The Daily Show used to be an entertaining way to keep abreast with world affairs until it became all about the lowest common denominator.

I don’t have an issue with Trevor Noah as a person, but I do have a problem with the show’s content and how the content is put forth to appeal to the show’s target audience. The Daily Show used to be hosted by Jon Stewart and when Trevor Noah took over, viewership ratings dropped by 37%. This could be attributed to a whole host of reasons, for example the fact that Jon Stewart had spent several years amassing this massive following, and so it’s not fair to say Trevor Noah should have had the same viewership when he initially started out. But it’s been a few years since Noah took over and ratings have not bounced back. What’s interesting to note though, is how Noah would appear to be far more popular than Jon Stewart was. And I believe there is in fact a reason for this – the same people who are vocal on social media have an affinity towards Noah – hence the illusion of greater popularity. I’m fairly certain that the data analytics team recognised this shortly after Noah started hosting the show, and so the content they presented changed. It was no longer insightful comedy – it just became a game of gaining more viewership. And the best way to do this is to appeal to the lowest common denominator.

Now the phrase ‘lowest common denominator’ is often used to mean the dumbest people in society, but in this case, I’m refining it to the most ignorant people in society. People can be well-informed but not have diverse sources of information. However deep their insights might be, it lacks breadth and dimension. Now the American right has been appealing to the lowest common denominator for quite a while already, but the left media had largely avoided it, though they had slowly begun leaning into it during the Obama era. But Trump’s inauguration drastically sped up that process.

When the Daily Show made the shift to appeal to these people, the content was over-simplified and it became shallow. The day I decided I was done with Trevor Noah was with relation to the 2018 World Cup:

France had won the 2018 World Cup fair and square, but Trevor Noah (who is of African origin), made a “joke” that the trophy belongs to Africa instead (because quite a few members of the French team are of African descent). The Daily Show is a live show, so when he made this statement, the audience can be heard laughing because the audience, and clearly the Daily Show team, had little understanding of the brevity of what Trevor Noah had said.

French football was plagued with racism for several decades, to the point where many violent riots occurred due to it. It was a huge issue for the French team and it had gotten so bad that French football even ceased for a while due to national riots. Consequently, the French government and the French Football Association made a very conscious and deliberate effort to resolve racial tensions. Though I cannot attest to the fact that French football is racist-free, the World Cup marked a time when most French people were able to put aside their prejudices and back their diverse team. The 2018 World Cup win hence didn’t just mark a historic win for the French team, but it was also a symbol of how the national team had successfully overcome racism. So when Trevor Noah made the statement that the World Cup was won by Africa, not France, Trevor Noah had essentially said that the players of African descent playing for France were not French – they were African. The whole issue with racism in French football centred around bigots saying the exact same thing, but because Trevor Noah, who is of African descent said it, it is somehow not as hurtful? Naturally, the French team and government was outraged and several prominent French figures came out to speak against Trevor Noah’s statements. French Ambassador Gerard Araud took offence to Noah’s comments, and sent him a letter saying “by calling them an African team, it seems you are denying their French-ness”. Of course, Trevor Noah decided to respond saying that the stance taken by the French government ignored the history and heritage of the players.

Clearly, he had missed the point – the French players of African descent had themselves called him out for his comments but there he was, making offhand, insensitive remarks just because – hey it’s funny to make France look pathetic and incompetent without players of African descent. That my friends, is the lowest common denominator. As people become more aware of historic White oppression, and the left seeks to abolish any remnants of it (which I do strongly support), it becomes funny and “woke” to interpret everything and anything like a matter of historic White oppression – even though France was trying to resolve that issue. Trevor Noah said that he wasn’t trying to “exclude the players from their Frenchness, but include them in their Africanness” – but that’s their decision to make – not his. Who is Trevor Noah to speak on the issues of a country where African-French people were never seen for their Frenchness, only their Africanness? Who gave him the right to tell 1.2 million people that?

This wasn’t the first time Trevor Noah had made comments without understanding the brevity of them, or doing the basic research required to effectively pass such comments. So that was the day I decided I had had enough of him. The Daily Show team has contorted news to the point that everything they report on has no nuance and no depth. Occasionally, you see Trevor himself speaking about important issues like race, which I respect him for doing, but he often seems detached from the very problems he’s discussing and consequently passes many lacklustre, shallow, comments.

Despite all of this, though, he is considered to be “woke”. Because frankly, Noah is quite “woke” when it comes to America-specific issues (although he does slip up there as well sometimes). But the uninformed, insensitive comments that he makes largely tend to be about other countries – and the American people are none the wiser. His “profound” insights on other countries are just shallow, “I-ran-a-quick-Wikipedia-search”, sell-outs. And that’s something I find sad, because I’m losing engaging sources of information, and the situation just seems to be getting bleaker. John Oliver, Seth Meyers, Hasan Minhaj – I’m looking at you.

Most other countries make the effort to understand America, I just wish the American media would reciprocate.