Comedy Central drops a surprise by announcing Trevor Noah (pictured) will replace Jon Stewart; young musicians from L.A. and Fukushima get to work with Gustavo Dudamel; Dreamworks gets a much-needed hit with "Home"; transgender actors are much in demand during TV pilot season.
Where did Trevor Noah come from? This South African comedy scene, that's where
If you heard a loud, collective Who? coming from show biz circles Monday morning, that was the reaction to the news that a 31-year-old South African comic named Trevor Noah will replace Jon Stewart as host on "The Daily Show" later this year.
Comedy Central is going with a largely unknown personality who only recently started making a few appearances on the show as its Senior International Correspondent. One person who is aware of Noah is Baz Dreisinger. She’s an associate professor at John Jay College in New York and a journalist who wrote about the South African comedy scene for The New York Times earlier this month.
The Frame's John Horn spoke with Dreisinger about Noah's ability to host "The Daily Show," the comedy scene in South Africa, and whether Noah could have the same impact as Stewart on the influential late night talk show:
INTERVIEW HIGHLIGHTS:
You recently wrote about the comedy scene in South Africa that Trevor Noah has emerged from, so tell us a little bit about what that scene is like.
It's a scene that's emerged in the past 20 years or so, post-apartheid. And it's pretty exciting and revolutionary, because prior to the growth of this scene, there was almost no black comedy in the public sphere in South Africa at all. And then you had a group of black and mixed-race comedians who were pushing the boundaries of what could be joked about in post-apartheid South Africa. So you had black comedians on the stage for the first time, and you also had them making radical strides in talking about things like race, identity and politics in South Africa.
We know a lot about what Jon Stewart is like. He's someone who can sit down with the President of the United States and talk about international events, and he can also take on Fox News and deal with their coverage of the world. How would you compare Trevor to Jon Stewart? What are his strengths and liabilities that he has coming into this job?
His strengths are that he's absolutely incisive and witty in a non-threatening way. He's certainly easy on the eyes and has a sweet demeanor that allows him to be cutting and critical and get away with saying things in a very powerful way. Certainly he's coming from the context of South Africa, so I think the drawbacks would be that people might look at him and say, Oh, he's not going to know about politics beyond South Africa. I find that ludicrous because South Africa is an absolutely cosmopolitan, globally-minded place with a sense of what's happening in America and around the globe. I have total confidence that he'll be able to fill Jon Stewart's shoes.
Why do you think he's a good fit for the show?
I think his very uniqueness and the fact that he's not coming in with a whole lot of baggage is what allows him to do something that's similar to Jon Stewart, but also different. I think it would be a problem if we had someone coming in who was trying to be the next Jon Stewart. Trevor Noah is not coming from that place at all — he has it in him to be political and he comes from the context of political comedy too. I think it's useful that he's different from Jon Stewart in so many ways, so people aren't going to look for him to just be a replica.
Do you think that Trevor can have the same sort of impact on conversations surrounding politics and media that Jon Stewart has had?
Jon Stewart built the platform for that show, so the power of the show is already there. I think it would be a different story if Trevor Noah had to come in and be this new guy with this new show and this new concept. But given that people are already fans, he has this niche to fall into and bring his gifts to the table. So I'm completely confident, and I think he's going to bring incredible things to the table.
Transgender actors are in demand for TV's pilot season
It’s another busy pilot season for casting director Risa Bramon Garcia. And with close to two dozen shows on her résumé from "Rosanne" to "Masters of Sex," she knows a trend when she spots one.
"It seems to have just happened," Garcia says. "It’s been creeping along slowly. I think it just exploded with 'Orange Is The New Black,' followed up by 'Transparent.'"
She’s talking about calls for transgender characters, which are often cast with actors identifying as trans themselves. People like Christopher Aguilar, who lives as both a man and woman.
Recalling his audition track record, Aguilar says: “It went from [none] three years ago. Two years ago I had one, and now, this year alone, I’ve already had four.”
In an Orange County coffee shop, Aguilar explains that in the past, those trans parts weren’t always what you’d call multi-dimensional, like the time he had sex in a bathroom stall on "Shameless," or was a human punch line on "Mike and Molly" their friend made out with by mistake.
But this year, Aguilar says the roles are more about character.
"I feel like its time for trans people to be present, to own the fact that they don’t have to be represented by our genital makeup," Aguilar says. "We’re people with souls, and we want to feel confident, and for some reason I feel more confident wearing a dress."
People credit two shows with starting this trend: "Transparent," about a father of grown kids who comes out as trans; and "Orange is the New Black," which features breakout star Laverne Cox as a transgender prisoner.
Paul Hilepo is Cox’s agent. He points to a CBS pilot Cox was just cast in as another sign of progress.
"She being trans is not like the focal point of her character," Hilepo says. "She’s an attorney, one of a handful, she happens to be trans, just like an actor happens to be Asian or female. It’s secondary to the fact that they created a legal drama and they want an interesting and qualified actress to play the role."
Casting director Garcia says it’s not a case of networks suddenly realizing the trans demographic is so underserved or valuable, it’s that Hollywood likes to copy anything that’s a critical success.
“It does come from a place of these are the boxes you have to check," Garcia says. "There is a lot of pressure on the networks to do the right thing. But they are cutting edge, the work is excellent, and what everyone looks to is [trying to] touch on that because they feel the pulse of success.”
There’s even a term for it. It’s called “outcasting” and the stats show it’s growing. According to the most recent GLAAD survey of the upcoming TV season, 3.9 percent of series regulars will be lesbian, gay or bi-sexual or trans, up from 3.3 percent the year before. But that figure doesn’t tell the whole story.
The survey doesn’t breakdown the many LGBT characters on "Orange is the New Black" or "Transparent," which both stream online but aren’t considered primetime broadcast television. Nick Adams from GLAAD says that data will be included in next year’s survey. And he points out that parts in pilots are great, but that doesn’t mean the shows will make it onto the Fall lineup.
“There has been a great inclusion of LGBT characters on TV, but there are still no regular trans gendered characters on cable or broadcast show, characters on network or cable," Adams says. "We’re still at the very beginning stages of talking about transgendered representations.”
Alexandra Billings is the trans actor who plays the role of Davina on "Transparent," the woman who mentors Jeffrey Tambor in the ways of owning his female identity. She says while there is more acceptance, there’s also more backlash, and, in her case, lots more hate mail.
“It’s unbelievable," Billings says. “Calling me names, throwing the bible at me, all kinds of terrible things. It’s never been this bad.”
And then there’s the backlash from within the transgender community itself.
When Jared Leto won an Oscar for playing a trans character in "Dallas Buyers Club," some people in the community were upset he had taken a part that could have been filled by one of their own. And on "Transparent," despite the presence of many trans actors, creator Jill Soloway has taken heat for casting non-trans actor Tambor in the lead role.
Billings says in the end it’s a trade-off, but one she’s happy to be a part of.
"Should only transgender actors play transgender roles?" Billings says. "I don’t think so. Do I think it’s more honest to our community? Yes, of course, but as long as our stories are being told with compassion and kindness, then I would rather they be told, period.
Young musicians meet Gustavo Dudamel, up close and personal
Audiences at Tokyo’s elegant Suntory Hall aren't used to seeing a world-class conductor take the stage in a T-shirt and sneakers.
But that’s what they got Sunday morning, when L.A. Philharmonic music and artistic director Gustavo Dudamel led a public rehearsal for an orchestra of 15 Los Angeles teenagers and 58 young musicians from Soma, a town in Japan’s devastated Fukushima region. On the program: the fourth movement of Dvorak’s Eighth Symphony.
Things got off to a bit of a slow start, forcing Dudamel to remind his musicians: "Think in the way you want to project the sound. Because it’s not this kind of pah. Breathe. It's very noble."
Dudamel was wearing a microphone, so the audience could hear him urging and cajoling the young musicians through an initial run-through of the piece. To get cellists to play one passage in a lyrical, flowing style called cantabile, he asked them to sing the music: "Without the notes. One, two ... [sings]. You have to play how you sing. So you have to use more bow and be more cantabile."
Dudamel told the musicians to think of one section featuring trumpets and cellos as an active dialogue between the instruments, though the dialogue wasn't necessarily a polite one. Dudamel was demanding and precise, but at the same time warm and funny. He even had fun with the Japanese translator, encouraging her to sing some of the piece.
Mirga Grazinyte-Tyla is the L.A. Philharmonic’s assistant conductor. She watched the rehearsal and said: "Think of how smart and how creative that is that he let her sing and let the kids in the viola section and in the whole orchestra listen to that, how she can do it as well."
Grazinyte-Tyla says a conductor’s ultimate job is to communicate with the orchestra using whatever tools he can find — it may be just be a quick glance or body language, invisible to the audience.
Ariana Ghez, who plays principal oboe with the Phil, knows just what Dudamel or guest conductors are telling her. "They just look at me and they gesture, and I can understand what they want and I can do it," she said. "Then they can communicate back that I did what they wanted, and it all takes place in a matter of seconds."
Thomas Hooten plays principal trumpet with the Philharmonic, and he's gotten used to reading Dudamel's body language as well. He explained: "There's this amazing part of Mahler's Sixth Symphony [one of the pieces the orchestra performed on this tour] where the trumpets bring the orchestra to a climax, and Dudamel looks back at me and he kind of throws his chin up. Without a doubt, he’s saying, This is a triumphal moment. That is just inspiring when you have that kind of nonverbal communication."
Dudamel pushed the combined youth orchestras from L. A. and Fukushima as the music galloped to a finish, which received rapturous applause from the audience. Kevin Im, a tuba player with Youth Orchestra Los Angeles, said his first thought was: "Wow, they’re applauding for us for such a long time."
Other YOLA members shared his feelings of shock. Flutist Daniel Egwurube said, "I never thought music would take me to Japan. I never thought music would take me anywhere close to where it’s taken me now. All I can think about is just, wow."
What was it like being guided by Gustavo Dudamel? Daniel remembered feeling like "There’s just a light that spreads out from him, and he just wants you to do well. You can sense that." Samantha Rosas, who plays the viola, said that Dudamel "just gives off really great energy and it’s really fun to play with him."
And for the young Japanese musicians who hadn't worked with Dudamel before, what was it like to make adjustments instantly? A translator for cellist Nina Satoh said: "When she focuses on the bow, she forgets the fingers. And when she concentrates on the fingers, she forgets the bow."
But clarinetist Edson Natareno had it worse — he had gastritis and almost had to miss the concert. "Right in the very beginning I thought I was going to pass out," Natarano said. "It was scary. I was thinking, Are they going to stop this entire thing for me? Thankfully I made it through and I’m standing tall."
Yohai Asaoka, the conductor for El Sistema Japan, said he’s proud of his group, which includes children as young as seven. And he had some considered praise for Dudamel. "[He] talks from his heart," Asaola said. "So honest. There is no lie. There are so many good conductors, but he is special."