Trevor Noah: Lost in Translation

1

[upbeat music]

[cheers and applause]

- Thank you very much.

Thank you very much.

Thank you very much.

Hello.

Yeah!

This is us.

Hello. Thank you. Thank you.

Thank you very much.

Nice to see you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Welcome. Welcome.

This is us.

Washington, D.C.

[cheers and applause]

Yeah!

Okay, you guys feeling good?

Yeah?

[cheers and applause]

That's good.

That's good, yeah.

Whoo-hoo, whoo-hoo to you too.

- Whoo!

- And that as well, ma'am.

And that as well.

I love that.

I love the sounds people make.

It's so much fun, yeah.

We're just--we're just throwing

language out of the window.

I like that.

I feel like we're devolving

as human beings now.

No, 'cause that was the thing

that separated us from the apes,

wasn't it?

The fact that we chose speech.

Yeah.

The monkeys used to run around

and screech.

[screeching]

And we were like, "No."

English.

[laughter]

But now, we've started

to go back to that,

started to embrace our roots.

People get excited,

"Are you happy?"

"I'm real happy."

"How happy?"

"Whoo-hoo, whoo-hoo!

"Whoo-hoo!

"Whoo! Whoo!

Whoo! Ow!"

That's one of

my favorite sounds.

It sounds like

someone's having so much fun

they hurt themselves.

Like you didn't plan

ahead of time.

[screeches]

Ow!

Too much fun.

Such a weird sound.

I love it.

And you know what's crazy is

that we all know

what that sound means.

We don't agree on anything

in this world--

race, religion, politics--

but that sound, that "whoo-hoo,"

has united us all.

You can make that sound anywhere

and people accept it.

As long as there's alcohol

present,

you can make that sound.

Whoo-hoo!

But there has to be alcohol.

You can't make that sound

anywhere else.

You can't make that sound

in the office.

It's unacceptable.

Your boss won't allow it.

You can't be like, "Final email.

Sent.

Whoo-hoo!"

"Johnson!"

"Sorry, sir. Sorry, sorry."

Can't make that sound in church.

"And that is why Jesus died

for our sins."

"Whoo-hoo!"

"Sorry, pastor."

"Go to hell."

You just can't do it,

but everyone knows it.

Everyone knows

what "whoo-hoo" means.

It means happiness, yeah.

The happiness of the people.

Strange, because no one asked me

to vote on it.

I didn't get to choose.

If I was to choose,

I don't know that I would pick

"whoo-hoo"

as the sound of happiness.

Strangely enough,

I think it may be more apt

as the sound of sadness.

I could see it,

at a funeral.

Family gathered around

the caskets.

Tears streaming down their face.

Pastor reading the eulogy.

"We'll always remember Mary

"as a loving mother,

"a caring friend,

"foodie, blogger,

"and wonderful sister.

"Before we lay her to rest,

"would you please join me now

as we observe a moment

of whoo-hoo."

Everyone's standing there

in tears.

[imitates sobbing]

"Whoo-hoo!

"Whoo-hoo!

Ow!"

There'll always be one big lady

in the corner,

[Amazing Grace melody]

Whoo

Whoo-hoo

Whoo-hoo, hoo-hoo

"Thank you very much, sister."

Such a fun sound.

The sound of happiness.

The sound of white happiness,

in particular.

Yeah.

I've tracked it.

I've searched for the source

of whoo-hoo

and I found it originated

with white people.

White--white woman

in particular.

Yeah, that's where

it comes from.

That is the sound

of a white woman's turnup.

That is the sound

of her getting into the game.

It's like,

"Tammy! Whoo-hoo!"

And that's where you know

it's on.

Yeah, 'cause everyone else

learned it from a white woman.

That's where it came from,

you know?

It spread through society

like a virus.

It's not the natural sound

anybody else makes.

White women make that sound

instinctively,

but everyone else

has learned it.

Like, white men were

the first ones to learn it,

because for them,

it's sort of like a mating call.

They know what it means.

They have to reciprocate,

like, "Whoo-hoo!"

"Whoo-hoo!"

But everyone else

had to learn it.

It's a natural sound for them

but for nobody else.

Like, black people whoo-hoo

but it's not the natural sound

black people make for fun,

you know?

Black people can whoo-hoo.

Black people often do whoo-hoo,

but it's not instinctively

a black sound of happiness.

And I think it's because

black people aren't comfortable

with the whoo-hoo.

Deep down inside there's

a certain moment in whoo-hoo

when every black person

stops enjoying it.

There's just--

there's just a moment

when--and maybe this is just

my personal experiences,

but I fear it sounds eerily

similar to a police siren.

There's just a moment

where it stops being fun.

[cheers and applause]

There's just that split second

where it's like,

"Whoo-hoo, whoo!

"Whoo, whoo, whoop-whoop, whoo.

Whoop. Whoop. Boop."

[laughter]

Put your hands in the air...

and keep them there.

It's not the sound of happiness

in my life, that's not--

Although, I guess that's why

white people do it.

'Cause white people

love calling the police,

so they're probably like,

"Whoo-hoo!

"Oh, my God,

the cops are here!

"Party time!

Come on in.

I thought you'd never make it."

'Cause white people do,

white people have

a very different relationship

with the police.

I was trying to explain this

to my friend, Dave.

You know, when we're hanging out

he's like,

"Dude, what is it

with black people and police?"

I'm like, "It's not that black

people don't like the police

or hate the police,

it's just that--it's just that

we have a tumultuous history

with the police."

One day we were driving--

we're driving on the highway

and the police car

pulled up behind us

and I got tense.

I just got really tense.

And he's like,

"Dude, what's going on?"

I said, "The police.

The police are behind us."

He was like, "Yeah, and?

Did you do anything wrong?"

I said,

"That's not the point."

Because it really isn't.

For white people,

that is the point.

The police will send you to jail

if you do something wrong.

As a black person, you have

a different relationship.

The police may send you to jail

just because.

I know this because I was--

I was driving--

I got pulled over by the police

for the first time

in my life in America.

And already, I'm not

very comfortable when driving

in the United States, you know.

Not because it's the other side

of the road,

but because it's

the other side of the car.

I'm not used to that, you know.

Like--like, I always get into

the car on the wrong side.

I'll be shopping and I'll come

back to my car confidently,

and I'll jump inside

and put the things down,

and then I'm like, "Ah."

[laughter]

And then instead of getting out,

I sit there.

I always just sit there,

because I always think

somebody's watching me.

So I just sit there and I act

like I planned it all, like...

"Where is my driver?"

[laughter]

"Where is my--

He should have been here by now.

Where is my--Oh, well,

I guess I'll drive myself."

[laughter]

I don't know why I do that.

I'm not comfortable.

But you have to drive

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