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You're listening to Comedy Central.
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From the most trusted journalists at Comedy Central, it's America's
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only source for news. This is The Daily Show with your.
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Host, Jordan Klepper.
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Thank you.
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Welcome to The Daily Show. I'm George Klepper.
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Got so much to talk about tonight. Vladimir Putin somehow
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wins re-election. New Yorkers are getting paid to snitch. And
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we find out if Donald Trump is good at sex.
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He's not. So, let's get into headlines.
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Let's kick things off with last night's Met Gala. Now
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the magical night when the world's most fashionable cultural icons
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try to figure out how the they're gonna fit their
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spiky headdress into an Uber pool.
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On fashion's biggest night, garden-inspired looks on full display, right
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in bloom with this year's dress code, the Garden of Time.
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Fans tried to figure out which star was fully covered,
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head to toe, in a floor-length beige umbrella.
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Now this is water singer Tyla. So many people talking
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about this. She had to be carried up the stairs
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of the Met. The dress, which was made of sand,
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was simply too heavy. Okay. Okay.
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A dress made of sand is super impressive.
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Who are you wearing? Coney Island. Thank you very much.
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I like how she had four people carry her up
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the stairs. I bet Joe Biden saw that and turned
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to the Secret Service like, let's just do.
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That from now on.
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But the true glam heads weren't paying attention to the
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Met Gala because the real action last night was in Moscow,
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where Vladimir Putin held an opulent inauguration that just screamed,
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definitely not a dictator for life.
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We continue to watch live pictures from Moscow, where Vladimir
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Putin begins his fifth term as Russian president. The strongman
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has already been in office for nearly a quarter century.
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Putin's new term doesn't end until 2030, and at that point,
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he'll be eligible to run for another six years if
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he wants. It's been a lavish and opulent ceremony there
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in Moscow.
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Come on, Vlad. You can't show up to all this
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in a suit. Come on. They got the wizards and
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the golden walls. You're walking in like you're late from
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the office, man. How do you think Merlin over here feels, huh?
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He's like, I went full Hogwarts over here and now
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I feel like a f * * * ing dick, Vlad.
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You act like you don't even want to be here,
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but this is your whole thing. I mean, I'm not
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criticizing you. You're the one with the poison, but.
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Still, we could have done this over Zoom.
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Let's move on to America's Vladimir Putin, Donald Trump. It's
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now week four of the Trump trial, and boy, time
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flies when you're constantly falling asleep in court, doesn't it?
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But I can guarantee you Trump didn't nap during today's testimony,
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which brings us to our latest installment of America's Most
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Tremendously Wanted.
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The whole thing is a scam.
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Today was the biggest day yet in the trial of
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Donald Trump because today, Stormy Daniels herself took the stand.
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And you could tell from the start that the coverage
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was going to be delicate.
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Right now in the courtroom, our reporters in there are
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sending us notes, updates every second that they can.
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And Mr.
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Trump's defense attorney, Susan Nichols, is there. saying, quote, we're
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informed the second witness today will be Stormy Daniels. We
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want to renew our objection to her testifying particularly about
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any details of any sexual acts.
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That is Mr. Trump's attorney.
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The prosecutor's is also saying, quote, in terms of the
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sexual act, it will be very basic.
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I can't believe I have to read this on television.
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It's not going to involve any descriptions. Better you than me,
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Jake Tapper.
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It's not going to involve any descriptions of anything.
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Just read it. Oh, come on, Jake Tapper and Dana Bash.
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Acting like you're too good for this. Like you've never
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seen genitalia before, all right? You're very prudish for people
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whose names sound like porn names. Jake Tapper and Dana
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Bash in State of the Union.
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Yeah!
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Oh!
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They're going to smear conish all over your wolf blitzer,
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you know? Now....
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Now, the crux of this case is that Trump allegedly
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paid Stormy Daniels hush money to cover up their affair
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just before the 2016 election. And today, Stormy Daniels told
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us exactly what all that money was hushing, starting from
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the very beginning of the night Donald Trump invited her
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for dinner in his hotel room.
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Daniels testified that when she first entered Trump's hotel suite,
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he greeted her wearing silk pajamas. She says she joked
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that he stole Hugh Hefner's pajamas and asked him to change,
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which he did. According to Daniels, when she asked Trump
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about his wife, he admitted that he and Melania sleep
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in separate beds. After speaking with Trump for a while,
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Daniels told Trump he was rude and didn't know how
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to have a conversation. Someone should spank you with that magazine,
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she told him. She says Trump then rolled up the
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magazine and, quote, gave me a look. So she took
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it from him, told him to turn around, and swatted
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him on the butt.
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That poor, poor magazine. Hasn't print media suffered enough?
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Fuck. Spanking, silk pajamas, separate beds.
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These revelations are so uncomfortably personal that even Drake is like, ooh,
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sucks to be that guy.
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But if that stuff made you uncomfortable, hold up. It
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gets worse.
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Daniels testified that at one point prior to them having sex,
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Trump told her she reminded him of his daughter, Ivanka,
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saying they were both smart, blonde, beautiful women who people underestimated.
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Hashtag girl dad.
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Look.
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I know it's old news to us that Donald Trump
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wants to smear Kanishk's daughter, but remember, the court worked
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hard to find an unbiased jury, which means there's at
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least one person on there who was in a coma
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for the last 10 years. And I bet that guy
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is losing his mind today.
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Are you hearing this? Are you hearing this? That's the
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president and his daughter and a porn star. Oh, wait
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till my friend Prince hears about this. You know what?
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Maybe the actually damning part of all of this is
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how Trump got Stormy to have sex with him. According
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to Daniels, he suggested that she could be on The Apprentice. Later,
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he stripped his underwear and told her, quote, this is
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the only way you're getting out of the trailer park.
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Yikes.
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So Trump isn't just a bad lover who thinks talking
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about his daughter is an acceptable form of foreplay. He's
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a creep who dangles career advancement over women to get
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them to have sex with him because Lord knows they're
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not in it for the two minutes of thrusting.
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Personally, I find it disappointing.
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I mean, who would have thought a man found liable
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for sexual assault could coerce a.
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Woman into sex?
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I mean, honestly, it's like you can't even.
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Trust sex offenders these days.
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For more on today's testimony, let's go live to the
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courthouse with our own Troy Iwata.
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Troy!
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Troy.
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What's the mood down at the courthouse today?
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I would say the mood is uncomfy. Like, I was
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so perturbed, I made myself feel better by remembering that
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time I watched Salt Burn with my parents.
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That's how bad it was today. But I gotta tell you, it's.
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Pretty brutal hearing someone's dumb, horny man moves read aloud
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in the cold light of a courtroom.
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I'm sorry, dumb, horny man moves?
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You know, the things that you say and do right
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before you have sex with someone for the first time?
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The sexy stuff that you do in the moment that
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no one should ever rehash. The faces and phrases like,
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your lips look like two big worms.
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Oh, okay, well, I mean, some people's man moves are
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pretty solid, I bet.
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Okay, you keep telling yourself that, big guy. Like, what's
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your go-to move when you get to the bedroom?
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Well, I don't know if this is the time or
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the place. One time, uh.
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One time I said, all righty then. Just like Ace Ventura.
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But it was a good reference because we had both
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just seen Ace Ventura. I mean, she hadn't, but I
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had explained the movie to her, and it was kind
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of a sexy moment for both of us. Oh.
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Cool. Troy, what's your point? That testifying about.
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People's man moves should have no place in the legal system?
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No, no. I think the opposite. I think every trial
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should have it.
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Imagine if every time you committed a crime, the prosecutors
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could put your ex on the stand and describe your
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most mediocre hookup in grave detail. And then a stenographer
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in a cardigan.
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Wrote it all down.
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And then Jake Tapper broadcasted on national television.
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Yeah, frankly, okay. I see you. That is a clear point.
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I mean, you put it that way, I would be
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the most law-abiding citizen in history.
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Exactly, yeah.
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Right now, I'm about 50-50 on committing crimes. Like, I
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can see myself counterfeiting stamps. But if it meant I'd
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have to sit through a retelling of how one night
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I got on all fours and I said, tell me
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you're proud of me. I wouldn't even get a parking ticket. I...
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I wouldn't even own a car. This might be the
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greatest crime deterrent in history.
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So you're saying we should just air all of Trump's
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dirty details in an attempt to lower crime rates?
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No, Jordan, I am asking you to tell me you're
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proud of me.
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Alrighty then. Troy, you won, everybody.
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When we come back, we'll find out how to make
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money by snitching.
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Don't go away. Welcome back to The Daily Show. There
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are a.
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Lot of annoying problems with living in New York City,
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but Desi Lydic found some heroes who are trying to
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solve one of them.
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Take a look.
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In New York, you've got to have a side hustle,
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whether it's being a naked cowgirl or being an older
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naked cowgirl. But I recently learned about a new hustle
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that's actually helping the planet.
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The way to make some easy money, get some video
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of a trucker idling in New York City. There are
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hefty fines for dirtying the air, and so-called idle warriors
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get a share.
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To learn more, I met up with the Idle Warriors.
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a group of citizen vigilantes who are cashing in on
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this green gig. They say idle hands are the devil's workshop.
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What made you decide to use your idle hands to...
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Stop idling.
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Over 7 million people die every year on this planet
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due to air pollution.
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And we can change this if we just turned our
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engines off.
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The anti-idling law was created in 1971 by the city
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of New York, but it wasn't being enforced at all.
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So it's kind of like when white people do drugs.
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I thought that if citizens got an opportunity, they would
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do it.
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As an environmental attorney, Samara Swanston wrote a law allowing
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any NARC Yorker to report an idling vehicle and collect
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25% of the city fine. That's almost $ 88 a pop.
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But what if I don't want a Karen on my
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Amazon driver?
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The companies are the ones who pay the fine.
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The drivers themselves do not pay the fine. It's the
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owner of the commercial vehicle.
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So you're actually snitching on the companies.
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What we're actually doing is holding big companies like Amazon,
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Con Ed, and Verizon accountable.
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For polluting our air and literally killing people in New York.
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That is so cool.
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See, in elementary school, I was always known as a tattletale,
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but now I'm saying that that was just good training
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to be an environmentalist. Okay, so we're taking down the man,
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not my actual mailman. Clearly, this isn't about the money,
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but we're all friends here. How much do you make?
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I know gentlemen that have made over $ 100, 000 a year.
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What? Wow.
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I'm not a mathematician, but if I take the sum
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of my credit card debt, add it to the cost
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of being a woman in America, multiply by 84% of
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what a man makes, and subtract the earnings from reporting
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on a dozen idling vehicles, I'm rich. How many people
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know about this? Am I getting in on the ground floor,
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or is this like Bitcoin, where I'm going to have
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to cut my losses by selling my beanie babies?
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It's only about maybe 20 to 30 of us who
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are submitting the bulk of the complaints.
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I think we should just keep it between us.
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It's like an orgy.
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You don't want to advertise it to everybody.
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You want a small, dedicated group, and hopefully Jake Gyllenhaal.
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Well, with an orgy, you would think the more the merrier,
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and we hope that everybody participates.
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Our ultimate goal is for idling to end. The best
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payment we can get is clean air.
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Money.
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Clean air, actually.
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And clean air.
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There's so much idling going on that as long as
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you're in the right place, you can really get one
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after another.
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Let's snitch.
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We are a group of vigilant New Yorkers looking out
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for the best interests of our neighbors.
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I wrote this bill because I wanted to see a
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change in the future.
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I have a Nordstrom credit card that hasn't been paid
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off in seven years. Are they even in business anymore?
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What do I do? I'm ready to make some money.
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A difference.
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Make a difference.
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You have to keep your ears tuned to the sound
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of engines. Listening ears, on.
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Listening ears, yep.
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Then you use your iPhone to capture the headquarters address
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and the license plate.
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See these blinking lights here on this truck van? Yes.
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That's a good signal that they're idling.
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So when I see these blinking lights, I hear.
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It's a good opportunity to be just like that.
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And then how long do we do this for?
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Three minutes and ten seconds. Yeah, it's a long period
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of time, but it's okay.
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I gotta do this for three minutes?
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If you wanna get paid, you have to do it right.
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Turns out activism is really boring and dehydrating.
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I'm just gonna pop in for a quick Marg.
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00:15:33.429 --> 00:15:33.789
You want a Marg?
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00:15:33.809 --> 00:15:36.509
Yeah, that's fine. Confronting truckers takes balls.
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00:15:36.929 --> 00:15:39.509
Luckily, George and I have those balls.
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I'm gonna go and tell that driver that he's breaking
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the law. George?
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Yes.
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I just want you to know.
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Yes.
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00:15:46.279 --> 00:15:47.279
I'm right here with you.
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I am right behind you.
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I got your back.
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Thank you.
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00:15:50.580 --> 00:15:51.279
Do you know why?
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Why?
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Because we're partners for life. Love it.
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00:15:53.899 --> 00:15:54.919
I'm right behind you.
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00:15:55.080 --> 00:15:56.759
Can we shut the engine off so you're compliant with
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the law? I'm not with him.
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What a great team.
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00:16:00.850 --> 00:16:02.450
So you think you've learned enough to go out on
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00:16:02.490 --> 00:16:05.309
your own? Oh, totally.
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00:16:05.389 --> 00:16:05.990
All right.
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00:16:06.389 --> 00:16:09.080
I'm going to welcome you to become an idol warrior. George,
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you can count on me.
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00:16:13.039 --> 00:16:15.250
After a full day of saving the Earth, it was
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time to celebrate with my fellow warriors. This rounds on me.
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Cheers!
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00:16:20.350 --> 00:16:23.230
To the real superheroes protecting this planet.
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00:16:25.210 --> 00:16:25.549
Woo!
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00:16:26.590 --> 00:16:27.450
So when do we get paid?
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00:16:27.470 --> 00:16:32.190
It takes about two years. Okay, I'm out.
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00:16:34.470 --> 00:16:34.929
Thank you, Desi.
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00:16:34.950 --> 00:16:37.789
When we come back, novelist Lexi Freeman will be joining
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me on the show.
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Don't go away. Welcome back to The Daily Show. My
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00:17:00.029 --> 00:17:00.970
guest tonight is an.
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00:17:01.250 --> 00:17:03.929
Author whose latest book is The Book of Ein.
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Please welcome Lexi Freeman.
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Welcome.
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Lexi, welcome.
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00:17:17.680 --> 00:17:18.000
Thank you.
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00:17:18.099 --> 00:17:25.059
Thank you so much. Lexi. LEXI LAWSON- Yes? I love
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this book. LEXI LAWSON- Thank you. This book is so
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funny and searing.
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LEXI LAWSON- Searing, yeah.
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Do you like searing? Yeah. LEXI LAWSON- I love searing.
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You love searing? LEXI LAWSON- All authors like searing.
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00:17:34.220 --> 00:17:36.660
Yeah, you want a searing novel. It gets into the shit.
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00:17:36.700 --> 00:17:38.180
It makes fun of a little bit of everything. It
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reveals something about yourself. I mean, it revealed nothing about me.
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I don't see myself in any kind of literature. But
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I love this book. This book starts, it follows somebody
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who gets canceled.
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Yes.
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00:17:50.799 --> 00:17:53.680
And then one of her first moves is she finds
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the writings of Ayn Rand.
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00:17:56.039 --> 00:17:56.279
Yes.
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00:17:56.680 --> 00:18:00.809
And you describe her initial thoughts about Ayn Rand as
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the character says, Anna, the main character says, I had
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always considered her the gateway drug for bad husbands to
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00:18:07.269 --> 00:18:09.549
quit their jobs and start online stock trading.
354
00:18:12.289 --> 00:18:14.069
Yeah, yeah, true.
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00:18:14.930 --> 00:18:17.509
What is compelling about Ayn Rand for you in starting
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00:18:17.529 --> 00:18:18.190
a novel like this?
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00:18:18.490 --> 00:18:23.410
I mean, to me, she was basically the worst person
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00:18:23.470 --> 00:18:26.990
I could write a book about, which really appealed to me.
359
00:18:27.690 --> 00:18:34.170
She's so contentious within the culture. But I had recently
360
00:18:34.210 --> 00:18:37.079
watched a documentary about her when I started thinking about this.
361
00:18:37.660 --> 00:18:41.220
And to be honest, I mean, her ideas are provocative
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00:18:41.519 --> 00:18:45.240
and difficult, but she also just had like a crazy
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00:18:45.319 --> 00:18:49.140
sex life, which I found, you know, she was essentially
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00:18:49.160 --> 00:18:52.769
in an open relationship at the end of her, you know,
365
00:18:52.809 --> 00:18:55.589
in her sixties, she was having an affair with like
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00:18:55.630 --> 00:18:59.289
a man 25 years younger than her. So like Ayn
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00:18:59.329 --> 00:19:02.990
Rand was basically a polyamorous, like she had a polycule,
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00:19:03.720 --> 00:19:06.700
which I think people sort of like don't know about her.
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00:19:07.599 --> 00:19:09.779
And it kind of destroyed her in the end. She
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00:19:09.839 --> 00:19:12.420
ended up sort of like having a nervous breakdown when
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he was cheating on her. It kind of undermined her
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00:19:16.140 --> 00:19:18.359
whole philosophy of selfishness in a way.
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00:19:18.420 --> 00:19:19.089
Yeah.
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00:19:19.329 --> 00:19:23.549
And I found that incredibly interesting and funny.
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00:19:24.269 --> 00:19:25.789
She's just funny. She's funny.
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If there's one thing that's going to take Ayn Rand down,
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00:19:27.549 --> 00:19:29.069
who thought it was going to be polyamory?
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00:19:29.150 --> 00:19:30.109
It was polyamory.
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It was polyamory that did it in the end, which
380
00:19:32.210 --> 00:19:33.549
I just find delicious.
381
00:19:34.009 --> 00:19:36.190
I think it's... I think your book.
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00:19:37.069 --> 00:19:39.599
sort of looks at what it means to be selfish.
383
00:19:39.819 --> 00:19:43.019
It sort of examines narcissism. Like, what to you is
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00:19:43.079 --> 00:19:46.200
interesting about the idea of narcissism? And if you can,
385
00:19:46.240 --> 00:19:46.789
make it about me.
386
00:19:49.329 --> 00:19:49.970
Well, yes, exactly.
387
00:19:50.440 --> 00:19:52.960
I mean, you know, I'm not the first person to
388
00:19:53.039 --> 00:19:58.440
say this, but the culture is pretty narcissistic. And so,
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00:19:58.980 --> 00:20:01.869
you know, wanting to write a satire about the culture,
390
00:20:01.930 --> 00:20:03.769
you know, you want to write something that's going to
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00:20:03.829 --> 00:20:07.789
speak to all sides. And I kind of felt like
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00:20:08.029 --> 00:20:12.369
narcissism is also something that speaks to the nature of
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00:20:12.410 --> 00:20:16.019
the artist, which this book is about, someone who's grappling
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00:20:16.059 --> 00:20:19.839
with this idea of selfishness and wanting to be the
395
00:20:19.900 --> 00:20:22.319
best and wanting to be interesting and special and have
396
00:20:22.700 --> 00:20:25.970
contrarian opinions. But then there's also this desire to be
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00:20:26.009 --> 00:20:28.950
empathetic and to do good in the world. And it's
398
00:20:28.990 --> 00:20:34.859
the kind of the conflict between selfishness and altruism that
399
00:20:34.960 --> 00:20:38.400
is Ayn Rand's whole philosophy that I feel is kind
400
00:20:38.420 --> 00:20:42.119
of distilled in the artistic side temperament in the artist's
401
00:20:42.200 --> 00:20:45.869
personality that feels like this really interesting kind of paradox
402
00:20:45.930 --> 00:20:50.549
to me. And narcissism plays into that really beautifully and
403
00:20:50.950 --> 00:20:52.089
is also funny.
404
00:20:52.190 --> 00:20:56.130
It starts to unpack this idea of cancel culture.
405
00:20:56.930 --> 00:20:58.769
How do you see that? Is there an upside to
406
00:20:58.809 --> 00:20:59.190
cancel culture?
407
00:20:59.210 --> 00:20:59.809
To cancel culture?
408
00:21:00.849 --> 00:21:02.190
I mean, yes.
409
00:21:02.390 --> 00:21:06.920
Sure, there's, you know, things... It moves the needle. There's
410
00:21:06.980 --> 00:21:09.819
cultural change in a way that can be good. And
411
00:21:09.859 --> 00:21:12.990
then there's also just, you know... I had a conversation
412
00:21:13.049 --> 00:21:17.549
about this with a cancelled person and the conversation went
413
00:21:17.569 --> 00:21:21.210
in the sort of direction of, you know... what being
414
00:21:21.269 --> 00:21:24.599
canceled kind of affords you the opportunity to do is
415
00:21:24.680 --> 00:21:27.940
to kind of kill your ego and not give a
416
00:21:28.039 --> 00:21:31.339
shit anymore about like what people think. And cause the
417
00:21:31.400 --> 00:21:34.750
ego is all about reputation and trying to succeed and,
418
00:21:35.380 --> 00:21:38.650
And when that's not a possibility for you anymore, then
419
00:21:38.670 --> 00:21:41.829
you get to pursue enlightenment, which I think is the
420
00:21:41.869 --> 00:21:43.529
other thing we could all be doing with our lives
421
00:21:44.109 --> 00:21:44.690
if we wanted to.
422
00:21:44.690 --> 00:21:46.309
So are you saying in order for me to get enlightened,
423
00:21:46.329 --> 00:21:49.099
I have to first get canceled? Is that what I
424
00:21:49.119 --> 00:21:50.200
need to do tonight?
425
00:21:50.460 --> 00:21:53.220
Maybe, yeah.
426
00:21:53.299 --> 00:21:54.980
I'm going to hold on to that ego just a
427
00:21:55.000 --> 00:21:55.799
little bit longer. Yeah.
428
00:21:56.039 --> 00:21:58.660
I think enlightenment is good for, you know, as you
429
00:21:58.680 --> 00:22:01.009
get older and, you know, we are all supposed to
430
00:22:01.049 --> 00:22:04.950
be sort of shedding our egos and not caring about
431
00:22:04.990 --> 00:22:07.849
these things that preoccupy us in our youth. So I
432
00:22:07.890 --> 00:22:10.029
feel like getting enlightened is something you can put off
433
00:22:10.109 --> 00:22:13.809
for time, you know, retirement slash enlightenment. And that seems
434
00:22:13.849 --> 00:22:14.470
like a good thing.
435
00:22:14.490 --> 00:22:18.789
Yeah, working at Walmart, go work at enlightenment, right? That's
436
00:22:18.809 --> 00:22:19.589
the time.
437
00:22:19.619 --> 00:22:21.839
Yeah. Now, this is a satire.
438
00:22:21.880 --> 00:22:26.019
I think it's I think it's fascinating how you're so
439
00:22:26.059 --> 00:22:28.759
specific in this book, and you're able to satirize the
440
00:22:28.799 --> 00:22:31.690
left and the right as you move this character through
441
00:22:31.730 --> 00:22:35.750
these spaces. I guess I'm curious. I always view satire
442
00:22:35.789 --> 00:22:38.329
in The Daily Show. We dabble in it here and there.
443
00:22:39.430 --> 00:22:41.490
But more often than me, it seems like satire is
444
00:22:41.529 --> 00:22:43.609
a broadsword. It's rarely a.
445
00:22:45.779 --> 00:22:48.480
Scalpel. It seems as if you find complexity in it.
446
00:22:48.480 --> 00:22:50.000
How do you find complexity in satire?
447
00:22:50.990 --> 00:22:53.200
I think you just have to be really specific. You
448
00:22:53.240 --> 00:22:56.960
have to be really generous. Like the reader is smart.
449
00:22:57.480 --> 00:23:02.839
You can't try to trick them with easy kind of
450
00:23:03.039 --> 00:23:04.019
ideas and jokes.
451
00:23:04.839 --> 00:23:08.599
You can. I mean, sometimes it can be very rewarding.
452
00:23:08.900 --> 00:23:09.200
Yes.
453
00:23:09.720 --> 00:23:11.039
And a lot of people will fall for it.
454
00:23:11.059 --> 00:23:13.220
But if you want to kind of if you want
455
00:23:13.259 --> 00:23:15.279
the reader to really come on side with you, and
456
00:23:15.319 --> 00:23:19.220
especially with your most transgressive material, then you've got to
457
00:23:19.599 --> 00:23:22.079
really not take them for granted. And you've really, I
458
00:23:22.420 --> 00:23:25.019
edit the crap out of my books. I go in there,
459
00:23:25.099 --> 00:23:27.180
I try to see it from all different sides, and
460
00:23:27.220 --> 00:23:30.920
I really try to get as specific as possible, you know,
461
00:23:31.019 --> 00:23:34.849
so that the reader feels like I respect their intelligence.
462
00:23:35.150 --> 00:23:39.009
And I, you know, I'm thinking of the thing they
463
00:23:39.069 --> 00:23:42.609
might argue back with me about. And I get specific,
464
00:23:42.670 --> 00:23:45.329
you know, there's a scene in the book, a sex scene, where...
465
00:23:46.470 --> 00:23:49.640
the character is pretending to do the locker room scene
466
00:23:49.680 --> 00:23:50.819
from Jerry Maguire.
467
00:23:50.880 --> 00:23:51.700
Do you remember that bit?
468
00:23:51.740 --> 00:23:55.119
Yeah. So, you know, I watched that scene a lot
469
00:23:55.359 --> 00:23:59.730
and I really got very specific about how you might
470
00:23:59.829 --> 00:24:04.750
perform certain sexual acts while doing the Jerry Maguire locker scene. So,
471
00:24:04.930 --> 00:24:08.329
you know, you just, you do it, you just, you
472
00:24:08.529 --> 00:24:12.859
commit and you really go all the way with it.
473
00:24:13.279 --> 00:24:15.880
If obsessing and thinking about sex scenes from movies could
474
00:24:15.920 --> 00:24:17.819
make you a great author, I think I would be
475
00:24:17.940 --> 00:24:20.819
a great author.
476
00:24:21.619 --> 00:24:23.519
I'm curious what you say about the editing. That's all
477
00:24:23.559 --> 00:24:26.519
it is, right? I'm curious when you talk about editing, too.
478
00:24:26.940 --> 00:24:30.779
Are you having a conversation with yourself as you're writing
479
00:24:30.799 --> 00:24:33.359
that with more extreme points of view than you don't
480
00:24:33.400 --> 00:24:35.789
know if you fully believe? And you're writing that thing out,
481
00:24:35.849 --> 00:24:38.069
and then your editing process is a chance to essentially
482
00:24:38.109 --> 00:24:39.430
see if it holds water?
483
00:24:39.710 --> 00:24:40.630
Exactly. That's it.
484
00:24:41.119 --> 00:24:45.130
I'm always, in a sense, trying to cancel myself as
485
00:24:45.210 --> 00:24:49.069
I'm writing. I'm thinking of, like, what would someone who
486
00:24:49.109 --> 00:24:51.769
thinks the opposite of this say? And then what would
487
00:24:52.230 --> 00:24:57.259
the counter-argument be? And, like, how would I destroy myself
488
00:24:58.259 --> 00:24:59.200
if I wanted to?
489
00:25:00.160 --> 00:25:01.359
That's how I write.
490
00:25:01.460 --> 00:25:05.240
I'm just constantly thinking of... of these other arguments. And
491
00:25:05.279 --> 00:25:07.980
in a sense, it just makes your writing better and better.
492
00:25:08.160 --> 00:25:11.900
And in a weird, corny way, it makes you better
493
00:25:12.039 --> 00:25:14.140
because the more you think about what the other side
494
00:25:14.180 --> 00:25:17.809
might think and try to make your argument better, you know,
495
00:25:17.869 --> 00:25:21.049
the smarter and the more kind of compassionate you become.
496
00:25:21.509 --> 00:25:23.930
And I think that's why I get away with saying
497
00:25:23.950 --> 00:25:26.910
some of the things I say in the book, because
498
00:25:27.480 --> 00:25:31.619
Because it's done with, you know, I'm not, I think
499
00:25:31.880 --> 00:25:36.200
I'm respecting these characters and their complexity and their wholeness
500
00:25:36.339 --> 00:25:40.509
and understanding why they think what they think. And looking
501
00:25:40.549 --> 00:25:44.690
for the funny, funny parts, really. And the absurd parts, which,
502
00:25:45.009 --> 00:25:45.289
you know.
503
00:25:45.869 --> 00:25:48.630
Who do you imagine your audience is when you're writing? Oh, God.
504
00:25:48.869 --> 00:25:53.859
I mean... I think it's just like this mean voice
505
00:25:54.809 --> 00:25:56.269
in my own head.
506
00:25:56.289 --> 00:25:58.410
You're trying to quiet down the mean voices in your head?
507
00:25:58.569 --> 00:26:02.049
Yeah, it's literally just me being as mean as I
508
00:26:02.130 --> 00:26:05.690
can to myself. I don't know, there's probably a few...
509
00:26:05.630 --> 00:26:07.920
I think there's a couple of critics I think about
510
00:26:07.960 --> 00:26:11.640
a little bit, ones I respect and ones I don't.
511
00:26:12.839 --> 00:26:15.920
They're in my head. Some of my friends who are
512
00:26:15.940 --> 00:26:17.799
writers are kind of in my head.
513
00:26:20.210 --> 00:26:25.210
But yeah, and yes, definitely like these people I imagine
514
00:26:25.730 --> 00:26:28.519
holding really different opinions to me. I feel like there's
515
00:26:28.559 --> 00:26:32.819
like an avatar of that person that's sort of there saying,
516
00:26:33.039 --> 00:26:36.660
but what about, you know, this and why aren't you
517
00:26:36.680 --> 00:26:38.740
thinking about this? And I'm like, okay, okay. And then,
518
00:26:39.180 --> 00:26:42.289
you know, you go back in. So I don't know.
519
00:26:42.410 --> 00:26:46.930
It's a whole, there's a whole parliament of people in
520
00:26:46.970 --> 00:26:50.490
there telling me that I'm, getting it wrong.
521
00:26:50.509 --> 00:26:53.509
Well, I would say, I think you got it right.
522
00:26:53.630 --> 00:26:56.309
I find this book hilarious, fantastic.
523
00:26:56.410 --> 00:26:57.210
Congratulations.
524
00:26:57.269 --> 00:26:59.089
I hope at least one of those voices in your
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00:26:59.130 --> 00:27:02.329
head is happy with the product. The book of Ayn
526
00:27:02.390 --> 00:27:04.569
is available now. Lexi Freeman. We're going to take a
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00:27:04.589 --> 00:27:06.170
quick break. Be right back after this.
528
00:27:20.579 --> 00:27:23.019
That's our show for tonight. Now, here it is. Your
529
00:27:23.099 --> 00:27:23.720
moment is in.
530
00:27:24.119 --> 00:27:27.980
Who directed you to the bathroom? How's that question, Hoffinger
531
00:27:28.019 --> 00:27:31.160
to Stormy Daniels? I went out of the dining area
532
00:27:31.279 --> 00:27:35.059
through a room, through a bedroom, to the master bathroom.
533
00:27:35.400 --> 00:27:39.400
Did notice that someone had used the restroom because there
534
00:27:39.440 --> 00:27:44.009
was a leather-looking toiletry bag on the counter with products
535
00:27:44.140 --> 00:27:47.829
in it. And there was Old Spice.
536
00:27:49.619 --> 00:27:52.390
Explore more shows from the Daily Show podcast universe by
537
00:27:52.430 --> 00:27:54.710
searching The Daily Show, wherever.
538
00:27:54.349 --> 00:27:57.390
You get your podcasts. Watch The Daily Show.
539
00:27:57.210 --> 00:28:00.549
Weeknights at 11, 10 Central on Comedy Central, and stream
540
00:28:00.569 --> 00:28:07.910
full episodes anytime on Paramount +. This has been a
541
00:28:07.970 --> 00:28:09.490
Comedy Central podcast.
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00:00:01.100 --> 00:00:02.620
You're listening to Comedy Central.
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00:00:07.400 --> 00:00:11.710
From the most trusted journalists at Comedy Central, it's America's
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00:00:12.039 --> 00:00:16.649
only source for news. This is The Daily Show with your.
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Host, Jordan Klepper.
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Thank you.
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Welcome to The Daily Show. I'm George Klepper.
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Got so much to talk about tonight. Vladimir Putin somehow
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wins re-election. New Yorkers are getting paid to snitch. And
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we find out if Donald Trump is good at sex.
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He's not. So, let's get into headlines.
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Let's kick things off with last night's Met Gala. Now
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the magical night when the world's most fashionable cultural icons
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try to figure out how the they're gonna fit their
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spiky headdress into an Uber pool.
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On fashion's biggest night, garden-inspired looks on full display, right
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in bloom with this year's dress code, the Garden of Time.
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Fans tried to figure out which star was fully covered,
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head to toe, in a floor-length beige umbrella.
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Now this is water singer Tyla. So many people talking
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about this. She had to be carried up the stairs
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of the Met. The dress, which was made of sand,
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was simply too heavy. Okay. Okay.
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A dress made of sand is super impressive.
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Who are you wearing? Coney Island. Thank you very much.
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I like how she had four people carry her up
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the stairs. I bet Joe Biden saw that and turned
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to the Secret Service like, let's just do.
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That from now on.
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But the true glam heads weren't paying attention to the
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Met Gala because the real action last night was in Moscow,
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where Vladimir Putin held an opulent inauguration that just screamed,
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definitely not a dictator for life.
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We continue to watch live pictures from Moscow, where Vladimir
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Putin begins his fifth term as Russian president. The strongman
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has already been in office for nearly a quarter century.
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Putin's new term doesn't end until 2030, and at that point,
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he'll be eligible to run for another six years if
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he wants. It's been a lavish and opulent ceremony there
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in Moscow.
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Come on, Vlad. You can't show up to all this
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in a suit. Come on. They got the wizards and
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the golden walls. You're walking in like you're late from
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the office, man. How do you think Merlin over here feels, huh?
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He's like, I went full Hogwarts over here and now
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I feel like a f * * * ing dick, Vlad.
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You act like you don't even want to be here,
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but this is your whole thing. I mean, I'm not
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criticizing you. You're the one with the poison, but.
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Still, we could have done this over Zoom.
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Let's move on to America's Vladimir Putin, Donald Trump. It's
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now week four of the Trump trial, and boy, time
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flies when you're constantly falling asleep in court, doesn't it?
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But I can guarantee you Trump didn't nap during today's testimony,
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which brings us to our latest installment of America's Most
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Tremendously Wanted.
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The whole thing is a scam.
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Today was the biggest day yet in the trial of
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Donald Trump because today, Stormy Daniels herself took the stand.
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And you could tell from the start that the coverage
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was going to be delicate.
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Right now in the courtroom, our reporters in there are
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sending us notes, updates every second that they can.
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And Mr.
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Trump's defense attorney, Susan Nichols, is there. saying, quote, we're
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informed the second witness today will be Stormy Daniels. We
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want to renew our objection to her testifying particularly about
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any details of any sexual acts.
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That is Mr. Trump's attorney.
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The prosecutor's is also saying, quote, in terms of the
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sexual act, it will be very basic.
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I can't believe I have to read this on television.
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It's not going to involve any descriptions. Better you than me,
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Jake Tapper.
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It's not going to involve any descriptions of anything.
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Just read it. Oh, come on, Jake Tapper and Dana Bash.
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Acting like you're too good for this. Like you've never
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seen genitalia before, all right? You're very prudish for people
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whose names sound like porn names. Jake Tapper and Dana
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Bash in State of the Union.
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Yeah!
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Oh!
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They're going to smear conish all over your wolf blitzer,
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you know? Now....
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Now, the crux of this case is that Trump allegedly
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paid Stormy Daniels hush money to cover up their affair
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just before the 2016 election. And today, Stormy Daniels told
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us exactly what all that money was hushing, starting from
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the very beginning of the night Donald Trump invited her
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for dinner in his hotel room.
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Daniels testified that when she first entered Trump's hotel suite,
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he greeted her wearing silk pajamas. She says she joked
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that he stole Hugh Hefner's pajamas and asked him to change,
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which he did. According to Daniels, when she asked Trump
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about his wife, he admitted that he and Melania sleep
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in separate beds. After speaking with Trump for a while,
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Daniels told Trump he was rude and didn't know how
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to have a conversation. Someone should spank you with that magazine,
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she told him. She says Trump then rolled up the
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magazine and, quote, gave me a look. So she took
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it from him, told him to turn around, and swatted
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him on the butt.
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That poor, poor magazine. Hasn't print media suffered enough?
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Fuck. Spanking, silk pajamas, separate beds.
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These revelations are so uncomfortably personal that even Drake is like, ooh,
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sucks to be that guy.
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But if that stuff made you uncomfortable, hold up. It
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gets worse.
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Daniels testified that at one point prior to them having sex,
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Trump told her she reminded him of his daughter, Ivanka,
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saying they were both smart, blonde, beautiful women who people underestimated.
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Hashtag girl dad.
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Look.
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I know it's old news to us that Donald Trump
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wants to smear Kanishk's daughter, but remember, the court worked
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hard to find an unbiased jury, which means there's at
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least one person on there who was in a coma
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for the last 10 years. And I bet that guy
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is losing his mind today.
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Are you hearing this? Are you hearing this? That's the
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president and his daughter and a porn star. Oh, wait
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till my friend Prince hears about this. You know what?
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Maybe the actually damning part of all of this is
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how Trump got Stormy to have sex with him. According
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to Daniels, he suggested that she could be on The Apprentice. Later,
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he stripped his underwear and told her, quote, this is
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the only way you're getting out of the trailer park.
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Yikes.
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So Trump isn't just a bad lover who thinks talking
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about his daughter is an acceptable form of foreplay. He's
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a creep who dangles career advancement over women to get
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them to have sex with him because Lord knows they're
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not in it for the two minutes of thrusting.
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Personally, I find it disappointing.
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I mean, who would have thought a man found liable
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for sexual assault could coerce a.
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Woman into sex?
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I mean, honestly, it's like you can't even.
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Trust sex offenders these days.
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For more on today's testimony, let's go live to the
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courthouse with our own Troy Iwata.
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Troy!
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Troy.
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What's the mood down at the courthouse today?
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I would say the mood is uncomfy. Like, I was
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so perturbed, I made myself feel better by remembering that
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time I watched Salt Burn with my parents.
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That's how bad it was today. But I gotta tell you, it's.
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Pretty brutal hearing someone's dumb, horny man moves read aloud
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in the cold light of a courtroom.
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I'm sorry, dumb, horny man moves?
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You know, the things that you say and do right
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before you have sex with someone for the first time?
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The sexy stuff that you do in the moment that
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no one should ever rehash. The faces and phrases like,
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your lips look like two big worms.
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Oh, okay, well, I mean, some people's man moves are
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pretty solid, I bet.
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Okay, you keep telling yourself that, big guy. Like, what's
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your go-to move when you get to the bedroom?
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Well, I don't know if this is the time or
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the place. One time, uh.
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One time I said, all righty then. Just like Ace Ventura.
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But it was a good reference because we had both
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just seen Ace Ventura. I mean, she hadn't, but I
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had explained the movie to her, and it was kind
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of a sexy moment for both of us. Oh.
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00:09:37.289 --> 00:09:42.370
Cool. Troy, what's your point? That testifying about.
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00:09:42.210 --> 00:09:45.649
People's man moves should have no place in the legal system?
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00:09:45.870 --> 00:09:48.820
No, no. I think the opposite. I think every trial
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00:09:48.879 --> 00:09:49.529
should have it.
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00:09:50.460 --> 00:09:53.919
Imagine if every time you committed a crime, the prosecutors
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00:09:53.960 --> 00:09:56.879
could put your ex on the stand and describe your
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00:09:56.919 --> 00:10:02.240
most mediocre hookup in grave detail. And then a stenographer
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00:10:02.279 --> 00:10:03.600
in a cardigan.
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Wrote it all down.
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And then Jake Tapper broadcasted on national television.
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Yeah, frankly, okay. I see you. That is a clear point.
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I mean, you put it that way, I would be
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the most law-abiding citizen in history.
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Exactly, yeah.
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Right now, I'm about 50-50 on committing crimes. Like, I
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00:10:25.570 --> 00:10:29.870
can see myself counterfeiting stamps. But if it meant I'd
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have to sit through a retelling of how one night
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00:10:32.509 --> 00:10:35.100
I got on all fours and I said, tell me
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00:10:35.139 --> 00:10:42.049
you're proud of me. I wouldn't even get a parking ticket. I...
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00:10:43.299 --> 00:10:46.629
I wouldn't even own a car. This might be the
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00:10:46.669 --> 00:10:48.210
greatest crime deterrent in history.
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00:10:48.850 --> 00:10:51.149
So you're saying we should just air all of Trump's
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dirty details in an attempt to lower crime rates?
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No, Jordan, I am asking you to tell me you're
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00:10:59.169 --> 00:10:59.850
proud of me.
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00:11:00.090 --> 00:11:04.220
Alrighty then. Troy, you won, everybody.
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00:11:04.240 --> 00:11:06.679
When we come back, we'll find out how to make
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00:11:06.759 --> 00:11:07.759
money by snitching.
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Don't go away. Welcome back to The Daily Show. There
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are a.
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Lot of annoying problems with living in New York City,
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but Desi Lydic found some heroes who are trying to
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solve one of them.
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Take a look.
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In New York, you've got to have a side hustle,
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whether it's being a naked cowgirl or being an older
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00:11:44.110 --> 00:11:47.309
naked cowgirl. But I recently learned about a new hustle
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that's actually helping the planet.
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The way to make some easy money, get some video
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of a trucker idling in New York City. There are
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hefty fines for dirtying the air, and so-called idle warriors
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get a share.
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To learn more, I met up with the Idle Warriors.
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a group of citizen vigilantes who are cashing in on
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this green gig. They say idle hands are the devil's workshop.
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What made you decide to use your idle hands to...
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Stop idling.
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Over 7 million people die every year on this planet
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due to air pollution.
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And we can change this if we just turned our
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engines off.
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The anti-idling law was created in 1971 by the city
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of New York, but it wasn't being enforced at all.
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So it's kind of like when white people do drugs.
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I thought that if citizens got an opportunity, they would
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do it.
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As an environmental attorney, Samara Swanston wrote a law allowing
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any NARC Yorker to report an idling vehicle and collect
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25% of the city fine. That's almost $ 88 a pop.
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But what if I don't want a Karen on my
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Amazon driver?
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The companies are the ones who pay the fine.
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The drivers themselves do not pay the fine. It's the
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owner of the commercial vehicle.
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So you're actually snitching on the companies.
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What we're actually doing is holding big companies like Amazon,
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Con Ed, and Verizon accountable.
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For polluting our air and literally killing people in New York.
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That is so cool.
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See, in elementary school, I was always known as a tattletale,
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but now I'm saying that that was just good training
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to be an environmentalist. Okay, so we're taking down the man,
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not my actual mailman. Clearly, this isn't about the money,
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but we're all friends here. How much do you make?
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I know gentlemen that have made over $ 100, 000 a year.
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What? Wow.
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I'm not a mathematician, but if I take the sum
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of my credit card debt, add it to the cost
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of being a woman in America, multiply by 84% of
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what a man makes, and subtract the earnings from reporting
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on a dozen idling vehicles, I'm rich. How many people
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know about this? Am I getting in on the ground floor,
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or is this like Bitcoin, where I'm going to have
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to cut my losses by selling my beanie babies?
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It's only about maybe 20 to 30 of us who
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are submitting the bulk of the complaints.
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I think we should just keep it between us.
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It's like an orgy.
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You don't want to advertise it to everybody.
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You want a small, dedicated group, and hopefully Jake Gyllenhaal.
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Well, with an orgy, you would think the more the merrier,
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and we hope that everybody participates.
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Our ultimate goal is for idling to end. The best
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payment we can get is clean air.
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Money.
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Clean air, actually.
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And clean air.
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There's so much idling going on that as long as
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you're in the right place, you can really get one
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after another.
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Let's snitch.
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We are a group of vigilant New Yorkers looking out
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for the best interests of our neighbors.
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I wrote this bill because I wanted to see a
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change in the future.
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I have a Nordstrom credit card that hasn't been paid
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off in seven years. Are they even in business anymore?
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What do I do? I'm ready to make some money.
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A difference.
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Make a difference.
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You have to keep your ears tuned to the sound
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of engines. Listening ears, on.
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Listening ears, yep.
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Then you use your iPhone to capture the headquarters address
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and the license plate.
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See these blinking lights here on this truck van? Yes.
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That's a good signal that they're idling.
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So when I see these blinking lights, I hear.
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It's a good opportunity to be just like that.
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And then how long do we do this for?
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Three minutes and ten seconds. Yeah, it's a long period
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of time, but it's okay.
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I gotta do this for three minutes?
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If you wanna get paid, you have to do it right.
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Turns out activism is really boring and dehydrating.
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I'm just gonna pop in for a quick Marg.
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You want a Marg?
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Yeah, that's fine. Confronting truckers takes balls.
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Luckily, George and I have those balls.
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I'm gonna go and tell that driver that he's breaking
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the law. George?
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Yes.
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I just want you to know.
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Yes.
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I'm right here with you.
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I am right behind you.
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I got your back.
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Thank you.
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Do you know why?
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Why?
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Because we're partners for life. Love it.
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I'm right behind you.
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Can we shut the engine off so you're compliant with
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the law? I'm not with him.
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What a great team.
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So you think you've learned enough to go out on
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your own? Oh, totally.
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All right.
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I'm going to welcome you to become an idol warrior. George,
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you can count on me.
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After a full day of saving the Earth, it was
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time to celebrate with my fellow warriors. This rounds on me.
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Cheers!
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To the real superheroes protecting this planet.
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Woo!
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So when do we get paid?
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It takes about two years. Okay, I'm out.
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Thank you, Desi.
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When we come back, novelist Lexi Freeman will be joining
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me on the show.
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Don't go away. Welcome back to The Daily Show. My
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guest tonight is an.
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Author whose latest book is The Book of Ein.
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Please welcome Lexi Freeman.
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Welcome.
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Lexi, welcome.
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Thank you.
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Thank you so much. Lexi. LEXI LAWSON- Yes? I love
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this book. LEXI LAWSON- Thank you. This book is so
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funny and searing.
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LEXI LAWSON- Searing, yeah.
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Do you like searing? Yeah. LEXI LAWSON- I love searing.
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You love searing? LEXI LAWSON- All authors like searing.
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Yeah, you want a searing novel. It gets into the shit.
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It makes fun of a little bit of everything. It
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reveals something about yourself. I mean, it revealed nothing about me.
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I don't see myself in any kind of literature. But
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I love this book. This book starts, it follows somebody
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who gets canceled.
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Yes.
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And then one of her first moves is she finds
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the writings of Ayn Rand.
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Yes.
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And you describe her initial thoughts about Ayn Rand as
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the character says, Anna, the main character says, I had
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always considered her the gateway drug for bad husbands to
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quit their jobs and start online stock trading.
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Yeah, yeah, true.
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What is compelling about Ayn Rand for you in starting
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a novel like this?
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I mean, to me, she was basically the worst person
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I could write a book about, which really appealed to me.
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She's so contentious within the culture. But I had recently
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watched a documentary about her when I started thinking about this.
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And to be honest, I mean, her ideas are provocative
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and difficult, but she also just had like a crazy
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sex life, which I found, you know, she was essentially
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in an open relationship at the end of her, you know,
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in her sixties, she was having an affair with like
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a man 25 years younger than her. So like Ayn
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Rand was basically a polyamorous, like she had a polycule,
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which I think people sort of like don't know about her.
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And it kind of destroyed her in the end. She
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ended up sort of like having a nervous breakdown when
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he was cheating on her. It kind of undermined her
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whole philosophy of selfishness in a way.
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Yeah.
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And I found that incredibly interesting and funny.
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She's just funny. She's funny.
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If there's one thing that's going to take Ayn Rand down,
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who thought it was going to be polyamory?
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It was polyamory.
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It was polyamory that did it in the end, which
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I just find delicious.
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I think it's... I think your book.
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sort of looks at what it means to be selfish.
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It sort of examines narcissism. Like, what to you is
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interesting about the idea of narcissism? And if you can,
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make it about me.
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00:19:49.329 --> 00:19:49.970
Well, yes, exactly.
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I mean, you know, I'm not the first person to
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say this, but the culture is pretty narcissistic. And so,
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you know, wanting to write a satire about the culture,
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you know, you want to write something that's going to
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speak to all sides. And I kind of felt like
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narcissism is also something that speaks to the nature of
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the artist, which this book is about, someone who's grappling
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with this idea of selfishness and wanting to be the
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best and wanting to be interesting and special and have
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contrarian opinions. But then there's also this desire to be
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empathetic and to do good in the world. And it's
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the kind of the conflict between selfishness and altruism that
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is Ayn Rand's whole philosophy that I feel is kind
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of distilled in the artistic side temperament in the artist's
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personality that feels like this really interesting kind of paradox
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00:20:45.930 --> 00:20:50.549
to me. And narcissism plays into that really beautifully and
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is also funny.
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00:20:52.190 --> 00:20:56.130
It starts to unpack this idea of cancel culture.
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00:20:56.930 --> 00:20:58.769
How do you see that? Is there an upside to
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cancel culture?
407
00:20:59.210 --> 00:20:59.809
To cancel culture?
408
00:21:00.849 --> 00:21:02.190
I mean, yes.
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00:21:02.390 --> 00:21:06.920
Sure, there's, you know, things... It moves the needle. There's
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cultural change in a way that can be good. And
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then there's also just, you know... I had a conversation
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about this with a cancelled person and the conversation went
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in the sort of direction of, you know... what being
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canceled kind of affords you the opportunity to do is
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to kind of kill your ego and not give a
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00:21:28.039 --> 00:21:31.339
shit anymore about like what people think. And cause the
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00:21:31.400 --> 00:21:34.750
ego is all about reputation and trying to succeed and,
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And when that's not a possibility for you anymore, then
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00:21:38.670 --> 00:21:41.829
you get to pursue enlightenment, which I think is the
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00:21:41.869 --> 00:21:43.529
other thing we could all be doing with our lives
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if we wanted to.
422
00:21:44.690 --> 00:21:46.309
So are you saying in order for me to get enlightened,
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I have to first get canceled? Is that what I
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need to do tonight?
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Maybe, yeah.
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I'm going to hold on to that ego just a
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little bit longer. Yeah.
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00:21:56.039 --> 00:21:58.660
I think enlightenment is good for, you know, as you
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00:21:58.680 --> 00:22:01.009
get older and, you know, we are all supposed to
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be sort of shedding our egos and not caring about
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00:22:04.990 --> 00:22:07.849
these things that preoccupy us in our youth. So I
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00:22:07.890 --> 00:22:10.029
feel like getting enlightened is something you can put off
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for time, you know, retirement slash enlightenment. And that seems
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00:22:13.849 --> 00:22:14.470
like a good thing.
435
00:22:14.490 --> 00:22:18.789
Yeah, working at Walmart, go work at enlightenment, right? That's
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00:22:18.809 --> 00:22:19.589
the time.
437
00:22:19.619 --> 00:22:21.839
Yeah. Now, this is a satire.
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00:22:21.880 --> 00:22:26.019
I think it's I think it's fascinating how you're so
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00:22:26.059 --> 00:22:28.759
specific in this book, and you're able to satirize the
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left and the right as you move this character through
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00:22:31.730 --> 00:22:35.750
these spaces. I guess I'm curious. I always view satire
442
00:22:35.789 --> 00:22:38.329
in The Daily Show. We dabble in it here and there.
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00:22:39.430 --> 00:22:41.490
But more often than me, it seems like satire is
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00:22:41.529 --> 00:22:43.609
a broadsword. It's rarely a.
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00:22:45.779 --> 00:22:48.480
Scalpel. It seems as if you find complexity in it.
446
00:22:48.480 --> 00:22:50.000
How do you find complexity in satire?
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00:22:50.990 --> 00:22:53.200
I think you just have to be really specific. You
448
00:22:53.240 --> 00:22:56.960
have to be really generous. Like the reader is smart.
449
00:22:57.480 --> 00:23:02.839
You can't try to trick them with easy kind of
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00:23:03.039 --> 00:23:04.019
ideas and jokes.
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00:23:04.839 --> 00:23:08.599
You can. I mean, sometimes it can be very rewarding.
452
00:23:08.900 --> 00:23:09.200
Yes.
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And a lot of people will fall for it.
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But if you want to kind of if you want
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the reader to really come on side with you, and
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00:23:15.319 --> 00:23:19.220
especially with your most transgressive material, then you've got to
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00:23:19.599 --> 00:23:22.079
really not take them for granted. And you've really, I
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00:23:22.420 --> 00:23:25.019
edit the crap out of my books. I go in there,
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I try to see it from all different sides, and
460
00:23:27.220 --> 00:23:30.920
I really try to get as specific as possible, you know,
461
00:23:31.019 --> 00:23:34.849
so that the reader feels like I respect their intelligence.
462
00:23:35.150 --> 00:23:39.009
And I, you know, I'm thinking of the thing they
463
00:23:39.069 --> 00:23:42.609
might argue back with me about. And I get specific,
464
00:23:42.670 --> 00:23:45.329
you know, there's a scene in the book, a sex scene, where...
465
00:23:46.470 --> 00:23:49.640
the character is pretending to do the locker room scene
466
00:23:49.680 --> 00:23:50.819
from Jerry Maguire.
467
00:23:50.880 --> 00:23:51.700
Do you remember that bit?
468
00:23:51.740 --> 00:23:55.119
Yeah. So, you know, I watched that scene a lot
469
00:23:55.359 --> 00:23:59.730
and I really got very specific about how you might
470
00:23:59.829 --> 00:24:04.750
perform certain sexual acts while doing the Jerry Maguire locker scene. So,
471
00:24:04.930 --> 00:24:08.329
you know, you just, you do it, you just, you
472
00:24:08.529 --> 00:24:12.859
commit and you really go all the way with it.
473
00:24:13.279 --> 00:24:15.880
If obsessing and thinking about sex scenes from movies could
474
00:24:15.920 --> 00:24:17.819
make you a great author, I think I would be
475
00:24:17.940 --> 00:24:20.819
a great author.
476
00:24:21.619 --> 00:24:23.519
I'm curious what you say about the editing. That's all
477
00:24:23.559 --> 00:24:26.519
it is, right? I'm curious when you talk about editing, too.
478
00:24:26.940 --> 00:24:30.779
Are you having a conversation with yourself as you're writing
479
00:24:30.799 --> 00:24:33.359
that with more extreme points of view than you don't
480
00:24:33.400 --> 00:24:35.789
know if you fully believe? And you're writing that thing out,
481
00:24:35.849 --> 00:24:38.069
and then your editing process is a chance to essentially
482
00:24:38.109 --> 00:24:39.430
see if it holds water?
483
00:24:39.710 --> 00:24:40.630
Exactly. That's it.
484
00:24:41.119 --> 00:24:45.130
I'm always, in a sense, trying to cancel myself as
485
00:24:45.210 --> 00:24:49.069
I'm writing. I'm thinking of, like, what would someone who
486
00:24:49.109 --> 00:24:51.769
thinks the opposite of this say? And then what would
487
00:24:52.230 --> 00:24:57.259
the counter-argument be? And, like, how would I destroy myself
488
00:24:58.259 --> 00:24:59.200
if I wanted to?
489
00:25:00.160 --> 00:25:01.359
That's how I write.
490
00:25:01.460 --> 00:25:05.240
I'm just constantly thinking of... of these other arguments. And
491
00:25:05.279 --> 00:25:07.980
in a sense, it just makes your writing better and better.
492
00:25:08.160 --> 00:25:11.900
And in a weird, corny way, it makes you better
493
00:25:12.039 --> 00:25:14.140
because the more you think about what the other side
494
00:25:14.180 --> 00:25:17.809
might think and try to make your argument better, you know,
495
00:25:17.869 --> 00:25:21.049
the smarter and the more kind of compassionate you become.
496
00:25:21.509 --> 00:25:23.930
And I think that's why I get away with saying
497
00:25:23.950 --> 00:25:26.910
some of the things I say in the book, because
498
00:25:27.480 --> 00:25:31.619
Because it's done with, you know, I'm not, I think
499
00:25:31.880 --> 00:25:36.200
I'm respecting these characters and their complexity and their wholeness
500
00:25:36.339 --> 00:25:40.509
and understanding why they think what they think. And looking
501
00:25:40.549 --> 00:25:44.690
for the funny, funny parts, really. And the absurd parts, which,
502
00:25:45.009 --> 00:25:45.289
you know.
503
00:25:45.869 --> 00:25:48.630
Who do you imagine your audience is when you're writing? Oh, God.
504
00:25:48.869 --> 00:25:53.859
I mean... I think it's just like this mean voice
505
00:25:54.809 --> 00:25:56.269
in my own head.
506
00:25:56.289 --> 00:25:58.410
You're trying to quiet down the mean voices in your head?
507
00:25:58.569 --> 00:26:02.049
Yeah, it's literally just me being as mean as I
508
00:26:02.130 --> 00:26:05.690
can to myself. I don't know, there's probably a few...
509
00:26:05.630 --> 00:26:07.920
I think there's a couple of critics I think about
510
00:26:07.960 --> 00:26:11.640
a little bit, ones I respect and ones I don't.
511
00:26:12.839 --> 00:26:15.920
They're in my head. Some of my friends who are
512
00:26:15.940 --> 00:26:17.799
writers are kind of in my head.
513
00:26:20.210 --> 00:26:25.210
But yeah, and yes, definitely like these people I imagine
514
00:26:25.730 --> 00:26:28.519
holding really different opinions to me. I feel like there's
515
00:26:28.559 --> 00:26:32.819
like an avatar of that person that's sort of there saying,
516
00:26:33.039 --> 00:26:36.660
but what about, you know, this and why aren't you
517
00:26:36.680 --> 00:26:38.740
thinking about this? And I'm like, okay, okay. And then,
518
00:26:39.180 --> 00:26:42.289
you know, you go back in. So I don't know.
519
00:26:42.410 --> 00:26:46.930
It's a whole, there's a whole parliament of people in
520
00:26:46.970 --> 00:26:50.490
there telling me that I'm, getting it wrong.
521
00:26:50.509 --> 00:26:53.509
Well, I would say, I think you got it right.
522
00:26:53.630 --> 00:26:56.309
I find this book hilarious, fantastic.
523
00:26:56.410 --> 00:26:57.210
Congratulations.
524
00:26:57.269 --> 00:26:59.089
I hope at least one of those voices in your
525
00:26:59.130 --> 00:27:02.329
head is happy with the product. The book of Ayn
526
00:27:02.390 --> 00:27:04.569
is available now. Lexi Freeman. We're going to take a
527
00:27:04.589 --> 00:27:06.170
quick break. Be right back after this.
528
00:27:20.579 --> 00:27:23.019
That's our show for tonight. Now, here it is. Your
529
00:27:23.099 --> 00:27:23.720
moment is in.
530
00:27:24.119 --> 00:27:27.980
Who directed you to the bathroom? How's that question, Hoffinger
531
00:27:28.019 --> 00:27:31.160
to Stormy Daniels? I went out of the dining area
532
00:27:31.279 --> 00:27:35.059
through a room, through a bedroom, to the master bathroom.
533
00:27:35.400 --> 00:27:39.400
Did notice that someone had used the restroom because there
534
00:27:39.440 --> 00:27:44.009
was a leather-looking toiletry bag on the counter with products
535
00:27:44.140 --> 00:27:47.829
in it. And there was Old Spice.
536
00:27:49.619 --> 00:27:52.390
Explore more shows from the Daily Show podcast universe by
537
00:27:52.430 --> 00:27:54.710
searching The Daily Show, wherever.
538
00:27:54.349 --> 00:27:57.390
You get your podcasts. Watch The Daily Show.
539
00:27:57.210 --> 00:28:00.549
Weeknights at 11, 10 Central on Comedy Central, and stream
540
00:28:00.569 --> 00:28:07.910
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541
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