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What Now? With Trevor NoahMeet Khaya Dlanga – One of My Favorite People | What Now? with Trevor Noah Podcast
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A German Executive Driving Uber to Learn English
Trevor Noah introduces Khaya Dlanga as a friend of over 20 years, and Khaya tells of an Uber driver who was a Merrill Lynch executive driving to improve his English. The two then banter about why Trevor always wanted to be an Uber driver.
- •Trevor introduces Khaya as a writer, social commentator and friend of over 20 years
- •Khaya's German Uber driver held a senior job at Merrill Lynch
- •The driver said driving taught him English and nuances about Americans useful for his job
- •Trevor explains South African minibus taxis run on fixed routes
Khaya's Car Accidents and the Distronic Excuse
Trevor presses Khaya on how many accidents he has had, recalling the time Khaya drove into the back of Xolisa's convertible. Khaya explains the car's Distronic system had flagged a malfunction days earlier.
- •Khaya counts two accidents, both caused by taxi drivers
- •Trevor recounts Khaya's first Mercedes crashing into Xolisa's car
- •Khaya says Xolisa braked suddenly and his car's Distronic had been malfunctioning for three days
- •The insurance paid out
Insurance as a Bet and the Uber Business Model
The conversation turns to insurance companies pulling out of markets, with Khaya describing insurance as a bet. Trevor argues that companies now focus on profit over being good businesses, using Uber's growth, falling standards and price hikes as his example.
- •Khaya describes insurance as a bet that your house won't catch fire
- •Trevor says many businesses focus on making money instead of doing something well
- •Khaya recalls his first, prestigious Uber Black ride and a friend who thought he was a spy
- •Trevor describes the Silicon Valley playbook of underpricing competitors, then raising prices and squeezing drivers
- •Both discuss shareholder pressure overriding original missions
Carl Sagan's Quote and Khaya's Screen Time
Khaya reads a long Carl Sagan quote about the dumbing down of media, prompting Trevor to note the paradox of Khaya's love of books and social media. Khaya admits to 15 hours of screen time and reading less, and recalls being featured on YouTube.
- •Khaya reads Carl Sagan's 1995 passage on decaying media and ignorance
- •Trevor teases that Khaya's 15 hours of daily screen time contradicts his love of books
- •Khaya says snippet content gives only pseudo-knowledge and he wants to read more this year
- •Khaya was the first African featured on YouTube's front page and got an email from Steve Chen
- •He left YouTube when he began writing newspaper columns
Why Strangers Talk to Khaya: His Grandfather and the Village
Trevor asks whether Khaya's habit of talking to everyone comes from his grandfather. Khaya describes his grandfather, who registered cattle across several villages, and growing up in a busy village home with no plumbing.
- •Khaya's late brother complained about walking with him because he stopped to chat with everyone
- •His grandfather Elford Khayisa Boyce kept the cattle register for four or five villages
- •Trevor compares him to the DMV of cows and describes the village as outside the Wakanda dome
- •Khaya opened gates for visitors and was spoken to alongside his grandparents
- •Khaya says this is why he writes about the village in his books
Plural Greetings and How South Africans See Homeless People
Trevor and Khaya discuss how South African greetings like sanibonani are plural and acknowledge everyone, contrasting this with New York subways. Trevor says South Africans engage with homeless people differently, recalling the man who told him he had finished his money on the car.
- •Khaya reads sanibona as greeting on behalf of oneself and one's ancestors
- •Older people force a greeting before answering a request for directions
- •Trevor contrasts reactions to homeless people in India, New York and South Africa
- •A homeless man's remark about finishing money on the car reminded Trevor he must see him
- •South African beggars respond with 'next time' when told you have nothing
The Intersection Story and the Power of Consent
Khaya recounts a tweet about a man at an intersection who had a stranger's fingers put in his mouth after refusing money. The two joke about how they would react, and Trevor argues that consent is what makes the difference.
- •Khaya describes the tweet about the intersection incident
- •Khaya says he would worry about mouthwash and a doctor
- •Trevor argues the stranger, not homelessness, is what makes it alarming
- •Trevor says people kiss strangers by choice, which shows how powerful consent is
From Village to American Politics: OJ and Newspapers
Trevor asks when Khaya's interest in American history and politics began. Khaya describes reading newspapers and magazines at a new school, being fascinated by the O.J. Simpson trial and earning top marks for an oral on it.
- •After moving to his mother in the township, Khaya read the Daily Dispatch, Time and Newsweek before class
- •He had learned English only two years earlier
- •His oral on the O.J. trial drew the whole class into a debate and earned him 100%
- •He says his view of O.J. shifted after watching Made in America
- •He learned US states from WWF wrestler introductions
Judging the Present: Trump, Stagecraft and Being Liked
Trevor raises the puzzle that people living through a period judge it worst, which leads to Trump. Khaya says there may be two Trumps and calls him the best stagecraft politician in US history, while both consider his need to be liked and a Middle Eastern man's view of politeness versus actions.
- •Trevor says people in the present are the worst judges of the present
- •Khaya compares Mandela's use of theater with Trump's stagecraft
- •Trevor weighs whether Trump's need to be liked makes him a dictator or prevents it
- •Both note that many dictators were voted in
- •A man in Qatar told Trevor he preferred a rude president who wouldn't bomb the region to a polite one
Returning to Church After His Mother's Death
Khaya asks Trevor about going to church, and Trevor tells of his mother's funeral, where he expected not to speak but sang with the church women instead. That moment led him back to church after stopping around 2006 or 2007. Khaya also tells of Doja Cat emailing him as a 13-year-old.
- •Trevor's mother died shortly after turning 70
- •Singing with the women at her funeral made him feel her presence and God's presence
- •He sang a traditional Xhosa song about his mother and resolved to go to church
- •Khaya had stopped attending around 2006 or 2007
- •Khaya tried to help a 13-year-old Amala Dlamini, later Doja Cat, contact her father
How Khaya and Trevor Met, and His Father's Story
Trevor recalls approaching Khaya in Cape Town, amid models, to ask to be friends. Khaya then tells of his father's death on his sixth birthday and the story of his grandfather, a Wits chemistry lecturer who fled to Lesotho and was tortured, and his father's rebellion as a traffic cop.
- •Trevor asked Khaya to be his friend after seeing him surrounded by models and businessmen
- •Khaya's father died during his sixth birthday party
- •His paternal grandfather was a Wits lecturer suspected by the apartheid government and fled to Lesotho
- •Lesotho gave him 24 hours to leave under pressure; he was tortured after being found
- •His father, as a traffic cop, fined only white drivers and quit when warned
Loss, Faith and Friendship: Khaya's Brother and Mother
Trevor asks how Khaya stays generous and hopeful despite so much loss. Khaya talks about Bible assurances, his brother's gambling addiction and suicide, his mother's death, and the friends who carried him.
- •Khaya draws on scripture, including Job, and conversations with Trevor's mother
- •His brother lived with him, and Khaya hadn't seen the gambling addiction
- •He made hard decisions, including firing him, then doubted himself afterward
- •His mother said he had done more than he should have, as his brother's note also said
- •He credits faith and friends, and his line 'Even in my darkest hour, I glow in the dark'
Gambling, Responsibility and Regulation
Trevor explains why the podcast stopped taking sports betting ads, arguing that 'gamble responsibly' shifts blame onto individuals. With input from a speaker in the room, they discuss products that profit from customers going bankrupt and the idea of credit-style limits on gambling.
- •Trevor stopped taking sports betting ads after thinking of Khaya's brother
- •Trevor says gambling is designed to hook people, unlike cars, which keep getting safer
- •A speaker notes gambling and some crypto products profit most when customers go bankrupt
- •Trevor proposes affordability checks like credit rules for gambling companies
- •Khaya says 20% of customers account for 80% of consumption, and Trevor jokes he is the 20% for ice cream
Khaya's Books and Telling History Through Human Stories
Trevor asks about Khaya's five books. Khaya explains his writing records how people live while history happens, and Trevor says human stories make politics less theoretical, with Khaya as an embodiment of the village online. Khaya closes by noting that South Africa's book-buying public is mostly white but doesn't buy books by Black writers.
- •Khaya's books include In My Arrogant Opinion, To Quote Myself, These Things Really Do Happen to Me, The Answers For Me and Life Is Like That Sometimes
- •The Answers For Me was built from audience replies to his online questions during COVID
- •He tells how a nurse was shocked that a child with a broken arm spoke English
- •Trevor says stories keep people from becoming numbers, citing Mo Amer on Palestinians
- •Khaya says he wishes South African book buyers would read Black authors to know each other's stories
Publisher timestamps
- 0:00Introduction
- 2:00Story of a German Uber executive learning English
- 3:45Khaya’s experiences as a driver and car accidents
- 8:00Discussion on insurance companies and their responsibilities
- 24:00Early fascination with American politics
- 41:00Return to church after mother's passing
- 1:22:00Family history and father's story
- 1:39:00Exploration of gambling addiction and social responsibility
- 1:51:00Writing career and storytelling approach
- 1:55:00Stories about growing up during apartheid
