SO now we know. We Scots drink to die – and our distinctive accent comes from centuries of us “trying not to throw up” after over-indulging.

The insight into how others see us comes courtesy of the latest comedy special, now streaming on Netflix, by the acclaimed South African stand-up Trevor Noah. In the course of an hour, the 33-year-old, who also hosts America's sharp-edged political satire, The Daily Show, recalls visits he made to Glasgow and Edinburgh, during which he signally failed to spot any black people and was also wretchedly sick after a standard Caledonian drinking session.

Johannesburg-born Noah took over from Jon Stewart on the Daily Show in October 2015, and in January this year his diligent skewering of Donald Trump helped deliver the show’s highest rated month since his debut. Asked last week if he thought the President would ever appear on the show, he responded: “I doubt it...I don’t think Trump has the balls to go on a show where people don’t like him.”

Noah had a Jewish-Xhosa mother and a Swiss father, which, back when he was born in 1984, ensured that their marriage was illegal in the eyes of the then-apartheid South African government (Noah says he was "born a crime" - the title of his recent memoirs.) His strong-willed mother was jailed repeatedly for breaking the racial laws and for being seen in whites-only areas. Apartheid finally came to an end by the time Noah was almost six. Until then, he was mostly kept indoors and often stayed in Soweto with his maternal grandmother.

He took to comedy at the age of 22 and his talents were such that he quickly became a familiar and versatile presence on South African television. He worked extensively in the US in 2010 and 2012, and in 2013 came to the notice of Jon Stewart. The following year he became a contributor to the show.

Then he found Scotland, and his weird love affair with out nation began. In August 2012 he played the Pleasance Courtyard at the Edinburgh Fringe in a show co-produced by Eddie Izzard. The two had met when Noah was performing at London’s Comedy Store, Noah recalling: “[Izzard] said he wanted to come to South Africa and I said I’d help him come out. And then later he asked if I wanted to come to Edinburgh, and I said, “I’d love to”.

That 2012 show, The Racist, in which he spoke about his upbringing, attracted widespread acclaim. Time Out London described it as a “slick, intelligent, blissfully funny show about racial identity.”

Noah brought the show to The Stand, in Glasgow, in January 2014 - and in August 2015, when he had already been named as Jon Stewart’s successor, he played three nights Edinburgh’s Assembly Hall with his latest show, Lost in Translation. Part of his routine centred on taking part in a drinking game in the capital, the joke being that he had to drink whenever he saw anyone who wasn't white. He remained sober. Edinburgh, he quipped, was “the whitest place I have ever been”.

Last November, just a few days before Trump defeated Hillary Clinton, Noah took to the stage at New York’s famed Beacon Theatre to tape his ninth comedy special, Afraid of the Dark. His visits to Scotland seem to have remained with him.

“I go to English-speaking countries,” he began, “but I try every now and again to go to a country where they speak no English. Like, recently, I went to Scotland, right?

“I had an amazing time. The place was beautiful. It was a different culture. Rich in history. They have the rolling Highlands … they’ve got these castles, beautiful … In the streets, there’s the men playing the bagpipes, wearing the kilts. No black people, but not in a bad way … Just a matter-of-fact way, you know?” To laughter, he recalls spending a week in Glasgow and trying "every single day" to spot another black person from the back of a car. "No black people anywhere. None."

He counsels the audience: “If you do go to Scotland and you are ever offered a drink – don’t. Because, you see … we drink to enjoy. The Scottish drink to die. I used to think the Scottish had an accent. I’ve now learned that’s just centuries of people trying not to throw up”, as he mimics a Scot speaking gibberish after over-indulging.

After one Edinburgh show he was invited for a “wee little drink” by his friend Mick, he recalls. He woke up the following morning in his bed, partially undressed, his head pounding. Racing to the bathroom he “threw up, and it was the worst feeling in the world. I don’t even drink!” Blood came out of his mouth. Panicked by signs of internal bleeding, he rang Mick, who responded “Yeah, right. And?”

Back in the States, Noah goes from strength to strength. He has made the Daily Show his own, he has nearly six million followers on Twitter and 1.3 million on Instagram. Variety has just reported that he has bought, for $10 million, a “generously terraced duplex penthouse” atop Stella Tower in New York - “an elegant, low-rise pre-war building just to the west of Times Square”. The apartment, which has never been lived in, was originally offered for sale at nearly $13 million.

His remarks about black people in Scotland have elicited at least one response on his Facebook page, though. Responding to his question, ‘Have you watched my new comedy special yet?” one woman, Ntokeleng Dorcas McLaughlin, originally from Johannesburg and now living in East Kilbride, says: “Aye I'm actually watching it the now, there's so many black [people] in Scotland Trevor - including me.”