- Spotify’s new highly anticipated original podcast What Now? with Trevor Noah launches on Thursday, November 9 featuring an intimate conversation with none other than Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson.
- In the series premiere episode, Trevor is joined by Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson — “The People’s Champion” in the wrestling world, one of the hardest working actors in Hollywood, and a bonafide Girl Dad. On the first episode of What Now?, Trevor and Dwayne get real — discussing everything from Dwayne’s troubled youth and his lifelong struggles with depression, to Dwayne listening, understanding and responding to public feedback surrounding the launch of his fund following the Maui fires, and whether he’d ever consider running for President of the United States.
- The video episode is available exclusively on Spotify, with audio episodes available wherever you get your podcasts. New episodes will publish weekly every Thursday.
- Trevor On Having a Spirited Conversation (1:00)
- Trevor: “If there’s one thing I’ve always loved, it’s having a spirited conversation. I’ve always loved how the words coming out of another person’s mouth can change how the mush in your brain processes or sees the world that it’s seen a certain way for such a long time. It feels like these days, though. We might be losing that ability. Oh, it’s become a little bit harder. You know. A few days ago, I was. I was at an event and. People were having really interesting and dynamic conversations, conversations about really difficult topics… men, women, young and old alike. And every few minutes somebody would start their opinion with the phrase. Now, I would never say this in public, but. Or, I would never say this if I was being recorded, but. And I found that fascinating. So many of us have opinions and ideas about the world that we live in. That we are either unable or unwilling. Or too scared to share. And I thought to myself. If we cannot have conversations about difficult things, if the conversations themselves are now the difficult things, then what hope do we have of fixing the difficult things? You know, I almost think of it like a minefield. One of the most dangerous places you can ever walk into is a minefield. Because you do not know. Where they are. You do not know when your last step may be. All you know is at any moment, something could blow up. But the danger comes when you step into the minefield. Imagine if discussing how to navigate the minefield was as dangerous as the minefield itself. That’s what I feel like we’re living in now.”
- The Rock On His Connection to His Culture (13:33)
- “At a very early age from my mom and my dad, it was always ‘what you are is perfect’ and ‘what you are is cool.’ Black culture, Samoan culture. We come from a world of pro wrestling. And at that time, Trevor, if you think about it, pro wrestling was nowhere near the global juggernaut that it is today. And it was, it was a very small subculture. So be proud of everything that you are out of the gate, It was always ‘be proud’… It’s a cool thing. And I got to tell you, as you go down the road of life, you start to realize just how special culture is, how special all of our culture is.”
- The Rock On Why He Wanted to Be A Wrestler (17:32)
- “Not only did I grow up in it… but man, I loved it. I loved wrestling. I love the antics of it. I love the characters of it. And especially at that time, you know, when you grow up in the 80s, wrestling back then was a whole different, I think, unique experience in that a lot of people bought into it and they felt like it was real and they’d have these local stars every week and they’d be on their television sets, just their local TVs, and they would talk down the lens about what they’re going to do to their opponent this Saturday night at whatever little arena they’re wrestling in. I loved all that, and I had a front-row seat watching my dad and my grandfather and everybody in my family live their passions and it’s what they, I believe, were all born to do… And so. I think the yearning of it, it started to happen for me when, to be honest, when we were evicted out of Hawaii. So we were living in a little apartment. We were evicted when I was 13 or 14 years old. And I remember in that moment I never wanted to feel that again. I was with my mom and we came home and there was a padlock or there was a notice… I remember just her and I were standing there. She was crying. She didn’t know what to do. And my dad was wrestling in Tennessee at that time. And I remember then thinking, I never want to experience this again and what can I do to change it? What can I do? Like, what can I do with my own two hands on 14 so I can’t do shit, right?… So I remember at that time thinking, well, all the heroes in my life are these guys. These guys who are, they’re big, they’re strong. They’re pro wrestlers. I bet you if I built my body and if I went to the gym, then I could change the scenario. So from that moment, I think that is the defining moment.”
- The Rock On Starting the People’s Fund of Maui and Reacting To The Initial Backlash (22:32)
- Trevor: “…you know, when you feel like you’ve missed a news cycle, like The Rock and Oprah under fire. But for what? And people were like, Oh, you’re the problem. And how dare you? And why would you? And I was like, Man, our whole lives, people have asked people to join into a worthy cause. When did this become a criticism or a fight? And I would love to know how you process that.”
- The Rock: “I woke up the next morning wondering the same thing. Thinking. What? What happened? Did I miss something? So it took me a couple of weeks to really process that. And I felt like that moment was a pivotal moment for me in my life for a few reasons. Number one, I want to go back to the brass tacks of it and the whole idea of creating this fund, the People’s Fund of Maui, is to help people and help survive and thrive. These are my people. These are my Polynesian people. My Hawaiian Kanaka Ohana. My grandparents. They’re all buried in the islands, you know, So it meant so much to me. And I know it meant so much to our people, Right. That we were able to come together and create this fund. Over 8000 survivors, by the way we’re helping right now. It’s really beautiful. But what’s interesting is when all that started to happen and the backlash started to happen and it started to come our way. So I always feel like in moments like that, it’s important. Not to get caught up in it. It’s important just to pause. Let’s be prudent. Let’s pause. But let me just wait and see. And. I felt like my gut said it’s going to take a couple of weeks, but let me really take a look at it. I don’t want to respond to it right now. Yeah, let’s stay focused on the mission. And the mission is to help the survivors right now who have nothing. And they are devastated. And so let’s continue to stand the fund up on its feet. But at the same time, I want to pay attention to this. And it really tested my ability to separate noise from criticism that was really worthy of my attention in this case and this noise. And at first it was a wave of noise. Okay, how dare you ask us for money? And I thought the same thing you did was right. Whatever you can give, if you want to give a prayer. Great. A buck, seven bucks, or nothing. So there was the noise that started to feel like it was political noise. Then it started to feel like it was. It just started to feel really noisy. And I wanted to make sure that we just paused and I was just waiting for. Well, where’s the criticism here that is worthy of my attention? That really makes sense. And then, Ah, that’s it. This is what I feel I got. And it took me weeks before I figured this out. And I had a I just had a moment one night, and I think I was as I usually do, I was having a drink, drink off and clear my mind and clear all this shit up in my head. And once all that left, I thought, Ah, that’s it. And I saw someone had posted something and it was something to the effect of basically don’t pay attention to these guys and all this other bullshit that they’re saying. However, you’re one of us. And when I read You’re one of us was the thing that made me go. Got it. Went back to when I was in Hawaii. When I got evicted, we had nothing. I was a troubled kid. I got arrested like you. I mean, you know, we both were troubled kids, arrested multiple times. I was always pissed that we were broke. There’s a difference between being poor and then being broke. And I was pissed. I was always angry, getting in fights, getting in trouble. And the last thing I realized in that moment, the last thing that I wanted to hear was somebody asked me for money. Especially if the dude who I like, right, is asking me for money, and he already has money, and I get it. And a lot of times when you’re in that situation, I’ve been there when you are living paycheck to paycheck. You’re in it. Yeah. And you’re not necessarily vibrating, you know, at a certain level and you’re in it. So I came out of that and then I went, That’s right. I got it. Now I understand. And you know what? Last thing you wanted was to hear people ask for money regardless of the situation.”
- Trevor On The Power of Global Connection (51:57)
- Trevor: “I mean, we were doing your moves in the gym at school. We had detention, and we had this like giant room where you would just get locked in and was like, that’s your detention. It was like a gym, really, but it was a massive gym and we would put out all these mats. And would be like alright we’re practicing The Rock’s moves. Let’s go and everyone would get in there and I’m talking like almost two stories high and we’d climb up on the railing. That’s just a cage match. And you’d grab someone. You know what I mean?… Think about that connection. Think about how far that was. Think about how far you were from me in South Africa. Think about how far I was from you in the United States. And yet in that moment, we were connected.”
- “What Now? with Trevor Noah” is a show wherein each episode Trevor will go deep with a special guest, including entertainers, CEOs, actors, athletes, and thought leaders. These are the kind of conversations that happen behind the scenes, full of radical candor, authentic back-and-forths, and honest reactions, with Trevor bringing to bear his classic, effortlessly playful and equally probing style.
- The series is executive produced by Trevor Noah and Ben Winston alongside Jenna Weiss-Berman and Bari Finkel; and produced by Day Zero Productions, Fulwell 73 Productions, and Audacy’s Pineapple Street Studios.
- “What Now? with Trevor Noah” is hosted and distributed by Spotify’s enterprise podcast platform, Megaphone, with Spotify serving as the exclusive sales partner.
- Presenting sponsors for the podcast include Amazon, Audi, Microsoft, Prize Picks, Smirnoff and Starbucks.
- For more information, visit Spotify’s For the Record here.
About Trevor Noah
Trevor Noah is one of the most successful comedians in the world and is known for being the most recent host of the Emmy Award-winning The Daily Show on Comedy Central, as well as the host of the Grammy Awards for the past three years. Trevor is also the author of the New York Times best-selling book, Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood.
About Spotify Podcasts
As the leading audio podcast platform worldwide, Spotify is the #1 podcast publisher in the U.S. and holds the top spot in numerous international markets. With more than 5 million podcast titles available in 170+ markets, there are now over 100 million podcast listeners on Spotify. Since entering the podcast space in 2019, consumption has grown more than 1400%, and over half a billion people have listened to a podcast on the platform.
About Spotify
Spotify’s platform revolutionized music listening forever when we launched in 2008. Our move into podcasting brought innovation and a new generation of listeners to the medium, and in 2022 we entered the next audio market primed for growth with the addition of audiobooks.
Today, more listeners than ever can discover, manage, and enjoy over 100 million tracks, 5 million podcasts titles, and 350,000 audiobooks a la carte on Spotify. We are the world’s most popular audio streaming subscription service with more than 574 million users, including 226 million subscribers in more than 180 markets.