So now people treat you like you're famous, they say the weirdest things to you.

Strangest thing people would say to me, "Trevor! Trevor!"

"Well-done on everything hey. Congrats! Congrats!"

"But, even though you are going to America. Don't forget us, alright? Don't you forget us.”

Like, "I don't even know who you are."

People would say the weirdest things to me.

You know the number one thing people have said to me?

Number one thing.

It's not good luck. It's "Hey Trevor. Good luck over there, but whatever you do, don't forget your accent, alright?”

"Yes, please. Don't pull a Charlize on us, okay?”

"You keep your accent, make us proud."

Everyone said that.

"Treva bro! Treva Noah!"

"Hey, mom's child. You are making us proud. You're doing big things, but can I ask you a favor?”

"Don't lose your accent, okay? Don't lose your accent."

"Yes. When you come back from the States, you mustn't come back talking funny, okay?"

"Please, Brother. If you lose your accent, don't come back.”

"Did you just threaten me?"

What does that mean if you lose your accent?

How do you lose your accent?

People make it sound like you're going to be walking down the street, and then just out of the blue, you'll be like,

"My accent! I lost my accent!"

"Where the hell is my… Oh!"

"Oh, Hello. No! That's not my accent!”

How are you going to lose your accent?

I was stressed now.

'Cause I don't want South Africans to think I am not South African.

I don't want them to think I have forgotten something, this is my home.

Now I am stressed coming home.

I am in the plane, flying back to Johannesburg, and the whole time I'm just thinking, "Don't lose your accent, Trevor, don't lose your accent. Don't lose your... "

"Ac-accent, Accent, Ac-accent. Is that how I say accent? Accent, accent, excent, excent."

"Axe end, ecsent, accent, accent, ac-accent."

By the time I landed at O.R Tambo I was losing my mind.

I like walked into arrivals, the woman was there at customs.

"Welcome back to South Africa, sir."

I was like, "Yes, I'm back!"

"Same old Trevor! Nothing changed."

People are crazy.

'Cause I love accents. I really love, I love accents.

I like learning languages and so obviously accents or byproduct of that.

I've learned over time that even if you can't learn a language, an accent is a great way to communicate with somebody in your own language whilst trying to bridge the gap.

You learn somebody's accent, you communicate more effectively.

The thing is though, you have to learn the accents in the right way

If you are going to speak to someone in the accent and you do it in the wrong way, you might come across as racist

You have to be very careful about this.

White people in South Africa often fall into this trap.

It happens at petrol stations quite a bit.

See, people driving in with their friends, talking normally sitting in the car.

"So, I mean. If we get all the numbers together... marketing should be behind this, it should be a breezer."

"HR has stepped up and it's going to be... it's going to be a great year and look we try and make sure..."

"Oh, sorry. Hold on."

"Hello, Baba!"

"Hey, shap, shap man! Please fill up the tank, hey?"

"95, Unleaded. Yea!"

"Also check ama tires, Hey?"

"Pressure. Pumpy, pumpy! Not too much, hey?"

"Two point two, okay?"

"Yea, good jobie. Shap, shap. Dankie boss."

Don't, don't do that.

He is a grown man, he has been pumping petrol his entire life. He knows what you need.

Just talk to him like a normal human being.

That's the thing people don't understand.

Speak to him like a normal human being.

I used to get so angry whenever I see white people changing their accent when they talk to black people. I get so angry.

I was like, "Are all white people racist? Is that what it is? Are all of them racist?"

And then I learned, I learned life taught me not to be so quick to judge.

I learned a valuable lesson. I was driving to Gold Reef City one day.

Into the backstage area, and the security guard came out to the boom, and he was like,

"Hi, how are you? Is your name on the list?"

I said, "Yes, how are you, Baba? My name is Trevor.

He's like, "Okay. Trebal, Trebal, Trebal."

I said, "No, no. Trevor."

He's like, " Oh, sorry. Cheval, Cheval, Cheval, Cheval."

I said, "No, Trevor."

"Cheva."

"Trevor."

"Chelva"

"Trevor"

"Chelva."

"Trevor."

"Chelval."

"Trevor." "Chelva"

"Trevor." "Cavel, Cav, Chavil, Chavel, Chalvin, Chavel"

And now my friend who was just irritated, he just leaned over and his like,

"Hey, Papa. His Treva!"

He was like, "Oh, Treva! Why you don't talk properly?"

And then I understood, I understood, I finally understood what white people have been trying to do.

I see you are trying to communicate more effectively, you are trying to engage somebody.

But understand this, understand this.

When speaking to someone in an accent, the number one rule to understand is an accent is not a measurement of intelligence.

An accent is just somebody speaking your language with the rules of theirs. That's all an accent is.

So don't speak down to them, don't patronize them, speak to them the way you would to yourself.

Just try and learn their accent, that's all it is.

It's just another accent.

And I learn them. I spend all my time learning accents. I try.

I try, I love it.

I learn in restaurants, that's a safe place to start.

You learn, you read of the menu. You try to pronounce the words correctly.

I was inspired by French restaurants. Funny enough.

Whenever I go to a French restaurant, I am always fascinated.

By the fact that people would order food in a French accent. I never understood why.

Yeah, because they don't do it in any other restaurants, only in French restaurants.

People walk in and then change the accent when they order.

They come in talking normally. "You know it's wonderful, you really going to enjoy this."

"It's so beautiful, stunning. You have to have the desert. Oh, good evening, how are you, Sir?"

"Yes, I will have a bottle of water for the table, please.'

"Let's start off with a, can we get the Sauvignon Blanc, please?"

"And we definitely for mains gonna have the Filet minion."

"And for dessert, we gonna go with the creme brule."

"Thank you very much. Thank you. Oh, you gonna love it."

Like, why are you doing that? I never understood. I was like why?

Because it's not like the French are going to return the favour.

There's no French people sitting in our restaurants in South Africa looking at the menu like,

"So for the table, we can order some starter portion, we share something. No?"

"Could we please have one serving of the boerewors?"

That's not gonna happen.