Jon Stewart, Desi Lydic, Michael Kosta, Ronny Chieng, and Jordan Klepper discuss evolving The Daily Show for a digital age, covering the 2024 election, and tackling another Trump era.
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
You're listening to Comedy Central. Here we go again. It's
been a good run America.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
We've got so much to talk about tonight.
Speaker 3 (00:15):
Mass deportations, potential measles out.
Speaker 4 (00:18):
Break, grabbing Panama by the canal, rip.
Speaker 5 (00:21):
Todi, invading Greenland, profession wrestling, takeover Gaza, tariffs.
Speaker 4 (00:26):
What was I talking about?
Speaker 6 (00:26):
Donald Trump?
Speaker 7 (00:27):
You must Joe Biden Milania.
Speaker 2 (00:32):
Now let's focus on the price of eggs.
Speaker 1 (00:39):
You are for it. We listened.
Speaker 6 (00:43):
The Democrats acted like Republicans for the last four months.
They wore camo hats and went to Cheney family reunions.
Do you know how dangerous it is to wear a
hunting hat around Cheney.
Speaker 5 (00:56):
We have been so concerned about all the scary things
that Trump's gonna do, we forgot He's also going to
do some really stupid things.
Speaker 4 (01:04):
If you've been tuning out the presidential campaign so far,
I get it.
Speaker 1 (01:08):
It's boring.
Speaker 4 (01:08):
And my grandpa is also a rambling eighty year old man.
And let me tell you, I keep half an ear
open for the word inheritance, and I just ignore everything up.
Speaker 1 (01:17):
It used to.
Speaker 8 (01:18):
Be that you had to commit a crime to be potted,
but now Biden has to do this weird like Minority
Report Preepodden thing where it's like, hey, we know you
didn't do anything, but Trump thinks you did some things.
I'm gonna pott in you for anything you did, even
though you didn't do it. It's it's what al found us,
what I've wanted think about.
Speaker 9 (01:37):
How strange this moment is.
Speaker 3 (01:40):
I mean years from now, children will be reading about
this in history books. I mean not in Florida.
Speaker 8 (01:48):
You want us to take actions.
Speaker 7 (01:50):
They got to give Trump some action. You want dem
to stop jerking off and get to work.
Speaker 3 (01:55):
They gotta get to work jerking him off.
Speaker 2 (01:57):
Yeah, I get it. I get where you're going. I
get it.
Speaker 9 (02:01):
I bet you get it.
Speaker 3 (02:02):
You sex monster.
Speaker 9 (02:05):
Damn it.
Speaker 4 (02:06):
It's a letter from Donald Trump. Dear Troy, I saw
you on TV.
Speaker 8 (02:10):
So you are now the new Secretary of the Interior.
Speaker 9 (02:13):
Qualified to run the Interior.
Speaker 10 (02:15):
I'm gay Jordan.
Speaker 11 (02:15):
He obviously thinks the head of Interior is a decorating job.
Speaker 9 (02:19):
John pay for tracting in here.
Speaker 6 (02:22):
These tarffs are going to help out all.
Speaker 7 (02:24):
My in words, you're you're my net gains.
Speaker 4 (02:30):
Costa right, of course, your net gains.
Speaker 7 (02:34):
Hey, hey, you're not an economist. That's not your word
to say.
Speaker 9 (02:37):
Okay, you got a truck you want to show me.
Speaker 3 (02:39):
I wish the world a better place because I was here.
Jesus Christ, President Trump, same fun. Huh okay, Jenny, I
don't worry about that whole worshiping false idols thing, not
at all.
Speaker 9 (02:52):
Please welcome to the program.
Speaker 3 (02:53):
Boda Gabriel Union and help of Baga Coleman, Domingo Governor Joshua.
Speaker 1 (03:00):
Year Old, Paul W.
Speaker 3 (03:01):
Down, Mark Carney, Ray Wes Lore, Mark Gibber, Jason Brand,
Si Sport col.
Speaker 8 (03:08):
Governor Gretchen Whitner, Connie Charm, the Amazing Linda Linda.
Speaker 3 (03:16):
Steve Omer, Jessey Eisenberger.
Speaker 1 (03:19):
Jeff Williams. I just signed on for another year with
your doctors with the network. Oh my god, you're crazy.
Speaker 11 (03:25):
You think you have to live for another years in
the puge. You should celebrate.
Speaker 10 (03:33):
What's ronning.
Speaker 9 (03:35):
Someone likes to kick shame.
Speaker 11 (03:37):
No, welcome to our to our panel. Uh, thanks John,
Thank you John.
Speaker 9 (03:52):
Thanks John.
Speaker 12 (03:53):
I'm remarkably prepared with questions that I wrote. Yes for
all of you.
Speaker 4 (03:59):
Thanks for everybody coming. Oh this is full room. We
didn't know what was on the other side of the door,
So thank you. You know what we're gonna say. This
is nice.
Speaker 12 (04:06):
You could they could be anywhere on a on a Saturday,
Like if this were in New York, a Saturday afternoon
in this kind.
Speaker 1 (04:12):
Of weather, I don't think we would come to this.
Speaker 2 (04:15):
We would not be here, no way.
Speaker 1 (04:18):
But I just want to get in.
Speaker 12 (04:19):
We don't have that much time, and I know that
there's a lot of interest, and I want to just
get to the questions, and I'm just going to do
them sort of in order. The first question is for Ronnie,
why is it that your name appears so often on
the Epstein List.
Speaker 7 (04:40):
Wow? Look, the nineties was a weird time. You know,
things were different.
Speaker 8 (04:45):
It was things happened, things happened, and you know in
show business, I don't know.
Speaker 1 (04:49):
I don't yeah, yeah, I don't know how it went. Actually,
this does get Costa. You were you were hosting Costa
you were on the Epstein List. No, no, no, you
were hosting this week. So this this is.
Speaker 12 (04:58):
Something that I that I want to talk because I
I think it's interesting for everybody and I'm interested in
how you guys deal with it. There was a great
deal of preparation that went into the week. There's a
great deal of preparation that went each day. You had
all these bits lined up, and then in the middle
of the day, it's around two pm. Yeah, a young
man by the name of Elon Musk decides to use
(05:23):
the platform that he has purchased too. And I don't
know if this was his intention to blow up the show? Correct? Yeah,
what is that for people that are watching? Because you
see it, it all looks kind of effortless. People don't
realize sort of what maybe goes into all that preparation,
all those different things, the writers that produce, all the
(05:44):
different people that are putting it together. When at two
o'clock in the afternoon, somebody just goes, right, what did
that feel like?
Speaker 1 (05:53):
This week?
Speaker 4 (05:53):
And I know all my co hosts have experienced the same,
and the same for you, John, for all the years
you've hosted. But this week we did rehearse. At two
forty five, we'd covered Trump's travel band. We covered that
he appointed a twenty two year old boy as his
anti terror expert that had an eyebiw raised in his headshot.
And then I went upstairs to get my dog to
bring him down to rewrite room, and by the time
(06:15):
I went to rewrite room. They said Trump Trump and
Elana are Twitter fight were starting over and then you're
back to the blank cursor blinking on a computer screen.
And man, that's like my favorite part of the Daily
Show when you realize how good the machine is that
we just wiped the show, which was a funny show.
It was a funny show. It was a funny rehearsal,
(06:35):
Thank you very much, and wait you rehearsed and it
is so impressive I get. I'm in awe of the
Daily Show that that they created in new graphics, new
sound bites, new jokes and put on a great show.
(06:55):
And it's just so cool that we didn't back down
and avoid that and do the show that was good.
But we challenge our something and that's what they do
all the time, and that's what's that's what's so fun
to be powder of.
Speaker 3 (07:04):
Yeah, can I throw a question off that to you?
You're ready for this. This is gonna be awesome. This
is this is what the new athletic Jinga.
Speaker 5 (07:18):
Put it down, put it down, get out the shredder,
put it down.
Speaker 3 (07:22):
I feel like this is commonplace for us in the
the Trump era.
Speaker 12 (07:27):
Biden was so much easier. They'd let you know a
month in advance. Yeah, he's gonna have trouble at this
one press conference.
Speaker 1 (07:38):
Make sure you have a camera.
Speaker 9 (07:39):
That you came.
Speaker 3 (07:41):
You took a little break, right, I had to get
to know my family. You had to get to Yeah,
family time, as you call it.
Speaker 1 (07:51):
Right. They turned out to be lovely. It turned out to.
Speaker 3 (07:54):
Be lovely coming back into a Trump world where where
you hadn't been covered day in and day out like
we were. You expecting the change in the way the
show had to sort of run in the day to day, Like,
was that was that different than your expectations walking back
into the show.
Speaker 12 (08:12):
You know, it's a funny question because a lot of
the people that were there in twenty fifteen when I
had let are are still there and they were phenomenal.
But it's you go away for a little bit and
you come back and they're faster, stronger, taller, better, smarter, funnier.
Like I walked back into the room and is all
(08:33):
the people that I'm used to seeing like you kind
of you go away, you don't realize and I was
blown away at how they had taken even the level.
Speaker 1 (08:43):
You know, what reminds me of is.
Speaker 12 (08:46):
So when I was in college, I played soccer and
we thought we were pretty good. And then I went back,
like thirty years later to watch my old college team play,
and their team sucked, like we were probably nationally ranked top.
Speaker 1 (08:59):
Twenty team in the country. I went back.
Speaker 12 (09:02):
They sucked thirty years later, but they would have beaten
the shit out of our like they were so much faster, stronger,
more athletic. And that's how I felt about coming back
to the show. Is everyone had taken it to that
next level. And I think probably out of necessity having
been through the first What was it like in the
in the first TRUMPERA And is it different now than
(09:24):
what you experienced in that first one?
Speaker 3 (09:26):
Well, first of all, we're faster. It's performance enhancing drugs.
That's what it is. You know that I did not
know that is I mean, I think I remember hosting
it was. I mean, hilariously we did. We did a
live show this year during the Republican National Convention, and
I remember us thinking like, oh shit, we have to
(09:48):
write the show. It's always fun doing a live show
because you are crafting it as the news is coming
in and then Hulkogin takes the stage and you're like,
we're gonna be fucking.
Speaker 9 (09:57):
Fine, right, but America America.
Speaker 3 (10:01):
Oh, that guy that's Hull Coke and he's ripping off
his shirt and he's and then he's bringing out Dana
White and then Donald Trump's coming out with a tampon
on his head.
Speaker 9 (10:08):
Okay, this is gonna be fine.
Speaker 12 (10:09):
You know what we will find comment when Kid Rock
is on the side, gone Hulk, take it down.
Speaker 1 (10:15):
Be respectful, be respectful.
Speaker 3 (10:17):
I think there was the one we jumped back in
after the Biden era, like we all remembered the pace
of a Trump news cycle, but it's not until you
jump back into it that you really remember. Oh right,
it's just an onslaught by design, And I think this
one felt even more of an onslaught.
Speaker 9 (10:32):
He's both unfettered.
Speaker 3 (10:34):
I think that design has been honed and is more
intentional than it ever was before, and so it did
seem like the pace kicked up two speed.
Speaker 5 (10:42):
It's like the four forty five curse is what we
call it, where it's just late enough in the day
you could maybe save it for the next day, but
it's such a big story you kind of feel like
you want to touch, at least touch on it for
the show. How well, how do you decide in that
day when a story drops like that at four point thirty, right,
how do you decide whether it's something that you want
(11:02):
to tackle that day or you want to sit on it?
Speaker 1 (11:05):
Well, you know, I show up Monday around three pretty drunk.
Speaker 12 (11:07):
Yeah, yeah, So whatever's in the prompters and the prompter
and I just you know, I think we all have that,
And I think the interesting part for me will be
what level of distraction?
Speaker 1 (11:21):
Everything is strategic now? And he's got he's.
Speaker 12 (11:24):
Got a bunch of cards, I think, in a box
that he can deploy to distract.
Speaker 1 (11:29):
Us from leads. I think he's got the lead box.
Speaker 12 (11:34):
Like right now, they're like Elon Musk tweets Donald Trump
is on the Epstein list and he's like, let's declare
martial law in Los Angeles.
Speaker 1 (11:45):
How about that?
Speaker 12 (11:45):
How About I send in the National Guard and a
bunch of ice agents it and it works phenomenally well.
But but speaking of that kind of pivot, and I
want to ask you guys, because you brought up the
Publican Convention.
Speaker 1 (12:01):
The show was all set to go to the Republican.
Speaker 12 (12:04):
National Convention right before that first attempt, I think on
Trump's loge. Were you guys in Milwaukee at that time?
I was still home, But were you guys in Milwaukee
when that happened?
Speaker 9 (12:16):
I was Jordan's Yeah. We were buying Milwaukee Brewers baseball
caps at the time.
Speaker 2 (12:21):
Yeah, we were at a Brewers game.
Speaker 3 (12:23):
No, yeah, you park. You gotta hang John. We're going
out doing cool stuff, man, Yeah, I gotta come.
Speaker 1 (12:30):
We're seeing base You guys know I'm super social. More.
Speaker 2 (12:36):
We were trying on Brewers jerseys. We had hats. Do
you think is this hat good? Or is this hat good?
Speaker 5 (12:43):
And we're running around the store and Jordan is like
stop just staring at his phone. And I'm like, Jordan,
do you like this? And He's like, uh, Daisy, put
that down.
Speaker 3 (12:53):
It is not a good fit. To be very clear,
it was just not a good fit. It wasn't I
had to be honest, not my color. I was doing
what a lot of people do at baseball games. Look,
you were at the game too, Yeah, we were all there.
Speaker 4 (13:05):
I was on Zillow looking at the local housing costs
to see if I should move from my shitty New
York Brooklyn apartment to Milwaukee where I can have a
six bedroom house on a lake for one hundred and
eighty five thousand dollars. But we were in Milwaukee and
took a zoom with you, and Jordan's family was there,
(13:26):
and he said, do you mind if we share a
hotel room?
Speaker 1 (13:29):
Goes.
Speaker 4 (13:29):
I don't want my my family to kind of be
a part of this terrible national news.
Speaker 1 (13:35):
So Jordan and I are sitting next to each other.
We don't know where you were.
Speaker 4 (13:38):
You probably were, I don't know, but and that's where
we decided to go back to New York and do
the shows. And again, that's what's so fucking awesome about
the Daily Show is how quickly the pivot can happen.
And great week of shows, which I think was live shows, right,
maybe that next week I don't remembers, in the air.
Speaker 8 (13:55):
Had the pilot turn around the power I was. I
was in San Diego doing stand up comedy when he got,
oh you weren't that you hadn't gotten to Milwaukee. I
hadn't gone to Milwaukee. I was gonna do the show
and didn't go to Milwaukee afterwards, and then before the
I was doing a stand up so in San Diego,
which is kind of a military town, right, and so
the guy he got shot? And I was like, man,
should I talk about this at the show or not?
(14:17):
I have I have some jokes about MAGA and my
routine right now, and should I just in the name
of human decency, maybe let's just have a night of comedy.
Speaker 1 (14:25):
I'm sorry, what's that for?
Speaker 7 (14:27):
And I got to the show and no one in
San Diego cared?
Speaker 8 (14:31):
Yeah yeah because And and to me it was a
lesson of like people people.
Speaker 7 (14:35):
I don't think they knew he got shot.
Speaker 8 (14:37):
And I guess I chalk it up to, like, I'm
we are so connected to the news in a way
that most humans are like what he got Oh right,
what's the what's toes?
Speaker 1 (14:47):
The dick joke?
Speaker 8 (14:48):
But they didn't even they didn't notice at the San
Diego show, so I had to. I think I was
who broke the news to the San Diego crowd, like, hey,
do you know the president got shot?
Speaker 1 (14:56):
Well, this has also explained some of the problem.
Speaker 7 (14:58):
Yeah yeah, right, yeah.
Speaker 9 (15:01):
I'm sure either really gentle breaking it to the people.
Speaker 3 (15:04):
I could only imagine that being the calm, soothing voice
when there's a national tragedy of react. People feel unsure
running big God to fill us in, right.
Speaker 1 (15:14):
You people are so stupid.
Speaker 8 (15:17):
Stupid people even know President God?
Speaker 12 (15:20):
Did you when we pivoted and came back? So I
hadn't gone out in there yet, and Jen and I
were talking. Jen Flanso was the executive producer of the
program and is really the only reason why any of
this can happen correct with the kind of adaptability that
it does. Like just that's one of the people that
Jen was a production assistant when I started on the
(15:42):
show in nineteen ninety nine. And now like is the
keeper of you know, the Krusty Krab formula. Like she's
the only one who knows how this thing all works,
but she's the one who makes sure. So she and
I were talking, and you know, it was that sense
of do you give in to the moment? There was
something about it that felt like we must, because Lord knows,
(16:07):
if one twenty two minute a nightly satirical show is
off the air, you know from the live location that
it was supposed to be, that nobody believes were at anyway,
because normally weren't on a green screen. You know, the
world will stop spinning. And we were going back and
forth and all that, and then they moved the security
zone our theater was in. There was the soft zone
(16:28):
and the hard zone.
Speaker 1 (16:30):
Uh and but what are we talking about my abs here?
Speaker 12 (16:33):
Yeah, Jen got the call that where the theater was
was going to move into the hard zone, and we
were like, I don't think we want to be in
the hard zone.
Speaker 1 (16:43):
So everybody, everybody came home.
Speaker 4 (16:46):
But why John, Why? Because my instinct was, Oh, my god,
this is a big thing. This is our duty as
daily show correspondence. And I was so thankful that you
smacked us in the face with reality and said come home,
be safe.
Speaker 1 (17:04):
Yeah, so thanks for that. No, listen, I thought it'd
be funnier if you guys weren't.
Speaker 12 (17:12):
No.
Speaker 1 (17:12):
I think that's and and that's something that you know,
for the audience.
Speaker 12 (17:16):
I think there's sometimes an expectation and I we'll talk
about that a little bit. Is do you feel a
sense of and I know I began to feel this
sort of in the early two thousand is an asthma,
Like things would happen like the Charlie Headbow horrible massacre,
and and you start to feel like, oh, we've got
to go on the air and say something funny and
(17:38):
profound about this but I think it took a few
of those for me to realize, Oh, why, that's not
If we've got something to say, great, we'll say it,
but that's not necessarily our flag to plant all the time.
Speaker 1 (17:53):
We'll you know, we'll be back. Do you guys feel
that pressure?
Speaker 8 (18:00):
Take a lot of my cues from you. And so
when you said so, I gotta admit it is. Ah,
it is when something super horrible is happening. I'm I'm
with you. I'm like, wait, why you know, why is
this is not the voice to come on and make
some jokes about something horrible. It just happened, right, So
(18:21):
I'm with you of like, this isn't a uh, that's
not something that we necessarily need to contribute to the
culture at that moment, you know.
Speaker 2 (18:29):
So it really helped when you relieved us of that burden.
Speaker 9 (18:36):
Yes, someone someone go in to.
Speaker 1 (18:38):
A meeting and I just went, what we do doesn't matter.
Why won't you all understand that?
Speaker 3 (18:45):
You know, some would call it cowardly or or a
dereliction of duty, but you know, we see it as
a relief, you know, not a not a cowardly act
by a small man in stature and morality like as
a permission structure to be small ourselves.
Speaker 1 (19:02):
You know, thank you, You're what?
Speaker 9 (19:03):
Thank you?
Speaker 1 (19:05):
I've always said this show can shrink to meet the moment, but.
Speaker 5 (19:11):
To keep but to remember that we are a comedy show,
and I think so much of it is not just
about making people laugh and bringing some lightness and some
joy to everything happening, but it's also about catharsis. And
you know that can come through laughter, and it can
come through having something meaningful to say. It can come
through honesty and authenticity and vulnerability and keeping your humanity intact.
(19:35):
But if you can't do that, if it doesn't feel
cathartic to talk about it on the show, why do it?
Speaker 4 (19:42):
You know people on occasion, people will come up to
me and say thank you for making the show. What
you're doing is really important, And I look behind being
to see if they're talking to someone else, because I say,
you know, I'm not a journalist. You know, I went
to University of Illinois and I played collegiate tennis and
I got a C plus average in the School of
(20:02):
Communication where classes were like public speaking. So I hope
we're holding real journalists to the standard that something important happened.
The burden is on them to cover this with integrity
and honesty. Of course, I love when we say something
profound and have a message, but we speak for myself.
(20:26):
I am not a journalist. I am not a politician.
I'm a comedian. Tickets are available most nights to my shows.
Speaker 2 (20:34):
Plug the book, Plug the book and plug the book.
Speaker 4 (20:37):
No, but of course we want to say something important,
but important people should say the important things.
Speaker 1 (20:43):
First.
Speaker 8 (20:44):
We can tell jokes, Well, you don't sell out in presale,
you should try the Yeah, but.
Speaker 1 (20:55):
You got to get a better marketing guy or something.
Speaker 11 (20:57):
I don't know.
Speaker 8 (20:58):
I was supposed to be talking about this, but just
to bring it back since we have the guy who
invented modern American satire here.
Speaker 1 (21:04):
Yeah, you've been.
Speaker 8 (21:07):
Uh, you know a lot of what we do. We're
talking about changing the show at fourth at four pm, four,
six pm taping. A lot of that has to do
with the technology available as well, in addition to obviously
the skill set of the crew and the producers and
editors using this technology as available as someone who's been
(21:28):
around since the Jurassic Like, what what was it like
trying to could you even change the show at four
with tapes.
Speaker 1 (21:39):
Years ago. So we we used to do the show
with the stone tablet and a chisel.
Speaker 12 (21:48):
I would sit and then we have we have the
tablet almost done, and then somebody would come in and go,
Garfield's been shot.
Speaker 1 (22:02):
Take it in, McKinley's take it over.
Speaker 12 (22:08):
It is the technology part of it is and I'm
sure even you guys have seen the advances in that technology,
but it is true like when we started in nineteen
ninety nine, you still edit it in the online room.
So and there were no I mean, it sounds almost
ridiculous now, but like TiVo hadn't been invented yet, Like
(22:29):
there wasn't this sense that you could follow. I think
the way we did the show was we used to
get there was one group feed that you could buy
into even if you were us, and it was the
AP news Feed. So what it would be is you
would get stories on the AP news feed, so it
would be the two big stories of the day, and
(22:50):
then generally like a human interest story like the celebration
of the Nazarene and the Philippine you know, and so
our show, not night, would be whatever was.
Speaker 1 (22:59):
On the AP feed.
Speaker 12 (23:01):
And if you wanted to use five rolls of tape,
like this is before we ever did our daily show
montages or any of those kinds of things. If you
made an error in the edit when you were putting
the show together for rehearsal, avids weren't invented yet, so
you you're the whole crowd like.
Speaker 1 (23:19):
What this is such an la audience avids, I don't understand.
Speaker 9 (23:29):
It didn't react to Trump being shot, but.
Speaker 3 (23:31):
Oh my god, the humanity, they don't even know Trump
got shot.
Speaker 1 (23:40):
It was rough. Those were the days.
Speaker 12 (23:43):
And then when all of those technologies started to come
on board and you saw how quickly it all changed.
And suddenly what change was the agency that the show
could have in terms of narrative direction. So you went
from being sort of at the mercy as to what
would be present to you to a kind of democratizing
of what your intention could be. And so you could
(24:05):
now run five tvOS and collect a bunch of stuff.
And suddenly that's when sort of the more modern way
of how we.
Speaker 1 (24:12):
Would put the show together.
Speaker 12 (24:13):
But even then it was rudimentary compared to like you
guys say, you go in there and just redo the
entire show and they'll turn it around in the render
time of It'll be forty five minutes.
Speaker 4 (24:23):
That is one of my favorite parts studio production. This
week before the big feud, Elon Musk didn't like The
Big Beautiful Bill for four reasons and MSNBC had a
read of that and it was slow and it was
a boring read, and someone said, can we get a
more exciting read for a different network? And then Justin
Milkman is on the phone and in like twelve seconds
(24:46):
there's a new read of a more exciting version of that,
and it's amazing. You talk about like the tools that
are fun to play with. They have these amazing toolbox
and they give us the tools and it's very it's
very cool to be a studio production. Remember when you
would walk in and all the computers were recording all
of television. It felt like you were getting radiation cancered
(25:06):
in that room every single time.
Speaker 12 (25:08):
Look, that room was in the basement of our building,
and for years we didn't realize it wasn't supposed to
be moist like for some reason, it was this one
room in the building that was always moist, and we
just thought, like, is that necessary for the computers?
Speaker 1 (25:24):
And then somebody else was like, I think that's mold.
Speaker 12 (25:26):
Actually you would just you would just lose video editors,
like they'd be like, where's he like tuberculosis, But it's
all it's it's.
Speaker 1 (25:37):
Those things have changed.
Speaker 12 (25:38):
And even the funny part about working at the show
is the people that are on there that do the
guts of the show love it so much. Like Max,
how many times have you been emailed on a Saturday
on a like Monday night in the morning where like
Max or Justin or somebody will go, like, send you
a link to a thing that they found that's just
the right, uh piece of information for the larger thought
(26:03):
that you were going to put into the piece.
Speaker 3 (26:05):
It's honestly, one of the most interesting things in having
been at the Daily Show for a long time is
to see like how it's been adapted have well, I
mean it's not Jurassic I think I was like Jurassic
Lost World.
Speaker 12 (26:19):
Right, you were the fourth one once Chris Pratt entered
the Yeah, Chris Pratt era, right, Chris Pratt where he's
a raptor wrangler?
Speaker 9 (26:27):
Is that where that series went.
Speaker 8 (26:30):
On?
Speaker 4 (26:30):
The care found all six writers of that screenplay.
Speaker 3 (26:37):
You're right, don't worry. Your genius is Ai could never
come up with an idea of that.
Speaker 1 (26:48):
Back then they had to use real dinosaurs.
Speaker 9 (26:50):
They did so impressive. What what has been so interesting?
Speaker 3 (26:54):
Like there's Twitter now that people get reactions to the
news in real time, where in you know, twenty years ago,
they would wait till the night to see how late
night shows responded to it.
Speaker 9 (27:05):
Now they get in real time on Twitter.
Speaker 3 (27:07):
Now they get quick clips, and I think, like we
have like this robust social team that has the ability
to like respond in real time and so we can
have like comedic conversations in real time throughout the day.
I think then the show now can create craft a
narrative in its first act which can play for like
an eight minute narrative about what happened during the day
or make a larger point. We have field pieces that
(27:28):
can go out and they can kind of craft stories
that are out there.
Speaker 9 (27:31):
We get to do specials. They get to have long narrative,
We get to.
Speaker 3 (27:33):
Do clipped lives special There are great specials done by
really intrepid reporters go into the fray, you know, finger
it the finger who are not afraid to and finger
the pulse. You know, it's just it's really intrepid work
that's out there. But I do think like people often
(27:55):
talk about like the way they engage with like daily
show content, and sometimes people just get clips. They don't
know it's from the Daily Show. They just know here's
a funny thing. John Stewart said this funny joke. Ronnie
Chang did this one interesting take, and it can play
and I think the show crafts ways that it can
play in that context. But also if you watch it
on linear television, it plays with a narrative context, and
(28:17):
then it also plays in a real time context, which
I think that's like a testament to the structure that
we have at the show that has the ability to
be a comedy machine in real time and like have
conversations on all those platforms.
Speaker 9 (28:31):
Yes, but is there a butt? No?
Speaker 1 (28:33):
No butt no, just yes? Yeah, yes, so did that surprise?
Speaker 12 (28:36):
So you guys were more grew up in that era,
and I'll ask you how you sort of interact now.
Speaker 4 (28:42):
We grew up watching you, John, We grew up watching
you grew up in.
Speaker 12 (28:47):
That era where you know, again, I was used to
this linear idea of like I feel like like I
run a tower records, do you know what I mean? Like,
I'm still like people if they want music, they've got
to come into my store and go to the CD rack,
you know, and everybody's like, it's there's I have a
chip behind my ear and it gets me all the
new bieber songs like it is. The delivery systems are
(29:10):
so different, but the content, you know, I sort of
like in it too. Like when I started, we were
a McDonald and then like you open a drive through
and like I'm like, wait, you can you can just
go around the corner and just pick it up at
the window. Has that change, but it still feels like
content is king rather than the system by which it's delivered.
Speaker 1 (29:31):
Do you consume media in that way? Does it?
Speaker 12 (29:34):
Does it matter to you how you get it, where
you get it. That's our show for today. It's it's definitely,
I mean, it's definitely how I consume it. I think
I get nervous about it. It's content.
Speaker 1 (29:49):
I've watched television.
Speaker 9 (29:49):
They see it, they see it like this.
Speaker 3 (29:51):
I think I think context is gone in so many
ways in which people get media. That's what scares me
about stuff is like you can get stuff out of
context from TV, from shows, from CLI and so people
don't know the grand scheme of things. I laugh when
people see me on the street and if they're over forty,
they recognize you from the Daily Show, If they're between
thirty and forty, they recognize you from YouTube. And if
you're under thirty, your content that they see, yeah right,
(30:13):
and yeah you're influence influence exactly. I used to be like, oh,
that's funny. I'm like, no, that is like canon. Now,
like a twenty five year old just knows you in
thirty second clips, which to me is worrisome and or
at least a challenge in crafting something that makes sense
within that thirty second clip. But it's also kind of
the reality in which they are getting information, and I
(30:33):
think the savvier ones are using that and then seeking
out longer form stuff, even like a podcast. And then
you have on the flip side where people will listen
to people talk for an hour and a half about
something as well. So I think like it's the context
that shifts the platforms people. I seem to be like
dipping in each of them.
Speaker 4 (30:50):
Idea, people listen to our show just the audio version
of it with no other visual component, as a very
popular podcast, they just sit on the train and listen
to the audio of our show and it crushes, and
they say costas audio crushes they say, they say that
I added that last part, and you're not saying here
(31:12):
we are technologies. Technology has ever been better, and people
are still taking the audio of a video component and
downloading it and loving it.
Speaker 2 (31:19):
But missed opportunity. They can't even see.
Speaker 1 (31:21):
Your abs exactly. And hard security area.
Speaker 8 (31:27):
I like coming out of the jungles of Malaysia, like
I hear we stop Ronnie jesus As as a real
immigrant here who actually overcame a vood I was raised.
I always aspire to work at these American institutions of comedy,
like you know, I that was my aspiration to work
(31:48):
at you know, like sn Now Daily Show, you know,
working American show business. I felt there was something aspiration
of all these institutions. And you get to, you know,
over the last kind of ten years, you're talking about
the inn that kind of kind of white the algorithm
kind of rewards quantity over quality.
Speaker 7 (32:07):
I think that's kind of what we're discussing here.
Speaker 12 (32:09):
By the way, that is Comedy Central's new tagline.
Speaker 7 (32:13):
Okay, well, I'm glad you could say.
Speaker 4 (32:19):
And are by the three are you're a buzzers buzzing
in your back back there, don't go there, don't go there.
Speaker 1 (32:27):
But I do.
Speaker 8 (32:28):
I do feel that we've we've lived in ten years
of this kind of quantity over quality internet content thing,
and I feel like there is a bit of a
reaction what humans are feeling.
Speaker 1 (32:43):
Sick of it.
Speaker 8 (32:44):
Some people feel sick of it, but they don't know why.
But there is a reaction to this. This social media
is making me sick. And I think one thing that
the show does really well and and thank you John
Stewart as well for doing this real is doing, uh
is production value and quality over quantity, you know, and.
Speaker 7 (33:02):
I think that comes through.
Speaker 8 (33:04):
So there's a million people who can put on a
suit and talk in front of a desk and talk
about the news, but like it doesn't they don't have
the same production value and comedy knowledge and you know, like.
Speaker 4 (33:17):
And we have a great, great, great group of writers, right,
great group of writers, and so they turn shit out fast, funny.
Speaker 1 (33:24):
Yeah, uh yeah, it's in the business.
Speaker 8 (33:28):
But I'm just saying that that quality comes through the quality, right,
and people can feel it. I think people can feel it,
you know, when John's on the show, they can feel
it if they know this feels different to someone you
know telling the news with a dance and not you.
Speaker 5 (33:40):
Know, it's that It's okay, I did that one time,
one time, right.
Speaker 8 (33:45):
I just think that the I hope that well this
maybe this is more hopeful than anything, but I hope
that we are going back to a quality, kind of
a quantity kind of world hopefully.
Speaker 4 (33:56):
I know, hopefully. I hope you're all clapping and hope
it's true.
Speaker 12 (34:01):
Well it is, I mean, I think and for you
guys also who you know, everyone out here who works
in the business, I think we're feeling these kinds of
the plates shift underneath us. And having experienced those shifts
from you know, our more primitive days of no TiVos
and and everything else to what we're seeing now, I
think we're all sort of feeling like we're on a
(34:22):
much more tenuous ground that you know. I think we
still sort of cling to this idea that what we
do is a craft, has an our teasonal purpose to it,
that it's it's done for connection, and it's and it's done.
Speaker 1 (34:37):
For a reason.
Speaker 12 (34:37):
And the more that you see, the different you know,
as we watch these tech companies get into content, you
see that the ethos is, it's a very different ethos.
You know when they talk about like writer's rooms. You know,
it's really important for us that the writers are a
(34:58):
part of the whole process and that people in the
building get to put their hands and touch the macro
of the art that you produce, because you want them
to see that picture so that when they become creators
they understand all the different elements and what the render
times of certain things and how these things go. I
(35:21):
think we all have a respect for the craft of
working in a kind of a refinery where we're we
really do go and we test the hops and we
smell and you do all that, and then you know,
a tech company comes in and buys it and goes,
let's just have two writers and let's just have them
(35:43):
be in a room, and when you're shooting the show,
they're not there anymore. They don't have that connection to
the legacy of passing down the craft that we've all grown.
Speaker 1 (35:56):
Up with, and I think that's a tragic thing to
lose in this business. I mean, rehearsal, John is really yeah, yeah,
let them applaug. I'm sorry. Yeah, Well, now I built
it up, and I don't even.
Speaker 12 (36:08):
Know by the way that speech was written by Ai
chat GPT couldn't tell the difference. But I do think
because everything that these guys are talking about is about
touching every part of the process and valuing every part
(36:30):
of the process, from the people that do uh the editing,
to the people in the control room, to the people
in makeup and wardrobe, to props, to every single part
of that is a contribution to that greater whole of
of quality. And I and I wondered, you know where
(36:50):
you see that, do you worry about technology replacing that
with the ethos of like Elon's kind of yeah, move
fast and break shit and don't care at all about
the people who make it.
Speaker 4 (37:01):
Every once in a while in the rewrite room, well
we'll do something funny or say, right, say something funny,
and I will think, oh, that'll make a good clip,
and then I want to punch myself in the dick.
Speaker 12 (37:14):
By the way, we also have two people in the
building whose gab it is is to punch Michael in
the deck and that's a contribution as well. And I
think we're I'm afraid we're going to lose that sorry,
I hope.
Speaker 8 (37:25):
I just wanted to see what the sign language will Punchday.
Speaker 1 (37:36):
By the right?
Speaker 8 (37:37):
Can can someone you verify this is correct sign language
by the way, because I don't want to end up
on my own show with I hope the answer, John
is what Ronnie alluded to earlier, that people there always
will be a hunger for quality, and I hope, I
hope we keep making quality and we have for the
last thirty years.
Speaker 1 (37:56):
Yes, right, as can I do the act out that
I was gonna do?
Speaker 4 (38:02):
So you talked about the brewmaster tasting the hops. I
was thinking, that's cool because rehearsal is really just getting
the script and kind of going, oh.
Speaker 12 (38:12):
Yeah, you know you're supposed to read. It's you, that's
your problem. I needed to This is perfect. I did
an act that wasn't really funny. John stepped in saved
the day Daily shows Great. There we go, Bo. That's
how it worked, the team working together.
Speaker 4 (38:27):
I blame the sign language the girl with the whole
punching of the dick thing.
Speaker 7 (38:34):
Yeah, I don't know. I don't know.
Speaker 8 (38:37):
I worry about it. I don't know you you uh,
I don't know. If this is the last of the
movie is no.
Speaker 12 (38:47):
It feels like we're in one of those places. The
one thing I will say is I remain optimistic that
people feel the humanity that is infused in art, and
if you remove that that will you will know it.
I can't say it for sure, and maybe I'm lying
(39:08):
to myself, but there is something about the connection between
people and I see it now. Maybe this is a
place to take it to a different place because each
you know, each week that we host, we go out
and we have sort of an audience with it. I'm
noticing in the audience something that I haven't seen in
a long time, and that is need, like a real
(39:31):
need to be in that room together, to connect with
each other, a real almost a sense of isolation and
a feeling of like the world is a lot out
of control and that room feels almost like a revival
to some extent. Are you feeling a difference when you
go out and talk to the audience.
Speaker 2 (39:50):
Yeah, I think.
Speaker 9 (39:53):
You do.
Speaker 5 (39:54):
They're just so with you the whole way through. Yes,
it feels like we're thirsty to laugh. We need some relief,
and I know for me, I feel it all throughout
the day and talking about just the group collaboration, and
from the first meeting of the day walking into a
room of your funniest friends and finding the lightness and
(40:16):
the humor and the tragedy that's happening in the world,
and the fact that I get to work in a place.
Speaker 2 (40:21):
That is so deeply collaborative.
Speaker 5 (40:24):
And this is something that you instilled into the DNA
of the show, and Jen Flans is a huge part
of it as well. But you know, we have multiple
meetings throughout the day. We talk to each other, we
collaborate with each other. Anyone can pitch an idea and
you feel it in the creative process, and then to
get to sit in with the audience and process it
(40:46):
with them, it feels much more like a collaborative experience
with them than I've ever felt before.
Speaker 4 (40:52):
The one I've been getting a lot lately is thank
you for making me feel like I'm not crazy. I
think when the Daily Show gets turned on and people
have all these thoughts about what happened to the news,
and then we dissect or joke about what happened, and
it's like, oh, no, I'm not crazy. They're they're pointing
this out too. Deasy brings up a great point anybody
(41:13):
can pitch at the Daily Show, anybody. Anybody can pitch
an idea from an intern all the way up to
the front. And it's really amazing how many different levels
on the hierarchy have created jokes and pitches and ideas.
I pitched an idea year ago about this woman in
the Everglades who hunts pythons because the Burmese python. I'm
(41:34):
sorry if this is going to turn anti Burmese for
a second, but the Burmese python has wiped out rabbits, foxes, squirrels.
Speaker 7 (41:42):
It's a better animal. Maybe they should take Well.
Speaker 4 (41:44):
It's not supposed to be there in the first place. Okay, Well,
well that's typical somebody if you're going on at the
show now.
Speaker 12 (41:51):
For for some reason, Ronnie always feels the need to
defend the Burmese python and we don't know why.
Speaker 1 (41:59):
Well, do you know where I'm going on Monday running.
Speaker 4 (42:01):
I'm flying the Everglade to fucking kill python with this lady.
And I don't know if this might be the last
time I ever do. Please vote for our Emmy Show
nomination show. But I have to point that out because
I that is one of my most favorite things of
the Daily Show. And what I'm most proud of these
package pieces that we do is that we go actually
(42:23):
out there.
Speaker 1 (42:24):
I'm going to be with this woman in her truck.
Speaker 4 (42:27):
She gets paid sixty five dollars to kill a snake,
and she gets like ninety dollars to get an egg,
and you're not allowed You're not allowed to try the
egg because I guess it's like the potential, like like
even like a young child's life is worth more than
our child, you know, our life. I mean, why did
this get so dark? My point is the package? Yeah,
(42:47):
the package point is you're not going to be in
the office next week. Correct, I'm not going to the
office next week? Well, Daisi said. Everybody pitches and I
was like, that's right, that is and that is an
awesome thing that I thought, except for my pitch about
going to hunt pythons because now I actually have to
go fucking do this piece.
Speaker 8 (43:00):
But but that's something we do at the Daily Show
is field pieces. Right, the field, we got into the
field and in your case talk to mentally ill people.
Speaker 3 (43:08):
And Americans it's Americans.
Speaker 8 (43:13):
Running and in your case, you kill local wildlife. And
what about your piece where you want to kill fish?
The bottom of the ocean. You shot the shot fish.
We shot lion fish. They were in vasive species in Florida.
Speaker 1 (43:25):
And what did you shoot them with? With a gun?
Speaker 4 (43:29):
By the way, this is where we think the legal department,
they're wonderful.
Speaker 8 (43:33):
But all these field pieces are like little short films,
I guess, or snuff films if you want to, you know,
like that's how it was, and we got there when
you have to. You know, it's it's a real education
in in in all aspects.
Speaker 7 (43:48):
Well Americana.
Speaker 8 (43:49):
I was going to bring it back to LA and
be like of movie making, because you need to have
writing skills, you need acting skills, you need improv skills.
You need a producer who knows what they're doing. They're direct,
you direct, need camera people. They need to edit it.
So every of these these field pieces, you know, you
see Jordan going all day. I just you know, and
you think it's easy.
Speaker 9 (44:09):
You watched any of these pieces.
Speaker 8 (44:10):
No, just I don't know, I don't know what you actually.
I know you go to the d C some special
look at me and and you you see him do
it and it looks easy. But that's because he he
spends all time in edit and he's he.
Speaker 3 (44:26):
Woke a lot are the worst of complimenting people, the worst,
the worst, and try to be like that.
Speaker 9 (44:34):
Where is there's like a genuinely nice thing.
Speaker 7 (44:36):
And yeah, okay, I'm getting to it, and I'm getting
to it. I'm getting to it. And he's also.
Speaker 12 (44:41):
Every meeting at the show, I don't know how we
get the show in the air.
Speaker 7 (44:46):
And he's also a lanky person who's he doesn't have.
Speaker 8 (44:50):
To enter into the conversation you've even seen who happens
to be a world class improviser.
Speaker 7 (44:54):
Then that's why you get that's.
Speaker 9 (44:55):
Where that's where it is.
Speaker 12 (44:58):
That's a that's a beautiful ultimately within all that, I
thought it was a beautiful than you imagine a Burmese
probably one with something inside and you're like, what is that?
Speaker 1 (45:06):
It was a beautiful compliment.
Speaker 3 (45:07):
Yeah, it feels like it's the snake eat in its
own tail.
Speaker 12 (45:10):
If has has traveling around the country, has it reinforced
stereotypes that you thought you had about Americans? Has it
opened your eyes to certain things that you didn't think
you would believe?
Speaker 1 (45:22):
Is it a more nuanced view.
Speaker 7 (45:25):
When I came out of the jungles of Malaysia?
Speaker 1 (45:27):
Yeah, here we go.
Speaker 8 (45:29):
We had Malaysian pythons and we had and I always
wanted to come to America and travel. So I got
when I go around America, I go with like, oh
my god, I get to do I get to see America,
you know, when I get to do field pieces, or
when I do when I tour this NOOW comedy special,
like I get to I get to like see all
these different parts of America.
Speaker 7 (45:47):
And I got to tell you something.
Speaker 8 (45:48):
This was before the election, and every town I went to,
I was like, you know what, there's more good people
and bad people.
Speaker 1 (45:55):
Out here for sure.
Speaker 8 (45:56):
You know, every city, I don't care it's Republican or
Demico whatever. Everyone was always super nice to me. They
didn't know who I was, I think, and they was
still nice. Everyone was respectful face to face people in
America very respectful. And so I didn't go in thinking
everyone's gonna be horrible in the middle of America. I
wentan liking it, and I left the middle of America
(46:16):
really liking it. Everyone was super nice. Everyone's trying to
get by. Everyone was welcoming to me. They would show
mutual respect, you know, and that made me hopeful. And
then the election happened, and I was like, what the
fuck happened there? Because everyone I met was.
Speaker 1 (46:31):
Like Americans as individuals, but not as a voting block.
Speaker 8 (46:34):
In the aggregate, they get a little weird, but as
individuals they were great.
Speaker 7 (46:38):
Face to face, everyone's very nice.
Speaker 8 (46:40):
So I don't know, I don't know how to square
that away, you know, with what I saw, you know,
and the people I saw.
Speaker 1 (46:45):
And I think.
Speaker 12 (46:47):
It's generally people's experience with other humans is that they
are you know. I think you would alluded to it
earlier that the view that people have from social media
and from being online is a truly warped perspective of
how we interact with each other. And it does so
because it's incentivized purely for outrage and hostility. You know,
(47:10):
the people that you see online that make a name
for themselves do it through provocation. They don't. There are
very few people online that you're like, I just find
that gentleman fascinating, Like it's it's just more like Wow,
that fucking guy will say anything, you know, and in
a horrible way, Like I.
Speaker 1 (47:27):
I always tell this story. It's a terrible story. Fuck
it now.
Speaker 12 (47:31):
I'm not gonna talk, but I'll tell all right, but
the world as it exists. So as like when people
say we talk about not to bring up like Jews
or anything like that, but like, oh, are you worried
about anti Semitism, I'm like, no, I'm not worried about
anti Semitism. I think anti Semitism will be fine. I uh,
(47:53):
I think it's I think it's very resilient. And but
the reason I say it is so I I had
just gotten back to the show. I've been there for
like a month, and my favorite dog passed away. His
name was Dipper. He was three leg a dog pull
we got him. So I went on the show to
just mention it at the end of the show and
ended up blubbering like a very, very emotionally volatile person.
(48:17):
But the response from people was so wonderful that I
post I did something I never do, which is posted
on social media, and I put pictures up of my
family and I when the first day we met Dipper
at the shelter. And what was so interesting is the
comment section on social media. People started posting pictures of
(48:40):
their best dog. So the first post is, you know,
this is Kibbles. He was our akda. I hope he
and Dipper are playing at the Rainbow Bridge. Beautiful. The
next one this is our King Charles Spaniel. It was
the best dog we ever had and we miss him
to this day.
Speaker 1 (48:57):
Beautiful. And then the third post was did you change
your name? Juve?
Speaker 4 (49:07):
Look, I was going through some stuff that week and
I just, you know, I apologize.
Speaker 12 (49:12):
The second part of that post post and this is
our German shepherd Eva, and she said, I know, but.
Speaker 1 (49:18):
But my point being like.
Speaker 12 (49:22):
You would meet those people face to face and go wow,
I had a great interaction with them, or we did
a thing, because what you see online is such a
perversion of who we are that when you see people
in there, and I wonder, do you guys deal it
(49:44):
all in social media? Do you delve into that you know,
toxic factory of attacks and like the comments section, because
it is those people I don't actually think exist, even
the people that write those, that's not really who they are.
It's that the algorithm has changed their wiring in that context.
Speaker 3 (50:07):
I mean, I've been hassled by folks in the Maga
universe who then I meet.
Speaker 1 (50:12):
In the Maga universe now they're like Marvel, Yes, all right.
Speaker 9 (50:16):
I think the superheroes. Now, yeah, right, what do you do?
Speaker 7 (50:20):
Magu and sign language like this is that what it is?
Speaker 1 (50:24):
She's spelling it out spelling.
Speaker 3 (50:29):
I think it's also s o s.
Speaker 1 (50:33):
The mainstream liberal interpreters.
Speaker 3 (50:38):
I I have a like the vitriol online is is
intense in these fears, and I feel like when I'll
go there. There's a man I met who's called the
Bricksuit Guy, who is famous in the maga world. And
he wears a bricksuit that looks like Trump's wall and
he uh but not actual bricks not it's bespoke suit.
(50:59):
He five of them, and he gets brought up on
stage and Trump parades him and talks to him, and
he's a he's his leb at all these events.
Speaker 9 (51:07):
And he heckled us while.
Speaker 3 (51:08):
We were filming one of these one of these events,
and he was posting about how terrible we were.
Speaker 9 (51:14):
He was trolling us and doing all this stuff.
Speaker 3 (51:16):
Long story short, I get stranded at the airport with
him for three and a half hours. What just me
and him, just me and him for you and bricksuit guy.
Me and bricksuit guy and we talked for three and
a half fucking hours about bricks about a little bit
about bricks. I hear about his suits, his five suits.
Three he keeps off site because he was burgled because
he live streams his location and somebody got him to
(51:38):
it and robbed him.
Speaker 1 (51:41):
This sounds like the worst Delta sky Club.
Speaker 9 (51:46):
But it's free eggs. You know you gotta do it.
Speaker 3 (51:49):
But long story short, three and a half hours with
that guy. I'd love to tell you the guy who
dresses in a brick suit, he has a handlebar mustache
and trump brings on stage that he's an idiot.
Speaker 9 (51:59):
He's not. He's a smart guy, a nice guy.
Speaker 7 (52:02):
He got to you, he got to met to shit.
Speaker 9 (52:05):
He's kind. I voted for you know, he's good with
the economy.
Speaker 7 (52:10):
I think in Michigan.
Speaker 3 (52:12):
But he has changed his tune literally online. We talk online.
When I go to events. Now he'll come up to
me and ask me about my family. It's one person
who's changed the way they talk to me. But it's
such a clear example that I've seen. I've seen it
with many people I talked to, Like, I've seen your
profile online and it's it's similar to the Big Man's
(52:34):
profile online. It's cruel, it's vitriolic, it is aimed to
be mean, and then I've met you in person, and
when no camera's watching, you're thoughtful, you're interesting, your nuanced,
You show a vulnerability about the things you don't know
in a way that doesn't exist online. You can't be
online if you're uncertain about anything, but in real life
you are and you're compelling. I would spend two hours
(52:55):
is okay, three and a half. It is a bit
fucking much, but I think that's not who it is.
It's it's an incomplete picture of these people that are
out there, right. But I do feel for our job,
I feel you gotta dip in. I feel I need
to dip into X on the week of hosting. I
gotta dip into these spaces to get a sense of what.
Speaker 9 (53:13):
That conversation is.
Speaker 1 (53:14):
It's a temperature.
Speaker 9 (53:15):
What is the temperature?
Speaker 1 (53:16):
Right?
Speaker 3 (53:16):
What are the conversations? And then shut it out for
my own mental health and be aware of what it is.
Speaker 1 (53:20):
Do you guys dip in? Do you do you find yourselves?
Speaker 5 (53:22):
I dip in right before a hosting week just to
see what people are talking about.
Speaker 1 (53:26):
Yep, I feel this is awful.
Speaker 12 (53:27):
Before you're hosting meek, you literally like you come in
and you just gotta like, do you your prep like
you're gonna get the g forces.
Speaker 1 (53:33):
You gotta strategy. I'm a host this week.
Speaker 4 (53:41):
There was a field piece I did when Trump Keep
the aired last season. Canada is the fifty first state.
Of course, we go up to Canada. Let's meet some
of these Canadians. Do some man on the street. We
meet with this man who votes a Canadian and he's
voted for Donald Trump in Canada as election. That's how
(54:02):
much he loves Donald Trump. He's a roofer. He uh
looks the way you would think he would look for
a MAGA supporter. And you sit down with him in
these one on one interviews. He comes in, he's getting
the shoulders are out. I says, oh my god, this
is going to be a rough three hour interview. And
you get talking to him, you get to know him.
(54:23):
He's really mad that Canada's taxes are high. He loves
his kids, he's having a hard time paying for them.
And he thought it would be a funny gimmick that
would get some traction to vote for Donald Trump. And
it's not like I leave loving the guy and I
want him to come to Thanksgiving with me, but I
understand him, and he's a good dude. Actually, So I
don't know. Maybe what we're talking about here is that
mob mentality is the problem that individually we're all okay,
(54:45):
I don't know. Yeah, clap, everybody clap at the same
time right now.
Speaker 1 (54:49):
Yeah, mob mentality is worse.
Speaker 12 (54:51):
Yeah, some of it may be that it really is.
Speaker 1 (54:56):
There's a certain k fabe to it all.
Speaker 12 (55:00):
The thing that I worry about with caveabe for those
of you who are not arrested adolescent boys, k fabe
is sort of the acting that takes place in professional wrestling,
where there's heels and faces, you know, bad guys and
good guys, and everybody acts in backstage they're all friends.
The thing I worry about with k fabe is that
if you act like something long enough, you become it.
(55:22):
And I do think we do have a danger of
that in the country, that the anger, even if it
is artifice at first, somehow embeds itself in a way,
you know. And the only the thing I will say,
we sort of to wrap this thing around, because we've
got to wrap.
Speaker 1 (55:40):
Up when we first started. You know.
Speaker 12 (55:44):
One of the things that I get from the audience
almost all the time is this sense of.
Speaker 1 (55:47):
Like, how are you going to get through this? You know?
Speaker 12 (55:50):
And I'm always like, hey, man, tickets are free to
shut the fuck up and watch your shop.
Speaker 13 (55:56):
I would say, but but I think, you know, people forget,
like in early two thousands, you know, they argued to
let for the unitary executive and that the vice president.
Speaker 12 (56:11):
I mean, there was an argument that the vice president
had the power alone to institute the ability to torture people.
You know, we forget our history is littered with these
really tenuous moments where we find ourselves in a shaky place,
and yet the resilience of the country finds its way
(56:32):
not to perfection but past maybe those those really rough moments.
And so in final going back to the show, do
you still find yourselves optimistic about a our ability to
try and synthesize and contextualize all these things that are
going on in a funny way and the ability of
(56:53):
the country to overcome that tenuous moment.
Speaker 1 (56:57):
And I will only ask.
Speaker 8 (56:59):
Ronnie coming out of jungle.
Speaker 7 (57:06):
Uh So, No, it's relevant.
Speaker 8 (57:08):
No, it's relevant because one cool thing about America is
the separation of house is very strong. It is very strong,
and people here complain about freedom of speech. But I
can tell you, coming from places where there really isn't
freedom of speech, the freedom free speech he still is
is there. I mean, we've been shitting on him for
twelve years now. He hasn't come after me yet, So
(57:30):
I don't know, you know, says something there.
Speaker 12 (57:31):
So we've got a special surprise for Rannie.
Speaker 7 (57:35):
Ice is here for you right now, ladies and gentlemen.
Speaker 8 (57:42):
Uh So, I would say that I am hopeful of
the resiliency of these American institutions which are being strained.
I do think that people will get past it. I
think I can feel the antibodies kind of growing a
little bit on social media in the cory, this kind
of resistance to this garbage that we can't even put
(58:05):
a wood to. I can feel people they feel a
little sick about it. But people don't know yet how
to avoid being sick, but they can feel the sickness.
Whether it's the political discourse, its social media, it's this
and we're developing the antibodies for it. And it's a
new medium, and so that makes sense, this Internet thing,
It makes sense that we had to develop it, just
like we had to develop it for TV when TV
(58:25):
came out. Just like we had to develop it when
newspapers were invented. We had to keep developments antibodies. So
I am hopeful that we will get to a place
where we can see some bullshit on the Internet and
as as a civilization will be like, nah, that's bullshit,
and then well, you know.
Speaker 1 (58:40):
That's a great point. You know.
Speaker 12 (58:41):
I think you know that the printing press was invented
and everybody thought that ushered in the Enlightenment, But it didn't.
It ushered in in like one hundred years of killing witches.
Speaker 1 (58:48):
The opposite of them. Yeah, it was the opposite of it.
It brought in there. Do you guys have any thoughts
on that.
Speaker 2 (58:54):
I'm hopeful, I mean hopeful.
Speaker 1 (58:56):
Yeah, she's always the best.
Speaker 2 (59:00):
Maybe delusionally, No, I am naive.
Speaker 5 (59:03):
I you asked if I check the comment sections and
check in on Actasy what they're saying. I don't have
to because I go home to visit my family.
Speaker 10 (59:13):
Podcast, Universe Bow your podcast, watch the daily show nights
at eleven ten Central owns Comedy Central, and stream full
episodes anytime on Paramoupo.
Speaker 2 (59:24):
Laugh Together. We can find some commonality, and I think this.
Speaker 9 (59:27):
Has been a comedy.
Speaker 2 (59:29):
Is the idea he has stopped talking to one another.
That's scary.
Speaker 5 (59:33):
But if people continue to have conversations and not be
so stuck in their silos, and you know, I do
think that there's hope that we'll get through this thing.
Speaker 4 (59:42):
This might sound naive, but I am still impressed with
the United States Constitution. It's roughly two hundred and seventy
years old. It isn't perfect at all. The checks and
balances system, though, blows my mind. And we're seeing some
of it being executed now with some of Trump's executive
(01:00:04):
orders and what's happening in immigration. And I'm hopeful that
judges will realize that Trump will push things for further, further, further,
for I mean, he's pushing him as far as they've
ever been.
Speaker 1 (01:00:18):
Uh.
Speaker 4 (01:00:18):
And I just am hopeful that the checks and bounces
will continue to work. That being said, other things I
wake up thinking about in the middle of the night
are are we making a really beautiful funny TV show
on the Titanic while it's going down?
Speaker 1 (01:00:34):
That'll be my final thought.
Speaker 3 (01:00:39):
Take us home, Jordan Jesus Rice Titanic jungles that I
wasn't aware of the python. Uh you know, yeah, I
think you gotta find hope. I find hope in a
couple places. I I just did a really great special,
(01:01:03):
but I went into that. I went into that with
a lot less hope because I was talking to kids
who were maga kids and who I'd seen images of online,
and online is a cruel fucking place. And when I
talked to these nineteen and twenty year olds, I didn't
agree with a lot of the things they had to say,
but they weren't cruel and they weren't mean. And I
(01:01:24):
talked to them about some big issues, the economy, immigration,
When I talked to some of these culture war issues,
trans rights, gay rights, they didn't take de bait. They
didn't give a shit about it. They weren't upset about it.
I think those kids are being preyed upon by institutions
and by bad actors who want those eyeballs. They want
to turn that naivete into weaponize cruelty, and they might.
(01:01:45):
I think the way the tech is set up right now,
that's where this endgame goes.
Speaker 9 (01:01:50):
But those kids, those kids were a lot like me.
Speaker 3 (01:01:52):
They were contrarians, they were nineteen, they were naive, they
were looking for a place meaning and community and I
think that's what we're all searching for, and I feel
really grateful with having the show. We joke a lot
about this, but I love coming to work. I think
we laugh together in that room and we feel so
lucky because the world does feel like it's on fire
(01:02:15):
sometimes you watch the news, but our job is we
get to turn on some of these clips and we
can laugh at it, we can scream at it, but
like our job is to find a fucking joke to
take away a little bit of that pain and to
also connect to one another. So I feel very, very
fortunate that that exists as long as linear TV is
still a thing.
Speaker 12 (01:02:33):
Right well, I have very much appreciate I very much
appreciate you guys coming out.
Speaker 1 (01:02:38):
It's an honor and a joy to work with you
guys every day. And thank you for coming out, you
guys for real. Thanks all for coming out.
Speaker 7 (01:02:44):
Everybody, please don't one and only mister John Stewart
You're listening to Comedy Central. Here we go again. It's
been a good run America.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
We've got so much to talk about tonight.
Speaker 3 (00:15):
Mass deportations, potential measles out.
Speaker 4 (00:18):
Break, grabbing Panama by the canal, rip.
Speaker 5 (00:21):
Todi, invading Greenland, profession wrestling, takeover Gaza, tariffs.
Speaker 4 (00:26):
What was I talking about?
Speaker 6 (00:26):
Donald Trump?
Speaker 7 (00:27):
You must Joe Biden Milania.
Speaker 2 (00:32):
Now let's focus on the price of eggs.
Speaker 1 (00:39):
You are for it. We listened.
Speaker 6 (00:43):
The Democrats acted like Republicans for the last four months.
They wore camo hats and went to Cheney family reunions.
Do you know how dangerous it is to wear a
hunting hat around Cheney.
Speaker 5 (00:56):
We have been so concerned about all the scary things
that Trump's gonna do, we forgot He's also going to
do some really stupid things.
Speaker 4 (01:04):
If you've been tuning out the presidential campaign so far,
I get it.
Speaker 1 (01:08):
It's boring.
Speaker 4 (01:08):
And my grandpa is also a rambling eighty year old man.
And let me tell you, I keep half an ear
open for the word inheritance, and I just ignore everything up.
Speaker 1 (01:17):
It used to.
Speaker 8 (01:18):
Be that you had to commit a crime to be potted,
but now Biden has to do this weird like Minority
Report Preepodden thing where it's like, hey, we know you
didn't do anything, but Trump thinks you did some things.
I'm gonna pott in you for anything you did, even
though you didn't do it. It's it's what al found us,
what I've wanted think about.
Speaker 9 (01:37):
How strange this moment is.
Speaker 3 (01:40):
I mean years from now, children will be reading about
this in history books. I mean not in Florida.
Speaker 8 (01:48):
You want us to take actions.
Speaker 7 (01:50):
They got to give Trump some action. You want dem
to stop jerking off and get to work.
Speaker 3 (01:55):
They gotta get to work jerking him off.
Speaker 2 (01:57):
Yeah, I get it. I get where you're going. I
get it.
Speaker 9 (02:01):
I bet you get it.
Speaker 3 (02:02):
You sex monster.
Speaker 9 (02:05):
Damn it.
Speaker 4 (02:06):
It's a letter from Donald Trump. Dear Troy, I saw
you on TV.
Speaker 8 (02:10):
So you are now the new Secretary of the Interior.
Speaker 9 (02:13):
Qualified to run the Interior.
Speaker 10 (02:15):
I'm gay Jordan.
Speaker 11 (02:15):
He obviously thinks the head of Interior is a decorating job.
Speaker 9 (02:19):
John pay for tracting in here.
Speaker 6 (02:22):
These tarffs are going to help out all.
Speaker 7 (02:24):
My in words, you're you're my net gains.
Speaker 4 (02:30):
Costa right, of course, your net gains.
Speaker 7 (02:34):
Hey, hey, you're not an economist. That's not your word
to say.
Speaker 9 (02:37):
Okay, you got a truck you want to show me.
Speaker 3 (02:39):
I wish the world a better place because I was here.
Jesus Christ, President Trump, same fun. Huh okay, Jenny, I
don't worry about that whole worshiping false idols thing, not
at all.
Speaker 9 (02:52):
Please welcome to the program.
Speaker 3 (02:53):
Boda Gabriel Union and help of Baga Coleman, Domingo Governor Joshua.
Speaker 1 (03:00):
Year Old, Paul W.
Speaker 3 (03:01):
Down, Mark Carney, Ray Wes Lore, Mark Gibber, Jason Brand,
Si Sport col.
Speaker 8 (03:08):
Governor Gretchen Whitner, Connie Charm, the Amazing Linda Linda.
Speaker 3 (03:16):
Steve Omer, Jessey Eisenberger.
Speaker 1 (03:19):
Jeff Williams. I just signed on for another year with
your doctors with the network. Oh my god, you're crazy.
Speaker 11 (03:25):
You think you have to live for another years in
the puge. You should celebrate.
Speaker 10 (03:33):
What's ronning.
Speaker 9 (03:35):
Someone likes to kick shame.
Speaker 11 (03:37):
No, welcome to our to our panel. Uh, thanks John,
Thank you John.
Speaker 9 (03:52):
Thanks John.
Speaker 12 (03:53):
I'm remarkably prepared with questions that I wrote. Yes for
all of you.
Speaker 4 (03:59):
Thanks for everybody coming. Oh this is full room. We
didn't know what was on the other side of the door,
So thank you. You know what we're gonna say. This
is nice.
Speaker 12 (04:06):
You could they could be anywhere on a on a Saturday,
Like if this were in New York, a Saturday afternoon
in this kind.
Speaker 1 (04:12):
Of weather, I don't think we would come to this.
Speaker 2 (04:15):
We would not be here, no way.
Speaker 1 (04:18):
But I just want to get in.
Speaker 12 (04:19):
We don't have that much time, and I know that
there's a lot of interest, and I want to just
get to the questions, and I'm just going to do
them sort of in order. The first question is for Ronnie,
why is it that your name appears so often on
the Epstein List.
Speaker 7 (04:40):
Wow? Look, the nineties was a weird time. You know,
things were different.
Speaker 8 (04:45):
It was things happened, things happened, and you know in
show business, I don't know.
Speaker 1 (04:49):
I don't yeah, yeah, I don't know how it went. Actually,
this does get Costa. You were you were hosting Costa
you were on the Epstein List. No, no, no, you
were hosting this week. So this this is.
Speaker 12 (04:58):
Something that I that I want to talk because I
I think it's interesting for everybody and I'm interested in
how you guys deal with it. There was a great
deal of preparation that went into the week. There's a
great deal of preparation that went each day. You had
all these bits lined up, and then in the middle
of the day, it's around two pm. Yeah, a young
man by the name of Elon Musk decides to use
(05:23):
the platform that he has purchased too. And I don't
know if this was his intention to blow up the show? Correct? Yeah,
what is that for people that are watching? Because you
see it, it all looks kind of effortless. People don't
realize sort of what maybe goes into all that preparation,
all those different things, the writers that produce, all the
(05:44):
different people that are putting it together. When at two
o'clock in the afternoon, somebody just goes, right, what did
that feel like?
Speaker 1 (05:53):
This week?
Speaker 4 (05:53):
And I know all my co hosts have experienced the same,
and the same for you, John, for all the years
you've hosted. But this week we did rehearse. At two
forty five, we'd covered Trump's travel band. We covered that
he appointed a twenty two year old boy as his
anti terror expert that had an eyebiw raised in his headshot.
And then I went upstairs to get my dog to
bring him down to rewrite room, and by the time
(06:15):
I went to rewrite room. They said Trump Trump and
Elana are Twitter fight were starting over and then you're
back to the blank cursor blinking on a computer screen.
And man, that's like my favorite part of the Daily
Show when you realize how good the machine is that
we just wiped the show, which was a funny show.
It was a funny show. It was a funny rehearsal,
(06:35):
Thank you very much, and wait you rehearsed and it
is so impressive I get. I'm in awe of the
Daily Show that that they created in new graphics, new
sound bites, new jokes and put on a great show.
(06:55):
And it's just so cool that we didn't back down
and avoid that and do the show that was good.
But we challenge our something and that's what they do
all the time, and that's what's that's what's so fun
to be powder of.
Speaker 3 (07:04):
Yeah, can I throw a question off that to you?
You're ready for this. This is gonna be awesome. This
is this is what the new athletic Jinga.
Speaker 5 (07:18):
Put it down, put it down, get out the shredder,
put it down.
Speaker 3 (07:22):
I feel like this is commonplace for us in the
the Trump era.
Speaker 12 (07:27):
Biden was so much easier. They'd let you know a
month in advance. Yeah, he's gonna have trouble at this
one press conference.
Speaker 1 (07:38):
Make sure you have a camera.
Speaker 9 (07:39):
That you came.
Speaker 3 (07:41):
You took a little break, right, I had to get
to know my family. You had to get to Yeah,
family time, as you call it.
Speaker 1 (07:51):
Right. They turned out to be lovely. It turned out to.
Speaker 3 (07:54):
Be lovely coming back into a Trump world where where
you hadn't been covered day in and day out like
we were. You expecting the change in the way the
show had to sort of run in the day to day, Like,
was that was that different than your expectations walking back
into the show.
Speaker 12 (08:12):
You know, it's a funny question because a lot of
the people that were there in twenty fifteen when I
had let are are still there and they were phenomenal.
But it's you go away for a little bit and
you come back and they're faster, stronger, taller, better, smarter, funnier.
Like I walked back into the room and is all
(08:33):
the people that I'm used to seeing like you kind
of you go away, you don't realize and I was
blown away at how they had taken even the level.
Speaker 1 (08:43):
You know, what reminds me of is.
Speaker 12 (08:46):
So when I was in college, I played soccer and
we thought we were pretty good. And then I went back,
like thirty years later to watch my old college team play,
and their team sucked, like we were probably nationally ranked top.
Speaker 1 (08:59):
Twenty team in the country. I went back.
Speaker 12 (09:02):
They sucked thirty years later, but they would have beaten
the shit out of our like they were so much faster, stronger,
more athletic. And that's how I felt about coming back
to the show. Is everyone had taken it to that
next level. And I think probably out of necessity having
been through the first What was it like in the
in the first TRUMPERA And is it different now than
(09:24):
what you experienced in that first one?
Speaker 3 (09:26):
Well, first of all, we're faster. It's performance enhancing drugs.
That's what it is. You know that I did not
know that is I mean, I think I remember hosting
it was. I mean, hilariously we did. We did a
live show this year during the Republican National Convention, and
I remember us thinking like, oh shit, we have to
(09:48):
write the show. It's always fun doing a live show
because you are crafting it as the news is coming
in and then Hulkogin takes the stage and you're like,
we're gonna be fucking.
Speaker 9 (09:57):
Fine, right, but America America.
Speaker 3 (10:01):
Oh, that guy that's Hull Coke and he's ripping off
his shirt and he's and then he's bringing out Dana
White and then Donald Trump's coming out with a tampon
on his head.
Speaker 9 (10:08):
Okay, this is gonna be fine.
Speaker 12 (10:09):
You know what we will find comment when Kid Rock
is on the side, gone Hulk, take it down.
Speaker 1 (10:15):
Be respectful, be respectful.
Speaker 3 (10:17):
I think there was the one we jumped back in
after the Biden era, like we all remembered the pace
of a Trump news cycle, but it's not until you
jump back into it that you really remember. Oh right,
it's just an onslaught by design, And I think this
one felt even more of an onslaught.
Speaker 9 (10:32):
He's both unfettered.
Speaker 3 (10:34):
I think that design has been honed and is more
intentional than it ever was before, and so it did
seem like the pace kicked up two speed.
Speaker 5 (10:42):
It's like the four forty five curse is what we
call it, where it's just late enough in the day
you could maybe save it for the next day, but
it's such a big story you kind of feel like
you want to touch, at least touch on it for
the show. How well, how do you decide in that
day when a story drops like that at four point thirty, right,
how do you decide whether it's something that you want
(11:02):
to tackle that day or you want to sit on it?
Speaker 1 (11:05):
Well, you know, I show up Monday around three pretty drunk.
Speaker 12 (11:07):
Yeah, yeah, So whatever's in the prompters and the prompter
and I just you know, I think we all have that,
And I think the interesting part for me will be
what level of distraction?
Speaker 1 (11:21):
Everything is strategic now? And he's got he's.
Speaker 12 (11:24):
Got a bunch of cards, I think, in a box
that he can deploy to distract.
Speaker 1 (11:29):
Us from leads. I think he's got the lead box.
Speaker 12 (11:34):
Like right now, they're like Elon Musk tweets Donald Trump
is on the Epstein list and he's like, let's declare
martial law in Los Angeles.
Speaker 1 (11:45):
How about that?
Speaker 12 (11:45):
How About I send in the National Guard and a
bunch of ice agents it and it works phenomenally well.
But but speaking of that kind of pivot, and I
want to ask you guys, because you brought up the
Publican Convention.
Speaker 1 (12:01):
The show was all set to go to the Republican.
Speaker 12 (12:04):
National Convention right before that first attempt, I think on
Trump's loge. Were you guys in Milwaukee at that time?
I was still home, But were you guys in Milwaukee
when that happened?
Speaker 9 (12:16):
I was Jordan's Yeah. We were buying Milwaukee Brewers baseball
caps at the time.
Speaker 2 (12:21):
Yeah, we were at a Brewers game.
Speaker 3 (12:23):
No, yeah, you park. You gotta hang John. We're going
out doing cool stuff, man, Yeah, I gotta come.
Speaker 1 (12:30):
We're seeing base You guys know I'm super social. More.
Speaker 2 (12:36):
We were trying on Brewers jerseys. We had hats. Do
you think is this hat good? Or is this hat good?
Speaker 5 (12:43):
And we're running around the store and Jordan is like
stop just staring at his phone. And I'm like, Jordan,
do you like this? And He's like, uh, Daisy, put
that down.
Speaker 3 (12:53):
It is not a good fit. To be very clear,
it was just not a good fit. It wasn't I
had to be honest, not my color. I was doing
what a lot of people do at baseball games. Look,
you were at the game too, Yeah, we were all there.
Speaker 4 (13:05):
I was on Zillow looking at the local housing costs
to see if I should move from my shitty New
York Brooklyn apartment to Milwaukee where I can have a
six bedroom house on a lake for one hundred and
eighty five thousand dollars. But we were in Milwaukee and
took a zoom with you, and Jordan's family was there,
(13:26):
and he said, do you mind if we share a
hotel room?
Speaker 1 (13:29):
Goes.
Speaker 4 (13:29):
I don't want my my family to kind of be
a part of this terrible national news.
Speaker 1 (13:35):
So Jordan and I are sitting next to each other.
We don't know where you were.
Speaker 4 (13:38):
You probably were, I don't know, but and that's where
we decided to go back to New York and do
the shows. And again, that's what's so fucking awesome about
the Daily Show is how quickly the pivot can happen.
And great week of shows, which I think was live shows, right,
maybe that next week I don't remembers, in the air.
Speaker 8 (13:55):
Had the pilot turn around the power I was. I
was in San Diego doing stand up comedy when he got,
oh you weren't that you hadn't gotten to Milwaukee. I
hadn't gone to Milwaukee. I was gonna do the show
and didn't go to Milwaukee afterwards, and then before the
I was doing a stand up so in San Diego,
which is kind of a military town, right, and so
the guy he got shot? And I was like, man,
should I talk about this at the show or not?
(14:17):
I have I have some jokes about MAGA and my
routine right now, and should I just in the name
of human decency, maybe let's just have a night of comedy.
Speaker 1 (14:25):
I'm sorry, what's that for?
Speaker 7 (14:27):
And I got to the show and no one in
San Diego cared?
Speaker 8 (14:31):
Yeah yeah because And and to me it was a
lesson of like people people.
Speaker 7 (14:35):
I don't think they knew he got shot.
Speaker 8 (14:37):
And I guess I chalk it up to, like, I'm
we are so connected to the news in a way
that most humans are like what he got Oh right,
what's the what's toes?
Speaker 1 (14:47):
The dick joke?
Speaker 8 (14:48):
But they didn't even they didn't notice at the San
Diego show, so I had to. I think I was
who broke the news to the San Diego crowd, like, hey,
do you know the president got shot?
Speaker 1 (14:56):
Well, this has also explained some of the problem.
Speaker 7 (14:58):
Yeah yeah, right, yeah.
Speaker 9 (15:01):
I'm sure either really gentle breaking it to the people.
Speaker 3 (15:04):
I could only imagine that being the calm, soothing voice
when there's a national tragedy of react. People feel unsure
running big God to fill us in, right.
Speaker 1 (15:14):
You people are so stupid.
Speaker 8 (15:17):
Stupid people even know President God?
Speaker 12 (15:20):
Did you when we pivoted and came back? So I
hadn't gone out in there yet, and Jen and I
were talking. Jen Flanso was the executive producer of the
program and is really the only reason why any of
this can happen correct with the kind of adaptability that
it does. Like just that's one of the people that
Jen was a production assistant when I started on the
(15:42):
show in nineteen ninety nine. And now like is the
keeper of you know, the Krusty Krab formula. Like she's
the only one who knows how this thing all works,
but she's the one who makes sure. So she and
I were talking, and you know, it was that sense
of do you give in to the moment? There was
something about it that felt like we must, because Lord knows,
(16:07):
if one twenty two minute a nightly satirical show is
off the air, you know from the live location that
it was supposed to be, that nobody believes were at anyway,
because normally weren't on a green screen. You know, the
world will stop spinning. And we were going back and
forth and all that, and then they moved the security
zone our theater was in. There was the soft zone
(16:28):
and the hard zone.
Speaker 1 (16:30):
Uh and but what are we talking about my abs here?
Speaker 12 (16:33):
Yeah, Jen got the call that where the theater was
was going to move into the hard zone, and we
were like, I don't think we want to be in
the hard zone.
Speaker 1 (16:43):
So everybody, everybody came home.
Speaker 4 (16:46):
But why John, Why? Because my instinct was, Oh, my god,
this is a big thing. This is our duty as
daily show correspondence. And I was so thankful that you
smacked us in the face with reality and said come home,
be safe.
Speaker 1 (17:04):
Yeah, so thanks for that. No, listen, I thought it'd
be funnier if you guys weren't.
Speaker 12 (17:12):
No.
Speaker 1 (17:12):
I think that's and and that's something that you know,
for the audience.
Speaker 12 (17:16):
I think there's sometimes an expectation and I we'll talk
about that a little bit. Is do you feel a
sense of and I know I began to feel this
sort of in the early two thousand is an asthma,
Like things would happen like the Charlie Headbow horrible massacre,
and and you start to feel like, oh, we've got
to go on the air and say something funny and
(17:38):
profound about this but I think it took a few
of those for me to realize, Oh, why, that's not
If we've got something to say, great, we'll say it,
but that's not necessarily our flag to plant all the time.
Speaker 1 (17:53):
We'll you know, we'll be back. Do you guys feel
that pressure?
Speaker 8 (18:00):
Take a lot of my cues from you. And so
when you said so, I gotta admit it is. Ah,
it is when something super horrible is happening. I'm I'm
with you. I'm like, wait, why you know, why is
this is not the voice to come on and make
some jokes about something horrible. It just happened, right, So
(18:21):
I'm with you of like, this isn't a uh, that's
not something that we necessarily need to contribute to the
culture at that moment, you know.
Speaker 2 (18:29):
So it really helped when you relieved us of that burden.
Speaker 9 (18:36):
Yes, someone someone go in to.
Speaker 1 (18:38):
A meeting and I just went, what we do doesn't matter.
Why won't you all understand that?
Speaker 3 (18:45):
You know, some would call it cowardly or or a
dereliction of duty, but you know, we see it as
a relief, you know, not a not a cowardly act
by a small man in stature and morality like as
a permission structure to be small ourselves.
Speaker 1 (19:02):
You know, thank you, You're what?
Speaker 9 (19:03):
Thank you?
Speaker 1 (19:05):
I've always said this show can shrink to meet the moment, but.
Speaker 5 (19:11):
To keep but to remember that we are a comedy show,
and I think so much of it is not just
about making people laugh and bringing some lightness and some
joy to everything happening, but it's also about catharsis. And
you know that can come through laughter, and it can
come through having something meaningful to say. It can come
through honesty and authenticity and vulnerability and keeping your humanity intact.
(19:35):
But if you can't do that, if it doesn't feel
cathartic to talk about it on the show, why do it?
Speaker 4 (19:42):
You know people on occasion, people will come up to
me and say thank you for making the show. What
you're doing is really important, And I look behind being
to see if they're talking to someone else, because I say,
you know, I'm not a journalist. You know, I went
to University of Illinois and I played collegiate tennis and
I got a C plus average in the School of
(20:02):
Communication where classes were like public speaking. So I hope
we're holding real journalists to the standard that something important happened.
The burden is on them to cover this with integrity
and honesty. Of course, I love when we say something
profound and have a message, but we speak for myself.
(20:26):
I am not a journalist. I am not a politician.
I'm a comedian. Tickets are available most nights to my shows.
Speaker 2 (20:34):
Plug the book, Plug the book and plug the book.
Speaker 4 (20:37):
No, but of course we want to say something important,
but important people should say the important things.
Speaker 1 (20:43):
First.
Speaker 8 (20:44):
We can tell jokes, Well, you don't sell out in presale,
you should try the Yeah, but.
Speaker 1 (20:55):
You got to get a better marketing guy or something.
Speaker 11 (20:57):
I don't know.
Speaker 8 (20:58):
I was supposed to be talking about this, but just
to bring it back since we have the guy who
invented modern American satire here.
Speaker 1 (21:04):
Yeah, you've been.
Speaker 8 (21:07):
Uh, you know a lot of what we do. We're
talking about changing the show at fourth at four pm, four,
six pm taping. A lot of that has to do
with the technology available as well, in addition to obviously
the skill set of the crew and the producers and
editors using this technology as available as someone who's been
(21:28):
around since the Jurassic Like, what what was it like
trying to could you even change the show at four
with tapes.
Speaker 1 (21:39):
Years ago. So we we used to do the show
with the stone tablet and a chisel.
Speaker 12 (21:48):
I would sit and then we have we have the
tablet almost done, and then somebody would come in and go,
Garfield's been shot.
Speaker 1 (22:02):
Take it in, McKinley's take it over.
Speaker 12 (22:08):
It is the technology part of it is and I'm
sure even you guys have seen the advances in that technology,
but it is true like when we started in nineteen
ninety nine, you still edit it in the online room.
So and there were no I mean, it sounds almost
ridiculous now, but like TiVo hadn't been invented yet, Like
(22:29):
there wasn't this sense that you could follow. I think
the way we did the show was we used to
get there was one group feed that you could buy
into even if you were us, and it was the
AP news Feed. So what it would be is you
would get stories on the AP news feed, so it
would be the two big stories of the day, and
(22:50):
then generally like a human interest story like the celebration
of the Nazarene and the Philippine you know, and so
our show, not night, would be whatever was.
Speaker 1 (22:59):
On the AP feed.
Speaker 12 (23:01):
And if you wanted to use five rolls of tape,
like this is before we ever did our daily show
montages or any of those kinds of things. If you
made an error in the edit when you were putting
the show together for rehearsal, avids weren't invented yet, so
you you're the whole crowd like.
Speaker 1 (23:19):
What this is such an la audience avids, I don't understand.
Speaker 9 (23:29):
It didn't react to Trump being shot, but.
Speaker 3 (23:31):
Oh my god, the humanity, they don't even know Trump
got shot.
Speaker 1 (23:40):
It was rough. Those were the days.
Speaker 12 (23:43):
And then when all of those technologies started to come
on board and you saw how quickly it all changed.
And suddenly what change was the agency that the show
could have in terms of narrative direction. So you went
from being sort of at the mercy as to what
would be present to you to a kind of democratizing
of what your intention could be. And so you could
(24:05):
now run five tvOS and collect a bunch of stuff.
And suddenly that's when sort of the more modern way
of how we.
Speaker 1 (24:12):
Would put the show together.
Speaker 12 (24:13):
But even then it was rudimentary compared to like you
guys say, you go in there and just redo the
entire show and they'll turn it around in the render
time of It'll be forty five minutes.
Speaker 4 (24:23):
That is one of my favorite parts studio production. This
week before the big feud, Elon Musk didn't like The
Big Beautiful Bill for four reasons and MSNBC had a
read of that and it was slow and it was
a boring read, and someone said, can we get a
more exciting read for a different network? And then Justin
Milkman is on the phone and in like twelve seconds
(24:46):
there's a new read of a more exciting version of that,
and it's amazing. You talk about like the tools that
are fun to play with. They have these amazing toolbox
and they give us the tools and it's very it's
very cool to be a studio production. Remember when you
would walk in and all the computers were recording all
of television. It felt like you were getting radiation cancered
(25:06):
in that room every single time.
Speaker 12 (25:08):
Look, that room was in the basement of our building,
and for years we didn't realize it wasn't supposed to
be moist like for some reason, it was this one
room in the building that was always moist, and we
just thought, like, is that necessary for the computers?
Speaker 1 (25:24):
And then somebody else was like, I think that's mold.
Speaker 12 (25:26):
Actually you would just you would just lose video editors,
like they'd be like, where's he like tuberculosis, But it's
all it's it's.
Speaker 1 (25:37):
Those things have changed.
Speaker 12 (25:38):
And even the funny part about working at the show
is the people that are on there that do the
guts of the show love it so much. Like Max,
how many times have you been emailed on a Saturday
on a like Monday night in the morning where like
Max or Justin or somebody will go, like, send you
a link to a thing that they found that's just
the right, uh piece of information for the larger thought
(26:03):
that you were going to put into the piece.
Speaker 3 (26:05):
It's honestly, one of the most interesting things in having
been at the Daily Show for a long time is
to see like how it's been adapted have well, I
mean it's not Jurassic I think I was like Jurassic
Lost World.
Speaker 12 (26:19):
Right, you were the fourth one once Chris Pratt entered
the Yeah, Chris Pratt era, right, Chris Pratt where he's
a raptor wrangler?
Speaker 9 (26:27):
Is that where that series went.
Speaker 8 (26:30):
On?
Speaker 4 (26:30):
The care found all six writers of that screenplay.
Speaker 3 (26:37):
You're right, don't worry. Your genius is Ai could never
come up with an idea of that.
Speaker 1 (26:48):
Back then they had to use real dinosaurs.
Speaker 9 (26:50):
They did so impressive. What what has been so interesting?
Speaker 3 (26:54):
Like there's Twitter now that people get reactions to the
news in real time, where in you know, twenty years ago,
they would wait till the night to see how late
night shows responded to it.
Speaker 9 (27:05):
Now they get in real time on Twitter.
Speaker 3 (27:07):
Now they get quick clips, and I think, like we
have like this robust social team that has the ability
to like respond in real time and so we can
have like comedic conversations in real time throughout the day.
I think then the show now can create craft a
narrative in its first act which can play for like
an eight minute narrative about what happened during the day
or make a larger point. We have field pieces that
(27:28):
can go out and they can kind of craft stories
that are out there.
Speaker 9 (27:31):
We get to do specials. They get to have long narrative,
We get to.
Speaker 3 (27:33):
Do clipped lives special There are great specials done by
really intrepid reporters go into the fray, you know, finger
it the finger who are not afraid to and finger
the pulse. You know, it's just it's really intrepid work
that's out there. But I do think like people often
(27:55):
talk about like the way they engage with like daily
show content, and sometimes people just get clips. They don't
know it's from the Daily Show. They just know here's
a funny thing. John Stewart said this funny joke. Ronnie
Chang did this one interesting take, and it can play
and I think the show crafts ways that it can
play in that context. But also if you watch it
on linear television, it plays with a narrative context, and
(28:17):
then it also plays in a real time context, which
I think that's like a testament to the structure that
we have at the show that has the ability to
be a comedy machine in real time and like have
conversations on all those platforms.
Speaker 9 (28:31):
Yes, but is there a butt? No?
Speaker 1 (28:33):
No butt no, just yes? Yeah, yes, so did that surprise?
Speaker 12 (28:36):
So you guys were more grew up in that era,
and I'll ask you how you sort of interact now.
Speaker 4 (28:42):
We grew up watching you, John, We grew up watching
you grew up in.
Speaker 12 (28:47):
That era where you know, again, I was used to
this linear idea of like I feel like like I
run a tower records, do you know what I mean? Like,
I'm still like people if they want music, they've got
to come into my store and go to the CD rack,
you know, and everybody's like, it's there's I have a
chip behind my ear and it gets me all the
new bieber songs like it is. The delivery systems are
(29:10):
so different, but the content, you know, I sort of
like in it too. Like when I started, we were
a McDonald and then like you open a drive through
and like I'm like, wait, you can you can just
go around the corner and just pick it up at
the window. Has that change, but it still feels like
content is king rather than the system by which it's delivered.
Speaker 1 (29:31):
Do you consume media in that way? Does it?
Speaker 12 (29:34):
Does it matter to you how you get it, where
you get it. That's our show for today. It's it's definitely,
I mean, it's definitely how I consume it. I think
I get nervous about it. It's content.
Speaker 1 (29:49):
I've watched television.
Speaker 9 (29:49):
They see it, they see it like this.
Speaker 3 (29:51):
I think I think context is gone in so many
ways in which people get media. That's what scares me
about stuff is like you can get stuff out of
context from TV, from shows, from CLI and so people
don't know the grand scheme of things. I laugh when
people see me on the street and if they're over forty,
they recognize you from the Daily Show, If they're between
thirty and forty, they recognize you from YouTube. And if
you're under thirty, your content that they see, yeah right,
(30:13):
and yeah you're influence influence exactly. I used to be like, oh,
that's funny. I'm like, no, that is like canon. Now,
like a twenty five year old just knows you in
thirty second clips, which to me is worrisome and or
at least a challenge in crafting something that makes sense
within that thirty second clip. But it's also kind of
the reality in which they are getting information, and I
(30:33):
think the savvier ones are using that and then seeking
out longer form stuff, even like a podcast. And then
you have on the flip side where people will listen
to people talk for an hour and a half about
something as well. So I think like it's the context
that shifts the platforms people. I seem to be like
dipping in each of them.
Speaker 4 (30:50):
Idea, people listen to our show just the audio version
of it with no other visual component, as a very
popular podcast, they just sit on the train and listen
to the audio of our show and it crushes, and
they say costas audio crushes they say, they say that
I added that last part, and you're not saying here
(31:12):
we are technologies. Technology has ever been better, and people
are still taking the audio of a video component and
downloading it and loving it.
Speaker 2 (31:19):
But missed opportunity. They can't even see.
Speaker 1 (31:21):
Your abs exactly. And hard security area.
Speaker 8 (31:27):
I like coming out of the jungles of Malaysia, like
I hear we stop Ronnie jesus As as a real
immigrant here who actually overcame a vood I was raised.
I always aspire to work at these American institutions of comedy,
like you know, I that was my aspiration to work
(31:48):
at you know, like sn Now Daily Show, you know,
working American show business. I felt there was something aspiration
of all these institutions. And you get to, you know,
over the last kind of ten years, you're talking about
the inn that kind of kind of white the algorithm
kind of rewards quantity over quality.
Speaker 7 (32:07):
I think that's kind of what we're discussing here.
Speaker 12 (32:09):
By the way, that is Comedy Central's new tagline.
Speaker 7 (32:13):
Okay, well, I'm glad you could say.
Speaker 4 (32:19):
And are by the three are you're a buzzers buzzing
in your back back there, don't go there, don't go there.
Speaker 1 (32:27):
But I do.
Speaker 8 (32:28):
I do feel that we've we've lived in ten years
of this kind of quantity over quality internet content thing,
and I feel like there is a bit of a
reaction what humans are feeling.
Speaker 1 (32:43):
Sick of it.
Speaker 8 (32:44):
Some people feel sick of it, but they don't know why.
But there is a reaction to this. This social media
is making me sick. And I think one thing that
the show does really well and and thank you John
Stewart as well for doing this real is doing, uh
is production value and quality over quantity, you know, and.
Speaker 7 (33:02):
I think that comes through.
Speaker 8 (33:04):
So there's a million people who can put on a
suit and talk in front of a desk and talk
about the news, but like it doesn't they don't have
the same production value and comedy knowledge and you know, like.
Speaker 4 (33:17):
And we have a great, great, great group of writers, right,
great group of writers, and so they turn shit out fast, funny.
Speaker 1 (33:24):
Yeah, uh yeah, it's in the business.
Speaker 8 (33:28):
But I'm just saying that that quality comes through the quality, right,
and people can feel it. I think people can feel it,
you know, when John's on the show, they can feel
it if they know this feels different to someone you
know telling the news with a dance and not you.
Speaker 5 (33:40):
Know, it's that It's okay, I did that one time,
one time, right.
Speaker 8 (33:45):
I just think that the I hope that well this
maybe this is more hopeful than anything, but I hope
that we are going back to a quality, kind of
a quantity kind of world hopefully.
Speaker 4 (33:56):
I know, hopefully. I hope you're all clapping and hope
it's true.
Speaker 12 (34:01):
Well it is, I mean, I think and for you
guys also who you know, everyone out here who works
in the business, I think we're feeling these kinds of
the plates shift underneath us. And having experienced those shifts
from you know, our more primitive days of no TiVos
and and everything else to what we're seeing now, I
think we're all sort of feeling like we're on a
(34:22):
much more tenuous ground that you know. I think we
still sort of cling to this idea that what we
do is a craft, has an our teasonal purpose to it,
that it's it's done for connection, and it's and it's done.
Speaker 1 (34:37):
For a reason.
Speaker 12 (34:37):
And the more that you see, the different you know,
as we watch these tech companies get into content, you
see that the ethos is, it's a very different ethos.
You know when they talk about like writer's rooms. You know,
it's really important for us that the writers are a
(34:58):
part of the whole process and that people in the
building get to put their hands and touch the macro
of the art that you produce, because you want them
to see that picture so that when they become creators
they understand all the different elements and what the render
times of certain things and how these things go. I
(35:21):
think we all have a respect for the craft of
working in a kind of a refinery where we're we
really do go and we test the hops and we
smell and you do all that, and then you know,
a tech company comes in and buys it and goes,
let's just have two writers and let's just have them
(35:43):
be in a room, and when you're shooting the show,
they're not there anymore. They don't have that connection to
the legacy of passing down the craft that we've all grown.
Speaker 1 (35:56):
Up with, and I think that's a tragic thing to
lose in this business. I mean, rehearsal, John is really yeah, yeah,
let them applaug. I'm sorry. Yeah, Well, now I built
it up, and I don't even.
Speaker 12 (36:08):
Know by the way that speech was written by Ai
chat GPT couldn't tell the difference. But I do think
because everything that these guys are talking about is about
touching every part of the process and valuing every part
(36:30):
of the process, from the people that do uh the editing,
to the people in the control room, to the people
in makeup and wardrobe, to props, to every single part
of that is a contribution to that greater whole of
of quality. And I and I wondered, you know where
(36:50):
you see that, do you worry about technology replacing that
with the ethos of like Elon's kind of yeah, move
fast and break shit and don't care at all about
the people who make it.
Speaker 4 (37:01):
Every once in a while in the rewrite room, well
we'll do something funny or say, right, say something funny,
and I will think, oh, that'll make a good clip,
and then I want to punch myself in the dick.
Speaker 12 (37:14):
By the way, we also have two people in the
building whose gab it is is to punch Michael in
the deck and that's a contribution as well. And I
think we're I'm afraid we're going to lose that sorry,
I hope.
Speaker 8 (37:25):
I just wanted to see what the sign language will Punchday.
Speaker 1 (37:36):
By the right?
Speaker 8 (37:37):
Can can someone you verify this is correct sign language
by the way, because I don't want to end up
on my own show with I hope the answer, John
is what Ronnie alluded to earlier, that people there always
will be a hunger for quality, and I hope, I
hope we keep making quality and we have for the
last thirty years.
Speaker 1 (37:56):
Yes, right, as can I do the act out that
I was gonna do?
Speaker 4 (38:02):
So you talked about the brewmaster tasting the hops. I
was thinking, that's cool because rehearsal is really just getting
the script and kind of going, oh.
Speaker 12 (38:12):
Yeah, you know you're supposed to read. It's you, that's
your problem. I needed to This is perfect. I did
an act that wasn't really funny. John stepped in saved
the day Daily shows Great. There we go, Bo. That's
how it worked, the team working together.
Speaker 4 (38:27):
I blame the sign language the girl with the whole
punching of the dick thing.
Speaker 7 (38:34):
Yeah, I don't know. I don't know.
Speaker 8 (38:37):
I worry about it. I don't know you you uh,
I don't know. If this is the last of the
movie is no.
Speaker 12 (38:47):
It feels like we're in one of those places. The
one thing I will say is I remain optimistic that
people feel the humanity that is infused in art, and
if you remove that that will you will know it.
I can't say it for sure, and maybe I'm lying
(39:08):
to myself, but there is something about the connection between
people and I see it now. Maybe this is a
place to take it to a different place because each
you know, each week that we host, we go out
and we have sort of an audience with it. I'm
noticing in the audience something that I haven't seen in
a long time, and that is need, like a real
(39:31):
need to be in that room together, to connect with
each other, a real almost a sense of isolation and
a feeling of like the world is a lot out
of control and that room feels almost like a revival
to some extent. Are you feeling a difference when you
go out and talk to the audience.
Speaker 2 (39:50):
Yeah, I think.
Speaker 9 (39:53):
You do.
Speaker 5 (39:54):
They're just so with you the whole way through. Yes,
it feels like we're thirsty to laugh. We need some relief,
and I know for me, I feel it all throughout
the day and talking about just the group collaboration, and
from the first meeting of the day walking into a
room of your funniest friends and finding the lightness and
(40:16):
the humor and the tragedy that's happening in the world,
and the fact that I get to work in a place.
Speaker 2 (40:21):
That is so deeply collaborative.
Speaker 5 (40:24):
And this is something that you instilled into the DNA
of the show, and Jen Flans is a huge part
of it as well. But you know, we have multiple
meetings throughout the day. We talk to each other, we
collaborate with each other. Anyone can pitch an idea and
you feel it in the creative process, and then to
get to sit in with the audience and process it
(40:46):
with them, it feels much more like a collaborative experience
with them than I've ever felt before.
Speaker 4 (40:52):
The one I've been getting a lot lately is thank
you for making me feel like I'm not crazy. I
think when the Daily Show gets turned on and people
have all these thoughts about what happened to the news,
and then we dissect or joke about what happened, and
it's like, oh, no, I'm not crazy. They're they're pointing
this out too. Deasy brings up a great point anybody
(41:13):
can pitch at the Daily Show, anybody. Anybody can pitch
an idea from an intern all the way up to
the front. And it's really amazing how many different levels
on the hierarchy have created jokes and pitches and ideas.
I pitched an idea year ago about this woman in
the Everglades who hunts pythons because the Burmese python. I'm
(41:34):
sorry if this is going to turn anti Burmese for
a second, but the Burmese python has wiped out rabbits, foxes, squirrels.
Speaker 7 (41:42):
It's a better animal. Maybe they should take Well.
Speaker 4 (41:44):
It's not supposed to be there in the first place. Okay, Well,
well that's typical somebody if you're going on at the
show now.
Speaker 12 (41:51):
For for some reason, Ronnie always feels the need to
defend the Burmese python and we don't know why.
Speaker 1 (41:59):
Well, do you know where I'm going on Monday running.
Speaker 4 (42:01):
I'm flying the Everglade to fucking kill python with this lady.
And I don't know if this might be the last
time I ever do. Please vote for our Emmy Show
nomination show. But I have to point that out because
I that is one of my most favorite things of
the Daily Show. And what I'm most proud of these
package pieces that we do is that we go actually
(42:23):
out there.
Speaker 1 (42:24):
I'm going to be with this woman in her truck.
Speaker 4 (42:27):
She gets paid sixty five dollars to kill a snake,
and she gets like ninety dollars to get an egg,
and you're not allowed You're not allowed to try the
egg because I guess it's like the potential, like like
even like a young child's life is worth more than
our child, you know, our life. I mean, why did
this get so dark? My point is the package? Yeah,
(42:47):
the package point is you're not going to be in
the office next week. Correct, I'm not going to the
office next week? Well, Daisi said. Everybody pitches and I
was like, that's right, that is and that is an
awesome thing that I thought, except for my pitch about
going to hunt pythons because now I actually have to
go fucking do this piece.
Speaker 8 (43:00):
But but that's something we do at the Daily Show
is field pieces. Right, the field, we got into the
field and in your case talk to mentally ill people.
Speaker 3 (43:08):
And Americans it's Americans.
Speaker 8 (43:13):
Running and in your case, you kill local wildlife. And
what about your piece where you want to kill fish?
The bottom of the ocean. You shot the shot fish.
We shot lion fish. They were in vasive species in Florida.
Speaker 1 (43:25):
And what did you shoot them with? With a gun?
Speaker 4 (43:29):
By the way, this is where we think the legal department,
they're wonderful.
Speaker 8 (43:33):
But all these field pieces are like little short films,
I guess, or snuff films if you want to, you know,
like that's how it was, and we got there when
you have to. You know, it's it's a real education
in in in all aspects.
Speaker 7 (43:48):
Well Americana.
Speaker 8 (43:49):
I was going to bring it back to LA and
be like of movie making, because you need to have
writing skills, you need acting skills, you need improv skills.
You need a producer who knows what they're doing. They're direct,
you direct, need camera people. They need to edit it.
So every of these these field pieces, you know, you
see Jordan going all day. I just you know, and
you think it's easy.
Speaker 9 (44:09):
You watched any of these pieces.
Speaker 8 (44:10):
No, just I don't know, I don't know what you actually.
I know you go to the d C some special
look at me and and you you see him do
it and it looks easy. But that's because he he
spends all time in edit and he's he.
Speaker 3 (44:26):
Woke a lot are the worst of complimenting people, the worst,
the worst, and try to be like that.
Speaker 9 (44:34):
Where is there's like a genuinely nice thing.
Speaker 7 (44:36):
And yeah, okay, I'm getting to it, and I'm getting
to it. I'm getting to it. And he's also.
Speaker 12 (44:41):
Every meeting at the show, I don't know how we
get the show in the air.
Speaker 7 (44:46):
And he's also a lanky person who's he doesn't have.
Speaker 8 (44:50):
To enter into the conversation you've even seen who happens
to be a world class improviser.
Speaker 7 (44:54):
Then that's why you get that's.
Speaker 9 (44:55):
Where that's where it is.
Speaker 12 (44:58):
That's a that's a beautiful ultimately within all that, I
thought it was a beautiful than you imagine a Burmese
probably one with something inside and you're like, what is that?
Speaker 1 (45:06):
It was a beautiful compliment.
Speaker 3 (45:07):
Yeah, it feels like it's the snake eat in its
own tail.
Speaker 12 (45:10):
If has has traveling around the country, has it reinforced
stereotypes that you thought you had about Americans? Has it
opened your eyes to certain things that you didn't think
you would believe?
Speaker 1 (45:22):
Is it a more nuanced view.
Speaker 7 (45:25):
When I came out of the jungles of Malaysia?
Speaker 1 (45:27):
Yeah, here we go.
Speaker 8 (45:29):
We had Malaysian pythons and we had and I always
wanted to come to America and travel. So I got
when I go around America, I go with like, oh
my god, I get to do I get to see America,
you know, when I get to do field pieces, or
when I do when I tour this NOOW comedy special,
like I get to I get to like see all
these different parts of America.
Speaker 7 (45:47):
And I got to tell you something.
Speaker 8 (45:48):
This was before the election, and every town I went to,
I was like, you know what, there's more good people
and bad people.
Speaker 1 (45:55):
Out here for sure.
Speaker 8 (45:56):
You know, every city, I don't care it's Republican or
Demico whatever. Everyone was always super nice to me. They
didn't know who I was, I think, and they was
still nice. Everyone was respectful face to face people in
America very respectful. And so I didn't go in thinking
everyone's gonna be horrible in the middle of America. I
wentan liking it, and I left the middle of America
(46:16):
really liking it. Everyone was super nice. Everyone's trying to
get by. Everyone was welcoming to me. They would show
mutual respect, you know, and that made me hopeful. And
then the election happened, and I was like, what the
fuck happened there? Because everyone I met was.
Speaker 1 (46:31):
Like Americans as individuals, but not as a voting block.
Speaker 8 (46:34):
In the aggregate, they get a little weird, but as
individuals they were great.
Speaker 7 (46:38):
Face to face, everyone's very nice.
Speaker 8 (46:40):
So I don't know, I don't know how to square
that away, you know, with what I saw, you know,
and the people I saw.
Speaker 1 (46:45):
And I think.
Speaker 12 (46:47):
It's generally people's experience with other humans is that they
are you know. I think you would alluded to it
earlier that the view that people have from social media
and from being online is a truly warped perspective of
how we interact with each other. And it does so
because it's incentivized purely for outrage and hostility. You know,
(47:10):
the people that you see online that make a name
for themselves do it through provocation. They don't. There are
very few people online that you're like, I just find
that gentleman fascinating, Like it's it's just more like Wow,
that fucking guy will say anything, you know, and in
a horrible way, Like I.
Speaker 1 (47:27):
I always tell this story. It's a terrible story. Fuck
it now.
Speaker 12 (47:31):
I'm not gonna talk, but I'll tell all right, but
the world as it exists. So as like when people
say we talk about not to bring up like Jews
or anything like that, but like, oh, are you worried
about anti Semitism, I'm like, no, I'm not worried about
anti Semitism. I think anti Semitism will be fine. I uh,
(47:53):
I think it's I think it's very resilient. And but
the reason I say it is so I I had
just gotten back to the show. I've been there for
like a month, and my favorite dog passed away. His
name was Dipper. He was three leg a dog pull
we got him. So I went on the show to
just mention it at the end of the show and
ended up blubbering like a very, very emotionally volatile person.
(48:17):
But the response from people was so wonderful that I
post I did something I never do, which is posted
on social media, and I put pictures up of my
family and I when the first day we met Dipper
at the shelter. And what was so interesting is the
comment section on social media. People started posting pictures of
(48:40):
their best dog. So the first post is, you know,
this is Kibbles. He was our akda. I hope he
and Dipper are playing at the Rainbow Bridge. Beautiful. The
next one this is our King Charles Spaniel. It was
the best dog we ever had and we miss him
to this day.
Speaker 1 (48:57):
Beautiful. And then the third post was did you change
your name? Juve?
Speaker 4 (49:07):
Look, I was going through some stuff that week and
I just, you know, I apologize.
Speaker 12 (49:12):
The second part of that post post and this is
our German shepherd Eva, and she said, I know, but.
Speaker 1 (49:18):
But my point being like.
Speaker 12 (49:22):
You would meet those people face to face and go wow,
I had a great interaction with them, or we did
a thing, because what you see online is such a
perversion of who we are that when you see people
in there, and I wonder, do you guys deal it
(49:44):
all in social media? Do you delve into that you know,
toxic factory of attacks and like the comments section, because
it is those people I don't actually think exist, even
the people that write those, that's not really who they are.
It's that the algorithm has changed their wiring in that context.
Speaker 3 (50:07):
I mean, I've been hassled by folks in the Maga
universe who then I meet.
Speaker 1 (50:12):
In the Maga universe now they're like Marvel, Yes, all right.
Speaker 9 (50:16):
I think the superheroes. Now, yeah, right, what do you do?
Speaker 7 (50:20):
Magu and sign language like this is that what it is?
Speaker 1 (50:24):
She's spelling it out spelling.
Speaker 3 (50:29):
I think it's also s o s.
Speaker 1 (50:33):
The mainstream liberal interpreters.
Speaker 3 (50:38):
I I have a like the vitriol online is is
intense in these fears, and I feel like when I'll
go there. There's a man I met who's called the
Bricksuit Guy, who is famous in the maga world. And
he wears a bricksuit that looks like Trump's wall and
he uh but not actual bricks not it's bespoke suit.
(50:59):
He five of them, and he gets brought up on
stage and Trump parades him and talks to him, and
he's a he's his leb at all these events.
Speaker 9 (51:07):
And he heckled us while.
Speaker 3 (51:08):
We were filming one of these one of these events,
and he was posting about how terrible we were.
Speaker 9 (51:14):
He was trolling us and doing all this stuff.
Speaker 3 (51:16):
Long story short, I get stranded at the airport with
him for three and a half hours. What just me
and him, just me and him for you and bricksuit guy.
Me and bricksuit guy and we talked for three and
a half fucking hours about bricks about a little bit
about bricks. I hear about his suits, his five suits.
Three he keeps off site because he was burgled because
he live streams his location and somebody got him to
(51:38):
it and robbed him.
Speaker 1 (51:41):
This sounds like the worst Delta sky Club.
Speaker 9 (51:46):
But it's free eggs. You know you gotta do it.
Speaker 3 (51:49):
But long story short, three and a half hours with
that guy. I'd love to tell you the guy who
dresses in a brick suit, he has a handlebar mustache
and trump brings on stage that he's an idiot.
Speaker 9 (51:59):
He's not. He's a smart guy, a nice guy.
Speaker 7 (52:02):
He got to you, he got to met to shit.
Speaker 9 (52:05):
He's kind. I voted for you know, he's good with
the economy.
Speaker 7 (52:10):
I think in Michigan.
Speaker 3 (52:12):
But he has changed his tune literally online. We talk online.
When I go to events. Now he'll come up to
me and ask me about my family. It's one person
who's changed the way they talk to me. But it's
such a clear example that I've seen. I've seen it
with many people I talked to, Like, I've seen your
profile online and it's it's similar to the Big Man's
(52:34):
profile online. It's cruel, it's vitriolic, it is aimed to
be mean, and then I've met you in person, and
when no camera's watching, you're thoughtful, you're interesting, your nuanced,
You show a vulnerability about the things you don't know
in a way that doesn't exist online. You can't be
online if you're uncertain about anything, but in real life
you are and you're compelling. I would spend two hours
(52:55):
is okay, three and a half. It is a bit
fucking much, but I think that's not who it is.
It's it's an incomplete picture of these people that are
out there, right. But I do feel for our job,
I feel you gotta dip in. I feel I need
to dip into X on the week of hosting. I
gotta dip into these spaces to get a sense of what.
Speaker 9 (53:13):
That conversation is.
Speaker 1 (53:14):
It's a temperature.
Speaker 9 (53:15):
What is the temperature?
Speaker 1 (53:16):
Right?
Speaker 3 (53:16):
What are the conversations? And then shut it out for
my own mental health and be aware of what it is.
Speaker 1 (53:20):
Do you guys dip in? Do you do you find yourselves?
Speaker 5 (53:22):
I dip in right before a hosting week just to
see what people are talking about.
Speaker 1 (53:26):
Yep, I feel this is awful.
Speaker 12 (53:27):
Before you're hosting meek, you literally like you come in
and you just gotta like, do you your prep like
you're gonna get the g forces.
Speaker 1 (53:33):
You gotta strategy. I'm a host this week.
Speaker 4 (53:41):
There was a field piece I did when Trump Keep
the aired last season. Canada is the fifty first state.
Of course, we go up to Canada. Let's meet some
of these Canadians. Do some man on the street. We
meet with this man who votes a Canadian and he's
voted for Donald Trump in Canada as election. That's how
(54:02):
much he loves Donald Trump. He's a roofer. He uh
looks the way you would think he would look for
a MAGA supporter. And you sit down with him in
these one on one interviews. He comes in, he's getting
the shoulders are out. I says, oh my god, this
is going to be a rough three hour interview. And
you get talking to him, you get to know him.
(54:23):
He's really mad that Canada's taxes are high. He loves
his kids, he's having a hard time paying for them.
And he thought it would be a funny gimmick that
would get some traction to vote for Donald Trump. And
it's not like I leave loving the guy and I
want him to come to Thanksgiving with me, but I
understand him, and he's a good dude. Actually, So I
don't know. Maybe what we're talking about here is that
mob mentality is the problem that individually we're all okay,
(54:45):
I don't know. Yeah, clap, everybody clap at the same
time right now.
Speaker 1 (54:49):
Yeah, mob mentality is worse.
Speaker 12 (54:51):
Yeah, some of it may be that it really is.
Speaker 1 (54:56):
There's a certain k fabe to it all.
Speaker 12 (55:00):
The thing that I worry about with caveabe for those
of you who are not arrested adolescent boys, k fabe
is sort of the acting that takes place in professional wrestling,
where there's heels and faces, you know, bad guys and
good guys, and everybody acts in backstage they're all friends.
The thing I worry about with k fabe is that
if you act like something long enough, you become it.
(55:22):
And I do think we do have a danger of
that in the country, that the anger, even if it
is artifice at first, somehow embeds itself in a way,
you know. And the only the thing I will say,
we sort of to wrap this thing around, because we've
got to wrap.
Speaker 1 (55:40):
Up when we first started. You know.
Speaker 12 (55:44):
One of the things that I get from the audience
almost all the time is this sense of.
Speaker 1 (55:47):
Like, how are you going to get through this? You know?
Speaker 12 (55:50):
And I'm always like, hey, man, tickets are free to
shut the fuck up and watch your shop.
Speaker 13 (55:56):
I would say, but but I think, you know, people forget,
like in early two thousands, you know, they argued to
let for the unitary executive and that the vice president.
Speaker 12 (56:11):
I mean, there was an argument that the vice president
had the power alone to institute the ability to torture people.
You know, we forget our history is littered with these
really tenuous moments where we find ourselves in a shaky place,
and yet the resilience of the country finds its way
(56:32):
not to perfection but past maybe those those really rough moments.
And so in final going back to the show, do
you still find yourselves optimistic about a our ability to
try and synthesize and contextualize all these things that are
going on in a funny way and the ability of
(56:53):
the country to overcome that tenuous moment.
Speaker 1 (56:57):
And I will only ask.
Speaker 8 (56:59):
Ronnie coming out of jungle.
Speaker 7 (57:06):
Uh So, No, it's relevant.
Speaker 8 (57:08):
No, it's relevant because one cool thing about America is
the separation of house is very strong. It is very strong,
and people here complain about freedom of speech. But I
can tell you, coming from places where there really isn't
freedom of speech, the freedom free speech he still is
is there. I mean, we've been shitting on him for
twelve years now. He hasn't come after me yet, So
(57:30):
I don't know, you know, says something there.
Speaker 12 (57:31):
So we've got a special surprise for Rannie.
Speaker 7 (57:35):
Ice is here for you right now, ladies and gentlemen.
Speaker 8 (57:42):
Uh So, I would say that I am hopeful of
the resiliency of these American institutions which are being strained.
I do think that people will get past it. I
think I can feel the antibodies kind of growing a
little bit on social media in the cory, this kind
of resistance to this garbage that we can't even put
(58:05):
a wood to. I can feel people they feel a
little sick about it. But people don't know yet how
to avoid being sick, but they can feel the sickness.
Whether it's the political discourse, its social media, it's this
and we're developing the antibodies for it. And it's a
new medium, and so that makes sense, this Internet thing,
It makes sense that we had to develop it, just
like we had to develop it for TV when TV
(58:25):
came out. Just like we had to develop it when
newspapers were invented. We had to keep developments antibodies. So
I am hopeful that we will get to a place
where we can see some bullshit on the Internet and
as as a civilization will be like, nah, that's bullshit,
and then well, you know.
Speaker 1 (58:40):
That's a great point. You know.
Speaker 12 (58:41):
I think you know that the printing press was invented
and everybody thought that ushered in the Enlightenment, But it didn't.
It ushered in in like one hundred years of killing witches.
Speaker 1 (58:48):
The opposite of them. Yeah, it was the opposite of it.
It brought in there. Do you guys have any thoughts
on that.
Speaker 2 (58:54):
I'm hopeful, I mean hopeful.
Speaker 1 (58:56):
Yeah, she's always the best.
Speaker 2 (59:00):
Maybe delusionally, No, I am naive.
Speaker 5 (59:03):
I you asked if I check the comment sections and
check in on Actasy what they're saying. I don't have
to because I go home to visit my family.
Speaker 10 (59:13):
Podcast, Universe Bow your podcast, watch the daily show nights
at eleven ten Central owns Comedy Central, and stream full
episodes anytime on Paramoupo.
Speaker 2 (59:24):
Laugh Together. We can find some commonality, and I think this.
Speaker 9 (59:27):
Has been a comedy.
Speaker 2 (59:29):
Is the idea he has stopped talking to one another.
That's scary.
Speaker 5 (59:33):
But if people continue to have conversations and not be
so stuck in their silos, and you know, I do
think that there's hope that we'll get through this thing.
Speaker 4 (59:42):
This might sound naive, but I am still impressed with
the United States Constitution. It's roughly two hundred and seventy
years old. It isn't perfect at all. The checks and
balances system, though, blows my mind. And we're seeing some
of it being executed now with some of Trump's executive
(01:00:04):
orders and what's happening in immigration. And I'm hopeful that
judges will realize that Trump will push things for further, further, further,
for I mean, he's pushing him as far as they've
ever been.
Speaker 1 (01:00:18):
Uh.
Speaker 4 (01:00:18):
And I just am hopeful that the checks and bounces
will continue to work. That being said, other things I
wake up thinking about in the middle of the night
are are we making a really beautiful funny TV show
on the Titanic while it's going down?
Speaker 1 (01:00:34):
That'll be my final thought.
Speaker 3 (01:00:39):
Take us home, Jordan Jesus Rice Titanic jungles that I
wasn't aware of the python. Uh you know, yeah, I
think you gotta find hope. I find hope in a
couple places. I I just did a really great special,
(01:01:03):
but I went into that. I went into that with
a lot less hope because I was talking to kids
who were maga kids and who I'd seen images of online,
and online is a cruel fucking place. And when I
talked to these nineteen and twenty year olds, I didn't
agree with a lot of the things they had to say,
but they weren't cruel and they weren't mean. And I
(01:01:24):
talked to them about some big issues, the economy, immigration,
When I talked to some of these culture war issues,
trans rights, gay rights, they didn't take de bait. They
didn't give a shit about it. They weren't upset about it.
I think those kids are being preyed upon by institutions
and by bad actors who want those eyeballs. They want
to turn that naivete into weaponize cruelty, and they might.
(01:01:45):
I think the way the tech is set up right now,
that's where this endgame goes.
Speaker 9 (01:01:50):
But those kids, those kids were a lot like me.
Speaker 3 (01:01:52):
They were contrarians, they were nineteen, they were naive, they
were looking for a place meaning and community and I
think that's what we're all searching for, and I feel
really grateful with having the show. We joke a lot
about this, but I love coming to work. I think
we laugh together in that room and we feel so
lucky because the world does feel like it's on fire
(01:02:15):
sometimes you watch the news, but our job is we
get to turn on some of these clips and we
can laugh at it, we can scream at it, but
like our job is to find a fucking joke to
take away a little bit of that pain and to
also connect to one another. So I feel very, very
fortunate that that exists as long as linear TV is
still a thing.
Speaker 12 (01:02:33):
Right well, I have very much appreciate I very much
appreciate you guys coming out.
Speaker 1 (01:02:38):
It's an honor and a joy to work with you
guys every day. And thank you for coming out, you
guys for real. Thanks all for coming out.
Speaker 7 (01:02:44):
Everybody, please don't one and only mister John Stewart
Popular Podcasts
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
Cold Case Files: Miami
Joyce Sapp, 76; Bryan Herrera, 16; and Laurance Webb, 32—three Miami residents whose lives were stolen in brutal, unsolved homicides. Cold Case Files: Miami follows award‑winning radio host and City of Miami Police reserve officer Enrique Santos as he partners with the department’s Cold Case Homicide Unit, determined family members, and the advocates who spend their lives fighting for justice for the victims who can no longer fight for themselves.