Daily Show heads to Chicago, defends city from Donald Trump

The Daily Show switched gears by filming last night’s episode in Chicago, where Trevor Noah spoke about the unfair labeling the Windy City has received.

Last night, Trevor Noah hit the stage in Chicago for a special episode of Comedy Central’s The Daily Show. Kicking off the program, Noah says how many of his friends questioned his decision to go there due to the city’s reputation of violence. But that led directly into Noah’s choice to take the show, there, as he says Chicago is a “microcosm for all the issues the rest of the country faces.”

Noah explains that if he were to believe only what he saw on TV, he would never visit Chicago. And it goes even deeper than that. Donald Trump has basically said that “Chicago is Syria, but with different pizza.” To prove what he means, Noah then shows clips of Trump ranting about Chicago, even going as far as to compare it to the wars in the Middle East. If you were to believe Trump only, then you’d think the city of Chicago was a Mad Max wasteland.

But Noah goes on to say how things aren’t really that way. Yes, there are a lot of murders there, but Chicago is also the third largest city. You “have to look at murders by capita,” Noah explains. The bigger the crowd, the bigger the crime rate, unfortunately. Noah puts it this way: Would you rather be in a big city with five Pennywise the Dancing Clowns, or be stuck in an UberPOOL with one?

Noah adds that he isn’t saying that the violence isn’t an issue. He just thinks it’s strange how so many politicians, especially on the right, seem to always zero in on the Windy City. Especially because, as the Daily Show host points out, many other American cities have higher murder rates, including Cleveland. But there isn’t anybody saying don’t go to Cleveland… “Well, they do, but not ’cause of murder,” Noah jokes.

You can watch the bit in the YouTube video below.

New episodes of The Daily Show air every weeknight on Comedy Central.