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What Now? with Trevor Noah

Malcolm Gladwell: Do Fairytales Make Adulthood Harder?

05 Mar 2026

Transcription

Transcript generated automatically by AI and may contain errors.

Chapter 1: What is discussed at the start of this section?

4.452 - 14.066 Eugene

This should be a business for the three of us. I think all of us should contribute to the reimagining of these flawed classics. What, the Disney ones? Yeah.

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14.286 - 18.593 Unknown

Okay, but have you watched the newer ones? Well, I've watched Moana.

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Chapter 2: How do the hosts feel about reimagining Disney classics?

18.733 - 23.48 Unknown

No, because they have been reimagined. We did. I didn't want to spoil it for you. No, no, we did Moana the other night. Yeah.

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24.081 - 25.583 Eugene

But it gets really violent.

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26.508 - 54.941 Unknown

I'm like, that's what it's like. That's what it'd be like to be young, female and black. When your friend is a chicken and one is a pig. And you're stuck with an older guy. With a catamaran. And your gran is a ghost. And your grandfather ran away from your dad. And he's the spirit of the seas. Eugene watches a lot of Moana. As you can tell. How old? My daughter's turning 17 this year.

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55.262 - 57.404 Eugene

Oh, you're years away from this.

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57.945 - 96.576 Unknown

What? From Moana. We watched it the other day. Can you not tell? What do you mean? You're assuming that his daughter is the one who wants to watch it. That was the one who was saying. She has to put it on for him. Make way, make way. Yeah, she's the one who's putting it on for him. This is What Now with Trevor Noah. In fact, here's another reason, Malcolm Gladwell, you should be pro-pickleball.

97.805 - 123.118 Unknown

I know your views on golf. I know how much you hate the fact that golf takes up inordinate amounts of spaces and it's unfairly apportioned to the pickleball turns one tennis court. into four pickleball courts. Wait, is that true? That is completely true. Four? Four. It quadruples the output. Yes, it quadruples. Didn't you lobby for one to be turned into a... And, and, I did, I did.

123.778 - 131.846 Unknown

And most pickleball games, most, are generally played by four people. Most tennis, like, get-togethers are two people.

132.206 - 137.19 Eugene

So technically... It's really 8x the productivity of the space. Uh-huh.

138.011 - 144.644 Unknown

I wish we could come see a match. All right. No, that's why I think you would love it. Yeah. It is the sport of the people.

Chapter 3: What are the differences between older and newer Disney movies?

706.846 - 727.665 Eugene

To this day, I've never seen him play. I mean, he's long retired, but every now and again, there's some mention of George Kirvan. George Kirvan. You have no yearning to like go find like a tape or go? I don't want to ruin it. It was way better in my imagination. You know, because I, imagine if you're working off that quote. So he's not fast from here to there, but his game be zigzagging.

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727.685 - 749.067 Eugene

You can imagine in your mind how he gets to the basket, right? And he's like, he's literally, I have my picture on my wall. He's 6'7", 6'8", and if he's 160 pounds, I'd be stunned. He's rail thin. So he's like slipping and sliding his way through it like, You know, doing some, I don't know, I never saw him, but like doing some weird thing with his hand.

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749.648 - 760.964 Eugene

That's so like, I mean, and I became hooked on, to this day, I'm a massive basketball fan, but that was its origin was, I know all the stories of these players. I just don't know anything about.

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761.285 - 770.217 Unknown

I mean, that's the most important thing, isn't it? It is the most important thing. No, really it is because that is the story. Like when we talk about a legendary game, if you go like Liverpool, AC Milan, you're talking about the story.

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770.598 - 770.698

Yeah.

771.1 - 783.552 Unknown

That's what you're doing. I do that every time with football. Every time, because I hate football. Oh God, I hate how he does this. I hate football, but I've learned where to jump in. Let's make an example there. I hate this. Let's say you're talking about a coach that- I can't believe you're going to make me entertain this.

783.852 - 786.275 Eugene

Go ahead. Wait, what's your favorite football team, by the way?

786.295 - 786.635 Unknown

Liverpool.

786.655 - 788.997 Eugene

Liverpool. How did it come to be Liverpool?

Chapter 4: What insights does Malcolm Gladwell share about parenting and generational perspectives?

3555.603 - 3579.34 Eugene

They get to see the kid for who they are, right? That was... I remember that. I didn't know my... My grandparents all died before I was... And they were always living in other countries. But I always felt that there was a kind of clarity in the way they saw me. And it was like an uncomplicated...

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3579.32 - 3600.282 Eugene

Is there a part of you that wishes you had your kids sooner in life so that they could have had that? Oh, yeah, 100%. I mean, it's the biggest mistake. Really? I was waiting so long. But on the other hand, I'm chiller than I would have been. I find parenting to be completely unstressful. I think it's because I'm older. I find it hilarious when they act up. I find it...

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Chapter 5: What is the significance of the 'small life' in the context of personal legacy?

3601.021 - 3602.464 Eugene

I also let them do whatever they want.

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3603.487 - 3604.629 Unknown

In a way, you are the grandparent.

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3604.649 - 3606.654 Eugene

I am the permissive grandparent. There's no question about that.

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3607.035 - 3608.558 Unknown

That is amazing.

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3610.383 - 3615.334 Eugene

Maybe that has consequences. Who knows? I won't be around for them. I'm kidding.

3617.204 - 3620.671 Unknown

Wait, so who is your favorite kid's character?

3621.392 - 3626.642 Malcolm Gladwell

I thought you were going to say who's your favorite kid. I was like, oh my God. No, I wouldn't do that. I wouldn't do that.

Chapter 6: How does Malcolm Gladwell view the impact of societal expectations on youth?

3626.702 - 3627.604 Malcolm Gladwell

You can't know this soon.

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3627.885 - 3629.267 Trevor Noah

You'll know, but not this soon.

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3630.249 - 3631.652 Eugene

Have you decided yet? Do I?

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3631.732 - 3641.495 Unknown

I'm struggling with this one. I know... That's what I'm saying. Don't think. There's got to be one that makes you happy inside because you've watched them. You've watched Peppa Pig.

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3641.516 - 3647.065 Eugene

You've watched Louis. It's Peppa Pig's grandfather. It's hilarious to me because- Peppa Pig has a grandfather? Yeah.

3647.386 - 3647.927 Unknown

Oh, I didn't know that.

3647.947 - 3663.739 Eugene

He's so funny because he's just like, he is so, there's a certain kind of, that's my, you know, my- My father's family, I feel like they were a hundred people like Peppa Pig's father and Peppa Pig's grandfather. It just like takes me back to going to England as a kid and like, they're all that way.

3664.019 - 3686.882 Eugene

And they have that, they capture that really beautiful thing about kind of the way the English speak, which is they love being vague about everything. I'll just have a spot of tea. Yes. What's a spot? We're not going to, it's not a cup. It's not specifying anything. And everything is like in this kind of vague, like euphemistic language. That's what I listened to as a kid. And I just love it.

3687.043 - 3688.305 Eugene

I just think it's fantastic.

Chapter 7: What are the implications of fairness in sports and how do they relate to societal changes?

3691.29 - 3716.274 Eugene

My dad was, was, um, incredibly delightfully inarticulate just couldn't inarticulate inarticulate like which is why I was so obsessed with expressing myself because I've said this so many times if you live with a father who is completely inarticulate what do you do I spend my entire time as he's speaking as a kid like rewriting the words in my head. No, no, no, don't say that.

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3716.614 - 3735.501 Eugene

What you mean is this. You should say this. Like, come on, out with it. What you're looking for is this. This is what's going on in my head as a kid when I'm listening to it. And he wasn't, he's an incredibly smart man, but just like not interested in mastering, you know, tell a joke. The first time he took my mother on a date,

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3735.481 - 3759.859 Eugene

They go to some big student thing at the University College of London, and he stands up to tell a joke, and he forgets the punchline. And this is his first date. My mother's sitting there. She's like, what just happened? This guy takes me out. This white guy, first of all. This white guy takes me out. And by the way, my father... My mother's a twin, and her twin... Identical twin.

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3759.88 - 3769.652 Eugene

Identical twin. Went to the same UCL a year before, and my father asked my mother's sister out, who turned him down but said, my sister is coming.

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3769.773 - 3770.854 Unknown

That is hilarious.

3770.934 - 3788.057 Eugene

So you imagine the psychological kind of circumstances of my mother. So not only is she like, I think he might prefer my twin, A, and B, he's just made a fool of himself in front of like 100 of his... Anyway, they were happily married for... For how many years? 50, whatever, 60 years. That's beautiful.

3788.077 - 3805.228 Unknown

Was it weird having a mom who has a twin? I could imagine the mischief that Jen Dilla would get up to. But why do you think that? Because I would have someone who looks like my mom but doesn't behave like my mom. You know how many times I'd wish my mom had a twin, Jane, life? Or my aunt would come over and rescue me.

3805.985 - 3813.393 Unknown

Well, you're going to like use your mom for shenanigans, like your mom's sister for shenanigans. Let's not use moms. It's my mom we're talking about.

3813.413 - 3833.233 Eugene

You're going to- Why we use- It's not that generation that's interesting. It's the next generation. So your mom's twin sister's children are your half siblings genetically. Yes. So that's interesting. Oh, geez. Right? Well, I've never thought of that actually. Share the same mom.

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