In December, Trevor Noah, a 31-year-old comedian, made his debut as an on-air contributor on “The Daily Show With Jon Stewart,” offering his outsider’s perspective, as a biracial South African, on the United States.

“I never thought I’d be more afraid of police in America than in South Africa,” he said with a smile. “It kind of makes me a little nostalgic for the old days, back home.”

Now, after only three appearances on that Comedy Central show, Mr. Noah has gotten a huge and unexpected promotion. On Monday, Comedy Central will announce that Mr. Noah has been chosen as the new host of “The Daily Show,” succeeding Mr. Stewart after he steps down later this year.

The network’s selection of Mr. Noah comes less than two months after Mr. Stewart, 52, revealed on Feb. 10 that he was leaving “The Daily Show” after a highly successful 16-year run that transformed the show into authoritative, satirical comedy on current events. (An exact timetable for Mr. Stewart’s departure has not been decided, Comedy Central said.)

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"I think some stuff needs to be said," Washington noted with loud approval from the crowd. "There are those of us that to varying degrees do not [have equal rights]. We don't have equal access to education, to health care. And some other basic liberties, like marriage, a fair voting process, fair hiring practices."

"Now, you would think that those that are kept from our full rights of citizenship would band together," she continued. "But history tells us that, no, often we don't. Women, poor people, people of color, people with disabilities, immigrants, gay men, lesbians, bisexuals, trans people, intersex people. We have been pitted against each other and made to feel like there are limited seats at the table for those of us who fall into the category of 'other.'"

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"So when black people today tell me that they don't believe in gay marriage... the first thing that I say is 'Please don't let anybody try to get you to vote against your own best interest by feeding you messages of hate.' Then I say 'you know people used to say stuff like that about you and your love.'"

"We can't say we believe in each other's fundamental humanity and then turn a blind eye to the reality of each other's existence and the truth of each other's hearts," Washington pointed out. "As long as anyone anywhere is being made to feel less human, our very definition of humanity is at stake and we are all vulnerable."