Career – After moving to New York City, he began acting in television shows such as Law & Order and Third Watch, in addition to some theater work and voice acting, After taking a break from acting to build a house, he was hired by Rockstar Games as the voice and motion capture artist for Trevor Philips in their 2013 video game Grand Theft Auto V,
- His character was critically acclaimed and he received numerous award nominations as a result.
- In February 2014, he received an award on the 3rd Annual New York Videogame Critics Circle Awards for Best Overall Acting in a Game.
- Ogg later reprised his role in the 2016 YouTube short film GTA VR,
- In The Walking Dead season 6 finale, he made his debut as Simon, a member of the Saviors and one of the main antagonists in season 7.
Ogg also portrayed Rebus in the HBO series Westworld, and provides the voice of Professor Venomous, in Cartoon Network ‘s animated series OK K.O.! Let’s Be Heroes, In 2019, Ogg portrayed Flexon in the second season of the 2016 series The Tick, Ogg noted in an interview that he is aware of being typecast as “the crazy guy, the unpredictable guy”, though he did not mind this if it led to steady work.
View complete answer
Contents
What mental illness does Trevor have?
9 Shows Classic Signs of Intermittent Explosive Disorder – via youtube.com (Darkwraith Turk) While a lot of the actions of Trevor within the game may appear completely random in the same way that the actions of the third type of player appear random, the truth is a lot of the things done by hot-headed Mr. Philips fall neatly under the category of a mental disorder known as Intermittent Explosive Disorder,
The condition reveals itself in the frequent episodes of impulsive behavior that Trevor has in which he goes on a rampage with no thought spared for what or who around him might get hurt. Also, a classic pattern of the disease deals with the patient reacting with extreme anger in a grossly disproportionate manner to a slight provocation.
Finally, the violence that Trevor displays at regular intervals when he appears to completely lose all semblance of impulse control also point towards him suffering from the condition.
View complete answer
What did Steven Ogg do?
Steven Ogg – IMDb He is an acclaimed Canadian voice and motion capture artist for the hit game in the role of Trevor Philips. He was nominated in numerous events for the role including a VGX nomination for Best Voice Actor. He was born in Calgary, Alberta, Canada on November 4, 1973.
Before fame, He first appeared on screen as part of a promotion for the National Film Board of Canada. He made his professional debut in an episode of, In an amazing trivia, He had roles on television series such as Unforgettable as Larry Yablonski and Broad City as a creepy locksmith. He appeared in a season 3 episode of the James Caviezel starring CBS drama,
Ogg began his acting career in an advertisement for the National Film Board of Canada, before working in various theater productions. Following this, he became more focused on a career in sports, before an injury prevented him from pursuing such a career.
After moving to New York, Ogg began acting professionally, starring in television shows such as and, in addition to some theater work and voice acting. After taking a break from acting so that he could build a house, Ogg was hired by Rockstar Games to as the voice actor and motion capture artist for Trevor Philips in their video game,
Following the release of the game, Ogg’s character was critically acclaimed, and he later had various public appearances, due to his portrayal. : Steven Ogg – IMDb
View complete answer
Will GTA 6 have Trevor?
Trevor Phillips (born 1968) is the tritagonist and one of the seven playable characters in Grand Theft Auto VI.
View complete answer
Who voiced Franklin in GTA?
Shawn Fonteno – IMDb Shawn D. “Solo” Fonteno is an African-American actor, voice actor, DJ rapper and recording artist who is best known as the voice and the acting performer of Franklin Clinton from the video game Grand Theft Auto V (2013). Fonteno’s performance in Grand Theft Auto V was mainly recorded using motion capture technology.
He is perhaps most well known for providing his voice for the character of Franklin Clinton in the hit video game Grand Theft Auto V, he previously lent his voice for the part of a gangster in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas.Shawn was born on April 8, 1968 in South Los Angeles, California, and raised in Watts, California.
He grew up in the Los Angeles residential neighborhood of Watts, home to much of the African-American black population in LA and began joining an African-American street gang and started selling drugs before a near-fatal shooting prompted him to leave gangsters and turn his life around.
He had truly faced the dangers and demons of a gang banging thug life. While he was a gang member (or gang banger) and drug dealer, he was also a thief and a car stealer and all the gangster stuff Franklin did in GTA 5 was more or less what Shawn did in his early teen years. After dabbling in music and movies, Fonteno was recruited to help Rockstar by friend DJ Pooh, a consultant for Grand Theft Auto V and co-producer and writer for San Andreas (fans of the movie Friday might remember him as the character Red).
Initially, Fonteno sought out and helped other actors vying for the role of Franklin, but eventually ended up with the role himself after several weeks. For Fonteno, his acting skills were a bit rusty. His last role was in the 2001 film The Wash, so he leveraged the experience of Luke and Ogg to improve his techniques.
The process is real deep,” says Fonteno. “It’s just conditioning yourself to imagine what’s going on in a square room – and you have to imagine it’s a living room, and you have to close your eyes and imagine acting inside a real living room.” Fonteno hopes to parlay his work on GTA V toward a larger acting career, while Ogg and Luke say working on the game has reignited their passions for acting.He is the older cousin of Young Maylay, the voice of Carl Johnson and also a rapper.
He has 1 daughter, Bria Fonteno and his father is Thomas FontenoBefore fame and starting his acting career, he has worked on movies such as Dead Homiez (1996), Three Strikes (or 3 Strikes in 2000) and in The Wash (2001). He also used to be part of a rap group called Kam&Solo.
View complete answer
What drugs is Trevor on?
Protagonists – It should also be noted that most of Grand Theft Auto’s protagonists are against using drugs, though they frequently deal with them on a business level. Claude Speed is the first protagonist known to do drugs, though he is only seen doing so briefly in GTA 2: The Movie,
Claude is possibly against drugs, as throughout the storyline he weakens the distribution of SPANK and kills dealers distributing it. Under the player’s control, he can take adrenaline pills, Tommy Vercetti has no problem with drug trade and selling, although he is against drug usage on a personal level. During the mission Boomshine Saigon, he even advises Phil to “lay off” boomshine, Tommy smokes cigarettes, takes Adrenaline pills (under the player’s control), possibly drinks alcohol as he has alcohol bottles in his mansion, drinks coffee as he asks Umberto Robina if he can get a cup of coffee in Trojan Voodoo and possibly drinks tea as he accepts the drugged juice from Auntie Poulet in three different missions, thinking it is a cup of tea. He also collects drugs packages and has some stashed cocaine in his hotel room. Carl Johnson despises drugs, as one of the main premises of San Andreas is getting crack, crackheads, and crack dealers out of Los Santos to make it a better place. Ryder tries a few times to get Carl to smoke a marijuana joint laced with PCP which Carl always declines, saying ” I don’t fuck with that shit, man.” or ” No, man. I’m cool on that.” He also declines an offer for a bong hit from Tenpenny in Body Harvest, Between the missions Are You Going to San Fierro? and Yay-Ka-Boom-Boom, Carl has the option to intercept drug packages and cash couriers travelling cross-country between the crack factory in San Fierro and Big Smoke’s Crack Palace in Los Santos. This is also reinforced by the fact that there are no Adrenaline Pill pickups in the game as they would technically be considered drugs. Originally, Carl was to be able to smoke marijuana under the player’s control, but this feature was cut before the game’s release and is not necessarily canon to the character. It, however, is implied that Carl smokes Marijuana, at least off camera. In the mission Mike Toreno, Mike Toreno is suspicious of him and asks for his wallet. After, Carl comments “Hey, there was a dub in there, it better still be there when I check it” referring to a Dub, or 1.2 grams of Marijuana. In the mission Fish in a Barrel he drinks an unknown alcoholic beverage with Wu Zi Mu and Ran Fa Li, He drinks beer and possibly coffee. Carl’s statement in the mission Mike Toreno, the “Leaf Chain” he can purchase in Zip and a marijuana leaf tattoo he can acquire in Tattoo Parlors might be remnants of a stage in development where he was not against drugs. Toni Cipriani has no qualms being associated with a gang that’s associated with the drug trade, although he has not been seen using them. He seems to have knowledge of some drug slang and uncommon hallucinogens, as he asked Maria (his boss Salvatore ‘s wife) if she had taken any “Smack, Downers, Ludes, A little too much Trumpet, Not enough Diceypam? ” referring to Heroin, Anti-Depressants, Hypnotics (Methaqualone) and even likely hallucinogenic plants and Valium, though he’s not aware of the existence of ” Zap ” (a drug that Maria mentions). Victor Vance despises drugs, and is extremely uncomfortable selling drugs or even being around them. At the end of the game, when Lance reveals that he has obtained twenty kilograms of cocaine to sell, Victor immediately refuses to participate, saying ” No, no, no! I am not interested, got it? ” to which Lance replies ” Okay, man. Whatever you say.”. Despite claiming to be against selling drugs, Victor can establish business fronts for the sole purposes of smuggling drugs, and manufacturing, and distributing them (under the player’s control) and still participates in a drug deal in 1986, Niko Bellic is against drugs on a personal level and declines an offer to smoke a marijuana joint from Little Jacob on many occasions. He also immediately refuses the cocaine Vlad offers him in Clean Getaway, He is, however, perfectly comfortable selling drugs and being around drugs and the people who use and/or sell them. In the mission Rigged to Blow, he drinks tea with Ilyena Faustin, Niko also drinks vodka and possibly coffee. Johnny Klebitz was mostly against drugs during the events of Grand Theft Auto IV, The Lost and Damned, and The Ballad of Gay Tony, blaming most of the Lost MC’s problems on Billy Grey ‘s heroin addiction, and likewise blaming his breakup with Ashley Butler on her crystal meth addiction; He declines an offer for a bong hit from Billy in It’s War, though his dialogue with strippers during private dances reveals Johnny is a marijuana smoker. However, after the events of The Lost and Damned and before the events of Grand Theft Auto V, Johnny ends up smoking meth and becoming addicted just like Ashley and most of the rest of the Lost. It is shown a few times that Johnny has no problem with selling drugs, once saying ” Nothin’ like sellin’ some dope to let ya know you’re alive.” Johnny also drinks alcohol. Luis Fernando Lopez is against drugs, as he tries numerous times to convince Armando and Henrique to get real jobs instead of selling drugs (as seen in Corner Kids ), but still helps them steal drugs in the Drug Wars side-missions for money (under the player’s control). Luis blames their business falling apart on Tony Prince ‘s addiction to cocaine and painkillers, after the duo survive an ordeal with the triads in Chinese Takeout Tony states that he needs his painkillers to which Luis says ” Don’t take that shit, T. I’m serious.”. Luis also declines the cocaine Yusuf Amir offers him in the mission Sexy Time, Also when Ray Bulgarin asks Luis where the drugs in the club come in from in Boulevard Baby Luis immediately says ” I don’t know about that shit, man. I just make sure people don’t get killed.” Luis also drinks alcohol. Huang Lee is warned by his uncle Wu Lee not to get involved in drug dealing during Tricks of the Triad, out of fear that he would become an addict, but Huang assures his uncle that he won’t start using drugs himself. When the player reads some of the mission replay summaries, Huang states in them that he is dealing drugs solely for profit, since Liberty City is full of ” crackheads, deadbeats, and junkies.”. Michael De Santa claims to be against marijuana himself, as he gets quite annoyed at the fact that his son does frequently smoke it. He also claims that if it is the ” Standard for goodness ” in America today, then, in his words, ” No wonder this country is screwed. ” Although he claims to have these negative views on marijuana, he still smokes it from a bong in his son’s room, under the player’s control and also smokes marijuana in the first Grass Roots mission. While hanging out, after his family returns to him, it is revealed Michael is not against selling drugs; He is disappointed to learn Jimmy stopped selling marijuana, saying that he only wanted Jimmy to stop smoking it and that Jimmy needed some form of income to support himself. Michael also smokes cigarettes and cigars, eats peyote plants, drinks coffee, beer, whiskey and possibly some other alcoholic beverages. He does reveal to Franklin that he used to do cocaine on occasions before. Franklin Clinton is a frequent marijuana smoker himself and is the second known Protagonist in the entire series to smoke it at his own will. This could be the reason why he does not seem to be affected by Barry ‘s weed during Grass Roots mission, unlike the other protagonists. Franklin seems to be mostly against selling drugs, as he briefly chastises Lamar for “slinging dope” in Franklin and Lamar ; Despite this, he can purchase a marijuana dispensary which legally sells marijuana. Franklin also smokes cigarettes, eats peyote plants, drinks beer, red wine, whiskey and possibly some other alcoholic beverages. Trevor Philips is a frequent methamphetamine user, and is the first protagonist in the entire series to smoke it at his own will. His business also distributes in meth and marijuana, among other drugs, in addition to guns. Trevor also smokes cigarettes and cigars, eats peyote plants, drinks beer, whiskey and possibly some other alcoholic beverages, and also huffs/sniffs gasoline. The GTA Online Protagonist is a frequent marijuana smoker and bull shark testosterone user. This makes them the third known protagonist to smoke marijuana at their own will and the first one to use steroids. The Protagonist also smokes cigarettes, eats chocolate, drinks cola, beer, whiskey and red wine.
Why is Lester in a wheelchair?
Biography – Lester suffers from a wasting disease which has gradually worn down his motor skills during his life and left him wheelchair-bound, though he is able to walk short distances with the use of a cane. Due to his limited mobility, Lester has grown considerably overweight, and he also suffers from asthma.
View complete answer
Is Michael in GTA 6?
Michael De Santa in:, Michael De Santa (born 1965) was the main protagonist and one of the seven playable characters in Grand Theft Auto VI.
View complete answer
Who is Trevor based on?
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Trevor Philips | |
---|---|
Grand Theft Auto character | |
Trevor Philips in a promotional artwork for Grand Theft Auto V | |
First appearance | Grand Theft Auto V (2013) |
Last appearance | Grand Theft Auto Online: Heists (2015) |
Created by | Rockstar North |
Portrayed by | Steven Ogg |
In-universe information | |
Gender | Male |
Occupation | Bank robber (formerly) Gun runner Drug dealer |
Affiliation | Trevor Philips Enterprises |
Family | Mrs. Philips (mother) Ryan Philips (brother) |
Nationality | Canadian |
Trevor Philips is a fictional character and one of the three playable protagonists, alongside Michael De Santa and Franklin Clinton, of Grand Theft Auto V, the seventh main title in the Grand Theft Auto series developed by Rockstar Games, He also appears in the game’s multiplayer component, Grand Theft Auto Online,
A career criminal and former bank robber, Trevor leads his own organisation, Trevor Philips Enterprises, and comes into conflict with various rival gangs and criminal syndicates as he attempts to secure control of the drugs and weapons trade in the fictional Blaine County, San Andreas. He is played by actor Steven Ogg, who provided the voice and motion capture for the character.
Rockstar based Trevor’s appearance on Ogg’s physical appearance, while his personality was inspired by Charles Bronson, Grand Theft Auto V co-writer Dan Houser described Trevor as purely driven by desire and resentment. To make players care for the character, the designers gave the character more emotions.
- Trevor is shown to care about people very close to him, despite his antisocial behavior and psychotic derangement.
- Trevor is considered one of the most controversial characters in video game history.
- The general attention given to Trevor by critics was mostly very positive, although some reviewers felt that his violent personality and actions negatively affected the game’s narrative.
His design and personality have drawn comparisons to other influential video game and film characters. Many reviewers have called Trevor a likeable and believable character, and felt that he is one of the few protagonists in the Grand Theft Auto series that would willingly execute popular player actions, such as murder and violence.
View complete answer
Who voiced Michael in GTA?
GTA 5 voice actors | full cast and where you know them from From Ray Liotta to Michael Madsen to Samuel L Jackson, the GTA series has long used talented voice actors and helped bring interest to the profession. This has continued with, with the characters of Franklin, Trevor and Michael becoming icons in the videogame industry largely thanks to the actors who brought them to life. Trevor actor Steven Ogg (Photo by Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images) Check out the cast of GTA 5 below:
Steven Ogg plays Trevor Philips Ned Luke plays Michael Townley/De Santa Shawn Fonteno plays Franklin Clinton Gerald ‘Slink’ Johnson plays Lamar Davis Jay Klaitz plays Lester Crest Vicki van Tassel plays Amanda Townley/De Santa Danny Tamberelli plays Jimmy Townley/De Santa Michal Sinnott plays Tracey Townley/De Santa Robert Bogue plays Steve Haines Julian Gamble plays Dave Norton Johnathan Walker plays Devon Weston David Mogentale plays Ron Jakowski Matthew Maher plays Wade Herbert Jimmy Ray Bennett plays Floyd Herbert Demosthenes Chrysan plays Simeon Yetarian
One of the three leads and one of the most iconic characters in GTA history is Trevor Philips, memorably played by Steven Ogg, Ogg had a few small TV roles prior to GTA 5, but the success of the Trevor character has led him to play similarly unhinged individuals in the likes of, and,
Much like his character Michael Townley, Ned Luke took a break from the acting business in 2007 only to be drawn back into the industry a few years later leading to his famous GTA role. Luke also worked on Rockstar’s other big franchise, and has guest starred in TV shows such as Boardwalk Empire and Law & Order: Special Victims Unit.
Rounding out the lead trio is actor and rapper Shawn Fonteno, also known as Solo. Fonteno’s cousin is none other than Young Maylay, the actor behind the iconic CJ character from which Fonteno also had a small role in. Fonteno has also appeared in Watch Dogs and films The Wash, and reprised his Franklin character for and a viral reenactment of the ‘Lamar roasts Franklin’ meme. Key GTA 5 cast members Ned Luke (left) and Shawn Fonteno (right). Getty Read more on Grand Theft Auto: Other familiar faces include Jay Klaitz as Lester Crest, who had previously worked with Rockstar on GTA 4 and Red Dead Redemption and appeared in TV shows such as The Get Down, Jessica Jones and Law & Order: Criminal Intent.
Slink Johnson stars as Franklin’s childhood friend and internet favourite Lamar, and is best known for playing the lead role in the sitcom Black Jesus. Johnson has also had small parts in films such as Space Jam: A New Legacy and Sharknado 3, and has reprised his Lamar role several times for GTA Online.
By entering your details, you are agreeing to our and, You can unsubscribe at any time. While the GTA series has notably toned down its celebrity castings since the 3D era, GTA 5 still received a big name in the form of Dr Dre for the GTA Online update,
Dre was of course an original member of the influential hip-hop group NWA, before launching a successful solo career and co-founding Beats Electronics. Follow for all the latest insights. Or if you’re looking for something to watch, see our, Visit our for all upcoming games on consoles. Swing by our hubs for more and news.
The latest issue of Radio Times magazine is on sale now – and get the next 12 issues for only £1. For more from the biggest stars in TV, listen to the with Jane Garvey. : GTA 5 voice actors | full cast and where you know them from
View complete answer
Is Trevor insane GTA?
Trevor Philips
This article’s content is marked as The page contains mature content that may include coarse language, sexual references, and/or graphic violent images which may be disturbing to some. Mature pages are recommended for those who are 18 years of age and older. If you are 18 years or older or are comfortable with graphic material, you are free to view this page. Otherwise, you should close this page and view another page. |
T TrevBossCaptain TTonyT-revorPhillip TrevorsUncle T Jock Cranley Crime lord Drug dealerWeapons dealerBank robberFounder and CEO of Trevor Philips Enterprises U.S Air Force Pilot (formerly) Hanging out with and, Trafficking weapons.Making money through his businesses.Doing drugs.Watching TV.Drinking Beer. Inhaling gasoline.
” | This is my life’s work. I mean, since I was a little kid I-I dreamt big. Y’know, I’ve always wanted to be an international drug dealer and.weapons trader. | „ |
~ Trevor explaining his life’s work to Tao Cheng and his translator. |
table>
table>
Trevor Philips is one of the three main protagonists of Grand Theft Auto V, as well as a main character in Grand Theft Auto Online, He is a criminally insane and psychotic crime lord and the titular founder of his weapons company “”. Additionally, he is ‘s best friend as well as,
View complete answer
Who voices Lamar in GTA 5?
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Slink Johnson | |
---|---|
Born | Gerald Johnson January 31, 1973 (age 50) Dumas, Arkansas, U.S. |
Occupation(s) | Actor, voice actor |
Years active | 2007–present |
Gerald ” Slink ” Johnson (born January 31, 1973), also known by his stage name ” Slink Capone “, is an American actor. He starred in the sitcom Black Jesus and portrayed Lamar Davis in the 2013 video game Grand Theft Auto V,
View complete answer
Who voices Jimmy GTA 5?
Career – Tamberelli’s first performance was in a Huggies commercial, according to a 1994 interview. His first regular television role, at age 4, was as Sean Novak on the ABC daytime soap opera Ryan’s Hope, He originally appeared from 1986 to 1987, when his character, along with his on-screen parents, were written off the show.
- However, he returned to the role in the fall of 1988 when the Novak family was brought back, to help close up storylines in preparation for the Ryan’s Hope finale in January 1989.
- Afterwards, Tamberelli played Jackie Rodowsky on the television series The Baby-Sitters Club,
- It was around this time that he was cast as Little Pete Wrigley on The Adventures of Pete & Pete, which first began as a series of 60-second shorts on Nickelodeon in 1989.
After progressing to a batch of specials, Pete & Pete became a regular half-hour sitcom in 1993, and brought Tamberelli more recognition. During his time in the show, he met the musicians Iggy Pop and Mark Mulcahy, who inspired him to become a musician too; Iggy would teach him how to play the song T.V.
Eye (from The Stooges ‘ album Fun House ) on bass in between breaks, when Tamberelli was 11. Around that time he provided the voice for Arnold in The Magic School Bus, as well as appearing in the films Igby Goes Down and The Mighty Ducks, He was also on Nickelodeon’s All That from 1997 to 2000 and Figure It Out from 1997 to 1999, and guest starred in the Space Cases episode “All You Can Eaty”.
In the 2013 video game Grand Theft Auto V, he provided the voice and physical inspiration for Jimmy Townley/Jimmy De Santa. Tamberelli in October 2008 Tamberelli is the bassist and vocalist for the rock band Jounce, formed in Northern New Jersey. They started in the early 2000s as a jazz funk quartet, but their sound later evolved into “90s music-inspired post-punk”. They released an eponymous debut album on July 18, 2006, followed by their sophomore effort, These Things on March 31, 2009.
- The EP titled Meet Me in the Middle was released digitally on April 4, 2011.
- As of 2016, the only remaining members from the original formation were Tamberelli and childhood friend and guitarist Matt DeSteno.
- Tamberelli was also the bassist for the folk/pop band Every Good Boy.
- In 2013, he started a podcast with former The Adventures of Pete and Pete co-star Michael C.
Maronna, He is also a founding member of the sketch comedy group Manboobs, along with Jeremy Balon. He also made a guest appearance on the podcasts “The Comedy Button” and “The Indoor Kids”.
View complete answer
Who voices Steve GTA 5?
Steve Haines’ GTA 5 voice actor is Robert Bogue ; a name that any Rockstar veteran will be familiar with! Bogue also voiced Red Harlow in the classic predecessor to Red Dead Redemption, that game being Red Dead Revolver.
View complete answer
Is Trevor A psychopath?
Trevor’s non-violent side – Not all players portray Trevor’s character as a psychopath/sociopath, as some players blame his sense of trauma after losing one of his best friends, coupled with being mentally unstable, as the reason behind his meaningless lifestyle.
- Many instances suggest that Trevor has a softer side.
- After killing Johnny and Wade suggests shutting up Ashley, Trevor tells him how disrespectful his words are.
- Trevor also fixes lunch for Michael once he finds out he hasn’t eaten.
- Trevor also hides in Canadian origin every time an indication of his country comes up.
This could be to keep Canada’s identity safe as a country known for having a liberal identity, which is quite the opposite of Trevor’s character. Trevor is a despicable character, but also shows some compassion for others. His straightforward attitude indicates that he is less of a sociopath or psychopath, and is perhaps more honest than the other GTA 5 characters. GIF Cancel Reply ❮ ❯
View complete answer
Does Trevor have depression?
Trevor Noah Talks Depression, Radical Honesty, and Braiding Hair | Death, Sex & Money Hey, it’s Anna. Earlier this month, as you probably know, Trevor Noah ended his seven year run hosting The Daily Show. In his final episode at the desk, he said this: Trevor Noah on The Daily Show: I always tell people, if you truly want to learn about America, talk to Black women.
Yeah. Cause unlike everybody else, Black women cannot afford to BLEEP around and find out. Black people understand how hard it is when things go bad, especially in America, but any place where black people exist, whether it’s Brazil, whether it’s South Africa, wherever it is, when things go bad, black people know that it gets worse for them.
But Black women in particular, they know what shit is. And he thanked some Black American women in particular TN on The Daily Show: To Black women who have taught me all of them, I mean, the scholars online, the, you know, the authors, everybody, the Roxane Gays, the Tressie McMillan Cottoms, the, you know, I’ll remember the names Listening to this, we were reminded of one of our very favorite Death, Sex & Money episodes, one I wasn’t involved in at all.
- Tressie McMillan Cottom, whom Trevor Noah mentioned there, was the host, and she interviewed Trevor.
- I was out on maternity leaveand they sat together in New York and had a lively and lovely conversation about Trevor’s mother, depression, masculinity, and they shared more than a few laughs, too.
- It’s a wonderful listen that we first released back in 2019.
After Tressie had been on The Daily Show, she went back on two more times, including during Trevor Noah’s last week as host. And just a word about the content of the episode, suicide comes up in this conversation. If you are struggling, please reach out.
- Trevor Noah: People get too, like, sad about it. They get too like, “Oh no”
- Tressie McMillan Cottom: Yeah.
- TN: “You suffer from depression. Oh Trevor–”
- TMC: Well, it’s it’s com –
- TN: “Oh, let me hold you.”
- TMC: We think we’re being empathetic.
TN: “Oh, let me hold you. Oh child. Oh child!” TMC: We’re giving and we’re being empathetic! TN: Yeah, but what we do is we create a stigma without realizing it, because we feel pity for people.
- (Death, Sex & Money theme starts)
- Trevor Noah: This is Death, Sex & Money.
- Tressie McMillan Cottom: The show from WNYC about the things we think about a lot
,and need to talk about more. I’m Tressie McMillan Cottom, in for Anna Sale. (end theme music) And I want to tell you a story about the very first time that I met Trevor Noah. I’m a sociologist, a professor, and a writer. And a few years ago, I went on The Daily Show to talk about one of my new books.
- TMC: And I go home and of course everybody, you know, is amped and is like, “Oh my God, how is it?” Everybody wants to know how you smell.
- I get that question a lot actually.
- It’s very strange.
- TN: How I smell? TMC: Yeah, no serious.
- How good does Trevor–? TN: Wow.
- TMC: Does he smell good? Does Trevor smell nice? TN: Well, I’ve never ever thought of that as a thing.
I mean, I, I try to smell clean, but I’ve never, wow. TMC: I know. (music starts) Tressie McMillan Cottom: I’ve been on the show again since then to talk with Trevor about my newest collection of essays, Thick, But when we sat down for this interview, it was the first time that I was the one asking the questions.
- TN: That’s, that’s the job.
- TMC: Right?
- TN: That’s the power that comes with being the interviewer.
Tressie McMillan Cottom: Now, Trevor’s only been an interviewer himself for the last few years. Before landing The Daily Show gig, he worked primarily as a stand-up comic, with sets that focused heavily on his life growing up in apartheid South Africa.
- Trevor Noah at the Apollo: And so, this world is awkward for me growing up because I grew up in a mixed family.what with me being the mixed one in the family.
- My mother is a Black woman, and then my father’s Swiss.
- My mom was arrested for being with my dad.
- She would get fined, she would get thrown into prison for the weekend, but still she’d come back.
She’s like, “Wooo! I don’t care, I don’t care! Come tell me who to love, I want a white man! Wooo!” Tressie McMillan Cottom: That’s from Trevor’s 2013 comedy special at the Apollo Theater. And in the six years since then, he has been busy. In addition to becoming the host of The Daily Show, he’s continued to tour as a comedian, and then he found time to write a bestselling book about his family and childhood called Born A Crime,
Much of the book is about what it was like for him to grow up as a perpetual outsider. And I wanted to know if, after the last few years, that feeling has changed at all. (music fades out) TMC: Do you feel like an insider anywhere these days? Does any place feel like home? TN: Once you accept that you may not necessarily fully fit in anywhere you go, then home is where you are.
But I am still as much, like, what’s strange is, if originally my, my outsiderness was defined by the color of my skin in a country that defined you by the color of your skin, now fame has replaced that. So now–
- TMC: I was thinking–
- TN: Fame has made me an outsider in a different way.
- TMC: Yeah.
- TN: So now I do not have my anonymity when I go home.
- TMC: Right.
TN: People are glaring at me. They’re like, there he is, there he is. TMC: Uh-huh. TN: And so in a way, I’ve become an outsider again in a different manner. TMC: Has that made fame stranger or more familiar to you? ‘Cause I actually, I think fame is actually one of the, the strangest things.
- TMC: Uh-huh.
- TN: Like, sometimes, it’s the weirdest thing, People will literally stop being themselves when I walk into a room if they know who I am.
- TMC: Yeah.
TN: You know, I, I was in a, I was in a Duane Reade one time, and two guys were packing stuff on the shelves and they got into a fight about it. And I just stood there and I was like, “Oh shit, this is gonna be funny.” TMC: Yeah, it’s going down. This is good! TN: This is gonna be funny.
- TMC: “Aye yo man.”
- TN: “Cut it out, cut it out,” and then they just stopped.
- TMC: Yeah.
- TN: And I – I could not believe that my, my world stopped being as normal as it would have been because people knew who I was.
Tressie McMillan Cottom: That feeling of sticking out is all too familiar to Trevor. It was illegal for Black people and white people to marry under apartheid in South Africa. Trevor’s very existence as a child was, literally, a crime. While he occasionally saw his white father, he spent most of his time with his mother.
- TN: I was raised in the most powerful matriarchal society ever.
- TMC: Yeah.
- TN: You had a country where most of the men who were fighting against the apartheid government were either imprisoned or were fleeing to exile or were, were, were, were in some way ostracized from, from engaging in normal society.
- TMC: And the women were holding it down.
TN: The women were holding it down. And so I grew up in that culture. I grew up in a culture where my grandmother was raising a family. My aunt was raising her family. My mother was raising her family, and all of these women raising their families single for different reasons, but raising them single nonetheless.
- TMC: Yup.
- TN: And–
- TMC: It must’ve been so bizarre for you to leave that bubble
- TN: Yeah–
- TMC: and see that the rest of the world did not see this at all.
TN: Yes it, it, it constantly is. You know, my mother is fearless, she’s fierce. She believes what she believes in. So my mother would tell me, “Oh, I’m going to dress sexy,” or oh I would, you know, she’d tell me, “Oh baby before you were born,” she’d be on,
- TMC: Uh huh.
- TN: “I’d be on the back of a motorbike with my ass out and living my life,” and what, and I just, I just, I just understood that this woman was comfortable with all aspects of being a woman.
- TMC: Yeah.
TN: And I envied that in her. I still envy her ‘til this day, you know, because I didn’t grow up with the same level of confidence. Um, you know, I – I was plagued by self-doubt my entire life, and so my journey is constantly trying to be comfortable in the space and in the body that I’m in.
- TMC: Do you think of your mom as your friend?
- TN: Definitely.
- TMC: Yeah?
TN: Definitely. My mother and I have, we, we have many different roles in our relationship and I think it’s very important for a parent to have that. She never wanted me to be a mommy’s boy my entire life. And she always used to say to me, she said, “The one thing I never want to do is create a world where you’re one of those men who’s married to his mother.”
- TMC: As a Black woman who often dates Black men, you know, on occasional Tuesdays it’s, it’s interesting, we have that narrative about, you know, mother – mothers raise their daughters and love their sons.
- TN: Yes.
- TMC: And what your mother wanted to have happen here, is she was not going to create that beast that she had seen happen for other women.
TN: Yes yes. It was never a love that was devoid of criticism. But one thing that I always loved about my mom, I mean I hated being disciplined as a kid, but one thing I loved is she never made me feel like the discipline or my punishment diminished how much she loved me.
- Music creeps in) TN: You know, my mother would say to me, I discipline you because I love you.
- I will tell you that you need to change these things because I love you.
- But oh, when it came to praise, my mother just praised me for existing.
- She’d just go like, “Look at you!” TMC: Oh.
- TN: I walk into a room and she’s like, “Who’s this boy? Who’s this? Oh, who’s who’s, wow, who’s his mother? Who’s his mother?” She’s like, “Man, his mother must be hot! Look at this handsome face.” TMC: I was about to say, I think that was as much about your mother loving herself– TN: Definitely, oh definitely.
TMC: As it was about loving you. Of course you were amazing! She had made you. TN: Exactly. (marimba plays) TMC: Now, if your mother is your friend, do you have a crew? TN: Very close crew. Yes. Yes. TMC: Yeah. What does this crew look like? Like, y’all out playing basketball or – ? I don’t know.
- TN:No. Um,
- TMC: It’s like Entourage?
- TN: most of them are from South Africa.
- TMC: Ok.
TN: Most of them are in South Africa. And thanks to technology, we speak every single day, multiple – like what’s great about technology is, genuinely, I will not be in South Africa for a year, I will go back, and we will continue a conversation. There’s no, “Oh, so you didn’t know this happened in Tressie’s life and -,” no.
- It’s literally like, “So tell me about this guy, Tressie.
- What happened on that date?” We just go, we just go straight into it, which I love.
- And like we, we have these sessions where sometimes we’ll sit down with each other, whenever we’ve had a trip or a vacation or a group of us have been together for awhile, and then we just spend a moment being like, “Hey, I’m grateful for you because of these things that you’ve done in my life, and these are the things that I’ve seen grow in your world.
This is how I’ve seen you change. And these are a few of the things I think you can still work on as a human being.” And then it’s just like, “Yeah man, I love you,” give each other hugs, and then it’s like, alright, the trip is over. And then we go back to our lives.
- TMC: Are you serious?
- TN: Yeah.
- TMC: Well you’re going to live forever, you know that? Because I think that kind of social network – what we know is that especially Black men, in almost every culture, by the way
- TN: Yes.
TMC: Don’t have those social connections. And we think that is why you know, they’re more, they die younger, they have poorer health, they’re unhappy. Um, because there are some things that you cannot get from your family. TN: Yes. TMC: You cannot get from a romantic relationship, that really does have to come from someone who sees the world the way you see it? Um, and what you just described sounds like it’s, well, oh well it’s just going to keep you alive forever.
- TN: Yes, it’s actually very good.
- TMC: See?
- TN: It genuinely is.
- TMC: Science!
- TN: I’m very calm as a person.
TMC: Is your biological clock ticking? You don’t give a–? And I, ’cause I can see you doing your mom’s thing and going TN: That’s funny. TMC: “Of course you’re amazing. You’re like, you’re me.” TN: That’s amazing. Can I, can I be honest with you? I think what one thing I’m enjoying right now, and maybe it’s, it’s the, the, the silver lining of social media I choose to see, but I’m loving how we celebrate that now with men.
You know, you see them, like, celebrating dads who, who are, who are being what people would have considered a few years ago “extra” as dads, you know? TMC: Yeah. TN: Playing with their daughter’s hair, and dressing up with their daughters, and dancing to Beyoncé’s routines with their daughters and – TMC: Oh yeah.
Oh you’re gonna be so good at doing hair. TN: Yeah, are you kidding? I’m, not “I’m gonna be,” I’m amazing at doing hair. TMC: Shut up. What can you do?
- TN: I’m amazing.
- TMC: What can you do?
- TN: Girl, you want a blow out that’ll blow your mind?
- TMC: Actually, yes I do.
TN: Yo, Tr-, you must understand something about me. First of all, first of all, I had a giant Afro, I had cornrows, I’ve relaxed my hair. Like TMC: I did see this in the book. You had a bad relaxer.
- TN: Let me tell you something, let me tell you something now, if you want to relax your hair, which I wouldn’t recommend, but if you do, and you want someone who’s not going to burn your scalp
- TMC: Yes.
- TN: You come to me.
- TMC: Shut up!
(music starts) Tressie McMillan Cottom: Coming up, Trevor on living with anxiety and depression, at home, and at work. TN: The head writer at the Daily Show, Dan Amira? I told him one day, I said, “Hey buddy, you’re going to struggle to see me at work on time in the mornings.
Sometimes I’ll be on time, sometimes I’ll be early, sometimes I’ll be 15 minutes late because I’m suffering from depression and sometimes I do not see the purpose of getting out of my bed or living life.” And he was like, “Wait, what?” (music ends) – Anna Sale: This is Death, Sex & Money from WNYC, I’m Anna Sale.
And we’re replaying a 2019 conversation between Tressie McMillan Cottom and Trevor Noah. The episode was recorded in the run-up to the 2020 election, and the conversation turned to identity, and how Trevor Noah thought America was still not ready to elect a woman president.
- TN: It’s like, okay so this beats that. But then that beats that
- TMC: Right.
- TN: and then that beats that.
- TMC: Yeah.
TN: Because here’s what I find interesting and maybe you could help me with this. Here’s the reason I genuinely think it would be harder for a woman to be president in America.
- TMC: Okay.
- TN: Is because at the end of the day, when it all comes down to it, men stick together.
- TMC: Yes.
- TN: And I’ll be honest with you, one of the hardest things I’ve been struggling with in my life recently is trying to make sense of the fact that women are some of the biggest roadblocks to other women.
- TMC: Yeah.
TN: I had a close friend share a story of sexual assault with me, and I could not believe this had happened to her. And then she told me her best friend told her, “You wanted it. That’s why you dressed the way you did.”
- TMC: Yeah.
- TN: “And that you,”
- TMC: Yeah no.
TN: “Serves you right for always thinking you’re hotter than all of us.” This was her best friend.
- TMC: Yeah.
- TN: I remember watching footage of women in the 2016 campaign saying, “I don’t know if we can have a woman as president.”
- TMC: Right.
- TN: “Women are so emotional.”
TMC: Right. Well, there’s just so much currency in being the woman who is emotional. I think the difference is men don’t benefit from, um when men lose in a conflict, they are judged on, yeah, but you fought. TN: Okay. TMC: Right? So their sense of self-worth and their participation in the group of men doesn’t hinge on whether or not they won or lost the conflict, it’s that they just engaged in it.
- TN: It’s how you fought.
- TMC: That’s right!
- TN: That’s interesting.
TMC: “Hey, he just went in. He took his hits, right? He took his licks. Yeah, he got his ass kicked, but look!”
- TN: Yeah.
- TMC: “He took his hit.” For women, we are judged on the winning or the losing, and so there’s so much currency—
- TN: Oh wow.
TMC: in just not being in the conflict that I think that we, there, there’s too much to earn from turning on each other in a way that isn’t true for men. Yeah. (music starts) TMC: Because I, one, I can’t believe that it’s that women hate each other. It’s like me understanding that Black people internalize racism, absolutely.
- TN: Right.
- TMC: and enact it on each other, but I fundamentally can’t believe that Black people hate themselves and each other.
- TN: Right.
TMC: I just don’t think that’s how we’re made up as people. I think the same about women. I don’t think we’re made up – TN: That’s interesting. TMC: So it must be an incentive that is just so strong. TN: Yes. That makes sense to me. TMC: That it overrides your basic human nature to, uh, take care of each other.
- TN: I’ve never had a job that starts at a time.
- TMC: Oh.
- TN: Ever.
TMC: So you never did like, uh, KFC? You never were fast food? TN: No, I, I worked at an arcade, but the arcade had weird hours. Which was good and bad for me, because they say when you, one of the best things to do if you suffer from depression is have routine. My entire life wasn’t routine.
- TMC: Right.
- TN: So this, The Daily Show was the first time I had a job with a routine.
- TMC: How was that?
- TN: Fantastic.
- TMC: Yeah?
TN: It’s beautiful. It’s, uh, because I no longer need to think about what I should be doing, I’m just doing it. My brain has no time to worry about what could be and what was. TMC: The unstructured time, this is why it gives you such a difficult – TN: Exactly.
Everybody’s depression and anxiety has different triggers I’ve found. And so I have to remember what my triggers are. I have to, so for instance, one of the weirdest triggers for me, if I have an extremely productive day, I’ve got to be very careful because the next day I might be depressed. TMC: Actually, I, I think I get that.
But why do you think that is? TN: Because what happens is I, I can achieve so much in one day, that then when I wake up tomorrow and there’s nothing to do, I just feel like it’s, it’s, my mind starts spinning and I go, “Well, what am I going to do?” Then I go, “What’s the point of any of this? Where does it go? What are we doing?” And I always say to my friends, like I’ve, I have friends who we talk about you, you know, depression with.
- Um, many comedians suffer from depression. TMC: Yes. Yep.
- TN: And, I don’t know if depression is what makes you a good stand-up, or good stand-ups end up becoming depressed, I don’t know which way it goes.
- And one of the the things I – I – I’ve, I’ve noticed, I always tell people this, I’m lucky because I’m, I suffer from depression, but I’m an eternal optimist.
TMC: That’s not totally at odds though. Right? Yeah. TN: Right. And so what happens to me is I have been thankfully spared from any ideas of suicide.
- TMC: Uh-huh.
- TN: Because every time I think to myself, I cannot go, this is too much
- TMC: Right.
TN: I just want to end it all, I always have this thought, Tressie, and I go, “Alright, if you think you’re going to end it all, what would you do before you end it?” And I go, “Okay, first things first, you got to finish all your money.”
- TMC: You gotta go do this.
- TN: “Second of all, you got to go and tell all these jokes that you’ve been too afraid to tell.”
- TMC: Uh-huh.
TN: “And what you should do is tell everybody how you feel about them, and then you should go on TV and also tell people everything you think about politics and what’s going on in the world,” and then I get excited. “Man, I should just do those things regardless!” And then I’ve come to realize for myself, depression and anxiety occupy two states that are permanent when they shouldn’t be.
- TN: Yes.
- TMC: Even when you didn’t have all the money and the fame?
- TN: Yeah, no, I’ve been –
- TMC: ‘Cause it seems easier, to be honest.
TN: No, I’ve been I actually think it’s harder when you have that stuff. Because you can no longer tell yourself lies about which, um, which material things will get you out of the ruts. TMC: Yeah. TN: Because sometimes if you are depressed and you have nothing, you go, “If I can just get a bit of money, then maybe I wouldn’t be depressed.
- You know if I just had, if I just had a girlfriend or boyfriend, maybe I wouldn’t be depressed.” TMC: Right.
- TN: “You know, if I was famous, maybe I wouldn’t be depressed.” Imagine having all of that and being depressed.
- And one thing that’s wonderful, surprisingly—contrary to what many people will believe—is being comfortable knowing that you, you have it.
It’s like having a bum knee. You know, and I think that’s how we need to treat mental health. If somebody said to you, “Oh man, I got a bad knee.” Then we’re just like, “Oh, so what do you do about that?” “Ah, I don’t squat as hard and I try and do exercises to stabilize the knee.” TMC: Yeah.
- TMC: Oh, that radical honesty though, isn’t that a trip?
- TN: Yeah, and then people go, “You don’t seem like you suffer from depression.”
- TMC: Yes.
TN: And I go, “No, you’re mixing up sadness with depression. I didn’t say I’m sad, I’m happy. I’m happy and I’m optimistic.” TMC: “And depressed.” TN: “And depressed.” And that is a contradiction many people don’t understand. (Death, Sex & Money theme music starts) Anna Sale: That’s Trevor Noah with Tressie McMillan Cottom in 2019.
- Anabel Bacon produced this episode, along with Katie Bishop.
- You can catch Trevor Noah hosting the Grammys in February for the third time, or on his stand-up tour in cities across the U.S.
- And since this interview, Tressie McMillan Cottom was named a MacArthur Genius Award recipient.
- She’s also become an op-ed columnist for The New York Times, and is currently a professor with the Center for Information, Technology, and Public Life at UNC Chapel Hill.
Death, Sex & Money is a listener-supported production of WNYC Studios. Our team includes Liliana Maria Percy Ruiz, Zoe Azulay, Afi Yellow-Duke, Lindsay Foster Thomas, and Andrew Dunn. The Reverend John Delore and Steve Lewis wrote our theme music. I’m on Instagram @annasalepics, that’s P-I-C-S, and the show is @deathsexmoney on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.
Thank you to Brian Meyer in San Diego, California for being a sustaining member of Death, Sex, & Money, and supporting us with a monthly donation. You can join Brian and support what we do here by going to deathsexmoney.org/donate. And I’ll let Tressie have the last word Tressie McMillan Cottom: If you’ve already got a big crush on Trevor after listening to this episode, I’ve got news for you.
Not only is he successful, and adorable, and perhaps one of the best male feminists I’ve ever sat down and spoken with. But the man is also handy.
- TN: I’ve been to a hardware store at 2 AM in New York City.
- TMC: That is, and that should never happen.
- TN: I had a toilet seat that was wobbly.
- TMC: Yes.
TN: and then I realized there was like a screw that was loose and I was like, I need to get the screw and then I Googled “hardware store” and then I went and I got—2:00 AM!—and the guy at the hardware store wasn’t like, “Hey man, why don’t you wait till the morning?” He was like, “Yeah, aisle four.
Let me help you.” TMC: Yeah. “Got that.” Tressie McMillan Cottom: I’m Tressie McMillan Cottom, and this is Death, Sex & Money from WNYC. (Death, Sex & Money theme music ends) Copyright © 2022 New York Public Radio. All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use at www.wnyc.org for further information.
: Trevor Noah Talks Depression, Radical Honesty, and Braiding Hair | Death, Sex & Money
View complete answer
How does Lester know Michael?
Background – ” A long, long time ago in a faraway place, there were three guys. Michael, Trevor, and Lester. ” — Lester Crest Lester was born with a wasting disease that destroyed his muscle strength to the point where he had to move around in a wheelchair, though he can still walk short distances with the help of a cane.
Some time after he finished his studies, Lester applied for a faculty position at the University of San Andreas, Los Santos, but was not accepted. As an act of revenge, he hacked their systems, a fact that Lester claims ‘never gets old’. At an unknown point in time, Lester moved out to the Midwest, where he met and became affiliated with bank robbers Michael Townley and Trevor Philips, becoming a regular member of their heist crews since the start of their partnership, working mostly as a planner and information scout.
During this time, Lester likely told both of them about the Union Depository, a superbank in Los Santos where the government keeps their gold stash, leading to the three of them to come up with potential schemes on how to rob the place. In 2004, Lester refused to participate in robbing a cash storage facility in Ludendorff, North Yankton, believing it was a bad idea.
- His suspicions are later confirmed when he discovers that, during this same heist, Michael was apparently gunned down and another associate, Brad, was subsequently arrested.
- Following the botched heist, Lester moved to Los Santos, and purchased a garment factory in La Mesa, along with several other properties to use as fronts for his various operations.
During this time, Lester looked into the heist and learned that Michael was alive, but had faked his death and moved to Los Santos as well, having previously made a deal with Federal Investigation Bureau agent Dave Norton, but as Michael never mentioned him as part of the crew, he kept quiet about Michael’s secret.
View complete answer
How old is chop in GTA 5?
Chop is likely 8-10 years old – GTA 5 is set in 2013, while GTA Online is currently in 2021. There is an eight year difference between these games. Chop has to be at least nine years old, given how big he is in GTA 5. The above video is played for laughs, but it does provide some crucial information.
View complete answer
Does Trevor have depression?
Trevor Noah Talks Depression, Radical Honesty, and Braiding Hair | Death, Sex & Money Hey, it’s Anna. Earlier this month, as you probably know, Trevor Noah ended his seven year run hosting The Daily Show. In his final episode at the desk, he said this: Trevor Noah on The Daily Show: I always tell people, if you truly want to learn about America, talk to Black women.
Yeah. Cause unlike everybody else, Black women cannot afford to BLEEP around and find out. Black people understand how hard it is when things go bad, especially in America, but any place where black people exist, whether it’s Brazil, whether it’s South Africa, wherever it is, when things go bad, black people know that it gets worse for them.
But Black women in particular, they know what shit is. And he thanked some Black American women in particular TN on The Daily Show: To Black women who have taught me all of them, I mean, the scholars online, the, you know, the authors, everybody, the Roxane Gays, the Tressie McMillan Cottoms, the, you know, I’ll remember the names Listening to this, we were reminded of one of our very favorite Death, Sex & Money episodes, one I wasn’t involved in at all.
Tressie McMillan Cottom, whom Trevor Noah mentioned there, was the host, and she interviewed Trevor. I was out on maternity leaveand they sat together in New York and had a lively and lovely conversation about Trevor’s mother, depression, masculinity, and they shared more than a few laughs, too. It’s a wonderful listen that we first released back in 2019.
After Tressie had been on The Daily Show, she went back on two more times, including during Trevor Noah’s last week as host. And just a word about the content of the episode, suicide comes up in this conversation. If you are struggling, please reach out.
- Trevor Noah: People get too, like, sad about it. They get too like, “Oh no”
- Tressie McMillan Cottom: Yeah.
- TN: “You suffer from depression. Oh Trevor–”
- TMC: Well, it’s it’s com –
- TN: “Oh, let me hold you.”
- TMC: We think we’re being empathetic.
TN: “Oh, let me hold you. Oh child. Oh child!” TMC: We’re giving and we’re being empathetic! TN: Yeah, but what we do is we create a stigma without realizing it, because we feel pity for people.
- (Death, Sex & Money theme starts)
- Trevor Noah: This is Death, Sex & Money.
- Tressie McMillan Cottom: The show from WNYC about the things we think about a lot
,and need to talk about more. I’m Tressie McMillan Cottom, in for Anna Sale. (end theme music) And I want to tell you a story about the very first time that I met Trevor Noah. I’m a sociologist, a professor, and a writer. And a few years ago, I went on The Daily Show to talk about one of my new books.
TMC: And I go home and of course everybody, you know, is amped and is like, “Oh my God, how is it?” Everybody wants to know how you smell. I get that question a lot actually. It’s very strange. TN: How I smell? TMC: Yeah, no serious. How good does Trevor–? TN: Wow. TMC: Does he smell good? Does Trevor smell nice? TN: Well, I’ve never ever thought of that as a thing.
I mean, I, I try to smell clean, but I’ve never, wow. TMC: I know. (music starts) Tressie McMillan Cottom: I’ve been on the show again since then to talk with Trevor about my newest collection of essays, Thick, But when we sat down for this interview, it was the first time that I was the one asking the questions.
- TN: That’s, that’s the job.
- TMC: Right?
- TN: That’s the power that comes with being the interviewer.
Tressie McMillan Cottom: Now, Trevor’s only been an interviewer himself for the last few years. Before landing The Daily Show gig, he worked primarily as a stand-up comic, with sets that focused heavily on his life growing up in apartheid South Africa.
Trevor Noah at the Apollo: And so, this world is awkward for me growing up because I grew up in a mixed family.what with me being the mixed one in the family. My mother is a Black woman, and then my father’s Swiss. My mom was arrested for being with my dad. She would get fined, she would get thrown into prison for the weekend, but still she’d come back.
She’s like, “Wooo! I don’t care, I don’t care! Come tell me who to love, I want a white man! Wooo!” Tressie McMillan Cottom: That’s from Trevor’s 2013 comedy special at the Apollo Theater. And in the six years since then, he has been busy. In addition to becoming the host of The Daily Show, he’s continued to tour as a comedian, and then he found time to write a bestselling book about his family and childhood called Born A Crime,
- Much of the book is about what it was like for him to grow up as a perpetual outsider.
- And I wanted to know if, after the last few years, that feeling has changed at all.
- Music fades out) TMC: Do you feel like an insider anywhere these days? Does any place feel like home? TN: Once you accept that you may not necessarily fully fit in anywhere you go, then home is where you are.
But I am still as much, like, what’s strange is, if originally my, my outsiderness was defined by the color of my skin in a country that defined you by the color of your skin, now fame has replaced that. So now–
- TMC: I was thinking–
- TN: Fame has made me an outsider in a different way.
- TMC: Yeah.
- TN: So now I do not have my anonymity when I go home.
- TMC: Right.
TN: People are glaring at me. They’re like, there he is, there he is. TMC: Uh-huh. TN: And so in a way, I’ve become an outsider again in a different manner. TMC: Has that made fame stranger or more familiar to you? ‘Cause I actually, I think fame is actually one of the, the strangest things.
- TMC: Uh-huh.
- TN: Like, sometimes, it’s the weirdest thing, People will literally stop being themselves when I walk into a room if they know who I am.
- TMC: Yeah.
TN: You know, I, I was in a, I was in a Duane Reade one time, and two guys were packing stuff on the shelves and they got into a fight about it. And I just stood there and I was like, “Oh shit, this is gonna be funny.” TMC: Yeah, it’s going down. This is good! TN: This is gonna be funny.
- TMC: “Aye yo man.”
- TN: “Cut it out, cut it out,” and then they just stopped.
- TMC: Yeah.
- TN: And I – I could not believe that my, my world stopped being as normal as it would have been because people knew who I was.
Tressie McMillan Cottom: That feeling of sticking out is all too familiar to Trevor. It was illegal for Black people and white people to marry under apartheid in South Africa. Trevor’s very existence as a child was, literally, a crime. While he occasionally saw his white father, he spent most of his time with his mother.
- TN: I was raised in the most powerful matriarchal society ever.
- TMC: Yeah.
- TN: You had a country where most of the men who were fighting against the apartheid government were either imprisoned or were fleeing to exile or were, were, were, were in some way ostracized from, from engaging in normal society.
- TMC: And the women were holding it down.
TN: The women were holding it down. And so I grew up in that culture. I grew up in a culture where my grandmother was raising a family. My aunt was raising her family. My mother was raising her family, and all of these women raising their families single for different reasons, but raising them single nonetheless.
- TMC: Yup.
- TN: And–
- TMC: It must’ve been so bizarre for you to leave that bubble
- TN: Yeah–
- TMC: and see that the rest of the world did not see this at all.
TN: Yes it, it, it constantly is. You know, my mother is fearless, she’s fierce. She believes what she believes in. So my mother would tell me, “Oh, I’m going to dress sexy,” or oh I would, you know, she’d tell me, “Oh baby before you were born,” she’d be on,
- TMC: Uh huh.
- TN: “I’d be on the back of a motorbike with my ass out and living my life,” and what, and I just, I just, I just understood that this woman was comfortable with all aspects of being a woman.
- TMC: Yeah.
TN: And I envied that in her. I still envy her ‘til this day, you know, because I didn’t grow up with the same level of confidence. Um, you know, I – I was plagued by self-doubt my entire life, and so my journey is constantly trying to be comfortable in the space and in the body that I’m in.
- TMC: Do you think of your mom as your friend?
- TN: Definitely.
- TMC: Yeah?
TN: Definitely. My mother and I have, we, we have many different roles in our relationship and I think it’s very important for a parent to have that. She never wanted me to be a mommy’s boy my entire life. And she always used to say to me, she said, “The one thing I never want to do is create a world where you’re one of those men who’s married to his mother.”
- TMC: As a Black woman who often dates Black men, you know, on occasional Tuesdays it’s, it’s interesting, we have that narrative about, you know, mother – mothers raise their daughters and love their sons.
- TN: Yes.
- TMC: And what your mother wanted to have happen here, is she was not going to create that beast that she had seen happen for other women.
TN: Yes yes. It was never a love that was devoid of criticism. But one thing that I always loved about my mom, I mean I hated being disciplined as a kid, but one thing I loved is she never made me feel like the discipline or my punishment diminished how much she loved me.
Music creeps in) TN: You know, my mother would say to me, I discipline you because I love you. I will tell you that you need to change these things because I love you. But oh, when it came to praise, my mother just praised me for existing. She’d just go like, “Look at you!” TMC: Oh. TN: I walk into a room and she’s like, “Who’s this boy? Who’s this? Oh, who’s who’s, wow, who’s his mother? Who’s his mother?” She’s like, “Man, his mother must be hot! Look at this handsome face.” TMC: I was about to say, I think that was as much about your mother loving herself– TN: Definitely, oh definitely.
TMC: As it was about loving you. Of course you were amazing! She had made you. TN: Exactly. (marimba plays) TMC: Now, if your mother is your friend, do you have a crew? TN: Very close crew. Yes. Yes. TMC: Yeah. What does this crew look like? Like, y’all out playing basketball or – ? I don’t know.
- TN:No. Um,
- TMC: It’s like Entourage?
- TN: most of them are from South Africa.
- TMC: Ok.
TN: Most of them are in South Africa. And thanks to technology, we speak every single day, multiple – like what’s great about technology is, genuinely, I will not be in South Africa for a year, I will go back, and we will continue a conversation. There’s no, “Oh, so you didn’t know this happened in Tressie’s life and -,” no.
It’s literally like, “So tell me about this guy, Tressie. What happened on that date?” We just go, we just go straight into it, which I love. And like we, we have these sessions where sometimes we’ll sit down with each other, whenever we’ve had a trip or a vacation or a group of us have been together for awhile, and then we just spend a moment being like, “Hey, I’m grateful for you because of these things that you’ve done in my life, and these are the things that I’ve seen grow in your world.
This is how I’ve seen you change. And these are a few of the things I think you can still work on as a human being.” And then it’s just like, “Yeah man, I love you,” give each other hugs, and then it’s like, alright, the trip is over. And then we go back to our lives.
- TMC: Are you serious?
- TN: Yeah.
- TMC: Well you’re going to live forever, you know that? Because I think that kind of social network – what we know is that especially Black men, in almost every culture, by the way
- TN: Yes.
TMC: Don’t have those social connections. And we think that is why you know, they’re more, they die younger, they have poorer health, they’re unhappy. Um, because there are some things that you cannot get from your family. TN: Yes. TMC: You cannot get from a romantic relationship, that really does have to come from someone who sees the world the way you see it? Um, and what you just described sounds like it’s, well, oh well it’s just going to keep you alive forever.
- TN: Yes, it’s actually very good.
- TMC: See?
- TN: It genuinely is.
- TMC: Science!
- TN: I’m very calm as a person.
TMC: Is your biological clock ticking? You don’t give a–? And I, ’cause I can see you doing your mom’s thing and going TN: That’s funny. TMC: “Of course you’re amazing. You’re like, you’re me.” TN: That’s amazing. Can I, can I be honest with you? I think what one thing I’m enjoying right now, and maybe it’s, it’s the, the, the silver lining of social media I choose to see, but I’m loving how we celebrate that now with men.
- You know, you see them, like, celebrating dads who, who are, who are being what people would have considered a few years ago “extra” as dads, you know? TMC: Yeah.
- TN: Playing with their daughter’s hair, and dressing up with their daughters, and dancing to Beyoncé’s routines with their daughters and – TMC: Oh yeah.
Oh you’re gonna be so good at doing hair. TN: Yeah, are you kidding? I’m, not “I’m gonna be,” I’m amazing at doing hair. TMC: Shut up. What can you do?
- TN: I’m amazing.
- TMC: What can you do?
- TN: Girl, you want a blow out that’ll blow your mind?
- TMC: Actually, yes I do.
TN: Yo, Tr-, you must understand something about me. First of all, first of all, I had a giant Afro, I had cornrows, I’ve relaxed my hair. Like TMC: I did see this in the book. You had a bad relaxer.
- TN: Let me tell you something, let me tell you something now, if you want to relax your hair, which I wouldn’t recommend, but if you do, and you want someone who’s not going to burn your scalp
- TMC: Yes.
- TN: You come to me.
- TMC: Shut up!
(music starts) Tressie McMillan Cottom: Coming up, Trevor on living with anxiety and depression, at home, and at work. TN: The head writer at the Daily Show, Dan Amira? I told him one day, I said, “Hey buddy, you’re going to struggle to see me at work on time in the mornings.
Sometimes I’ll be on time, sometimes I’ll be early, sometimes I’ll be 15 minutes late because I’m suffering from depression and sometimes I do not see the purpose of getting out of my bed or living life.” And he was like, “Wait, what?” (music ends) – Anna Sale: This is Death, Sex & Money from WNYC, I’m Anna Sale.
And we’re replaying a 2019 conversation between Tressie McMillan Cottom and Trevor Noah. The episode was recorded in the run-up to the 2020 election, and the conversation turned to identity, and how Trevor Noah thought America was still not ready to elect a woman president.
- TN: It’s like, okay so this beats that. But then that beats that
- TMC: Right.
- TN: and then that beats that.
- TMC: Yeah.
TN: Because here’s what I find interesting and maybe you could help me with this. Here’s the reason I genuinely think it would be harder for a woman to be president in America.
- TMC: Okay.
- TN: Is because at the end of the day, when it all comes down to it, men stick together.
- TMC: Yes.
- TN: And I’ll be honest with you, one of the hardest things I’ve been struggling with in my life recently is trying to make sense of the fact that women are some of the biggest roadblocks to other women.
- TMC: Yeah.
TN: I had a close friend share a story of sexual assault with me, and I could not believe this had happened to her. And then she told me her best friend told her, “You wanted it. That’s why you dressed the way you did.”
- TMC: Yeah.
- TN: “And that you,”
- TMC: Yeah no.
TN: “Serves you right for always thinking you’re hotter than all of us.” This was her best friend.
- TMC: Yeah.
- TN: I remember watching footage of women in the 2016 campaign saying, “I don’t know if we can have a woman as president.”
- TMC: Right.
- TN: “Women are so emotional.”
TMC: Right. Well, there’s just so much currency in being the woman who is emotional. I think the difference is men don’t benefit from, um when men lose in a conflict, they are judged on, yeah, but you fought. TN: Okay. TMC: Right? So their sense of self-worth and their participation in the group of men doesn’t hinge on whether or not they won or lost the conflict, it’s that they just engaged in it.
- TN: It’s how you fought.
- TMC: That’s right!
- TN: That’s interesting.
TMC: “Hey, he just went in. He took his hits, right? He took his licks. Yeah, he got his ass kicked, but look!”
- TN: Yeah.
- TMC: “He took his hit.” For women, we are judged on the winning or the losing, and so there’s so much currency—
- TN: Oh wow.
TMC: in just not being in the conflict that I think that we, there, there’s too much to earn from turning on each other in a way that isn’t true for men. Yeah. (music starts) TMC: Because I, one, I can’t believe that it’s that women hate each other. It’s like me understanding that Black people internalize racism, absolutely.
- TN: Right.
- TMC: and enact it on each other, but I fundamentally can’t believe that Black people hate themselves and each other.
- TN: Right.
TMC: I just don’t think that’s how we’re made up as people. I think the same about women. I don’t think we’re made up – TN: That’s interesting. TMC: So it must be an incentive that is just so strong. TN: Yes. That makes sense to me. TMC: That it overrides your basic human nature to, uh, take care of each other.
- TN: I’ve never had a job that starts at a time.
- TMC: Oh.
- TN: Ever.
TMC: So you never did like, uh, KFC? You never were fast food? TN: No, I, I worked at an arcade, but the arcade had weird hours. Which was good and bad for me, because they say when you, one of the best things to do if you suffer from depression is have routine. My entire life wasn’t routine.
- TMC: Right.
- TN: So this, The Daily Show was the first time I had a job with a routine.
- TMC: How was that?
- TN: Fantastic.
- TMC: Yeah?
TN: It’s beautiful. It’s, uh, because I no longer need to think about what I should be doing, I’m just doing it. My brain has no time to worry about what could be and what was. TMC: The unstructured time, this is why it gives you such a difficult – TN: Exactly.
- Everybody’s depression and anxiety has different triggers I’ve found.
- And so I have to remember what my triggers are.
- I have to, so for instance, one of the weirdest triggers for me, if I have an extremely productive day, I’ve got to be very careful because the next day I might be depressed.
- TMC: Actually, I, I think I get that.
But why do you think that is? TN: Because what happens is I, I can achieve so much in one day, that then when I wake up tomorrow and there’s nothing to do, I just feel like it’s, it’s, my mind starts spinning and I go, “Well, what am I going to do?” Then I go, “What’s the point of any of this? Where does it go? What are we doing?” And I always say to my friends, like I’ve, I have friends who we talk about you, you know, depression with.
- Um, many comedians suffer from depression. TMC: Yes. Yep.
- TN: And, I don’t know if depression is what makes you a good stand-up, or good stand-ups end up becoming depressed, I don’t know which way it goes.
- And one of the the things I – I – I’ve, I’ve noticed, I always tell people this, I’m lucky because I’m, I suffer from depression, but I’m an eternal optimist.
TMC: That’s not totally at odds though. Right? Yeah. TN: Right. And so what happens to me is I have been thankfully spared from any ideas of suicide.
- TMC: Uh-huh.
- TN: Because every time I think to myself, I cannot go, this is too much
- TMC: Right.
TN: I just want to end it all, I always have this thought, Tressie, and I go, “Alright, if you think you’re going to end it all, what would you do before you end it?” And I go, “Okay, first things first, you got to finish all your money.”
- TMC: You gotta go do this.
- TN: “Second of all, you got to go and tell all these jokes that you’ve been too afraid to tell.”
- TMC: Uh-huh.
TN: “And what you should do is tell everybody how you feel about them, and then you should go on TV and also tell people everything you think about politics and what’s going on in the world,” and then I get excited. “Man, I should just do those things regardless!” And then I’ve come to realize for myself, depression and anxiety occupy two states that are permanent when they shouldn’t be.
- TN: Yes.
- TMC: Even when you didn’t have all the money and the fame?
- TN: Yeah, no, I’ve been –
- TMC: ‘Cause it seems easier, to be honest.
TN: No, I’ve been I actually think it’s harder when you have that stuff. Because you can no longer tell yourself lies about which, um, which material things will get you out of the ruts. TMC: Yeah. TN: Because sometimes if you are depressed and you have nothing, you go, “If I can just get a bit of money, then maybe I wouldn’t be depressed.
- You know if I just had, if I just had a girlfriend or boyfriend, maybe I wouldn’t be depressed.” TMC: Right.
- TN: “You know, if I was famous, maybe I wouldn’t be depressed.” Imagine having all of that and being depressed.
- And one thing that’s wonderful, surprisingly—contrary to what many people will believe—is being comfortable knowing that you, you have it.
It’s like having a bum knee. You know, and I think that’s how we need to treat mental health. If somebody said to you, “Oh man, I got a bad knee.” Then we’re just like, “Oh, so what do you do about that?” “Ah, I don’t squat as hard and I try and do exercises to stabilize the knee.” TMC: Yeah.
- TMC: Oh, that radical honesty though, isn’t that a trip?
- TN: Yeah, and then people go, “You don’t seem like you suffer from depression.”
- TMC: Yes.
TN: And I go, “No, you’re mixing up sadness with depression. I didn’t say I’m sad, I’m happy. I’m happy and I’m optimistic.” TMC: “And depressed.” TN: “And depressed.” And that is a contradiction many people don’t understand. (Death, Sex & Money theme music starts) Anna Sale: That’s Trevor Noah with Tressie McMillan Cottom in 2019.
- Anabel Bacon produced this episode, along with Katie Bishop.
- You can catch Trevor Noah hosting the Grammys in February for the third time, or on his stand-up tour in cities across the U.S.
- And since this interview, Tressie McMillan Cottom was named a MacArthur Genius Award recipient.
- She’s also become an op-ed columnist for The New York Times, and is currently a professor with the Center for Information, Technology, and Public Life at UNC Chapel Hill.
Death, Sex & Money is a listener-supported production of WNYC Studios. Our team includes Liliana Maria Percy Ruiz, Zoe Azulay, Afi Yellow-Duke, Lindsay Foster Thomas, and Andrew Dunn. The Reverend John Delore and Steve Lewis wrote our theme music. I’m on Instagram @annasalepics, that’s P-I-C-S, and the show is @deathsexmoney on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.
Thank you to Brian Meyer in San Diego, California for being a sustaining member of Death, Sex, & Money, and supporting us with a monthly donation. You can join Brian and support what we do here by going to deathsexmoney.org/donate. And I’ll let Tressie have the last word Tressie McMillan Cottom: If you’ve already got a big crush on Trevor after listening to this episode, I’ve got news for you.
Not only is he successful, and adorable, and perhaps one of the best male feminists I’ve ever sat down and spoken with. But the man is also handy.
- TN: I’ve been to a hardware store at 2 AM in New York City.
- TMC: That is, and that should never happen.
- TN: I had a toilet seat that was wobbly.
- TMC: Yes.
TN: and then I realized there was like a screw that was loose and I was like, I need to get the screw and then I Googled “hardware store” and then I went and I got—2:00 AM!—and the guy at the hardware store wasn’t like, “Hey man, why don’t you wait till the morning?” He was like, “Yeah, aisle four.
Let me help you.” TMC: Yeah. “Got that.” Tressie McMillan Cottom: I’m Tressie McMillan Cottom, and this is Death, Sex & Money from WNYC. (Death, Sex & Money theme music ends) Copyright © 2022 New York Public Radio. All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use at www.wnyc.org for further information.
: Trevor Noah Talks Depression, Radical Honesty, and Braiding Hair | Death, Sex & Money
View complete answer
What psychology does Trevor have in GTA 5?
He meets the criteria for borderline personality disorder, antisocial personality disorder, and substance abuse. For starters, borderline personality disorder is a subset of personality disorders characterized by emotional instability and impulsive behavior.
View complete answer
Does Trevor have a disability?
Trevor Noah’s Journey with ADHD: From ADHD Diagnosis to Success Trevor Noah, the popular comedian, and host of The Daily Show, recently revealed that he has ADHD (attention deficit hyperactivity disorder). This announcement sparked a conversation about the realities of and the importance of understanding and supporting those with mental health disorders.
View complete answer
What mental illness does Trevor Phillips have reddit?
What mental illness does Trevor have Reddit? – Trevor Philips from Grand Theft Auto 5 is a psychopath in non medical terms. In medical terms he is an Antisocial Personality disorder. |
View complete answer