Comedian Trevor Noah set to bring Off the Record tour to India in September
Trevor Noah, celebrated stand-up comedian and former host of The Daily Show, is all set to bring his ‘Off The Record’ tour to India in September. This marks Trevor’s first-ever performance in India and his debut stop in Asia. “After a lifetime of loving India’s culture, l’m so excited to finally have the privilege of bringing my current stand-up comedy tour to one of the most exciting countries in the world! Delhi, Bengaluru, & Mumbai, I’ll see you Sept 22nd thru Oct 1st! Tickets are now on-sale and you can find them on my website! TrevorNoah.com Can’t wait to see you!” Noah, also an actor and a political commentator, wrote on Instagram on Thursday (August 3).
Fans will have the pleasure of witnessing seven shows during his Indian leg of the tour. The laughter-filled extravaganza will kick off at the Jawaharlal Nehru Indoor Stadium in Delhi-NCR from September 22 to September 24. Trevor will then head to the Manpho Convention Centre in Bengaluru for shows on September 27 and 28. The tour will culminate with a grand finale at the NSCI Dome in Mumbai on September 30 and October 1. With his unique brand of humour and insightful commentary, Noah is sure to leave the audiences in stitches.
Fascinated by the Indian culture
Noah’s fascination with India, and affection for its culture, has been no secret. It shines through in his comedic acts as he often reminisces about the impact of Indian culture on his formative years. In his satirical repertoire, he humorously explores historical themes such as the British invasion of India, cleverly lacing them with light-hearted jabs at Indian curries. His ability to blend cultural insights and rib-tickling laughter has garnered him a global following, making his India tour a highly awaited event.
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Drawing from his own experiences and observations, Noah has found a way to ingeniously weave together tales that resonate with audiences around the globe. Now, he is ready to infuse his signature humour with a desi twist. Before he bid farewell to The Daily Show after spending seven years as a host in December last year, in a video shared by the show’s Twitter account, he reflected on his journey, his vision, and the obstacles the show faced.
In a video uploaded in September, he recalled a recent trip to India, for the first time, and added that seeing people express love and support filled him with a lot of love and respect. “I recently went to India for the first time. And people there, you know, supported everything we have done and I just found myself filled with gratitude for the journey. It’s been absolutely amazing,” Noah wrote.
A segment on farmers’ protest
Earlier, in a segment titled ‘If You Don’t Know, Now You Know’, he explained the farmers’ protest in India. “We’re talking about India because in a year of global protests, they’re in the midst of the biggest one anywhere,” Noah said in his introduction. He explained the fundamental reason for the protest, as he reported on the proposed scrapping of the Minimum Support Price (MSP), which would leave the farmers to ‘fend for themselves at the mercy of the free market’. “Most Indian farmers work on a smaller scale, and it’s when the government tried to change that, that the manure hit the fan,” Noah commented.
The segment also took notice of the violence that took place on 26 January, during the farmers’ tractor rally at Red Fort, and went on to highlight Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s reaction to it. Calling the BJP government’s measures to curb the protests a part of a ‘major crackdown,’ he pointed out, “It shows how worried the government must be about the protest, and honestly they should be, because these farmers are digging in for the long haul.”
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Airing visuals from the protest sites around the national capital, the segment then switched to talking about the longevity of the protest, which saw some of the coldest winter nights in Delhi. The segment aired an interview of a farmer who said, “Whether it takes four years or more, we’re here to stay.”
Memories of the racial segregation in South Africa
Born in apartheid-era South Africa, Noah writes in his memoir, Born a Crime (2016), how his very existence was deemed ‘a criminal act’ due to his mixed-race heritage. The son of a white Swiss father and a black Xhosa mother, his birth represented the forbidden union of two different racial groups, punishable by imprisonment at the time. Forced to live in the shadows, Noah’s early years were marked by secrecy and the constant threat of being separated from his loving mother.
Growing up as living proof of the ‘crime’ of his parents, Noah experienced a childhood largely confined indoors, shielded from the watchful eyes of a government enforcing a ruthless system of racial segregation. His mother, a fiercely determined woman, took extraordinary and often bizarre measures to keep her son safe from the clutches of an oppressive regime that could snatch him away at any moment.
It wasn’t until the end of South Africa’s tyrannical white rule that Noah and his mother could finally live openly and embrace the hard-fought opportunities brought about by a centuries-long struggle for freedom and equality. In the memoir, he recounts his journey, from a mischievous young boy to a restless young man, trying to carve out his identity in a world that insisted he should not exist. The book delves into the relationship between Noah and his mother — an indomitable, fearless, and devoutly religious woman. Together, they broke the cycle of poverty, violence, and abuse that threatened their lives.
