What Now? with Trevor Noah
Trevor currently hosts a weekly podcast titled What Now? with Trevor Noah. In this new podcast, listeners get a chance to hear Trevor like never before. Trevor is joined each episode by celebrities, thought leaders, athletes, and friends to chat about the contemporary topics on everyone’s minds. He brings the kinds of conversations that happen behind the scenes to light - full of radical candor, authentic back-and-forths, and honest reactions, with Trevor bringing to bear his classic, effortlessly playful and equally probing style.
Get in touch with us! Send your voice recordings to whatnow@dayzeroproductions.com with suggestions for topics, guests, or what you would do If You Ruled the World and we may just use it on the show!
Subscribe to SiriusXM Podcasts+ to listen to new episodes of What Now ad-free. Start a free trial now on Apple Podcasts or by visiting siriusxm.com/podcastsplus.
26
The Ozempic Obsession with Jia Tolentino (ARCHI...
Happy New Year! To get the year started off right, we’re re-publishing one of our favorite episodes from 2024. Trevor and Christiana chatted with Jia Tolentino in May of last year; 8 months later, and Ozempic is still a hot topic.
Ozempic. It started with a lizard, and then transformed into a drug that, depending on who you ask, is either a miracle or the downfall of society. New Yorker writer and cultural critic Jia Tolentino joins Trevor and Christiana to give context on the media circus surrounding weight loss drugs, and how Ozempic is changing the conversation around fatness in America.
49 min
27
Why Are All Bosses Idiots? with Simon Sinek
Trevor, Christiana, and author/inspirational speaker Simon Sinek delve into the paradox of why the smartest and most competent people at a company are often not its leaders. They also dissect whether office gossip is essential oral history or the literal tool of destruction of a company, and how (and why) Milton Friedman ruined value based capitalism.
75 min
28
UnitedHealthcare Assassin: Italians Are Black A...
In the wake of the killing of UnitedHealthcare’s CEO, the internet is awash with hot takes on health insurance and hot memes of everyone’s favorite assassin-bae. The facts may still be developing, but that’s not stopping Trevor, Christiana, and Josh from sharing their “sweeping judgements” on the matter. Is Luigi Mangione guilty? Not guilty? Hot guilty?
66 min
29
How To Be The Most Healed Guy with Neal Brennan
Trevor and Christiana sit down with Chappelle's Show co-creator and former Daily Show colleague Neal Brennan. The three friends discuss the importance of familial dysfunction to a life of comedy, whether jokes about racism, sexism, transphobia, and the like help or hurt move the human race forward in today’s climate, and the rise and fall of anger as a way of life. Well, of Neal’s life.
74 min
30
If You Ruled the World: A Listener Grab Bag
On Thanksgiving week, we give thanks to our listeners with a bonus episode where Trevor, Christiana, and Josh weigh in on your suggestions for their favorite game, If I Ruled the World. Suffice it to say the trio doesn’t hold back. Enjoy, thank you for being a listener, and Happy Thanksgiving!!
24 min
31
Love on a Timeline with Esther Perel
Trevor enlists the help of noted therapist Esther Perel to help design the perfect relationship model. They talk through all the phases–where to find someone, the perfect date, defining the relationship, weathering storms, sex, and even how to end things. Nothing’s off the table!
52 min
32
Tight Values, Loose Ideas with Malcolm Gladwell
Malcolm Gladwell sits down with Trevor and Christiana to discuss his new book, and why values should be held tightly but ideas should be held loosely. The trio also delve into the importance of television in shaping culture, and into their respective African roots (yes, Malcolm has African roots).
52 min
33
Harris v. Trump: The Day After with Tressie McM...
Donald Trump will be president again. Trevor, Christiana, and Josh are joined once again by Tressie McMillan Cottom to puzzle through whether Trump won this election, or Harris lost it. Plus, they offer their picks for the best post-election playlist ever.
61 min
34
Harris v. Trump: The Week Before with Tressie M...
Trevor and Christiana call on Tressie McMillan Cottom to help them make sense of the final week before the US presidential election. Together, they unpack Trump’s rally at Madison Square Garden, why certain groups are planning to vote against their own interests, and how Tucker Carlson’s web browser history may be impacting his politics. Fortunately we can all exhale next week. Or not.
62 min
35
What’s In An Accent with Lupita Nyong’o
Lupita Nyong’o joins Trevor and Christiana to discuss her new podcast and its colorful stories of the African diaspora. The three also discuss their multifaceted identities, why Lupita refuses to expect rejection, and get into a debate for the ages–can they crown a “best” African country.
61 min
36
For Kids or Anyone Who’s Ever Been a Kid
With the release of Trevor’s new children’s book “Into the Uncut Grass”, Trevor sits down with some actual kids, plus Christiana and Josh, to discuss what being a kid is like from their perspective, what adults often get wrong about being a child, and whether it really takes a village to raise them right.
52 min
37
Have We Missed The Message? with Ta-Nehisi Coates
Bestselling author Ta-Nehisi Coates joins Trevor and Christiana to discuss his new book about how the stories we tell, and the ones we don’t, shape our realities. They also unpack the jaw-dropping CBS interview that followed the book’s release, and our elusive search as a people to see the humanity in others.
68 min
38
Making Bureaucracies Sexier with Yuval Noah Harari
Trevor and Christiana speak with Yuval Noah Harari, whose latest book, Nexus, asks, if humans are so smart, why do we do so many stupid things? The three of them interrogate truth vs. fact, the threats and promises of AI, and how these questions connect to global issues like the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.
83 min
39
Tripping Past Your Ego with Michael Pollan
Trevor enlists the help of journalist and author Michael Pollan (This is Your Mind on Plants, Omnivore’s Dilemma) as they try to convince Christiana of the positive impacts of therapeutic psychedelics and their current standing in society. Do they succeed? You be the judge.
57 min
40
Revenge of the Tourists with Rajan Datar
Trevor and Christiana are joined by travel journalist Rajan Datar to tackle the perennial summer question around the world: what’s with all these tourists, anyway? Governments, water gun-toting Spaniards, and 10,000 Elsas weigh in.
48 min
41
Harris-Trump Debate Debrief with Tressie McMill...
Trevor, Christiana, Josh, and NY Times columnist (and friend of the show) Tressie McMillan Cottom break down last night’s presidential debate. Together they unpack whether Trump still has his finger on the pulse or has lost his touch, Christiana explains the real reason Trump was befuddled by Kamala, and the group ponders where we go from here.
57 min
42
The Elon Effect
Elon Musk is officially beefing with the Brazilian government and of course Trevor, Christiana, and Josh have lots to say about it. In the wake of the X ban, they discuss how Elon’s past circumstances color his world view, the phenomena of powerful white men who feel powerless, and whether Elon deserves, dare they say it, some empathy.
53 min
43
The Trad Wife Paradox with Anne Helen Petersen
Trevor, Christiana, and noted writer and journalist Anne Helen Petersen discuss the growing #tradwife trend, the ideological conviction that a woman’s sole and highest purpose is to be her spouse’s modest, subservient helpmate, and that anything less is ungodly. Why do more women now seem to be taking on this mantle? Are cleaning, cooking, and total submission truly the path to godliness, or have we fallen so far off the societal cliff that women are simply exhausted?
56 min
44
If I Ruled the World: Petty is Power
The gang’s back with another If I Ruled the World. Christiana’s advocating for subsidized (and mandatory) world travel, Trevor’s looking to nix required friendliness, and Josh thinks the world should be a little more petty. Everyone’s in top form.
60 min
45
Adam Grant Gives Trevor An Intellectual Wedgie
What do you do when your values are tested? Trevor and organizational psychologist Adam Grant discuss this very timely question, as well the importance of discourse in reducing prejudice, the science of keeping an open mind, and whether Trevor might have missed his true calling.
52 min
46
Trevor's In Paris, But Not At The Olympics?!
Trevor, Christiana, and Josh talk all things Olympics: the wins, the viral moments, what in the world is 3 on 3 basketball, and how Trevor is in Paris but decided not to attend in person. One thing they can all agree on: this episode, per the GOAT Simone Biles, they aren’t asking “What Now”?
53 min
47
Control Your Scroll with Jiore Craig
When it comes to disinformation, our first instinct is often to ask is this real or fake? But disinformation expert Jiore Craig says that way of thinking misses a much bigger problem. Trevor, Christiana, and Jiore examine how political powers and corporations use information channels to push their agendas, and how we can start pushing back on the systems enabling lies.
53 min
48
The Kamala Question with Tressie McMillan Cottom
Sociologist and NYT columnist Tressie McMillan Cottom joins Trevor, Christiana, and Josh as they unpack Biden dropping out, Kamala’s nomination, and where we’re at in this ever evolving (some might say devolving) political landscape.
48 min
49
The Trump Assassination Attempt: What Now?
Trevor and Christiana are joined by Jody Avirgan, one of What Now?’s Executive Producers. In the wake of the July 13th assassination attempt on Donald Trump, they discuss people’s fascination with how the event “moves the plot forward,” the impact of the media’s need to feed the 24-hour news cycle with “developing story” updates (both accurate and inaccurate), and whether the greater issue at stake is actually America’s self-image and a failure to learn from historic moments.
45 min
50
Questlove Isn't Manif*cking Around
DJ, drummer, author, and Roots frontman Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson and Trevor discuss “50 Years of Hip Hop” at the Grammys and his book Hip Hop is History. Questlove also divulges to Trevor the names of all 432 people who get his weekly playlist (no he doesn’t) and reveals all the celebrities who come to his legendary game nights (he doesn’t reveal that either but it’s still a fantastic conversation).
58 min