What Now? with Trevor Noah - Trevor and Friends: BTS at The Grammys

Episode Date: February 8, 2024

Trevor, Ben Winston, and friends discuss the Grammys. From how they handled Meryl Streep and Taylor Swift’s late arrivals on live television, to Jay-Z’s speech, to a golf cart traveling the wrong way on the 110 freeway in the pouring rain to get an A-list artist to the stage on time, Trevor and Ben give us a fascinating peek behind the curtain of navigating music’s biggest night. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hey, what's going on everybody? Welcome to another episode of What Now? My name is Trevor Noah, and this is the podcast where we chat about interesting things with interesting people who hopefully have interesting things to say. This week's a really fun and cool episode because the Grammys just happened, and I was lucky enough to host it, so we're going to chat everything Grammys. Why do people win? Who should win? And all the drama with Jay-Z and Taylor Swift. Oh, drama. This is What Now with Trevor Noah. Plus, tread, row, guide, or app. There are thousands of classes and over 50 Peloton instructors ready to support you from the beginning.

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It may be my fridge where I keep my breast milk. Let me unplug it. I'm not even fucking joking. I think it is me. Oh, yeah, it is. Let me pull the plug. I think she's going to move it to another fridge. Breast milk is so resilient, guys.

Breast milk is so resilient. I'm telling you. I can tell you all about the qualities of breast milk. It's actually good for skincare. Good for skincare. During the strike, I was like, do I have to start selling my breast milk to bodybuilders to make some extra money? I considered it.

That's a, yes, that's a very real thing. For their skin or their muscles? Their muscles, breast milk. Like bodybuilders really like breast milk. See, Josh, Josh knows. Yeah, you can get really ripped off some breast milk. You know, there are many ways to start a conversation. Breast milk is easily the last one I would have thought.

Normally we'd start with like, hi, hello. I mean, I love this because it makes it interesting. Welcome to breast milk. If someone is just listening now, they wonder if this is the beginning of the podcast. They're like, wait, I'm sorry, what did I miss? You didn't miss anything. This is exactly how it started. Yeah. I'm turning into a lactivist, basically.

I'm a bit of a lactivist. Hey, I'm all for it. I'm pro the breast milk, but happy podcast day, everybody. How are you all feeling? How's everybody doing? Happy podcast day. I'm doing pretty good. I'm good. Congrats on the Grammys, Trevor. You're amazing. Yeah, great job, man. Thank you so much. I should pass the congratulations along to my executive producer and captain, Ben Winston. Congratulations, sir. Another Grammys. Congrats. Yeah. Great job, Ben. Oh, look at all this self-congratulations. No, no, no. It's about you. Can I tell you, there are a few gigs I've done in my life that are more stressful than the Grammys grammys like it's exciting

it's fun but i don't know of any other shows i do where messing up will have such it's it's not just the ramifications from the fans but it's like i don't know if i could ever listen to beyonce's music again if if i screwed up in front of beyonce does that make sense like i would always think of her now oh Oh, yeah. You know what I'm saying? It's like it's too much stress. Like these are all the people who are like, you know, there's a soundtrack to your life

and now you're going to mess up. And then like, you know, like imagine Lana Del Rey just shaking her head at you while you walk out of the venue. What I want to know, I saw today on the, I was looking at some photographs and there was like a photo of you and Beyonce just like chatting like old friends. When did you become like best friends with Beyonce? How did that happen?

I would never say that. I've never become best friends with Beyonce, but I do have an amazing story. The Emmys was a bunch of weeks ago. I've lost track of time. I was flying in and I needed to get my hair done. Now, my hairstylist doesn't have the salon that she was working at. I couldn't find a place to get my hair done. It's a Sunday, nothing was working, nothing was open. So I asked my hairstylist, Erin, I said, hey, can we figure out something?

She goes, let me see. Let me see if I can figure this out. She sends me a text and she says, hey, Trevor, Beyonce said we can use her private hair studio if you need to so I go which Beyonce because I don't want to assume I mean you know what I mean it's like Beyonce Beyonce who this is this is no because this is not my life I'm honest this is not my life she goes Beyonce can you I don't have Beyonce's number I don't even know Beyonce like that I'm not going to claim it

so she goes yeah Beyonce Beyonce so I'm like okay what claim it. So she goes, yeah, Beyonce, Beyonce. So I'm like, okay, what does this mean? She says, here's an address, just go there. And Beyonce is going to hook you up. And so I drive to an address in the middle of LA. I don't even know where this place really is. It's, it's a nondescript way. I walked past the entrance five times. There's no windows. There's no doors. There's no no nothing you basically knock on a panel almost like like harry potter like that platform and three quarters thing the door opens up there's a whole hair care laboratory and they go ah trevor welcome beyonce told us to expect you and i go in there and my hairstylist is waiting inside and then she basically hooks me up with like some

secret products that Beyonce uses, I guess. Wow. I love that. Yeah. And so now when I was at the Grammys, I just went to say thank you. Is that why you won? Is that why you won the Emmy? I wouldn't be shocked, my friend. It's good luck. Yeah. So I went, I went to say thank you to Beyonce for saving my hair, which is a really crazy conversation I never thought I would have in my entire life. I never thought I'd have anything to say to Beyonce, let alone thank you for saving my hair, Beyonce. So that's the conversation we had.

And we just talked about hair and how stressful it can be and how the right products can save the day. Look at that. Wow. That was a conversation. That's amazing. Did you watch, Josh? You only watch like UFC. Did you even watch the Grammys?

And you don't have to lie because we're friends. No, no, no. I did watch a good portion of the Grammys, but I watched a lot of it in clips as it was happening. I mean, that's how most people watch these days. Yeah. But I know exactly what you mean about the whole, like, if you mess up in front of a person, it changes how you take in their stuff. You know, like. Because I, okay.

I think I may have even told you about this when it happened. I met Colin Kaepernick very briefly. No, you didn't tell me this. Oh yeah, yeah. I met Colin Kaepernick. We were passing by each other and this is before I got my twist in. And so I had an Afro, he had an Afro and I was pretty starstruck. I'm not going to lie. And so I was just like, oh yeah, you and me. And I just pointed to our hair and he was like yeah and then he kept walking and then i waited for my uber and every nike commercial after that where i saw colin kaepernick i was like ah i botched it here's the thing if you make a fool of yourself in front of a stranger who where will you be reminded of them?

You know what I mean? You screw up in front of somebody you're going to see all the time. That's stressful. I'm not going to lie. I started leaning on the conservative side. I was like, get this man off a TV. Oh, man. But it was good.

Ben, how are you feeling? I feel like you don't even get tired. I am exhausted. I am, I'm running on, on nothing. No, I was tired. I was, I was like, this sounds really pathetic, but I was more like emotionally tired. Yeah. Yeah. I like work on that show for like four months. And then the last three or four weeks, it just becomes intense. And then the last few days, it's even more intense. and then the last hour before the show is the worst of all of it because that's when like everything that you've been planning for a year falls apart because like artists aren't showing up and i mean it's cut in my office before the show starts for the last two years i've done i've run the grammys for four years now for the last two years that half an hour before we've gone live i would say without question are the two most stressful half hours of my entire life those half hours like that's it like just the

stuff that comes in and you just feel like you're sinking on a ship that you've been building for months that's what the mariah carey got picked up in a in a golf cart is that real like on the freeway 100 real so we had wow there was a demonstration that was going on in the area that was blocking all the cars from getting in and so a lot because it was also at the storms so we had we have one artist who went out to the red carpet and and had taken a wrong turning and now was trapped and couldn't get back in and they were in like the beginning of the show and then scissor had gone to get her glam done at a hotel locally after dress run she couldn't get back she was in part two so it's a house of cards

that show like the sets we time it how long it takes to take down tracy chapman's set to put up scissors set we know it's exactly like eight minutes we time that so it's not like we can like push her later in the show then we get told that our presenters Mariah Carey was presenting the first award there's no way she was going to be there Casey Musgraves Lizzo Christina Aguilera all of them not in the building and it's 4 48 it was just an absolute nightmare so we got Patrick Menton our head of talent co-ep of the show got a guy in a golf cart this is God's truth, to drive the wrong way down the 405, literally wrong way down the freeway, down what in England we call the hard shoulder,

as in the thing on the, is that what you call it in America as well, the hard shoulder? Josh, what do you call it? What do you call that out here? I don't reference it at all. Okay, so the bit that you're not allowed to drive in, they drove the golf cart over a mile, got Mariah Carey out of her SUV, stuck umbrellas to either side of it so she wouldn't get soaked.

And I'm literally, while you're doing your jokes, Trevor, I'm trying not to stress you out. No way. Because I'm in your ears the whole time, right? And I'm going. No way. I'm like, take your time. Take your time. Oh, Taylor's just like.

Trevor is. I have to tell him. I have to give him his props here. He's unbelievable at taking information live in your ear. But I was slowing you down because Mariah Carey was not ready yet. She walked through that golf cart, up that back and you went and literally you hit it and they went, Mariah is ready. And you went time for our first award. And I was like, oh my God. And that was only part one. We had another 13 parts to go. It's like by the end of it, I just want to curl up in a ball and sleep. Oh, man.

Can I ask you a question then, Ben? Anything. Okay. So do you think that some of the logistics and some of the stuff that makes it so stressful is because everyone is so A-list, like A++? I'm not advocating for myself specifically, but I am depressingly available. If you ever need anything, I could be there on reserve.

Well, firstly, I'll have you anytime, Trevor. That means a lot. But I reckon it is a bit like that. I mean, what do you think, Trevor? In that room, it's like walking around Madame Tussauds. It's unbelievable. But I think also everybody thinks they are Beyonce. So therefore, the of like dressing rooms

and like who gets what and what time you're on and rehearsal time. Yeah. You are dealing with absolute A-list stars and it's also a big night for them because it's the Grammys. So it matters to them. Yeah. The biggest things I noticed is the difference between the Grammys and all other award shows is the Grammys is full of artists. Most artists live in a world where they're never told no. And they work with people who essentially worship them. And then they've got fans and they've got like, they are everyone who's sitting there is the number one person in their lives. Whereas if you do like, let's say you're at the Emmys or the Oscars or any of those, yeah, you've got superstars, but a lot of the people are used to being, you know, number three

on a call sheet, or they're not the star of the movie. They're a cameo and they know what it's like to be a co-star. They know everyone at the Grammys is full on A-list. Like everyone. Were you taken aback by Jay-Z's speech, which I have opinions on? Ooh wee. Think about that. The most Grammys, never won album of the year. That doesn't work.

You know, some of you, some of you going to go home tonight and feel like you've been robbed. Some of you made it, Rob. Some of you don't belong in the category. All right, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. No, when I get nervous, I tell the truth. How did you guys feel about that? I mean, I'll tell you this much. I didn't expect it.

I felt a little bit like Mike Myers. Remember when Kanye was doing his... Oh, it wasn't that level. Like George Bush doesn't care about black people. Because I was standing... Okay, you got to understand this for me. I've just presented Jay with the Dr. Dre Award. So I'm on stage. I'm standing to the side. I'm expecting Jay-Z to come up and make a speech. And I expect it to be a speech the way everyone makes a speech. You reach for the stars, dream big. This is inspiration, hope for the best. Thank you so much. I love you all. Good night. That's what I'm expecting.

much. I love you all. Good night. That's what I'm expecting. And then Jay gets up, starts his speech. And there are moments where I'm like, am I hearing this correctly? Because I'm behind him. You can't really hear exactly what I'm like, did he? No, I don't think he said that. And people are laughing. I mean, it was it was almost like a roast meets a an acceptance speech. I liked it, though. I will say that I liked it. I like I like it when people are honest. I won't lie. I loved it so much. I liked it though. I will say that. I liked it. I like, I like it when people are honest. I won't lie. I loved it so much. I thought that he did the slap to everybody. The way that we'll slap Chris, he did the slap to some of y'all don't even belong in your category is like, cause he's not naming names. So it's like maybe everyone here. Yeah. I mean, just in a purely human level, I was like, it was a great husband move. You know, that was like, it was good to see him as a good husband, especially post-Lemonade.

So I was like, good job, Jay, sticking up for your wife. But then I'm like, why go? Because if I was that rich and I felt you were insulting my spouse all the time, I'm staying at home. Like, that was a thing. Like, it was an unexpected turn. And I'm staying at home like I like that that was a thing like it was an unexpected turn and I'm like I wonder what's simmering under that like you do you still crave the approval of this institution that you feel not just disrespects you and your wife and people like you hip-hop they don't like, why are you there? Like that, that was the contradiction that I, I couldn't really take in, but you know, we're all, we're all a bundle of contradictions, but I'm not showing up. If I feel that insulted, maybe again, I'm Nigerian. I get

insulted all the time. And I hold grudges, as I say in House of Cards, I don't just hold grudges, I nurse them. So I'm not coming if you have like overlooked me for album of the year multiple times. But there was a lot going. There was a lot to unpack in that moment. I think that he showed up because you can only slap in person. Do you know what I mean? Like if this is the thing of like, I know you're going to give me my accolades, but I want to make it known how you've treated my wife. going to give me my accolades, but I want to make it known how you've treated my wife. That's something that can only be done in person because I think there's something that's powerful about

your presence. Okay. So here's the thing I'll say. Jay-Z or anyone for that matter, who has any type of beef with how awards have been handed out or what the categories are, which by the way, is not unique to the Grammys. I mean, you know, the Emmys will have this, the Oscars will have this, people will complain about what's in which category and who gets nominated, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. I think there is a strange paradox in that on the one hand, you can say something by staying away. On the other hand, you are complaining so that the thing will change because you wish for it to change in the future. Do you know what I mean?

Because it does have legitimacy. It is an institution. It is this, you know, it's a strange one because on the one hand you're going, I think the Grammys could be better. That's why I think he's saying that. But on the other hand, you're going, I also appreciate the Grammys as a concept and that's why I've come and that's why I always come. The two things can be opposite and true at the same time. That's what I think. I don't think he was as disrespectful to the Grammys as it's been taken. I really don't like, don't forget, he stood there, him and his wife between them have won 60 Grammys as a couple. So he stood there as a real honored guy. Listen,

I have nothing to do with the awards. Literally, I'm not even an Academy member. I can't vote. I make the TV show with you, Trevor. I've done it for the last four years yep of the last four years they've turned up three out of the four the only one they didn't come to was the one in Vegas in the COVID year that they came last year they came and this year they came so I think that it matters to them and I think the Grammys and the Recording Academy matters to them as an institution and I think any institution that matters to you you want it to be run right and you care about that i respect that and i and i also think fair play to the grammys for like not minding him sort of going yeah no speak your whatever you feel he also gave it credit he said the black music collective had

done a lot of good work so i i think yeah he feels like beyonce should have won an album of the year which i second by the way um ben i'm gonna let you finish i'm gonna let you finish but i do think beyonce should have won for one of the greatest albums of all time. We're going to continue this conversation right after this short break. What day of the week do you look forward to most? Well, it should be Wednesday. Wednesday. Why, you wonder? Whopper Wednesday, of course. When you can get a great deal on a whopper.

Flame grilled and made your way. And you won't want to miss it. So make every Wednesday a whopper Wednesday. Only at Burger King, where you rule. at Burger King, where you rule. Here's something that has often confused me. How is it that somebody can win the Grammy in like almost every category that they're nominated in except in Album of the Year?

I find that strange. I also find it strange in like the Oscars sometimes where they'll do that. They'll say, best picture, best this, or you know what what i mean and then they won't win like the main one and i'm like wait but how how did you have the best actors the best directors the best everything but it wasn't the best movie i have a take go shoot i think if you think about the academy voter it's some sound engineer who's an audiophile who cares about like the mixing the mastering how cohesive something is oh yeah so I think like Grammy voters care about artistic purity and

they like records where there are maximum one or two producers and one or two writers and hip-hop's issue for them and I think this does come down to like some systemic issues sampling it's really hard to win album of the year if you have an album that has a ton of samples a son of producers and a ton of co-writers and adele for good or for bad she's seen as like a pure artist because it's just her a guitar and some bloke who has a co-writing credit on it yeah that's a valid point actually i'm just looking about the voter they're not engaging with art in the way we are we're like oh i was in the club and i loved hearing drunk in life yeah yeah he's like well i think the sound engineering on this album was great i only see two credits beyonce has a lot of credits on her album i never thought about the credits thing to be honest with

you now that you say that christian i i wonder if there's just a disconnect in what the people are feeling. Like Meek Mill said this about the hip-hop category in general. He said, Grammys has never liked street hip-hop. And he may be right. The thing that people like in the streets may not match up with the people's purists' ideas. If you're an expert in it or if you work really in depth with it, maybe you see it differently. I can see that.

Yeah. And like best new artist is another category. I remember one year, I think it was Esperanza Spalding who won. Yeah. Like the public weren't thinking about her, right? But the Grammy voter that listens to a certain type of music is like, I love the musicianship. She's like a classically trained jazz musician. No, she's phenomenal. They're going to vote for her,

even though she probably doesn't have like the pop cultural sensibility and i think beyonce is too mass for the academy voter and that is that's a part of the reason why she just isn't going to get the votes yeah the electoral college i think they're the electoral college and we're like the popular vote and the academy or the electoral college and they're like the popular vote and the academy or the electoral college and they're always going to go in a direction that you don't expect i mean megan the stallion won it best new artist four years ago victoria monet won it this year samara joy won it and olivia rodrigo won it those are the four so interestingly of the best new artist only one of them you'd go is pop yeah so it's interesting how it's quite varied last year's an

out and out jazz artist, Samara Joy. I got upset that the conversation last year became so much about Beyonce not winning Album of the Year and Harry beating her because I think Samara Joy is maybe one of the most important black jazz singers of her generation. And it's like, no one even cares

because everyone's like, Beyonce, who I do love, but I think her oversized impact means that we think she has bigger problems than she actually has. And I'm like, I think it's a bigger problem that Samara Joy is like the future of music. And we're not even talking about her win. And it's just like, we just glided past it. And we're talking about this quote unquote, injustice of Beyonce losing, which is an injustice, but I don't think it's the only one. I'm just caging all of this because I don't want the beehive to come and show up at my house because I've got two kids and I don't need those problems but it really is amazing how in life you can have everything but if you do not get the thing that you want the everything can seem like nothing in comparison it's pretty amazing

yeah and I and I'm not saying this just about like let's say Jay-Z talking about the Beyonce I just just people in general in literally in that moment, just after it was done, I was thinking to myself, man, it's amazing how we can get every, and I mean, everything, everything, everything, everything. I honestly find that fascinating. Yeah. find that fascinating. Yeah. And look, this is me not running a bit on you, but this is literally like a thing I've talked about with friends over and over that I wish for everyone that I've told audiences this. I'm like, no matter who you are, where you are, what your life is, I hope that like two-third of your dreams come true. Because two-thirds is still most. So when they do the movie of your life, that's still most things you accomplished a lot, but not having a third means that you can chase things without seeming

crazy. I like two thirds actually. I was, um, so I, I got the, um, the Apple vision pro, right. And it's interesting. Two of my friends got it as well. The three of us have these Apple Vision Pros and we're comparing notes. And both my friends were like, I'm returning them. I was like, what happened? They're like, yeah, I just, like, I don't know, man. It just doesn't like, I thought it would do more of this. And I thought it would do. What was amazing to me was seeing how they put it on their heads.

For the first hour, they were mesmerized. You know, when people, it's almost like when you hear these stories of, you know, traders, you know, showing people mirrors for the first time and then losing them. That was them. They were like, I can't believe it. It's like, I'm in another world. I'm on the moon. I'm on the moon. This feels amazing. And then an hour later being like, oh, I wish it wasn't as heavy. Then I was like, you're on the moon. You were on the moon an't as heavy then I was like you're on the moon you were on the moon an hour ago you really felt like you were on the moon and now all of a sudden you're complaining to me that the thing that makes you feel like you're actually on the moon might be a little bit heavy you ungrateful son of a I couldn't believe that

these people were saying this shit because I was like yeah it's a little bit heavy but like you know what doesn't weigh anything nothing that's what doesn't weigh anything genuinely I couldn't believe it that two-thirds thing because I literally told both and I was like, yeah, it's a little bit heavy, but like, you know, it doesn't weigh anything. Nothing. That's what doesn't weigh anything. Genuinely. I couldn't believe it. That two thirds thing. Cause I literally told both of them, I was like, take it back, take it back and allow me to enjoy my Apple vision. I'm in the future right now.

Like, I feel like I'm literally in the year 4,000. There's no weight on my face. I take that thing off and literally my cheekbones, they don't, I'll, I'll work my cheekbones. I'll get stronger cheekbones. I don't i'll work my cheekbones i'll get stronger cheekbones i don't care and and it's funny you say that judge because like i maybe maybe maybe that's even the the answer to living a happy life right is um acknowledging that you always have one third of your dreams that aren't met and then being happy with the two-thirds that are yeah that's why some of my dreams are just being taller things i know will never happen yeah well you can do the

taller you can do the um you can do the shin know what I mean? Well, you can do the taller. You can do the shin implants. No, no, no. You can do the six inches. No, no. You can do leg lengthening, Josh. I'm not thick enough for that. What do you mean you're not thick enough? If I do that, I will snap in half.

If I get taller without gaining some more weight. You don't need to get bigger, Josh. You can just get taller. Oh, no. That would look horrible. I mean, I've actually told a lot of people this. Like, whenever I meet like a nice tall man, I immediately get upset. I'm like, you're wasting all that height.

God knew what size to make me, because if I was big, I'd be a problem. I would—I'd be telling everybody what I think. I'd be, ooh. Oh, oh, before I forget. Okay, what do you think was a bigger scandal from the Grammys? And I mean, I say scandal. These things will go away tomorrow. Was it the Jay-Z speech?

Or do you think it was Taylor Swift not looking at Celine Dion when she got the award? Let me tell you, just an African in me, you have to greet your elders yeah it wasn't that it was just celine dion it's an older woman i would be like hello auntie thank you then you do your speech i didn't like it so some of my friends were at the grammys africans and they were all saying the same thing they were just like no but trevor how how can how can no no no no no celine dion but hold on to be fair she was excited she'd just won Album of the Year. I don't think she meant disrespect by it in any way. I think she was just excited.

Oh, no, no, no. By the way, I'm not saying she meant anything. No, I think she was just excited. And it looked like they were cuddling backstage and all that and getting along. So I don't think there was anything untoward in it. I think she was just really excited about winning Album of the Year. Ben, it's a real cultural thing. In my culture, like I couldn't even come downstairs and see my dad and not say good morning. Like it's like a real thing to see somebody and not just say

hello. Like I walk down the street, I say hello to every old person I see. If you're younger than me, you're supposed to say hello to me. If you're older than me, I say hello to you. She didn't greet that lady. She just said, just thank you. Honestly, in those moments, speaking from experience humbly, you do black out a little bit when it's like a major moment. But what I found myself wondering is like, do we need our stars to be nice? I'm not saying she is or isn't. I don't know her enough to say she is or isn't. But I'm asking the question, do we need these people who create things to be nice? When I was a child growing up in South Africa and we

went to the butcher, the butcher wasn't very nice. He chopped the meat, he weighed the meat, he wrapped it in a bag, he gave it to us. All we wanted was good meat. Thank you very much. When we were driving in the streets and there was a policeman who was guiding the traffic, he wasn't like friendly or anything. He was doing his job. He was moving things from point A to point B. We were like, yeah, whatever. And I'm not even saying I'm for this, but I sometimes ask myself the question, when did we become so obsessed with everyone being nice to everyone and everything being like smiley, happy? Do we need that?

Like, do you remember that campaign back in the day? Charles Barkley, he got into like a whole bunch of trouble way back in the day in his basketball career. And then he had a campaign, I think it was a Nike campaign, where he came out and the whole campaign was, I'm not a role model. He was basically like, I'mashing up against the moment of reality, which again, I'm not saying because I also do not want the Swifties coming for me because I also have children at my house. Ben, I was on your side of like, people are making a lot out of a moment. And it's like a moment that we don't know everything about. We saw it very quickly.

And we think we know everything that happened. And I just think that that expectation is on people who do put out positive messages. You know what I mean? Like this impossible platform. Okay. But then why are we as a society so keen to pull down anyone who puts out a positive message into society? They try to make us be better. Ain't nobody want that, Ben. Don't be trying to improve me all right you saw how we deaded jesus don't go anywhere because we got more what now after this were you worried trevor when you started your monologue that literally no one who you were

making jokes about was in the room because everybody was stuck outside because i was worried for you i was trying to be as relaxed as i can i'm literally in his ear going trevor everything's fine it was not fine everybody's on their way i'm sounding like a pilot i'm literally i'm literally going we are going to go live to air in a minute and uh everybody's on their way. I'm sounding like a pilot. I'm literally going, we are going to go live to air in a minute and everybody's on their way. So just do the jokes and it will be fine. We'll be back with you in 30 seconds. Yeah, it was not fine. Tell me about it from your perspective. So live TV is live. The Grammys is weird because everyone's trying to get to a venue that isn't particularly easy to get to. LA's got terrible traffic, there's flooding, and then it's like, there's tons of security,

et cetera, et cetera. So this is all stressful. In this moment in particular, you're about to do something in a room where people aren't even sort of in yet. You're talking about them and to them, and they're not there. In my head, I'm going, well, ride this thing out and then hope for the best. But nobody, nobody's there. I'm literally scanning the room, praying that I will see anybody, anybody, anybody, anybody in their seats.

You don't see, you're looking around and you're like, oh, thank God there's Ed Sheeran. Oh, thank God. Okay. Okay. There's somebody. Okay. There's 21 Savage. Oh, thank God.

All right. Like when Meryl Streep came in, I was already a fan of Meryl Streep's. And now I will fight somebody for Meryl Streep now. I will go, I will go to bat for her. First of all, she's Meryl Streep's. And now I will fight somebody for Meryl Streep now. I will go to bat for her. First of all, she's Meryl Streep. She didn't need to like run in because she was late. This is something Meryl Streep does not need to do. She ran in.

She's going to be in this chair. I can't believe that Meryl Streep is here. I really can't believe it. Because I mean, oh, what? What? Huh? You thought I was lying? You thought I was lying. You thought I was lying. You don't have to apologize to me.

Meryl Streep, yes. Yeah. And this moment right here, you know what that means? It means the Grammys is going to win an Oscar. Yeah. I don't know how, but we just did it. She apologized for being late in a really like nice, respectful human way. And I was just like, this is Meryl Streep.

She was fun with it. She played with it. She had a good time with it. In that moment, I was like, okay, everything is going to be okay. And thank you, Jesus. I think we're going to get through this thing. And then I, and then I was just like, you know, it's fine. I was stressed for like three minutes.

Two things were genuinely amazed about that. One is when you got to the Meryl Streep bit, she walks in and then when you got to the Taylor Swift bit I'm literally hearing that she's walking in and it was total coincidence that as that was crazy a bit about her that she is literally coming in at that moment as our parents would say Ben look at God look at God yes Bichette meant to be but the thing was I about that is, it's the only show that a monologue is done in the audience amongst the people. That is tough because most of the time with comedians at the beginning of a show, they're on a stage, they're safe, they've got their prompter. We literally stick you in amongst it. And the reason we do it is two reasons. Firstly, I think it's

much more of an interesting watch. I think you walking around that room shows off who's in the room. But the second reason is the Grammys is the most difficult show because you've got to clear that stage for the next artist. So actually we don't have space for you on the stage to stand because we're getting rid of Dua Lipa's cage

and her glass rotating spirally thing. So actually I'm just like, Trevor, would you mind just doing it in the audience? But like there's no award show I've ever seen where it's like that. And now I think that's what people are, to a certain extent, watching for. And they did in their many millions, we're very happy about that. But like, it's because you're just like walking around and strolling about like a fan, but also just making jokes about them. But that is a lot of pressure on you. And very unlike any other stand up comedian doing

an award show. I both love and hate it. I love it from a producer's perspective. I see why you wanted to do it, and I enjoy that element of it. As a performer, I go, this is, it's chaos. Like, already stage comes with a whole lot of stress. Do you know how hard it is to deliver a joke when you're on a stage to an audience? And now you go like, no, why don't you be in the audience?

How about that? Why don't you do that? And then why don't you let some of the audience members walk by while you're on a stage to an audience and now you go like, no, why don't you be in the audience? How about that? Why don't you do that? And then why don't you let some of the audience members walk by while you're doing it? The moment we hate most in a comedy club is when the check comes and everyone is like looking at the check and trying to figure out who pays for which drink and servers are walking in. The waiters are handing like food. And that is the worst moment in a comedy club because no one's paying attention nobody's listening to what you're saying and then the grammys comes along with ben winston and they go you should do that but for like 15 000 people

what about why don't you do it like that one of the main things i was i was really impressed with is that when you're doing that sort of thing, you know, we're in a new age and a lot of people think they could do crowd work. And it's... Ooh, is that some change, Josh? Yeah, I mean, a lot of people love like, hey, what do you do? That job? Crazy, right? But you over here, you really in, duly perface, you know what I mean? Like you really next to the person. And I don't know, I was just like, you know what I mean? Like you really next to the person. And I don't know. I was just like, that's a real command of a room. It's terrifying. I won't lie to you guys,

it's terrifying, but I do enjoy it. And I mean, I also love the nights. I go, guys, we're not saving lives. You know, I do think entertainment is an important aspect of life, but we're not saving lives. We're enhancing them, hopefully hopefully so let's have fun let's enjoy it let's see what happens you know that's why i even appreciate these moments i appreciate the moments where jay-z comes on stage and just throws a little spice into the pot like just man thank you jay-z thank you like if you if jay-z can't do it who can maybe he'll inspire more people to do it you know what i mean yeah this is life it gets people interested it gets us talking it's it's like it's entertainment my highlights of the night was still i i like that it didn't overshadow things because tracy chapman

was still like the highlights of my night and it seems like everyone's night oh my god when she got the standing ovation yeah yeah Ben you're the directing the producing and that shot of her face where it's like the emotion she looks like she's gonna cry like it's it was just it felt like something from a movie you imagine like we've just watched the biopic and 30 years later she's finally getting accolades it was just i felt it here that was a beautiful moment good job guys beautiful it was beautiful yeah she's number one i think she was number one on itunes yeah she is she deserves people who didn't know her were like who is this and then people who did were like oh my good this was yeah it is those moments juxtaposed against the other moments that make

it all so beautiful is it's not perfect yeah it's not pristine it is two-thirds of what we wanted yeah and one-third of what we didn't but you know what that's what makes it so amazing and real quick actually you know that's such a great place to cut you may want cut everything i'm saying but like i i do have a quick question because you talked about you know getting two thirds not getting the third is there a reason that best rap album wasn't televised i think we'll cut before there won't we yeah yeah no i mean that's fine like i said i saw this coming i think i think i think you were right at first yeah yeah no i think you were right at first. Yeah. No, I think you were right. Yeah.

So I have to choose which awards go in the show. We only have room for 10. There's 93 Grammys that are given out every year. And I basically choose 10 that I think they could make the show. And so I always have the four. Best record, album, new artist, and song. Those are like like the big four and then you do country and then you do a latin that's six and then i did two pop ones which you do pop album and best pop solo performance which is quite common to do two pop because that's where a lot of like the mega

stars are then usually it's rap album and i decided that I thought we should do an R&B award because there were some amazing nominees in R&B. There was like Coco Jones, there was Victoria Monet, there was SZA. And I just thought that was a really good award. And then because of the Dre award going to Jay-Z, I felt like that was a big rap one. And we also had two rap performances in Travis Scott and 21 Savage and Burner Boys. And last year we did like 18 minutes of hip hop plus that hip hop 50 tribute, which was like the show was dominated by it. And we had Jay-Z ending it on God Did.

So I just felt like actually it was nice to give R&B a bit of shine. That's why. There was nothing more to it than that. So yeah, R&B song replaced it this year, but maybe that was a mistake. I don't know. No, I think it was the right decision.

But hearing your rationale for it, Ben, I'm glad you said that. Yeah. Josh, why didn't you ask about rock album not being televised? That's exactly right. Why not rock album? Because when I think about how I spend my time, it's so much more invested in best rap album than it is best rock album. I think that's one of the hardest things about these kinds of shows

is that everyone takes for granted that everyone is listening to their music and everyone thinks that their music is the music that should be listened to. I'm also one of those people where sometimes I see an artist nominated or a category and I'm like, who are these people? And it's like, yeah, you just you don't listen to them. But does it mean that they are any less deserving of the spotlight and that moment? I don't think so. By the way, comedy, best comedy album wasn't screened or televised at all I know I know I know I listened to a podcast on the way home last night which probably wasn't a good idea it was like a review of the Grammys and I take it all I work so hard on it that I actually probably shouldn't listen to like review podcasts about it and they were like oh hip-hop has been overlooked and I was sort of thinking to myself I just don't know

how you can look that is such a hip-hop fan saying that because if you were a country fan right now you'd go we got one performance and that was really Tracy Chapman and I'm not sure you'd 100% argue that Tracy Chapman's a country artist and Latin didn't get a look this year and rock got like two and a half minutes from U2 and hip-hop gets so much love so i think it is difficult you're right trevor people speak from their own perspectives my job i think is to program that show to do the best i can to make sure that i have something for everybody whether you're auntie margaret in alabama or your cool kid in new york there's something for you you only get a viewing figure for a Burner Boy if you follow it up with a Billy Joel. So I think you've got to find that balance

so that you can actually get audiences for these new artists, get people excited by Victoria Monet, get people excited by Burner Boy, get people because they're watching the other ones that they come for. I love how many rabbit holes or trap doors you can fall down with this. Someone will go, why wasn't rap album in the awards? But then when you even go into rap album, Killer Mike wins it. And I don't know if you saw, guys in hip hop were like, how the hell can Killer Mike win it? Who the hell is Killer Mike? Nobody's listening to Killer Mike. The streets don't listen to Killer Mike. And then guys guys like Meek Mill were like the Grammys has never appreciated street hip-hop and and it's so interesting how even in the category rappers themselves are like you do not deserve to be in

this category even though you are hip-hop and now they're fighting and so at the end of the day it really just boils down to people generally agree with the thing that they agreed with before it happened and it is very hard for us as people to then agree with something that happens when we did not think it would or should happen that's one of the hardest things to think about yeah people are going to argue and go down those rabbit holes all day i think yes at least people are talking about it i guess yeah at least people had fun I think that Ben you did a great job yeah

you should pat yourself on the back don't listen to the haters you did great in a in a situation no just hear me out in a situation where you were making

an award show that requires voting and this is America we don't vote well anymore you're right absolutely We don't vote well anymore. You're right. Absolutely. What Now with Trevor Noah is produced by Spotify Studios in partnership with Day Zero Productions,

Fullwell 73, and Odyssey's Pineapple Street Studios. The show is executive produced by Trevor Noah, Ben Winston, Jenna Weiss-Berman and Barry Finkel. Produced by Emanuel Hapsis, Marina Henke, Jess Hackle, Natalie Pert and Chelsea Williamson. Music, mixing and mastering by Hannes Brown. Join me next Thursday for another episode of What Now?