SMNTY Interviews Lizz Winstead

Co-creator of The Daily Show and founder of the Abortion Access Front Lizz Winstead joins us to discuss using humor to center reproductive rights.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:05):
Hey, this is Annie and Samantha. I don't come to stuff.
I've never told your protection of I heart radio. And
today we are so filled. We are so so so
excited to be joined by a very special guest, Liz Winstead. Hi, Los, Hi, guys.

(00:28):
We are so happy to have you here. This is
such an exciting time. I'm not gonna lie. I've already
talked about the fact that I'm a fan girling a
little bit. I'm a little bit nervous, and our listeners
know when I fan girl, I get really stuttery, So
go ahead and put that at the beginning of the episode, because,
like I said, I'm a fan. I've seen your shows,
I've seen your stand up. So I'm having a moment

(00:51):
and now I'm back. But we're so glad you're with us,
and thank you for coming on, Thank you for having me.
I'm super stoked. I love your pod and just any
chance to honestly connect with other women. I'm just like, please,
I'm hungering for it, like like a thirst trap, just
for like female people. I love that we are too,

(01:14):
So you're in the right place. So Liz, could you
tell the audience a little bit about yourself? Sure. So
I am a comedian and a writer and a producer.
Most folks know me from being the creator and head
writer of the Daily Show, and we're in it's the
anniversary this year of the Daily Show, which is wild

(01:37):
to me. We have a baby and now it's twenty five.
And then I went on to launch Air America Radio
and I had this wild ass radio show with Rachel
Maddow and Chuck the from Public Enemy for a couple
of years. And then I've done a series of TV
shows and I wrote a book, and all of that
sort of led me to turning fifty and realizing at

(02:00):
I wanted to do my passion project, which was taking
humor and taking dragging hypocrites for filth, using humor and
trying to make a difference and centering reproductive health rights
and justice because sadly, y'all, for those of you that
care about these issues, we just even within people who

(02:23):
are claim to be pro choice or are forward thinking
on politics, they often try to silo abortion and act
like it's a woman's issue, act like it's too controversial,
we can't talk about it, or are men gonna care?
You know, And to have to thrust those things or
hear those things from people who are supposedly on our side.

(02:46):
It's like our humanities at stake and everyone should care.
And so I really wanted to try to recenter the
conversation around the humanity of access to reproductive care, to
normalize reproductive care, to put it into back into the
place of like an option that somebody might have when
they are in their reproductive lifetime, you know, reframing it

(03:07):
as a moral choice. So that's what I'm doing now.
And I'm still out of the road doing stand up.
I'm still writing, but I run a reproductive rights nonprofit
that I started with a whole bunch of comedians and
activists and producers called Abortion Access Front. And yeah, like
I said, I'm a huge fan. We actually had Chanelle
Ali come onto the show as well. This was pre COVID.
Remember that Annie, when we were actually in the studio,

(03:30):
when y'all were in Atlanta performing at the Earl. I
ran over because I was at that show. It's like, Chanell,
you're amazing, Can you come on our show? And she
was so kind and so amazing, and she came and
did our show again pre COVID. It feels like ten
thousand years ago, and I know it's not, but it
feels like it in my head. Chanel Ali is so funny.

(03:51):
She's one of the writers that Abortion Access Front, one
of our performers and um, in fact, she was just
I just saw her. I don't know if you've been
watching Pause with Sam j Other on HBO and she
was just done that and that was really exciting. Which
it's a plug for that show. I think it's great, right,
it wasn't Joel on that as well, because I remember
the first time, Yes, yes, all y'all are so famous.

(04:13):
I just I just can't handle it. I'm like, how
do I meet And I will say, my whole beginning
of starting the podcast or being on the podcast, like
I'm trying to make all new friends. So I feel
like it's working. Isn't working? I think I feel like
you're doing great, you know, just don't do it in
the way. I don't know if you guys read There
was a New York Times article recently that talked about

(04:33):
how to purge the people out of your life during COVID.
It wasn't helpful, like do a reassessment of people who
bring value and like who was really helpful? What did
you learn? It was like get rid of losers, and
like it literally said get rid of fat people. It
was so it was so gross and so cruel. It

(04:53):
felt like scientology or something where it's like you can't
like move up the ladder around the own they're weak,
get rid of them. The article was such a mess.
Twitter dragged it, which was great, but it just felt
like I understand, like I think we've all kind of
like been through this year of COVID and realized like

(05:14):
what am I now? What? What am I? What am
I gonna be? How am I going to be? I'm
somebody who is I really realized I'm an introvert extrovert,
and that really came to be now that I'm trying
to tap my toe back out into the world. You know,
it's like I wanted my dog outside and people are like, oh,
that's a cute dog. I'm like, I didn't sign up

(05:35):
for this. I didn't sign up to have a conversation
with you. I feel the same way when I come
outside and I see people and now, well, I don't
know if you know about Atlanta and Georgia, and obviously
we have a very controversial government in place. I have
no idea how else to say this, And then the
fact that the mass mandates have not been really a

(05:57):
big thing here in Georgia, so for the most part,
any and I've just been secluded, like we have stayed
in except for maybe going out once every seven to
ten days to get the groceries and leave again. But
as I'm going back into the world and people have
been out in the world, I'm like, why, what is
wrong with you? This is why I don't trust you today.
I don't trust that you're okay. So true, I know

(06:21):
you guys been hit hard in Georgia, just with the
anti maskers. I also love to it's the same anti
maskers that are screaming my body, my choice, and then
they're outside of a clinic where people can access abortion,
screaming you can't have a choice. I'm like, do you
understand that you can't catch pregnancy from six feet away?
Like right right? Your Your lack of biology information makes

(06:45):
me just I can't. I saw a woman, this was unbelievable,
holding a sign. She was very, very caringy, very adamant.
She was holding a sign that said I will not
mask my unborn child. And I was like, um, lady,
you're wearing pants in a womb. Yeah, they're literally encased

(07:11):
by your body, so they're like a pod. Just so
you know, Wow, I have a feeling that might be
from Georgia because the anti abortion protesters are out in
mass We just had one in Atlanta. I saw people
trying to figure out how the best to combat this.
It's I don't know how else to say. It's right.
And you know, during the pandemic, especially like we're moving,

(07:32):
access to any kind of care is terrible. You know,
we just saw so much scariness. And to think about
somebody who's having to make the decision, you know, to
terminate a pregnancy during the pandemic and have to take
all those precautions and then have to go to a
clinic where there's unmasked people just screaming judgment at you.
On top of everything else. It was it was really

(07:54):
heartbreaking to hear from clinics that, like, we were helping
throughout the pandemic. We started a big mutual program because
clinics were not allowed to apply for pp you know,
they couldn't get any grants, they couldn't get any stuff
because right wing governments a lot of times wouldn't allow
them to get any of the stuff they needed. So
we were getting the masks and getting them stuff and

(08:17):
and just trying to help any way we could, because
you know, it was a mess. It's just a mass.
Any way they can like pull this down, they'll certainly try,
and taking advantage of a pandemic to do so just
seems like next level of cruelty, So so gross. But
I kind of wanted to go back because you do
talk about the fact that you decided, as you are

(08:37):
a comedian a writer, that this is how you're going
to go down in fighting for justice. Let's start at
the beginning. How did you even decide to be a
part of this comedic world, especially going big into co writing,
co creating one of the now one of the bigger shows,
especially when it comes to comedic conversations in such ugly
political climate. I don't even It's got a little better,

(09:00):
but not too much better. Let's just be real honest,
But how did you even get started? You know, I
got started on a dare when I was literally in college. Also,
I'm the youngest of five kids from a really loud
Catholic family, and so if I had any thoughts or
positions that diverted from what I was told those weren't silenced. Also,

(09:23):
ain't nobody get time for the youngest of five kids
to say anything? And so somebody dared me to do
stand up in college, and I was like, I am
kind of a class cynic. And also I think that
if I step on stage, that will give me five
minutes of uninterrupted time where I can have something to say.

(09:44):
And so I did. But the hilarious part is, like
I initially, when I was a kid, I've always just
wanted to be able to say some things, and not
necessarily even like profound things, just complete a sentence where
I wasn't man explained or into erupted. And so when
you look towards like where can that happen for me?

(10:04):
When you brought up Catholic priest was the first thing
I was like, Oh that priest. He's up there every
Sunday and everybody thinks what he has to say is
really interesting and quite frankly, I'm bored at the time,
but people love him, so it doesn't seem that hard
to public speak. And so I just really did it
on a dare because I just really wanted to have
something to say. And then, you know, so I would
write jokes that I didn't start out political, really, I

(10:26):
kind of just started out talking about my life and
stuff like that. But then it was interesting. I was
on stage and doing some same old material observational jokes,
you know, things like I really think, you know, male
grade Dane should have to wear underwear in public, just
silly they ever noticed when ball guys play Monopoly, they
always picked the hat. I mean really like not that

(10:48):
great and also very observational. But then, like I, but
they would get a laugh, you know, I could, I
could get solid laughs. And then all of a sudden,
I noticed that the audience wasn't responding to the same
material that it worked a bunch. So I started recording
myself and I listened back, and I realized that I

(11:10):
had done a word switch in my jokes, where instead
of saying ever noticed, I started saying I think. And
when I started saying I think, the audience was rejecting
what I was saying. And it was it was literally
fascinating to me because then I was like, if I

(11:32):
can't even make opinion jokes that have zero weight and
just say the word I think, I might as well
say some things I think like if if it results different,
I might as well start talking about what I think.
So I started talking about, you know, issues of like
body image and how people were presented in media and

(11:55):
in magazines and and sort of across the word feminist issues.
And then I really decided that it was when the
first golf War happened, and it's a story. Do you
want to hear it? Okay? So I always had politics,
but I just didn't bring to stage. So when I
moved to New York, somebody set me up on a
blind date. Remember those blind dates. It was a thing

(12:18):
where your friend would know I know a guy, and
always it was like never a good guy. It was
never great. So but I'm from Minnesota, so I was like, okay,
I'll say yeah, because you're trying to do a nice thing,
and I'll do it. So the guy calls me and
I was like, I really wanted to see adulce Vita,
the great Italian film. They were showing it on a

(12:39):
single old, single screen thing and I've never seen it.
So I stayed with the guy, I really want to
see adulta each Other showing it at the Film Forum,
and he was like pause and then he goes, isn't
that in black and white? And I'm like, kill me. Now,
I've committed to go on a date with this guy,
but I'm gonna go through because I'm from Minnesota. So

(12:59):
I meet him upside the theater and the dude is
wearing a Yankee hat and one of those satin Yankee jackets.
And I have a theory that if a guy is
wearing more than one piece of sports memorabili at the
same time, he won't go down on you, just a theory.
So immediately then I'm just repulsed. And so we go

(13:20):
into the movie and then he's falling asleep through this
like incredible movie, and I'm like, how is this happening?
How is this happening? And I get more and more angry,
and so I'm more and more angry. And he's sleeping,
and I have a bucket of popcorn and a greasy

(13:41):
hand and I accidentally, on purpose, wake him up with
my greasy hand and I leave a stain on his
jacket and it felt good for a second, and then
I felt terrible. So I instantly go, oh my god,
I'm so sorry. Can I take you for your drink?
I'll pay for your jacket. He goes, okay, I know
a sports bar. Of course he does down the street.

(14:03):
The story is leading someone. So we go to the
sports bar and he's like, orders to drink. We look
up at the TV and there's no sports on TV.
It is the first night of the war and it's
CNN and it's like graphics and a theme song and

(14:23):
all these super hot reporters on top of buildings with
that green light. And I thought to myself, with no
intention whatsoever, just observation, are they reporting on a war
or trying to sell me a war? And two minutes later,
my date goes, this is so awesome, and I was like,

(14:44):
holy moly, this is terrifying me because this is what
they're trying to do. And if there was ever such
thing as like an epiphany or a wake up call
for me, was that moment. And from that moment on,
I just started writing jokes to you know, to ask
folks to don't believe the media, you know, look at

(15:05):
your government. Look what they're trying to sell us. They
think we're stupid. And it really took off from that point,
So I guess I have to thank the satin jacketed
monster for propelling me into the world of this, and
so my act totally changed. I had to reinvent myself
my audience. Like it was like, I don't want to

(15:27):
hear politics from you, and then I like that, and
so it was like this whole different reinvention. But then
eventually people knew me as the person who responded to
the world and was doing political jokes and social humor.
And then that sort of led to me working on
the John Stewart Talk Show. And then when that show
got canceled, are my bosses went over to Comedy Central

(15:49):
and they wanted to create a show that was on
every day. So my brilliant said, why don't we call
it the Daily Show? And the rest is history that Yeah. Yeah,
I wonder what that guy's up to now. I wonder
if he knows the story. My guess is that I
hopefully he found some girl who really really enjoys sports,

(16:12):
getting him his little six back while he sits on
Sunday's watching his sports. I often wonder, like, why my
friend set me up with him. That's a good question.
She knew this was going to begin your career, your
lifelong dedication. Yeah, yeah, I remember saying well, I think
I think he's really funny, And it's like that is

(16:33):
so subjective. You know, there's many people people think are
very funny that I do not think are funny, and
that is really humor, right. You know. It's interesting because
when I hear so much about cancel culture, and by
the way, I've ever noticed that every guy who complains
about cancel culture is doing it in front of a microphone,
and it's a massive audience, right right. I just don't

(16:54):
believe that there's cancel culture. I believe that there is
a marketplace of ideas, and if your is are no
longer valued by the marketplace, they're going to be like, nah,
I don't think so. You know, I run an abortion
rights organization and I'm a comedian, Like I'm set up
to be canceled, and I don't expect everyone to like
me and to such privilege to have that right, to

(17:16):
have this expectation that you are to be interpreted exactly
how you want to be and that you should be
adored by everyone. It's like, are you mad that everyone
doesn't like your jokes? Like do you think you deserve that? Like,
I don't know what world that is. Women have never
experienced a world where everyone likes you or everyone like
literally people were mad that I actually had an opinion

(17:38):
on stage, or that I actually thought that I was
entitled to be on stage and right. So the thought
of that stuff it drives me wild. It just drives
me wild. It's like, why are you complaining? You have
a big audience, they're Neanderthals that you don't want to
hang out with. I secretly think that's why you're mad,
because like some people just are like not think so

(18:00):
and then people listen to those people. Too bad, right?
I know. There was two different comedians, Cat Williams as
well as Seth Rogan kind of finally addressed It was like, hey,

(18:23):
this is not cancel culture. It's just you're out of
date or you are out of place, so therefore just
accepted to move on and change or don't come back,
which is kind of all of comedy, which is in general,
most of comedy is based on whatever is current events.
So why if that changes? Why wouldn't what is accepted
and what is said change? Why are you so hell

(18:46):
bent in being right all the time? Which we know,
you know, the biggest podcaster, he has been complaining quite
loudly a lot about being canceled and making millions and
millions of dollars and having the highest writing. You're like,
that's not kids l culture, that's not I don't think
you're using that word correctly, as well as the fact

(19:07):
we have things like Kevin Spacey who has been gone
for three or four years but coming back, and you're
like that, that is the level of cancel culture we have,
and the people who are most likely impacted are women
and marginalized communities in general, because you have things like
Karen's who come in saying I'm angry because you didn't
give me this, and that would be a different level

(19:29):
of like, wow, really you'll want to talk about who
is actually being penalized in this conversation. But yeah, as
what you're talking about it, as you're talking about the
fact that you have responded like your comedy is a
response to the world. Why do you think comedy so
important and influencing the bigger conversation? I think that comedians

(19:51):
can be the most reliable narrators because, if you're true,
everybody who either has power and bumbles it or uses
it for evil should be your target. Even if you
like that person you know, it's like I remember I
would get like hate tweets from when I would tweet
about like Obama wanting to use drones or hiring like

(20:13):
people who from the financial industry who I thought were crooks,
you know, Like I, I I just looked for hypocrisy where
I could pick it out and then make jokes around it. Right,
And so if people are mad at you for different
reasons on both sides, um, I think you're kind of
doing your good job. So I think that's part of it.
I also think too, that being able to live comedy,

(20:34):
especially you know, if you're you know, hopefully you're always
punching up, hopefully you're really being somebody who is taking on,
you know, the powerful. It gives folks an opportunity to
gather and feel like you're not alone. You know, when
you look at the media, the landscape, and you look
at where information comes in, oftentimes it's really hard to

(20:58):
find spaces where there's like strong, funny feminist voices out there,
like speaking this other kind of truth. Which is why
I'm super excited that we are launching YouTube show in
the fall, Culled Feminist Buzzkills Live, where it's gonna be
this really fun show that kind of talks about everything
that's going on around misogyny and patriarchy and and abortion

(21:20):
access and reproductive rates access, and then having guests that
come on and experts and comics and musicians. It's gonna
be kind of like The View if it didn't have
Megan McCain and it was a little funny and so,
you know, but things like that you just don't see,
you know, the landscape, just like talk radio in and
of itself. Like when they asked me to launch Air

(21:40):
America Radio, I didn't know much about radio, but I
really love, like, I love this, I love podcasting mediums,
I love radio mediums. It just feels so connective. Right,
But when I found out that ninety four percent of
all talk radio was conservative leaning or extreme conservative leaning
and six percent was liberal or just neutral, it was

(22:05):
so astonishing to me. But then it also explained a
whole ton about like, you know, think back, and this
was in two thousand and three, you know, think about
It's like when why you need infrastructure, Right, there wasn't broadband,
There wasn't a whole lot of ways for people to
get information, and they had AM radio and a lot

(22:26):
of that was just like the bombastic rush. Limbaugh was
the thing that carried through on whatever you know, terrestrial
radio you could you could get. And so when we
launched and we got into some AM stations in some
of these areas, people would call us crying saying, this
is the first time I've ever heard this information. I
can't believe it. I'm I feel free, like you know,

(22:49):
I mean, you just forget about like real queer people
and all this stuff, who are just sort of living
with their own selves with no information. So and I
think that using humor just funny brings you together in
a way that other things can't. And also you can't
fake joy and laughter, right, So if somebody makes you laugh,

(23:13):
if you even ideologically disagree with them, you for even
if it was just that second, liked that person because
they brought you joy. And so it brings a humanity
back into the conversation that I think is not present
in so much of the way we live our lives now. Right,

(23:35):
it's very easy to demonize, polarize other and and really
just it's I don't know when it came that having
a different point of view made you an evil person
who does not deserve respect and humanity, Like that's a
just terrifying place that I often see in this landscape

(23:59):
that we're living in. So yeah, I'm a long window.
I'm sorry. I just like you asked a question. No,
this is what we love. We want the full explanation,
give it yes. And that really resonates with me because
I did, I grew up in a small town most Smantha,
I did grew up in small conservative towns, and you

(24:20):
did as well, correct me, Minneapolis. So no, did I
grew up with really conservative parents who didn't know what
to do that I was exposed to the liberal garbage.
My dad used to call it the People's Republic of Minnesota,
like he couldn't take it. Definitely nicer than what my
parents said, so I thought some other step to that

(24:41):
wasn't great. Because my dad was from Philadelphia, Mississippi, which
if you've never heard of Philadelphia, Mississippi, it's where the
Mississippi Burning murders happened. So that's the town that my
dad grew up in. And then my mom was from
the Twin Cities and they met in Washington, d C.
During World War Two, and so she dragged him to
this socialist hellscape and hand yeah, but the connecting with

(25:07):
people over humor, and I guess when the Daily Show
is getting started really taking off. That was right around
like that goal for thing CNN and that twenty four
hour cable news was taking off. And for me personally,
I loved the Daily Show because the news was so
hard for me to consume often. But if I could
get it through a comedic form, even if sometimes it

(25:29):
was still really painful or like scary, it was just
so much easier for me to watch it. And I
am someone who thinks it is important to stay informed,
so I'm so happy that that was an option, And
it did make me feel us alone because I did
grow up in a really conservative space and sometimes I
would think, is there literally anyone else who agreed like
as having these thoughts of these feelings. Is it just

(25:49):
me that thinks that this is messed up? And it
was so comforting to have that and see you're not
alone and other people are laughing at that, and you're
laughing at that, and you are connect thing over it.
And so through your time as being at the forefront
of political satire, have you seen has it changed? Have

(26:10):
you seen it change I've seen it change in the
sense of what used to be clear satire is now
it's very hard to satirize when you have movements that
believe Hillary Clinton was running a pedophile ring in the
basement of a people parliament, for example, and you had
literally right, and so how do you satirize that? Like

(26:33):
I literally wrote a joke about the Georgia voting legislation
where it was like, you know, part of the Georgia
voting laws is that you can't just vote, you have
to you have to walk through checkpoint Charlie Daniels, and
people were like, is that true? And I was like, no,
it's that, but I know, like I know that it
seems like it could be right. So part of it

(26:55):
has been satirizing this is which has been really hard.
The other part that's been really interesting is watching people
who like late night shows, would always do really banal
kind of political jokes, if they would do any at all,
And when Trump happened, a lot of armchair folks jumped

(27:18):
in and became Trumpian and did Trump material and called
the political satire right. I used to be able to
do like material around, like when Obama was creating Obamacare,
like there was a myriad of things around that, and
I could tell the story of the evolution of Obamacare,

(27:39):
and I could talk about the haters who are like
useless and all the death panel stuff, and then I
could talk about the rollout of Obamacare and just laugh
about all of the crazy things that happened and really
do like ten minutes on explaining something that was an
issue that you could hit all the parts of it.
And it's really hard now because you have people kind

(28:02):
of doing surfacing material that's you know about Trump wearing
a diaper. I don't care, He's just drowing democracy, you
know what I mean. And so having fancy comedians doing
hacky political material has been a little bit hard when
you're trying to do something and I don't want to

(28:24):
say smarter, but at least that makes a point and
gets people to think because you're pointing out the hypocrisy
and asking questions. So that's been a big change around,
you know, the landscape in general. The good news is
because of women and queer folks coming forward, and because

(28:47):
of Twitter and because of social media where agency was
given to folks who never had it before and having opinions,
real issues are being able to talk about. I don't
have to prove that sexual or cement and sexual assault
is happening anymore, you know, like like I can like
now just go in without explanation, because for years that

(29:09):
was it. Oh you're exaggerating. Oh that's not really true
that you know, And so to have a different kind
of baseline at least has been also kind of helpful
in the landscape of like what's been good and what's
been bad about it. Having people believe us for the
first time ever is huge, and I really I feel

(29:30):
like part of incorporating that into my comedy, it's just
massively important to honor those who never got a shake
and who got rate, you know, talk about cancel, who
got canceled, people who came forward when they were harassed
and destroyed by simply asking to not be harmed at

(29:52):
work or on a date. Right, So when I hear
about this crying of cancel culture, I'm just like, again,
would you please stop? Because you have been a bully
forever and it's been rewarded, and those who are victims
of your bulliness are the ones who actually we don't
know where they are. You know, anytime there's an actor
you liked from the seventies or eighties or nineties, You're like,

(30:12):
what happened to them? I love them? Probably they called
out some garbage human and we're never heard from again,
which is very upsetting because then you think of all
the stuff we've lost, all of this comedy we don't have,
and it does become like I have to check in
with myself a lot to not almost look at the

(30:33):
larger picture of that, because what gets me up every
day is the fact that I am able to do that.
And I'm sixty. I turned sixty in August, and all
of these avenues have allowed me to be as relevant
as I choose, and I feel like that's really cool.
And to be able to have abortion access front and

(30:53):
work in an environment where I could be the parents
of everyone, the grandparents of some, or as I say
to them, I kind of terminated all of you, so
you know, I'd like to keep them on their shoes.
But so, you know, it's like to be able to
elevate those voices and to sort of bring my age
and wisdom in sort of like this auntie role. And

(31:16):
it's been really cool and it's really nice to be
able to the show that we're doing feminist buzz kills.
Live in the Fall is going to be really fun
because it's it's I'm sixty, Um, there's an African American
woman who is in the early forties, and then a
South Asian woman who's in her early thirties, and so generally,
and then we'll have guests on who are like in
their twenties, right, so generationally and culturally coming to this

(31:40):
issue from really different experiences and having two out of
those three experiences not be the experience that is mine,
which everybody sort of knows mine, right, And so to
be able to take a back seat and and have
these voices uplifted, I feel really excited about because and
we're seeing so much of that now, which is really great.

(32:00):
You know when people are like, what are your favorite comics,
and I just think of like all these great people
and that it's not just a litany of white male
comedians anymore than list off right, you could just go
down the line of Joey L. Johnson, Jenny Yang, Helen Hall,
Jennie Asherrey, Sam j you know, like you can just
go on and on and on, and you're like, oh

(32:21):
my god, there's so many. It's so cool. I will
say I connected with Helen a little too much when
she was on stage, just like stop it, stop it
doing an hour special. Um, she's taking more special soon, yes,
through the Tribeca Film Festival, which I'm really, really really
excited about. I'm such a big fan. She's been also
out on the road with us a whole bunch and Jenny.

(32:44):
That's how I got introduced to her was because when
I came to the show and I was like, oh
my god, and then I saw our new girls like Helen.
I know that. Yeah, I think that's an amazing conversation
because yeah, like I said, I was introduced to your show,
your comedy show, specifically through what you're doing with abortion
and access front and it's amazing. And you have you
have such a way of obviously mentoring the new up

(33:07):
incoming because every time I've only gone to the show twice,
but you've always brought on newer people, younger kids. I
say kids. They're not kids. They're not twenty years younger
than me, So I say kids, and I hit that guys.
She's early thirties and early forties, so we hit those
gaps too, But younger generations that are doing comedy better
because I'm not gonna lie. For the longest time, I

(33:27):
couldn't watch stand up. Watching comedy shows always made me
cringe because I was afraid of what they're going to
say next. And then coming to this, I guess generation
this time frame, when you actually get to see good
comedy that's not at the expense of women are marginalized communities,
You're like, what, what is this new thing? And I
love seeing that, but also I love that you do

(33:48):
it with a purpose. You have the whole reason Abortion
Access Front is not about just the comedy, but again helping,
like you are going to these individual clinics and help assisting,
whether it's I think Chanelle went to actually put up
chairs and paint. At one point she was like, I
gotta go do this thing because I gotta go. And
I was like, Wow, you're actually going in and being

(34:12):
a part of that family in restoring some kind of
just being told thank you for what you're doing instead
of being screamed at for the first time in a
very long time, probably, how did you even come to
this point, How did this organization began? How did you
come to this point? So what happened was I was
finishing up my book, and I had come back to

(34:34):
Minnesota because the book is a series of essays about
my sort of life, how I found my voice, how
that voice landed on stage, and then how that voice
evolved from comedy just straight up comedy into having this
purpose and then where it led. Right. So I was
finishing up my book and I didn't know what I
was going to do next, and you know, I was

(34:55):
like trying to integrate another show, like what I want
to do. And it was right when all of those
abortion laws were happening right around. And you'll remember, Wendy
Davis is kind of the touch tone for everybody standing
there in Texas and filibustering. And what people didn't realize
was Texas was one of twenty seven states that had

(35:16):
that exact bill dumped on them. But the other twenty
states didn't have a Wendy Davis, so people didn't know.
And so I was like watching Texas and I was
tweeting about it, and then other clinics were kind of
tweeting at me, saying that our legislature just did this too,
and not and people were activists and people were from

(35:37):
around the country were like, this is going on all over.
So then I was like, oh my god, what am
I gonna do? So I was going to go back
to Brooklyn. So I had my two dogs and I
rented a van and I did comedy fundraisers to get
back to Brooklyn for these clinics. And I went to
go visit the clinics. And what happened was every clinic

(36:03):
I would go visit, the staff was literally shocked and said,
you know, in the saddest way, thank you for coming.
People don't come here to visit us. And I thought,
how are we to keep access to care? If you

(36:24):
feel so defeated and marginalized and mothered, you're not going
to keep staffs. So when I got back to New York,
I threw a giant dinner for comedians, writers, everybody I
knew that worked in my field, that I knew was feminist,
that I knew cared about issues. And I was like,

(36:44):
we all are here because we had access to birth
control and some of us had access to abortion. We
need to get out there and show people love. And
the other thing that I had found out from the
clinics was if you provide abortion, especially in areas that
are hostile towards it. You can't get someone to mow

(37:06):
your mount paint your hallways, fix your roof, do anything
because people will boycott those companies. So we talked and
we decided we were going to create a nonprofit that
made videos like Funnier Die videos that would expose the issues,
and then we were going to kind of do this

(37:26):
USO cross with Habitats for Humanity and travel around the
country do comedy shows that we're comedy variety shows, so
you'll have some comedy, you'll have a conversation with the
activists in the community and the clinic, and then you'll
have maybe a musician also, so that our audiences could
learn what's at stake, how they could help, and sign

(37:46):
up with the local folks on the ground and then
carry on the work. You know, we have people tabling,
so you could watch the show here from the people
go sign up right down at the table, and then
we go to the clinics and we will find know
what they need, so we will do the gardening, We
will mow their lawn, will do that, and when we
know what they need, will bring that up in the show.

(38:09):
So it'll be like we'll do a little work ahead
of time, right, and so then what's cool. I'll never forget.
I was in Oklahoma City and we were just talking
about what they needed in Oklahoma City, and this guy
raises his hand and he's like, you're telling me the
activism is I sign up and say I'll be your
landscaping company, you pay me, and I'm an activist. And

(38:31):
I was like, yes, because the act of parking your
van in front of that clinic saying you support these
people is an act of defiance and an act of support.
And so people really when they start to hear that,
and when we can go to every city and and
and know in advance what they're having a hard time

(38:53):
getting services for and put it out to the audience,
we're always getting people to sign up and say I'm
happy to be that person. But people don't know. And
part of I think what's so important when you're looking
at where you want to be helpful or how you
want to do your activism is making sure you're not
replicating work. You know, is their organizations already doing this
and being better at it. And usually there are and

(39:13):
they're and they're usually bipop led organizations that like white
people don't know about so they're gonna start a thing, so,
you know, elevating the organization is already doing it on
the ground, but nobody was doing the work of making
sure that the clinics and that the activists on the ground,
we're getting the support that they needed because they're great,

(39:34):
they're doing the work, but they always need Everybody always
needs a little pr right, everybody always needs a little
platform to talk about how great they are. And for
us to be able to gather folks who like our
comedy and do that and then explain to them what's
at stake felt like a really good lane that I
could be in that there and and carve out when

(39:56):
there wasn't a lane before. So that part of it is,
so we're warning and during COVID it was really hard
because we couldn't get on the road and do that.
So we were doing zoom conversations and we were and
and and sort of doing it sort of virtually. And
then starting this big mutual aid program so that people
could really take care of folks, and then training the
folks who were already on the ground how to use

(40:17):
humor to just marginalize and shame all those protesters out
there too, So that was part of our thing as well,
So hoping to get back out on the road in
with the organization. But I myself, I'm going to be
out doing some stand up gigs starting in late summer
and into the fall as well. So hopefully I'll get
to Atlanta. I'm trying to because I want to Atlanta, Atlanta, Asheville,

(40:41):
Raleigh run and so um that's kind of what I'm
hoping to get for hopefully in the late fowlish or
early winter. So I'll be seeing you so excited. I
love that so much because I think that is something
people struggle with, is not necessarily under standing the needs
and where they can help and what activism can look like.

(41:03):
So I think that is fantastic. As far as I
feel like this conversation is upsetting because it's like everything
with Rob Wade, it's just is always a fight. It's
always a battle, never ends. Are there things that we
should be looking out for that are going on right now? Yeah?
I mean one thing that I would say is part

(41:23):
of the reason that we got here is because we
we talked so much about we don't look at things
to stop them early in their in their situations, right
like the maddening people who are like both candidates are
the same or above. Elections don't matter. It's like we
with Donald Trump, we build up a lower court and

(41:46):
the Supreme Court hostile towards abortion rights, were rights, you know,
all the things that actually expand humanities, valuing humans, and
so you know, and I think a lot of folks
don't realize that when we talk about these abortion laws.
The way that they happen is that big giant like

(42:06):
organizations that are in Washington, d c. Anti abortion organizations,
they write legislation and then they hand it over to
legislatures that are hustle to abortion. They get it through
that place, and they specifically target states that have a
legislatures that will pass it and be that are located

(42:27):
in a lower court district so that if it gets challenge,
it can go to the lower court and get to
the Supreme Court. Right. So, the one thing that we
desperately need to do is figure out who is in
our state senates and our state legislatures and work to
get them out so that these laws aren't being proposed
to begin with. That's one thing, because then it's the

(42:47):
same people proposing the anti LGBTQ laws, the voter suppression laws,
Gunnen laws, like, it's all the same people, right, there's
just a cabal. There's intersectional hatred going on. That's really proble.
So having said that, you know, if a law gets
passed in Kentucky and makes it all the way to
the Supreme Court, that you don't live in Kentucky, but
all of a sudden, you're reproductive, right's gonna effective forever.

(43:09):
So what's happening is Mississippi passed a law of fifteen
week abortion band Roe v. Wade states that abortion is
legal in all fifty states up to twenty four weeks
or the viability of the fetus. Everybody's entitled to that
abortion is legal in all fifty states right now. A
lot of these laws that we've seen recently have challenged

(43:31):
access to abortion, but haven't directly challenged that tenant of
roeby Wade. So we've seen things like you need to
be have admitting privileges to a hospital if you're going
to perform abortions, or twenty for our waiting periods. Those
are curbing access, but not overturning Roe v. Wade, this
particular Mississippi law, And this is what's really interesting about

(43:52):
it is that normally the Supreme Court will take up
a case when the lower courts have been divided or
conflicted on whether or not the law is unconstitutional. In
this case, to lower courts, and conservative lower courts have
said a fifteen week ban is unconstitutional because Rob Wade

(44:15):
says twenty four weeks, and this is fifteen weeks. Two
times the state of Mississippi said nope, we're still going
to try to go anyway, and they petition the Supreme
Court directly, and the Supreme Court, in an unprecedented move,
took a case that every court agree was unconstitutional, took
it to hear it anyway, which should scare folks. So

(44:38):
they're gonna hear it in the fall. If the Supreme
Court rules that it is constitutional for you to block
abortion after fifteen weeks, that means Roe w Wade has
been overturned. And there are eleven states that right now
have in place something that's called a trigger, and what
that means is within twenty four hours, eleven states will

(44:58):
outright ban abortion in all cases. This my fear is
that because the Supreme Court has taken on this case,
it's a signal to other states who are hostile to
abortion who have not yet put in trigger bands yet
to do so, and so we could wind up with

(45:18):
a very real possibility that Roe v. Wade will end
as we know it. So that's what's happening right now.
We will be which I'm excited about, will be going
to d C, will be working as hard as we
can to support the activists in Mississippi and the activists
around it and raising awareness. Our Twitter feed Abortion Front
is a really good hub of information. If you're not

(45:40):
getting information around the laws and everything, we are really
good about doing that and really putting stuff up there
and driving you to places where you can read more
the people who are working locally on the ground, so
that if you see something in your upset and you
want to help, you're not just making a blanket donation
to X large organization. You will be able to tell

(46:00):
you in Kentucky, here's the place that you might want
to give. You know, we we oftentimes I love Planned
parenthood They're incredible, but at oftentimes there's not planned parenthoods
in a state that is being affected, and so you
want to know who the clinic is, who the activists are,
stuff like that. That's amazing. Yeah, speaking of abortion actions

(46:32):
front Twitter, just recently, I've noticed this whole conversation about
the fact that our current administration, who is technically pro choice,
technically still has a hard time using the word abortion.
I know that that was a big conversation to the
point that not only are you know, your side, as
well as other actives are like hey, abortion, like trying

(46:53):
to spill it up like it's not a bad word.
I think it's such a weird idea, especially today, this
day and age, why it's so hard to understand just
normalizing that term actually helps part of this fight. Can
you talk on that a little bit? Yeah, And I
would say it's the single most important thing that we

(47:17):
can do to get us on a path of reproductive equality,
because we for so long have been overrun with the
anti abortion playbook, even to the point where we've allowed
themselves to refer to themselves as pro life when they're
the ones who are not considering the life of someone

(47:39):
who's pregnant, blowing up abortion clinics, threatening doctors. There's nothing
pro life about denying somebody else life saving healthcare. So
you know, we've even seated that right, We've seated this
moral ground where we feel like we need to have
caveats when we defend it, we have to say, well,
nobody's pro abortion. I actually am. I will actually say

(48:02):
that I'm pro abortion because I feel like if somebody
needs to make that choice, it is not my decision
or it is not my right to judge them for
why they're making it. If they've decided they want to
do that, I believe them, and they're making a moral,
ethical choice for themselves. And so unless we get to
a point where we can say it, and we can

(48:24):
say it with with dignity and respect and giving it
it's it's moral claim, we can't defend it. How can
you defend something you can't say why is it? And
and really asking folks the question, why is it that
you have to say I'm pro choice and not abortion.
I'm for abortion, but only in the in the cases

(48:45):
of rape and incests, sort of setting up this narrative
that there's good abortions and there's bad abortions. Right, there's
no good abad abortion. There's only the abortion that you need.
And we really need to be actively supporting when someone
says they need that, because I'm unclear of the of
how the hypocrites get away with being anti birth control,

(49:05):
anti abortion. It's like, what what what world of abstinence
and unicorns are you living in? That? You know happened
forever instance, forever, and abortions have happened forever since forever,
you know, since the history of we've realized how fun
sex is and that it's free, Like those are giant

(49:26):
things in the world. That means it's gonna keep happening.
It's the most fun you can have, and it also
costs nothing, so we should probably make sure people are
having it safely and without shame and stigma. That's all right, Yes,
well you could talk forever because I'm just like feeling
rage and all these like interconnected issues built up in

(49:47):
me where it's like, oh, you men want to have
sex with women and they think it's all right, but
they can't have birth control and they can't have abortions,
and it's just like all of this punishment and stigma
and weirdness around women and controlling their bodies and female
sexual pleasure. And also like I love how conservatives are
all you know, I want my individual rights, don't tread

(50:09):
on me, but but also you can tread on earth
though I know, and also just the patriarchal set up
of the value of women in society, and that is
creating these hyper sexualized beings and giving them worth and
then and then when they act on that, when we

(50:31):
act on it patriarchy. You know, there is nothing better
than when you really just like shed you sloth your
skin of any interest in the male gaze. It is
the most freeing thing in the world. You know. Forever,
I never realized why women in their fifties started becoming

(50:55):
so powerful and why they were marginalized at the same time.
And it's because they do not give a flying f
about what people think, only what they desire and what
they want for the greater good, and in turn, that
terrifies the white supremacy power structure. So you have to

(51:18):
marginalize the older women because they have a ton of power.
So when you watch that convergence and you realize that's
the plan, it only makes you even more emboldened. And
that's kind of a good feeling. So for you young
uns out there, and then I'm talking to the two
of you know, understand that you're coming into your power

(51:40):
profoundly and it's really rewarding. I love that that's awesome. Yes,
So could you talk about the Hide Act because I
know you all recently did a video explaining it. Yeah,
so it's um are forty seven years ever since, you know,

(52:02):
like Robe Wade was passed in nineteen and three years later,
a Congressman from Illinois named Henry Hyde, who was by
the way while get to Assistory a minute, wanted to
curb abortion and ban abortion any way he could. And
he actually said in a quote, I would like to

(52:25):
ban tax dollars from paying for abortions. I'd like to
ban all abortions. And since I can't stop rich women
from having abortions, I'm going to punish poor women from
having abortion. Actually said this outlaud, not even saying the
quiet part aloud, saying the loud part outlaud. So he
enacted something called a High Amendment, which is attached to
the annual budget bill every year. It has for forty

(52:48):
seven years. And what it says is federal tax dollars
will not fund abortion in any way, shape or form.
And that means for people who get their health care
from Medicaid, that means folks who work for the government,
that means folks who are in the military can't access
their own health care for abortions. It's caused an incredible

(53:10):
financial rich as you can imagine, if somebody is seeking
abortion is either low income, uses Medicaid or is working
for the federal government. So and it's just racist, it's
just garbage, it's racist, it's classes, it's everything. For forty
seven years, every president, even the ones you love, have

(53:30):
the high Amendment has ended up in the budget and
they have just let it be there. Now, oddly, this
is the first time this year Joe Biden, the lukewarm
pro choice, won't say abortion person left Hide out of
the budget. So we will see if we can literally

(53:53):
end hide. Because what that would mean is low income
folks seeking abortion care wouldn't struggle to find the funds
to access care. They wouldn't have to wait as long.
Oftentimes people have to cross several state lines. They are

(54:14):
trying to raise the funds to get their care, so
they end up further in their pregnancy and that abortion
costs even more money. It's a reproductive emancipation for black
and brown folks and for low income folks. And I
just feel like it would be really incredible if we
and there's a great short film. It just came out
and it's called Abortion Helpline. This is Least. It's a

(54:37):
short film that came out in one early that follows
an abortion fund, which there's a volunteer lad fund there
all over the country that folks can call an access
to see if they can get funds to help them.
And it shows the effects of the High Amendment, explains
the High Amendment and really shows how the Heighth amentment

(54:57):
really affects people at a fourteen minutes or film, but
it is devastating and it's really really it's it's it's
a it's a really good explainer to learn about hide.
So with any hope at all, we've made progress and
through our razor thin Congress, I don't know if we
can get it in the Senate, but it would be
really nice to have a budget that did not have

(55:19):
reproductive oppression in it, right, um, you know? Or go
to All above All. They're a really great nonprofit that
has been leading the charge on ending the High Amendment.
They have been so great, So All above All dot
org and you can find out how you can fight
back and how you can be helpful there. So yeah,
so honestly, even though I had been a part of

(55:42):
social work, so that's that was my career before I
started podcasting, as well as having friends who we are
all very feminis forward. I actually didn't know much about
the Hydeman until I came to your first show and
the video is beautiful. I was like, Oh my god,
what is happening and this is what we're talking about.
I never really knew what it was or how it

(56:02):
really affected our community and especially yes marginalized communities. How
it's really going after poor people on top of the
fact that they're not assisting when they do have kids,
and oftentimes I would end up working with those kids
and not having any funds to help them access medical
help or mental health help or any of that stuff.

(56:23):
And that's kind of that big conversation of what is
this really about? What is honestly It's like, it's kind
of about punishing people who don't have money, people of
color in general, and just are not even able to
understand how to access any kind of help. Because, let's
be honest, even if the heidem minent was to be dismissed,
the likelihood of all of the loopholes that each state

(56:46):
could find, I could just imagine Georgia and trying to
access those funds will be incredibly difficult. Let's talk about
the fact that Kemp is already holding out money that
is being offered us because he doesn't want any help
from federal government and want to blame the carent administration
and say that we didn't get help when there's millions
of dollars on the table that he refuses to take.

(57:08):
So I'm already upset and angry about what's happening here,
and I got to double down on their anger. Part
of the other thing that's happening right now. You know,
there's a lot of stuff that we don't know because
we're not told, and it's really massively pressing. But you know,
throughout the country there are religiously set up fake abortion
clinics that look like a regular clinic, advertised like a

(57:33):
regular clinic, and they're not actually clinics. They're actually places
that are designed to lure folks in and convince them
not to have abortions, and make promises and lie to patients.
And they're not run by doctors. There's people who literally
were lab codes who are not doctors, who will lie
to you about abortion, lie to you about birth control,

(57:54):
lie to you about primorial sex, lie to you about everything.
Just this week we found out that in states are
diverting TANNIS funds, that's that's welfare for those I don't know,
welfare funds with SAM funds to fund these fake clinics,
So taking away the help for low income families and

(58:16):
putting that funds to fake clinics that are trying to
convince people not to have abortions and have kids, while
busufully telling them that there's all these government programs that
will help them if they decide to have their kid.
But those government programs, as they speak, are being cut

(58:37):
to fund their lives. So walk with me to this
crazy circle. And it's just another level of this of
this game of oppression where if you keep poor people
poor and vulnerable, they'll never have agencies, will never understand
they have agency. And again what survives Lapa, andre Arch
and White Sprama say right absolutely, and that again shows

(59:01):
why it is a pro birth movement. End the story.
We actually did have someone who researched the Pregnancy Crisis
Center come in and talk to us about what was
happening around the country and the level. But the fact
that they're looking like nurses or professionals, but in actuality
they probably just came in from the church and was
told to be a good citizen by making these people

(59:24):
have babies and not giving them an absolute choice, any
kind of choice. But yeah, Actually, as a worker for
the government in the state of Georgia, I did not
know what these pregnancy crisis centers were, and I really
thought they were helping give young girls a choice, and
realizing later, oh my god, I sent them to a
really fake and I feel horrible, like hypocritical state of like, oh,

(59:47):
I didn't know that the pregnancy crisis center was this. Now,
don't get me wrong. For the people who are like,
oh I need car seats, I was like, yeah, go there,
but half sometimes they couldn't even access that. They just
got templets about how you apply for things, which still
like what is the point, yes, of anything that you're doing. Yeah,
and also like folks they understand just for for like

(01:00:09):
sort of perspective on it. There are actually around seven
eighty legitimate clinics that provide comprehensive care, including abortion. There
is close to four thousand of these fake clinics. So
you're and and owning the narrative on Google and that

(01:00:30):
you know, when you Google looking for an abortion, oftentimes
they have rigged the s c O, which is, you know,
the algorithm to have them pop up first. And so
when you are looking for your abortion and you see
an add the pops up that says pregnant need help, free,
free tests, choices, options, You're going to go there, and
they don't advertise. And this is the part where where

(01:00:53):
we have done our advocacy. We have created an entire
website called Exposed Fake Clinics dot com um where you
can go learn about the insidious nature of them and
how you can fight back, like giving them bad reviews,
you know things like that where you can really be
helpful in doing that. But it's um, it's really scary

(01:01:14):
to think that folks go there. And the thing that
what I was gonna say was they hide the fact
that that's who they are. And our whole issue is
if you are an anti abortion pregnancy center that is
trying to get people to keep their pregnancies, then say
that's who you are. Say that's who you are, but

(01:01:36):
you don't you hide it from people. And the interesting
thing is a case when all the way to the
Supreme Court challenging the efficacy of these fake clinics. And
here's the part that I'd like everybody to just buckle up,
because I'm about to tell you something that's gonna make
your real mad. The Supreme Court ruled that if you're

(01:01:58):
a fake clinic and you're not providing actual care, you,
under the First Amendment, get to pretend you're a doctor
as long as you're not administering medicine. What yes, Yes
rule that it's constitutional to set up a kind of
look alike place and put on a lab coat and

(01:02:20):
say sort of some vaguely medically sounding things. You're allowed
to lie to people under the First Amendment as long
as you're not providing the care. That kid I forgot
his name, who posed for a doctor forever, shouldn't he
been cleared because he didn't take I feel like he

(01:02:42):
should be often he was federally charged. He kind of
came around and pretended like he new things and then
sit a nursing So I don't understand. Oh lord, I
need I feel when I come on to podcast that

(01:03:03):
I just like, like you know, saw on or just
like bring all the doom. I'm just like, oh that
Liz Winston here she comes. She's just gonna bum me no.
But that's the thing is, like we've talked about this before,
how we need to start really embracing anger as women
and marginalized people, because this is what it looks like.

(01:03:25):
It doesn't happen until we get firing ready to go.
It doesn't happen until passion is inflamed and you're like, oh,
this is what this is about. So no, we love it.
This is what we live for, putting a fire. And
someone asks, and I also just want to remind folks that, like,
that's what I love about our organization so much. Is
so often when it gets to the point where the

(01:03:47):
news is reporting on it, it's too far down the
line for us to do anything about it. So when
we follow our social media or sign up for our
mailing list, we get on it early because we're in
constant conversation with the activists on the ground and what
they're doing. So when they're like X state is proposing
this thing, we're like on top of it immediately so
that we can tell folks in the aisle, like, shut

(01:04:08):
this garbage down, like and here's how you can do it.
And so that's that's the thing that is really I
think helpful. Since the media doesn't help us, we have
to be the people who are reporting on the media.
Right absolutely us a lot. We're talking a lot. Like
I said, I've seen a few of your interviews where
you kind of talk about the fact that, especially with

(01:04:30):
the last administration in the last year, just everything being dark,
so dark. I think you said that you needed to
be able to shed light and talk about it and
bring it about to the world and talk about it
to everyone so we do acknowledge what's going on, don't
just move on in our pretty little lives. And we

(01:04:53):
sort of started maybe seeing some light. There's a few
things that helped. You know, Trump is out. I don't
even like saying his name. I don't want to hear
about him. I just realsh I can forget him. But
he's not gonna be forgotten, as Georgia has plainly shown
in their recent GOP conference and saying they're gonna align
behind his ideology. Still. But you know, we're in the

(01:05:16):
current new administration, we're starting to kind of come out
of COVID. I have now come out of my house, uh,
since being fully vaccinated. Still not trusting people, though still
not trusting people, but with that and it's slowly changing,
hopefully for the better. With everything else outside of me
us being vacts, you know, living that vacts life. What

(01:05:39):
else seems like with everything else that seems like it's
going to hell right now? What are you trying to
push forward? How are you coming out? Because I see
you're ready. You're ready, like you were ready last year
when you were like, I have to put on a show.
I don't get what everybody else is doing. We're gonna
do a social distance in the nineteen degree weather. We're
doing it, So you're ready. I see it's coming forward.

(01:05:59):
So there's a couple of things coming forward that I'm
really excited about, and that is getting people back to events,
which is really cool. So one thing that I'm really
psyched about is on July nineteen, the original cast of
The Daily Show and met Elizbeisberg and who is my
co creator, are getting together to do a conversation around

(01:06:19):
the origins of The Daily Show, the early days, how
it came to be. It's really gonna be fun because
it's the first time we've all gotten together and we're
the only folks who really know, like those early days,
how we came up with the idea, all the pitfalls
we had doing this show with no budget and the
scrappy correspondence who actually created help you know, the entire genre.

(01:06:42):
So that's gonna be really fun. And it's a fundraise
of for Abortion Access Front, so I highly that'll be
on rush Ticks and that's really cool, and if you
sign up for our mailing list you'll get all the
information about that. That's gonna be really fun. We are
going out on the road to um confront some bad
guy eyes and that's like a secret that we can't
tell you right now, but we can tell you soon.

(01:07:05):
But the bad guys are having their annual convention of
anti abortion bad guys, and we have some really cool
counter protesting activism plans around that. That's happening in June.
One of the things we wanted to do is not
lump all anti abortion activists into the same brush, because

(01:07:27):
they come from different factions, they're inspired by different weird
religious beliefs. So we've created a website called Hypocrites Unmasked
where we break up and really explain the different factions
of the anti abortion movement, their tactics sort of where
they're located and who their leadership are. One thing that's
been really interesting is and we're continuing to develop, so

(01:07:49):
it kind of falls into your category. But what's next
is since we've been on the road for all these
years meeting all these local activists, we've also heard from
them who their local anti abortion extremists are. And we
created a database of everything that everybody has told us
in their findings, and we have found cross connection that
some anti abortion activists are working together across state platforms.

(01:08:11):
And in the course of forming this database learning this information,
we started some fake secret accounts on Facebook. We've infiltrated
a little bit watching them, and when the insurrection happened
in January, we were able to identify thirty people from
the anti abortion movement in the insurrection and report them
to the FBI. So that's an ongoing secret like thing

(01:08:33):
that we've got going on. But we just also had
really cool events coming up to in the fall. We
have an event called do re Me Too, which is
the third year of us doing it, where we get
the most righteous performers who sing reimagine sexist songs just
to let folks know, like we live in a culture
that defines women so profoundly awfully in our pop culture,

(01:08:56):
and often we enable it by singing along and it's
really great. And so you know, we have Sandra Bernhardt,
we have now in from to Get Down, Stay Down.
We have Amanda Palmer. We've got some really good folks
who have signed up already to be at it. We're
announcing our line up in July. So if you want
to know more about that show, that's gonna be a
virtual show too, so you can watch it from anywhere.

(01:09:16):
People are recording their own music videos. It's gonna be
a riot. And then we're gonna just continue with our
outreach for mutual aid. We're gonna be exposing fake clinics,
so and we have these exposed fake clinics events that
are really fun and talking about these fake abortion clinics
that we're talking about. There's a whole lot in the
pipeline we have going on. I'm gonna be touring personally,

(01:09:38):
which will be really really fun. And you know, I
feel like if you want to find out more, the
best thing to do is to sign up for our
mailing list, the Abortion Access Front. If you go to
a a front dot org and sign up for our
mailing list. You'll get all the updates on the cool stuff.
And we don't send out a bunch of just boring emails,
um that they're like donate to us. We send you

(01:09:59):
out emails that give you information, stuff to do, ways
that you can take action. They're really helpful emails that
are just about send us money or sign a petition.
It's like get involved the present, join our community, because
we really want to build community through our activism. Oh
that's exciting. Actually, right before COVID, I had Caroline and

(01:10:19):
I the one from end lady like who introduced me.
We're planning to do uh some volunteer work with abortion clinics,
mean escorts are such, and then everything shut down. We're like, nope, nope,
hiding the way, but I'm gonna have to find well,
I am already subscribed to the newsletter, duh, so I'm
definitely gonna keep up with that. Yes, and this has
been an absolute pleasure and delight live much. Thank you

(01:10:43):
so much for having me and blatting with me. Oh
we could talk forever, yes, yes, um, and we'll definitely
check you out when you're in Atlanta. Any other things
you want to plug before we wrap up here, Where
can the listeners find you? Um, listeners can find me.
I'm on all the social platforms at Liz Winstead and
I spell my name with two z's, so you can

(01:11:05):
find me there, and you can find me just out
and about. You know, I'm sometimes on MSNBC show My
Mug around Town, but mostly you know, just find me
onto all the socials and then you'll find me on
the other places as well. But I would also say
subscribe to our YouTube channel now so that you can

(01:11:25):
get informed on our show launches, because you're not gonna
want to miss this show. It's gonna be just a
weekly show full of just bad comedy and information and
like just like feminist talk and righteousness that you don't
want to miss. So sign up subscribe on YouTube abortion
access prompt doing it? Yes, yes, definitely do that, listeners.
Thanks again for being with us, Liz Oh, thank you

(01:11:47):
such a pleasure. It's been amazing. Yes, and if you
would like to find us listeners, you can. You can
email us at stuff id your Mom stuff at ihart
me dot com. You can find us on Twitter and
Mom's a podcast or on Instagram and stuff I Never
Told You thinks it's always are. Super producer Christina, thank you,
Thanks to you for listening stuff One Never Told You
his production of iHeart Radio. For more. Podcast from iHeart
Radio is at the iHeart Radio app, Apple podcast, or

(01:12:08):
wherever you listen to your favorite shows.