Review: Trevor Noah at Spark Arena
The American-via-South Africa comedian and former Daily Show host headlines a near sellout with hardly a political joke in sight
It was a moment that shook the foundations of Spark Arena itself. Thousands upon thousands of people booing simultaneously in response to something that opener Wil Sylvince had said. A moment that was so powerful that main act Trevor Noah spent the early part of his headline set addressing it and his opener.
Sylvince went to say ‘Auckland’ but started to say ‘Austr-‘.
The retribution from the crowd was swift. Noah later said it was the second most concerned he had ever seen Sylvince, before relating a story about a visit to London: emerging from Heathrow, the pair accidentally stood in a designated smoking area - a few moments later, a local wandered up to ask Sylvince if he would ‘mind if I bummed a gag’, a phrase Sylvince had never heard and subsequently misunderstood to hilarious effect.
We were a forgiving crowd; how could we not when it was as funny as it was.
A new face for international crowds but a legend in New York - you may well recognise him from Comedy Cellar clips posted on YouTube - Wil Sylvince took the stage around 8.15pm, telling us that he had just introduced himself offstage.
Indian-Haitian and a robotic engineer, Sylvince delivered a brilliant opening set that touched on his heritage, international travel (‘whatever number [of Indian people] you have in your head, there are way more than that’ he opined of a trip to India) and his struggles with the English language.
It was a very funny set that proves the New Yorker is ready to take on the world.
Then it was time for the main event. Trevor Noah is starting to become a cross-cultural superstar thanks to his seven year turn on The Daily Show and his hit podcast What Next? - as proven by the fact that the show was basically a sellout (a bigger crowd than Seinfeld earlier this year) and was among the most diverse audiences I’ve ever seen.
After ragging on his opener and friend for a few minutes, Noah turned his attention to New Zealand - its relationship with South Africa, how safe the streets are at night (leading to a funny bit of crowd work after someone suggested he visit K Road) and how everybody suggests he leave the city when he asks what he should see in Auckland.
He joked about planes (a story about almost missing a flight because of safety concerns give that his seat wouldn’t recline, which led to him being given a seat in the back row which wouldn’t recline, brought the house down), he joked about horror movies, he joked about how he can tell a news story won’t involve black people (‘Billionaires?’ he said with a knowing shrug).
But surprisingly - especially given we were in the final few hours before the US election day - he didn’t have much to say about politics.
Noah did talk about guns, and religion, and guns & religion (theorising Jesus would be anti-gun while God would be pro-gun), which touched on systemic issues in the country he now calls home. And he had a dig at Trump, suggesting if aliens invade, we should send him out to face them as ‘King of the Earth’ (‘sorry, we didn’t know it had been claimed’, he imagines the aliens saying). But there was little more than a cursory mention of Kamala Harris, and a joke about time difference when trying to figure out when the election is actually happening.
Honestly, it was kind of nice.
Instead, the show felt worldly. Sylvince shouted out to Indian and Chinese people in the audience, drawing on recent trips abroad. The famously well-travelled Noah delivered jokes set here, in Australia, South Africa, Europe, Canada, Egypt … and busted out some spot on accents as well.
The one knock on Americans is always that they think America is the centre of the world; Noah even took a shot at this attitude, suggesting that Americans planning to leave based on who wins the election might be surprised to find other countries also have border controls.
As he showed during his time hosting a The Daily Show, the South African born Trevor Noah is that rare comedian who calls the USA home who has a worldly point of view, who can contextualise America’s place in the world because he has actually been out and seen it and experienced it. Wil Sylvince was great in this regard too. Above all else, it was refreshing to listen to someone who clearly loves the world and the people in it, and can relate it effectively to the rest of us.
Immigrants. They get the job done.
This was a stellar show and one that I’m very glad I got to experience. And if it makes it to a streaming service one day, I strongly recommend checking it out.
In the meantime, thanks for reading!
Chris xo
Absolutely wild the election barely got a mention. Maybe he thought we’re too small to care? It’s all anyone I know is talking about rn.