NOAH: I flew out to South Africa on Friday morning.
14 hours later, I landed in my hometown, Johannesburg.
And the moment I got off the plane,
I felt something, a voice inside
reminding me of what I had forgotten.
So, this is a road I used to drive on
pretty much my entire young life.
Because of apartheid,
uh, black people had to live in certain areas,
and then white people had to live in other areas.
But white people like how the black people cook,
so they need them to come to their houses,
so there were roads that connected the areas.
And this was one of those roads. All the taxis, all the buses,
all the transport that shipped the people
between Soweto and Johannesburg, this is it.
(horn honks)
(shouts in foreign language)
That's what we do in South Africa.
We... we don't have road rage.
We have road joy.
We just smile at each other,
-and we-we honk. -(horn honks)
It was very confusing to me when I first got to New York.
I thought everyone was my friend. They were not.
So, we're heading to my grandmother's house now.
Uh, I told her we're on the way,
but that doesn't mean she'll be there, so, um...
You never know.
You might meet my grandmother. You might not.
(speaking foreign language)
(horn honking)
So, welcome to Soweto.
This is where I grew up.
This is where everything goes down.
Uh, and yes, we walk in the streets.
We played in the streets. This was the playground.
This is where you hung out with your friends.
This is where everything went down.
-(shouting) -(speaking foreign language)
And your neighbors scream when you walk by.
It's what we all do.
What's amazing about this place is that nothing's changed--
in a good way.
It's like a museum, that's what it is.
And we're here at my grandmother's house.
Welcome to it.
This is where I grew up.
This wall was a lot taller when I was younger,
but, uh, let's see if she's here.
So, this is where I grew up.
This was the driveway.
♪ ♪
We kick it off with the driveway.
This is where we used to want to park our cars.
We didn't have any cars, but we still built driveways,
because that's what life is all about: ambition.
(cheering)
I'll show you some of the security features
that I installed in the house.
We've got what's known
-as an intruder defense mechanism system of glass. -Wow!
Every single one of these bottles,
I drank what was inside.
Balling.
This is where the magic happens.
(air horn blaring)
Anybody can have a toilet inside the house,
but it takes a real baller
to have a toilet outside the house.
Now, if you guys will excuse me,
I'm about to make some magic happen.
MTV Cribs, your boy.
Oh, wait, there's no toilet paper. Hold on.
♪ ♪
First things first,
whenever you come into an African person's house,
you greet.
So the first thing I'm gonna do is greet.
Gogo.
-(speaks foreign language) -Hello, Gogo.
(speaking foreign language)
How are you, Gogo?
Can-can we come in? I've got...
I've got some camera people, Gogo.
Are we fine to come in?
If you say no, it's fine. I don't mind.
Okay, okay.
Gogo, um, I want you--
-I want to welcome you to my show. -Mm-hmm.
And I want to introduce you to some of my friends
-and my viewers. -Mm.
I've brought them to South Africa
to show them what it's like.
So they said, because I'm coming,
they want to meet you
and they want me to ask you questions about my life.
I remember. Mm.
Mm.
(laughing)
How old are you now, 91?
When you get to 91, now you count months.
-We're here because the-the concert at FNB Stadium -Mm.
is celebrating 100 years
of Nelson Mandela.
-Madiba. -Ah.
What was the first thing you remember about Nelson Mandela?
Wow.
Because people had not seen a black man who was an attorney.
Wow.
Mm. Mm.
For young people, it's very hard for them to understand
-how scary it was to be a black person -(whistles)
living in South Africa during that time.
But everybody was scared of the police.
Ah.
Mm...
(speaks foreign language)
-"Dress up. Let's go." -Yeah.
When you see white guys like this,
do they remind you of those police?
That's what you remind my grandmother.
I hope you're happy,
bringing memories of Flying Squad into my house.
There are some people who say now,
because some people don't have jobs
and because it's tough in South Africa,
it would be better to go back to apartheid.
Why not?
Ah.
(whistles)
(speaking foreign language)
"Do you know what it's like to dig for potatoes
with your hands?"
Ah.
(speaks foreign language)
Wow.
-You're digging for potatoes with your hands. -Mm.
And if somebody dies from exhaustion next to you,
you dig a hole, you put them in that hole,
-and then you carry on digging those potatoes. -(whistles)
What-what was my contribution?
How-- Was-was I fighting apartheid?
Not knowing?
Ah.
But I-I told them that I was an apartheid hero, Gogo.
-I wasn't? -(giggling)
Ah.
Why did I give you a tough time, Gogo?
So, if I was playing in the street,
the police would have arrested me?
So they thought I was white?
"Yeah. Oh! Oh, no!"
The kids ran away from me?
But why did they run away...? What?
-And allowed to do... -So for them...
for them, this was white?
Wow.
-I feel so special now, Gogo. -Huh.
To know there was a time that I was white.
(both laugh)
How old was I when this was happening, Gogo?
-NOAH: Three years old. -Mm-hmm.
-I was a very good-looking baby, I'm sure. -(whistles)
Yeah?
But mostly good-looking.
Yeah. I'm sure, Gogo.
When I was here with you, what did you do when I was naughty?
(Noah laughs)
Who was naughtier, Gogo-- me or my mom?
Oh. You know how Mom is.
-Yeah, yeah, yeah. -Must always go up.
Yeah!
Mm.
So she was not only a black person
in a job black people weren't supposed to be in,
but she was a manager of white people.
How-how...? But how did they allow that?
And now I'm also a manager of white people, Gogo.
-Yeah. -Unbelievable.
-It comes from my mother, Gogo. -(gasps)
Do you know I'm a manager of white people?
I'm-I'm telling you, Gogo.
There are white people who work for me.
(Noah laughs)
Gogo, have you ever... have you ever watched The Daily Show?
(speaking foreign language)
(Noah laughs, Gogo continues speaking foreign language)
My gran said she doesn't watch my show
because sometimes the electricity cuts out,
which is a very plausible excuse
and a nice way to let your grandson down.
(Noah laughs)
-Mm. -Mm.
No, I-I hear you, Gogo. This is...
I didn't expect that answer. It's a good answer, Gogo.
So I must make sure
that you have a generator so you can watch my show.
-Okay. -(speaking foreign language)
-Who fits the generator? -Ah.
Okay, so I must get someone to fit the generator, also.
-Okay. -(speaking in foreign language)
Oh, and then I must also fix the... the-the cable. Okay.
-Mm. -Hey.
I feel like I've been tricked into doing a lot of things
for you to watch my TV show, Gogo.
(both laugh)
(speaking foreign language)
Oh, wow.
Thank... thank you for having us, Gogo,
and thank you for letting me bring these cameras.
And thank you for sharing these stories with my friends.
And thank you for being amazing.
I've brought too many friends, Gogo.
You guys must leave now.