Trevor Noah's Net Worth From 'The Daily Show' and What He Gets Paid for Hosting the Grammys

Trevor Noah

Trevor Noah is a comedian and political commentator known in the U.S. for hosting The Daily Show from 2015 to 2022. He’s also done stand-up tours around the world, which he’s focusing on now in addition to his new podcast.

Noah’s had a great deal of success from a young age, landing The Daily Show and a seven-figure contract deal at just 31 years old. Although he still has yet to turn 40, he can already count himself among the richest comedians in the world.

Here’s a look at how much Trevor Noah has made over the years and his total net worth in 2024.

How did Trevor Noah get his start?

Trevor Noah started out with small, public-facing gigs in his home country of South Africa, hosting an educational show on local TV and the radio show Noah’s Ark. When he was 22, he performed stand-up at a nightclub on a dare from his friends, which turned into a string of comedy club performances and TV roles as his popularity grew.

“I always felt an innate joy making people laugh,” Noah said in an interview with Harvard Business Review. “I always loved performing. And then somebody paid me to do it—as a profession. But I loved it before I earned any money, so I think it was always going to be my natural course.”

By the late 2000s Noah was selling out comedy shows, and in the early 2010s he hosted his first talk show, Tonight with Trevor Noah. In 2012, he decided to see if he could replicate that success in the U.S.

“South Africa is a wonderful place to begin a comedy career, but it’s a small country. At the time we’re talking about—though it’s changed dramatically in the years since—there was only so much you could do, only so many spaces to perform,” he said. “My goal was to do as much comedy as I could, and I’d always dreamed of performing elsewhere in the world. So I went to Australia, the U.K., Europe. But the one place that has a truly sustainable stand-up comedy market is the United States. It’s where you can do comedy full time, as your job and as your life.”

Related: Get to Know Trevor Noah's Dating History

What is Trevor Noah's net worth in 2024?

Trevor Noah has an estimated net worth of $100 million in 2024, according to Celebrity Net Worth. He earned a large portion of it from his work on The Daily Show, but has also racked up millions from various comedy tours and specials, real-estate flips, his bestselling memoir and his new podcast on Spotify.

And a good chunk of his money predated his professional success in the United States. Long story short: He’s been rich for awhile.

“People don’t understand that I came to America from a country where I was really successful,” Noah told The Hollywood Reporter in 2019. “And I’m proud of South Africa because that’s where I made my fortune. I had my homes and my cars and my nice things, and my country gave that to me. So I wasn’t escaping anything. I’m here because I want to be here.”

What did Trevor Noah make at The Daily Show?

When Trevor Noah succeeded Jon Stewart as host of The Daily Show in 2015, it surprised a lot of people—including him. He was extremely young compared to peers in similar positions and only a few years into his American comedy career.

Perhaps this is why he started out with a salary between $5 and $8 million per season, much lower than Stewart’s $25 million salary.

“I remember I said, ‘I’ll have to figure out how I’ll manage with taking a pay cut,’ and they were like, ‘What do you mean a pay cut? You’re going to become host of The Daily Show,” Noah told The Hollywood Reporter. “And I go, ‘Yes, and I know this is hard for an American to process, but you can be very successful working in the rest of the world. Please don’t think I’m belittling you. … I just have to make sure I’m not giving up the world I’ve built for myself for something that somebody else controls.'”

Despite taking a pay cut, it speaks to Noah’s success that by 2017 he was able to negotiate a new contract with a reported salary of $16 million, which he made every season until he exited the show in 2022.

Related: Jon Stewart's Net Worth In 2024 and How Much He's Earned on 'The Daily Show'

Does Trevor Noah have any Emmys?

Noah has been nominated for 18 total Emmy Awards and won two. In 2023, he won for Outstanding Talk Series for his work on The Daily Show. He also won in 2017 for Outstanding Short Form Variety Series, for The Daily Show - Between the Scenes.

How much did Trevor Noah get paid for his memoir?

Trevor Noah’s memoir, Born a Crime, was published in 2016 and recounts his childhood as the son of an interracial couple in South Africa—something that was illegal under apartheid. The book became a No. 1 New York Times bestseller and scored Noah a seven-figure deal, according to The Hollywood Reporter, although the exact figure is unknown.

What does Trevor Noah make for hosting the Grammys?

Noah hosted the Grammys in 2021, 2022, 2023 and is set to host this year as well. While his exact pay isn’t known, Forbes reported in 2017 that Grammy hosts are paid at least $5,000, per SAG-AFTRA rules, but probably make closer to $20,000.

This amount may be peanuts to someone like Noah with a $100 million net worth, but he clearly believes it to be worthwhile as he prepares to host the music awards show for the fourth consecutive time.

What's Trevor Noah doing now?

Noah was prolific for his stand-up shows before ever stepping foot on The Daily Show set and continues to perform today. He’s currently making his way across the U.S. (with pit stops in the UAE and Bahrain) for his Off the Record tour, which wraps up in L.A. in May.

Aside from touring, Noah’s also taken up the mantle of podcast host with his new deep-dive interview show on Spotify, titled What Now? With Trevor Noah.

In an interview with Variety, he explained that the show would feature famous and non-famous people alike and focus on long-form, engaging discussions.

“I’m not going to create an echo chamber… It’s a space for dynamic conversations,” he said. “There’s no denying that many of us, and I mean on many levels—creators, public figures and individuals—have created echo chambers in their lives. We cease to have conversations with people we don’t agree with. We don’t interrogate our own ideas because we’ve grown comfortable with them. That limits our ability to think and grow over time and create connections with other people.”

In comparison with his experience on The Daily Show, Noah likes that What Now? isn’t beholden to commercial breaks or time limits. He’s also not afraid to explore serious topics, and doesn’t feel the need to force the comedy aspect of his content.

“I always find myself laughing with a person,” he said. “That doesn’t mean the conversations are frivolous or trite. When I was growing up [in] South Africa, there were terrible times but I don’t remember a time when we weren’t laughing… That’s the paradox of living.”

Next, Everything to Know About the 2024 Grammys, Including the Nominees