Trevor Noah: The Racist @ The Lowry, Salford, 11 January

Review by John Stansfield | 20 Jan 2014

In another person’s hands the story of a mixed-race child growing up in apartheid-era South Africa could have been a tear-jerking, maudlin slog through the Dark Continent's darker times. As a child of two worlds who has never truly been accepted by either, Trevor Noah could milk his upbringing in Soweto for sympathy; but it is with love that he speaks of the community he was raised in. Stories in which there shouldn’t be laughs are mined for gold by Noah’s pinpoint-accurate observations about what it is to be a child no matter what your surroundings.

Tonight's show is powerful in its understated delivery. Noah's easygoing style disarms his audience – especially when he is speaking of tough situations he was placed in as a child. A joke about his father having to walk on the opposite side of the road to him due to his being white is funnier than that notion gives it any right to be.

A combination of being a foreigner in a strange and wonderful land (even Burnley didn’t seem to faze him in one anecdote), and growing up as a “half-caste” in a place where there was a strict dividing line between white and black, contributed to a position that immediately marked Noah as an outsider – this has given him a great comedic slant on a world that he stands back and views just as much as he participates in it.

The only problem with this evening is that the intermission imposed on Noah halts the momentum of the first half, and makes it difficult for him to get the crowd going again. It's an unnecessary interruption, as 30 minutes could have been trimmed from the running time to form what would have been a fine hour – similar to what Edinburgh audiences were treated to at last year's Fringe.

http://www.trevornoah.com