Trevor Noah riffs on (and follows the example of) Star Wars in extended Lost In Translation clip

By Erik Adams | November 24, 2015 | 8:22pm

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In these, the final months of 2015, Trevor Noah and J.J. Abrams face a similar challenge: Shepherding a beloved pop-culture franchise into its next phase of existence. Abrams’ Star Wars: Episode VII—The Force Awakens has a pretty low bar to clear: Just be better than the prequels. Noah, meanwhile, had the Daily Show torch passed to him by Jon Stewart, arguably the 21st century’s most important voice in late-night TV. These aren’t midi-chlorians and “I don’t like sand” he’s following up—it’s “Fuckface Von Clownstick” and The Rally To Restore Sanity And/Or Fear and the entire notion of The Daily Show as an essential source for media commentary and political satire.

So maybe the Noah/Abrams analogy isn’t as precise as it could be. Maybe Trevor Noah is closer to George Lucas circa the mid-1990s, when the filmmaker retooled the original, vaunted Star Wars trilogy and then followed it up with another Star Wars trilogy. Noah’s stand-up special Lost In Translation is certainly following a “Lucas in the ’90s” course, as it’s now available as its very own “special edition”—extended, uncensored, and available for download from Comedy Central. And just like the George Lucas of the past, Trevor Noah has some ideas for improving Star Wars, as laid out in the exclusive clip below.