Article by Alyse Phillips

On Sunday, Nov. 19, widely popular comedian Trevor Noah will be performing at Drury. The event will be held in the O’Reilly Family Event Center at 7:30 p.m.

Noah is Africa’s most successful comedian, and he is the host of Comedy Central’s Emmy and Peabody Award-winning, “The Daily Show.” Noah also wrote a book last year, titled “Born A Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood”, which became a New York Times bestseller.

Drury’s Student Government Association (SGA) is orchestrating this event. Noah is performing in St. Louis on Saturday, Nov. 18, so SGA convinced him to come to Drury on Sunday for a discounted price.

Dhruv Sitapara, SGA president, explained how Drury ended up booking Noah.

“We were contacted by Dean Julian, it was just a lucky thing, he was already coming to the area, and they just happened to get him,” said Sitapara.

“All of the students were saying, about the show in St. Louis, that they really wanted to go but it was too expensive. Dean Julian and the administration got wind of that, and they contacted Andrew, my advisor, and I talked to my executive council. We had less than 24 hours to do all that.”

SGA paid $5,000 for 200 tickets that they sold to students.

“That way the tickets could be discounted by $50, and students would only have to pay $10 for a ticket,” said Sitapara.

SGA being able to subsidize the tickets has allowed students to see Noah live, when they otherwise would not have been able to do so.

Drury students were ecstatic to hear the news that Noah is coming to campus. Many students are big fans of the comedian.

Student Tulley Beard said, “I admire [Noah] a lot. What I find most appealing about Trevor Noah (besides his beautiful accent) is the quality and sophistication of his humor. He is very well-informed and his jokes are tasteful, accurate, and relevant.”

Beard is not only a fan of Noah’s humor, but also the way he uses his celebrity platform. “Recently, Trevor Noah has strayed a little from comedy to more commentary about current events. I find this wonderful because that means that he can’t stand to be silent or be a bystander about injustices happening in the world,” said Beard. “Like so many other celebrities, including Josh Groban and J.K. Rowling, Trevor Noah is setting an example of how to follow compassion and use the influence you have to do good. Fighting racism, homophobia, sexism, etcetera is a daily job and Trevor Noah is doing that through his comedy.”

Another fan of Noah’s is Trevor Cobb, who has been following the comedian since he joined the Daily Show, and especially throughout last year’s election cycle. Cobb said, “I was excited for his perspective on politics as a person from South Africa and a person of color, so I’m glad we got more diversity in our late night line up!”

Even students like Shylie Miller, who are not huge fans of the comedian, are still excited for him to come to campus.

“I’m not necessarily a big fan, but I think he’s really funny,” said Miller. “I was definitely excited when I was able to get a $10 ticket to see such a popular comedian!”

Some tickets are still available for purchase on the O’Reilly Event Center website. Tickets for the general public start at $49.50.