Today on The Breakfast Club, Jordan Klepper On Meeting People Where They Are, Comedic Activism, New Stand Up Special. Listen For More!
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
I don't know.
Speaker 2 (00:01):
Every day Iago clicks up the breakfast.
Speaker 1 (00:04):
Club finish, y'all done morning.
Speaker 3 (00:07):
Everybody is the DJ en Vy Jess hilarious, Charlamage the guy.
We are the breakfast club Law on the Roses here
as well. We got a special guest.
Speaker 4 (00:14):
In the building. Yes, indeed we have a comedian, Jordan Clepper.
Speaker 1 (00:17):
Welcome.
Speaker 5 (00:17):
How are you feeling I'm feeling good. How you guys
doing I'm doing well, doing well.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
You always keep a project. Last time you was here,
it was from your last field piece. Right this time
it's we're not field piece. You had a whole documentary documentary. Yeah,
now you're here for your special Jordan Clipper fingers. The
polls give demand a prize.
Speaker 5 (00:33):
Let me tell you it's nothing about projects. Your heart.
Speaker 6 (00:35):
It is to keep health insurance in this country. You
have to keep working constantly and contractually. I'm obligated to
go out in the field and do special after special
after special.
Speaker 1 (00:43):
So that could make you sick. So you go need
all that healthcare.
Speaker 6 (00:46):
I need that healthcare. Trust me, I'm getting old too.
I got bad feats, I got weird shoulders. I wake
up now my hip doesn't work. So yeah, I need
to keep I need to keep out there talking to
people about politics.
Speaker 1 (00:55):
Are you really a people person, Jordan? Do you like
the people? Do I like the people or not like
the people? Do you like to people? I call it
people like.
Speaker 5 (01:03):
You're using that as a verb. Yes, do I like
to people? I do.
Speaker 6 (01:07):
I feel comfortable peopling. I think it's my Midwest nice
that makes me like jump into spaces, try to find commonality.
I've met a lot of people, though, I definitely have
I have a love hate relationship with people as a
general idea. I've seen they're good, I've seen they're bad.
There's a lot of them live somewhere in the middle.
(01:27):
But I like getting getting to know them a little bit.
I'll tell you, people off camera are so interesting to me,
and those are the people that I like the most.
You know, I go into these Mogel worlds. I go
into these these strange spaces, and the camera shifts the
way in which everybody talks about stuff, makes them more certain,
makes them more argumentative, makes them versions of themselves that
they see online. And then that camera goes off and
(01:49):
they got they got music interests, they got wives, they
have had issues with, they have food interests. They have
peccadillos that you just sort of gravitate towards. So people
without a camera on their face, those people, those are
the best people.
Speaker 2 (02:02):
What about when you walk in a room and the
camera's not on and somebody says, make me laugh.
Speaker 1 (02:06):
Yes, well you're just a gesture, you know what.
Speaker 6 (02:07):
Sometimes that happens. Sometimes you want to come on the
breakfast club, you want to have a nice conversation, and
then you walk into.
Speaker 7 (02:13):
A room and I say, you make me laugh.
Speaker 5 (02:15):
The bar is set. Yeah, you get nervous.
Speaker 8 (02:18):
Because he said, do I look good? And I was like,
you look great, just make us laughing. Because I thought,
as a comedian, when you're making people laugh, it makes
you feel good. I wanted you to feel comfortable and welcome.
Speaker 7 (02:27):
You did, yes and happy.
Speaker 5 (02:28):
Well, here's the problem.
Speaker 6 (02:29):
As a comedian, you complimenting the way I look made
me feel uncomfortable because my expectation, my expectation is I look,
I look strange, I'm ill fitting clothes. I think that's
how I see myself. So you set me off my
game by making me feel good about myself.
Speaker 5 (02:44):
That's on you.
Speaker 7 (02:45):
I'm sorry if you look if you want me to
wrock it.
Speaker 5 (02:47):
What's wrong? Talk about the fit? Where did I go wrong?
Speaker 7 (02:50):
You really really that?
Speaker 5 (02:51):
No, you don't have to know. This is it's a
new jacket, is it okay?
Speaker 7 (02:54):
I like the jacket. I just want to put it
with that shirt.
Speaker 5 (02:57):
There it is.
Speaker 1 (02:58):
She's wearing a full leather and you're.
Speaker 8 (03:00):
Going to I just don't know what jacket though.
Speaker 7 (03:04):
And I thought the hair was a good compliment to
the jacket.
Speaker 8 (03:06):
But but if you want me to talk bad, I
just I felt you could with a lighter shirt.
Speaker 5 (03:10):
Lighter shirt.
Speaker 7 (03:11):
Thermal.
Speaker 5 (03:12):
It is a thermal because it's cold. It is cold,
but it's texture. There's texture on texture. You don't like that.
Speaker 7 (03:19):
The texture is just very different.
Speaker 1 (03:21):
Wear a white T shirt?
Speaker 7 (03:22):
I mean, do you do a unique well, I see,
I know your friends.
Speaker 8 (03:27):
Yeah, they have really great T shirts that you could
have put the thermal under, put the white T shirt
and it would have with the sneakers. I looked at
your shoes and you talked about your feet, and I
just thought, why are you doing it?
Speaker 5 (03:36):
Me to do it? I respect it, I respect it,
I need it.
Speaker 4 (03:39):
It's just the part of people that you like.
Speaker 5 (03:41):
Well, right on the line, right now, I gotta tell you.
Speaker 6 (03:43):
But you know I do specials. I do specials because
I get health insurance. I do publicity so I get
fashion tips. I can't pay for a publicist. You're helping
me here.
Speaker 7 (03:51):
Do you feel comfortable? You told me to do it.
Speaker 5 (03:53):
You know, I like it.
Speaker 6 (03:54):
I respect it. Now, you don't want a graphic tea.
You're saying a plain tea is the way to go with.
Speaker 5 (03:57):
Something like this.
Speaker 7 (03:58):
Yeah, I think a plain tea would have been rote too.
Like you seem like effortless.
Speaker 6 (04:02):
Oh that's what you're getting out of this feel good thing.
I'll take effortless.
Speaker 1 (04:06):
She said, you see effortless, but you actually tried this morning.
I'm trying.
Speaker 6 (04:08):
There was so much effort put into this moment. Here,
you can see it. It's bled into the interview last night.
I can tell you did it last night. I'm gonna
kill with this, Like first day of school. Do you
know I iron into this corduroy jacket. Damn, I don't
even know if you were supposed to iron a corduroy jacket.
Speaker 1 (04:22):
Jesus, the jacket.
Speaker 5 (04:28):
This is good. This is good. Intel. I didn't know. Yeah,
you steam corduroy instead of ironing corduroys. This is helpful.
Speaker 4 (04:34):
I have a towel over in his steaming through the tower.
Speaker 1 (04:36):
You can do that too.
Speaker 7 (04:36):
Did you put the tower?
Speaker 5 (04:37):
I did not put the towel doves.
Speaker 2 (04:38):
But you know Jordan's a real comedian because soon as
Lawrence said make me laugh, jo was like, I got
Type five.
Speaker 6 (04:44):
I got it, like airline food, I got I got
thoughts on that.
Speaker 3 (04:48):
Let's go have no special fingers the polse, give the
man a prize.
Speaker 4 (04:54):
Fingers the pole sounds crazy, but let's talking about his name.
Speaker 5 (05:00):
Have you met Figers the balls? That guy?
Speaker 6 (05:01):
Oh boy, it's a bit handsy.
Speaker 5 (05:04):
Okay, stay away, all right, he's got a rap sheet.
Don't look into him. Don't google the guy.
Speaker 1 (05:08):
Are you messed with Macca?
Speaker 5 (05:09):
People?
Speaker 1 (05:09):
To get man?
Speaker 4 (05:10):
What's wrong with you?
Speaker 5 (05:10):
You just like just you know what? I like getting
out there. I like getting out there.
Speaker 6 (05:16):
This one was wild because we're trying to figure out
what to do a special on and two things were
happening simultaneously, Like Trump was sending troops into cities because
he said it was World War two in Portland and Chicago,
and at the same time he wanted the Nobel Peace
Prize because he said it was the most peaceful guy
on the planet. Crazy, right, So we're like, all right,
that's that's a hypocrisy. That makes for comedy and a special.
(05:38):
So it's like, let's go after this Nobel Peace Prize
desire and let's talk to people about like what's actually
happening in these cities, which.
Speaker 2 (05:45):
Is chaotic, absolutely, And it's intermeing to do because the
special blend stand up with what you do in the field.
Speaker 1 (05:52):
What did you want audiences.
Speaker 2 (05:53):
To understand about America that you couldn't capture just through
field pieces and just would a stand up.
Speaker 6 (05:59):
Well, I mean, I think when you look at something
like this, what piece looks like in America, what it
feels like? What is so night We went to Portland,
which was supposedly World War two, and if you're watching
Fox News, if you're watching the right wing political sphere,
all you're seeing is this is a war zone.
Speaker 5 (06:17):
This is chaos. You never want to visit.
Speaker 6 (06:18):
We went there on the Naked Bike Ride, which was
a comical experience full of people dressed as some people
who were naked, some people who were dressed as cartoon characters,
all of them going outside an ice facility to protest.
What they saw is inhumane treatment. It was comical, it
was absurd, And then we saw ice agents shoot pepper
(06:39):
balls at these people dressed as cartoon characters. And for me,
that's what America feels like right now. It's this absurdity,
it's this violence. It's two different worlds clashing into one another.
And so that's why we go out and do these
field pieces. That's why we go and do these specials.
Is it's one thing to sit behind a desk and
talk about what you see on camera. That's another thing
(06:59):
to it out there and and and see it up close.
Speaker 8 (07:03):
How do you measure the success of your pieces that
you do? Because it's it's comedy, but there's also like
a deeper conversation that you want to start, Like, I
know you want to ind me for your last one.
Speaker 7 (07:11):
So is it okay?
Speaker 6 (07:13):
Got congratulation, thank you, thank you, Emmy wise I I
had a couple at home.
Speaker 5 (07:18):
That's pretty nice, pretty nice.
Speaker 6 (07:20):
Yeah, And even with all of that, I'm still so
nervous about what I wear. You know exactly that you
can't you can't get you let me you think so,
but you still care. I measure success with clicks that's
all that matters, just clicks. Who is watching? How many clicks? Yeah,
I'm healthy, I was a supportive snort.
Speaker 5 (07:40):
I'll take it.
Speaker 1 (07:41):
That's honest, as.
Speaker 6 (07:43):
I wish I didn't look at it, and I can't say.
I mean, you know what, there's truth in that comedy.
Speaker 5 (07:49):
I'd like to know. I I what I tried.
Speaker 6 (07:51):
Our intention in this is to find we're comedians in
this crazy, strange role. I came up an improv comedy guy,
a comedy dude who suddenly thrust on the Daily Show,
and I love it, and then the world sort of explodes,
and our job is to find comedy in these chaotic times.
And I think using comedy as a way to add
(08:12):
context to a moment, and for people who aren't necessarily
paying attention and watching Comedy Central at eleven o'clock, who
might not be interested in politics, suddenly to be paying
attention to the Nobel Peace Prize race and what's happening
in Portland. Like that's that's our intention. It's like engage
in that conversation. I'm then late at night, when I
feel good about my intentions and what I've done, I
(08:32):
go on YouTube and I see how many people have
watched it and if it's not enough, and I compare
to what else is out there that I feel bad
about myself. And then I talk to my agent and
they're like, well, your contract's gonna be dependent on how
successful the show is. And then you watch CNN and
it talks about what's happening in the late night sphere,
and then you worry about eyeballs and the attention economy,
and suddenly you have a breakdown when you come on
a show like this and you're wearing something that's not
exactly I'm just I can't get out of it, you know,
I can't get my head outside of it.
Speaker 7 (08:53):
I'm so sorry.
Speaker 1 (08:55):
Just the only way to make special special?
Speaker 5 (08:58):
Is this the only way to make it special? Specials?
Speaker 1 (09:01):
For me?
Speaker 6 (09:02):
Yes, there's something improvisational about it. We knew we were
going to do a special three months ago, and the
stuff that we do is current, you know. We we
were editing it up until yesterday. We were filming up
until like a week ago. And for me, I've done
specials that take a year. I've worked in the stand
up world, and you craft something over the course of
(09:24):
years to put that special out. But for the Daily Show,
for fingers the pulse. What we do is like, what's
the conversation right now? How do we make a larger
argument about that conversation, and how do we keep it
evolving up until the moment it goes out. So for
me that that retains the improv spirit of keeping it,
keeping it in the moment.
Speaker 3 (09:43):
I always wanted, when you go out and you're talking
to these people, how does your wife feel like?
Speaker 4 (09:49):
I know it's a lot to be nervous, yeah, but
how is it on her?
Speaker 6 (09:52):
She she gets a little stressed when we go into
some hary situations, Like you know, she knows.
Speaker 5 (10:00):
Me, trust me.
Speaker 6 (10:01):
When I bring that argumentative stance back home, she is
not as excited. Like it's one thing to see the
guy who goes out there and argues about politics on
the road, trying to find hypocrisy, But to bring that
guy home and in the house is a tough thing
for a wife and a loved one.
Speaker 5 (10:15):
So I feel for her in that position.
Speaker 6 (10:18):
As of the last few years, though, she is earnestly
worried about what happens out there.
Speaker 5 (10:24):
You know, it's crazy. People are crazy.
Speaker 6 (10:26):
And I started going out there with no security, and
now I go out there with four security guards, and
there are threats that take place on the show, on
the family, and again when the camera's off, when you're
talking to people face to face, people are lovely. People
are not as bold and emboldened as they are online.
Speaker 5 (10:46):
But when you.
Speaker 6 (10:47):
Step back from that, there's hate, there's anger out there,
and she fears for that. You know, we think about that,
and I think this last six months, with some of
the violent activities that we've all seen, like Late Night,
chose people who are public, forward facing and have to
sort of reevaluate what that looks like. And it's real
and it's scary and you're trying not to think too
(11:07):
much about it.
Speaker 4 (11:08):
What was the incident that made you get for security guards?
Speaker 3 (11:10):
Because you just don't go from having nobody to all
of a sudden four something had to happen.
Speaker 5 (11:14):
It was I was.
Speaker 6 (11:16):
I think the big moment for us was right before
Trump's when Trump lost his re election campaign in twenty twenty,
and to stop the steal campaign, he had a giant
event in the Capitol and there were fifty thousand people
there and I was interacting with people and the Trump
(11:38):
crew had gone from being in power and successful to
having lost an election something they couldn't accept at the time,
and so they were angry, and I think there was
a shift from like, oh, this is playful. We don't
like the media, but we will be playful with them.
Suddenly I was pushing somebody in an interview and it
was getting a little bit contentious, and the people around it,
(11:58):
who had nothing to do, eyed on that started to
create two to three to ten to fifteen to thirty people,
and it became a mob of angry people, and security
had to extricate me from the situation and run out,
throw me in a van kind of a situation, and
they chase me, They chase me, and it's that mob
mentality that you saw a month and a half later
(12:18):
at January sixth, where it is a bunch of people
with nothing to do, emboldened by a president who told
him that you're a patriot and that the media is
the enemy of all people, and they see that and literally,
I don't think a lot of the people who chased
me had that intention, but a minute and a half earlier,
board people walking around emboldened by a president see something
that they can do and their brain turns off and
(12:40):
they just chase and so when we encountered with that,
it was like, all right, we have to be prepared
for this. And quite frankly, when we go to rallies
and events, now we have to be tactical about where
we are because we're in a space where we can't
get out of and that mob again.
Speaker 4 (12:55):
You do it close to the car.
Speaker 5 (12:56):
Now now I do it close to the car.
Speaker 6 (12:57):
We're always comes to the car. And you know what,
I'm gonna amend my comment about people. I think person
person is easy. People is tough, and that's that was
the case on the road. I can talk one on
want to that person. When they become people, they start
to lose accountability and that's what you can't rationalize with
group group think all the way.
Speaker 1 (13:16):
You have to think about keeping like a Maga hat
in your back pocket. Just going on.
Speaker 6 (13:22):
Yes, I will say our producers have uh specific colored
hats and.
Speaker 5 (13:26):
Apparel to wear so that we blend in really yeah.
Speaker 1 (13:29):
For sure, like red hat, you mean I say mag
red hat.
Speaker 6 (13:33):
Our producer Ian Berger wears a red hockey hat from
some some minor league hockey team in Canada. It's got
it's a red hat with like a mustang on it
that looks like looks like it's part of the team,
because that's what it's tribalism out there, right you walk
out there, if you're wearing the red, you're wearing that
you're on the team and there are not.
Speaker 7 (13:56):
Do you feel like it's worth it?
Speaker 8 (13:57):
Like what you do when putting yourself kind of like
in the mix of these people who could have that
mentality and having a beef up security and I do.
Speaker 6 (14:05):
I love engaging with people and I do. For me,
what is most effective or interesting about what I do
is when like I feel like I'm stressed testing propaganda
the stuff that you hear being fed to people on
these on all these news shows, like where does it?
Where does it actually land with the American public? And
(14:27):
if I can go out there and I can find
that hypocrisy, if I can, like it's it's most revealing
moments I'm having a conversation with somebody on the road
who has not had a conversation and thought through their
point of view until this very moment, right, like we
all just accept these these points of view, these opinions,
these certainties that are fed us without like friends and
(14:49):
cohorts who push you on it, like we're in these bubbles.
A lot of the people I talk to are in
media bubbles. They're in friend bubbles, they're in Facebook bubbles.
And when I come out here and I ask you,
why do you think that thing? They haven't thought through it,
And in that moment they have to articulate that my
job is to find comedy in it, some context in it,
but hopefully there's a little moment of revelation where you
(15:09):
see that person be that person again and you see
the BS and so yeah, for me, with that and
a little bit of health insurance, it feels like it's
worth it.
Speaker 2 (15:18):
So for you, at what point does comedy stop being
funny and start becoming like a public.
Speaker 6 (15:23):
Service and start being a public service? That's a great question.
I mean, you know, with The Daily Show, like John
always talks, we are a comedy show.
Speaker 5 (15:32):
That is our bias.
Speaker 6 (15:33):
And I think that's what is compelling about people when
they watch a show like that, they know are biased.
All these shows have biased. The Daily Show has a
bias towards comedy, calling out the BS where they see it.
So we're always approaching it from that. And also, I
am not a journalist. I rely on the work of
good journalists to tell these stories to get good information,
(15:53):
and that we want to keep that clear, and I
don't want to get over my skis in doing that.
And in some of these situations, comedy has very little
space to be and maybe shouldn't be there. So for us,
again with this special, we wanted to go to Portland,
we wanted to go to Chicago because I've seen images
of what's happening with ice raids and they're heartbreaking and
they're terrifying. And when you have a microphone and a camera,
(16:15):
you're like, how do I point it at these things?
Speaker 5 (16:17):
And I think are really important to talk about?
Speaker 6 (16:19):
But also what me going in there making jokes? When
is that helping a situation? When is that becoming more
activist than more comedian? And how do I like take
what I want to say but still add the thing
that I can do, which is comedy. Quite literally, for
this special, there was a naked bike ride and so
for us, we're like, all right, here's a comedic take
on what is happening in this chaotic space, So let's
(16:43):
use that so we can tell a story. Because at
that point, if I'm just getting out there and just
becoming an activist on television trying to tell you what
I think like, I don't serve a purpose. I'm not
speaking a language that I'm most fluent in, and I'm
not being effected to an audience space who understands I'm
going after comedy and be yes. So I try to
keep that as my north star. So the naked bike
ride was likenked naked. It was naked, naked and swing.
(17:05):
They were all there, my friend, they were all there.
We thought nobody would show up ten minutes beforehand. There's
like one or two naked dudes there all out. By
the end there were hundreds getting on bikes on cold,
cold Portland day, humping on these.
Speaker 1 (17:21):
A lot of shrinkage.
Speaker 5 (17:22):
There's a lot of shrinkage. I gotta tell you, I.
Speaker 1 (17:24):
You stop riding bikes too soon. You did.
Speaker 5 (17:29):
Would would you have gone naked for the cost?
Speaker 1 (17:31):
But for the costs you would have gone?
Speaker 3 (17:34):
And I don't want to be behind anybody that rides
bike either. That's just a little weird, see it, asshole,
It's not my thing.
Speaker 6 (17:38):
It's it's what's interesting is it's shocking for the first
twenty minutes, but when you're around two hundred naked people
for an hour or so.
Speaker 5 (17:45):
You get comfy too.
Speaker 6 (17:47):
I stripped down to an uncomfortable degree, got on a bike,
rode that bike, don't you?
Speaker 5 (17:53):
Does my assert yes?
Speaker 6 (17:55):
But I mostly thinking, I mean, the ass doesn't feel good,
the ego feels poor.
Speaker 3 (18:01):
No, no, because the seat is hard. The seat's very hard, right,
but usually if you have clothes, it's more padding. So
if there's no padding, that's just right up.
Speaker 6 (18:08):
You're thinking more about what's happening up front, though you're
worried about that, how it's being perceived.
Speaker 4 (18:14):
Because you got you gotta put it on the left
for the right.
Speaker 1 (18:16):
Side of the seat.
Speaker 6 (18:17):
You choose, You choose, although if if it's I'm talking
about the they'm talking about a little bit of everything.
Although here's that is a benefit of the cold is
you don't necessarily have to choose. If it's cold enough,
you there's a recession that takes place with everything, which
makes choice irrelevant. You have small piness, is what I'm saying.
At that point, we know, Okay, I want to be clear.
(18:38):
I'm trying to paint a picture. All stereotypes aren't true. Okay,
this is good to know.
Speaker 5 (18:42):
Let's do.
Speaker 7 (18:45):
Y'all hug each other at the end, like get through.
Speaker 5 (18:48):
The process the naked bike ride.
Speaker 8 (18:49):
Yes, Like what's the celebration at then when you get
you I mean, here's the reality of it.
Speaker 6 (18:54):
So you ride these bikes naked through the streets of
Portland with what our editor is described from just watching
the footage with a soupy smell.
Speaker 5 (19:06):
Right, it's sweaty and it's it's human.
Speaker 6 (19:08):
But you ride through there is Suddenly a downpour takes
place in Portland and they ride in front of the
ice facility. It's the wildest thing. It's we caught it
all on taper like this is It's it's bonkers. Literally
coming down a hill, hundreds of naked people honking, a
band dressed as bananas playing protest music, and on top
(19:29):
of the ice facility is a bunch of guys in
ice apparel, wearing a kevlar and holding a paintball gun
to shooting pepper bullets into into the crowd. So they're
coming down and they're cheering and they're all hugging. I'm
not hugging. I'm keeping my space as a respected comedian.
They start hugging, shots start to get fired into the group,
(19:51):
and then the Ice agents push in and they shove
people into the ground, and so it's it literally was
like celebration, and all joking aside, like kind of inspiring celebration.
We were laughing at how absurd it was, but that
was the points.
Speaker 1 (20:04):
Do you want all this for health coverage?
Speaker 6 (20:06):
And you fucking believe it in this day and age,
you think Obamacare worked more effectively that I wouldn't have
to do this, but it's still the case. I'm out
there hustling.
Speaker 1 (20:15):
Do you feel like Donald Trump overlooks the Daily Show? Yes?
Speaker 6 (20:19):
Yeah, I wonder why, Thank god, thank god. I don't
think he has gable. I think that man.
Speaker 5 (20:25):
I think that man, that man.
Speaker 6 (20:27):
He's got NBC, he still watches the channels he watched
thirty years ago.
Speaker 5 (20:33):
He watches Fox. He definitely watches Fox.
Speaker 6 (20:34):
But I don't think he's like the grandparent who's got
those few channels, knows how to get through those few
channels and doesn't know how to get to the other channels.
And so, thank the Lord, he's not paying attention to
the Daily Show. He's got his own fish to fry.
Speaker 2 (20:48):
I wonder, though, with his influence that he clearly had
that paramount. Will he you know, maybe flex his muscle
behind the scenes.
Speaker 6 (20:56):
I just don't want him to pay any attention to us. Well,
there's different rules with the FCC and cable TV, and
so I think that may play into it as well.
But that man fixes his eyes on the stuff that's
right in front of him at all times, and it's
pretty clear the things that he watches and gets angry about.
So so as I promote this, I pray to god
(21:18):
he's not listening to the Breakfast Club because again, oh,
I know he's not been super happy with Charlotte.
Speaker 1 (21:25):
But that's because I was on Laura Trump showed up.
Speaker 6 (21:27):
That's what it was, right, Yes, yes, did you did
you get blowback from the MAGA circle?
Speaker 5 (21:32):
Did you have any interaction with people?
Speaker 1 (21:33):
Oh?
Speaker 2 (21:33):
You know what's so interesting when I did that conversation
with Laura Trump, and my business partner said this to me.
He was like, there's a lot of people that are
agreeing with the thing that you're saying because I'm not
on there talking right or left or even black or white.
I'm just talking about affordability and keeping people safe in
this country. And I don't feel like he's doing a
good job with that. Right now, It's a simple conversation.
(21:55):
We often connect over the economy.
Speaker 6 (21:57):
Yeah, I mean, I think that's it was amazing to
see like Zoran in the Oval office and how like, yeah,
the economy and affordability that that speaks to the right.
If people can get on those spaces and talk about that,
I think there's an effective lane for a lot of
those Fox viewers or what have you who are in
that bubble to be like, oh no, this is a
conversation that's happening across party lines.
Speaker 1 (22:15):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (22:16):
I love people like you joined because you actually be
out in the field talking to people. When you're out
in the field from your vantage point. Does America feel
more divided? Are just more recorded?
Speaker 6 (22:30):
Can I say both? We are more divided. We are
one hundred percent more divided. We are pushed to that space.
But like I said, it's the recording of the divisiveness
that that takes away our autonomy of thought. I think
you can break through, but people are angry, and there
are less people who are excited about the MAGA machine
(22:53):
than there ever were beforehand. There were less people excited
about the democratic machine than there ever were beforehand. I
think that's what happened in this last election, and so
you go out there now and yeah, people are. People
are pissed off, they're angry, and they're more certain than
they've ever been because there's recording devices on them. But
they's still a glimmer of hope of like they want
to talk about affordability. I went to Mississippi and I
(23:15):
talked to a bunch of MAUGA supporters. What was curious
is they're all afraid of places like Portland and Chicago
because of what the magospher has told them about these
big cities.
Speaker 5 (23:25):
Afraid of all big cities.
Speaker 6 (23:27):
And the older people were afraid of Antifa because that's
the narrative that Trump pushes. The younger people every time
I ask them about things like Antifa, no interest, didn't
care and realize in that moment, you're like, oh, some
of these narratives that are being ginned up to be
divisive and push people apart. The boogeyman, the Antifa boogeyman.
The old people buy in hook line and sinker and
(23:48):
they love it, and they're afraid and they're changing the
way they think because of that. The young people are
too smart for that shit, and they don't they they're
not as deep in as some of these other folks
who are in it to win it. And so I
see those moments I have I have optimism. We're like, oh,
these kids, these kids are easily swaying, but are not
But are not I haven't been watching the show for
(24:08):
twenty years. Like like the old folks were making some
of these decisions, this younger generation is just tuning in.
They're not buying some of these these boogeymen that the
Trump administration is putting out, and there's there is a
space to have conversation with those folks about things that
they care about. Maybe we see that in the midterms,
maybe we see that in the next year, but not
everybody's completely all in on that Trump train.
Speaker 1 (24:28):
So that's a that's a great point.
Speaker 2 (24:30):
What's scarier to union people who believe these wild conspiracy
theories that are people who knowingly.
Speaker 6 (24:35):
Weaponize with the people who knowingly weaponize, though, I think
it's the people who wield it. I think that's where
there's like no moral core where you know, you it's
one thing to be afraid of stuff and then out
of self preservation, which hey, that's that's how most of
us move through life. What is the next thing I
need to do to pay my rent, to have health
insurance for my kids, to to keep food on the table.
(24:58):
What do I need to do? Are a way I
can believe the things I need to believe to sustain that.
I get that, I empathize with that. That makes you human.
It's the people who know better. Those are the folks
that are real scary here. And I wish our elected
officials would stand up and be the people who know better.
But you know, I've been around long enough not to
have that faith in those institutions anymore. Yeah, hope, you
(25:24):
hope a little bit some of that that morality we
always talked about in schools and the Declaration Independence talks about.
You hope that sort of makes its way back into
political discourse again. Yeah, that's a pretty good one, I
gotta tell you. And hearing all this religious talk on
the right too, it's like, Yeah, there's a lot of
good ideals there that you wish we believed in, and
I think a lot of people do. There's just more
(25:45):
focus on putting food on the table to actually engage
in that larger conversation.
Speaker 1 (25:49):
So do you think Donald Trump should get an know
about these.
Speaker 5 (25:51):
Price give that man?
Speaker 6 (25:52):
A prize one hundred percent, not just any prize, Okay,
fair enough, No, I do not. I think he's deserving
of the Nobel Peace Prize. What we were what we
did discover though we went to Norway and talked to
somebody who's on the Nobel Peace Prize committee. You don't
have to be perfect to win a Nobel Peace Prize.
And in sometimes they've given peace prizes two people as
(26:15):
somewhat of a carrot to get to something good. I
think what's curious about Donald Trump is that man wants
a peace prize more than anybody else, and if he
can find peace on this planet in some way to
work towards it, like dangle that carrot like a big
mac in front of Donald Trump so that he chases
it in some sort of way. Like I I have
no problem using the Peace Prize as a political tool
(26:35):
to try to do good in the world. So maybe
if that, if that made him made him save some
lives anywhere, stop bombing boats off the coast of Venezuela
and give them in the Peace Prize.
Speaker 7 (26:45):
That's gonna be the one piece that makes the lean
in and listen to you.
Speaker 1 (26:47):
There you go, so no, you don't want.
Speaker 5 (26:49):
That, You said, shoot, you're right, complicated him.
Speaker 2 (26:52):
Jordan Klepper of The Daily Show said, Trump deserves there.
Speaker 5 (26:57):
You go use it, use it.
Speaker 3 (27:00):
You know, I need to get him chasing a big
man a long naked bike ride.
Speaker 7 (27:03):
This was the revelation.
Speaker 4 (27:05):
So what do you want people to get out of
this special that comes out next Monday?
Speaker 6 (27:08):
Get out of the special man. That piece is hard,
but you don't need to be perfect to achieve it.
And then America in twenty twenty five looks like naked
people riding for a cause being shot by Ice agents.
It smells like soup, man, it smells like soup, cheap soup.
Speaker 1 (27:27):
So what gives you hope about America? Right now?
Speaker 5 (27:31):
You want me to find hope in all of this.
Speaker 6 (27:33):
You know what what gives me hope about America is
a naked guy protesting out front of an ICE facility,
like you're wondering if people have tuned out.
Speaker 5 (27:40):
Apathy.
Speaker 6 (27:41):
That's what That's what the right, that's what the far
right wants. They want apathy. They don't want you to
care if you show up with your balls out, your
tits out in a rainy Portland day to like go
outside of an ice facility and be like, I don't
want them to use my image to be painted as
a bad guy, so much so that I'm willing to
be naked in front of all these folks to look
like a fool because I think what's happening inside is inhumane.
(28:04):
Like that that is helpful to me.
Speaker 1 (28:06):
Let you not say literally, Jordan Clip.
Speaker 3 (28:09):
Ladies and gentlemen, definitely check out the special and next
Monday on Comedy Central, and thank you for joining us.
Speaker 1 (28:13):
Thanks did he make you laugh? Floren?
Speaker 7 (28:15):
He did?
Speaker 1 (28:15):
Okay?
Speaker 6 (28:16):
Yes?
Speaker 4 (28:17):
The Breakfast Club, good morning, Wake that ass up in
the morning.
Speaker 1 (28:22):
The Breakfast Club
I don't know.
Speaker 2 (00:01):
Every day Iago clicks up the breakfast.
Speaker 1 (00:04):
Club finish, y'all done morning.
Speaker 3 (00:07):
Everybody is the DJ en Vy Jess hilarious, Charlamage the guy.
We are the breakfast club Law on the Roses here
as well. We got a special guest.
Speaker 4 (00:14):
In the building. Yes, indeed we have a comedian, Jordan Clepper.
Speaker 1 (00:17):
Welcome.
Speaker 5 (00:17):
How are you feeling I'm feeling good. How you guys
doing I'm doing well, doing well.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
You always keep a project. Last time you was here,
it was from your last field piece. Right this time
it's we're not field piece. You had a whole documentary documentary. Yeah,
now you're here for your special Jordan Clipper fingers. The
polls give demand a prize.
Speaker 5 (00:33):
Let me tell you it's nothing about projects. Your heart.
Speaker 6 (00:35):
It is to keep health insurance in this country. You
have to keep working constantly and contractually. I'm obligated to
go out in the field and do special after special
after special.
Speaker 1 (00:43):
So that could make you sick. So you go need
all that healthcare.
Speaker 6 (00:46):
I need that healthcare. Trust me, I'm getting old too.
I got bad feats, I got weird shoulders. I wake
up now my hip doesn't work. So yeah, I need
to keep I need to keep out there talking to
people about politics.
Speaker 1 (00:55):
Are you really a people person, Jordan? Do you like
the people? Do I like the people or not like
the people? Do you like to people? I call it
people like.
Speaker 5 (01:03):
You're using that as a verb. Yes, do I like
to people? I do.
Speaker 6 (01:07):
I feel comfortable peopling. I think it's my Midwest nice
that makes me like jump into spaces, try to find commonality.
I've met a lot of people, though, I definitely have
I have a love hate relationship with people as a
general idea. I've seen they're good, I've seen they're bad.
There's a lot of them live somewhere in the middle.
(01:27):
But I like getting getting to know them a little bit.
I'll tell you, people off camera are so interesting to me,
and those are the people that I like the most.
You know, I go into these Mogel worlds. I go
into these these strange spaces, and the camera shifts the
way in which everybody talks about stuff, makes them more certain,
makes them more argumentative, makes them versions of themselves that
they see online. And then that camera goes off and
(01:49):
they got they got music interests, they got wives, they
have had issues with, they have food interests. They have
peccadillos that you just sort of gravitate towards. So people
without a camera on their face, those people, those are
the best people.
Speaker 2 (02:02):
What about when you walk in a room and the
camera's not on and somebody says, make me laugh.
Speaker 1 (02:06):
Yes, well you're just a gesture, you know what.
Speaker 6 (02:07):
Sometimes that happens. Sometimes you want to come on the
breakfast club, you want to have a nice conversation, and
then you walk into.
Speaker 7 (02:13):
A room and I say, you make me laugh.
Speaker 5 (02:15):
The bar is set. Yeah, you get nervous.
Speaker 8 (02:18):
Because he said, do I look good? And I was like,
you look great, just make us laughing. Because I thought,
as a comedian, when you're making people laugh, it makes
you feel good. I wanted you to feel comfortable and welcome.
Speaker 7 (02:27):
You did, yes and happy.
Speaker 5 (02:28):
Well, here's the problem.
Speaker 6 (02:29):
As a comedian, you complimenting the way I look made
me feel uncomfortable because my expectation, my expectation is I look,
I look strange, I'm ill fitting clothes. I think that's
how I see myself. So you set me off my
game by making me feel good about myself.
Speaker 5 (02:44):
That's on you.
Speaker 7 (02:45):
I'm sorry if you look if you want me to
wrock it.
Speaker 5 (02:47):
What's wrong? Talk about the fit? Where did I go wrong?
Speaker 7 (02:50):
You really really that?
Speaker 5 (02:51):
No, you don't have to know. This is it's a
new jacket, is it okay?
Speaker 7 (02:54):
I like the jacket. I just want to put it
with that shirt.
Speaker 5 (02:57):
There it is.
Speaker 1 (02:58):
She's wearing a full leather and you're.
Speaker 8 (03:00):
Going to I just don't know what jacket though.
Speaker 7 (03:04):
And I thought the hair was a good compliment to
the jacket.
Speaker 8 (03:06):
But but if you want me to talk bad, I
just I felt you could with a lighter shirt.
Speaker 5 (03:10):
Lighter shirt.
Speaker 7 (03:11):
Thermal.
Speaker 5 (03:12):
It is a thermal because it's cold. It is cold,
but it's texture. There's texture on texture. You don't like that.
Speaker 7 (03:19):
The texture is just very different.
Speaker 1 (03:21):
Wear a white T shirt?
Speaker 7 (03:22):
I mean, do you do a unique well, I see,
I know your friends.
Speaker 8 (03:27):
Yeah, they have really great T shirts that you could
have put the thermal under, put the white T shirt
and it would have with the sneakers. I looked at
your shoes and you talked about your feet, and I
just thought, why are you doing it?
Speaker 5 (03:36):
Me to do it? I respect it, I respect it,
I need it.
Speaker 4 (03:39):
It's just the part of people that you like.
Speaker 5 (03:41):
Well, right on the line, right now, I gotta tell you.
Speaker 6 (03:43):
But you know I do specials. I do specials because
I get health insurance. I do publicity so I get
fashion tips. I can't pay for a publicist. You're helping
me here.
Speaker 7 (03:51):
Do you feel comfortable? You told me to do it.
Speaker 5 (03:53):
You know, I like it.
Speaker 6 (03:54):
I respect it. Now, you don't want a graphic tea.
You're saying a plain tea is the way to go with.
Speaker 5 (03:57):
Something like this.
Speaker 7 (03:58):
Yeah, I think a plain tea would have been rote too.
Like you seem like effortless.
Speaker 6 (04:02):
Oh that's what you're getting out of this feel good thing.
I'll take effortless.
Speaker 1 (04:06):
She said, you see effortless, but you actually tried this morning.
I'm trying.
Speaker 6 (04:08):
There was so much effort put into this moment. Here,
you can see it. It's bled into the interview last night.
I can tell you did it last night. I'm gonna
kill with this, Like first day of school. Do you
know I iron into this corduroy jacket. Damn, I don't
even know if you were supposed to iron a corduroy jacket.
Speaker 1 (04:22):
Jesus, the jacket.
Speaker 5 (04:28):
This is good. This is good. Intel. I didn't know. Yeah,
you steam corduroy instead of ironing corduroys. This is helpful.
Speaker 4 (04:34):
I have a towel over in his steaming through the tower.
Speaker 1 (04:36):
You can do that too.
Speaker 7 (04:36):
Did you put the tower?
Speaker 5 (04:37):
I did not put the towel doves.
Speaker 2 (04:38):
But you know Jordan's a real comedian because soon as
Lawrence said make me laugh, jo was like, I got
Type five.
Speaker 6 (04:44):
I got it, like airline food, I got I got
thoughts on that.
Speaker 3 (04:48):
Let's go have no special fingers the polse, give the
man a prize.
Speaker 4 (04:54):
Fingers the pole sounds crazy, but let's talking about his name.
Speaker 5 (05:00):
Have you met Figers the balls? That guy?
Speaker 6 (05:01):
Oh boy, it's a bit handsy.
Speaker 5 (05:04):
Okay, stay away, all right, he's got a rap sheet.
Don't look into him. Don't google the guy.
Speaker 1 (05:08):
Are you messed with Macca?
Speaker 5 (05:09):
People?
Speaker 1 (05:09):
To get man?
Speaker 4 (05:10):
What's wrong with you?
Speaker 5 (05:10):
You just like just you know what? I like getting
out there. I like getting out there.
Speaker 6 (05:16):
This one was wild because we're trying to figure out
what to do a special on and two things were
happening simultaneously, Like Trump was sending troops into cities because
he said it was World War two in Portland and Chicago,
and at the same time he wanted the Nobel Peace
Prize because he said it was the most peaceful guy
on the planet. Crazy, right, So we're like, all right,
that's that's a hypocrisy. That makes for comedy and a special.
(05:38):
So it's like, let's go after this Nobel Peace Prize
desire and let's talk to people about like what's actually
happening in these cities, which.
Speaker 2 (05:45):
Is chaotic, absolutely, And it's intermeing to do because the
special blend stand up with what you do in the field.
Speaker 1 (05:52):
What did you want audiences.
Speaker 2 (05:53):
To understand about America that you couldn't capture just through
field pieces and just would a stand up.
Speaker 6 (05:59):
Well, I mean, I think when you look at something
like this, what piece looks like in America, what it
feels like? What is so night We went to Portland,
which was supposedly World War two, and if you're watching
Fox News, if you're watching the right wing political sphere,
all you're seeing is this is a war zone.
Speaker 5 (06:17):
This is chaos. You never want to visit.
Speaker 6 (06:18):
We went there on the Naked Bike Ride, which was
a comical experience full of people dressed as some people
who were naked, some people who were dressed as cartoon characters,
all of them going outside an ice facility to protest.
What they saw is inhumane treatment. It was comical, it
was absurd, And then we saw ice agents shoot pepper
(06:39):
balls at these people dressed as cartoon characters. And for me,
that's what America feels like right now. It's this absurdity,
it's this violence. It's two different worlds clashing into one another.
And so that's why we go out and do these
field pieces. That's why we go and do these specials.
Is it's one thing to sit behind a desk and
talk about what you see on camera. That's another thing
(06:59):
to it out there and and and see it up close.
Speaker 8 (07:03):
How do you measure the success of your pieces that
you do? Because it's it's comedy, but there's also like
a deeper conversation that you want to start, Like, I
know you want to ind me for your last one.
Speaker 7 (07:11):
So is it okay?
Speaker 6 (07:13):
Got congratulation, thank you, thank you, Emmy wise I I
had a couple at home.
Speaker 5 (07:18):
That's pretty nice, pretty nice.
Speaker 6 (07:20):
Yeah, And even with all of that, I'm still so
nervous about what I wear. You know exactly that you
can't you can't get you let me you think so,
but you still care. I measure success with clicks that's
all that matters, just clicks. Who is watching? How many clicks? Yeah,
I'm healthy, I was a supportive snort.
Speaker 5 (07:40):
I'll take it.
Speaker 1 (07:41):
That's honest, as.
Speaker 6 (07:43):
I wish I didn't look at it, and I can't say.
I mean, you know what, there's truth in that comedy.
Speaker 5 (07:49):
I'd like to know. I I what I tried.
Speaker 6 (07:51):
Our intention in this is to find we're comedians in
this crazy, strange role. I came up an improv comedy guy,
a comedy dude who suddenly thrust on the Daily Show,
and I love it, and then the world sort of explodes,
and our job is to find comedy in these chaotic times.
And I think using comedy as a way to add
(08:12):
context to a moment, and for people who aren't necessarily
paying attention and watching Comedy Central at eleven o'clock, who
might not be interested in politics, suddenly to be paying
attention to the Nobel Peace Prize race and what's happening
in Portland. Like that's that's our intention. It's like engage
in that conversation. I'm then late at night, when I
feel good about my intentions and what I've done, I
(08:32):
go on YouTube and I see how many people have
watched it and if it's not enough, and I compare
to what else is out there that I feel bad
about myself. And then I talk to my agent and
they're like, well, your contract's gonna be dependent on how
successful the show is. And then you watch CNN and
it talks about what's happening in the late night sphere,
and then you worry about eyeballs and the attention economy,
and suddenly you have a breakdown when you come on
a show like this and you're wearing something that's not
exactly I'm just I can't get out of it, you know,
I can't get my head outside of it.
Speaker 7 (08:53):
I'm so sorry.
Speaker 1 (08:55):
Just the only way to make special special?
Speaker 5 (08:58):
Is this the only way to make it special? Specials?
Speaker 1 (09:01):
For me?
Speaker 6 (09:02):
Yes, there's something improvisational about it. We knew we were
going to do a special three months ago, and the
stuff that we do is current, you know. We we
were editing it up until yesterday. We were filming up
until like a week ago. And for me, I've done
specials that take a year. I've worked in the stand
up world, and you craft something over the course of
(09:24):
years to put that special out. But for the Daily Show,
for fingers the pulse. What we do is like, what's
the conversation right now? How do we make a larger
argument about that conversation, and how do we keep it
evolving up until the moment it goes out. So for
me that that retains the improv spirit of keeping it,
keeping it in the moment.
Speaker 3 (09:43):
I always wanted, when you go out and you're talking
to these people, how does your wife feel like?
Speaker 4 (09:49):
I know it's a lot to be nervous, yeah, but
how is it on her?
Speaker 6 (09:52):
She she gets a little stressed when we go into
some hary situations, Like you know, she knows.
Speaker 5 (10:00):
Me, trust me.
Speaker 6 (10:01):
When I bring that argumentative stance back home, she is
not as excited. Like it's one thing to see the
guy who goes out there and argues about politics on
the road, trying to find hypocrisy, But to bring that
guy home and in the house is a tough thing
for a wife and a loved one.
Speaker 5 (10:15):
So I feel for her in that position.
Speaker 6 (10:18):
As of the last few years, though, she is earnestly
worried about what happens out there.
Speaker 5 (10:24):
You know, it's crazy. People are crazy.
Speaker 6 (10:26):
And I started going out there with no security, and
now I go out there with four security guards, and
there are threats that take place on the show, on
the family, and again when the camera's off, when you're
talking to people face to face, people are lovely. People
are not as bold and emboldened as they are online.
Speaker 5 (10:46):
But when you.
Speaker 6 (10:47):
Step back from that, there's hate, there's anger out there,
and she fears for that. You know, we think about that,
and I think this last six months, with some of
the violent activities that we've all seen, like Late Night,
chose people who are public, forward facing and have to
sort of reevaluate what that looks like. And it's real
and it's scary and you're trying not to think too
(11:07):
much about it.
Speaker 4 (11:08):
What was the incident that made you get for security guards?
Speaker 3 (11:10):
Because you just don't go from having nobody to all
of a sudden four something had to happen.
Speaker 5 (11:14):
It was I was.
Speaker 6 (11:16):
I think the big moment for us was right before
Trump's when Trump lost his re election campaign in twenty twenty,
and to stop the steal campaign, he had a giant
event in the Capitol and there were fifty thousand people
there and I was interacting with people and the Trump
(11:38):
crew had gone from being in power and successful to
having lost an election something they couldn't accept at the time,
and so they were angry, and I think there was
a shift from like, oh, this is playful. We don't
like the media, but we will be playful with them.
Suddenly I was pushing somebody in an interview and it
was getting a little bit contentious, and the people around it,
(11:58):
who had nothing to do, eyed on that started to
create two to three to ten to fifteen to thirty people,
and it became a mob of angry people, and security
had to extricate me from the situation and run out,
throw me in a van kind of a situation, and
they chase me, They chase me, and it's that mob
mentality that you saw a month and a half later
(12:18):
at January sixth, where it is a bunch of people
with nothing to do, emboldened by a president who told
him that you're a patriot and that the media is
the enemy of all people, and they see that and literally,
I don't think a lot of the people who chased
me had that intention, but a minute and a half earlier,
board people walking around emboldened by a president see something
that they can do and their brain turns off and
(12:40):
they just chase and so when we encountered with that,
it was like, all right, we have to be prepared
for this. And quite frankly, when we go to rallies
and events, now we have to be tactical about where
we are because we're in a space where we can't
get out of and that mob again.
Speaker 4 (12:55):
You do it close to the car.
Speaker 5 (12:56):
Now now I do it close to the car.
Speaker 6 (12:57):
We're always comes to the car. And you know what,
I'm gonna amend my comment about people. I think person
person is easy. People is tough, and that's that was
the case on the road. I can talk one on
want to that person. When they become people, they start
to lose accountability and that's what you can't rationalize with
group group think all the way.
Speaker 1 (13:16):
You have to think about keeping like a Maga hat
in your back pocket. Just going on.
Speaker 6 (13:22):
Yes, I will say our producers have uh specific colored
hats and.
Speaker 5 (13:26):
Apparel to wear so that we blend in really yeah.
Speaker 1 (13:29):
For sure, like red hat, you mean I say mag
red hat.
Speaker 6 (13:33):
Our producer Ian Berger wears a red hockey hat from
some some minor league hockey team in Canada. It's got
it's a red hat with like a mustang on it
that looks like looks like it's part of the team,
because that's what it's tribalism out there, right you walk
out there, if you're wearing the red, you're wearing that
you're on the team and there are not.
Speaker 7 (13:56):
Do you feel like it's worth it?
Speaker 8 (13:57):
Like what you do when putting yourself kind of like
in the mix of these people who could have that
mentality and having a beef up security and I do.
Speaker 6 (14:05):
I love engaging with people and I do. For me,
what is most effective or interesting about what I do
is when like I feel like I'm stressed testing propaganda
the stuff that you hear being fed to people on
these on all these news shows, like where does it?
Where does it actually land with the American public? And
(14:27):
if I can go out there and I can find
that hypocrisy, if I can, like it's it's most revealing
moments I'm having a conversation with somebody on the road
who has not had a conversation and thought through their
point of view until this very moment, right, like we
all just accept these these points of view, these opinions,
these certainties that are fed us without like friends and
(14:49):
cohorts who push you on it, like we're in these bubbles.
A lot of the people I talk to are in
media bubbles. They're in friend bubbles, they're in Facebook bubbles.
And when I come out here and I ask you,
why do you think that thing? They haven't thought through it,
And in that moment they have to articulate that my
job is to find comedy in it, some context in it,
but hopefully there's a little moment of revelation where you
(15:09):
see that person be that person again and you see
the BS and so yeah, for me, with that and
a little bit of health insurance, it feels like it's
worth it.
Speaker 2 (15:18):
So for you, at what point does comedy stop being
funny and start becoming like a public.
Speaker 6 (15:23):
Service and start being a public service? That's a great question.
I mean, you know, with The Daily Show, like John
always talks, we are a comedy show.
Speaker 5 (15:32):
That is our bias.
Speaker 6 (15:33):
And I think that's what is compelling about people when
they watch a show like that, they know are biased.
All these shows have biased. The Daily Show has a
bias towards comedy, calling out the BS where they see it.
So we're always approaching it from that. And also, I
am not a journalist. I rely on the work of
good journalists to tell these stories to get good information,
(15:53):
and that we want to keep that clear, and I
don't want to get over my skis in doing that.
And in some of these situations, comedy has very little
space to be and maybe shouldn't be there. So for us,
again with this special, we wanted to go to Portland,
we wanted to go to Chicago because I've seen images
of what's happening with ice raids and they're heartbreaking and
they're terrifying. And when you have a microphone and a camera,
(16:15):
you're like, how do I point it at these things?
Speaker 5 (16:17):
And I think are really important to talk about?
Speaker 6 (16:19):
But also what me going in there making jokes? When
is that helping a situation? When is that becoming more
activist than more comedian? And how do I like take
what I want to say but still add the thing
that I can do, which is comedy. Quite literally, for
this special, there was a naked bike ride and so
for us, we're like, all right, here's a comedic take
on what is happening in this chaotic space, So let's
(16:43):
use that so we can tell a story. Because at
that point, if I'm just getting out there and just
becoming an activist on television trying to tell you what
I think like, I don't serve a purpose. I'm not
speaking a language that I'm most fluent in, and I'm
not being effected to an audience space who understands I'm
going after comedy and be yes. So I try to
keep that as my north star. So the naked bike
ride was likenked naked. It was naked, naked and swing.
(17:05):
They were all there, my friend, they were all there.
We thought nobody would show up ten minutes beforehand. There's
like one or two naked dudes there all out. By
the end there were hundreds getting on bikes on cold,
cold Portland day, humping on these.
Speaker 1 (17:21):
A lot of shrinkage.
Speaker 5 (17:22):
There's a lot of shrinkage. I gotta tell you, I.
Speaker 1 (17:24):
You stop riding bikes too soon. You did.
Speaker 5 (17:29):
Would would you have gone naked for the cost?
Speaker 1 (17:31):
But for the costs you would have gone?
Speaker 3 (17:34):
And I don't want to be behind anybody that rides
bike either. That's just a little weird, see it, asshole,
It's not my thing.
Speaker 6 (17:38):
It's it's what's interesting is it's shocking for the first
twenty minutes, but when you're around two hundred naked people
for an hour or so.
Speaker 5 (17:45):
You get comfy too.
Speaker 6 (17:47):
I stripped down to an uncomfortable degree, got on a bike,
rode that bike, don't you?
Speaker 5 (17:53):
Does my assert yes?
Speaker 6 (17:55):
But I mostly thinking, I mean, the ass doesn't feel good,
the ego feels poor.
Speaker 3 (18:01):
No, no, because the seat is hard. The seat's very hard, right,
but usually if you have clothes, it's more padding. So
if there's no padding, that's just right up.
Speaker 6 (18:08):
You're thinking more about what's happening up front, though you're
worried about that, how it's being perceived.
Speaker 4 (18:14):
Because you got you gotta put it on the left
for the right.
Speaker 1 (18:16):
Side of the seat.
Speaker 6 (18:17):
You choose, You choose, although if if it's I'm talking
about the they'm talking about a little bit of everything.
Although here's that is a benefit of the cold is
you don't necessarily have to choose. If it's cold enough,
you there's a recession that takes place with everything, which
makes choice irrelevant. You have small piness, is what I'm saying.
At that point, we know, Okay, I want to be clear.
(18:38):
I'm trying to paint a picture. All stereotypes aren't true. Okay,
this is good to know.
Speaker 5 (18:42):
Let's do.
Speaker 7 (18:45):
Y'all hug each other at the end, like get through.
Speaker 5 (18:48):
The process the naked bike ride.
Speaker 8 (18:49):
Yes, Like what's the celebration at then when you get
you I mean, here's the reality of it.
Speaker 6 (18:54):
So you ride these bikes naked through the streets of
Portland with what our editor is described from just watching
the footage with a soupy smell.
Speaker 5 (19:06):
Right, it's sweaty and it's it's human.
Speaker 6 (19:08):
But you ride through there is Suddenly a downpour takes
place in Portland and they ride in front of the
ice facility. It's the wildest thing. It's we caught it
all on taper like this is It's it's bonkers. Literally
coming down a hill, hundreds of naked people honking, a
band dressed as bananas playing protest music, and on top
(19:29):
of the ice facility is a bunch of guys in
ice apparel, wearing a kevlar and holding a paintball gun
to shooting pepper bullets into into the crowd. So they're
coming down and they're cheering and they're all hugging. I'm
not hugging. I'm keeping my space as a respected comedian.
They start hugging, shots start to get fired into the group,
(19:51):
and then the Ice agents push in and they shove
people into the ground, and so it's it literally was
like celebration, and all joking aside, like kind of inspiring celebration.
We were laughing at how absurd it was, but that
was the points.
Speaker 1 (20:04):
Do you want all this for health coverage?
Speaker 6 (20:06):
And you fucking believe it in this day and age,
you think Obamacare worked more effectively that I wouldn't have
to do this, but it's still the case. I'm out
there hustling.
Speaker 1 (20:15):
Do you feel like Donald Trump overlooks the Daily Show? Yes?
Speaker 6 (20:19):
Yeah, I wonder why, Thank god, thank god. I don't
think he has gable. I think that man.
Speaker 5 (20:25):
I think that man, that man.
Speaker 6 (20:27):
He's got NBC, he still watches the channels he watched
thirty years ago.
Speaker 5 (20:33):
He watches Fox. He definitely watches Fox.
Speaker 6 (20:34):
But I don't think he's like the grandparent who's got
those few channels, knows how to get through those few
channels and doesn't know how to get to the other channels.
And so, thank the Lord, he's not paying attention to
the Daily Show. He's got his own fish to fry.
Speaker 2 (20:48):
I wonder, though, with his influence that he clearly had
that paramount. Will he you know, maybe flex his muscle
behind the scenes.
Speaker 6 (20:56):
I just don't want him to pay any attention to us. Well,
there's different rules with the FCC and cable TV, and
so I think that may play into it as well.
But that man fixes his eyes on the stuff that's
right in front of him at all times, and it's
pretty clear the things that he watches and gets angry about.
So so as I promote this, I pray to god
(21:18):
he's not listening to the Breakfast Club because again, oh,
I know he's not been super happy with Charlotte.
Speaker 1 (21:25):
But that's because I was on Laura Trump showed up.
Speaker 6 (21:27):
That's what it was, right, Yes, yes, did you did
you get blowback from the MAGA circle?
Speaker 5 (21:32):
Did you have any interaction with people?
Speaker 1 (21:33):
Oh?
Speaker 2 (21:33):
You know what's so interesting when I did that conversation
with Laura Trump, and my business partner said this to me.
He was like, there's a lot of people that are
agreeing with the thing that you're saying because I'm not
on there talking right or left or even black or white.
I'm just talking about affordability and keeping people safe in
this country. And I don't feel like he's doing a
good job with that. Right now, It's a simple conversation.
(21:55):
We often connect over the economy.
Speaker 6 (21:57):
Yeah, I mean, I think that's it was amazing to
see like Zoran in the Oval office and how like, yeah,
the economy and affordability that that speaks to the right.
If people can get on those spaces and talk about that,
I think there's an effective lane for a lot of
those Fox viewers or what have you who are in
that bubble to be like, oh no, this is a
conversation that's happening across party lines.
Speaker 1 (22:15):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (22:16):
I love people like you joined because you actually be
out in the field talking to people. When you're out
in the field from your vantage point. Does America feel
more divided? Are just more recorded?
Speaker 6 (22:30):
Can I say both? We are more divided. We are
one hundred percent more divided. We are pushed to that space.
But like I said, it's the recording of the divisiveness
that that takes away our autonomy of thought. I think
you can break through, but people are angry, and there
are less people who are excited about the MAGA machine
(22:53):
than there ever were beforehand. There were less people excited
about the democratic machine than there ever were beforehand. I
think that's what happened in this last election, and so
you go out there now and yeah, people are. People
are pissed off, they're angry, and they're more certain than
they've ever been because there's recording devices on them. But
they's still a glimmer of hope of like they want
to talk about affordability. I went to Mississippi and I
(23:15):
talked to a bunch of MAUGA supporters. What was curious
is they're all afraid of places like Portland and Chicago
because of what the magospher has told them about these
big cities.
Speaker 5 (23:25):
Afraid of all big cities.
Speaker 6 (23:27):
And the older people were afraid of Antifa because that's
the narrative that Trump pushes. The younger people every time
I ask them about things like Antifa, no interest, didn't
care and realize in that moment, you're like, oh, some
of these narratives that are being ginned up to be
divisive and push people apart. The boogeyman, the Antifa boogeyman.
The old people buy in hook line and sinker and
(23:48):
they love it, and they're afraid and they're changing the
way they think because of that. The young people are
too smart for that shit, and they don't they they're
not as deep in as some of these other folks
who are in it to win it. And so I
see those moments I have I have optimism. We're like, oh,
these kids, these kids are easily swaying, but are not
But are not I haven't been watching the show for
(24:08):
twenty years. Like like the old folks were making some
of these decisions, this younger generation is just tuning in.
They're not buying some of these these boogeymen that the
Trump administration is putting out, and there's there is a
space to have conversation with those folks about things that
they care about. Maybe we see that in the midterms,
maybe we see that in the next year, but not
everybody's completely all in on that Trump train.
Speaker 1 (24:28):
So that's a that's a great point.
Speaker 2 (24:30):
What's scarier to union people who believe these wild conspiracy
theories that are people who knowingly.
Speaker 6 (24:35):
Weaponize with the people who knowingly weaponize, though, I think
it's the people who wield it. I think that's where
there's like no moral core where you know, you it's
one thing to be afraid of stuff and then out
of self preservation, which hey, that's that's how most of
us move through life. What is the next thing I
need to do to pay my rent, to have health
insurance for my kids, to to keep food on the table.
(24:58):
What do I need to do? Are a way I
can believe the things I need to believe to sustain that.
I get that, I empathize with that. That makes you human.
It's the people who know better. Those are the folks
that are real scary here. And I wish our elected
officials would stand up and be the people who know better.
But you know, I've been around long enough not to
have that faith in those institutions anymore. Yeah, hope, you
(25:24):
hope a little bit some of that that morality we
always talked about in schools and the Declaration Independence talks about.
You hope that sort of makes its way back into
political discourse again. Yeah, that's a pretty good one, I
gotta tell you. And hearing all this religious talk on
the right too, it's like, Yeah, there's a lot of
good ideals there that you wish we believed in, and
I think a lot of people do. There's just more
(25:45):
focus on putting food on the table to actually engage
in that larger conversation.
Speaker 1 (25:49):
So do you think Donald Trump should get an know
about these.
Speaker 5 (25:51):
Price give that man?
Speaker 6 (25:52):
A prize one hundred percent, not just any prize, Okay,
fair enough, No, I do not. I think he's deserving
of the Nobel Peace Prize. What we were what we
did discover though we went to Norway and talked to
somebody who's on the Nobel Peace Prize committee. You don't
have to be perfect to win a Nobel Peace Prize.
And in sometimes they've given peace prizes two people as
(26:15):
somewhat of a carrot to get to something good. I
think what's curious about Donald Trump is that man wants
a peace prize more than anybody else, and if he
can find peace on this planet in some way to
work towards it, like dangle that carrot like a big
mac in front of Donald Trump so that he chases
it in some sort of way. Like I I have
no problem using the Peace Prize as a political tool
(26:35):
to try to do good in the world. So maybe
if that, if that made him made him save some
lives anywhere, stop bombing boats off the coast of Venezuela
and give them in the Peace Prize.
Speaker 7 (26:45):
That's gonna be the one piece that makes the lean
in and listen to you.
Speaker 1 (26:47):
There you go, so no, you don't want.
Speaker 5 (26:49):
That, You said, shoot, you're right, complicated him.
Speaker 2 (26:52):
Jordan Klepper of The Daily Show said, Trump deserves there.
Speaker 5 (26:57):
You go use it, use it.
Speaker 3 (27:00):
You know, I need to get him chasing a big
man a long naked bike ride.
Speaker 7 (27:03):
This was the revelation.
Speaker 4 (27:05):
So what do you want people to get out of
this special that comes out next Monday?
Speaker 6 (27:08):
Get out of the special man. That piece is hard,
but you don't need to be perfect to achieve it.
And then America in twenty twenty five looks like naked
people riding for a cause being shot by Ice agents.
It smells like soup, man, it smells like soup, cheap soup.
Speaker 1 (27:27):
So what gives you hope about America? Right now?
Speaker 5 (27:31):
You want me to find hope in all of this.
Speaker 6 (27:33):
You know what what gives me hope about America is
a naked guy protesting out front of an ICE facility,
like you're wondering if people have tuned out.
Speaker 5 (27:40):
Apathy.
Speaker 6 (27:41):
That's what That's what the right, that's what the far
right wants. They want apathy. They don't want you to
care if you show up with your balls out, your
tits out in a rainy Portland day to like go
outside of an ice facility and be like, I don't
want them to use my image to be painted as
a bad guy, so much so that I'm willing to
be naked in front of all these folks to look
like a fool because I think what's happening inside is inhumane.
(28:04):
Like that that is helpful to me.
Speaker 1 (28:06):
Let you not say literally, Jordan Clip.
Speaker 3 (28:09):
Ladies and gentlemen, definitely check out the special and next
Monday on Comedy Central, and thank you for joining us.
Speaker 1 (28:13):
Thanks did he make you laugh? Floren?
Speaker 7 (28:15):
He did?
Speaker 1 (28:15):
Okay?
Speaker 6 (28:16):
Yes?
Speaker 4 (28:17):
The Breakfast Club, good morning, Wake that ass up in
the morning.
Speaker 1 (28:22):
The Breakfast Club
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