The Daily Show with Trevor Noah

It’s too early for Noah to crush it, but it’s enough for now to just utter a sigh of relief. The Daily Show is back, with its essential wit and irreverence intact.

Calm, nimble and damn funny, Noah didn’t even break a sweat and seems easily poised to carry on the satire and smarts that turned the Comedy Central talk show into a source of news and entertainment for an entire generation. The Daily Show is in good hands. That’s our moment of zen.

His first night in a very high-pressure situation, Noah seemed entirely at ease, starting with a little earnestness, segueing into material that he capably handled even though it still felt built to Stewart specs, and finishing with an entirely toothless interview with Kevin Hart.

Noah didn’t fade into the wallpaper, though. Although the broadcast preserved much of The Daily Show set, the opening theme, most of the recurring bits, and even closed with a Moment of Zen, there were many moments where the skinny South African (who is 31 but could pass for 21) gave us hints of how his Show might differ from Stewart’s--starting with energy, which is cool and aloof in a Johnny Carson vein, bordering on unflappable.

While Stewart left big shoes to fill, Noah’s first at bat suggests the format remains durable enough to let him find his footing.

In all, Noah's first Daily Show was a solid success, and funnier than skeptics probably expected.

He looked like he was enjoying himself throughout the half hour--a key quality in today’s late-night landscape. But most of all, he looked like a guy who might have the audacity to try to replace Jon Stewart. And that he just might pull it off.

The Daily Show with Trevor Noah wasn’t without its foibles and clunky one-liners: the pitfalls any new late-night talk show has to dodge. But the biggest takeaway from Noah’s first swing at succeeding Jon Stewart was the new host’s energy and exuberant confidence--something most take weeks, if not months, to find.

The best and most honest thing you can say about Monday's premiere is, "He didn't break it." He also didn't try to.

In general, Noah came across polished and so smiley, he seemed nearly jubilant.

Noah read his material with good timing, shifting from sly to authoritative to snarky. What’s less clear yet is if he can be off-the-cuff funny.

For his first week, there was a lot of potential, as well as potential problems.

The 31-year-old comedian from South Africa was confident and charismatic and full of joy for the job. He went down easy, and not just because he’s one handsome, telegenic man.... His jokes, while energetically performed, lacked POV and veered toward irreverence for irreverence’s sake, most notably, the crack about the size of the pope’s penis.

With his ever-present smile, he projects a genial, almost mild camera presence but lacks anything resembling the kind of edge that made Jon Stewart a name to be reckoned with. He has a hard road ahead of him.

His version of the show doesn’t differ much from the one Stewart hosted at the end of his tenure. The correspondents are a mix of newcomers and holdovers, and the tone remains mostly bemused outrage at the state of the world.... In his first four shows, his personality didn’t shine through often enough. He was awkward in his interviews, failing to give Republican presidential candidate Chris Christie much of a challenge, and bumbling through more superficial celebrity chats.

He seemed to suffer from “Jimmy Fallon-itis”--he laughed too much at his own jokes.... The show pretty much stayed on point, with almost every joke leading back to Noah. He got to make the show all about him, and that’s OK--for one night, anyway.

On Monday night, Stewart's spirit hovered over the proceedings so much it was hard to get a sense of what makes Noah special. He seemed relaxed, and smiled throughout the whole show, looking entirely happy to be there.

With a couple of minor changes--new graphics, new desk--Noah's first show kept everything in place. The theme song, the correspondents, the Moment of Zen. The bent remains political.... As with every new host since the beginning of hosts, he was the least comfortable in the interview segment--with "comedic rock star" Kevin Hart. It made him seem young in a way the rest of the show did not.

It was a cautious first show.... A stand-up who threads laughs throughout winding, anecdotal routines, he’s still adjusting to The Daily Show’s rhythms.

The jokes weren't marginally different in tone and quality than those delivered so expertly for so many years by his predecessor, Jon Stewart. It was all about his delivery, which seemed breathless, slightly rushed and a little uncertain.... New correspondent Roy Wood Jr., reporting on the discovery of running water on Mars, made a stronger impression Monday night than Noah.

Some of his jokes--about the pope’s privates, AIDS and Whitney Houston’s relationship with crack--probably gave an equal number of viewers reason for concern about taste, or elation that Mr. Noah will not pull punches. Senior Mars correspondent Roy Wood Jr. (“Sullivan & Son”) made a strong first impression joking about which black celebrities might get a chance to visit Mars.... Mr. Noah’s least interesting segment was an interview with comic actor Kevin Hart.

He neither excelled nor failed; it wasn’t perfect, but it wasn’t flawed, either.

Noah's Daily Show at once felt confident but also oddly tentative. Smoothly delivered but uneven.... Not quite a rocky start, but not an emphatically comforting one for fans either.