President Cyril Ramaphosa welcomed internationally acclaimed comedian Trevor Noah as his special guest in parliament on Thursday.

Before getting into the serious business of responding to oral questions from MPs, Ramaphosa made a special mention of the host of The Daily Show, an American satirical show that has catapulted Noah into international stardom.

"Honourable speaker, it's a real joy to welcome Trevor Noah among us, over there," said Ramaphosa as he pointed to Noah amid loud applause and whistling from MPs.

"Trevor, I never get this type of applause so I am jealous," the president quipped. "We welcome Trevor, he's come for an assignment but he's come home as well.

"I had a moment to chat to him about his work. I was particularly impressed about the foundation that he's set up to work on education which is run by one of his colleagues, Charlene, so we applaud him for ploughing back into the country once again," Ramaphosa told MPs.

"But he's also here to come and look at me and all of you to make fun of me, he's promised that he's going to make fun of me. So he will stay for a while and leave at his own leisure," Ramaphosa said good-naturedly.