Noah graciously accepted the prestigious accolade. Photo: X/Television Academy Emmy Awards
South African-born comedian and host of The Daily Show in the US Trevor Noah has won an Emmy Award for “Outstanding Talk Series” at the Emmy Award ceremony on Monday night.
The award marks the show’s first victory in the category since the departure of Jon Stewart in 2015, LA Times reported
Noah graciously accepted the prestigious accolade at the Emmy Awards, expressing his gratitude to the dedicated team behind the scenes and paying homage to the visionary Stewart.
“I told you! I told you we would beat John Oliver if he wasn’t in our category,” joked Noah. “We did it. We got rid of John Oliver.
“I want to start by thanking the crazy Africans who followed me to this country, David Kibuuka and Joseph Opio, David Meyer, my partner in crime, the writers and the team, Roy Wood Jr. from the very beginning, Jordan Klepper, whose flight got cancelled, showrunner Jen Flanz, this woman rode with me through the trenches.” Noah said.
Noah exited The Daily Show after seven seasons in December and in a recent interview while back home in South Africa, the comedian opened up about the difficulty of adjusting to life in the US.
ALSO READ: ‘It was very lonely’: Trevor Noah reflects on his time on ‘The Daily Show’
Noah said the hardest part of doing The Daily show is how demanding it was.
“You don’t stop, you don’t switch off when the show does. It was hard, when I first got to the US I would spend maybe, at the peak, it was maybe 18 hours a day working.”
Noah added that fellow comedian Kevin Hart was the first big-name celebrity to endorse him when other celebrities chose to shun his invitation to appear on the show.
Noah returned to South Africa last year for a series of comedy shows.
His tour was praised for tapping into the country’s unique societal issues, despite him now being based in the US.
Additional reporting by Bonginkosi Tiwane
ALSO READ: Twice as nice: Trevor Noah celebrates ‘mind-blowing’ Emmy nominations
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