Oobah Butler: The Digital Mirage

ℹ️ EPISODE INFO

Released

April 16, 2026

Duration

2h 7m

Channel

What Now? With Trevor Noah

Watch on YouTube

▶ Open ↗

📝 EPISODE DESCRIPTION

Trevor and Eugene sit down with journalist and filmmaker Oobah Butler, whose work lives at the intersection of prank and social experiment. From creating a fake top-rated restaurant to exposing how easily online systems can be manipulated, Butler has made a career out of blurring the line between perception and reality. Together, they explore the rise of “scam culture,” how algorithms quietly shape what we believe, and just how much of the modern world is built on illusion. It is a funny, unsettling look at how easy it is to fake almost anything—and how hard it can be to tell what is real. With hundreds of new sales every week, you can eat well for less at Whole Foods Market. If you haven't already.... Subscribe to the channel here: http://bit.ly/SubscribeTrevorNoah Or follow the podcast on your other favorite platforms... SiriusXM Apple Podcasts - https://bit.ly/WhatNowOnApplePodcasts Spotify - https://bit.ly/WhatNowOnSpotify 00:00:04- Fakenham 00:00:58- What Now Begins 00:11:53- Welcome Oobah Butler 00:12:39- The Greatest Restaurant Nobody Ever Visited 00:15:25- The Line Between Fraud and a Prank Is a Camera 00:17:30- Growing Up in the Middle of Nowhere 00:22:21- The Man Who Got Paid to Lie 00:28:14- How Vice Changed Everything 00:31:04- That Time He Joined the Jehovah's Witnesses 00:38:29- The Origin Story of a Scammer 00:40:33- Living in a Shed, Naming a Restaurant the Shed 00:47:07- Fully Booked for the Next Six Weeks 00:54:34- Number One in London and It Doesn't Exist 00:57:09- Opening Night at a Shack 01:03:20- We Trust Hype More Than What We Put in Our Mouths 01:04:00- Comments Are Making You Think Things 01:07:54- 40 Percent of What You Read Is Poison 01:40:50- Amazon Piss Energy Drink Number One on Amazon 01:48:25- Make a Million Pounds in 90 Days 01:56:09- You Didn't Make the Money You Took It

🎤 SPEAKERS

• Trevor Noah

  host

  Comedian and TV host; creator and host of the podcast “What Now? With Trevor Noah.”

• Eugene

  host

  Co-host/interlocutor on “What Now? With Trevor Noah.”

• Eugene

  host

  Co-host/interlocutor on “What Now? With Trevor Noah.”

🧾 EPISODE SUMMARY

In this episode of What Now? With Trevor Noah, featuring Trevor Noah and Eugene, Oobah Butler: The Digital Mirage explores Oobah Butler exposes how hype, platforms, and scams shape reality Oobah Butler describes creating “The Shed at Dulwich,” a fake TripAdvisor restaurant that rose to #1 in London by exploiting review mechanics, scarcity, and storytelling rather than real food.

🔗 RELATED EPISODES

Katie Couric: Why Facts Aren’t Enough

Vic Mensa: Who is the Real Threat?

Ian Bremmer: Who Is Actually Running the World?

Dex Hunter-Torricke: Translating the Titans of Tech

Atsuko Okatsuka: Joking in Japanese

Meet José Andrés - My Favorite People