Before Trevor Noah Became Famous, He Roasted Steve Hofmeyr VIDEO

In the United States they have been doing it for years, taking a night off to ‘roast’ – basically make fun of (in the harshest possible way) – a famous person. Anyone who has seen Amy Schumer’s infamous roast of Charlie Sheen knows that to be roasted is pretty much to be gutted.

In 2012 – yes, it’s not a new video – a personality many love to hate in South Africa, musician and actor Steve Hofmeyr, became the focus of South Africa’s first comedy roast. The host at the event at Gold Reef City was none other than Trevor Noah before he became famous, although there are so many good jokes, it’s easy to see why he got the attention of people around the world.

Here, in fact, you will see a Noah that you won’t get to see on ‘The Daily Show’, especially when he gets risqué (the Kuli Roberts sections, in particular, stirred up a war of words in the media afterwards). But Noah is always funny and on point, even when he is saying some pretty nasty things (but always with that infectious laugh, of course).

Watch – if you dare – Trevor Noah roasting Steve Hofmeyr and Kuli Roberts, among others.

(Update: The video is unfortunately no longer available, sorry!)

In the video, which includes only outtakes from Noah’s performance, he calls Hofmeyr a man who has made his mark on South Africa, “a skid mark, to be precise”.

As in most roasts, it’s not only the guest who is there to be roasted who has to take the tongue-in-cheek insults but also the other people who have come to make fun of him.

In the first four minutes, Noah loses no time doing just that when he describes the guests there to roast Hofmeyer. “(W)hat a group of mediocre individuals we have gathered here today”, he says to much laughing from the audience, who stay animated throughout the night.

Some of the guests (which included Anele Mdoda, Mienkie van der Westhuizen and Robert Whitehead) receive more barbs than others. Those who get more of Noah’s attention are Casper de Vries (“South Africa’s favorite beach ball”) and comedian David Kau (whose hats, Noah says, are old and “smell like John Vlismas (another guest) looks”).

Special attention, however, goes to Kuli Roberts, the TV presenter who lost her job at the Sunday World in 2011 after writing an article deemed racist. She comes in for a roasting all her own (with Noah saying she’s “aka Macslutty, the bitch mom”, “Every night with her is a night to remember – because she can’t” and “It’s hard to tell what’s blacker, her liver or her lips”).

Then Noah gets stuck into Hofmeyr, who is dressed in a shocking blue suit and sunglasses. Noah, after addressing Hofmeyr’s relationship to Julius Malema and Eugene Terreblanche, says that his own favourite Steve Hofmeyr song is any song that isn’t a Steve Hofmeyr song.

Ending his own roast of Hofmeyr, Noah starts introducing the guests. Once again he saves his best lines for Kuli Roberts.