Trevor Noah says his controversial old Twitter jokes were 'stupid'

As we get closer and closer to Jon Stewart's departure from The Daily Show, we are starting to learn a little more about Trevor Noah, his soon-to-be replacement.

The comedian has already been the subject of controversy when some of his old tweets were unearthed sporting jokes that some found sexist and anti-semitic. Noah set the record straight on the whole thing in an interview with GQ, and also talked about what his version of the show will look like and dealing with the backlash to being named the new host.

On those controversial tweets:

"You show me half my jokes from even two years ago, three years ago — I hate them. Because you see, like, a young version of yourself. You're like, Why would you say that? You idiot! That makes no sense. Or, That's just stupid. Or, Ahh, I can't believe I said that about a woman. You should not like what you did back then, because that shows that you've grown. If you're still doing it, that's a scarier place to be. So that's a great thing for me. When I get a chance to look back and go: I was an idiot."

On changing The Daily Show to fit his style:

"I have a very vague picture of the show right now. ... It'll be like a face-lift. Because, don't get it twisted, I'm a big fan of The Daily Show, and that's what it's still gonna be. It's still gonna be 'The Daily Show.' It's the same way, when Fallon took over from Leno, it's still 'The Tonight Show.' ... Just the mere fact that I'm gonna be there in the chair changes a whole bunch of the show, you know?"

On the backlash to being named the new host:

"A guy doesn't leave and another guy comes in and there's no backlash. That never, ever happens. When Michael B. Jordan got cast as the new Human Torch in 'Fantastic Four,' there was backlash, because they were like, How can this fictional character be a black man? The new storm trooper from 'Star Wars,' when he took his helmet off in the trailer, people lost their minds.' This is ridiculous. How can there be black people in space?' I didn't know what the backlash was gonna be, but I knew there was going to be backlash. The same thing when Larry Wilmore took over from Colbert: 'Oh, this is never gonna work. This is horrible.'"