Trevor Noah ： ＂I Had A Crisis of Accent＂ - The Dark Side of The Wire ｜ Idris Elba

I call it an accent crisis. I had a crisis of accent. Cause when I came out of the wire and you know, if I was going to a party or whatever, I was doing an interview or something and I talk the way I talk, they'd be like, yo, why are you talking like that, man? No, for real though. What, what are you doing a part? What are you doing, man? And you know, you're like. You try to figure out if you want friction, right? That's how I talk. No, seriously. They would almost feel like, yo, you, you, you, you got me, man. You're Stringer Bell. You come from this because of the wire, especially was not a satire. These were based on a real culture, real epidemic. If you like of American underbelly, they took to my characters to the point where I had to hold myself Idris a certain way in definitely amongst the African-American community. Right. I had to hold myself with the, the sort of respect almost they had for Stringer Bell, which was a man trying to do good, a man trying to do better than he was, you know, being prescribed to do. Wow. And that really was interesting. What that did to me as a did for my confidence did for my, when I went back to England, going back to England and people were like, yo, why are you talking like that? And I just found myself, you know, when you know, you're near England or South Africa, Americans come over, they just got so much confidence. Bigger and brasher. And yeah, you know, and they believe they got that different. And I went back to England and I, and I definitely felt like, oh wow, I have adapted myself. Even when I was in my mom and dad's house or with my boys, they were like, yo, you, you seem a bit different. You seem a bit happier. You seem a little more enthusiastic. That's one thing I've learned about the UK. There's a little bit of like, all right, all right then. All right. Turn it down a bit. Turn it down. Oh yeah, you're doing all right. You're doing all right. It wasn't, it wasn't bad. Yeah. Humble. It's the tall poppy syndrome. It really is. I think that's part of the reasons why I didn't audition well. Because I couldn't walk in there and be like, wow, this should be mine. They'd be like, oh, Idris, that was a good take. Can you do another one? I'd be like, oh, did you like it? Oh, great. Okay. I'll try again then. Oh, you like that? Okay. Hold on. Wait till you see this one. You know, that wasn't me. Yeah, it's fine culturally. I remember when I first started doing standup comedy in the U S the, you, you understand this in America, they would have what they call the urban rooms and then rooms, right? What that means is these are rooms where black people watch black comedy, and then the rest of the rooms are just, I guess, regular comedy. I always found that weird. Cause I've, I come from a country that's predominantly black and we never looked at it like that. So anyway, they go, um, you know, people will be like, oh, you got to go perform in urban rooms, go and do some urban rooms. And so I get to these urban rooms and you know, it's black comedians, black audiences, and I would get on stage and in South Africa, number one, Africa, you greet, so I'd walk out, I'd greet the audience. Good evening, everybody. You know, and that audience would stare at me. And I remember after one of the shows, one of my favorite people in the world, his name's Chris Spencer, comedian, really like a, like a, like a mentor to me in the game. He came to me after one of the shows and he's like, he's like, Hey man, he's like, did you steal something? And I said, what do you mean? He's like, he's like, man, you walk on stage. Like you stole something. He's like, man, you got to get on there. You got to own that stage, baby, man. You walking on there. Like, like you ain't supposed to be there. You start making the audience doubt themselves, man. They be looking at you like you're supposed to be there. We don't feel like you're supposed to be there. He's like, man, you got to get up there. And I was like, well, that's not how we do it. He's like, well, that's how we do it, baby. He's like, you got to understand. He's like half those people in the audience. They funnier than you. They know they're funnier than you. So you better show them why you up there. You better show them why you up there. And he like, it was a beautiful way. You know, when you connect those things, you, you, you know, you, you find, I'd love to know, like, you know, in that, what is it that's inspired you to connect all of these parts of yourself? Because you, you, you're not just Idris Elba, the movie star in Hollywood. I've always loved how you have bigged up the UK at every opportunity that you've been given. You've also bigged up African-Americans at every opportunity you've been given. You've, you've, you've adopted these communities. And one that always touches me, obviously, is Africa. Idris Elba doesn't like wave at Africa from far. My man, your passport is stamped. Your passport is full of Cholof Rice. I knew you was going to say that. Fufu Accra. It is full, fufu. Do you know what? Trip, um, so two things that were quite significant, right? To, I guess who I am today is one, my mom told me that her, my mom was born in Ghana. Yeah. Okay. Uh, her mom has gone in, but her dad was a second world war vet from Kansas City. And on his deployment back to the States, he heard that, yo, segregation over here is still kicking it. I mean, in the army, you know, there was segregation, but everyone was fighting for each other. Soldiers were going back to the States and told you can't come in the restaurant. Yeah. So he said he and his brother decided they're going to go to Africa. They went to Ghana and that's where he had 11 children. My mom being the ninth, the last one. So that information came to me just before I went to America. And I kind of went with a slightly different purpose. I was kind of like, Oh, wait, what? Oh, I've got roots here then. I mean, I belong here kind of thing. Right? The second thing is that at some point in my later life, I was probably about 29 or so, I took my DNA test. I knew my mom had an American father, but my dad's from Sierra Leone. Very proud. Sierra Leone, Ghana, DNA, no Sierra Leonean. Wait, what? No. 10% Ghana, 10% Nigerian, 20% Bantu, 5% Togo, 5% Senegalese, Cameroonian. I mean, it was a map, right? I looked at this thing like, what is going on? Bantu being the Southern African tribe. That's my side of the world. That traveled up. So I looked at this thing, right? And I was like, took it again. Same thing. You took it again? Yeah, I did. Sorry, I always find it funny when people do the same thing twice, hoping for a different result. I don't know why I find that so funny. It's a DNA test, but I love the idea that you're like, hold on, hold on. Let's try this again. And then you're like, and this time I'm going to push certain parts of myself. I'm going to bring out certain parts of myself. I ate okra before I took it. I ate jollof. I was like, no, hold on. What were you hoping to get the second time around? My mom said to me, I told her about this. She said, ah, kuna. Kuna is when we do this. Kuna, that is all money making. How much did you pay? I told her. She's like, you see, to come and tell you that you're not from Sierra Leone. Your dad is from Sierra Leone. Your mom is from Ghana. I'm like, yeah, but mom, scientifically, you know, like that's not how it works. Kuna, kuna, listen. Anyway, so I did it again. I didn't even tell her the results the second time around, but this was me. And I just found myself like, not questioning, but I was like, wow, I'm African. Yeah, man. I am from this continent. And it also reminded me that everywhere I go in Africa, probably a bit like you too, right? People claim you. Yeah. Ah, my brother, ah. They claim you, you know what I'm saying? Ah, you're a resident now. You know what I mean? Wherever I go. And I just, I guess I adopted that. So now as a, you know, I'm in the public eye and people, you know, talk to me about where I'm from, I have a real rich backstory. It's beautiful. I can talk about my granddad. I can talk about my, you know, Freetown, Sierra Leone was the home of the returned slaves. No wonder. No wonder my DNA doesn't say Freetown, Sierra Leone, because my dad's DNA is probably mixed from so many different types of tribes, you know? So that has been the very feeling I have every time I open my mouth about where I'm from. Yeah. I'm from England. I was born and raised there. I'm proud of that. But out of that comes this sort of, I'm an explorer, you know? I'm an explorer of myself. I'm an explorer of the cultures that I'm from. And I've been, I remember, man, I think we talked about this, but when I got to play Nelson Mandela. Oh yeah, yeah. You know, when it hit the news in South Africa, it was polarizing. People were like, this guy can't play. He's obviously West African. What are you talking about? He's not closer. How's he gonna play Nelson? Okay, he's tall. But what, are you joking? And others were like, no, fantastic. They got a Hollywood actor to play a great man. Right. It was just really, and I remember thinking, wow, I never really thought about it. No, at the time I said, dude, this is the first thing I said. I said, Nelson's light skin. My agent is South African. He's like, Idris, Idris, Idris, Idris, listen, don't ever repeat that. Just don't, just don't repeat that. I was like, no, but seriously, man, what are they going to say? Like, what are South Africans going to say? And then he said to me, remember when you took your DNA test? What happened? I went, yeah, you're African, baby. You're African. And so is Nelson. So just go and kick the ---- out of this role. Right. And I remember doing this one scene. It was in Soweto. And it was one of the scenes when Nelson was a lawyer. Beginnings of his rallying, you know, and for the… For the ANC, yeah. Really early parts. And he was in Soweto, beautiful suit, lawyer, departing, you know, boxer, radical guy, you know, smart, suave guy. And the director did not want me to come out and rehearse. He just wanted me to be ready. He had four cameras, 700 extras, all from Soweto, you know what I mean? Young people, but… So he wants you to come out and just do the speech as if you were doing the speech, because there is no doing a speech twice. We're going to shoot it. Yeah.