( CNN ) You may not know it , but comedian Trevor Noah actually made a bit of history even before being named to succeed Jon Stewart as host of `` The Daily Show . '' The 31-year-old South African comic has made only a few appearances on that show since popping up as a correspondent in December , but he 's better known within the world of standup comedy . In 2013 , Noah became the first African comedian to perform on `` The Tonight Show with Jay Leno . '' He 's been on the cover of Rolling Stone in South Africa , where he 's extremely popular . He 's joked about being the son of a black African woman and a white Swiss man who met when interracial relationships were illegal in South Africa . `` My mom would be arrested . She would be fined , and still she was like 'ooh , I do n't care , I want a white man , ooh , ' `` he once told an audience at London 's Soho Theater during his standup show `` The Racist . '' `` And my dad was also like , well , you know how the Swiss love chocolate . '' Why mixed-race comic was 'born a crime ' Race , identity and ethnicity have figured in prominently in his act . Because of his parents ' then-illegal relationship , he joked , `` In the streets , my father could n't walk with us . He would walk on the other side of the road and wave at me like a creepy pedophile . And my mom could walk with me , but every time the police went by , she would drop me . I felt like a bag of weed . '' Noah has said in his act that he lost touch with his father for several years because of apartheid . In 2012 , he told NPR that he was fascinated by how Americans discuss race . `` I got to Baltimore , and I was expecting ... because urban means built up and new , you know , '' he said . `` So I got there , and I was , 'Whoa , it 's not as urban as people told me . ' ... But it 's very black . I 'll tell you that much . '' Noah told CNN 's `` African Voices '' in 2013 that after finding success in his homeland -- where he starred on a soap opera , hosted his own radio show and was the subject of the 2012 documentary `` You Laugh But It 's True '' -- he moved to the United States for a year to try to raise his profile . He returned to his country with new material shaped by his time spent in the States , he said . `` Comedy is really getting quite popular in South Africa , '' Noah said . `` It 's moving from the bastard child of entertainment into the mainstream , which is very good . I think the reason it 's doing so well is because South Africans need to laugh and South Africans want to laugh . '' Noah has moved to the U.S. permanently and told Newsweek , `` I 've always wanted to be a comedian in the world . I do n't want to be labeled a South African comedian . '' On `` The Daily Show , '' he debuted as a correspondent with a bit titled `` Spot the Africa , '' which juxtaposed modern-day South Africa and the United States . What remains to be seen is whether what the Guardian has described as `` his combination of terribly polite , butter-wouldn't-melt stage presence and biting , often brutal gags '' will translate into success on `` The Daily Show . ''
Noah is the son of a black Statesn woman and a white Swiss man . He 's very popular in States . Noah 's act often focuses on race and ethnicity .