The Oscars Black Panther Easter Egg Joke You Didn't Notice

Trevor Noah has a bit of a thing about hiding when it comes to Black Panther. The Daily Show host had a secret cameo in the movie as the voice of the Wakandan AI (in the same way that Gary Sinise, Miley Cyrus and Kenneth Branagh have lent their voices to computers in the franchise) and he followed that up with a great gag at the Oscars.

Noah introduced Black Panther at the ceremony and in a funny, caustic speech he slipped in a joke that only speakers of the African language of Xhosa would have understood.

More: 12 Things You Learn Rewatching Black Panther

Wistfully remembering his childhood, Noah spoke about supposedly growing up in Wakanda:

"Growing up as a young boy in Wakanda I would see King T’Challa flying over our village, and he would remind me of a great Xhosa phrase 'Abelungu abazi ubu ndiyaxoka,' which means, 'In times like these, we are stronger when we fight together than when we try to fight apart.'"

Though he's a comedian, you'd have no reason to doubt what he was saying. It certainly sounds like something T'Challa would say. Only, according to Woke Sloth the phrase ACTUALLY translates to "White people don't know I'm lying."

That's a hell of a commitment to a comic pay-off and the perfect sign of Noah's genius.

It's also a reference to the fact that Marvel chose to adopt a version of Xhosa to add authenticity to Black Panther after Ryan Coogler visited South Africa and came into contact with several Xhosa speakers. And now as a tiny, delightful nod to that, Noah gave the Xhosa speakers of the world a joke just for them. What a guy.