Why Trevor Noah's Daily Show evolved from being jokes about the news to news with some jokes

Los Angeles Times

“I’ve had to be more real because the veneer of showbiz, to some extent, has been removed," Noah tells the Los Angeles Times of doing his Daily Social Distancing Show from home during the pandemic. "There’s a disparity between what you want to tell the (TV audience) as opposed to what you want to tell (the studio audience) and how they’re responding." Noah adds: “I think in many ways I’m meeting an appetite by satisfying my own. I’m going to try to voice my opinion and step out a little more than usual. I owe some of that thinking to a friend and mentor by the name of Dave Chappelle. He said, ‘Anyone can be funny; not everyone is interesting. Don’t discount your point of view, the world you’ve lived in, the country that has shaped you, the journey that you’ve lived through in how you see the world.’"

ALSO:

• Trevor Noah admits he uses The Daily Social Distancing Show to cope with the pandemic: “I’ve spent five months in my apartment, and I, too, have scoured every news story for hope during these times," he says. "So if anything, I’m using the show as a group therapy session to connect me with my fellow humans who are experiencing the same thing.”
• Working remotely, The Daily Show learned jokes that might elicit a groan from the studio audience became OK to do without an audience