Before we ever heard about Trevor Noah in America, Loyiso Gola was the star of his own Emmy-nominated TV satire in South Africa, Late Nite News with Loyiso Gola. He appeared in a PBS documentary in 2014 hosted by The Daily Show’s Hasan Minhaj called Stand Up Planet, and now in 2016, Gola is ready for his global close-up. His first stand-up special, Live in New York, is the first solo comedy special presented by Vimeo, and Gola sat down with me just after the New York Comedy Festival to talk about his journey and how to create your own comedy scene no matter where you are in the world.

So let’s get to it!

This episode is sponsored by Seeso‘s Stand-Up Streaming Festival.