Trevor Noah opened up his show's residency at Chicago's Athenaeum Theatre on Monday, October 17, with a standup bit in which he delivered some revealing commentary on the city. The Comedy Central host opened up with a routine that analyzed Chicago nicknames, with Noah segueing from how the ever popular 'The Windy City' contrasts from its more recent label as 'The Murder Capital.' Noah poses that while it is a given that Chicago is a windy place, thus meriting its moniker; entertaining the notion that the Chi ought to be defined by its killings, he argues, would be fallacious.
"It really sucks that people call Chicago the most dangerous city in America, especially when it's not really true. Does Chicago have the most murders? Yes, but its also the third biggest city. If you want to talk about cities that are most dangerous, right, you have to look at murders per capita. The amount of violent crime relative to the size of the city," he tells the crowd, before presenting them with an analogy involving It character Pennywise the clown.
Noah then began to wonder aloud about why it is that Chicago has become the representation of violence in America, particularly in narratives perpetuated by conservatives. The screen behind Noah then flashes the image of former Chicago senator-turned-President Obama, followed by a reel of right-wing media pundits using the city's gun violence stats to badger the nation's 44th Commander-In-Chief. “I get it. When there’s shootings, Obama is from Chicago. All the other times he’s from Kenya. Now it makes sense.”
