Trevor Noah launches Comedy Central in Dubai

On Saturday afternoon, Daily Show host and stand-up comedian Trevor Noah helped launch TV channel Comedy Central HD in the Middle East.

The original Comedy Central, an American cable channel owned by Viacom Media Networks, first launched in 1991. Comedy Central HD, created for the region, will now be found on channel 207 on pay television network OSN.

Noah, who speaks six languages, joked that he will provide Arabic stand-up if Saudi comedian, and MC of the press conference, Fahad Al Butairi taught him.

“I will be exploring my Arabic. I believe I will be very good, and then you will no longer have a job. That’s really what the plan is here, is for me to take over from the Arabic-speaking comedians, and try to just put it all into one comedian. It will be cheaper for the network and appeal to everybody,” quipped Noah.

In the future, Comedy Central HD will air both international and local content in both English and Arabic, using subtitles as needed. The network will be scouting Middle Eastern comedians from around the region, including the UAE, Lebanon and Saudi Arabia, said Raffaele Annecchino, executive vice-president and managing director of Viacom South Europe, Middle East and Africa.

They are also looking at adapting American formats, such as Comedy Central Roast, a programme that puts a chosen celebrity at the centre of comedic barbs.

In addition to The Daily Show, the channel will air series such as South Park, Broad City and Inside Amy Schumer. The edginess of the content does not create any grave concerns for OSN, which allows for a “highly sophisticated” and customisable platform of parental control, said David Butorac, chief executive officer of OSN.

Noah, a South African native, is covering his first American election cycle, which he described as “extremely abrasive and doesn’t have much conversation between the sides.”

“I come in without the proverbial horse in the race. I see things as I see them and I say things as I say them,” he said.

“We’re also in a race that is unprecedented completely. The US is experiencing something that they’ve never experienced before — and that is a man with a thing on his head, and he’s saying some things that are really scary.”

(Asked if he can confirm whether or not he’s speaking about Republican candidate Donald Trump, he added, “That depends on whether you’ve seen his head or not.”)

“I always see things through the prism of the globe,” said Noah.

“People say, ‘This is the worst election,’ or ‘This is the craziest person we’ve ever seen.’ I say, well then, maybe that’s because you haven’t seen other people. Sometimes it’s nice to give people perspective and say, ‘Look at what’s happening in this region. Look at what’s happening in that region.’ You think you’re the best country? Look at that country, they may be doing something better. Or you think you have the worst situation? Here’s a place where something is going much worse.”