It’s a week into Trevor Noah’s new role as host of The Daily Show and the world has received the South African comedian pretty well. His political pickings are on point and he is able to mention countries’ oddities with insight and talent.

Thanks to his online presence – where show details and social observations are frequent – Trevor pretty much landed the best job a comedian could get. The Daily Show’s former host, John Stewart, was the highest paid television host in the world, with an annual salary of between R350m and R410m. And, although Trevor’s annual salary is set to be revealed, it is reported that the comedian charges around R3m per private show.

That’s excluding flights and accommodation. And only for an hour-long show.

The fee may seem high, but when considering that Noah could have made in excess of R20 million from his sold-out Lost In Translation South African tour earlier this year – just one stop on his world tour – there’s some maths behind this Noah madness.

Trevor so far has refused a:

• sponsorship deal in excess of R5 million
• a major role in a local movie
• long-running international brand endorsements
• a slew of corporate-rate appearances

Why? Because he really doesn’t need the added pressure of extra people to please. In fact, he has made more than enough from his sold out tour Lost In Translation (R20m) and the DVD’s sold from previous tours (R16.5m excluding the syndication and the regular royalties).

And every day that Trevor succeeds as host of The Daily Show just sees his price escalate.

Even three years ago, his endorsement didn’t come cheap. When Noah was announced as the new “CEO” of Cell-C, he was paid R1 million, a ground-breaking figure at the time.

Boom. Go Noah, it seems you’re one of the lucky ones.

[source: timeslive&fin24]