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Russell Peters Prank Suggests Trevor Noah, New 'Daily Show' Host, Stole His Jokes

"He's stolen material from David Kau, he's stolen material from myself."

The new "Daily Show" host Trevor Noah hasn't hosted an episode yet, but he's already facing down plenty of controversy.

UPDATE: 11 a.m. -- Russell Peters tweeted that his claims about Noah were a prank.

Now, he's being criticized by Canadian comic Russell Peters, who accused him of stealing material from himself and another comedian in an interview with Channel NewsAsia's Lin Xueling.

"He's stolen material from David Kau, he's stolen material from myself," Peters says, following a series of questions about the new host. "But whatever, that's his gig now, and congratulations, that's all I can say."

Lin then asked whether Noah had simply "borrowed" their content. Peters is having none of it.

"That's not borrowing, you don't borrow in this business," he says. "If you're a comedian that's like stealing somebody's underwear and putting them on. That doesn't make any sense, why would you do that?"

Noah came up in the interview after Lin suggested that Peters might have been up for the "Daily Show" hosting job.

"I didn't want that at all," he responds.

Both Peters' and Noah's acts focus on racial topics.

Peters, who is Indo-Canadian, has become famous for impressions of various ethnic accents.

Meanwhile Noah, who is a mixed-race South African, has more of a satirical bent, such as when he joked that he was "born a crime," as his parents met when interracial relationships were illegal in the country.

Noah previously responded to allegations that he had stolen jokes from David Kau in a 2013 interview with South Africa's Mahala magazine.

"Nobody owns comedy, nobody owns a premise, nobody owns an idea. Comedy is your personal take on a thing," he said.

Noah cited the Pure Monate Show as forerunners of comedy in South Africa, and said that each of its performers "had their little niche thing and they fitted perfectly."

"So one guy was doing the coloured jokes and one guy was doing the political stuff and one guy was doing the cerebral stuff and one guy was doing the American stuff," he said. "But now when the market gets filled up with more comedians, you don't own that thing anymore."

Noah also addressed Kau, saying that the comedian had claimed he was the first person to do an impression of Nelson Mandela.

"Like no you weren't," Noah said.

Outgoing "Daily Show" host Jon Stewart defended Noah after the controversy around his tweets erupted, urging audiences to give him a chance and calling him an "incredible thoughtful and considerate and funny and smart individual."

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