Latest / The Breakfast Club / INTERVIEW: Jordan Klepper On Meeting People Where They Are, Comedic Activism, New Stand Up Special + More

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INTERVIEW: Jordan Klepper On Meeting People Where They Are, Comedic Activism, New Stand Up Special + More · The Breakfast Club

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: I don't know.
• 0:01
  Speaker 2: Every day Iago clicks up the breakfast.
• 0:04
  Speaker 1: Club finish, y'all done morning.
• 0:07
  Speaker 3: Everybody is the DJ en Vy Jess hilarious, Charlamage the guy.
• 0:11
  Speaker 3: We are the breakfast club Law on the Roses here
• 0:13
  Speaker 3: as well. We got a special guest.
• 0:14
  Speaker 4: In the building. Yes, indeed we have a comedian, Jordan Clepper.
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: Welcome.
• 0:17
  Speaker 5: How are you feeling I'm feeling good. How you guys
• 0:19
  Speaker 5: doing I'm doing well, doing well.
• 0:20
  Speaker 2: You always keep a project. Last time you was here,
• 0:22
  Speaker 2: it was from your last field piece. Right this time
• 0:25
  Speaker 2: it's we're not field piece. You had a whole documentary documentary. Yeah,
• 0:29
  Speaker 2: now you're here for your special Jordan Clipper fingers. The
• 0:31
  Speaker 2: polls give demand a prize.
• 0:33
  Speaker 5: Let me tell you it's nothing about projects. Your heart.
• 0:35
  Speaker 6: It is to keep health insurance in this country. You
• 0:36
  Speaker 6: have to keep working constantly and contractually. I'm obligated to
• 0:41
  Speaker 6: go out in the field and do special after special
• 0:43
  Speaker 6: after special.
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: So that could make you sick. So you go need
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: all that healthcare.
• 0:46
  Speaker 6: I need that healthcare. Trust me, I'm getting old too.
• 0:48
  Speaker 6: I got bad feats, I got weird shoulders. I wake
• 0:50
  Speaker 6: up now my hip doesn't work. So yeah, I need
• 0:53
  Speaker 6: to keep I need to keep out there talking to
• 0:54
  Speaker 6: people about politics.
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: Are you really a people person, Jordan? Do you like
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: the people? Do I like the people or not like
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: the people? Do you like to people? I call it
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: people like.
• 1:03
  Speaker 5: You're using that as a verb. Yes, do I like
• 1:05
  Speaker 5: to people? I do.
• 1:07
  Speaker 6: I feel comfortable peopling. I think it's my Midwest nice
• 1:11
  Speaker 6: that makes me like jump into spaces, try to find commonality.
• 1:15
  Speaker 6: I've met a lot of people, though, I definitely have
• 1:19
  Speaker 6: I have a love hate relationship with people as a
• 1:21
  Speaker 6: general idea. I've seen they're good, I've seen they're bad.
• 1:25
  Speaker 6: There's a lot of them live somewhere in the middle.
• 1:27
  Speaker 6: But I like getting getting to know them a little bit.
• 1:29
  Speaker 6: I'll tell you, people off camera are so interesting to me,
• 1:33
  Speaker 6: and those are the people that I like the most.
• 1:35
  Speaker 6: You know, I go into these Mogel worlds. I go
• 1:37
  Speaker 6: into these these strange spaces, and the camera shifts the
• 1:40
  Speaker 6: way in which everybody talks about stuff, makes them more certain,
• 1:43
  Speaker 6: makes them more argumentative, makes them versions of themselves that
• 1:46
  Speaker 6: they see online. And then that camera goes off and
• 1:49
  Speaker 6: they got they got music interests, they got wives, they
• 1:52
  Speaker 6: have had issues with, they have food interests. They have
• 1:55
  Speaker 6: peccadillos that you just sort of gravitate towards. So people
• 1:59
  Speaker 6: without a camera on their face, those people, those are
• 2:01
  Speaker 6: the best people.
• 2:02
  Speaker 2: What about when you walk in a room and the
• 2:03
  Speaker 2: camera's not on and somebody says, make me laugh.
• 2:06
  Speaker 1: Yes, well you're just a gesture, you know what.
• 2:07
  Speaker 6: Sometimes that happens. Sometimes you want to come on the
• 2:09
  Speaker 6: breakfast club, you want to have a nice conversation, and
• 2:12
  Speaker 6: then you walk into.
• 2:13
  Speaker 7: A room and I say, you make me laugh.
• 2:15
  Speaker 5: The bar is set. Yeah, you get nervous.
• 2:18
  Speaker 8: Because he said, do I look good? And I was like,
• 2:20
  Speaker 8: you look great, just make us laughing. Because I thought,
• 2:22
  Speaker 8: as a comedian, when you're making people laugh, it makes
• 2:24
  Speaker 8: you feel good. I wanted you to feel comfortable and welcome.
• 2:27
  Speaker 7: You did, yes and happy.
• 2:28
  Speaker 5: Well, here's the problem.
• 2:29
  Speaker 6: As a comedian, you complimenting the way I look made
• 2:31
  Speaker 6: me feel uncomfortable because my expectation, my expectation is I look,
• 2:36
  Speaker 6: I look strange, I'm ill fitting clothes. I think that's
• 2:39
  Speaker 6: how I see myself. So you set me off my
• 2:41
  Speaker 6: game by making me feel good about myself.
• 2:44
  Speaker 5: That's on you.
• 2:45
  Speaker 7: I'm sorry if you look if you want me to
• 2:46
  Speaker 7: wrock it.
• 2:47
  Speaker 5: What's wrong? Talk about the fit? Where did I go wrong?
• 2:50
  Speaker 7: You really really that?
• 2:51
  Speaker 5: No, you don't have to know. This is it's a
• 2:53
  Speaker 5: new jacket, is it okay?
• 2:54
  Speaker 7: I like the jacket. I just want to put it
• 2:56
  Speaker 7: with that shirt.
• 2:57
  Speaker 5: There it is.
• 2:58
  Speaker 1: She's wearing a full leather and you're.
• 3:00
  Speaker 8: Going to I just don't know what jacket though.
• 3:04
  Speaker 7: And I thought the hair was a good compliment to
• 3:06
  Speaker 7: the jacket.
• 3:06
  Speaker 8: But but if you want me to talk bad, I
• 3:09
  Speaker 8: just I felt you could with a lighter shirt.
• 3:10
  Speaker 5: Lighter shirt.
• 3:11
  Speaker 7: Thermal.
• 3:12
  Speaker 5: It is a thermal because it's cold. It is cold,
• 3:15
  Speaker 5: but it's texture. There's texture on texture. You don't like that.
• 3:19
  Speaker 7: The texture is just very different.
• 3:21
  Speaker 1: Wear a white T shirt?
• 3:22
  Speaker 7: I mean, do you do a unique well, I see,
• 3:26
  Speaker 7: I know your friends.
• 3:27
  Speaker 8: Yeah, they have really great T shirts that you could
• 3:29
  Speaker 8: have put the thermal under, put the white T shirt
• 3:30
  Speaker 8: and it would have with the sneakers. I looked at
• 3:32
  Speaker 8: your shoes and you talked about your feet, and I
• 3:33
  Speaker 8: just thought, why are you doing it?
• 3:36
  Speaker 5: Me to do it? I respect it, I respect it,
• 3:38
  Speaker 5: I need it.
• 3:39
  Speaker 4: It's just the part of people that you like.
• 3:41
  Speaker 5: Well, right on the line, right now, I gotta tell you.
• 3:43
  Speaker 6: But you know I do specials. I do specials because
• 3:46
  Speaker 6: I get health insurance. I do publicity so I get
• 3:48
  Speaker 6: fashion tips. I can't pay for a publicist. You're helping
• 3:50
  Speaker 6: me here.
• 3:51
  Speaker 7: Do you feel comfortable? You told me to do it.
• 3:53
  Speaker 5: You know, I like it.
• 3:54
  Speaker 6: I respect it. Now, you don't want a graphic tea.
• 3:55
  Speaker 6: You're saying a plain tea is the way to go with.
• 3:57
  Speaker 5: Something like this.
• 3:58
  Speaker 7: Yeah, I think a plain tea would have been rote too.
• 3:59
  Speaker 7: Like you seem like effortless.
• 4:02
  Speaker 6: Oh that's what you're getting out of this feel good thing.
• 4:05
  Speaker 6: I'll take effortless.
• 4:06
  Speaker 1: She said, you see effortless, but you actually tried this morning.
• 4:08
  Speaker 1: I'm trying.
• 4:08
  Speaker 6: There was so much effort put into this moment. Here,
• 4:11
  Speaker 6: you can see it. It's bled into the interview last night.
• 4:14
  Speaker 6: I can tell you did it last night. I'm gonna
• 4:15
  Speaker 6: kill with this, Like first day of school. Do you
• 4:17
  Speaker 6: know I iron into this corduroy jacket. Damn, I don't
• 4:19
  Speaker 6: even know if you were supposed to iron a corduroy jacket.
• 4:22
  Speaker 1: Jesus, the jacket.
• 4:28
  Speaker 5: This is good. This is good. Intel. I didn't know. Yeah,
• 4:30
  Speaker 5: you steam corduroy instead of ironing corduroys. This is helpful.
• 4:34
  Speaker 4: I have a towel over in his steaming through the tower.
• 4:36
  Speaker 1: You can do that too.
• 4:36
  Speaker 7: Did you put the tower?
• 4:37
  Speaker 5: I did not put the towel doves.
• 4:38
  Speaker 2: But you know Jordan's a real comedian because soon as
• 4:40
  Speaker 2: Lawrence said make me laugh, jo was like, I got
• 4:43
  Speaker 2: Type five.
• 4:44
  Speaker 6: I got it, like airline food, I got I got
• 4:47
  Speaker 6: thoughts on that.
• 4:48
  Speaker 3: Let's go have no special fingers the polse, give the
• 4:53
  Speaker 3: man a prize.
• 4:54
  Speaker 4: Fingers the pole sounds crazy, but let's talking about his name.
• 5:00
  Speaker 5: Have you met Figers the balls? That guy?
• 5:01
  Speaker 6: Oh boy, it's a bit handsy.
• 5:04
  Speaker 5: Okay, stay away, all right, he's got a rap sheet.
• 5:06
  Speaker 5: Don't look into him. Don't google the guy.
• 5:08
  Speaker 1: Are you messed with Macca?
• 5:09
  Speaker 5: People?
• 5:09
  Speaker 1: To get man?
• 5:10
  Speaker 4: What's wrong with you?
• 5:10
  Speaker 5: You just like just you know what? I like getting
• 5:14
  Speaker 5: out there. I like getting out there.
• 5:16
  Speaker 6: This one was wild because we're trying to figure out
• 5:18
  Speaker 6: what to do a special on and two things were
• 5:21
  Speaker 6: happening simultaneously, Like Trump was sending troops into cities because
• 5:25
  Speaker 6: he said it was World War two in Portland and Chicago,
• 5:29
  Speaker 6: and at the same time he wanted the Nobel Peace
• 5:31
  Speaker 6: Prize because he said it was the most peaceful guy
• 5:33
  Speaker 6: on the planet. Crazy, right, So we're like, all right,
• 5:35
  Speaker 6: that's that's a hypocrisy. That makes for comedy and a special.
• 5:38
  Speaker 6: So it's like, let's go after this Nobel Peace Prize
• 5:41
  Speaker 6: desire and let's talk to people about like what's actually
• 5:44
  Speaker 6: happening in these cities, which.
• 5:45
  Speaker 2: Is chaotic, absolutely, And it's intermeing to do because the
• 5:48
  Speaker 2: special blend stand up with what you do in the field.
• 5:52
  Speaker 1: What did you want audiences.
• 5:53
  Speaker 2: To understand about America that you couldn't capture just through
• 5:57
  Speaker 2: field pieces and just would a stand up.
• 5:59
  Speaker 6: Well, I mean, I think when you look at something
• 6:01
  Speaker 6: like this, what piece looks like in America, what it
• 6:04
  Speaker 6: feels like? What is so night We went to Portland,
• 6:08
  Speaker 6: which was supposedly World War two, and if you're watching
• 6:11
  Speaker 6: Fox News, if you're watching the right wing political sphere,
• 6:15
  Speaker 6: all you're seeing is this is a war zone.
• 6:17
  Speaker 5: This is chaos. You never want to visit.
• 6:18
  Speaker 6: We went there on the Naked Bike Ride, which was
• 6:22
  Speaker 6: a comical experience full of people dressed as some people
• 6:26
  Speaker 6: who were naked, some people who were dressed as cartoon characters,
• 6:29
  Speaker 6: all of them going outside an ice facility to protest.
• 6:33
  Speaker 6: What they saw is inhumane treatment. It was comical, it
• 6:36
  Speaker 6: was absurd, And then we saw ice agents shoot pepper
• 6:39
  Speaker 6: balls at these people dressed as cartoon characters. And for me,
• 6:44
  Speaker 6: that's what America feels like right now. It's this absurdity,
• 6:47
  Speaker 6: it's this violence. It's two different worlds clashing into one another.
• 6:51
  Speaker 6: And so that's why we go out and do these
• 6:53
  Speaker 6: field pieces. That's why we go and do these specials.
• 6:55
  Speaker 6: Is it's one thing to sit behind a desk and
• 6:57
  Speaker 6: talk about what you see on camera. That's another thing
• 6:59
  Speaker 6: to it out there and and and see it up close.
• 7:03
  Speaker 8: How do you measure the success of your pieces that
• 7:05
  Speaker 8: you do? Because it's it's comedy, but there's also like
• 7:07
  Speaker 8: a deeper conversation that you want to start, Like, I
• 7:09
  Speaker 8: know you want to ind me for your last one.
• 7:11
  Speaker 7: So is it okay?
• 7:13
  Speaker 6: Got congratulation, thank you, thank you, Emmy wise I I
• 7:17
  Speaker 6: had a couple at home.
• 7:18
  Speaker 5: That's pretty nice, pretty nice.
• 7:20
  Speaker 6: Yeah, And even with all of that, I'm still so
• 7:23
  Speaker 6: nervous about what I wear. You know exactly that you
• 7:25
  Speaker 6: can't you can't get you let me you think so,
• 7:28
  Speaker 6: but you still care. I measure success with clicks that's
• 7:32
  Speaker 6: all that matters, just clicks. Who is watching? How many clicks? Yeah,
• 7:39
  Speaker 6: I'm healthy, I was a supportive snort.
• 7:40
  Speaker 5: I'll take it.
• 7:41
  Speaker 1: That's honest, as.
• 7:43
  Speaker 6: I wish I didn't look at it, and I can't say.
• 7:45
  Speaker 6: I mean, you know what, there's truth in that comedy.
• 7:49
  Speaker 5: I'd like to know. I I what I tried.
• 7:51
  Speaker 6: Our intention in this is to find we're comedians in
• 7:56
  Speaker 6: this crazy, strange role. I came up an improv comedy guy,
• 8:00
  Speaker 6: a comedy dude who suddenly thrust on the Daily Show,
• 8:02
  Speaker 6: and I love it, and then the world sort of explodes,
• 8:05
  Speaker 6: and our job is to find comedy in these chaotic times.
• 8:09
  Speaker 6: And I think using comedy as a way to add
• 8:12
  Speaker 6: context to a moment, and for people who aren't necessarily
• 8:15
  Speaker 6: paying attention and watching Comedy Central at eleven o'clock, who
• 8:17
  Speaker 6: might not be interested in politics, suddenly to be paying
• 8:19
  Speaker 6: attention to the Nobel Peace Prize race and what's happening
• 8:21
  Speaker 6: in Portland. Like that's that's our intention. It's like engage
• 8:25
  Speaker 6: in that conversation. I'm then late at night, when I
• 8:28
  Speaker 6: feel good about my intentions and what I've done, I
• 8:32
  Speaker 6: go on YouTube and I see how many people have
• 8:34
  Speaker 6: watched it and if it's not enough, and I compare
• 8:36
  Speaker 6: to what else is out there that I feel bad
• 8:37
  Speaker 6: about myself. And then I talk to my agent and
• 8:39
  Speaker 6: they're like, well, your contract's gonna be dependent on how
• 8:41
  Speaker 6: successful the show is. And then you watch CNN and
• 8:43
  Speaker 6: it talks about what's happening in the late night sphere,
• 8:45
  Speaker 6: and then you worry about eyeballs and the attention economy,
• 8:47
  Speaker 6: and suddenly you have a breakdown when you come on
• 8:48
  Speaker 6: a show like this and you're wearing something that's not
• 8:50
  Speaker 6: exactly I'm just I can't get out of it, you know,
• 8:52
  Speaker 6: I can't get my head outside of it.
• 8:53
  Speaker 7: I'm so sorry.
• 8:55
  Speaker 1: Just the only way to make special special?
• 8:58
  Speaker 5: Is this the only way to make it special? Specials?
• 9:01
  Speaker 1: For me?
• 9:02
  Speaker 6: Yes, there's something improvisational about it. We knew we were
• 9:07
  Speaker 6: going to do a special three months ago, and the
• 9:10
  Speaker 6: stuff that we do is current, you know. We we
• 9:12
  Speaker 6: were editing it up until yesterday. We were filming up
• 9:15
  Speaker 6: until like a week ago. And for me, I've done
• 9:19
  Speaker 6: specials that take a year. I've worked in the stand
• 9:22
  Speaker 6: up world, and you craft something over the course of
• 9:24
  Speaker 6: years to put that special out. But for the Daily Show,
• 9:27
  Speaker 6: for fingers the pulse. What we do is like, what's
• 9:29
  Speaker 6: the conversation right now? How do we make a larger
• 9:33
  Speaker 6: argument about that conversation, and how do we keep it
• 9:36
  Speaker 6: evolving up until the moment it goes out. So for
• 9:38
  Speaker 6: me that that retains the improv spirit of keeping it,
• 9:42
  Speaker 6: keeping it in the moment.
• 9:43
  Speaker 3: I always wanted, when you go out and you're talking
• 9:46
  Speaker 3: to these people, how does your wife feel like?
• 9:49
  Speaker 4: I know it's a lot to be nervous, yeah, but
• 9:51
  Speaker 4: how is it on her?
• 9:52
  Speaker 6: She she gets a little stressed when we go into
• 9:56
  Speaker 6: some hary situations, Like you know, she knows.
• 10:00
  Speaker 5: Me, trust me.
• 10:01
  Speaker 6: When I bring that argumentative stance back home, she is
• 10:04
  Speaker 6: not as excited. Like it's one thing to see the
• 10:07
  Speaker 6: guy who goes out there and argues about politics on
• 10:09
  Speaker 6: the road, trying to find hypocrisy, But to bring that
• 10:11
  Speaker 6: guy home and in the house is a tough thing
• 10:14
  Speaker 6: for a wife and a loved one.
• 10:15
  Speaker 5: So I feel for her in that position.
• 10:18
  Speaker 6: As of the last few years, though, she is earnestly
• 10:22
  Speaker 6: worried about what happens out there.
• 10:24
  Speaker 5: You know, it's crazy. People are crazy.
• 10:26
  Speaker 6: And I started going out there with no security, and
• 10:29
  Speaker 6: now I go out there with four security guards, and
• 10:32
  Speaker 6: there are threats that take place on the show, on
• 10:35
  Speaker 6: the family, and again when the camera's off, when you're
• 10:39
  Speaker 6: talking to people face to face, people are lovely. People
• 10:42
  Speaker 6: are not as bold and emboldened as they are online.
• 10:46
  Speaker 5: But when you.
• 10:47
  Speaker 6: Step back from that, there's hate, there's anger out there,
• 10:50
  Speaker 6: and she fears for that. You know, we think about that,
• 10:53
  Speaker 6: and I think this last six months, with some of
• 10:55
  Speaker 6: the violent activities that we've all seen, like Late Night,
• 10:58
  Speaker 6: chose people who are public, forward facing and have to
• 11:01
  Speaker 6: sort of reevaluate what that looks like. And it's real
• 11:05
  Speaker 6: and it's scary and you're trying not to think too
• 11:07
  Speaker 6: much about it.
• 11:08
  Speaker 4: What was the incident that made you get for security guards?
• 11:10
  Speaker 3: Because you just don't go from having nobody to all
• 11:12
  Speaker 3: of a sudden four something had to happen.
• 11:14
  Speaker 5: It was I was.
• 11:16
  Speaker 6: I think the big moment for us was right before
• 11:19
  Speaker 6: Trump's when Trump lost his re election campaign in twenty twenty,
• 11:25
  Speaker 6: and to stop the steal campaign, he had a giant
• 11:29
  Speaker 6: event in the Capitol and there were fifty thousand people
• 11:33
  Speaker 6: there and I was interacting with people and the Trump
• 11:38
  Speaker 6: crew had gone from being in power and successful to
• 11:42
  Speaker 6: having lost an election something they couldn't accept at the time,
• 11:45
  Speaker 6: and so they were angry, and I think there was
• 11:46
  Speaker 6: a shift from like, oh, this is playful. We don't
• 11:48
  Speaker 6: like the media, but we will be playful with them.
• 11:51
  Speaker 6: Suddenly I was pushing somebody in an interview and it
• 11:55
  Speaker 6: was getting a little bit contentious, and the people around it,
• 11:58
  Speaker 6: who had nothing to do, eyed on that started to
• 12:02
  Speaker 6: create two to three to ten to fifteen to thirty people,
• 12:06
  Speaker 6: and it became a mob of angry people, and security
• 12:08
  Speaker 6: had to extricate me from the situation and run out,
• 12:12
  Speaker 6: throw me in a van kind of a situation, and
• 12:14
  Speaker 6: they chase me, They chase me, and it's that mob
• 12:16
  Speaker 6: mentality that you saw a month and a half later
• 12:18
  Speaker 6: at January sixth, where it is a bunch of people
• 12:20
  Speaker 6: with nothing to do, emboldened by a president who told
• 12:24
  Speaker 6: him that you're a patriot and that the media is
• 12:26
  Speaker 6: the enemy of all people, and they see that and literally,
• 12:29
  Speaker 6: I don't think a lot of the people who chased
• 12:31
  Speaker 6: me had that intention, but a minute and a half earlier,
• 12:34
  Speaker 6: board people walking around emboldened by a president see something
• 12:38
  Speaker 6: that they can do and their brain turns off and
• 12:40
  Speaker 6: they just chase and so when we encountered with that,
• 12:44
  Speaker 6: it was like, all right, we have to be prepared
• 12:45
  Speaker 6: for this. And quite frankly, when we go to rallies
• 12:48
  Speaker 6: and events, now we have to be tactical about where
• 12:51
  Speaker 6: we are because we're in a space where we can't
• 12:53
  Speaker 6: get out of and that mob again.
• 12:55
  Speaker 4: You do it close to the car.
• 12:56
  Speaker 5: Now now I do it close to the car.
• 12:57
  Speaker 6: We're always comes to the car. And you know what,
• 13:01
  Speaker 6: I'm gonna amend my comment about people. I think person
• 13:04
  Speaker 6: person is easy. People is tough, and that's that was
• 13:06
  Speaker 6: the case on the road. I can talk one on
• 13:08
  Speaker 6: want to that person. When they become people, they start
• 13:11
  Speaker 6: to lose accountability and that's what you can't rationalize with
• 13:15
  Speaker 6: group group think all the way.
• 13:16
  Speaker 1: You have to think about keeping like a Maga hat
• 13:18
  Speaker 1: in your back pocket. Just going on.
• 13:22
  Speaker 6: Yes, I will say our producers have uh specific colored
• 13:26
  Speaker 6: hats and.
• 13:26
  Speaker 5: Apparel to wear so that we blend in really yeah.
• 13:29
  Speaker 1: For sure, like red hat, you mean I say mag
• 13:32
  Speaker 1: red hat.
• 13:33
  Speaker 6: Our producer Ian Berger wears a red hockey hat from
• 13:37
  Speaker 6: some some minor league hockey team in Canada. It's got
• 13:40
  Speaker 6: it's a red hat with like a mustang on it
• 13:42
  Speaker 6: that looks like looks like it's part of the team,
• 13:45
  Speaker 6: because that's what it's tribalism out there, right you walk
• 13:48
  Speaker 6: out there, if you're wearing the red, you're wearing that
• 13:49
  Speaker 6: you're on the team and there are not.
• 13:56
  Speaker 7: Do you feel like it's worth it?
• 13:57
  Speaker 8: Like what you do when putting yourself kind of like
• 13:59
  Speaker 8: in the mix of these people who could have that
• 14:02
  Speaker 8: mentality and having a beef up security and I do.
• 14:05
  Speaker 6: I love engaging with people and I do. For me,
• 14:09
  Speaker 6: what is most effective or interesting about what I do
• 14:14
  Speaker 6: is when like I feel like I'm stressed testing propaganda
• 14:18
  Speaker 6: the stuff that you hear being fed to people on
• 14:21
  Speaker 6: these on all these news shows, like where does it?
• 14:24
  Speaker 6: Where does it actually land with the American public? And
• 14:27
  Speaker 6: if I can go out there and I can find
• 14:29
  Speaker 6: that hypocrisy, if I can, like it's it's most revealing
• 14:33
  Speaker 6: moments I'm having a conversation with somebody on the road
• 14:36
  Speaker 6: who has not had a conversation and thought through their
• 14:39
  Speaker 6: point of view until this very moment, right, like we
• 14:41
  Speaker 6: all just accept these these points of view, these opinions,
• 14:45
  Speaker 6: these certainties that are fed us without like friends and
• 14:49
  Speaker 6: cohorts who push you on it, like we're in these bubbles.
• 14:52
  Speaker 6: A lot of the people I talk to are in
• 14:54
  Speaker 6: media bubbles. They're in friend bubbles, they're in Facebook bubbles.
• 14:56
  Speaker 6: And when I come out here and I ask you,
• 14:58
  Speaker 6: why do you think that thing? They haven't thought through it,
• 15:01
  Speaker 6: And in that moment they have to articulate that my
• 15:05
  Speaker 6: job is to find comedy in it, some context in it,
• 15:07
  Speaker 6: but hopefully there's a little moment of revelation where you
• 15:09
  Speaker 6: see that person be that person again and you see
• 15:12
  Speaker 6: the BS and so yeah, for me, with that and
• 15:15
  Speaker 6: a little bit of health insurance, it feels like it's
• 15:17
  Speaker 6: worth it.
• 15:18
  Speaker 2: So for you, at what point does comedy stop being
• 15:21
  Speaker 2: funny and start becoming like a public.
• 15:23
  Speaker 6: Service and start being a public service? That's a great question.
• 15:28
  Speaker 6: I mean, you know, with The Daily Show, like John
• 15:30
  Speaker 6: always talks, we are a comedy show.
• 15:32
  Speaker 5: That is our bias.
• 15:33
  Speaker 6: And I think that's what is compelling about people when
• 15:35
  Speaker 6: they watch a show like that, they know are biased.
• 15:38
  Speaker 6: All these shows have biased. The Daily Show has a
• 15:40
  Speaker 6: bias towards comedy, calling out the BS where they see it.
• 15:44
  Speaker 6: So we're always approaching it from that. And also, I
• 15:47
  Speaker 6: am not a journalist. I rely on the work of
• 15:50
  Speaker 6: good journalists to tell these stories to get good information,
• 15:53
  Speaker 6: and that we want to keep that clear, and I
• 15:55
  Speaker 6: don't want to get over my skis in doing that.
• 15:58
  Speaker 6: And in some of these situations, comedy has very little
• 16:01
  Speaker 6: space to be and maybe shouldn't be there. So for us,
• 16:04
  Speaker 6: again with this special, we wanted to go to Portland,
• 16:06
  Speaker 6: we wanted to go to Chicago because I've seen images
• 16:09
  Speaker 6: of what's happening with ice raids and they're heartbreaking and
• 16:12
  Speaker 6: they're terrifying. And when you have a microphone and a camera,
• 16:15
  Speaker 6: you're like, how do I point it at these things?
• 16:17
  Speaker 5: And I think are really important to talk about?
• 16:19
  Speaker 6: But also what me going in there making jokes? When
• 16:23
  Speaker 6: is that helping a situation? When is that becoming more
• 16:25
  Speaker 6: activist than more comedian? And how do I like take
• 16:28
  Speaker 6: what I want to say but still add the thing
• 16:31
  Speaker 6: that I can do, which is comedy. Quite literally, for
• 16:34
  Speaker 6: this special, there was a naked bike ride and so
• 16:37
  Speaker 6: for us, we're like, all right, here's a comedic take
• 16:39
  Speaker 6: on what is happening in this chaotic space, So let's
• 16:43
  Speaker 6: use that so we can tell a story. Because at
• 16:45
  Speaker 6: that point, if I'm just getting out there and just
• 16:47
  Speaker 6: becoming an activist on television trying to tell you what
• 16:50
  Speaker 6: I think like, I don't serve a purpose. I'm not
• 16:52
  Speaker 6: speaking a language that I'm most fluent in, and I'm
• 16:55
  Speaker 6: not being effected to an audience space who understands I'm
• 16:58
  Speaker 6: going after comedy and be yes. So I try to
• 17:00
  Speaker 6: keep that as my north star. So the naked bike
• 17:02
  Speaker 6: ride was likenked naked. It was naked, naked and swing.
• 17:05
  Speaker 6: They were all there, my friend, they were all there.
• 17:08
  Speaker 6: We thought nobody would show up ten minutes beforehand. There's
• 17:10
  Speaker 6: like one or two naked dudes there all out. By
• 17:14
  Speaker 6: the end there were hundreds getting on bikes on cold,
• 17:18
  Speaker 6: cold Portland day, humping on these.
• 17:21
  Speaker 1: A lot of shrinkage.
• 17:22
  Speaker 5: There's a lot of shrinkage. I gotta tell you, I.
• 17:24
  Speaker 1: You stop riding bikes too soon. You did.
• 17:29
  Speaker 5: Would would you have gone naked for the cost?
• 17:31
  Speaker 1: But for the costs you would have gone?
• 17:34
  Speaker 3: And I don't want to be behind anybody that rides
• 17:36
  Speaker 3: bike either. That's just a little weird, see it, asshole,
• 17:37
  Speaker 3: It's not my thing.
• 17:38
  Speaker 6: It's it's what's interesting is it's shocking for the first
• 17:41
  Speaker 6: twenty minutes, but when you're around two hundred naked people
• 17:44
  Speaker 6: for an hour or so.
• 17:45
  Speaker 5: You get comfy too.
• 17:47
  Speaker 6: I stripped down to an uncomfortable degree, got on a bike,
• 17:51
  Speaker 6: rode that bike, don't you?
• 17:53
  Speaker 5: Does my assert yes?
• 17:55
  Speaker 6: But I mostly thinking, I mean, the ass doesn't feel good,
• 17:59
  Speaker 6: the ego feels poor.
• 18:01
  Speaker 3: No, no, because the seat is hard. The seat's very hard, right,
• 18:03
  Speaker 3: but usually if you have clothes, it's more padding. So
• 18:05
  Speaker 3: if there's no padding, that's just right up.
• 18:08
  Speaker 6: You're thinking more about what's happening up front, though you're
• 18:11
  Speaker 6: worried about that, how it's being perceived.
• 18:14
  Speaker 4: Because you got you gotta put it on the left
• 18:16
  Speaker 4: for the right.
• 18:16
  Speaker 1: Side of the seat.
• 18:17
  Speaker 6: You choose, You choose, although if if it's I'm talking
• 18:20
  Speaker 6: about the they'm talking about a little bit of everything.
• 18:21
  Speaker 6: Although here's that is a benefit of the cold is
• 18:24
  Speaker 6: you don't necessarily have to choose. If it's cold enough,
• 18:27
  Speaker 6: you there's a recession that takes place with everything, which
• 18:31
  Speaker 6: makes choice irrelevant. You have small piness, is what I'm saying.
• 18:34
  Speaker 6: At that point, we know, Okay, I want to be clear.
• 18:38
  Speaker 6: I'm trying to paint a picture. All stereotypes aren't true. Okay,
• 18:41
  Speaker 6: this is good to know.
• 18:42
  Speaker 5: Let's do.
• 18:45
  Speaker 7: Y'all hug each other at the end, like get through.
• 18:48
  Speaker 5: The process the naked bike ride.
• 18:49
  Speaker 8: Yes, Like what's the celebration at then when you get
• 18:51
  Speaker 8: you I mean, here's the reality of it.
• 18:54
  Speaker 6: So you ride these bikes naked through the streets of
• 18:57
  Speaker 6: Portland with what our editor is described from just watching
• 19:00
  Speaker 6: the footage with a soupy smell.
• 19:06
  Speaker 5: Right, it's sweaty and it's it's human.
• 19:08
  Speaker 6: But you ride through there is Suddenly a downpour takes
• 19:11
  Speaker 6: place in Portland and they ride in front of the
• 19:14
  Speaker 6: ice facility. It's the wildest thing. It's we caught it
• 19:19
  Speaker 6: all on taper like this is It's it's bonkers. Literally
• 19:22
  Speaker 6: coming down a hill, hundreds of naked people honking, a
• 19:26
  Speaker 6: band dressed as bananas playing protest music, and on top
• 19:29
  Speaker 6: of the ice facility is a bunch of guys in
• 19:32
  Speaker 6: ice apparel, wearing a kevlar and holding a paintball gun
• 19:37
  Speaker 6: to shooting pepper bullets into into the crowd. So they're
• 19:41
  Speaker 6: coming down and they're cheering and they're all hugging. I'm
• 19:43
  Speaker 6: not hugging. I'm keeping my space as a respected comedian.
• 19:47
  Speaker 6: They start hugging, shots start to get fired into the group,
• 19:51
  Speaker 6: and then the Ice agents push in and they shove
• 19:53
  Speaker 6: people into the ground, and so it's it literally was
• 19:56
  Speaker 6: like celebration, and all joking aside, like kind of inspiring celebration.
• 20:01
  Speaker 6: We were laughing at how absurd it was, but that
• 20:04
  Speaker 6: was the points.
• 20:04
  Speaker 1: Do you want all this for health coverage?
• 20:06
  Speaker 6: And you fucking believe it in this day and age,
• 20:08
  Speaker 6: you think Obamacare worked more effectively that I wouldn't have
• 20:11
  Speaker 6: to do this, but it's still the case. I'm out
• 20:15
  Speaker 6: there hustling.
• 20:15
  Speaker 1: Do you feel like Donald Trump overlooks the Daily Show? Yes?
• 20:19
  Speaker 6: Yeah, I wonder why, Thank god, thank god. I don't
• 20:22
  Speaker 6: think he has gable. I think that man.
• 20:25
  Speaker 5: I think that man, that man.
• 20:27
  Speaker 6: He's got NBC, he still watches the channels he watched
• 20:31
  Speaker 6: thirty years ago.
• 20:33
  Speaker 5: He watches Fox. He definitely watches Fox.
• 20:34
  Speaker 6: But I don't think he's like the grandparent who's got
• 20:38
  Speaker 6: those few channels, knows how to get through those few
• 20:39
  Speaker 6: channels and doesn't know how to get to the other channels.
• 20:41
  Speaker 6: And so, thank the Lord, he's not paying attention to
• 20:44
  Speaker 6: the Daily Show. He's got his own fish to fry.
• 20:48
  Speaker 2: I wonder, though, with his influence that he clearly had
• 20:50
  Speaker 2: that paramount. Will he you know, maybe flex his muscle
• 20:54
  Speaker 2: behind the scenes.
• 20:56
  Speaker 6: I just don't want him to pay any attention to us. Well,
• 21:01
  Speaker 6: there's different rules with the FCC and cable TV, and
• 21:03
  Speaker 6: so I think that may play into it as well.
• 21:06
  Speaker 6: But that man fixes his eyes on the stuff that's
• 21:09
  Speaker 6: right in front of him at all times, and it's
• 21:11
  Speaker 6: pretty clear the things that he watches and gets angry about.
• 21:14
  Speaker 6: So so as I promote this, I pray to god
• 21:18
  Speaker 6: he's not listening to the Breakfast Club because again, oh,
• 21:23
  Speaker 6: I know he's not been super happy with Charlotte.
• 21:25
  Speaker 1: But that's because I was on Laura Trump showed up.
• 21:27
  Speaker 6: That's what it was, right, Yes, yes, did you did
• 21:30
  Speaker 6: you get blowback from the MAGA circle?
• 21:32
  Speaker 5: Did you have any interaction with people?
• 21:33
  Speaker 1: Oh?
• 21:33
  Speaker 2: You know what's so interesting when I did that conversation
• 21:35
  Speaker 2: with Laura Trump, and my business partner said this to me.
• 21:38
  Speaker 2: He was like, there's a lot of people that are
• 21:41
  Speaker 2: agreeing with the thing that you're saying because I'm not
• 21:43
  Speaker 2: on there talking right or left or even black or white.
• 21:47
  Speaker 2: I'm just talking about affordability and keeping people safe in
• 21:51
  Speaker 2: this country. And I don't feel like he's doing a
• 21:52
  Speaker 2: good job with that. Right now, It's a simple conversation.
• 21:55
  Speaker 2: We often connect over the economy.
• 21:57
  Speaker 6: Yeah, I mean, I think that's it was amazing to
• 21:59
  Speaker 6: see like Zoran in the Oval office and how like, yeah,
• 22:03
  Speaker 6: the economy and affordability that that speaks to the right.
• 22:05
  Speaker 6: If people can get on those spaces and talk about that,
• 22:08
  Speaker 6: I think there's an effective lane for a lot of
• 22:10
  Speaker 6: those Fox viewers or what have you who are in
• 22:12
  Speaker 6: that bubble to be like, oh no, this is a
• 22:14
  Speaker 6: conversation that's happening across party lines.
• 22:15
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 22:16
  Speaker 2: I love people like you joined because you actually be
• 22:18
  Speaker 2: out in the field talking to people. When you're out
• 22:20
  Speaker 2: in the field from your vantage point. Does America feel
• 22:23
  Speaker 2: more divided? Are just more recorded?
• 22:30
  Speaker 6: Can I say both? We are more divided. We are
• 22:33
  Speaker 6: one hundred percent more divided. We are pushed to that space.
• 22:37
  Speaker 6: But like I said, it's the recording of the divisiveness
• 22:41
  Speaker 6: that that takes away our autonomy of thought. I think
• 22:47
  Speaker 6: you can break through, but people are angry, and there
• 22:50
  Speaker 6: are less people who are excited about the MAGA machine
• 22:53
  Speaker 6: than there ever were beforehand. There were less people excited
• 22:55
  Speaker 6: about the democratic machine than there ever were beforehand. I
• 22:58
  Speaker 6: think that's what happened in this last election, and so
• 23:00
  Speaker 6: you go out there now and yeah, people are. People
• 23:03
  Speaker 6: are pissed off, they're angry, and they're more certain than
• 23:06
  Speaker 6: they've ever been because there's recording devices on them. But
• 23:09
  Speaker 6: they's still a glimmer of hope of like they want
• 23:11
  Speaker 6: to talk about affordability. I went to Mississippi and I
• 23:15
  Speaker 6: talked to a bunch of MAUGA supporters. What was curious
• 23:19
  Speaker 6: is they're all afraid of places like Portland and Chicago
• 23:22
  Speaker 6: because of what the magospher has told them about these
• 23:25
  Speaker 6: big cities.
• 23:25
  Speaker 5: Afraid of all big cities.
• 23:27
  Speaker 6: And the older people were afraid of Antifa because that's
• 23:30
  Speaker 6: the narrative that Trump pushes. The younger people every time
• 23:32
  Speaker 6: I ask them about things like Antifa, no interest, didn't
• 23:35
  Speaker 6: care and realize in that moment, you're like, oh, some
• 23:39
  Speaker 6: of these narratives that are being ginned up to be
• 23:41
  Speaker 6: divisive and push people apart. The boogeyman, the Antifa boogeyman.
• 23:45
  Speaker 6: The old people buy in hook line and sinker and
• 23:48
  Speaker 6: they love it, and they're afraid and they're changing the
• 23:50
  Speaker 6: way they think because of that. The young people are
• 23:52
  Speaker 6: too smart for that shit, and they don't they they're
• 23:54
  Speaker 6: not as deep in as some of these other folks
• 23:57
  Speaker 6: who are in it to win it. And so I
• 23:58
  Speaker 6: see those moments I have I have optimism. We're like, oh,
• 24:01
  Speaker 6: these kids, these kids are easily swaying, but are not
• 24:06
  Speaker 6: But are not I haven't been watching the show for
• 24:08
  Speaker 6: twenty years. Like like the old folks were making some
• 24:11
  Speaker 6: of these decisions, this younger generation is just tuning in.
• 24:13
  Speaker 6: They're not buying some of these these boogeymen that the
• 24:17
  Speaker 6: Trump administration is putting out, and there's there is a
• 24:20
  Speaker 6: space to have conversation with those folks about things that
• 24:22
  Speaker 6: they care about. Maybe we see that in the midterms,
• 24:24
  Speaker 6: maybe we see that in the next year, but not
• 24:26
  Speaker 6: everybody's completely all in on that Trump train.
• 24:28
  Speaker 1: So that's a that's a great point.
• 24:30
  Speaker 2: What's scarier to union people who believe these wild conspiracy
• 24:34
  Speaker 2: theories that are people who knowingly.
• 24:35
  Speaker 6: Weaponize with the people who knowingly weaponize, though, I think
• 24:38
  Speaker 6: it's the people who wield it. I think that's where
• 24:40
  Speaker 6: there's like no moral core where you know, you it's
• 24:46
  Speaker 6: one thing to be afraid of stuff and then out
• 24:47
  Speaker 6: of self preservation, which hey, that's that's how most of
• 24:50
  Speaker 6: us move through life. What is the next thing I
• 24:52
  Speaker 6: need to do to pay my rent, to have health
• 24:54
  Speaker 6: insurance for my kids, to to keep food on the table.
• 24:58
  Speaker 6: What do I need to do? Are a way I
• 25:00
  Speaker 6: can believe the things I need to believe to sustain that.
• 25:03
  Speaker 6: I get that, I empathize with that. That makes you human.
• 25:06
  Speaker 6: It's the people who know better. Those are the folks
• 25:09
  Speaker 6: that are real scary here. And I wish our elected
• 25:13
  Speaker 6: officials would stand up and be the people who know better.
• 25:16
  Speaker 6: But you know, I've been around long enough not to
• 25:18
  Speaker 6: have that faith in those institutions anymore. Yeah, hope, you
• 25:24
  Speaker 6: hope a little bit some of that that morality we
• 25:26
  Speaker 6: always talked about in schools and the Declaration Independence talks about.
• 25:29
  Speaker 6: You hope that sort of makes its way back into
• 25:32
  Speaker 6: political discourse again. Yeah, that's a pretty good one, I
• 25:35
  Speaker 6: gotta tell you. And hearing all this religious talk on
• 25:38
  Speaker 6: the right too, it's like, Yeah, there's a lot of
• 25:39
  Speaker 6: good ideals there that you wish we believed in, and
• 25:43
  Speaker 6: I think a lot of people do. There's just more
• 25:45
  Speaker 6: focus on putting food on the table to actually engage
• 25:48
  Speaker 6: in that larger conversation.
• 25:49
  Speaker 1: So do you think Donald Trump should get an know
• 25:51
  Speaker 1: about these.
• 25:51
  Speaker 5: Price give that man?
• 25:52
  Speaker 6: A prize one hundred percent, not just any prize, Okay,
• 25:58
  Speaker 6: fair enough, No, I do not. I think he's deserving
• 26:00
  Speaker 6: of the Nobel Peace Prize. What we were what we
• 26:02
  Speaker 6: did discover though we went to Norway and talked to
• 26:05
  Speaker 6: somebody who's on the Nobel Peace Prize committee. You don't
• 26:08
  Speaker 6: have to be perfect to win a Nobel Peace Prize.
• 26:10
  Speaker 6: And in sometimes they've given peace prizes two people as
• 26:15
  Speaker 6: somewhat of a carrot to get to something good. I
• 26:18
  Speaker 6: think what's curious about Donald Trump is that man wants
• 26:20
  Speaker 6: a peace prize more than anybody else, and if he
• 26:22
  Speaker 6: can find peace on this planet in some way to
• 26:25
  Speaker 6: work towards it, like dangle that carrot like a big
• 26:28
  Speaker 6: mac in front of Donald Trump so that he chases
• 26:30
  Speaker 6: it in some sort of way. Like I I have
• 26:32
  Speaker 6: no problem using the Peace Prize as a political tool
• 26:35
  Speaker 6: to try to do good in the world. So maybe
• 26:37
  Speaker 6: if that, if that made him made him save some
• 26:40
  Speaker 6: lives anywhere, stop bombing boats off the coast of Venezuela
• 26:43
  Speaker 6: and give them in the Peace Prize.
• 26:45
  Speaker 7: That's gonna be the one piece that makes the lean
• 26:46
  Speaker 7: in and listen to you.
• 26:47
  Speaker 1: There you go, so no, you don't want.
• 26:49
  Speaker 5: That, You said, shoot, you're right, complicated him.
• 26:52
  Speaker 2: Jordan Klepper of The Daily Show said, Trump deserves there.
• 26:57
  Speaker 5: You go use it, use it.
• 27:00
  Speaker 3: You know, I need to get him chasing a big
• 27:01
  Speaker 3: man a long naked bike ride.
• 27:03
  Speaker 7: This was the revelation.
• 27:05
  Speaker 4: So what do you want people to get out of
• 27:06
  Speaker 4: this special that comes out next Monday?
• 27:08
  Speaker 6: Get out of the special man. That piece is hard,
• 27:12
  Speaker 6: but you don't need to be perfect to achieve it.
• 27:14
  Speaker 6: And then America in twenty twenty five looks like naked
• 27:18
  Speaker 6: people riding for a cause being shot by Ice agents.
• 27:23
  Speaker 6: It smells like soup, man, it smells like soup, cheap soup.
• 27:27
  Speaker 1: So what gives you hope about America? Right now?
• 27:31
  Speaker 5: You want me to find hope in all of this.
• 27:33
  Speaker 6: You know what what gives me hope about America is
• 27:35
  Speaker 6: a naked guy protesting out front of an ICE facility,
• 27:38
  Speaker 6: like you're wondering if people have tuned out.
• 27:40
  Speaker 5: Apathy.
• 27:41
  Speaker 6: That's what That's what the right, that's what the far
• 27:43
  Speaker 6: right wants. They want apathy. They don't want you to
• 27:45
  Speaker 6: care if you show up with your balls out, your
• 27:49
  Speaker 6: tits out in a rainy Portland day to like go
• 27:52
  Speaker 6: outside of an ice facility and be like, I don't
• 27:55
  Speaker 6: want them to use my image to be painted as
• 27:56
  Speaker 6: a bad guy, so much so that I'm willing to
• 27:59
  Speaker 6: be naked in front of all these folks to look
• 28:01
  Speaker 6: like a fool because I think what's happening inside is inhumane.
• 28:04
  Speaker 6: Like that that is helpful to me.
• 28:06
  Speaker 1: Let you not say literally, Jordan Clip.
• 28:09
  Speaker 3: Ladies and gentlemen, definitely check out the special and next
• 28:11
  Speaker 3: Monday on Comedy Central, and thank you for joining us.
• 28:13
  Speaker 1: Thanks did he make you laugh? Floren?
• 28:15
  Speaker 7: He did?
• 28:15
  Speaker 1: Okay?
• 28:16
  Speaker 6: Yes?
• 28:17
  Speaker 4: The Breakfast Club, good morning, Wake that ass up in
• 28:21
  Speaker 4: the morning.
• 28:22
  Speaker 1: The Breakfast Club