Trevor Noah has pivoted to Fortnite

Ever since Trevor Noah announced, back in September of 2022, that he’d be leaving his position as host of Comedy Central’s The Daily Show, there’s been a slight question of “What comes next?” hanging over the internationally famous comedian’s head. It’s not like he’s been idle, per se; 2023 saw Noah release a new stand-up special and a podcast, and he continued his regular gig as annual host of the Grammys as recently as last week. But he also hasn’t launched into any kind of huge, “Ah, here’s the next step of my gigantic career” moves, either. At least, until tonight, when news broke of the next, obvious progression in Noah’s pursuit of stand-up greatness: Fortnite.

That’s right, Trevor Noah has pivoted to the online home of caffeine-addled children and screeching Twitch streamers everywhere, with THR reporting that Noah has joined the still-massively-popular online game as producer of a new in-game comedy show called “JokeNite.” Interestingly, while the trailer announcing the new show—which players can access in a separate world from the one where they run around shooting and blowing each other up—drops Noah’s name prominently, it doesn’t feature him, his voice, or a Fortnite approximation of his form. (Maybe because he’s just a “producer” on the program?) It does reveal that Noah has rounded up a decent opening lineup for the inaugural show, with performances from Matthew Broussard, Marcia Belsky, Preacher Lawson, and Cocaine Bear’s Scott Seiss (who will always be Angry IKEA Guy in our hearts).

Fortnite has dabbled in pushing itself as an online event space before, but this is the first time the extremely lucrative online game has gotten into comedy like this. (It’s a bit reminiscent of the time Ricky Gervais, Katt Williams, and Frankie Boyle recorded virtual stand-up sets for Grand Theft Auto IV, completely with a little virtual Ricky Gervais in the game, saying irritating virtual things.) News of the “show” comes at the same time that Fortnite has announced a big new push with Disney, likely to be the latest step in turning the game into one of those “metaverses” that people you never want to talk to for very long are always trying to talk to you about.