Born a Crime

For many, Trevor Noah needs no introduction. He’s a South African comedian who hosted The Daily Show from 2015 to 2022. For me, I knew little about the man before downloading this audiobook; I was simply looking for my next listen and decided to pick one of The Audible Essentials (basically the Audible Editors’ selections of the best of the best on Audible).

Trevor Noah’s unlikely path from apartheid South Africa to the desk of The Daily Show began with a criminal act: his birth. Trevor was born to a white Swiss father and a black Xhosa mother at a time when such a union was punishable by five years in prison.

In Born a Crime, Trevor shares stories of growing up in South Africa during the twilight of apartheid. These stories include subsisting on caterpillars for dinner during hard times, being thrown from a moving car during an attempted kidnapping, and simply trying to survive the life-and-death pitfalls of dating in high school.

Trevor Noah narrates it himself, and that elevates this audiobook from what is already a terrific memoir into something really special.

Trevor is a natural storyteller: skilled, engaging, and relatable.

His ability to embody the characters and perform different accents makes the book come alive. I loved listening to Trevor tell his story of surviving, and thriving, in South Africa (with the help of his astonishingly fearless mother). Stop reading this review and just start listening already!

A note on editions: I first reviewed this in 2020, when it was an Audible exclusive. It’s now available from other services too, in a 2026 Random House Audio edition that runs 9 hours 30 minutes and is also read by Trevor.

Below is a great Q&A Trevor Noah did with Audible to discuss the audiobook of Born a Crime. Noah reveals the greatest gift his mother ever gave him, and what his writing process was like as he wrote his memoir.