NEW YORK (AP) – For someone who uses the word “terrified,” Trevor Noah looks anything but.
Just days before he takes over the “The Daily Show” anchor chair from Jon Stewart, TV’s toughest act to follow, Noah is willing to acknowledge “it isn’t easy to reboot and recreate a new show from an old show in just five weeks.”
Which he has been obliged to do, stepping in as host on Monday at 11 p.m. EDT on Comedy Central little more than a month after Stewart ended 16 years as the nation’s court jester who molded “The Daily Show” in his own savvy image.
Still, Noah looks calm as he greets a reporter in his not-quite-settled-into office at the network’s so-called World News Headquarters.
“The joke we have in the building is that I’m the Boy King with a lot of responsibility,” he says, “but with a lot of great people who can guide me.”