Within hours of the announcement that Trevor Noah would be taking over The Daily Show, reporters unearthed from the young comedian’s Twitter feed a trove of jokes (some several years old, some more recent) that suggested his tastes were significantly less sophisticated and progressive than those of his predecessor: there were predictable, tasteless jokes about Thai hookers and “fat chicks”, about Asian accents and Jewish money.
But one far-sighted comedian, Kristina Wong, saw this as an opportunity and tweeted to Noah, “Your Asian jokes need work. Hire me as a Daily Show correspondent, and I will show you how it’s done.”
The show writers and its bro-ish new head couldn’t do better than to bring Wong on — the fierce, formidably smart third-generation Chinese-American woman has been fearlessly, hilariously writing and performing about issues of race, gender, and politics for years. Her accomplishments range from her epic “Asian Vaginas End Racism” video to her “Wong Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest” performance, which she describes as “a serio-comic portrayal of the high incidence of anxiety, depression and mental illness among Asian American women,” to a new show for which she’s been doing research for in Africa.
In the past year, Wong has received well-deserved attention, including a video feature in the New York Times‘ Off Color series and an in-depth profile in the Guardian. A quick look at her website shows the impressive range of her work, from stints on reality shows to serious political action. And her You Tube channel will have you laughing until you cry.
So do us all a favor. Go tweet Trevor Noah right now and tell him to hire Kristina Wong — so she can keeping showing all of us how it’s done.