Religion plays a central part in Trevor Noah’s life with his mother, Patricia. They go to church services four days a week, with a main service on Sunday. At different points in Noah’s childhood, they go to different churches: a super-modern megachurch he refers to as “mixed church” because of its diverse congregation, a “white church” whose hour-long services revolve around a “deep analysis of the scripture” (6), and a “black church” whose services last three or four hours, ending only when “the pastor cast demons out of people” (8).

One Sunday, on the way to white church, Noah’s mother’s car won’t start. As a result, she, Noah, and his nine-month-old brother Andrew need to take the “minibuses.” This makes the hours-long trip from their neighborhood of Eden Park even longer. Eden Park is near several sites that experienced the worst of the violence after Nelson Mandela was released from prison and apartheid neared its ending, when Noah was nearly six. Noah grew up surrounded by the conflict between the “very militant and very nationalistic” Zulu-led Inkatha Freedom Party (12) and the Xhosa-led African National Congress (ANC). Noah’s family is

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