So I like to have fun around it.

When you are honest in your comedy, you have to acknowledge the world that you're in. Through a comedic voice, you're talking about what needs to be talked about, whether it's race relations or politics or anything that's happening on a global or an American scale.

My mom used to get arrested for being with my dad. She would get fined. She would spend weekends in jail.

My mom, through my dad, rented the apartment next door to his... he had the lease on both places. But then, she would dress up and act like his maid... a practical maid. No fantasies.

If I'm doing something on stage, and it evokes an emotion, then I might show that emotion, but I also don't believe in being a preacher. If you have a point, that's a bonus. But the funny has to come first; otherwise, you shouldn't call yourself a comedian.

Nobody owns comedy. Nobody owns a premise. Nobody owns an idea.

I knew of like - I remember, for most of my life, I grew up, and "Knight Rider" was, you know - David Hasselhoff was a Dutch character in my world.

Smaller incidents in my life made me realize that language, even more than color, defines who you are to people.

Most of my show is true; like, 90% of everything I say on stage is true. I just have to find the way to make it funny - that's the difficult thing.

[Languages] became a tool that served me my whole life.

As a comedian, I'm forced to have a tough skin. Until people laugh, they are detractors. You walk into a new audience where nobody knows you, they go: 'Make us laugh. Show us what you're made of. Prove why we should be listening to you.'

I always believe that funny is serious and serious is funny. You don't really need a distinction between them.

If you look at it, the history of comedy has always been strongest among the nations who have been persecuted the most.