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Trevor: I was the first person in my family who was allowed to go to a white school

Cape Town - In an interview with the popular American podcast, Freakonomics, Trevor Noah stated his interesting political and racial viewpoints, spoke about his history in South Africa and how he thinks the patriarchy utilises religion. 

Trevor also spoke about how his mother raised him with every advantage that she could find: "I was the first person in my family who was allowed to go to a white school."

Trevor on privilege:

During the interview Trevor spoke about how he grew up and his viewpoint on privilege: "If you think of it like this — you know a lot of the time when you hear people having conversations about white privilege, male privilege and so on, I think sometimes what gets lost is with the word 'privilege' comes the connotation of having a good time. You know, people go, 'What privilege? I may be a white man but I’m poor. I may be a white man but I’m suffering.' And that is completely true.

“And sometimes I go, 'Maybe in the labelling, it’s almost like it could have gone the other way and it’s like, is it a black disadvantage? Or is it a female disadvantage?' Because we cannot deny that there are certain handicaps that come with these certain labels you know that exist.”

Trevor on growing up during Apartheid:

During a recent interview with CNN’s Christiane Amanpour, Trevor also touched on what it was like growing up during Apartheid. He spoke to her about his childhood when he ate dog bones (bones used to make dog food not food made from dogs) and his economically poor upbringing.

In the clip Trevor also explains that he couldn't connect with his father because of the oppressive Apartheid regime's rules about different races interacting, using a story about trying to go to the park with his parents to illustrate. The South African comedian also explains to the seasoned international journalist why he called Apartheid, ‘apart-hate’ when he was growing up.

Trevor on different perspectives and religion:

In the Freakonomics podcast Trevor highlights that his grandparents were not taught the things that other people’s grandparents were taught if they were white in the country.

“If we’re not talking about financial inheritance, we’re talking about educational inheritance. My grandfather and grandmother couldn’t bequeath to me an education that they would have learned because they didn’t get it. My mother, self-taught for many things. She was lucky in that she encountered a missionary and that’s where she learned things that the government wasn’t teaching to many black people. So there you see someone equalising or get her back to zero, which is where everyone should be able to start from."

During the interview he also touched on religion saying; “because a lot of religion is framed around patriarchy. You know, it’s men using this mythical thing to oppress other people and women. You know, most religions aren’t very progressive in terms of women’s rights."

Trevor is winning over America:

Earlier 2016 reports showed that Americans were warming up to Noah taking over Jon Stewart’s seat as host of The Daily Show, AP reported.

Trevor is definitely finding his footing after a rough start replacing the man who made the broadcast essential. His comedy has grown sharper, he's becoming more comfortable with his adopted country and he's finding an audience of his own, even if smaller than his predecessor's.

"Some people are still going, 'you're not Jon Stewart,'" Noah said. "Some people are still grading me accordingly ... They're doing the wrong thing. They're grading me on something I'm not trying to do. Many of them have caught on, some faster than others. All I can do is make the show for the people who wish to watch it."

Stewart took a good chunk of the audience with him; "Daily Show" nightly viewership is down 35 percent since Noah took over, according to the Nielsen company.

Comedy Central says measuring Noah's show strictly on how many people watch each night is outdated, and claims that Noah has increased the show's visibility online, among coveted younger male viewers and internationally. The network said the show reaches 7.9 million people each week through multiple platforms, although it didn't have a similar figure for Stewart's last year.

Listen to the full interview here: 

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