The Daily Show host Trevor Noah is not who most people would have predicted would be the one most likely to defend Canadian truckers protesting COVID-19 vaccine mandates, but on Monday's show on Comedy Central, Noah did just that. Not only did Noah see why mandates for truckers are silly, but he also defended the protestors against the few bad actors that have showed up at the protests.
Showing more nuance than establishment journalists, Noah saw merits to the truckers' argument: "But yeah, thousands of these truckers have ground Canada's capitol city to a halt and I'm all for vaccines but I do get why the truckers wouldn't think that they need them. I mean, think about it, they spend all day, every day alone in their trucks."
Still, Noah couldn't resist the urge to get in some stereotypical jokes about truckers:
The only person they would give COVID to are the hitchhikers that they’ll murder or get murdered by. Either way COVID isn't their biggest problem is what I am saying. Now, what I don't understand is why truckers are opposed to masks. I don't get that. I mean, masks are just mud flaps for your face, just put a sexy lady silhouette on it and you feel at home.
The existence of bad apples at the rallies provided an opportunity for more jokes about stereotypes, but at the expense of Canadians more generally: "Wow, Nazi flags, peeing on war memorials, shouting racial slurs in homeless shelters, honestly it’s kind of refreshing to see Canadians break their stereotype. Although, maybe they did all this in like a very polite way, 'go back to where you came from, eh, I’ll give you a ride if you want.'"
Again showing more nuance than traditional journalists, Noah declared, "I do kind of feel bad for the vast majority of the protesters who aren't Nazis though, because, like, I mean, people let’s admit it, once a Nazi flag shows up at a rally the whole thing has just turned into a Nazi rally. You know, it’s like when you put a cantaloupe in a fruit salad, doesn't matter what other fruits are in there, it’ll taste like cantaloupe now. Cantaloupe is the Hitler of fruit, is what I’m saying."
On that point, Noah went too far. Cantaloupe is delicious.
Here is a transcript of the January 31 show:
Comedy Central The Daily Show
1/31/2022
11:09 PM ET
TREVOR NOAH: But yeah, thousands of these truckers have ground Canada's capitol city to a halt and I'm all for vaccines but I do get why the truckers wouldn't think that they need them. I mean, think about it, they spend all day, every day alone in their trucks. The only person they would give COVID to are the hitchhikers that they’ll murder or get murdered by. Either way COVID isn't their biggest problem is what I am saying. Now, what I don't understand is why truckers are opposed to masks. I don't get that. I mean, masks are just mud flaps for your face, just put a sexy lady silhouette on it and you feel at home and these COVID protests in Canada are nothing new by the way, right? Actually they’re not new anywhere in the world. Like you can walk around outside basically any day and you will see people yelling about how they are not allowed to go outside to do exactly what they’re doing. But if you live in Ottawa, well, it turns out you might be seeing this particular protest for a really, really long time.
…
11:13
TREVOR NOAH: Wow, Nazi flags, peeing on war memorials, shouting racial slurs in homeless shelters, honestly it’s kind of refreshing to see Canadians break their stereotype. Although, maybe they did all this in like a very polite way, “go back to where you came from, eh, I’ll give you a ride if you want.” I do kind of feel bad for the vast majority of the protesters who aren't Nazis though, because, like, I mean, people let’s admit it, once a Nazi flag shows up at a rally the whole thing has just turned into a Nazi rally. You know, it’s like when you put a cantaloupe in a fruit salad, doesn't matter what other fruits are in there, it’ll taste like cantaloupe now. Cantaloupe is the Hitler of fruit, is what I’m saying.
