Last in Sydney in 2014, before he became the face of Emmy and Peabody-winning satirical news program The Daily Show, Trevor Noah is returning to Sydney Opera House to headline Just For Laughs comedy festival – the smaller, pointier offshoot of Montreal's prestigious festival of the same name.
In fact the South African-born comedian is so very, very headliney that he's opening the festival before it even officially starts...? You can catch him on August 28, while the festival proper runs September 6-11. With Australian comedian Ronny Chieng currently a cast-member for The Daily Show, and with our politics at an all-time low, we're expecting a well-deserved skewering from Noah – in fact we'll be disappointed if we get anything less.
Noah broke through internationally at the 2012 Edinburgh Fringe with his show The Racist, which scored him his US television debut – on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno and Late Show with David Letterman. In late 2015, he took over from Jon Stewart as host of The Daily Show.
Other big names in the first line-up announcement include Alan Carr, host of the BAFTA award-winning Chatty Man talk show; and American provocateur Margaret Cho, with her Psycho show.
Tickets for Just For Laughs go on sale June 6.