-- welcome to amanpour on pbs. we're looking back at some of our favorite interviews this year. tonight, one of the world's most prominent satirists discusses his eternal optimism, the triumph of black creativity and finding the up side in donald trump's presidency. i went back stage with daily show host trevor noah as he prepared for his sold-out performance at london's 02 arena. plus, he is the 19-year-old musical maestro who stole the show at meghan and harry's royal wedding. my conversation with the chart topping star cellist. ♪ ♪ ♪

good evening, everyone, and welcome to the program. i'm christiane amanpour in london. trevor noah has cemented his place in donald trump's america using his unique comic voice to speak truth to power every night on the daily show. but noah's path to his central come by perch is an amazing story in its own right. as his memoir says, he was literally born a crime in apartheid south africa. he was the child of a white father and a black mother. now as he puts it, he's broken into the world's elite, recognized by time magazine as one of the 100 most influential people of 2018. i spoke with trevor noah shortly before his sold-out comedy performance at london's massive 02 stadium, a gig that coincided with the royal wedding. his show is called the end of days tour, and he asked him about finding laughter in the

shadow of the so-called apocalypse. trevor, welcome back to the program. >> thank you so much for having me back. >> what is this end of days? is this some sort of disaster story? why? >> you know, i call it the end of days tour because in many ways that's what people feel like this is, you know. you feel like it's the end much days. it feels like there is war starting everywhere. governments are switching over. there is populism growing all over the world, a sentiment and feeling especially online it feels like the end of days. the end is days is upon us. i figure if it's going to be the end of the world you might as well have one more tour. >> how do you think it will assuage panic and fear? >> oh, i don't think it will. it will confirm the world is ending, but people will find much joy in that definition of what's happening to us. you know, i think the world i live in is one of eternal optimism, which is not devoid of

realism, but rather saying this is the world we live in, but it's going to get better, it can get better. things are continually getting better and so comedy for me always reminds me that i can and should feel better about what's happening. >> so, can you tell us exactly what you feel better about? what is going to get better? in the united states? >> i'll give an example, in the united states. the downside, donald trump president. the up side, more women than ever running for office. more women than ever winning local state races. that's the up side. downside, donald trump president. up side more young people engaged in politics than ever before. >> more journalism. >> exactly. >> more comedy. >> exactly. there has to be an up side with all of it. >> you haven't been here i think for two years, and you said a lot has happened in this country, and i guess around the world in those two years. >> right. well, i mean in many ways for me, the u.k. has always been close to my heart partly because

of the history with south africa, partly because this is the first international audience i had after south africa. probably because i just kept up with what's been going on. brexit was in many ways the precursor to trump. it was a movement that started and now we've learned how closely tied it was because of cambridge analytica and the likes. you really are dealing with a place that in many ways inspired a movement you're seeing all over the world. i keep tabs on what britain is going through, what the people are experiencing, what's happening in the u.k., how theresa may is doing as prime minister -- >> and what's your verdict, what grade? >> i wouldn't give her a grade because i don't live here. i work off what people -- >> what do you guess, what feeds into your comedy? >> it's interesting. it depends of what mode of transport you're in in the u.k. that's what i find. if you're in a private car, you may get a did different reaction to when you're on the tube. it depends who you ask and what

mode of transport. >> you can't escape the fact theresa may started it and brexit continued. it. there is a horrible strain of nativism here, whether whether it's in europe or in the united states. here, you're arriving right in the middle of this wind rush crisis. >> yes. >> so many african, caribbeans invited to rebuild this country when there weren't enough people after the war and suddenly find themselves persona non grata. i wonder how you take that, how do you -- >> you have a group of people who were for all intents and purposes british. the british went around the world forcing people to be british. many people accepted that title, came to britain, built what they believed was their country, and then one day wake up and are told it's time for you to go home. but where is home if not the place that i've built? and so, you know, when you see the story, you come to realize that unfortunately this fairy

tale we've told ourselves about how people have changed is not as true as we'd like it to be. i think we at many times realize that people are nicer when things are going well for them, but maybe that covers their true feelings and emotions, and so we have to ask ourselves if people always feel economically downtrodden and then become racist, are they ever not being racist. or is it just tie today economicser or does being poor make you racist. many people of color should be racist around the world. it doesn't seem to be cause and effect. it shows you there are a lot of issues we don't deal with when things are going well. >> you didn't spare president obama the satireical side of your tongue. >> how is it railing on him and not donald trump? >> it would be absolute madness.

anyone who tries to compare them has to admit they're being crazy, you know? >> i'm saying how different is it for you as a comedian. >> oh, wow. it cannot be more -- like one is ripe for comedy. one is -- for instance, donald trump has left no contradiction unturned. that's his thing. donald trump is a gift to every level of comedy. if you want to apply comedy or satire at the lowest level, donald trump is rife with that. you don't have to dig deep. if you do dig deeper, you will get more from him as well. obama was like many politicians a water table that is buried far beneath the surface. so to get to the right joke and the right piece of satire that would really illuminate what obama was doing, you'd have to dig through so many layers and so many weeds to get to the table of jokes. donald trump has water on the surface and the deeper you dig the more water you find. that's the difference between them, there's more.

>> you are a person of color. in fact, you are half white, half black. >> right. >> so is meghan markle. >> yes. >> and you've been here during the incredible royal wedding. black rocked the royal family this weekend. >> right. >> the reverend was phenomenal in his speech. the black gospel inquire. the black cellist who apparently is only 19 years old. >> right. >> they've never seen anything like it. >> right. >> what did you get from watching -- what did you -- >> i thought it was beautiful. it was beautiful to see two families coming together from different walks of life. it was american, it was british, it was black and it was white. it was beautiful to see these cultures coming together to hear an african-american choir singing that music in front of the royal family. we watched royal weddings before. we never heard that kind of music in that space and it was added a life to the

atmosphere that you've never experienced before, you know? to have a black pastor brought an essence you hadn't experienced before. i saw david beckham's face. i didn't expect this. that's what black people have brought to every single space that they have inhabited over time, is a flavor that is oftentimes missing. >> they did, and i wonder if you were struck -- i was struck how well the black culture fitted in with the, you know, the white culture. >> right. >> you know, the church culture fitting in with the royalty -- it actually works. it showed how diversity works. >> yes. i don't know what people sometimes think. i don't know if they think that they'll invite black people to their wedding and all of a sudden -- i don't know, there is going to be chaos, the people won't arrive on time. i don't know what they assume would happen. but if anything, people just showed that, you know, it's beautiful to include different cultures into a single space because what you get from that, i feel, is a beautiful inclusive

and unique experience. >> do you think we are anywhere near some kind of game changing moment or tipping point moment, not just the royal wedding and everything you just said, but "black panther" -- >> right. >> a lot of black culture is suddenly, you know, donald glover doing what he's doing. >> right. >> you just tweeted recently a black excellence picture, the black co-stars from "black panther," et cetera, and other friends. what do you think is going on in that culture right now? or in our culture? >> i think in many ways it is what oftentimes happens when there is a rise in white nationalism, when there is a rise on the right, you will find oftentimes that's when black art and artists of color generally persevere because -- i know as a comedian, when there is something to punch against, that's when you truly flex your

muscles. when you are a creative person and you are living in a world where the seeds of oppression are being planted, that's where you feel like the soil is most fertile to explore yourself and what you stand for. and that's not to say that blackness is defined by its oppression or, or by its fight against oppression, but rather that it has experienced that world for so long that in many ways it knows how to thrive within those confines. and so part of it could be that and part of it could just be time. it could just be the time that we are experiencing, you know. you had a world where, you know, barack obama was the first black president in america. s steadily changing, where re hip-hop music was slowly becoming the most popular music in the world, surpassing rock. this is something that i think is also gradual. so, we may be noticing it now, but you find the ground swell has been growing for such a long time. >> what were you saying with the

picture that you tweeted? because on the other side, of course, we still have cops killing black people. we have, you know, shootings, obviously a lot of black people are victims of those. we have just so much racism as well. >> the hardest thing for people to understand at times is that blackness is not homogenous. black doesn't exist in one box. black has many different shades. black has many different experiences. black is a signifier that has connected many people together because of what was imposed upon black. but the truth is black in and of itself has many different angles to it and that's what's beautiful about it. and so the black experience can contain joy. it can contain strife. it can contain struggle. it can contain excellence. it can contain all of these things because that is nuance. that is what it's supposed to be. and so to be in a space, like for myself, to be at the met gala and to notice year on year that i've been lucky enough to be invited, how the group of

people invited has slowly changed to see it go from a group that you can fit in one picture to now multiple pictures to now an ensemble that has to, you know, stitch together separate images to work. that's a power l moment for me. >> and even more powerful is that you have been named one of time magazine's 100 most important people. so not only are you invited to the met gala year after year, but poor boy born in south africa to black mother and white father, it was illegal is the subject of your book. the title is called "born a crime." what does it feel suddenly to be the establishment? >> well, it's interesting. i think suddenly i don't think is the wordy would use because it takes so long that it may become apparent suddenly to some people. but when i look at how long it has taken me to do anything, i realize nothing was suddenly. you know, when i look at the journey that my family went through in south africa went through, nothing was suddenly. in fact, that journey is not even complete for many people in

our country. so, in many ways the first part is it's not the suddenly. the second part is i don't think we have ever or are in the place where we would be able to call ourselves the establishment, you know. in many ways, you may become part of or be allowed access to power or the establishment, but it would be naive to assume that we have become that, you know. and that is generally the journey of any group that has historically been oppressed or minority. you find ways to gain access to spaces of power. but to assume that you own that power is something that i think is naive and oftentimes dangerous idea to possess. >> danish found herself in the seat of power. she was lamb basted by the press afterwards. they didn't like what she was saying. she said this thing about sarah

sanders. >> i actually like sarah. i think she's very resourceful. like she burns fat, and then she uses that ash to create a perfect smokey eye. like maybe she's born with it. maybe it's lies. >> do you think that was a -- thing? >> that was one of those jokes that tricks you into exposing how you feel about the subject matter, which is one of the most dangerous jokes in come by because it's a joke that relies on you to define it in many ways. and so if you read the words of that joke and you don't know who sarah huckabee sanders is, all the joke is saying is somebody knows how to turn facts into lies and applies them as makeup. and that can be used as -- >> i actually thought it was really unfair, the criticism she got, because i read the whole

thing. >> right. >> i saw interviews of her. but i was there when stephen colbert did his famous in 2006. again, the people in the room had no idea how to laugh at themselves. what did that tell you? >> that's the thing with comedy. difficult and difficult. white house correspondent in my opinion has become too close to the people that it covers. so sometimes you blur the lines. i actually think it's good donald trump doesn't attend because i don't think it's supposed to be that type of event. i think it's strange for the press to be chummy with the people they report on. to build relationships -- as a journalist you don't require access to do your job. >> very dangerous. >> if anything, access is the reason you end up going and fighting a war in iraq that doesn't need to be fought because there are weapons that don't actually exist. access is a double-edged sword. what people and journalists oftentimes need to be careful of

in my opinion is the fact you can become friends with the people you're supposed to be monitoring. you become friends as opposed to being the fourth estate. when these people are your friends, you may become offended when people make jokes about them. but were they just subjects that you were reporting on, you wouldn't feel a certain way about it, i think. >> would you ever do it? >> i don't think i would do it because i don't understand really what the event is meant to be. the event is going to throw a comedian under the bus after the comedian has done what a comedian is going to do, then i don't think that's the space for a comedian to be in. >> the peter younger who wrote the ford for your book, the kin credible when your mom throws you out of the car. tell us, it is a crazy story. in a way, it sort of shaped you. >> it did in many ways, but what was crazy for me wasn't the fact that my mother threw me out of a moving vehicle. what was crazy was that that

wasn't a story that would have first jumped to my head when telling you any of the stories that came from my life. and so for me, that story is just one example of a young boy living in a world where his mother would do anything to protect her child. and the thing she did on this day was throw me out of a moving taxi because the driver of the taxi was threatening to kill her, and i guess by proxy, myself. so, yeah, i love that lupita wrote about it. that was something she connected with in the story just as a woman, as a woman fighting a world that was trying to tell her her place. i guess that was one of the stories that is the reason lupita nyong'o signed up to make the movie that would be of my book, born a crime. >> she's going to be your mom. >> she's going to be playing my mom which is really exciting. >> trevor noah, thank you so much indeed. >> thank you so much. great to see you. >> thank you. ♪ ♪ ♪

>> we turn now to the performance of a lifetime, one that was watched by millions of people and serenaded its way into the history books. the musician, sheku mason, a 19-year-old british cellist whose breath taking perfectly formance at the royal wedding of prince harry and meghan markle wowed the whole world. what is also extraordinary is that sheku mason juggled that performance with his college exams and a chart-topping hit album on both sides of the atlantic. he says it's been a crazy couple of weeks, so let's find out. sheku is with me now. welcome to the program. >> thank you. >> what has it been like? obviously you were well on your way to success, but this royal wedding performance really propelled you into the stratosphere.

>> yes, performing, having the opportunity to perform at the royal wedding was something unlike anything i've experienced before. and so i really just enjoyed the experience of that. and being able to perform to so many people, see so many people is just such an amazing feeling and i really enjoyed that. >> did they choose the pieces or did you? >> the first few pieces i played were pieces i love playing for a long time so i suggested them. and then the ave maria was suggested. >> did she call you up and say, can you play for me? >> yes. i didn't know i was going to be asked to perform at the wedding. i was just expecting a phone call and sailing it was an honor to be asked. >> well, i'm going to ask you to play a little something because you have come with this unbelievable cello which you just told me before we went on dates from 1610. i can't believe it still

survived and it's sitting in our flo -- on our flour in our studio. play whatever classical music comes to your heart right now. >> this is the iconic opening phrase of -- ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪

♪ >> just beautiful. just that amount is beautiful. but i also noted a complete change in your body language. i mean, you go from soft-spoken to super intense. >> i mean, with a piece, particularly with a piece like that, it's impossible not to just get into that world and -- i guess when you work so intensely on a piece of music, every time you come back to it, it's just such an amazing feeling. >> and you in your relatively young life have done this, you're all over the news right now, you're a college student, and you've got hit records. and you also with your family wowed britain on britain's got talent. >> it was a very different

experience. i always enjoy performing with my family. always enjoy performing to lots of people so that was an exciting opportunity to be there. >> how many of you are there? >> there are seven. there are only six playing. we have a younger sister. >> she plays now? >> she plays the cello, yes. >> one of your heroes is bob marlie. your rendition of no woman no cry went viral. >> bob marley is someone i look up to for a long time. so it's great to do a cello version. >> can you do that now? ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪

♪ ♪ ♪ >> just beautiful. do you think you're perhaps

helping, inspiring a new generation of young people to love classical, to love the cello? >> i think one of the most exciting things i ever see is when i play to the younger audience who perhaps have never heard music like this before, they respond in the most natural way and generally really love the music that they hear. i think it's just giving young people the opportunity to hear this music. >> that's really great. congratulations. thank you so much for being here. really amazing. >> thank you. >> those are two really remarkable talents tonight. that is it for our program. thank you for watching amanpour on pbs and join us again tomorrow night. ♪ ♪ ♪ >> you're watching pbs.

katty: you're watching "beyond 100 days." summer is over for british politicians who are full of fury but nothing on bricks it. christian: teresa dealing with the e.u. a whole lot easier than the political party. katty: on capitol hill, they're gearing up for a fight as well over the man mr. trump wants as the next u.s. supreme court judge. christian: also on the program two writers journalists are charged with breaching the official secrets act when they were reporting on the slaughter of the ra