By Marni Rose McFall
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Trevor Noah made a joke about the death of conservative activist Charlie Kirk in a new stand-up routine.
“As a comedian, I’ll be like, I’m sure there’s something funny about it. The guy was shot while defending guys, Do you understand how I’m not even writing that as a joke?” the 41-year-old comedian said during his set, a clip of which was uploaded to YouTube.
Newsweek has contacted a representative of Noah outside of regular working hours via email for comment.
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Why It Matters
Kirk, 31, was assassinated during an event at Utah Valley University on September 10. The right-wing activist was the co-founder and CEO of Turning Point USA, a conservative youth movement.
His death has sent shock waves through the country and in turn sparked a debate about free speech in America, as well as heightening concerns about political violence.
...
There has been an outpouring of grief for Kirk across the political spectrum. However, there have been some social media posts and videos that have celebrated his killing, others have responded to his death by sharing criticism of his political beliefs.
This, in turn, has heightened tensions and been swiftly responded to by the Trump administration.
What To Know
In his comedy set, Noah said: “As a human, you have to admit that is an incongruous funny thing that happens. You are there on stage and you’re like, “Let me tell you why people should have guns.”'
He continued, “That would be like if the captain of the Titanic was giving an impassioned speech about icebergs right before it happened. He was just there, he’s like ‘I’ll tell you why icebergs are not as bad as people say.’ Oh. Whole thing is ridiculous.
"The whole thing is ridiculous. I don't think there's anything funny about, but don't now like fight me. 'You can't, don't say anything, there's nothing'. That's what comedians, that's literally what comedians do. That's the whole point of it."
This rhetoric will be familiar to many who were on the internet in the days after Kirk’s death, as many social media users had highlighted Kirk’s previous remarks on gun control following his death.
Specifically, comments Kirk made at a Turning Point USA event back in 2023 circulated online after his death, where he had said, “"I think it's worth to have a cost of, unfortunately, some gun deaths every single year so that we can have the Second Amendment to protect our other God-given rights. That is a prudent deal. It is rational. Nobody talks like this. They live in a complete alternate universe."
What People Are Saying
One social media user commented on Trevor Noah’s YouTube video: “This is EXACTLY what I loved about Trevor when he hosted The Daily Show. Such a voice of reason from an international, human rights perspective.”
Another social media user added on Trevor Noah’s YouTube video: “God I miss this man with his unique little perspectives. Its such a delight listening to him talk.”
What’s Next
Tensions in the wake of Kirk’s death remain high, and reflect the intensity of political polarization in America at this current moment.
Trevor Noah's Joke About Charlie Kirk in Full
Speaker 1: [00:00:56] Yeah, it was a whole, how many was it in the end? Was it like 50 or was it, did it start as 50 and then? It was huge though, right? It was Saudi Arabia's first comedy festival, I think. The Riyadh Comedy Festival. And they had a bunch of comedians go out there. It's been all over the news. See people arguing about it on TikTok. It's like, let me tell you what I think about what's happening. I don't know, it's an interesting one. I'll start with this. When you know what Saudi Arabia is all about, it's weird to go to a comedy festival that is paid for by Saudi Arabia. You know what I mean? And this is what I, there's a difference. I'm all for going anywhere to perform for anyone because there are people who live in countries that don't agree with what their countries are doing. So I don't assume that everybody who lives in a country is the same as the people running the country, right? That's the first thing. But when the government is paying you to come. That's like a direct relationship that's different. Does that make sense? It like, it changes up. And I don't know, man, like Saudi Arabia, you're like, damn, just, you just do a cursory search. You don't even have to like dig deep, you don't have to go do your research or just, the things that Saudi Arabia does, you know what I mean, like, you see all the comedians who went, it was like Dave Chappelle, Kevin Hart, Bill Burr, Louis C.K., like, yeah, it was like a whole bunch, Aziz Ansari. I mean, I'm friends with all of these guys. Like I'm just like, but they went to Saudi and I'm like, if you search Saudi, you see the things that happened there, right? Government is on some like almost dictator level shit, right? Like you say the wrong thing, you get disappeared in a moment. Like it's like one minute your family knows where you are and then they don't. Women like don't have control over their own bodies. Free speech is limited. The violence is the order of the day. I don't know, man. I don't think I'd ever perform in Saudi Arabia. I would only perform in the United States. Because that would never happen here, Will. That would never happened here. Can you imagine what would happen if America announced that they were just like, scooping people up and just like disappearing? Can you image these here United States, Will? Can you even imagine if one day they were just like oh women, oh men control your bodies? Can you imaging that, Will, that is why I perform in America, Will! I don't judge anybody, to be honest with you, especially in these types of things. Because I think, number one, everyone has a number. Number two, people like to judge depending on the position that they're in. So, someone was like, oh, would you go to Saudi? I'm like, I wouldn't say no, but I wouldn't say yes. It would have to be an amount of money that makes me not care. No, I'm being honest with, it would have be an amounts of money that makes not care about everything else that I'm gonna lose. That's the honest truth. So, like, every person who would be disappointed in me... I would have to have an amount for what that's worth in my life. So then if somebody said to me, they're like, I'm disappointed in you. In my head, I'd be like, 10,000. Every time that would happen, I would just like have that little number. I'd be like, yeah, yeah. This is already paid for, this is fine. But if it's not that kind of money, then no, like I personally wouldn't do it if it not that kinda money. But I also think there's a little bit of like, I don't know, I'm so conflicted on this. Because look, on the one hand, I get what people are saying. Some people are like, oh, it's comedy washing and the sports washing and you know, Saudi is, they're trying to get people to come in to launder their image. Is it laundering the image? Because there's a lot of people who didn't really follow Saudi or care about it, that now know about what Saudi's doing because these people went there. And I argue sometimes it's the people going there that makes you now go like, where you going? [00:05:08][251.8]
Speaker 2: [00:05:08] What's happening? [00:05:08][0.0]
Speaker 1: [00:05:09] What's happening there? What are you doing there? And it's like, now Saudi's like ah, we're just snuck away. We were playing golf. We were enjoying ourselves. It is also crazy how like comedians will take the most smoke in the day and age that we live in, right? Like the president of the United States goes to Saudi, dances with them. People just like, yeah, you gotta do what you gotta do, you know? You gotta make fun, you got to get your allies. Live golf, Saudi, huh? Best golfers in the world. Formula One goes to Saudi, you name it. Everyone goes, comedians, how could they? [00:05:41][31.3]
Speaker 2: [00:05:41] Day. [00:05:41][0.0]
Speaker 1: [00:05:44] You're like, the bastions of free speech. You cannot say anything you want in Saudi. How could you go there? That's a very American point of view. I'm gonna let you know now, right? And it is a privilege. You should keep that point of you, but it's an American one. Because in many countries around the world, you can't just say whatever you want when you're performing or when you are there. You know, like many. Singapore, you know what I'm talking about, yeah? Malaysia in the house as well. You know what am talking about? No, there's a lot of places. Even when I was in India, we were doing shows. You and I were in India. And this is not like a law, I'm not saying this is a law. But when we were in India, people would come up to me and they're like, So Trevor, are you going to make jokes about Modi? I'd be like, Narendra Modi, the Prime Minister? They're like yes, are you gonna make jokes about him? And I'd like hmm, I mean, if I see something funny, they're, like, OK, OK. And I'm like, why, why? Should I not make jokes? They're, no, no. You can. You can make jokes about Modi, you can, you can. Then we're going to see what happens afterward. That's going to be the show after the show. [00:06:45][60.3]
Speaker 2: [00:06:45] I don't know. [00:06:47][1.6]
Speaker 1: [00:06:51] It's almost perfect comedy timing that this happened now, right? Because had this comedy festival happened at any other time, I think America as an idea would have had more of a leg. to stand on as a moral authority, right? But like, this is the same country where a few weeks ago, you know, Jimmy Kimmel gets kicked off his show for not making, by the way, he didn't even make a joke. I went back to look for the joke that they said. There is no joke. He just had a comment about something that he didn't feel was appropriate. Whether he's wrong or right, but it wasn't even a joke. He said nothing about Charlie Kirk. The joke wasn't about nothing. And they were like, gone, right? Same, same country. Same country where hundreds of people have been fired for saying anything about Charlie Kirke post him being shot, anything. People getting fired from companies, people for what? You, in your private life, say some shit and then your company fires you because they're like, Charlie Kirk, Charlie. Here's the thing, I'm like, people are like, oh, what do you think? Charlie Kirk to me is like, okay, someone got shot. It's not great. I didn't wish for it. But now you can't like terrorize your population if they dare to say something about the thing. This is the same country where people make jokes about Abraham Lincoln being shot. Which I think is like ranks higher. But people will make jokes. Literally, America was the place where I learned the joke where they were like, ah, but other than that, Mrs. Lincoln, how was the play? That's the joke. Yeah, you know it. And it's crazy, but that's what makes America such a fascinating place is that you can make those jokes. You know, it's like people made the jokes about Kennedy, yeah? JFK, like after he was assassinated, people were like oh yeah, or they'd be like I'm never buying a drop top. You know what I mean? And some people are like, I don't like it, it's in bad taste. Yeah, but that's what jokes can be. They can be in bad tastes. Like that's why this room has no windows. You know what I mean? It's supposed to be us understanding that you're saying a thing that may or may not be real in bad test and it's like an outlet. It's like UFC, everything has context, right? People punch each other in the street, they go to jail. You put a cage around them and Joe Rogan on the side screaming. It's a $6 billion event. So I mean, I don't know, it's like, it's not one of those things where I go, it it's binary. And maybe spending more time in South Africa has helped me think like that now again. It's like it's just binary. It's easy to say, all the comedians who went there are sellouts and you can pay them. Yeah, but everyone has that in some way, shape or form. Everyone, everyone, everyone everyone. Everyone in entertainment that you know, they can't go and trash their TV station or the people who own it, or they'll get fired by the business. That's how it'll work. Right, you can't say what you want right now in America about Donald Trump even. Right, there's people who get to the border, they look through their phones, if they've made any jokes on their social media or any shit about Donald Trump, you're out. You're out, they look though your phones. I now, because of that, just to be safe, I used AI and I made nudes of Trump. And then I've texted it to my friends being like, god damn, this guy's so hot, this man is so sexy, oh man, I'm not gay but he could get it, oh, man. I would be in that ass. Get that orange all over me, baby. Mm-mm, some of that vitamin C, mm-mm. Yeah, because that's gonna be hard for them. What are they gonna do? Are they gonna kick me out? Like, what are they, are they going to be, let me see your phone. And then they'll take my phone and be like, oh, you messaged about Trump. Let's see what you, huh. Huh. Sir, this guy texted a lot about Trump, what did he say? He said he'd smash. That's what he said. I think that's a good thing. Like it's like, oh man. I also think there's something that Saudis are doing the other way around in the direction that they're going. I've never been pro Mohammed bin Salman and you know it's like whatever. I just do think sometimes there's a little bit of like western you know superiority like they'll be like he had a man killed. One man? One man? Yo, every American president... You know how many people have been killed by America with no due process at all? Just like you're just driving and then all of a sudden a drone is just like, hello. Everyone, doesn't matter which president. I'm not even pointing, Republican, Democrat, does not matter. Doesn't matter. You'd be like, oh, George Bush did that. Yeah, so did Obama. He was like, bye bye. [00:11:31][280.2]
Speaker 2: [00:11:34] You [00:11:34][0.0]
Speaker 1: [00:11:38] You'd be like, but those people were terrorists. Yeah, but some of them we don't even know because there was literally no court case, no nothing. So can you say anything? Can you, you know, it all depends. So I think they might be going in the right direction. Again, I'm not saying that it's good, I'm just saying they might be going the right the direction. Because one of the first things you lose, funny enough, in an authoritarian regime is comedy. It's a crazy trend that you can follow throughout time. Go to Russia, South Africa. When I was, literally when I was growing up, until I was six years old, maybe even closer to 10, free speech wasn't a thing. You couldn't just say whatever you wanted. There was no stand-up comedy in South Africa. Because you'd go to jail, right? The few white comedians who dared to say something about the government went to jail. Black comedians, you couldn't even do that. There was a rule in the country, three or more people were gathered, they considered that a political event, and then you were just arrested. You couldn't like start your show. You guys haven't, ah shit, I gotta go. [00:12:34][56.4]
Speaker 2: [00:12:35] You [00:12:35][0.0]
Speaker 1: [00:12:40] But it's actually interesting how that's the first thing that goes in a country, you know, is the comedy. Vladimir Putin, one of the first things he did when he came to power was he shut down a puppet show that was very popular in Russia and Eastern Europe that used to poke fun at world leaders. And one of first things that he did was he had that show and the whole station shut down. Because comedy has this weird thing about it, man. I don't know, and I don't like to inflate it because it's supposed to be goofy, it's supposed to be stupid, right? But that stupidity butts up against the terror that you're often feeling with an authoritarian. You know what I mean? It's like Charlie Chaplin. The troops in the war said that Charlie Chaplin and his movie, The Dictator, where he played Hitler as like this goofy dude, they said that was the first time they thought of Hitler as an idiot. Because before then, everyone was just like, Hitler's gonna take over the world. You just, you couldn't do anything to Hitler. And then they saw that movie and they were like, oh, this guy's goofy. That mustache is kinda weird. And that literally gave people hope. They were like, oh, if we can laugh at that thing, then maybe we can beat it. So in a weird way, I almost feel like Saudi's moving in the right direction. I'm not saying they're there yet, but they're moving in right direction, you're having all the comedians. People are like, ah, but you can't say this about the royal family. Yeah, okay, fine. But you're still moving in the direction. They used to have comedy shows where men and women were separated, and now the audiences are mixed from what they were, right? Yeah, audiences are mix from what I understand. So again, not perfect, but moving in a right direction And meanwhile here... Comedians are shitting themselves. Don't say anything about Charlie Kirk. I wasn't gonna say anything about, yeah, but don't say anything about him. I wasn't gonna say anything about Charlie Kirk, but don't. There's nothing funny about it. Oh, now you've tested me. I mean, there's nothing funny about. You can't say there's nothing funny about it, no, there is nothing funny. No, don't say that, because as a comedian I'll be like, I'm sure there's something funny about it. The guy was shot while defending guns. Do you understand how- I'm not even writing that as a joke. As a human, you have to admit, that is an incongruous, funny thing that happens. You are there, you're like on stage, and you're, like, let me tell you why people should have guns. Wap-ha! That would be like if the captain of the Titanic was giving an impassioned speech about icebergs right before it happened. He was just there and he's like, I'll tell you why icebergs are not as bad as people say, whoa! The whole thing is ridiculous. I don't think there's anything funny about, but don't now like fight me. You can't, don't say anything, there's nothing. That's what comedians, that's literally what comedian's do. That's the whole point of it. There's nothing funny about most things in our lives. Nothing funny about death, nothing funny about life, nothing fun about struggling. No, that the whole points of it is to find the moment of solace. You know, there is nothing fun. Don't you dare make a joke. I wasn't gonna make a jokes about Johnny Kirk. It wasn't even like in my zeitgeist in that way. But don't try, there nothing funny. Oh, but there is. You keep saying that, you're gonna make me find the funny. I don't want to find the fun, but you're forcing it now. You're forcing now. It is pretty crazy that America's response to the guy getting shot was to limit speech instead of limiting the thing that ended his life. You know what I mean? It's pretty crazy to me. That's one of the wildest responses I've ever seen in my life. What happened to Charlie Kirk? He got shot. All right, tell people to shut up. We gotta get some word control out in these streets. What about guns? Ah, guns had nothing to do with this. No, no one even brought up the concept of like, ah man, maybe people at home shouldn't have a gun where you can shoot somebody from like a rooftop away. Maybe. No, this was just like, can you say something? Can you not say something, let me tell you something. Jokes will never kill you, never. There's no joke that can kill you. Every comedian is trying. Every comedian. Our dream is to make a joke that will kill one of you. That is our dream. They go like, what happened? Oh man, someone's at Trevor's show and then he laughed so hard and then died. I'm like, thank you very much. Good night. That's our dream. And I'm not saying there's no speech that's inflammatory or dangerous or insightful. I'm saying that, but what I'm say is, if I was to make a bet on how to make a society safer, I'm gonna make it safer, right? And I get to choose between words and guns, I choose guns. That's my bet. I'm no an expert on any of this, by the way. I've just found that most of the time when someone's been shot, there's been a gun. A lot of time people have said words and they've just like walked away. So if I'm placing, if I am betting my money, I'm gonna go with guns. It is also weird that the guy, like he wrote jokes on the bullets. That's, again, a terrible and funny when you have time to think about it. Because the fact that he had to write jokes on the bullets tells you that he knew that the jokes won't do anything. He was like, I'm gonna tell her if you're reading this, you're gay. And it's like, nah, it doesn't do anything. What if you put it on a bullet? Oh yeah, that joke can kill now. Yeah, now that joke's a lot more effective. So yeah, man, so how do I feel? I don't know, maybe it's a step in the right direction, maybe it isn't, maybe the people are salads, maybe they're, I don't know, literally I won't judge anyone. But I do think it's better place to be in, right? People make it like, wow, it's the worst, this is not the worst thing in the world, it's not the best, yeah, I dunno. Maybe these are like sleeper agents, that's how you think of it. Yeah, there's people who can change how you see the world. It is like the Aziz Ansari's, the, you know, the Kevin Hart's, can make you change anything up. Can you imagine Aziz like convincing them in Saudi Arabia? [00:18:43][362.5]
Speaker 4: [00:18:44] Man, how come you guys don't? Like, I notice how you guys don't let your women drive. And I'm like, dude, what the hell, man? Just let them drive, come on! [00:18:57][13.3]
Speaker 2: [00:18:58] Thank you. [00:18:59][0.5]
Speaker 1: [00:19:02] I can see them changing their laws. I'll just be like, you know what? There's something about this guy. I like him. I like it. [00:19:08][5.9]
Speaker 2: [00:19:10] You [00:19:10][0.0]
Speaker 1: [00:19:14] Oh, man. With Kevin Hart on stage, busy fighting about Saudi policies. He's like, man, I... Man, let me tell you what I noticed. Let me tell y'all what I notice about this shit y'al doing inside. All the organizations y'a'll funding. All those organizations that you're funding. [00:19:34][20.2]
Speaker 4: [00:19:35] Don't fund them. Stop funding them. Why you being an organized man? Stop funding the boo-boo. Uh-huh. [00:19:45][10.7]
Speaker 1: [00:19:54] I think it's easy to focus on the wrong things. And I'm not saying we, again, it's not a binary. Not saying don't focus on some things. It's good to hold people accountable. I think its nice for people to tell the comedians they like, hey, I didn't like that thing you did and then go back and forth and see. What I do think is interesting though, to go back to the comedian thing, is that it's interesting how like, especially in America now, it's like comedians don't have the latitude that like leaders have. These comedians, they'll tell a joke and people are like, don't you dare! Rah! And then the President of the United States literally said, maybe I'll go for a third term, maybe. Maybe I will, maybe I will stay. And people were like, what? And then when they asked his people, they're like, yo, he said he's gonna stay for a third term. They're like no, he's joking. I was like, oh, so he can, oh! Oh, President jokes, yeah, comedian, no! How dare you, President Dave Chappelle! So I don't know, Will. I don't judge anyone, you know, because I think everyone will make the decision that they make, but I would hope that we just learn to focus not on the thing that everyone's showing us, but the thing that's actually happening. Like the comedians are not gonna make or break Saudi and what's happening, but the thing that's making or breaking what comedians can or cannot say in America, that's a real thing that happening. Yeah, so for me, there's definitely a story in like, oh, all these comedians went to Saudi, and then there should be an even bigger story about, whoa, all of these comedies are now gonna go to America, oh, good luck to them. You guys have been fun, man. Thanks for coming out tonight. Have a great night. Thanks for coming out. [00:21:50][116.5]
Speaker 2: [00:21:51] Thank you so much, and so do you. [00:21:51][0.0]
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