Just over a month after Jon Stewart announced that he’d be stepping down as host of The Daily Show, Comedy Central has officially tapped South African comedian and Daily Show Correspondent Trevor Noah as the new host for the legendary comedic cable news show.

“You don’t believe it for the first few hours,” Noah told The New York Times in a phone interview from Dubai, where he’s currently on a comedy tour. “You need a stiff drink, and then unfortunately you’re in a place where you can’t really get alcohol.”

Noah, who has been a comedy superstar in his home country for over five years now, is still relatively unknown in the United States, although that will probably change in the coming months before he takes over the Daily Show desk.

Since 2010, Noah has released five comedy specials and one documentary feature, as well as toured the world several times over as comedy headliner. All of which have helped gain him an international following, as well as the respect of hardcore comedy fans.

But even if you know who Trevor Noah is, there’s probably quite a bit you’d be surprised to learn. So here are five facts you probably didn’t know about the new host.

He’s Only Appeared on The Daily Show Three Times
Part of what made the announcement of Noah’s new job so surprising is his relative newness to Daily Show viewers. Noah was introduced as a correspondent in December and has only returned twice since then. Of course, it’s easy to question Noah’s experience level and in fact it’s something that the fake newsman is expecting.

“We live in a world where some people still say Beyoncé can’t sing,” he told the Times. “Clearly I’m not immune to that.”


He Started Out as a Soap Opera Actor

While plenty of comedians have leveraged their successful standup careers into acting stints (Jamie Foxx, Michael Keaton, etc), Noah’s trajectory has actually been reverse. His first gig was a bit player at 18 on the South African soap opera Isidingo. After that, he moved on to hosting his own radio show, Noah’s Ark, before finally focusing on comedy in 2007, leading to a bunch of TV hosting jobs and standup specials.

His Parents’ Relationship Was Illegal
Probably the most well known Trevor Noah factoid is that of his complicated origins. The 31-year-old Noah was a biracial child born in apartheid South Africa, where interracial relationships were illegal. His white Swiss father and black African mother’s romance, their parentage, and the need to conceal their connection to Noah are the subjects of his most famous comedy bits.

He Speaks Six Languages
 Hey, did you know that South Africa has eleven official languages? Yep. And Noah speaks over half of them. He’s also in the middle of learning German (reportedly to better communicate with his father), although apparently his German accent is self-admittedly “Hitler-ish.”

His Stepfather Tried to Kill His Mother
 Domestic violence in South Africa is nothing new. Along with famous cases like Olympian Oscar Pistorius’ murdering his girlfriend and Charlize Theron’s mother using deadly force to defend herself from Theron’s father, the country routinely leads the world in statistics documenting violence against women.

And Noah’s mother was not immune. According to South African news reports, Noah’s stepfather abused his mother, Nombiyiselo, for years, forcing her at one point to live in shack in the couple’s backyard. The abusive relationship culminated in 2009, when he shot Nombiyiselo several times, including in the head, in front of their son, Noah’s half-brother. Noah's mother survived, but due to the corruption and incompetence of the South African legal system, it took three years for Noah’s stepfather to be sentenced to prison—during which time he was free bail, a terrifying ordeal for both Noah and his mother.

Dave Odegard is the Senior Editor at Enstars. You can follow him on Twitter.