Since 2011 Noah has been living in the United States, where his talent for challenging the establishment didn’t go unnoticed. The emergence of a new generation of socially committed Black comedians in South Africa who explore racism and the legacy of colonialism was soon labelled the ‘Trevor Noah effect’. After his early success, he proved himself to be an inspiration to budding talents and a curator of comedy shows in Africa. His solo shows, among them The Daywalker (2009), Crazy Normal (2011), That’s Racist (2012) and It’s My Culture (2013), quickly became hugely popular in South Africa and beyond. Noah made his breakthrough with his stand-up comedy at a young age. Instead of reacting to injustice with cynicism, Noah exposes its absurdities, and combats these struggles with the liberating power of laughter. In his autobiography ‘Born a Crime’, Noah describes how, as a child with a black Xhosa mother and a white Swiss father during the Apartheid era, he was confronted early on in his life with institutionalized racism and violence. As a humourist, television presenter, political commentator, philanthropist and author, he has staked his claim in the world of contemporary political satire. Trevor Noah is a South African comedian of international stature. With his sharp-minded, mocking yet inclusive political comedy, Noah, in the eyes of the jury, upholds the ‘Erasmian Spirit.’

He receives the prize for his inspired contribution to the theme ‘In Praise of Folly,’ named after Erasmus’s most famous book, which is filled with humour, social criticism and political satire. The Praemium Erasmianum Foundation has awarded the Erasmus Prize 2023 to the South African comedian Trevor Noah (b. Chaplin Sir Grahame Clark René David Alan Davidson Jacques Delors Paul Delouvrier Daniel Dennett Barbara Ehrenreich Benjamin Ferencz Péter Forgács Sir Ernst Gombrich David Grossman Romano Guardini Jürgen Habermas Bernard Haitink Nikolaus Harnoncourt Václav Havel René Huyghe International Commission of Jurists Karl Jaspers Werner Kaegi Mauricio Kagel Alexander King Oskar Kokoschka Leszek Kolakowski Michèle Lamont Jacques Ledoux Gustav Leonhardt Claude Lévi-Strauss Frie Leysen Claudio Magris Hans van Manen Gabriel Marcel William McNeill Fatema Mernissi Olivier Messiaen Adam Michnik Jean Monnet Henry Moore Trevor Noah The Austrian people Massimo Pallottino Grayson Perry Jean Piaget Renzo Piano Sigmar Polke Puppet Theatre Jean Prouvé Sir Herbert Read Mary Robinson Willem Sandberg Simon Schaffer Hans Scharoun Edward Schillebeeckx Robert Schuman Peter Sellars Steven Shapin Abdulkarim Soroush Peter Stein Jan Tinbergen Union Académique Internationale Dame Ninette de Valois Carl Friedrich von Weizsäcker Simon Wiesenthal Wikipedia Marguerite Yourcenar Die Zeit, Neue Zürcher Zeitung × Byatt Antonio Cassese Marc Chagall Sir Charles S. José Antonio Abreu John Adams Sadik Al-Azm Amnesty International Archivo General de Indias Raymond Aron Bernd en Hilla Becher Maurice Béjart Ingmar Bergman Sir Isaiah Berlin Pierre Bernard Martin Buber Ian Buruma Joan Busquets A.S.

Daywalkers trevor noah