Meet Wil Sylvince - My Favorite People

1. 0:00 – 2:22

   Intro

   1. TNTrevor Noah0:00

      This episode is a paid partnership with Apple Card. Did you know Apple Card is the only credit card designed for iPhone? That's right. It lives on your iPhone in the Wallets app, and you get daily cash back on every purchase. And because fees don't help you, Apple Card doesn't have any. So if your credit card isn't Apple Card, maybe it should be. Subject to credit approval. Apple Card issued by Goldman Sachs Bank USA, Salt Lake City Branch. Variable APRs for Apple Card range from 17.49% to 27.74%, based on credit worthiness. Rates as of January 1, 2026. Existing customers can view their variable APR in the Wallet app or card.apple.com.

   2. WSWil Sylvince0:45

      [upbeat music] I feel like I, I always thought out the box. Does that make sense?

   3. TNTrevor Noah0:53

      Yeah.

   4. WSWil Sylvince0:53

      Kinda like... 'Cause I was very close to my grandmother, right? Because, uh, my, my dad used to always tell us, like, uh, uh, uh, everybody's equal.

   5. TNTrevor Noah1:04

      Mm-hmm.

   6. WSWil Sylvince1:05

      Right? There's no such thing as gender roles. You gon- you learn how to cook, clean, wash, you know. Also, you learn how to fix electrical appliances. You learn how if, if a socket is broken, you learn how, what to do. You know, um, um, y- also my dad [laughs] my dad used to do this thing where, so you know, you know the when the gas come into the house?

   7. TNTrevor Noah1:27

      Yeah.

   8. WSWil Sylvince1:27

      Right? And there's a meter that-

   9. TNTrevor Noah1:29

      Yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay, okay, great

   10. WSWil Sylvince1:30

       ... So my dad forgot how to, to, to beat the company. He just, he would just unscrew the thing-

   11. TNTrevor Noah1:36

       [laughs]

   12. WSWil Sylvince1:36

       ... and turn it backwards, and so now the meter's re-

   13. TNTrevor Noah1:39

       Yeah, yeah [laughs]

   14. WSWil Sylvince1:39

       ... run the other way.

   15. TNTrevor Noah1:40

       [laughs]

   16. WSWil Sylvince1:41

       But he made sure that it go all the way down, by what you guys-

   17. TNTrevor Noah1:44

       [laughs]

   18. WSWil Sylvince1:45

       You guys didn't use any gas?

   19. TNTrevor Noah1:46

       You guys use anti-gas?

   20. WSWil Sylvince1:47

       [laughs] Yeah.

   21. TNTrevor Noah1:48

       You guy- you guys use negative gas?

   22. WSWil Sylvince1:49

       Right. So he knew, he knew just the amount, and the, the gas, our gas bill was pretty low. And, um, uh, he, he knew how to also with the electric and the, the cheap and the... He used the, so there's different, uh, fuses. He'll get the ones with certain amount of resistance and, you know.

   23. SPSpeaker2:08

       No wonder the white people didn't want the Black people doing these things.

   24. TNTrevor Noah2:11

       [laughs]

   25. WSWil Sylvince2:11

       [laughs]

   26. SPSpeaker2:12

       Look at what they're doing with their engineering knowledge.

   27. TNTrevor Noah2:15

       [laughs] [upbeat music]

2. 2:22 – 5:00

   Haiti Makes the World Cup & Chaos Before the Podcast Starts

   1. TNTrevor Noah2:23

      This is What Now? with Trevor Noah. [upbeat music]

   2. WSWil Sylvince2:36

      The, the difference is-

   3. TNTrevor Noah2:37

      But I'm saying, did you see what you did there?

   4. WSWil Sylvince2:39

      Yeah.

   5. TNTrevor Noah2:40

      You said, "Is Haiti still in the World Cup?"

   6. WSWil Sylvince2:43

      Yeah.

   7. TNTrevor Noah2:44

      I said, "Haiti." Then you were like, "Why'd you say it like that?" Then you said, "Dave, is Haiti in the World Cup?" Then he said, "Haiti." Then you said, "Why'd you say it like that?"

   8. WSWil Sylvince2:51

      Right.

   9. TNTrevor Noah2:52

      Then Sanaz said, "Did you take Iran's spot?" And then you said, "Iran. Why did you say it like that?"

   10. WSWil Sylvince2:57

       Because I, I didn't know what you were talking about, a personal place.

   11. TNTrevor Noah3:00

       You thought she was talking about a person?

   12. WSWil Sylvince3:01

       There's people named Iran.

   13. TNTrevor Noah3:03

       [laughs]

   14. WSWil Sylvince3:05

       So I was, I wanted cle- I wanted clarity.

   15. SPSpeaker3:08

       Haiti's in the World Cup.

   16. TNTrevor Noah3:09

       For the first time in 50 years.

   17. WSWil Sylvince3:10

       Is that a question or a statement?

   18. TNTrevor Noah3:12

       Congratulations, Will.

   19. SPSpeaker3:12

       Congratulations.

   20. WSWil Sylvince3:13

       Thank you.

   21. TNTrevor Noah3:14

       Congratulations.

   22. WSWil Sylvince3:14

       You guys did not hear about that?

   23. TNTrevor Noah3:15

       Are you s- g- you didn't, you barely heard about it.

   24. WSWil Sylvince3:18

       [laughs]

   25. TNTrevor Noah3:19

       Do you even watch soccer?

   26. WSWil Sylvince3:20

       Uh, no, I d- I don't. That's why I wanted to know. I don't watch soccer, but I heard, you know, I heard the whispers.

   27. TNTrevor Noah3:24

       It's okay. You're supposed to, you're supposed to... If you're from a small country like Haiti, you should just support everything they do.

   28. WSWil Sylvince3:28

       I do, I do. I do. That's, that's why I'm like, you know.

   29. SPSpeaker3:30

       You know what's cool about Haiti being in the World Cup? Is that it's almost like you decided as a country that, "Guys, being a country's hard, but I think we can get back in the World Cup."

   30. TNTrevor Noah3:42

       [laughs]
3. 5:00 – 8:02

   Will’s Sleep Problems & Life Doing Late Night Comedy

   1. TNTrevor Noah5:00

      yellow, the, the, like the, you know what I mean? Like the, the, y- you know those things that, like, who, who was, like, Sacha Baron Cohen wore something like that in one of his movies.

   2. WSWil Sylvince5:08

      Oh, I don't, I don't even know who that is. But-

   3. TNTrevor Noah5:09

      The guy who played, like, Borat and stuff.

   4. WSWil Sylvince5:11

      Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Don't you see-

   5. TNTrevor Noah5:12

      That's what you're wearing

   6. WSWil Sylvince5:12

      ... don't you see the, the, the ropes?

   7. TNTrevor Noah5:14

      I don't see ropes.

   8. WSWil Sylvince5:15

      Don't you, oh, you on medication, you can't see the rope?

   9. TNTrevor Noah5:17

      I don't see ropes at all. I don't see it. Wel- welcome to the podcast, Will Sylvince.

   10. WSWil Sylvince5:20

       Oh, well, thank you for having me. I'm, I'm happy to be here.

   11. TNTrevor Noah5:22

       This is good, man.

   12. WSWil Sylvince5:23

       Yeah, this is really good.

   13. TNTrevor Noah5:24

       What, what you been up to?

   14. WSWil Sylvince5:25

       Um-

   15. TNTrevor Noah5:25

       Did you sleep today, by the way?

   16. WSWil Sylvince5:26

       I probably got three hours, four hours of sleep.

   17. TNTrevor Noah5:28

       Yeah, I can tell. I can always tell when you don't. Why don't you sleep?

   18. WSWil Sylvince5:31

       I don't know. 'Cause I g- I, sometimes I get home, I be excited to go to bed.

   19. TNTrevor Noah5:35

       Yeah.

   20. WSWil Sylvince5:35

       I get home, I'm like, I'm driving, I'm going, "I'm gonna go to bed early." Be like, be like 1:30 a- I'm gonna g- I'll, I'll be in bed by 2:00. I get home, take my stuff off, you know, get online or, or, or start watching a TV show, and I'm wi- I'm wired.

   21. SPSpeaker5:49

       Okay, hold on. I'm, just so I can help you for real, is explain why it is that... No, this is legit. Explain why it is that you are getting home at 2:00.

   22. WSWil Sylvince5:59

       Oh, g- I, I do shows at night. I do shows that end, like, 1:30, 2:00, or sometimes I get home at 3:00, 3:00, 3:30, 4:00 'cause the shows go, go late

   23. TNTrevor Noah6:08

       Yeah, but, but yeah, but I mean, we, we've ... W- when we first met, how many years have we known each other now? What are we, fif- 15 years maybe?

   24. WSWil Sylvince6:15

       15. Yeah.

   25. TNTrevor Noah6:16

       Maybe even more.

   26. WSWil Sylvince6:17

       Yeah.

   27. TNTrevor Noah6:17

       Funny enough. When I first met you, like, so when I first came to New York, I met Wil, uh, at the Comedy Cellar, right? And you and I would be there until 3:00 AM, 4:00 AM when the shows would go, like f- w- we, we'd run the shows all the way from 7:00 PM until, like, 4:00 AM.

   28. WSWil Sylvince6:33

       Yeah.

   29. TNTrevor Noah6:33

       Right?

   30. WSWil Sylvince6:34

       Till the janitor come out.
4. 8:02 – 10:50

   Growing Up Haitian in Brooklyn & Feeling Like Outsiders

   1. WSWil Sylvince8:02

      Oh, yeah. [laughs] We got tired.

   2. TNTrevor Noah8:04

      [laughs]

   3. WSWil Sylvince8:05

      We're not used to staying up that late. And we g- you know, we just

   4. TNTrevor Noah8:09

      [laughs]

   5. WSWil Sylvince8:09

      And mom like, "Okay, go to bed. Go to bed. Go to bed." "I, I wanna play some more." "Go to bed."

   6. TNTrevor Noah8:15

      Was this, like, a w- was this a, a typical Haitian parent thing, or was it just, like, your parents who were doing this? Did you grow up in, like, a big Haitian community? Was there-

   7. WSWil Sylvince8:23

      No, no, no, no

   8. TNTrevor Noah8:23

      ... was there, like, no, it wasn't, it wasn't, like, a big Haitian immigrant community living together?

   9. WSWil Sylvince8:27

      No, it was a, it was a, we was the only Haitian family in, on that neighborhood, in that neighborhood.

   10. TNTrevor Noah8:31

       Where did you grow up?

   11. WSWil Sylvince8:32

       Uh, in East New York, Brooklyn.

   12. TNTrevor Noah8:33

       Yeah.

   13. WSWil Sylvince8:34

       Yeah. And three, four blocks away with my cousins, but we never, you know, it was hard for us to, to connect like that, 'cause, you know, you know, it felt like the world was anti-Haiti.

   14. TNTrevor Noah8:45

       Yeah, but I mean, like, did ... 'Cause mo- most immigrant groups in the world will, will sort of track the first person, you know what I mean? One person goes, they tell their brothers and sisters, "Hey, I came here."

   15. WSWil Sylvince8:54

       Right.

   16. TNTrevor Noah8:54

       The next group comes, the next group comes, and then everyone starts to settle in the same place.

   17. WSWil Sylvince8:58

       Oh, I see.

   18. TNTrevor Noah8:58

       That wasn't, was that not, like, a big-

   19. SPSpeaker8:59

       Excuse me, can I ask a question? Sorry, sorry.

   20. TNTrevor Noah9:01

       Oh, yeah. Oh, oh, back to-

   21. WSWil Sylvince9:03

       Oh, yes

   22. SPSpeaker9:03

       Okay. As, you know, uh, in Star Wars, is it Star Wars? Where-

   23. TNTrevor Noah9:07

       Well, you're the one who just asked it-

   24. SPSpeaker9:08

       Yes

   25. TNTrevor Noah9:08

       ... and then asked us a question.

   26. WSWil Sylvince9:09

       You're having enough information there.

   27. SPSpeaker9:10

       Sorry, in Star Wars where they have that thing, as the movie starts they, there's, like, a-

   28. TNTrevor Noah9:14

       Oh, the scroll

   29. SPSpeaker9:15

       ... there's a scroll

   30. TNTrevor Noah9:16

       The crawl. The crawl I think it's called.
5. 10:50 – 12:10

   Trevor and Will’s Comedy Cellar Friendship Story

   1. SPSpeaker10:50

      what's happening? Do you know what I mean?

   2. WSWil Sylvince10:51

      [laughs] Yeah. We do, we was doing shows at the Comedy Cellar.

   3. TNTrevor Noah10:54

      I'm trying to think, how do you even do a crawl?

   4. SPSpeaker10:56

      Just a little bit. Not completely.

   5. TNTrevor Noah10:57

      Someone walked up to you at a party. Ba ba ba ba ba ba ba ba ba ba ba ba ba ba ba ba. And then the crawl starts-

   6. WSWil Sylvince11:06

      Yeah

   7. TNTrevor Noah11:06

      ... and you go, "Wil and Trevor are sitting at a table together. They reminisce on how they were friends 16 years ago-"

   8. SPSpeaker11:14

      From doing what?

   9. TNTrevor Noah11:14

      "... meeting in a comedy club."

   10. WSWil Sylvince11:16

       You, who, who, they're both comedians.

   11. TNTrevor Noah11:17

       "They performed comedy shows at the Comedy Cellar in New York City-"

   12. SPSpeaker11:20

       Yes. Great

   13. TNTrevor Noah11:21

       ... "from 7:00 PM until 3:00 to 4:00 AM. Wil Sylvince was the kindest comedian Trevor met, and over the years they got to know each other. Wil Sylvince, from a Haitian family. Haiti, a small but powerful nation that resisted the French occupation, and was one of the first colonies to free itself from enslavement."

   14. SPSpeaker11:42

       Okay, now you're going a bit far. Okay?

   15. TNTrevor Noah11:43

       Whoa, you, you can't tell me Ha-

   16. SPSpeaker11:45

       No, no. Now we know, okay, cool, you guys are comedians. Great buddies.

   17. TNTrevor Noah11:49

       Have you ever watched a movie with this guy? He's the worst.

   18. WSWil Sylvince11:51

       He's, oh, y- you'd be talking during, during the movies?

   19. TNTrevor Noah11:53

       He, he does this during the movie as well.

   20. WSWil Sylvince11:54

       You talk during the movies?

   21. TNTrevor Noah11:54

       He does this exact same thing during the movie.

   22. SPSpeaker11:56

       I'm, I'm, please. Okay.

   23. TNTrevor Noah11:57

       George Lucas put the crawl because of him.

   24. WSWil Sylvince11:59

       [laughs]

   25. SPSpeaker12:01

       Now, now that we know, okay, you guys are great buddies. You're, you, you knew each other from comedy. Now, how, now you can go, and you have a sleep problem

6. 12:10 – 17:19

   Therapy, Sleep, and Immigrant Attitudes Toward Mental Health

   1. SPSpeaker12:11

      Now-

   2. TNTrevor Noah12:11

      But do you think it's a sleep problem?

   3. SPSpeaker12:12

      Now we can go into it. Cool.

   4. WSWil Sylvince12:14

      I never thought it was a sleep problem. I, I, you know what? I never went to the doctor for any specific reason.

   5. TNTrevor Noah12:18

      Yeah.

   6. WSWil Sylvince12:18

      I d- I... When I, when I got older, when I found out, like, my white friends have a specific doctor, not just a doctor that tells you everything about your body, but the eye doctor, the lip doctor, the skin doctor. I'm like, "There's a doctor for that?" Like, I didn't know, I didn't know that was a thing. Like, you know, or a therapist. I thought therapy was just for, you know... In the Black community, we just thought therapy was for crazy people.

   7. TNTrevor Noah12:39

      Yeah, yeah, yeah. You're right.

   8. WSWil Sylvince12:40

      I'm not sure that's the right thing to-

   9. TNTrevor Noah12:41

      No, no, you're right. You're right. But it's true. That's-

   10. WSWil Sylvince12:42

       For, for crazy people

   11. TNTrevor Noah12:43

       ... when we were growing up, they'd say that. They'd, like, in, in Z- Zulu or something, they'd just be like, "You're just crazy."

   12. WSWil Sylvince12:48

       Yeah.

   13. TNTrevor Noah12:48

       There was no ADHD. There was no... Do you know what I mean? Anything.

   14. WSWil Sylvince12:52

       Yeah.

   15. TNTrevor Noah12:52

       Oh, autism, this, that. No, you're crazy or you're not crazy.

   16. WSWil Sylvince12:55

       Yes. Yes.

   17. TNTrevor Noah12:55

       So, so yeah, it's, it's, it's a similar thing in, in, like, South African, and I would argue most African culture as well.

   18. WSWil Sylvince13:00

       Yeah. And you don't go to the doctor, you just figure things out. You just figure it out.

   19. TNTrevor Noah13:02

       Yeah, you're sick or you're not sick.

   20. WSWil Sylvince13:04

       Yeah. But what I'm saying, if you were sick, you figure out how to not to get, be sick on your own.

   21. TNTrevor Noah13:08

       Yeah.

   22. WSWil Sylvince13:08

       That make sense?

   23. TNTrevor Noah13:09

       Or, or you go to, like, a doctor, 'cause you're, like, dying sick.

   24. WSWil Sylvince13:11

       That's different. That's-

   25. TNTrevor Noah13:12

       Like, you wouldn't go-

   26. WSWil Sylvince13:13

       Now you need a doctor

   27. TNTrevor Noah13:13

       ... you wouldn't go to a doctor because you, you can't sleep.

   28. WSWil Sylvince13:16

       Yeah.

   29. TNTrevor Noah13:16

       Yes.

   30. WSWil Sylvince13:16

       Or because-
7. 17:19 – 18:12

   Will the Engineer: Curiosity, Electronics & Comedy

   1. WSWil Sylvince17:19

      clock work? And, and I got into, uh, uh, electromechanical engineering.

   2. TNTrevor Noah17:24

      You know, the first time you told me that you used to be an engineer, I thought you, you were just saying this as, like, a, like, a comedy bit.

   3. WSWil Sylvince17:29

      Because I'm Black?

   4. TNTrevor Noah17:30

      No.

   5. WSWil Sylvince17:31

      [laughs]

   6. TNTrevor Noah17:32

      No, that's, that would be the most logical conclusion.

   7. WSWil Sylvince17:35

      [laughs]

   8. TNTrevor Noah17:35

      Yeah. Any, like, immigrant, doctor, lawyer, engineer.

   9. WSWil Sylvince17:38

      [laughs]

   10. TNTrevor Noah17:38

       That's, that would be the most logical... No, I just, I just thought you were making a joke. Like, like, the first time Wil said to me, he was like, "Yeah, as an engineer," then I just thought he meant, like, metaphorically in life.

   11. WSWil Sylvince17:47

       [laughs]

   12. SPSpeaker17:47

       Yeah, well.

   13. TNTrevor Noah17:48

       No, because Wil, I've never known you as an engineer.

   14. WSWil Sylvince17:52

       Right. Right.

   15. TNTrevor Noah17:53

       I've only met you as a stand-up comedian.

   16. SPSpeaker17:54

       And engineers all see, have a, like, a stereotype.

   17. TNTrevor Noah17:58

       Yeah, they, like, they, like, they don't wear-

   18. SPSpeaker17:59

       It's like an accountant has an ster-

   19. TNTrevor Noah18:00

       Yes, exactly.

   20. SPSpeaker18:01

       Yes, yes.

   21. WSWil Sylvince18:01

       What's the stereotype?

   22. TNTrevor Noah18:02

       They don't wear their face on their shirts.

   23. WSWil Sylvince18:05

       [laughs]

   24. SPSpeaker18:09

       [laughs]

   25. TNTrevor Noah18:09

       [laughs] That's generally how engineers roll.

   26. WSWil Sylvince18:11

       [laughs]

8. 18:12 – 22:18

   Papa Doc, Dictatorship & Why Will’s Parents Fled Haiti

   1. WSWil Sylvince18:13

      Good point.

   2. TNTrevor Noah18:14

      But tell, like, tell me a little bit about, like, young Wil Sylvince. Because you see, like, that, that story about you and your brothers I feel like you grew up in the strangest world, and it's made you the comedian and the person that I know you as today. Because every, every time we hang out, you tell like a new story about growing up, and I'm always like, "What-

   3. WSWil Sylvince18:33

      Mm-hmm

   4. TNTrevor Noah18:33

      ... like what world did you grow up in?"

   5. WSWil Sylvince18:36

      Oh.

   6. TNTrevor Noah18:36

      And like how, how... So wait. L- let's go back to the beginning. So your, your parents were born in Haiti.

   7. WSWil Sylvince18:41

      Born in Haiti.

   8. TNTrevor Noah18:42

      Yeah.

   9. WSWil Sylvince18:42

      Yep. Uh, they moved to America 'cause of Papa Doc. You know Papa Doc?

   10. TNTrevor Noah18:47

       No, I don't know Papa Doc.

   11. WSWil Sylvince18:48

       Papa Doc, uh, François Duvalier, he was the president of, of Haiti in the early '60s.

   12. TNTrevor Noah18:54

       Okay.

   13. WSWil Sylvince18:54

       1960s. And, uh, he, he promised a lot of changes and stuff, and then he actually became very bad and within a month, two, like he started killing Haitians that disagreed-

   14. TNTrevor Noah19:04

       Yeah

   15. WSWil Sylvince19:04

       ... with him, within, like, immediately. Um, I wonder, I, I... Do, how quick do di- dictators do that?

   16. TNTrevor Noah19:11

       It de- it depends on the situation.

   17. WSWil Sylvince19:12

       Like when they promise to do good for the country, they, they get elected, then how quick do they start, like-

   18. TNTrevor Noah19:16

       It literally depends on the situation. Some take years.

   19. WSWil Sylvince19:19

       Mm.

   20. TNTrevor Noah19:19

       Some w- it'll be like within a few months. I, I think, I think maybe. I'm not a historian, but I think maybe it has to... Like Dave reads a ton of history books because, like, he's just, doesn't have friends.

   21. WSWil Sylvince19:29

       [laughs]

   22. TNTrevor Noah19:29

       But, like-

   23. WSWil Sylvince19:30

       That is-

   24. TNTrevor Noah19:31

       Um-

   25. WSWil Sylvince19:31

       That is a incorrect reason.

   26. TNTrevor Noah19:34

       [laughs]

   27. WSWil Sylvince19:34

       [laughs]

   28. TNTrevor Noah19:34

       [laughs]

   29. WSWil Sylvince19:34

       Which, which, which part? He said so many things.

   30. TNTrevor Noah19:36

       [laughs] No, no, no.
9. 22:18 – 26:47

   Dictators, Oppression & How Evil Systems Stay Powerful

   1. TNTrevor Noah22:19

      I, I sometimes wish that, like, dictators and evil people, I wish we could use them for good because they, they're very efficient.

   2. WSWil Sylvince22:28

      Yeah.

   3. TNTrevor Noah22:28

      Do you, do you know what I mean?

   4. WSWil Sylvince22:29

      Yeah, yeah, yeah.

   5. TNTrevor Noah22:29

      Like, like Papa Doc comes into power and just starts killing people. He doesn't go like, "Ah, man, I wanna kill people, but it's so hard and, you know, there's so many things I gotta get right, and there's so..." I think of, like, apartheid in South Africa. When you look at what the apartheid government did in the count-

   6. WSWil Sylvince22:44

      Mm

   7. TNTrevor Noah22:44

      ... it's pretty amazing. You know, like how they were able to build systems. You know that they invented new ways to create fuel because they were sanctioned by the world, so they couldn't get fuel from other countries like most countries can.

   8. WSWil Sylvince22:58

      You know what I'm looking forward-

   9. TNTrevor Noah22:59

      When you say they, who's they?

   10. WSWil Sylvince23:00

       You know what I'm looking forward to?

   11. TNTrevor Noah23:01

       Yeah.

   12. WSWil Sylvince23:01

       Is the, the non-raw version of this, but continue. [laughs]

   13. TNTrevor Noah23:05

       [laughs] No, no, no. But you get what I'm saying?

   14. WSWil Sylvince23:06

       Who's the, who's are they?

   15. TNTrevor Noah23:08

       Uh, the, the, the, the white apartheid government.

   16. WSWil Sylvince23:10

       The whites. Okay.

   17. TNTrevor Noah23:10

       Yeah, yeah, yeah. So they were saying-

   18. WSWil Sylvince23:12

       So what was like-

   19. TNTrevor Noah23:12

       There were sanctions. So they-

   20. WSWil Sylvince23:13

       They-

   21. TNTrevor Noah23:13

       Yeah, there were sanctions on South Africa

   22. WSWil Sylvince23:14

       ... change your ways or you, otherwise we won't do business with you.

   23. TNTrevor Noah23:17

       Yeah.

   24. WSWil Sylvince23:17

       So they figured out, "Well, we'll figure out how to-"

   25. TNTrevor Noah23:18

       Yeah, they were like, "It's fine. We'll, we'll keep the racism going."

   26. WSWil Sylvince23:21

       Mm-hmm.

   27. TNTrevor Noah23:21

       "And we'll just figure out our own thing."

   28. WSWil Sylvince23:23

       Mm.

   29. TNTrevor Noah23:23

       And they developed new ways. One of the most, like, impressive was they found a way to make fuel from coal.

   30. WSWil Sylvince23:29

       So is that, what's that phrase? Pressure creates...
10. 26:47 – 28:36

    Will’s Solar Paint Idea & Engineering Mindset

    1. WSWil Sylvince26:47

       [laughs] You know what? I actually, I came up with... Uh, what year was that? Nine- '94. I came up with solar-powered paint. So you know how solar panels are on top of your roof?

    2. TNTrevor Noah26:58

       Yes.

    3. WSWil Sylvince26:59

       And I, I'm, I, I was sort of like, "Why don't they just make the whole house out of solar pan- put solar panels all over so no matter where the sun is, it collects the energy from the sun and, and turn it to, and turn it to, you know, stored energy later?" And I'm like, "Oh, they should just paint the house in solar power."

    4. TNTrevor Noah27:15

       And-

    5. WSWil Sylvince27:15

       Panels

    6. TNTrevor Noah27:16

       ... is that a thing now?

    7. WSWil Sylvince27:18

       I, it, it, it was when I was coming up. I c- I actually created it on paper. The, so the thing about technology, uh, uh, that... The hardest part is to get it to work on paper. You get it to work on paper, you figure out how to get it to work in the real life. That make sense?

    8. TNTrevor Noah27:30

       Yeah, yeah. Okay.

    9. WSWil Sylvince27:31

       So I figured out to work, make it work on paper. At the time, uh, it was three coats of paint, you know, nano, um, ground and anthra. And then, and then paint the whole house, and then you had these huge capacitors in your basement that collects energy and stores, save it for later. And this other, um, system that dissipates the energy slowly throughout the rest of the house. It doesn't... 'Cause ca- capacitors, once you use the energy, it complete- it depletes completely. So this, this other, this other device that slowly d- um, released the energy to the rest of the house as you need it.

    10. TNTrevor Noah28:04

        This is one of those situations-

    11. WSWil Sylvince28:05

        [laughs]

    12. TNTrevor Noah28:05

        ... where I don't know enough about electricity-

    13. WSWil Sylvince28:07

        Well, actually, there's a company now-

    14. TNTrevor Noah28:08

        ... to be able to call you on it

    15. WSWil Sylvince28:09

        ... there's a company now in Aus-

    16. TNTrevor Noah28:10

        You could be completely bullshitting me right now and I don't know.

    17. WSWil Sylvince28:13

        No, no. [laughs] There's-

    18. TNTrevor Noah28:13

        No, no, you could be. And if you h- if you've done it, well done.

    19. WSWil Sylvince28:16

        Right. So I've been-

    20. TNTrevor Noah28:16

        Congratulations to you, Wil.

    21. WSWil Sylvince28:18

        I've been talking about it in podcasts and radio shows, blah, blah, blah-

    22. TNTrevor Noah28:20

        Yeah

    23. WSWil Sylvince28:20

        ... for a long time. That, then I found out there's a company in Australia, 2014, they started developing a solar panel, p- uh, powered paint.

    24. TNTrevor Noah28:27

        Did you reach out to them and tell them-

    25. WSWil Sylvince28:29

        No, I didn't

    26. TNTrevor Noah28:29

        ... that they stole your idea?

    27. WSWil Sylvince28:30

        No, I didn't.

    28. TNTrevor Noah28:31

        Okay.

    29. WSWil Sylvince28:31

        I didn't have the money to patent it, so I didn't, I, I couldn't afford the patent at the time. Okay.

11. 28:36 – 32:25

    How Will’s Parents Escaped Haiti

    1. WSWil Sylvince28:36

       Question. Who, uh, your parents, how old are they when they are leaving Haiti?

    2. TNTrevor Noah28:43

       Oh, early 20s.

    3. WSWil Sylvince28:45

       Early 20s?

    4. TNTrevor Noah28:46

       Early 20s. Yeah.

    5. WSWil Sylvince28:48

       Wow. That's young.

    6. TNTrevor Noah28:48

       Yeah. They, they left Haiti early 20s.

    7. WSWil Sylvince28:51

       Was it easy to get out?

    8. TNTrevor Noah28:53

       No, because Papa Doc, um, would not let people leave. Like, you could go visit, but, but you had to come back. You, you know, like, like, in North Korea, they like, "Oh, see, we see what other countries did. They let, let them leave, and they..." So now what? North Korea don't let their people leave at all.

    9. WSWil Sylvince29:07

       Right. Yeah.

    10. TNTrevor Noah29:08

        Yeah. So, so I think places like North Korea learn from places like Haiti. "Oh, no, just don't let them leave."

    11. WSWil Sylvince29:13

        Just don't let them go-

    12. TNTrevor Noah29:14

        Yeah

    13. WSWil Sylvince29:14

        ... and then-

    14. TNTrevor Noah29:15

        Yeah. So-

    15. WSWil Sylvince29:16

        So how... Wait. How did they escape then?

    16. TNTrevor Noah29:17

        So the thing is, if you leave, and then your visa expires and the country send you back, then Haiti were like, "Oh, you, oh, did you try to leave?"

    17. WSWil Sylvince29:24

        [laughs]

    18. TNTrevor Noah29:26

        "This, this visa expired two years ago. What were you... Did you forget?"

    19. WSWil Sylvince29:30

        [laughs]

    20. TNTrevor Noah29:32

        [laughs] And they'd be like, "Oh, you gotta go to, you gotta go to boot, boot camp."

    21. WSWil Sylvince29:35

        [laughs]

    22. TNTrevor Noah29:35

        Boot camp is jail. [laughs]

    23. WSWil Sylvince29:39

        [laughs] Oh, man, I'm just picturing them at, at the border office just being like, "Oh, did you tr- did you forget?" [laughs]

    24. TNTrevor Noah29:48

        [laughs] Yeah.

    25. WSWil Sylvince29:48

        But, but how did your parents get out, Wreck? What did they do? Did they-

    26. TNTrevor Noah29:51

        So my w- w- so my dad and my mom got together, um, because my dad was in the mili- Haitian military.

    27. WSWil Sylvince29:57

        Yeah.

    28. TNTrevor Noah29:58

        And, and the reason why, uh, my dad, they, how they met, uh, uh, my mother's father, my grandfather, was always talking shit about, uh, François Duvalier.

    29. WSWil Sylvince30:10

        Oh, wow.

    30. TNTrevor Noah30:10

        Like, before he got elected, right? 'Cause he saw, he saw it before. Because François Duvalier was in politics, and then, and my grandpa kind of said like, "Look, once you, once you have a taste of that, you..." It's like, once you, once you have cocaine, you always gonna be coked up, right? I, I, I, I never did cocaine. I'm just saying.
12. 32:25 – 35:28

    Will’s Father Secretly Sabotaging Papa Doc’s Military

    1. WSWil Sylvince32:25

       go and kill him.

    2. TNTrevor Noah32:25

       Yeah.

    3. WSWil Sylvince32:26

       And my dad was one of the soldiers. And then when my, when they got to that village, they just started killing anybody. But my, when my dad got to the house, my dad was like, "No, you guys gotta..." He, my dad was not about that life, you know? Another thing is, like, w- when, when you vote for someone and then you realize they're bad, you're like, "Ah, man, I messed up," you know? And then, and then, "Ah, he got me, too," you know?

    4. TNTrevor Noah32:46

       Yeah.

    5. WSWil Sylvince32:46

       And so it's not like he, he was a nice person and he became a dictator, and his pa was like, "Yeah, we should dictate. You should be a dictator."

    6. TNTrevor Noah32:55

       Right.

    7. WSWil Sylvince32:55

       No, they was like, "Oh, yeah, we g- it's too late," you know? Um, and so, and, and so m- my dad allowed that, that family to escape. And then they got, they got, they met at some, some, um, at a market in Haiti, and they recognized each other immediately and, and, you know, they fell in love. But my dad, my mom was like, "We can't really get together because, you, you know, it's a conflict of interest. You, you work for the man." Because also if you was in the military, you was not allowed, allowed to leave the military, because that's another thing that happened. When he became president and became a dictator, so many people in the military wanted to l- uh, I'm not gonna, I'm not gonna work for this guy. But then he wrote a law saying that, "Well, you can't leave the military, otherwise you, you'll get arrested and-"

    8. TNTrevor Noah33:40

       Right. Yeah

    9. WSWil Sylvince33:40

       ... you know, executed. So-

    10. TNTrevor Noah33:41

        I think mo- I think most militaries in the world, you're not allowed to leave when you want to.

    11. WSWil Sylvince33:44

        Oh yeah. What, AWOL?

    12. TNTrevor Noah33:46

        Yeah, pretty much.

    13. WSWil Sylvince33:46

        Yeah, yeah.

    14. TNTrevor Noah33:47

        Yeah.

    15. WSWil Sylvince33:47

        Yeah. So, so it's like, um, um... So my dad was stuck, but then also he wanted to get with my mother, and it was, like, a conflict of interest-

    16. TNTrevor Noah33:56

        Yeah

    17. WSWil Sylvince33:56

        ... of, like, you know, you, you guys killed my, my dad. And then so, whew. And at the time, my dad had five houses in Haiti. He was planning on opening a mechanic shop where he was gonna fix cars and stuff. He wa- he was a mechanical engineer, you know? Uh, and-

    18. TNTrevor Noah34:13

        Okay. Okay

    19. WSWil Sylvince34:13

        ... in fact, my dad was, um, my dad would... So while he was in military, he would sabotage some of the trucks so they w- when they would send them out to a village to go and kill people, the trucks would break down.

    20. TNTrevor Noah34:26

        No. [laughs] I-

    21. WSWil Sylvince34:27

        Not close enough to the village-

    22. TNTrevor Noah34:28

        Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah

    23. WSWil Sylvince34:28

        ... to the base where they could go get new trucks and, but not close enough to the village where they could walk. So they had to like, "Oh, we, it's closer to walk back to the base."

    24. TNTrevor Noah34:36

        [laughs]

    25. WSWil Sylvince34:36

        By the time they got back, they were tired, and like, "We'll try tomorrow." And he would sabotage also some of the weapons. The guns would get, would jam up. You know, after a while, the, they started looking back, "Who worked on this truck last?" [laughs]

    26. TNTrevor Noah34:50

        [laughs]

    27. WSWil Sylvince34:50

        So he had to, like, i- he had to chill on sabotaging the-

    28. TNTrevor Noah34:54

        Damn

    29. WSWil Sylvince34:54

        ... the weapons and the trucks. Yeah.

    30. TNTrevor Noah34:56

        So, so how long was he, was, was he in the military? How long was your dad still in Haiti?
13. 35:28 – 38:20

    Starting Over in America as Haitian Immigrants

    1. WSWil Sylvince35:28

       says, "No." My dad said, "No, I'm gonna leave the country." My mother like, "Leave the country? But you got your houses, your business, a- you know. And then even if you leave succe- successfully, your family's here."

    2. TNTrevor Noah35:40

       Mm-hmm.

    3. WSWil Sylvince35:40

       "Because, because another thing, they will, they'll come after your family-

    4. TNTrevor Noah35:43

       Okay

    5. WSWil Sylvince35:43

       ... if you leave. So you, you know, they'll teach you a lesson through your family."

    6. TNTrevor Noah35:46

       Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

    7. WSWil Sylvince35:46

       "Oh, you can leave, but your family's gonna-"

    8. TNTrevor Noah35:47

       That's, that's what North Korea does, apparently.

    9. WSWil Sylvince35:49

       Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

    10. TNTrevor Noah35:49

        Yeah.

    11. WSWil Sylvince35:50

        So my dad got everybody out.

    12. TNTrevor Noah35:53

        No ways.

    13. WSWil Sylvince35:54

        His, his family, my mother's family, the cousins-

    14. TNTrevor Noah35:56

        No ways

    15. WSWil Sylvince35:57

        ... everybody out. Yeah. And he was, like, one of the last ones to leave, you know, because obviously, you know. And, um, and then-

    16. TNTrevor Noah36:05

        This is like a, this is like a Haitian action movie meets, like, love story.

    17. WSWil Sylvince36:09

        Right. I thought it was Romeo and Juliet. I thought it was a Haitian Romeo and-

    18. TNTrevor Noah36:11

        No, no, no. But you didn't tell me he was escaping

    19. WSWil Sylvince36:13

        ... now it's a Haitian, now it's a Haitian Terminator.

    20. TNTrevor Noah36:14

        N- [laughs]

    21. WSWil Sylvince36:16

        [laughs] I be back. [laughs]

    22. TNTrevor Noah36:19

        [laughs]

    23. WSWil Sylvince36:19

        Or, or, or better, I be back, okay? [laughs]

    24. TNTrevor Noah36:22

        [laughs] What were your, um, what did your dad say that... 'Cause they came, did everyone come to the United States?

    25. WSWil Sylvince36:29

        Yes, yes.

    26. TNTrevor Noah36:30

        What did he say he was... What did he tell the United States government? A refugee, or was it-

    27. WSWil Sylvince36:35

        So at the time, the US was actually giving visas. They was accepting people. It was not like how it is now. They were letting people in if you had a skill.

    28. TNTrevor Noah36:43

        Yeah.

    29. WSWil Sylvince36:44

        You know, my mother, she went to school for, to be a seamstress. You know, and she also went to school, culinary school. So she had those two skills-

    30. TNTrevor Noah36:52

        Right, right
14. 38:20 – 43:10

    Racism in Boston & Haitian Immigrant Reality

    1. WSWil Sylvince38:20

       So you can't say that, that rrr word.

    2. TNTrevor Noah38:23

       Yeah.

    3. WSWil Sylvince38:23

       They will, uh, uh, Dominicans will kill you.

    4. TNTrevor Noah38:24

       I, I'm not laughing at ... Please, please don't get me wrong.

    5. WSWil Sylvince38:26

       Oh, no, laugh all you want.

    6. TNTrevor Noah38:27

       No, it's the way you did it, please.

    7. WSWil Sylvince38:28

       Oh. [laughs]

    8. TNTrevor Noah38:28

       Situ- 'cause the situation you just lay, just laid out was terrible.

    9. WSWil Sylvince38:31

       For sure. [laughs]

    10. TNTrevor Noah38:31

        It was very terrible.

    11. WSWil Sylvince38:32

        Right.

    12. TNTrevor Noah38:33

        But the way you did it w- [laughs]

    13. WSWil Sylvince38:35

        [laughs]

    14. TNTrevor Noah38:35

        The way you did it. You know when someone is re- recounting a very tragic story-

    15. WSWil Sylvince38:39

        Yeah, I mean-

    16. TNTrevor Noah38:40

        But the way he said it made it seem very funny.

    17. WSWil Sylvince38:43

        [laughs]

    18. TNTrevor Noah38:43

        It is not funny at all. I want you to know that the way I reacted-

    19. WSWil Sylvince38:46

        Right

    20. TNTrevor Noah38:47

        ... has nothing to do with the content of what you said.

    21. WSWil Sylvince38:49

        Right.

    22. TNTrevor Noah38:50

        As your friend I hope you know that.

    23. WSWil Sylvince38:51

        [laughs] Yeah.

    24. TNTrevor Noah38:51

        All right, sorry. So Dominican Republic was out of the question-

    25. WSWil Sylvince38:55

        Yeah, um

    26. TNTrevor Noah38:55

        ... because they were anti-Haitian.

    27. WSWil Sylvince38:56

        R- yeah.

    28. TNTrevor Noah38:56

        Okay. Miami?

    29. WSWil Sylvince38:57

        But he inter- he interviewed someone from Boston, and, uh, the person in Boston-

    30. TNTrevor Noah39:02

        This is your dad, like, asking other people?
15. 43:10 – 47:41

    Trevor Relates South African Apartheid to Haitian Stories

    1. WSWil Sylvince43:10

       [laughs] So, uh, so-

    2. TNTrevor Noah43:12

       You know, you know what's wild? As you're saying these things, there's, the, the, the, the two thoughts that come to my mind, one is how similar the stories of racism are around the world. Like, I, I don't know what it was like, like for your dad and stuff. I don't know when, like, when he came to South Africa. But I think of my mom. When my mom was, um, trying to be qualified, she, she was, she was doing, like, a typing course, and she was doing just courses in and around, like, secretarial skills, but then also things that required, like, managerial expertise. I don't know what, like, what they were, she was actually studying, 'cause I don't think it was, like, a fixed course, you know?

    3. WSWil Sylvince43:48

       Mm.

    4. TNTrevor Noah43:49

       And my mom went in, and no joke, she was being qualified to do certain things that were only for managers, and the person who was her boss at the company or at this training institute said to her, "What is the point of studying what you're studying? Because at the end of the day, you'll always be"... And then they use the word in South Africa, kaffir. He was like, "You're going to be a kaffir, so what's the point?"

    5. WSWil Sylvince44:09

       Oh, wow.

    6. TNTrevor Noah44:10

       But it's, it's crazy that you're saying this.

    7. SPSpeaker44:12

       She's also a woman, remember?

    8. TNTrevor Noah44:13

       Yeah.

    9. WSWil Sylvince44:13

       Yeah, she's a woman.

    10. SPSpeaker44:14

        Which is what I'm saying, so it's double.

    11. TNTrevor Noah44:15

        Yeah.

    12. WSWil Sylvince44:15

        Double.

    13. TNTrevor Noah44:15

        But that's what I mean. Like, it's, it's, it's crazy that you, you're telling me about a story in Boston-

    14. WSWil Sylvince44:20

        Yeah

    15. TNTrevor Noah44:20

        ... and then I'm going like, "Oh, yeah, my mom told me this story from South Africa," and then the, the, the, the, the compounded thing of it all is the, um, the pain and the-

    16. SPSpeaker44:31

        The time, you know who gets this kind of story, is when you listen to, to, like, white as- uh, like, aspiring white rappers. They sort of tell this story as well.

    17. TNTrevor Noah44:43

        [laughs]

    18. WSWil Sylvince44:43

        Which rapper?

    19. SPSpeaker44:44

        You know what I mean?

    20. TNTrevor Noah44:45

        Do you hear what this guy-

    21. WSWil Sylvince44:45

        Well, no, no

    22. TNTrevor Noah44:46

        ... yo, do you hear what this guy-

    23. WSWil Sylvince44:47

        Just name the rapper

    24. TNTrevor Noah44:48

        ... do you hear what this guy-

    25. WSWil Sylvince44:49

        There's only one who been Haiti

    26. TNTrevor Noah44:49

        ... do you hear what this guy just said, W-

    27. WSWil Sylvince44:52

        [laughs]

    28. TNTrevor Noah44:52

        [laughs] Do you hear what this guy just said?

    29. SPSpeaker44:55

        They do have the same story.

    30. WSWil Sylvince44:57

        They... [laughs]
16. 47:41 – 49:15

    Papa Doc’s Secret Police & Living in Fear

    1. WSWil Sylvince47:41

       You know? And then-

    2. TNTrevor Noah47:42

       Damn

    3. WSWil Sylvince47:42

       ... yeah. So he actually talked to her. A- a- and, um, and, um, the Tonton Macoute. Do you know Tonton Macoute?

    4. TNTrevor Noah47:48

       No. What is that?

    5. WSWil Sylvince47:50

       So when, when Papa Doc became president, uh, he, most of the presidents, they get, they got ousted by a coup, right?

    6. TNTrevor Noah47:58

       Yeah, yeah.

    7. WSWil Sylvince47:58

       So he got smart. He's like, "You know what? I'm gonna get, uh, my own secret service."

    8. TNTrevor Noah48:02

       Okay.

    9. WSWil Sylvince48:02

       And they call them Tonton Macoutes. And the thing with Tonton Macoutes, they would, they would blend with the people in the street so you know who was a Tonton Macoute.

    10. TNTrevor Noah48:10

        Oh.

    11. WSWil Sylvince48:10

        So they, they, they'd be listening, seeing if you're talking about Papa Doc or talking about, you know, c- you know, and they'll, and they'll shoot you right there on the, on, in the street.

    12. TNTrevor Noah48:19

        [whistles]

    13. WSWil Sylvince48:19

        So there was a time when my dad was talking to this lady in Boston at the market, and then, and then he heard, he, he, he, they thought they saw someone that, the Tonton Macoute, and, and then the guy said, "Hey, don't move. Stay right there." And so he's talking to this lady like, "Oh, shit. Oh, shit." And then he went past my dad to someone else, and they got him on the floor and say, "Hey, what do you think you're doing? What do you think you're doing, huh?" And then it wasn't, it wasn't my dad. So they learned not to talk in, in the streets anymore like that.

    14. TNTrevor Noah48:48

        This is a, this is a crazy time. I mean, I, I'm, I'm picturing your dad, I'm picturing your mom planning to leave-

    15. WSWil Sylvince48:56

        Tonton Macoutes

    16. TNTrevor Noah48:56

        ... Tonton Macoutes, which again- It, it, it's, it's really wild how every single authoritarian regime around the world has the same playbook.

    17. WSWil Sylvince49:05

        Yes.

    18. TNTrevor Noah49:05

        People in the community who listen to you, spies, spying, like f-

    19. WSWil Sylvince49:10

        Oh yeah-

    20. TNTrevor Noah49:10

        Families spying on families

    21. WSWil Sylvince49:11

        ... North Korea did the same thing.

    22. TNTrevor Noah49:11

        Oh, same in Russia, same... You know what I mean. Any place that there's been, like,

17. 49:15 – 58:03

    Divide and Conquer: Slavery, Fear & Informants

    1. TNTrevor Noah49:15

       an authoritarian regime-

    2. WSWil Sylvince49:16

       Mm-hmm

    3. TNTrevor Noah49:16

       ... the same rules apply.

    4. WSWil Sylvince49:17

       Mm.

    5. TNTrevor Noah49:18

       The government finds ways to get the people to spy on each other on behalf of the government so that you don't trust each other. And if you don't trust each other, then the only thing that has absolute power is the government.

    6. WSWil Sylvince49:32

       Same way with America, house Negroes and field Negroes.

    7. TNTrevor Noah49:36

       Say more.

    8. WSWil Sylvince49:37

       So, so if you, if you're a slave owner in America, right?

    9. TNTrevor Noah49:40

       Yeah.

    10. WSWil Sylvince49:41

        You got your wife, you, your maybe two kids and a dog, but you have 80 slaves. How you g- how you put- how you get- how you g- how c- how you get protection from 80 slaves from storming your house? So what you do is you divide them. You, you reward the ones-

    11. TNTrevor Noah49:55

        Oh yeah, divide and conquer. Yeah.

    12. WSWil Sylvince49:57

        You, you div-

    13. TNTrevor Noah49:57

        Yeah

    14. WSWil Sylvince49:57

        ... you, you reward the ones to, that tell you, "Hey, th- they master, they planning on coming to your house tonight or leaving the field." And, and so, so that, uh, "Good, good, but you get to sleep in the house." "Oh, thank you, ma, I got to sleep in the house." You know?

    15. TNTrevor Noah50:08

        Yeah.

    16. WSWil Sylvince50:08

        And so th- the, that same thing, so that was their totomakus. The house, the house Negroes.

    17. TNTrevor Noah50:14

        Damn.

    18. WSWil Sylvince50:15

        Dave, can you say the N word for me, please?

    19. SPSpeaker50:17

        The which word?

    20. WSWil Sylvince50:19

        House Negroes is...

    21. SPSpeaker50:21

        Oh, no. I was just thinking... Well, I mean-

    22. WSWil Sylvince50:23

        You was thinking it? [laughs]

    23. SPSpeaker50:24

        No, no. The, the way I was thinking, I was thinking that I would've been a...

    24. WSWil Sylvince50:29

        Oh yeah, what would you have been, a house Negro or a field Negro?

    25. SPSpeaker50:31

        Yeah, I would've probably been house.

    26. WSWil Sylvince50:33

        A house Negro?

    27. TNTrevor Noah50:33

        You, no you wouldn't. He, he says that.

    28. SPSpeaker50:34

        No, no. The thing, you know why?

    29. WSWil Sylvince50:37

        Why?

    30. SPSpeaker50:37

        It's just at that, and I'm being genuine now. L- uh, like c- c- I don't know if you could have convinced me to forego, like, comfort.
18. 58:03 – 1:00:10

    Growing Up in Brooklyn With Strict Haitian Parents

    1. TNTrevor Noah58:06

       So wait, wait, but, uh, l- let's go back, 'cause I, I, I wa- I wanna get to, like, how we get to this, Wil Sylvince. So your dad gets everyone out of Haiti.

    2. WSWil Sylvince58:13

       Yeah.

    3. TNTrevor Noah58:13

       He's chosen, he's chosen New York.

    4. WSWil Sylvince58:15

       New York.

    5. TNTrevor Noah58:15

       All right?

    6. WSWil Sylvince58:15

       'Cause of, uh, the job opportunities, and he feel like it's, they, uh, very fair to p- everybody.

    7. TNTrevor Noah58:21

       Okay, cool. So your dad comes out, your mom comes out, now you guys are in Brooklyn. Which, w- where are you in the brothers? How many brothers?

    8. WSWil Sylvince58:26

       There are four brothers. It's, I'm, I'm, I'm third.

    9. TNTrevor Noah58:29

       You're third.

    10. WSWil Sylvince58:30

        Yep.

    11. TNTrevor Noah58:30

        Okay. And so were they, were you all born in the US?

    12. WSWil Sylvince58:34

        No, two born in Haiti.

    13. TNTrevor Noah58:35

        Damn.

    14. WSWil Sylvince58:36

        And then two born-

    15. TNTrevor Noah58:36

        So your, your mom had to come with kids as well.

    16. WSWil Sylvince58:38

        Yeah.

    17. TNTrevor Noah58:39

        Wow.

    18. WSWil Sylvince58:40

        Yeah.

    19. TNTrevor Noah58:40

        How different are you from the, like, Haitian brothers? I'm not saying you're not Haitian. I'm just saying, like, from the, like-

    20. WSWil Sylvince58:44

        From the, from the other brothers?

    21. TNTrevor Noah58:45

        From the born in Hai- Haiti brothers.

    22. WSWil Sylvince58:47

        I don't know. I, I, I felt like I, I always thought out the box. Does that make sense?

    23. TNTrevor Noah58:51

        Yeah.

    24. WSWil Sylvince58:51

        Kinda like ... 'Cause I was very close to my grandmother, right? Because, uh, uh, my, my dad used to always tell us, like, uh, uh, uh, everybody's equal.

    25. TNTrevor Noah59:03

        Mm-hmm.

    26. WSWil Sylvince59:03

        Right? There's no such thing as gender roles. You gon-, you learn how to cook, clean, wash, you know. Also, you learn how to fix electrical appliances. You learn how if, if a socket is broken, you learn how, what to do, you know. Um, um, y- also my dad [laughs] , my dad used to do this thing where ... So you know, you know the, when the gas come into the house?

    27. TNTrevor Noah59:25

        Yeah.

    28. WSWil Sylvince59:25

        Right? And there's a meter that-

    29. TNTrevor Noah59:27

        Yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay, okay, okay.

    30. WSWil Sylvince59:28

        So my dad forgot how to, to, to beat the company. He just, he would just unscrew the thing-
19. 1:00:10 – 1:01:52

    Respecting Women, Family Values & His Grandmother

    1. TNTrevor Noah1:00:10

       Look at what they're doing with their engineering knowledge.

    2. WSWil Sylvince1:00:13

       [laughs] Well, look what they're doing to us now.

    3. TNTrevor Noah1:00:17

       Oh, man. There's all the people in Boston watching this podcast, and they, and they're just like, "What'd I tell you about them Haitians, huh? Now you see why we didn't want them here." [laughs]

    4. WSWil Sylvince1:00:25

       But wait, look what they're doing now. The-

    5. TNTrevor Noah1:00:27

       [laughs]

    6. WSWil Sylvince1:00:27

       ... the AI company was building these, these massive, um, places, and they charging the people for the electricity.

    7. TNTrevor Noah1:00:33

       Oh, man.

    8. WSWil Sylvince1:00:33

       You, you know about that, right?

    9. TNTrevor Noah1:00:34

       So your dad was getting revenge before the-

    10. WSWil Sylvince1:00:36

        [laughs] Before AI

    11. TNTrevor Noah1:00:37

        ... he was, he was getting future revenge-

    12. WSWil Sylvince1:00:39

        Yeah

    13. TNTrevor Noah1:00:39

        ... on behalf of humanity.

    14. WSWil Sylvince1:00:40

        A- and so my dad was like, "Everybody gotta learn e- everything."

    15. TNTrevor Noah1:00:43

        Right.

    16. WSWil Sylvince1:00:43

        So I knew how to sew. I knew how to cook. I knew how to fix electrical stuff. And, um, and so my dad used to always say, you know, "If you, if you have a good woman in your life, whether she's a, a, a girlfriend or a relative or a friend, always pay. You know, regard to you, always pay because the world treat women like shit, and they don't realize women are really the, the ones, the backbone-

    17. TNTrevor Noah1:01:09

        Oh, that's beautiful, man

    18. WSWil Sylvince1:01:10

        ... of society." And so I, I'm ... So I was so close to my grandma because of this. You know, my grandma's also, also nice, so, you know, I was probably gonna be close to her anyway. But my dad saying that and putting that into us about-

    19. TNTrevor Noah1:01:23

        Yeah, yeah, yeah

    20. WSWil Sylvince1:01:24

        ... about treat women, you know, treat women with respect and all that. At the ti- as, as a kid, I w- respect, what, what does that mean? You know? [laughs] Like, I'm not gonna hit my grandmother.

    21. TNTrevor Noah1:01:33

        [laughs]

    22. WSWil Sylvince1:01:34

        I'm not gonna curse her out.

    23. TNTrevor Noah1:01:35

        Yeah.

    24. WSWil Sylvince1:01:36

        You couldn't curse, you couldn't curse, dude. You know, you couldn't even curse to your friends when your parents was around.

    25. TNTrevor Noah1:01:40

        Yeah.

    26. WSWil Sylvince1:01:41

        You'd get your ass whooped, you know? Um, so, um, I just remembered that, you know, and, and um, and I became close with my grandmother. So when my actual, my grandmother died, I was the only one

20. 1:01:52 – 1:04:15

    Losing His Grandmother, Mother & Father

    1. WSWil Sylvince1:01:52

       at the funeral not crying 'cause I was like, "You guys didn't see this coming? She was old." [laughs] You know, when you guys-

    2. TNTrevor Noah1:01:57

       Is that how your brain processed it?

    3. WSWil Sylvince1:01:59

       Yeah. I was like, like, yeah, guys, like, yeah, you guys, you know she was old. Like, you know this is gonna happen. Like, no one-

    4. TNTrevor Noah1:02:04

       How old was she when she passed away?

    5. WSWil Sylvince1:02:05

       65.

    6. TNTrevor Noah1:02:08

       All right. Well, yeah, I don't know how to put this to you, but that's not particularly old.

    7. WSWil Sylvince1:02:15

       For Black people, that's like 95, 98.

    8. TNTrevor Noah1:02:17

       That's not, I mean, that's-

    9. WSWil Sylvince1:02:18

       [laughs]

    10. TNTrevor Noah1:02:20

        But that's not really not that old.

    11. WSWil Sylvince1:02:21

        Yeah. Well, my mothe- well, then if you think that, if you think that's bad, my mother died at 55, my dad died at 55, my, my grandfather got shot at 55. Well, allegedly. If Papa Doc come back in power. Um-

    12. TNTrevor Noah1:02:36

        Everyone at 55.

    13. WSWil Sylvince1:02:37

        Everybody died at 55.

    14. TNTrevor Noah1:02:40

        How did your mom and dad pass away?

    15. WSWil Sylvince1:02:42

        My, my dad, [sighs] my dad had, uh, chest cancer, but he never smoked. So what happened was, y- you know the Dristan to clear your nose or sinuses?

    16. TNTrevor Noah1:02:55

        The, the spray?

    17. WSWil Sylvince1:02:55

        The spray.

    18. TNTrevor Noah1:02:56

        Yeah.

    19. WSWil Sylvince1:02:56

        So he ... So one, one day he had a cold. He took Dristan and, but the thing with Dristan, when you take it, it'll clear your nose.

    20. TNTrevor Noah1:03:04

        Yeah.

    21. WSWil Sylvince1:03:04

        You're actually breathing more, better than when you're without, when you have not taken it.

    22. TNTrevor Noah1:03:07

        Yeah, than before you got sick.

    23. WSWil Sylvince1:03:08

        Yeah. And, um, the thing about Dristan, after a while, your nose get clogged up. You gotta let it clog up for a day and you, you get your breathing back. But my dad kept taking Dristan. He wouldn't-

    24. TNTrevor Noah1:03:19

        Yeah, they, they call it rebound.

    25. WSWil Sylvince1:03:20

        Yeah. So he, you know, when they, in the eight- 80s, they had the shirts with the pocket right here.

    26. TNTrevor Noah1:03:25

        Yeah.

    27. WSWil Sylvince1:03:25

        So he kept the Dristan in his pocket.

    28. TNTrevor Noah1:03:26

        Oh, man.

    29. WSWil Sylvince1:03:27

        And he just kept taking it-

    30. TNTrevor Noah1:03:28

        Oh, man
21. 1:04:15 – 1:08:14

    The Harsh Reality of the American Healthcare System

    1. WSWil Sylvince1:04:15

       She had a stroke and, um, yeah.

    2. TNTrevor Noah1:04:19

       Damn, I'm sorry, man.

    3. WSWil Sylvince1:04:20

       Oh, it's okay.

    4. TNTrevor Noah1:04:20

       That's, that's a crazy period to go through for you and your brothers. It's like, how, how far apart were-

    5. WSWil Sylvince1:04:27

       Uh-

    6. TNTrevor Noah1:04:27

       Was it between your parents dying?

    7. WSWil Sylvince1:04:29

       Oh, like, 10 years. Uh, also, no, no, like, seven years.

    8. TNTrevor Noah1:04:33

       Yeah.

    9. WSWil Sylvince1:04:33

       Also, my, my, um, when my mother died is when I realized the truth about hospitals 'cause I, I used to always think hospitals and doctors and nurses, well, nu- not nurses. Nurses are still amazing, but they were all about wanna help and save people.

    10. TNTrevor Noah1:04:48

        Yeah.

    11. WSWil Sylvince1:04:49

        So when my mother had a stroke and she was in a coma, she went, she went in a coma, and she was, she had, she went without oxygen for, like, I think, like, eight, eight to 13 minutes. You know, by the time they called the ambulance-

    12. TNTrevor Noah1:05:02

        Mm-hmm, mm-hmm

    13. WSWil Sylvince1:05:02

        ... to the house and they, they resuscitated-

    14. TNTrevor Noah1:05:05

        Resuscitated her

    15. WSWil Sylvince1:05:05

        ... and, um, but she was without, so she, they was not sure if she do come out of the coma-

    16. TNTrevor Noah1:05:10

        Yeah

    17. WSWil Sylvince1:05:11

        ... how much brain activity she'll have. So, so we, my brothers and I were at the hospital, and the doctor came out and said, "Hey, uh, your mother's in a coma, but we're not sure how long she's gonna be, and we're not sure how much brain activity she has, but she cannot stay here. She ca- " Oh, no, no. First he said, uh, "You guys have insurance?" We said, "No, we don't have insurance." He goes, "You cannot, she can't stay here. She gotta leave. She can't stay here." Um, and then, and then he kept, just went on for, like, five minutes here about, "She can't stay here." Then we said, "Well, can we just find a place?" So my brothers and I went, went back to the house, went through my mother's paperwork, and we found she had insurance through a credit card. She had insurance, h- as long as she uses the credit card, she has, I think, a, a, a, a million dollars worth of insurance.

    18. TNTrevor Noah1:05:55

        Wow.

    19. WSWil Sylvince1:05:56

        So we went back to the hospital the next day. We said, "Yo." The doctor, doctor came out and said, "Did you find a place for your mother to stay?" We said, "Yes. Uh, uh, also, do ... " We showed him the paperwork. "Do you think this do- this facility will take this insurance?" He looked at the paper and, no lie, he goes, "Your mother can't leave. If she leaves here, there's a risk of her dying."

    20. TNTrevor Noah1:06:20

        [laughs]

    21. WSWil Sylvince1:06:21

        Oh, oh, okay. [laughs]

    22. TNTrevor Noah1:06:22

        Oh, man. Oh.

    23. WSWil Sylvince1:06:24

        Like, like, we knew it was happening, but at the same time, like, what if he's, what if he's real? Right? [laughs] 'Cause the first thing he said, "Did you find a place for your mother?"

    24. TNTrevor Noah1:06:32

        Yeah.

    25. WSWil Sylvince1:06:33

        Look at the paper. "She can't leave." Okay. So she, she stayed at the hospital till, like, eight months, and the doctor was like ... The money was running out. "Your mother can't stay here no longer." [laughs]

    26. TNTrevor Noah1:06:44

        Wow.

    27. WSWil Sylvince1:06:45

        That's not funny?

    28. TNTrevor Noah1:06:46

        Man.

    29. WSWil Sylvince1:06:46

        Okay.

    30. TNTrevor Noah1:06:46

        No, I mean, it's, it's-
22. 1:08:14 – 1:11:18

    Trevor Shares His Mother’s Hospital Experience

    1. TNTrevor Noah1:08:14

       the thing, the thing that's tough from everything I've read, let's say specifically in American healthcare, it's, it's funny because it, it, it depends on the country you live in. Um, in, in South Africa when my, my mom was shot and we were in the hospital, they said a similar thing to me. They said, uh, "Does your, does, does she have insurance?" And I was like, "I don't think she has insurance." And it was so crazy because my mom, she always had insurance. And then I wanna say, like, six months before the incident, she was like, "I don't need insurance." She's like, "This makes no sense. I'm just paying for this thing and nothing happens."

    2. WSWil Sylvince1:08:53

       Yeah.

    3. TNTrevor Noah1:08:53

       Then I said, "That's what insurance is for. It's not if something ... It's, it's because something might happen, not because it does happen."

    4. WSWil Sylvince1:09:00

       Right.

    5. TNTrevor Noah1:09:01

       She was like, "No, I don't need insurance."

    6. WSWil Sylvince1:09:02

       It's like my friend who gave up his, um, fire extinguisher. He said, "Yo, I want, I want to use this.

    7. TNTrevor Noah1:09:06

       [laughs]

    8. WSWil Sylvince1:09:06

       You could ... You want, you wanna hold, you wanna hold onto it? We could, we could ... I'll, I'll have it for one month. You have it for one month."

    9. TNTrevor Noah1:09:13

       [laughs]

    10. WSWil Sylvince1:09:14

        Like.

    11. TNTrevor Noah1:09:15

        So, um, so I'm in the hospital, and, and they said the same thing. They said, yeah, we ... It was the closest hospital to where it happened, and then they were like, "Oh, we, we've gotta move her." And then the hospital they were gonna move her to was gonna be, like, 45 minutes to an hour away.

    12. WSWil Sylvince1:09:31

        Oh, damn.

    13. TNTrevor Noah1:09:32

        And I was lucky that I ... I was like, "I'll just, I'll pay." I was like, "I've got a credit card. I'll, I'll just pay." And they were like, "Oh, it could cost a lot of money." And I was like, "Yeah, it's my mom."

    14. WSWil Sylvince1:09:40

        [laughs]

    15. TNTrevor Noah1:09:40

        I'll never forget that interaction with the doctor, 'cause I was just like, "What?" The, the way ... You know what I mean? The way he said it to me was very, like-

    16. WSWil Sylvince1:09:48

        Like he's like some-

    17. TNTrevor Noah1:09:48

        He's like, "Well, it could cost a lot of money."

    18. WSWil Sylvince1:09:50

        It's like a leather jacket. You know how much this leather jacket cost?

    19. TNTrevor Noah1:09:52

        Yeah. I was like, "Yo, brother, this my, it's my mom."

    20. WSWil Sylvince1:09:55

        Yeah.

    21. TNTrevor Noah1:09:55

        And he's like, "Okay." And he was still like, "Oh, I mean, all right." Um.

    22. WSWil Sylvince1:10:02

        If your mother was white, would that, would he had say that?

    23. TNTrevor Noah1:10:05

        Yeah. I'll be honest with you. That's, that's the one thing that I find has now united people a- across color lines, and that is that, like, the medical industry in many places in the world has become one that has allowed itself to become so controlled by money-

    24. WSWil Sylvince1:10:25

        They don't care about color

    25. TNTrevor Noah1:10:25

        ... that it doesn't necessarily allow them to care about health first, right? And, and in A- in America, it's interesting, right? So in America how it, how it works, not everywhere, but f- in a, in a, in a lot of America, is there are companies that have bought out doctors' practices, so the doctors don't even sort of work for themselves anymore.

    26. WSWil Sylvince1:10:47

        Wow.

    27. TNTrevor Noah1:10:48

        And then there are also companies that own hospital groups.

    28. WSWil Sylvince1:10:52

        Right.

    29. TNTrevor Noah1:10:52

        So the hospital's also a part of a company, right?

    30. WSWil Sylvince1:10:56

        Right.
23. 1:11:18 – 1:15:24

    How Healthcare Became Controlled by Corporations

    1. TNTrevor Noah1:11:18

       where everyone seems like they're being held hostage by somebody else, but they're also the hostage takers. I, I, I, I don't know, I don't know if I can explain this. It's, it's like a, it's like a weird rabbit hole where, like, the hospitals themselves will be like, "We're barely making a profit." And the doctors will say, "We, we barely make any money and we work, we work countless hours." And then the people who are in the hospitals are like, "We s- don't have any money and we're treated like shit, or we spend all our money." Who's making the money?

    2. WSWil Sylvince1:11:46

       Mm.

    3. TNTrevor Noah1:11:46

       And it's generally these big organizations that are, um, that they've designed systems that put an undue pressure on the medical industry. And unfortunately, the stories are a lot like what you're saying.

    4. WSWil Sylvince1:12:00

       So who, who's the ... There's gotta be somebody up, up top, right? Like, like, uh-

    5. TNTrevor Noah1:12:04

       Well-

    6. WSWil Sylvince1:12:04

       ... it's, it's treated like a company, right?

    7. TNTrevor Noah1:12:05

       Yeah. It's, it's generally-

    8. WSWil Sylvince1:12:06

       Like there's a CEO.

    9. TNTrevor Noah1:12:06

       Yeah, but it's generally the big, the big companies. Like, there's a few. I, I don't know them by name, so I won't, like, say the wrong one-

    10. WSWil Sylvince1:12:11

        Mm

    11. TNTrevor Noah1:12:11

        ... and then, you know-

    12. WSWil Sylvince1:12:12

        Right

    13. TNTrevor Noah1:12:13

        ... get in trouble or whatever.

    14. WSWil Sylvince1:12:14

        No, I, I, I'm, I'm just saying, like-

    15. TNTrevor Noah1:12:14

        But I ... No, no, but I know there's big-

    16. WSWil Sylvince1:12:15

        So there's one, like a c- like a, like a company.

    17. TNTrevor Noah1:12:18

        Yeah. Yeah. The ... No, but there are actual big companies that own these groups.

    18. WSWil Sylvince1:12:23

        Mm.

    19. TNTrevor Noah1:12:23

        And they, and they're trying to consolidate more and more, and that's what's leading to the systems being worse and worse and worse and worse. But then there's also weird things in American medicine, like, um, like when it comes to prescription medications, for instance. You have these things called pharmacy benefit managers, I think it is. I think it's pharmacy. Yeah. But, but basically what they do is they're like the middleman between you and your prescription, but they can also, like, decide a price that your insurer pays-

    20. WSWil Sylvince1:12:50

        Mm

    21. TNTrevor Noah1:12:51

        ... which also determines the price that you pay, which also determines the price of the medicine, and it determines the price of what the m- m- medicine maker is getting. It is as convoluted as I'm, as I'm saying it right now. Do you know what I mean? It's not like it's-

    22. WSWil Sylvince1:13:02

        Well, it's like if it's in demand. Like, like when you buy, when you try to buy a ticket to a concert.

    23. TNTrevor Noah1:13:06

        Yeah.

    24. WSWil Sylvince1:13:06

        Right? You, you realize that they'll, they'll jack the, the price up.

    25. TNTrevor Noah1:13:10

        Oh, yeah, yeah. It's very similar to that.

    26. WSWil Sylvince1:13:11

        Depending on, like ... Yeah.

    27. TNTrevor Noah1:13:11

        Yeah, it's very similar to that.

    28. SPSpeaker1:13:13

        It's, it's ... This is one of the reasons why I didn't get a BBL, because to go-

    29. TNTrevor Noah1:13:18

        What, what were the other reasons? I would like to know what the other reasons were beyond cost.

    30. SPSpeaker1:13:21

        Okay, this is the main reason. And then also because the cost of, one, this, the whole thing, and then the cost of changing all of my pants. It's enough.
24. 1:15:24 – 1:20:03

    Discovering Comedy Through Rodney Dangerfield & Joan Rivers

    1. TNTrevor Noah1:15:24

       up the price.

    2. WSWil Sylvince1:15:25

       So what if that guy would've held onto it?

    3. SPSpeaker1:15:27

       Here's... Oh, I have a question for him.

    4. WSWil Sylvince1:15:30

       Go ahead.

    5. SPSpeaker1:15:30

       'Cause he's... Where would you-

    6. WSWil Sylvince1:15:34

       Oh, you have a joke?

    7. SPSpeaker1:15:35

       No, no. I, it's a real question. I'm just trying to think of how to phrase it correctly. Where, when did you start to think... Sorry, it's a bit of a... When did you start to think that you were a funny person, because of the electrical engineering?

    8. TNTrevor Noah1:15:49

       Actually, that is a good question. Um-

    9. SPSpeaker1:15:51

       Do you know what I mean?

    10. TNTrevor Noah1:15:52

        Yeah, yeah, yeah.

    11. SPSpeaker1:15:52

        When, when were you like, "I am-"

    12. WSWil Sylvince1:15:54

        I was, when I was young, two things out there was amazing, was eating and laughing. Because I remember laughing my ass off. I'm like, "This, there can be nothing better than this."

    13. TNTrevor Noah1:16:05

        [laughs]

    14. WSWil Sylvince1:16:06

        Like, I was just... And then, and then, you know, laughing, and then you laugh so much. And then eating g- good foods. The, as, as I got older, it was eating healthier foods was better, and laughing was still in the game. And, and so I always thought laughing was a m- was the best thing in life.

    15. SPSpeaker1:16:20

        But what I mean is, because remember, you've just, your family has come from quite a trying circumstances, like you've sort of like just-

    16. TNTrevor Noah1:16:29

        Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah

    17. SPSpeaker1:16:29

        ... in terms of a, you didn't... W- we've spent a lot of time telling us not a funny story. So now, was the hu- was there any humor in your family because of all this kind of stuff was happening?

    18. TNTrevor Noah1:16:41

        I, I, yes.

    19. SPSpeaker1:16:41

        Do you know what I mean?

    20. WSWil Sylvince1:16:41

        Even in Haiti, people were still enjoying their lives. P- not, not having is not your life. It's like, you still laugh, you still have a good time, you still go to the movies, you still cook good foods. So, so being poor was not like, "Oh, we poor." No, people don't think like that. They just think like, "Hey, we, we, we do with the best that we have, but we still enjoy our lives." There was a lot of laughter in my house. My dad used to make joke. As strict as my dad was, he, he would make jokes. My mother would make jokes. You know, there was a lo- you know, laughter and... You know, but at the same time, you gotta do your homework. You gotta go to church. You know? But, but, y- you know, laughter was a, was a g- a good, good... You know, we'll still, we used to always have dinner together. And, um, uh, and, and my dad would say a few jokes. Never, hardly say joke, but w- we la- we, we'll laugh and stuff. So I just remember those are good times, you know? There was a... But my dad was also solid. Like, does that make sense? Like a hardcore-

    21. SPSpeaker1:17:37

        Strict disciplinarian guy

    22. WSWil Sylvince1:17:38

        ... like a man, like a, like, like he never really showed emotion.

    23. TNTrevor Noah1:17:42

        Oh, yeah, yeah. We know those guys. Yeah, yeah.

    24. WSWil Sylvince1:17:43

        Never showed emotion.

    25. TNTrevor Noah1:17:44

        Yeah. They're, they're, they're, like, a very specific generation.

    26. WSWil Sylvince1:17:47

        Yeah.

    27. TNTrevor Noah1:17:47

        Yeah.

    28. WSWil Sylvince1:17:47

        So my mother would go around the table, "How was school today? Any stories happen? How was school? What happened?" And your s- And then got to my dad, my dad, uh, uh, my dad say, "Yeah, I w- I was, uh, in downtown. Someone came with a gun, put it in my face, asked me for my wallet. I gave it to him, and then he go away." And we're like... And my dad was like, "Mm. Anything anybody else have stories?"

    29. TNTrevor Noah1:18:07

        [laughs]

    30. WSWil Sylvince1:18:07

        And we're like... And then he p- by the way, he pistol whipped my dad. P- he hit him on the g- the face with the gun. But he's telling this story like it's like, "Oh, yeah, I went to the park and I swung, swung on the swings." That's how he told the story. You know?
25. 1:20:03 – 1:24:13

    Meeting Dougie Doug & Starting Stand-Up Comedy

    1. WSWil Sylvince1:20:03

       I get no respect."

    2. TNTrevor Noah1:20:03

       [laughs]

    3. WSWil Sylvince1:20:04

       I remember that. I'm like [laughs] I was laughing. Man, Joan Rivers is another one-

    4. TNTrevor Noah1:20:07

       How old were you when you were, when you were listening to this for the first time?

    5. WSWil Sylvince1:20:10

       Oh, I can't remember how old. I was pretty young. But I just remember, like, those two were, like, so funny. I didn't get into Richard Pryor and Eddie Murphy till later.

    6. TNTrevor Noah1:20:19

       Yeah.

    7. WSWil Sylvince1:20:20

       You know, um, 'cause we were not allowed to, but those two was on TV.

    8. TNTrevor Noah1:20:24

       Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

    9. WSWil Sylvince1:20:24

       So w- I got to see those two a lot. Uh, I think Eddie Murphy was not really on TV. And, and also he was on SNL, and that came out on too late, so I never-

    10. TNTrevor Noah1:20:34

        That was after the 10:00 PM curfew.

    11. WSWil Sylvince1:20:36

        Yeah. Yeah, exactly. Um, and, and Richard Pryor was, was in the movies and stuff, so I didn't really get into those two, like, till later, later on and stuff.

    12. TNTrevor Noah1:20:47

        How did you start stand-up?

    13. WSWil Sylvince1:20:50

        Uh, I ran into a comedian named Dougie Doug up in Harlem. Uh, Dougie Doug was in the, in the movie, um, the Jamaican bobsled movie.

    14. TNTrevor Noah1:20:59

        Oh, Cool Runnings.

    15. WSWil Sylvince1:21:00

        Cool Runnings.

    16. TNTrevor Noah1:21:01

        Yeah.

    17. WSWil Sylvince1:21:01

        Yeah. He was one of the... And then I, I say, "Yo man, you're amazing, man. What's..." And he, he invited me to his club, the Uptown Comedy Club. And then I just went there, and, and that's, that was it.

    18. TNTrevor Noah1:21:11

        Like a fan. You said, "You're amazing." Then he said, "You must come and be a comedian."

    19. WSWil Sylvince1:21:15

        Oh, no, no, no, no. I s- I asked him, I said, "How did you..." I, I was kinda, like, interviewing him.

    20. TNTrevor Noah1:21:19

        [laughs]

    21. WSWil Sylvince1:21:19

        "How did you get into it? How, how to do it?"

    22. TNTrevor Noah1:21:20

        I was like, "Dougie Doug-

    23. WSWil Sylvince1:21:21

        And then-

    24. TNTrevor Noah1:21:21

        "... Dougie Doug was having a tough time at his comedy club."

    25. WSWil Sylvince1:21:24

        [laughs]

    26. TNTrevor Noah1:21:24

        People were like, "Hey man, can I get a selfie?" He's like, "Yo, if you, if you couldn't do five minutes tonight, man-

    27. WSWil Sylvince1:21:29

        [laughs]

    28. TNTrevor Noah1:21:29

        ... we, we need an act." No, so you-

    29. WSWil Sylvince1:21:31

        No, but I was interviewing him.

    30. TNTrevor Noah1:21:32

        Yeah, yeah.
26. 1:24:13 – 1:27:13

    Bombing on Stage for the First Time

    1. WSWil Sylvince1:24:13

       quit your day job." [laughs]

    2. TNTrevor Noah1:24:13

       Yeah, man. "I, I saw the way you connected those cables. You would be a very funny guy." [laughs]

    3. WSWil Sylvince1:24:17

       Yeah, he say, "Quit this day job." [laughs]

    4. TNTrevor Noah1:24:20

       So he said, "You should be a stand-up comic"?

    5. WSWil Sylvince1:24:22

       Yeah, didn't he say, "Don't quit your day j-?"

    6. TNTrevor Noah1:24:22

       Yeah, he said-

    7. WSWil Sylvince1:24:23

       Oh, he had that-

    8. TNTrevor Noah1:24:24

       He said, "Quit your day job."

    9. WSWil Sylvince1:24:25

       Yeah.

    10. TNTrevor Noah1:24:25

        So you was a stand-up comedian.

    11. WSWil Sylvince1:24:26

        So he gave me a CD, um, Robin Harris CD, and I listened to it every day for a year straight. I couldn't, I couldn't stop laughing. I laughed almost every time I listened to that CD. I'm like, "Yo, w- is this happening somewhere? Where can I go see comedy like this?" Then, then, um, a few months later, that's when I ran into Dougie Doug in Harlem, and then he invited me to do-

    12. TNTrevor Noah1:24:50

        What was it like the first time? So you get to Dougie Doug's club.

    13. WSWil Sylvince1:24:53

        Um, uh, I was just a s- I was just, like, a student-ish or a customer.

    14. TNTrevor Noah1:24:58

        Yeah, yeah, yeah.

    15. WSWil Sylvince1:24:58

        And then, and they knew that I wanted to be a comic, you know, the, the, the people that was running the show. And one day they had no comedians, 'cause all the comics was playing some celebrity basketball game. And they say, "Hey, you wanna be a comic, right?" I'm like, "Yeah, but I'm not ready." They say, "Yo, you on tonight." And I went on that night and I bombed.

    16. TNTrevor Noah1:25:17

        What did you, what did you talk about?

    17. WSWil Sylvince1:25:18

        Uh, I, I, I think one of the jokes were, [laughs] uh, I, I don't necessarily, 'cause my, my, my English was pretty bad, bad now. I said, "I don't necessarily pronounce words properly. I made a list of all the words that I don't pronounce," and I pulled out the dictionary and I threw it on the floor. [laughs]

    18. TNTrevor Noah1:25:34

        That's a funny joke, actually.

    19. WSWil Sylvince1:25:36

        Yeah. [laughs] And, uh-

    20. TNTrevor Noah1:25:37

        Did you show that it was a dictionary?

    21. WSWil Sylvince1:25:39

        I, I just, I kind of-

    22. TNTrevor Noah1:25:40

        Ah, yeah.

    23. WSWil Sylvince1:25:41

        Yeah.

    24. TNTrevor Noah1:25:41

        That's probably why it didn't work.

    25. WSWil Sylvince1:25:42

        Yeah.

    26. TNTrevor Noah1:25:42

        'Cause I think that's the kind of gag where everyone has to see that it says dictionary.

    27. WSWil Sylvince1:25:46

        Dictionary, yeah. Yes.

    28. TNTrevor Noah1:25:47

        And then you

    29. WSWil Sylvince1:25:48

        Yeah

    30. TNTrevor Noah1:25:48

        ... that joke can work very well
27. 1:27:13 – 1:30:58

    “Interpretate,” Language Mistakes & Why Will Is Naturally Funny

    1. TNTrevor Noah1:27:13

       substituted words in your head.

    2. WSWil Sylvince1:27:15

       Yeah, my, my brain look for, for the nearest word.

    3. TNTrevor Noah1:27:18

       Yeah, yeah, yeah.

    4. WSWil Sylvince1:27:19

       Like, "That should be it."

    5. TNTrevor Noah1:27:19

       Yeah, but you, like, you've done this with... You just say, like, the craziest word, where I'm like... But it's always adjacent.

    6. SPSpeaker1:27:26

       Yeah. We know what you're saying.

    7. TNTrevor Noah1:27:27

       Yeah. Like interpretate, I'm like, "Yeah, that's correct."

    8. SPSpeaker1:27:30

       And, and-

    9. TNTrevor Noah1:27:30

       I'm willing to accept-

    10. SPSpeaker1:27:30

        So what's the word then?

    11. TNTrevor Noah1:27:31

        If it was a game show, I would accept it

    12. SPSpeaker1:27:33

        ... interpret.

    13. TNTrevor Noah1:27:33

        Interpret.

    14. WSWil Sylvince1:27:33

        What's the w- w- w- w- so what's interpretate?

    15. TNTrevor Noah1:27:36

        I don't think that's a thing at all.

    16. WSWil Sylvince1:27:38

        [laughs]

    17. SPSpeaker1:27:38

        But that, but-

    18. TNTrevor Noah1:27:39

        No, but what I love is I always understand it.

    19. WSWil Sylvince1:27:41

        Oh, okay.

    20. SPSpeaker1:27:41

        And, and that's a word-

    21. TNTrevor Noah1:27:43

        You speak fluent Will. I do speak fluent Will

    22. WSWil Sylvince1:27:44

        ... that's what Patricia Nell Harris is saying.

    23. SPSpeaker1:27:45

        And that's a, that's, that's a word, um, that's one of those words that should have been a word, interpretate. It's not, you know, it's not so bizarre.

    24. TNTrevor Noah1:27:51

        Yeah, yeah, it's not. It's not a bizarre word.

    25. WSWil Sylvince1:27:53

        It's like, like conversate. I heard conversate is not a real word.

    26. TNTrevor Noah1:27:56

        No, conversate is a word.

    27. WSWil Sylvince1:27:57

        Conve- con-

    28. TNTrevor Noah1:27:58

        Conversate is a word.

    29. WSWil Sylvince1:28:00

        Or is it pol- politicking?

    30. TNTrevor Noah1:28:02

        Politicking is now a word, I think.
28. 1:30:58 – 1:35:18

    Getting Booed at Black Comedy Clubs

    1. TNTrevor Noah1:30:58

       [laughs]

    2. SPSpeaker1:30:59

       What?

    3. TNTrevor Noah1:31:02

       [laughs]

    4. SPSpeaker1:31:03

       Because you're just butchering the Queen's English. Do you know what I mean?

    5. TNTrevor Noah1:31:06

       We are indeed.

    6. WSWil Sylvince1:31:07

       He's so colonized. Look at him.

    7. TNTrevor Noah1:31:08

       Look at him.

    8. WSWil Sylvince1:31:08

       The Queen's English.

    9. SPSpeaker1:31:09

       That's why I told you-

    10. TNTrevor Noah1:31:09

        Look at this guy

    11. SPSpeaker1:31:10

        ... that I wouldn't be saving people. But-

    12. WSWil Sylvince1:31:11

        He would be a house Negro.

    13. SPSpeaker1:31:12

        Yeah, that, that-

    14. TNTrevor Noah1:31:13

        [laughs]

    15. SPSpeaker1:31:13

        That's what I told you. I told you.

    16. TNTrevor Noah1:31:15

        So wait, so you, okay, you get on stage, you bomb. How long did it take before you got, like, your first laugh?

    17. WSWil Sylvince1:31:20

        The next time I went on.

    18. TNTrevor Noah1:31:21

        Oh, so you, you went back-

    19. WSWil Sylvince1:31:22

        I waited six months.

    20. TNTrevor Noah1:31:24

        Yeah. Well, that's all right

    21. WSWil Sylvince1:31:24

        ... it was September.

    22. TNTrevor Noah1:31:25

        Yeah.

    23. WSWil Sylvince1:31:25

        And I went up again in December or January. And, uh-

    24. TNTrevor Noah1:31:28

        What did you change?

    25. WSWil Sylvince1:31:29

        I, I made sure they understood what I was saying. [laughs] And then I opened up with a different joke.

    26. TNTrevor Noah1:31:34

        And what was the new joke?

    27. WSWil Sylvince1:31:35

        The new joke was, uh, if I ever make it to the top, if I ever come across some money, no more ugly girls for me.

    28. TNTrevor Noah1:31:44

        [laughs]

    29. WSWil Sylvince1:31:44

        Because I'm ugly, too. Two wrongs don't make a right.

    30. SPSpeaker1:31:48

        That's a good joke.
29. 1:35:18 – 1:38:39

    Working in Robotics While Chasing Comedy

    1. WSWil Sylvince1:35:18

       time.

    2. TNTrevor Noah1:35:18

       Yeah.

    3. WSWil Sylvince1:35:19

       You know, um-

    4. TNTrevor Noah1:35:19

       How many years?

    5. WSWil Sylvince1:35:20

       Because my boss allowed me to... Oh, man. Maybe seven, 10 years. Seven-

    6. TNTrevor Noah1:35:27

       Oh, yeah

    7. WSWil Sylvince1:35:27

       ... seven years.

    8. TNTrevor Noah1:35:27

       This is a full-leg job job.

    9. WSWil Sylvince1:35:29

       Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. And my, 'cause my boss allowed me to do shows at night. 'Cause sometimes my shows would, you know... And he, he gave me a, the keys to the shop. He said, "I'll just leave a, a, a work order. You come in, you come in 2:00 in the morning. I used to come after my shows, work on the robot, check off the list on, on things I did-

    10. TNTrevor Noah1:35:47

        Yeah, yeah, yeah

    11. WSWil Sylvince1:35:47

        ... and then leave." And so that, that made it easy.

    12. TNTrevor Noah1:35:49

        That's a great boss, man.

    13. WSWil Sylvince1:35:51

        That was, it made it easy until someone told me, he said, "Man, you, you would never take comedy far." 'Cause he asked me, "Well, you, comedy or..." I'm like, "I, I, I'm really loving comedy." He said, "You'll never take comedy far as long as you have that safety net."

    14. TNTrevor Noah1:36:07

        Who said this to you?

    15. WSWil Sylvince1:36:08

        [laughs] Some dude.

    16. TNTrevor Noah1:36:10

        Some dude?

    17. WSWil Sylvince1:36:10

        Yeah.

    18. SPSpeaker1:36:11

        The same Chinese guy who learned English. [laughs]

    19. WSWil Sylvince1:36:14

        [laughs]

    20. TNTrevor Noah1:36:14

        Yo, what?

    21. WSWil Sylvince1:36:15

        Yeah. So because, because you would never take-

    22. TNTrevor Noah1:36:17

        And you believed this person?

    23. WSWil Sylvince1:36:18

        Yeah, so I quit my job.

    24. TNTrevor Noah1:36:19

        That is the worst advice anyone could ever give anyone.

    25. WSWil Sylvince1:36:23

        [laughs] As long as you have a safety net, you won't take, you won't-

    26. TNTrevor Noah1:36:25

        I, I think the exact opposite is true.

    27. WSWil Sylvince1:36:28

        Mm-hmm.

    28. TNTrevor Noah1:36:28

        If you wanna enjoy your comedy, and you wanna be a great comedian, just have it as your hobby.

    29. WSWil Sylvince1:36:34

        Mm.

    30. TNTrevor Noah1:36:34

        Do it as like... I, I think there's nothing worse for an audience than the smell of desperation.
30. 1:38:39 – 1:39:40

    Haitian Parents vs Choosing Comedy as a Career

    1. WSWil Sylvince1:38:39

       ... 'Cause comedy was like my, my dad, my mother was like, "Well, no. Well, uh, just make us laugh if that's the case." [laughs] You know?

    2. TNTrevor Noah1:38:47

       You're throwing your future away.

    3. WSWil Sylvince1:38:48

       Yeah. Like, you know, you had to be a engineer, you had to be a doctor, you had to be a lawyer, you know? And, and 'cause, 'cause the, the thing was, you know, education, good job, then you get a family, then you take over the house.

    4. TNTrevor Noah1:38:59

       Yeah.

    5. WSWil Sylvince1:39:00

       You know, only in America, uh, where you, you, when you turn 18, you leave the house.

    6. TNTrevor Noah1:39:06

       Uh-huh.

    7. WSWil Sylvince1:39:06

       In, in a Haitian household, well, at least when I was growing up, no, the family always stayed together. When you become 18, then you get a job, blah, blah. Then when you get a, a good job, you get a wife, then you, then the, the, all right, now you the, you the head of the house.

    8. TNTrevor Noah1:39:19

       Oh, you just take over the household.

    9. WSWil Sylvince1:39:20

       You just take over the household, yeah.

    10. TNTrevor Noah1:39:21

        I think that's, the- there's a version of that in-

    11. WSWil Sylvince1:39:23

        And then multiple brothers-

    12. TNTrevor Noah1:39:23

        ... sort of every culture. Yeah, yeah

    13. WSWil Sylvince1:39:24

        ... then they go, they take over that, the, their wife's household, or, and, and vice versa, you know? But, but, you know, you don't leave the family, ever. Family-

    14. TNTrevor Noah1:39:34

        It's like Fast, it's like Fast and the Furious.

    15. WSWil Sylvince1:39:35

        [laughs] Yeah.

    16. TNTrevor Noah1:39:36

        It's all about family.

    17. WSWil Sylvince1:39:37

        It's all about family. [laughs]

    18. TNTrevor Noah1:39:38

        It's all about family.

31. 1:39:40 – 1:46:22

    Will’s Mother Accidentally Seeing Him on TV

    1. WSWil Sylvince1:39:40

       Yeah. So, um, so family was a big thing. And man, and-

    2. TNTrevor Noah1:39:43

       So you saying comedy is basically like saying, "I don't give a shit about family."

    3. WSWil Sylvince1:39:47

       [laughs] No. It, it, we ... Uh, 'cause they didn't see value in, in-

    4. TNTrevor Noah1:39:51

       Yeah, yeah, yeah

    5. WSWil Sylvince1:39:52

       ... doing stand-up. You know, uh, where they come from, a doctor or a engineer or a lawyer was the way. 'Cause, 'cause the, one of the most important things is how are you gonna support, how are you gonna make money.

    6. TNTrevor Noah1:40:03

       So what, what-

    7. WSWil Sylvince1:40:04

       And the top things to make money-

    8. TNTrevor Noah1:40:06

       Yeah

    9. WSWil Sylvince1:40:06

       ... was doctors, lawyers, engineers.

    10. TNTrevor Noah1:40:08

        What did they do when they discovered you were doing comedy, like you were moonlighting as a comedian?

    11. WSWil Sylvince1:40:13

        So one day my, I did a show that came on late at night. I ain't think it was gonna, you know ... And my mother being, my mother n- normally go to bed by 10:00. And so my little brother came and she say, "Hey, Ma saw you on TV."

    12. TNTrevor Noah1:40:23

        Oh, man.

    13. WSWil Sylvince1:40:26

        I went [rattling sound] I went, "What'd she say?" "You'll see when you get home." And then, um, my mother's in the living room talking to her friends, and I walk in. We had the, the, the living room with the l- the beads on as a door.

    14. TNTrevor Noah1:40:38

        Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

    15. WSWil Sylvince1:40:38

        So I walked in. They, they all heard me coming through the beads, and they just look, and they all start talking. And one of them go, "Is that the comedian there?"

    16. TNTrevor Noah1:40:47

        [laughs]

    17. WSWil Sylvince1:40:47

        And they just started laughing. I ain't say nothing. They just started laughing. And my mom go, "Yes, that's my, that's my favorite son."

    18. TNTrevor Noah1:40:54

        [laughs]

    19. WSWil Sylvince1:40:58

        Come on, Ma. [laughs] And then, uh, and then, and then they w- uh, it was accepted. I g- I, I guess when they see there's a, there's a way to make money, there's a, it's a living, or, and then laughter also, it brings people together. So there's so many things happening, I guess, when my mother first saw me on TV for the first time.

    20. TNTrevor Noah1:41:14

        Yeah, yeah, yeah.

    21. WSWil Sylvince1:41:15

        She was like, she ... First of all, she was like, "Is that, is that Wil?" You know, I, I, I try to picture, like, what was going through her mind-

    22. TNTrevor Noah1:41:23

        [laughs]

    23. WSWil Sylvince1:41:23

        ... when she was wa- you know, first of all, she, it, it, it's 1:00 AM. What is she doing up at 1:00 AM, you know? So, you know, that's number one. Number two, she's just flipping through the channels, look, look, probably looking for the news.

    24. TNTrevor Noah1:41:33

        That's wild. And she bumps into you-

    25. WSWil Sylvince1:41:35

        And then she, she, she flipped-

    26. TNTrevor Noah1:41:36

        What was, do you remember what the show was?

    27. WSWil Sylvince1:41:37

        The, uh, some show about the Ap- the Ap- not the Apollo.

    28. TNTrevor Noah1:41:41

        Yeah.

    29. WSWil Sylvince1:41:41

        The other, it's another show that Apollo was producing. And, um, and then I, and, and then my, my brother told me, 'cause not my mother, but she was flipping through the channels. And then she stopped, and, and what made her stop was 'cause she, "Is that Wil?" And she just, you know, watched it [laughs] you know? And then-

    30. TNTrevor Noah1:42:03

        That's insane. [laughs]
32. 1:46:22 – 1:48:30

    Making It at the Comedy Cellar

    1. TNTrevor Noah1:46:28

       When, when would you say comedy, like, clicked in your life? Like, and I mean, like, clicked. 'Cause I mean, you know, w- already when I met you, you know, you were a regular hosting shows at the Comedy Cellar, and the Comedy Cellar is one of the most discerning comedy institutions in the world.

    2. WSWil Sylvince1:46:46

       Mm.

    3. TNTrevor Noah1:46:46

       You know what I mean? Like, it doesn't matter if you have 10 million followers on social media.

    4. WSWil Sylvince1:46:51

       Mm.

    5. TNTrevor Noah1:46:51

       ST is not gonna put you on stage at the Comedy Cellar.

    6. WSWil Sylvince1:46:54

       Yeah, ST, yeah.

    7. TNTrevor Noah1:46:54

       But you could have five followers, and she'll put you on stage.

    8. WSWil Sylvince1:46:57

       Yeah.

    9. TNTrevor Noah1:46:58

       You-

    10. WSWil Sylvince1:46:58

        Well, that's the thing I'm thinking about ST, but what p- a lot of people know the Comedy Cellar, one of the, one of the be- one of the most successful comedy clubs happening right now.

    11. TNTrevor Noah1:47:06

        Yeah.

    12. WSWil Sylvince1:47:07

        And I blame ST. ST w-

    13. TNTrevor Noah1:47:09

        You blame her?

    14. WSWil Sylvince1:47:10

        I, in a good way.

    15. TNTrevor Noah1:47:10

        Or, or you credit her.

    16. WSWil Sylvince1:47:11

        I credit her.

    17. TNTrevor Noah1:47:12

        Oh, okay.

    18. WSWil Sylvince1:47:12

        I'm sa- one of those words I'm using differently.

    19. TNTrevor Noah1:47:14

        Yeah, yeah. Okay, okay.

    20. WSWil Sylvince1:47:15

        Yeah. So she's the reason why, because she does the, she just don't put a lineup up. She actually watched the videotapes at all the shows, and then she determines, "Okay, I gotta put this guy on first. I gotta put this person after, 'cause this person probably can't follow this person." She actually studies comedy.

    21. TNTrevor Noah1:47:32

        Yeah, and you can tell, man.

    22. WSWil Sylvince1:47:33

        And she puts a- an amazing lineup up, which is why we get all these shows happening at the Cellar, and we get more work.

    23. TNTrevor Noah1:47:40

        Yeah, and you, and they, they care about comedy itself.

    24. WSWil Sylvince1:47:43

        Yeah.

    25. TNTrevor Noah1:47:43

        And you see it in the product, and then the people feel it when they come in. But what I, what I mean about clicking is like-

    26. WSWil Sylvince1:47:47

        Then you have, then you have Liz, the manager, who-

    27. TNTrevor Noah1:47:50

        Yeah

    28. WSWil Sylvince1:47:50

        ... who do, doing an amazing job, because they was going through different managers, and they couldn't get it together. When they got Liz in, it all clicked in, amazing lineup and amazing management, you know? But then back to what my dad said about women good, having a good woman in your life.

    29. TNTrevor Noah1:48:05

        Oh, yeah.

    30. WSWil Sylvince1:48:05

        I, I think w- the owner of the Cellar, he has two great women in his life, and they doing amazing things. It's like, you, you know, p- people always, I, let me not say people. I don't know. But the world discredit women so much. They put women down. They, uh, you know, you know, and women gotta work-
33. 1:48:30 – 1:49:39

    Touring With Katt Williams & Legendary Comedy Stories

    1. TNTrevor Noah1:48:30

       Well, I don't have any guns.

    2. WSWil Sylvince1:48:32

       [laughs] No, you know, saying that's-

    3. TNTrevor Noah1:48:33

       No, I'm, no, no, I'm joking, Wil.

    4. WSWil Sylvince1:48:34

       Yeah.

    5. TNTrevor Noah1:48:34

       I'm joking.

    6. WSWil Sylvince1:48:35

       [laughs]

    7. TNTrevor Noah1:48:35

       The, uh, w- yeah, but, um, what I mean about the clicking, though, is, like, I go, when you look, I don't wanna say back, 'cause it's not like your life is finished, but when you look at your career in comedy now, you have to admit it's pretty crazy that y- you, you, you've done shows with, like, you know what I mean, you, you are touring-

    8. WSWil Sylvince1:48:55

       And Damon Wayans

    9. TNTrevor Noah1:48:55

       ... with, like, the Wayans brothers.

    10. WSWil Sylvince1:48:56

        Yeah, Wayans brothers.

    11. TNTrevor Noah1:48:57

        You know?

    12. WSWil Sylvince1:48:58

        Damon Wayans, Wayans brothers.

    13. TNTrevor Noah1:48:59

        Yeah.

    14. WSWil Sylvince1:48:59

        Katt Williams.

    15. TNTrevor Noah1:49:00

        Katt Williams.

    16. WSWil Sylvince1:49:00

        Katt Williams ama- by the way, don't listen to none of the stuff about Katt Williams. He's, he, that dude is amazing.

    17. TNTrevor Noah1:49:05

        Oh, that's the stuff I heard. What do you mean?

    18. WSWil Sylvince1:49:06

        Yeah. The, oh, oh, 'cause you know-

    19. TNTrevor Noah1:49:07

        Go on. What's the other stuff?

    20. WSWil Sylvince1:49:08

        That he's, he's, he's nuts. He's not. He's not. Katt Williams, he the only person that I know, you might know someone like this, he's the only one that I know when he gets to a town, he'll get the local paper and read the whole paper, and his first 10, 15 minutes or 20 minutes will be on that town. The crowd go crazy. It's almost having, like, a local opener open.

    21. TNTrevor Noah1:49:30

        Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But it's Katt Williams.

    22. WSWil Sylvince1:49:31

        He, but it's Katt Williams that's telling jokes about your people. He's just one of the, one of the most fascinating people I ever met.

    23. TNTrevor Noah1:49:37

        And he li- he loves comedy, man.

34. 1:49:39 – 1:57:10

    Trevor’s First Big Break in Los Angeles Thanks to Katt Williams

    1. WSWil Sylvince1:49:39

       Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.

    2. TNTrevor Noah1:49:39

       That man loves-

    3. WSWil Sylvince1:49:41

       Yeah

    4. TNTrevor Noah1:49:41

       ... comedy.

    5. WSWil Sylvince1:49:42

       Yeah, yeah, yeah.

    6. TNTrevor Noah1:49:43

       Loves comedy. One of my favorite things that ever happened in my life was, it's, I, I, I probably, like, credit Katt with even giving me an opportunity in comedy in, in, in Los Angeles. I used to try and get spots at the, um, uh-

    7. WSWil Sylvince1:49:58

       Comedy Store?

    8. TNTrevor Noah1:49:58

       No. The Laugh Factory.

    9. WSWil Sylvince1:50:00

       Laugh Factory.

    10. TNTrevor Noah1:50:01

        Couldn't get any spots. They were always just like, "Yeah, come back next week. Yeah, come back next week."

    11. WSWil Sylvince1:50:04

        Mm-hmm.

    12. TNTrevor Noah1:50:04

        "Yeah, come back next week." Now, the funny thing was I was doing pretty well in South Africa, but these guys didn't know who I was. Uh, and they didn't need to know. The, the, there's no reason they should have known who I was, you know? So I'd just show up every week, and because South Africa's comedy scene was so intimate- You could just show up and say, "Hey, can I perform?"

    13. SPSpeaker1:50:20

        Yeah. [laughs]

    14. TNTrevor Noah1:50:20

        And people would be like, "All right. Get on." It was like Dougie Doug's club.

    15. SPSpeaker1:50:23

        It was like the Black clubs in America also. You, you just walk in.

    16. TNTrevor Noah1:50:26

        Yeah, it's just like-

    17. SPSpeaker1:50:26

        You look like a bouncer? Yeah

    18. TNTrevor Noah1:50:27

        ... "All right, all right. Come on, come on, come on, come on, come on." So I, I get to, um, LA, go to these clubs. Man, they just... Everyone. And the thing about LA is nobody says no in that town, right? Because everybody in that town is not sure who you are or who you may end up becoming.

    19. SPSpeaker1:50:44

        Mm. Yeah.

    20. TNTrevor Noah1:50:44

        So they never wanna be the person who said no to you. So it's just a town of people saying fake yeses and maybes-

    21. SPSpeaker1:50:49

        Yeah

    22. TNTrevor Noah1:50:50

        ... that keep you on a treadmill of hope.

    23. SPSpeaker1:50:52

        Yeah.

    24. TNTrevor Noah1:50:53

        So-

    25. SPSpeaker1:50:53

        All right, and then something happens. I discovered you. My bad, I'll help you out.

    26. TNTrevor Noah1:50:55

        Yeah, that, that's literally it.

    27. SPSpeaker1:50:56

        Yeah.

    28. TNTrevor Noah1:50:57

        So I'd go to The Comedy Store, and I'd be like, "Can I perform?" And they'd be like, "Uh, what are your credits, kid?" And, "What have you done?" And, "What are you... " I was like, "Oh, you know South Africa." They're like, "No, no, we mean real credits. What are your... " You know? And I'd go to another club, and another club, and anyway, I would... It was like-

    29. SPSpeaker1:51:10

        You pull out your credit cards?

    30. TNTrevor Noah1:51:11

        [laughs] And it was just-
35. 1:57:10 – 2:01:36

    Aziz Ansari’s Movie “Good Fortune” & Acting

    1. TNTrevor Noah1:57:10

       Mm. But the joy of comedy's the thing that'll sustain you. Yes, yes. You know what I'm saying? G- yeah. Ka- Katt Williams, amazing person. He, he actually d- I feel like he does comedy at, for h- at his level. That make sense? It's almost like- Yeah, he just does his own th- th- He, he doesn't care about what he- He defines his own- Yeah ... yeah, yeah. Exactly that. I remember when I did the show at the Laugh Factory, I went on, I, I had an amazing set, and Katt went on after me. And, and he goes, "This nigga, I was gonna come up here and just work out some jokes, but this nigga got me telling reg- my old jokes." [laughs] And, right. I, and, and the thing is, the way he was saying it, I'm like, "Is, is he really mad at me?" Right? So after the show, I saw him, and he saw me, he said, "Hey, I need to talk to you. Come here." I'm like, "Oh, shit. He was mad." He's like, "Listen, man." He went in his pocket. He was, he g- And I'm like, "Oh, shit, oh, shit." He said, "Listen, man, these comedy clubs, they don't be paying w- what you're worth. They don't, they, they, they treat you like shit." And pulled out $400 bills. He said, "Here, take it." I, I'm like, "Thank you." [laughs] I, I was so confused with what's happening. Yeah, yeah, yeah. The emotions are everywhere. I'm like, "Yeah," I'm like, "Thanks." He said, "Yeah, take it." And then, and I'm like, wow. No one ever treated me like that. Yeah, man, Katt, he's just, like, you know. He's, you need people like him in comedy. Yeah. Like, they, because they love comedy. But that's what I mean, like, you, look at- And he pulls people up, man ... yeah, look at your life and your career. Like, y- the Katt Williams, Dave Chappelle, the Chris Rocks, the, you know what I mean? Oh, Dave Chappelle, Chris Rock. Aziz Ansari, the- Aziz Ansari ... do you know what I mean? Another one. Yeah. Aziz Ansari put me in his movie. Oh, yeah. That was, that was amazing, actually. Good, did you see Good Fortune? I will now. [laughs] I loved Good Fortune. Oh, yeah? Yeah, yeah. Can I, can I tell you what I loved about it, is, um, these days I think it's becoming increasingly rare to see a movie that you haven't seen before. Mm. And I don't just mean that literally. Like, IP. Like, so many movies are reboots of other movies or stories. But it, it's rare to watch a movie where you just don't know what's gonna happen- Yeah ... because you haven't seen it before. Mm. Like, he watches movies like that all the time. If Dave ever recommends a movie to you, be very careful. You should watch it, but don't expect anything normal. Like, Dave- Like, like how Katt Williams watched you. Yeah, like- [laughs] Like, Dave watches m- Okay ... Dave only watches movies that have endings- That, not the typical ending ... yeah, that leave people, like, you walk out of the cinema being, cinema questioning yourself. Like- Like Sixth Sense ... not even. That's like a, that's like a chill version. Sixth Sense was not, no one expect- That's the, yeah ... expected that ... that's just the twist. Mm, okay. That's, Dave would watch... Okay, this is the kind of movie Dave would watch. It would be Sixth Sense, but everyone would be French, and then the child, instead of seeing ghosts, would say that, like, they see the pain that the world is in. And then instead of Bruce Willis, it would be a flower. And then- Then they would talk him to the whole time ... instead of an, instead of, like, a two-hour movie, it would be, like, four and a half. [laughs] Those are the kind of movies that Dave watches. That's a lot of reading. No. Um, the, one of the reasons is it's a version of what you're saying, is that you, I like the thing of not knowing what's gonna happen. I, that's what I credit to you. Yes. I'm not even slamming you. No, no, no. So I'm saying in an ideal world, it would be contained almost, like, within normal. Yes. I know what you mean. Yeah, like, so, 'cause every now and then you'll see, let's say a rom-com. Yeah ... where you know, you sort of, like, know what's gonna happen in a rom-com. Yes. You know exactly what's gonna happen. But the things are so refreshing within it that you're like, wow, I was- That's how I felt about Good Fortune, and I'm not saying that 'cause you were in it. I'm not saying that because of Aziz. I genuinely enjoyed that somebody tried to make something, and I think succeeded- Mm ... that upended a lot of the ideas that you would have of how a plot and a story are supposed to go. Yes. Right. So- But still pulls it off. Yeah, yeah, completely. Yeah. He's- And I remember watching it and I was like, "Oh, shit, this is..." And then you walked in and I was like, "Oh, shit, Will." Yeah. I felt like such a, like, it's such a weird feeling, 'cause I know you. Right. And then you were there in the movie, and I was like, "Oh, shit, Will." And then I was like- You saw that dance routine I did? Yeah, that was very good. It took me four hours to get that dance routine. Does that long? I, I still didn't get it after four hours. Oh, that's, that's what you should mention then. [laughs] Yeah. You should say, "After four hours I still didn't have it down." [laughs] Yeah. If you say, "I got it in four hours- No, no ... you seem like a good dancer. If you say, "I didn't get it-" I didn't get it. Your dancing is very interesting. You saw it? I didn't

36. 2:01:36 – 2:02:50

    Boxing, Discipline & Why Will Started Training

    1. TNTrevor Noah2:01:36

       see it. [laughs] Are you on medication? [laughs] What does that mean? Aren't you supposed to be a good dancer, though, 'cause you're a good boxer? That's what I was gonna say, is that you recently became a boxer. No, he didn't. Mm. He recently had his first professional fight. Oh, I thought you recently became a boxer. No, this guy's been- No ... boxing for, like, 50 years. Oh, really? About 50 years. Is that where the speech impediment comes from? Okay, how old are you? I started boxing 2007. No, 2010. Yeah. Yeah. And I started, got my first professional fight- Oh ... a month ago ... no, I thought you started boxing- But, but, but, but I never had rhythm. When I jump rope, I, I, I, I skip a lot 'cause my rhythm is always off. My rhythm always been off. Huh. I can't... You know, when I dance, people, they like, "You must be white down, down in- inside." You know, I, I never had- But that's your- I never had rhythm ... Haitian family. Haitians have rhythm. We have, yes, lot of rhythm in Haiti. But, uh, but, I, the, and since we're not in Haiti, we're in America, my dad made sure, um-

    2. WSWil Sylvince2:02:38

       Focus on your w- schoolwork

    3. TNTrevor Noah2:02:40

       So he was like, "No rhythm for my kids"

    4. WSWil Sylvince2:02:42

       So we, we could... [laughs]

    5. TNTrevor Noah2:02:43

       [laughs] Your dad was a hard man

    6. SPSpeaker2:02:44

       Your dad was a hard guy

    7. TNTrevor Noah2:02:45

       Yeah, your dad was a really hard man

    8. WSWil Sylvince2:02:47

       Yeah

    9. TNTrevor Noah2:02:47

       Is that rhythm I hear in your room?

    10. WSWil Sylvince2:02:48

        [laughs]

37. 2:02:50 – 2:05:09

    Strict Religion, Fear of Girls & His First Hug

    1. SPSpeaker2:02:50

       Yeah

    2. TNTrevor Noah2:02:50

       Is that, i- is that rhythm? Are you dancing to that beat, Wil?

    3. WSWil Sylvince2:02:54

       [laughs]

    4. TNTrevor Noah2:02:54

       [laughs] That is crazy

    5. WSWil Sylvince2:03:00

       So I, so I never really developed... No one taught me how to dance. My parents didn't teach me how to dance. You know, we couldn't really be around girls and stuff, 'cause my mother said, "If you hug a girl, she'll get pregnant, so make sure you don't hug no girls"

    6. TNTrevor Noah2:03:11

       Wow

    7. WSWil Sylvince2:03:11

       I didn't get my first hug until I was, uh, six- 16. My first-

    8. TNTrevor Noah2:03:16

       You were trying to get her pregnant?

    9. WSWil Sylvince2:03:17

       My first hug outside of my fam- But, you know, when your mother give you a hug, it's, my arms are always like this. "Yeah, Ma, I love you, too. I love you, too"

    10. TNTrevor Noah2:03:23

        Yeah, 'cause you don't wanna get your mom pregnant

    11. WSWil Sylvince2:03:25

        That... [laughs]

    12. TNTrevor Noah2:03:28

        [laughs] I mean, you can't leave a child with that information

    13. WSWil Sylvince2:03:30

        Yeah [laughs]

    14. TNTrevor Noah2:03:31

        You can't say to a child-

    15. WSWil Sylvince2:03:32

        Yes

    16. TNTrevor Noah2:03:32

        ... "If you hug a woman, she'll get pregnant"

    17. WSWil Sylvince2:03:33

        That's true

    18. TNTrevor Noah2:03:33

        And then you're like, "Now come give your mom a hug"

    19. WSWil Sylvince2:03:35

        Yeah. [laughs] So, so, so the thing is, my first hug, ironically, was from a priest

    20. TNTrevor Noah2:03:40

        Oh, wow

    21. SPSpeaker2:03:41

        Ooh

    22. WSWil Sylvince2:03:41

        I was very religious. I, Ca-

    23. TNTrevor Noah2:03:42

        Wow

    24. WSWil Sylvince2:03:43

        I was born C- raised Catholic. And so-

    25. TNTrevor Noah2:03:45

        Should we, should we get ready for another bombshell on this show, Wil?

    26. WSWil Sylvince2:03:47

        [laughs] No, no, no, no

    27. TNTrevor Noah2:03:48

        Okay, okay, okay

    28. WSWil Sylvince2:03:48

        So, so it was one of these, uh, Saturday classes, CCD. And then all the kids was, uh, greeting and hugging each other. And I was just on the side, just watching, you know. And the, and then Father Brennan or Father John, one of them-

    29. TNTrevor Noah2:04:03

        Probably Brennan

    30. WSWil Sylvince2:04:03

        ... came up to me and he goes, "Why you not, why you not greeting?" I'm like, "I, I never hugged anybody. I don't, I, I don't know what to do. I'm..." He said, "You never hugged nobody?" He said, he had the big brown robe on with the big-ass arms. He said, "Come here," and he opened his arms, and I just went in and he hugged me. And I was like, holy shit, it felt so good
38. 2:05:09 – 2:06:30

    Losing His Virginity at 24

    1. TNTrevor Noah2:05:09

       Who was the 18 hug?

    2. WSWil Sylvince2:05:10

       My first girlfriend

    3. TNTrevor Noah2:05:12

       Oh, look at that

    4. WSWil Sylvince2:05:13

       Yeah. With who I... My first girlfriend, uh... But I, we di- I, I avoided having sex with her

    5. TNTrevor Noah2:05:19

       Okay, that's-

    6. WSWil Sylvince2:05:20

       Because I was very religious

    7. TNTrevor Noah2:05:21

       That's good. That's fine

    8. WSWil Sylvince2:05:22

       Didn't have sex till I was 24. I was a virgin till I was 24

    9. TNTrevor Noah2:05:25

       Wow

    10. WSWil Sylvince2:05:25

        But I, I used to lie to girls, be like, "Oh sh- oh, I gotta g- I gotta go. Oh, Ma, I gotta go to work," or, "I gotta do some homework. I gotta go back to class"

    11. TNTrevor Noah2:05:32

        Oh, when, when it was-

    12. WSWil Sylvince2:05:33

        We'd be, we'd be butt, we'd be butt naked. "Oh, no, I forgot. Yeah." And I'd get, and I'd, and I'd s- leave, leave the place

    13. TNTrevor Noah2:05:38

        Damn. You were s- 'Cause you were so scared of sex because you were religious, you were like, "I gotta get out of this situation"

    14. WSWil Sylvince2:05:43

        Yes

    15. TNTrevor Noah2:05:44

        Resisting temptation, essentially

    16. WSWil Sylvince2:05:45

        Yes, yes

    17. TNTrevor Noah2:05:46

        Yeah. And then you were like, "My boss gave me the keys so I can, I can cl- clock in at any time"

    18. WSWil Sylvince2:05:49

        Yeah

    19. TNTrevor Noah2:05:50

        "There's a work order waiting for me. I gotta go"

    20. WSWil Sylvince2:05:51

        Yeah

    21. TNTrevor Noah2:05:52

        And then you'd run out

    22. WSWil Sylvince2:05:52

        I'd run out

    23. TNTrevor Noah2:05:53

        Huh

    24. WSWil Sylvince2:05:53

        And, and she goes like, "Okay. All, all right. Um, all right." Yeah

    25. TNTrevor Noah2:05:57

        I wonder if one of your girlfriends thought you were, like, a superhero

    26. WSWil Sylvince2:06:00

        Or-

    27. TNTrevor Noah2:06:01

        'Cause that's what, like, s- Peter Parker does. Think about it. Peter Parker will be on a date-

    28. WSWil Sylvince2:06:06

        Oh, yeah, yeah

    29. TNTrevor Noah2:06:07

        ... and then out of nowhere will be like, "I gotta go"

    30. WSWil Sylvince2:06:09

        Right
39. 2:06:30 – 2:13:30

    Health Journey, Weight Loss & Giving Up Sugar

    1. TNTrevor Noah2:06:30

       at 24?

    2. WSWil Sylvince2:06:31

       24, uh, I, I met this girl, got her back to my place. Um, we'll call her S, in case she-

    3. TNTrevor Noah2:06:39

       Okay

    4. WSWil Sylvince2:06:40

       Um, and we started making out. And, um, you wanna hear a story? [laughs] It's crazy

    5. TNTrevor Noah2:06:46

       No, no, no. I just, I don't, you don't have to give me the details. It's just like, you know-

    6. WSWil Sylvince2:06:48

       Okay

    7. TNTrevor Noah2:06:48

       ... I just wanna know what changed, rather. Because-

    8. WSWil Sylvince2:06:50

       I just-

    9. TNTrevor Noah2:06:51

       ... you were always, like, the escape artist

    10. WSWil Sylvince2:06:52

        I, I was, I was like, I got, what am I doing? I gotta, let me just, let me just, you know-

    11. TNTrevor Noah2:06:56

        Okay

    12. WSWil Sylvince2:06:57

        ... make it happen, you know? And then, uh, you know, we made it happen

    13. TNTrevor Noah2:07:01

        Was this Wil pre... 'Cause, 'cause there's a Wil that existed, like, sort of pre the healthy, pre the boxing, pre the-

    14. WSWil Sylvince2:07:10

        Oh, I, I was, health was always in the back of my head

    15. TNTrevor Noah2:07:13

        Yeah

    16. WSWil Sylvince2:07:14

        I, even when I was little, health was very... 'Cause w- actually, when my grandmother passed away, I'm like, man, i- i- if she was living a healthier life, she probably would've been here longer

    17. TNTrevor Noah2:07:23

        Yeah

    18. WSWil Sylvince2:07:23

        You know? And then, you know, then, you know, uh, so health was always there, always there. But I never really took initiative until later on, until, you know... What changed my life about health was two, two things. I did a show with a tank top on, and I was dating this girl, and I, I did a, a great show, and I got offstage, and she said, everybody was saying, "Good job, good job." She said, "Either do, either wear a shirt or wear the tank top without the stomach." I go, "What? What, what does that mean?" [laughs] I had a big stomach, but nice arms. Big-

    19. TNTrevor Noah2:07:59

        What did you, what did you weigh at your heaviest?

    20. WSWil Sylvince2:08:01

        Uh, 220

    21. TNTrevor Noah2:08:02

        Have you seen Wil's pictures at his heaviest?

    22. SPSpeaker2:08:04

        I have not. I've only ever seen this Wil

    23. TNTrevor Noah2:08:06

        If you see Wil's pictures-

    24. WSWil Sylvince2:08:08

        I was 220, yeah

    25. TNTrevor Noah2:08:09

        ... at his heaviest, it's, it's a pretty amazing-

    26. SPSpeaker2:08:11

        Oh, really?

    27. WSWil Sylvince2:08:11

        Transformation?

    28. TNTrevor Noah2:08:12

        Yeah

    29. WSWil Sylvince2:08:13

        I used that word correctly?

    30. TNTrevor Noah2:08:14

        Yeah, you used that word

Episode duration: 2:25:26