The Daily Show: Ears Edition - Behind the Show | Al Madrigal on What Makes a Great Field Piece

Episode Date: February 10, 2025

Longtime Daily Show editor Mark Paone sits down with former correspondent Al Madrigal to unpack some of their favorite segments. They talk how to make a great field piece, the Stephen Colbert advice that gets handed down to every new correspondent, what he would do differently, and how a Senior Latino Correspondent can get away without speaking Spanish. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

You're listening to Comedy Central. Now. Hey, everybody. This is Mark Paon, longtime editor at The Daily Show. Once again, back with a former Daily Show correspondent. I was, I should say... One of your favorites. One of my favorites.

And senior Latino correspondent. That's right. Comedian, actor, entrepreneur. Yes. Renaissance man. Yes. Al Magical. How are you?

When you say long time, exactly how long have you been here? Because I know you keep track. I started season two. That's insane. And this is season? 797 was my first day. Holy crap. Because for a while, I think you would call, as a joke, and this is 797 was my first day. Because for a while I think you would call,

as a joke, all jokes, we'd call John the new guy. And he had been here like 16 years. And we became, I mean, as you do in the field department, which is where I did a lot of work when I was here, because I was here from the years of 2011. I believe I started full-time at the beginning of 2012, shared an office with Jessica Williams, who is just crushing it. I'm so happy for her.

It's kind of cool to see everybody go on and do things, but I was here from 2012 to end of 2013 full-time, and then another half year, like on and off, part-time until John left. And then I dribbled into Trevor. Dribbled a little bit into Trevor's. Into Trevor's. Just dribbled, just dribbled. So how did you get the gig?

I don't remember. I got the gig because, and this is a be nice to everyone you meet thing. I got the gig because a guy hit me up to do a guest set on a show in Miami at the Coconut Grove Improv, which was an insane comedy club. Go around the country from 2005, 2004, to 2010, that's how I made a living, primarily.

I was acting in some TV shows, but I would do stand up on the road. And people hit you up for guest sets. The guy that hit me up was Adam Loweit, a comedian from Florida who's gonna be there at the time, who was also a producer at The Daily Show. He went on to be an executive producer, has done many incredible things.

He's in LA now. In LA with two wonderful children and his wife. And we're still close and stay in touch. But he hit me up for a guest set. Then he hit me up for when I was in New York for another guest set. Then he hit me up for another guest set. So this is like guest sets over years.

And then finally when we were at Caroline's in New York, he said, you know, I think it was, my act was sort of skewing this way. And he goes, you'd make a great Latino correspondent. He goes, I know just how to pitch it. So we waited for a dark week, which the show has weeks on and weeks off. It's very difficult to do a daily show like they do.

It's sort of, you know, it's amazing that John did it as long as he did. And we're gonna do it the Thursday of a dark week when he's in. So- A working dark week, yeah. A working dark week. So we have Hallie Haglin,

who was a newish writer at the time. She's gone on to be EP of things and rose to the ranks here and some very, very funny. So Hallie, Lohat and I, we write this piece on Debbie Riddle, who's a congresswoman from Texas, who wanted, and it's amazing how this is in 2011 and nothing has changed. She wanted to establish a group of non-U.S. citizens, like a second class of citizen that could work as home care workers. So nannies, gardeners, chefs,

and, you know, anyone else that you'd want, some sort of Latino taking care of your things, so that they could work without employment laws. Right. So you wouldn't have to pay them minimum wages or anything like that. And then this was in Texas, so we did that piece. That got changed, so we rewrote it, and I auditioned, and it went well.

John took me over here, where I was sort of waiting in one of these little side guest rooms, and said, congratulations congratulations and get ready for a lifestyle of women and drugs. I'll never forget that. No. John Oliver, he always used to give you a great impression of people at Daily Show Conventions.

Mr. Oliver, the piece that you did on Australian gun reform. Like, that's no women, no drugs. And so I came in full-time. I had a nine-year-old and six-year-old, I think, when I got the gig. It was crazy. And they're in Los Angeles. And they're in Los Angeles, so I...

And you're not moving them. I flew back and forth. My nine-year-old or whatever he is at the time said, I said, we got a great job and I got a great job and it's gonna be a good money for the family, a good opportunity. I said opportunity and he didn't get it. And then I said, good money can lead to other things, it's a great job.

And I said, we might need to move to New York. And he'd just gone into a new school and made friends. And he was at that age where friendships really started to form. And he really did look at me and he goes, what if you went and we stayed here? And that's what happened for two and a half years is I flew back and forth and back and forth.

And then I'd go do Field Pieces in 2012. I think I tied a record for John Oliver Field Pieces. And mine was in a non. Like, I guess I. Because that was a convention year, but I tied a record for Field Pieces. I was out on the road constantly. So when I wasn't flying home, I was flying for the show.

And I mean, a lot of miles. John Hodgman and Lohan and I would go out and do standup. I've got to text John Hodgman. He's one of my favorite people. So I would go on the road with Hodgman and just had the best time. But I was missing my family terribly. And I was missing so many of the kids' functions.

It's such an important time in their life. If I ever had to go two or three weeks without seeing them, I was just absolutely devastated. I was sleeping under my desk because I would take red eyes, which is the absolute worst. You'd never want to take a red eye ever. If you can avoid it at all costs. It sets me back for like two days after that. So I felt like during my time here, I was never really operating at 100%.

And I was, you know, it's like one of those regrets thing. I probably should have just moved everybody out. I also did something really stupid and I moved to Dumbo in Brooklyn. Any kind of commuting? I could have just walked to the show. That would have been the smartest thing. I have my buddy who I grew up with who had a place and that seemed to make sense to me. But I never should have committed to anything.

I should have lived a block away. I should have been here for every single morning meeting. Yeah. Like the dad in me talking to my son who's now 22 living in San Francisco, it's like first guy there, last guy to leave. Like I didn't know any of that. And here I am like a 40 year old man

and I know my work ethic is amazing and I do a lot of things, but I should have been here very first thing. And I also was given bad advice from the existing correspondence because like Monvy rolled in at 1 p.m. every day. Jones and like I was, we were getting advice from people that had just been here.

Barely were in the building. And I should have just been at that morning meeting. I had nothing else going on. I didn't have a kid. I was trying to get ready for school or anything like that. There was no excuse for me not to be here showered with a pen in my hand, ready to go.

And that's what I would have done over again. It would be a different situation. But again, I just love, loved, loved my time here even considering, but at some point it came to an end because a lot of celebrities and famous people come to this show. And I remember Rory, who was the EP and John's right hand person at the time, and, um, Albinese.

He pawned off Jason Kadem's and Kathy Kadem's on me, and Jason Kadem's were Friday Night Lights. And we were maybe with you editing a piece. The correspondent goes and sits in the edit, and I was showing them how we did a piece. I believe it was The Bridge to Nowhere, the Canadian bridge thing that I did with Berger. I was gonna bring that piece up, the Ambassador Bridge.

Great. Great piece. Great piece. And it really was fun. Yeah, it was... that was really fun to cut, too. Yeah, so we are doing that, and he comes in, I meet Jason Kadems, he has a TV show called About A Boy and cast me in it. I'm pretty confident that NBC, like he just insisted that I was in it. I auditioned four times, like are you sure?

The guy just gave me this great gig so then I got to, I went to John, I'm like, who had kids, I think has kids exactly my children's age. And I went to him. His kids are like 22, 19, something like that. Yeah, I'm 22 and 19 now. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So I went to John, I go, I miss my children terribly, and I need to go.

And I really wasn't here for very, very long. You know, I was always telling other correspondents... They would use you sporadically. After that. But I was always telling new correspondents when they came in, because I had a little bit of a crossover with Roy and with Ronnie and Desi and definitely Klepper and Hassan. I would always tell them, like,

stay on the show for 100-plus episodes. That's where you start to really get recognized, and I just couldn't. I couldn't. I was desperate to hang out with my wife and kids. I'm not good on the road. I love stand-up. That's why I got in this. I just don't love flights with connections. Right.

I don't love hotel soaps. That's what I bonded with Jon Stewart over. Yeah. Jon had that in his background. I think, let's think about it. Am I the only, I know there's been other stand-up comics, but Wyatt was more alternative. John Oliver was a little bit more skewed, more alternative.

I'm like the only club comic... other than John Stewart. Um... Ronnie doesn't count. Roy. Roy Wood Jr. Wait, Roy, why doesn't Ronnie count? He's Australian. Who knows what's going on over there?

Fucking... What are you doing? Roy, yeah, Roy. Roy definitely has been on the road. Oh, my gosh, Roy. Roy is... He's one of the best Roy, yeah, Roy. Roy definitely has been on the road. Oh my gosh, Roy. Roy, he's one of the best people. And yeah, Roy, Ronnie's, you know, actually a major comic with three Netflix specials. I'm just talking about like,

in terms of like American clubs coming up, I think it's just me, Roy, and John. Yeah, and a lot of the others did like, came from like improv and acting. Improv, acting. Yeah. Fuck me. I still have, Rob Riggle gave me his Colbert notes to come in.

Right, the Colbert note, the famous Colbert notes. Well, I would pass, I passed those on. Right. Then to every single person. I think I was just texting with Costa and Ronnie. Was it 14? 14? How many, it was like a... I just texted it to these guys. I'll read them to you right now.

These are, so I was on a TV show with Rob Rickle called Gary Unmarried. He played Jay Moore's brother. I've been on so many sitcoms, you have no idea. That's the idea. I've been on so many sitcoms. You have no idea Let's see Ronnie and Costa Okay, this is the list. So this is from Rob Riggle. This is email This is the original Colbert

Original Colbert notes that I that he passed on he gave to Riggle I asked Riggle for he gave him to me and then I've since passed them to Ronnie Roy Klepper and then they've gone and passed them on. Right, I know Desi has them. Amazing. And they still hold up. So hey Al, so I found Cold Bear's notes for me

on things to think about when doing a field piece. Number one, do we wanna be saying this? Burn tape, tape is cheap, be saying this? Burn tape. Tape is cheap. Keep talking and keep them talking. Two, break up questions. Don't let them see where you're going. Three, play the silence.

Four, match energy with subject. Five, discover things in the moment. Be aware of when those discoveries happen. Six, always be asking yourself, what's my point of view on this subject? Seven, you have to think it's funny. Find a way to make that happen. Eight, get clear on three to five things you want your subject to say and don't let them leave until you get them.

That's very important. Nine, understand the real point. What's behind all of this? What are you saying? And that was like when I was here on the show, I think there was a shift, it's like, we didn't wanna just be making fun of things, it's easy just to shoot down, you wanna also post solutions.

And then 10 characters key, understand your point of view on the issue and you will be able to react spontaneously in the moment. That's it, bro. These were the tips. And the most important one that Colbert told people was leave your soul at home. Oh yeah. Gave me when I started and they helped, hope they help you. All the best, Riggle. Yep. So that's it. And then I learned a couple other ones I remember Riggle told me whatever you do don't let Stu Miller drive these guys don't have cars we go out there and they're gonna rental car and they're in Manhattan I'm like what are you doing this is like an eight-point turn keep just get out of the

car that's hilarious these none of them know how to drive. And then if they're in Manhattan without a vehicle, it's crazy. So it's just like, give me the keys, I'll drive. I'm not gonna do this. And then, what was the other one that was just hilarious? It was check your soul at the door. Oh, John Oliver grabbed me.

This is day one. He goes, I'm gonna tell you the only thing you really need to know. He goes, always live in the edit. So you could be sitting there, if you think of something witty that was from 15 minutes ago. Just do it.

Just do it and we can put it in. go. Just do it. Just do it and we can put it in. Right. So you know good field pieces are made when I say something, they say something, and then I say something back. That's funny. Right. And so there has to be this exchange and back and forth. So you're always searching to cobble together as many of those moments as you possibly can. That's what I'm for. That's what I do. You're the cobbler. Yeah. Yeah, I mean, you'll, you'll, I mean,

I've always said that to, to correspondents. It's like, just remember, you can start over. You can do any, you know, it's all just think about that it's, it's not happening live. It's not happening live, you know? And if you, you're, but you, you feel like it's happening live, but remember that, you know, I, because I can, It's not happening live. It's not happening live. But you feel like it's happening live. But remember that, you know, because I can, you know,

we don't, we never, we never misrepresent people. But we will take, you know, I'll take like a stronger yes, you know, to a question you ask, I might, you know what I mean, like that sort of thing. I might, I will. But it really isn't a gotcha thing. You're not asking people to say anything that they haven't said. Yes. They've already said it. Yeah, they've already said it,

and then we're not misrepresenting them at all, but I like to create what seems like a seamless conversation in a piece, even though the sentences might be coming like 10 minutes apart, you know? I always remember sitting down with everybody I sat down with. I always was a nice guy. I know some correspondents had different strategies

when approaching a subject. Like Jones barely talked to him. Yeah, he would not engage until the cameras were rolling. I go, hey, how are you? I'm Al. This is gonna be a piece of cake. Now, I'm funny, you're not funny. I go, so I just need to keep it it straight So if you're going to make a joke

I'm just gonna have to stop and have to redo it because I'm not gonna use it So I just would love you to speak in nice concise chunks Right and just say what you're gonna say straight answers if I tell you to tighten something up I'll need to you to tighten it up. So you'll see me do think do things for three or four times I'm gonna have you do things three or four times. I'm gonna have you do things three or four times. Then the other thing is if I ask you a question, you need to respond with the question in the answer. So I've asked you what my favorite color is. You say my favorite color is blue.

Okay, so you have to use it later. Yeah, in case I have to use it later without me in it. And yeah, then I would go on and there was a couple more. And then at the end of a piece, we'd always go, okay, just a couple of wild lines. Can you say these for me? Right. Maybe.

Right. And I just, yeah. So let's talk about your field work. Oh shit. Yeah. What was your favorite, your favorite piece of all that you did? I think the, just because of how it magically came together.

When you do a field piece, you go and you have a joke session, you try to anticipate what people are gonna do. I did a lot of fun. I mean, top five definitely Latinos in Austin, Texas. All these, by the way, still hold up. Where my second one was Tucson Michael Hicks, who passed away that...

Tucson was the book band? That was Chicano Studies Band. Yeah, yeah, that was a great one. That got national news, and that was my second piece. Across the country, public education is failing but in Arizona lawmakers have found the solution to the biggest problem facing their schools. Arizona's governor Jan Brewer just approved a bill banning ethnic studies classes in public schools. And using this new law the Tucson School Board

banned the K through 12 Mexican-American Studies Program. School board member Michael Hicks. My concern was a lot of the radical ideas that they were teaching in these classes, telling these kids that this is their land, the whites took it over, and the only way to get out from beneath the gringo, which is the white man, is by bloodshed. When you sat in on these classes, what types of—

I chose not to go to any of their classes. Why even go? Why even go? I base my thoughts on hearsay from others, so I based it off of those. So the school board in Tucson banned Mexican American— Chicano studies. Right. And you spoke to a councilman there I spoke to the school board member named Michael Hicks and he said What was it he well the best part about was you said you asked him what about African African Americans? Yeah

Yeah, he said yeah, that's fine. And you said well, I'm a black kid teach me about yeah teach me about slavery Yeah, he just dug himself in such a major hole. He was a perfect person because... And you, I remember you asking him, am I three fifths of a person? He goes, I think you're more a quarter of a person. Yeah. I'm a black kid. Try to teach me about slavery without me feeling resentment towards white people. How am I going to teach you about slavery? Slavery was... How did I end up here? Slavery was a... Okay, now I got to figure out how.

Okay, the white man did bring over the Africans. What kind of jobs did we do? The jobs that you guys did was basically slavery jobs. So, after we were freed, we got to vote? Yes. You got... Well, you didn't get to vote until later. And we were equal? Almost equal.

What, we were like sort of a half or three-fifths? My personal perception of it, I would say you're probably a quarter. It was insane. Yeah that was my and that got a lot of attention back and there's now he's got in trouble for the gun deep shit. Yeah. Do you remember chicken boxing. I chicken boxing was ridiculous.

In 2008 Louisiana came to its senses and outlawed the barbaric sport of cock fighting and the chickens of that state finally had some peace. State senator Albert Guillory. We've outlawed cock fighting those love sports no longer attractive in Louisiana. I'm not a fan of cock fighting, but I love to go and watch some chicken boxing. I'm gonna stop you right there. You just said... Chicken boxing?

Yes. Chicken boxing in Louisiana is still not legal, but we're fighting to make it legal. You meant to say chicken boxing. I meant to say chicken boxing. Human beings put gloves on and box. Chickens can put gloves on and box. Chickens can put gloves on and box. Chicken boxing was in Appaloosa with Burger, and they were trying to ban,

they did ban cock fighting, and now guys were trying to introduce chicken boxing and they made little gloves. And I went out to the park here. Yeah, and they had an arena. The guy took you. I took you to the arena and I go to this guy. We're deep.

Like a really nice little mini Madison Square Garden. It was amazing, that arena. That was crazy. And I was out with these guys on, clearly they were training roosters to do the cock fighting. And it's horrible, they put razor blades on their claws and they're vicious. They're like training pit bulls or anything like that. And I go, hey man, to the side I go,

if this was real, which one of these roosters would win? And he goes, if it was real. Like it is real, like an idiot. And then me and Berger were on, in traffic on our way to the cockfighting ring, and this dude looks at me, and I'm a Latino in a suit in a rental car, and looks at me, looks at me in the eyes, and starts running at the car. And I go, Burger, Burger, go, go, go! There's been a couple moments where I've been like,

we're gonna die right now. Yeah, I was gonna ask you about that. In times you felt the danger. Richmond, Virginia, at Barack Obama announcing he was gonna run again, I think, on Cinco de Mayo. You mean for the second time? Yeah, for the second time. Oh, the Cinco de Mayo piece.

I remember that one. I almost got beat up. Because everyone was drunk. Yeah. Can you keep it up until November? Oh, absolutely. Are you kidding me? I come here all the time I'm fired up. Are you pumped up because you think Barack Obama will finally be able to Not worry about this combative Congress and he can actually be progressive in his theoretical second term I smell weed Those those Misdirect yeah the mystery where you go in, you set it up.

You think it's, you've set it up to our audience as like, I'm going to this young people's Obama rally that you think it is. And it's a Cinco de Mayo party. And it turns out these Obama supporters love Latinos. And just as much as they love drinking. Like that. And you're like, and just as much as they love drinking. Like that. Yeah, we used to do that with the St. Patrick's Day parade.

Like on a yearly basis, we'd figure out, or like when the Giants won the Super Bowl, we'd go down there and think, you know, we'd think it was like, we'd act like it was for something else and talk to the people. There was a time that I went out with Stu Miller to Phoenix and the guy we lined up wouldn't speak to us. So we bailed at the very last second.

Yeah, that's happened a few times. We were like, he's not coming. And then we just had to improvise and we joined a rally and I remember ripping a, John, my Spanish is a little rusty, but what I think he said was, you know, it's like. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I cut that one, I cut that one. I remember that.

The guy doesn't speak Spanish, and then you just... The guy speaks, he says, heartfelt in Spanish to the camera. It's a political rally. We're hardworking people, and we just... And this is SB 1070, right? It was like, yeah. And he said, we're hardworking people.

We really, you know, don't deserve to be villainized. And we don't have the subtitles, so if you don't speak Spanish, you don't know what he's saying. Yeah. And then I go, John, my Spanish is a little rusty. But I think what he just said was about his girlfriend. Yeah, that he would cheat on his girlfriend. He was like, he cheated. He's sorry, baby. And the guy's just looking at you.

That was so good. Well that's another little side note for the listeners. You don't speak Spanish. Spanish is no bueno. Poco espanol para... I remember like early on when you were at the show, at some point we were like, oh, we can do this piece and we can do it in Spanish.

Because over the years we've done a couple of pieces where it was entirely in Spanish. We did one with Leslie Sloan. I went to Mexico City. And we did one way back when with Mo Rocca, where they did the entire show was in, the entire piece was in Spanish, because they went somewhere where everybody spoke Spanish.

Oh, yeah. I've been places where everyone spoke Spanish. There was a point with you, I remember at some point, when they were like, oh, yeah, this will be great. We can actually, we could do the piece in Spanish. And then you're like, I don't speak Spanish. And they're like, wait, what? Second generation, half Mexican from San Francisco.

And I think, you know, when you look back at all the pieces, which was a lot, a lot of them unfortunately still hold up. I think I did a good job of representing the fact that no one can represent all Latinos, because I've said that multiple times. So going on and saying, there's no one repping all Latinos.

That person doesn't exist because we can't agree on anything and that is very true to this day. So, you know, they make funny if you don't speak Spanish, but then when you don't do speak Spanish and you don't pronounce things properly, then you're really fucked, like, there's no winning. So, I think I was very clear about that from day one. But I remember doing a press for the movie Night School

with Kevin Hart and Tiffany Addish, and it was me, Fat Joe, and Kevin Hart doing Miami Press. And Kevin Hart. They're all expecting you to speak. Kevin Hart looks at me and he goes, wait a second, you don't speak Spanish? He goes, it's the only reason you're here. It's the only reason.

He started cracking up. He thought it was the funniest thing. He's like, I speak more Spanish than you do. I'm like, I don't know. That's cool. Do you think I'm gonna turn down a free trip to Miami to hang out with Fat Joe and Kevin Hart? No.

I'll be here. Another piece that was a really, really fun piece and really like... like a feel-good piece in a lot of ways. They let me do some very silly weird shit. But this was actually a real, it was a really solid piece, last gay standing it was called. Alabama and Mississippi. So who's it gonna be?

Cletus or Betus? It was time to see which one of these backwoods inbred homophobic states will swim the longest against the tide of history. First let's meet some locals to see whose state has the intolerance edge. In this corner, from the state that still has segregated sororities, Alabama lawyer Doug Jones. With regard to same-sex marriage Alabama will be the last state to ratify if we ever ratify. And in the other corner from the state with a Confederate flag inside their own state flag Mississippi columnist Slim Smith. Mississippi will be last and we'll get there kicking and screaming all the way. I wish it weren't true, but it is. So the whole premise of the piece is, you know,

all these states are legalizing gay marriage. Who will be the last state? What are the last five states? And he goes, I think it's gonna be the deep south. And the deep state. I think it's gonna be the deep... You'll cut that out. I think it's gonna be the deep south. So cut that out. I think it's gonna be the deep south.

So you go, and it was hilarious because you were like, because they both were defending their state to be the last one. They both were. I think it'll be because we got lots of them. The irony was really, because they were both like, yeah, we'll be the last one. I mean, the newspaper guy is like,

come on, we still have segregation laws on the books. And then you ask him about sodomy and he goes, well, it's a, I think he said that Doug Jones says it's a misdemeanor and you cut to the other guy and he goes, oh, sodomy is a felony. And they're all trying to outdo how shitty their state is. It's hilarious. So we were in Birmingham and we were in Jackson. And that was the thing is that had we been in this deep, I'll cut you off, but we were in those two cities and that affected the peace and we had no idea.

But keep going. Right, because then you went out. To Waffle Houses. All right, that's it. We'll settle this the old fashioned way. In a waffle house. Y'all, I want everybody to know we met two years ago at a waffle house and I just wanna say,

would you, Michael, would you marry me? This is our anniversary and I just wanted to know from everybody if you would. No, you're not. If you would do this, because this is very special to me. Yes? Yes? Yes? Yes? Yes. Was that clapping?

Okay Mississippi, last chance to bring some authentic anti-gay redneck venom. I want to say in front of everybody, I want to ask you sincerely, would you marry me? Yes. Yes? Yes. Yes? Yes. Yeah. Seriously? These are the two gayest states in the union. No, but the point of the whole thing was everywhere they went, nobody gave a shit. Everywhere they went, no one cared at all.

And actually in... In the Waffle House, they applauded when he proposed. They applauded, and a little boy said, you can't do that here, but not yet, but you can do it here, here, here, here, here, here, and here, and he rattled off all the states where you could get legally married as a gay couple. Oh, I didn't know that. And then they would applaud.

And then I had a very interesting conversation with a guy next to me who I was waiting in the Waffle House, because I'm in this was when Obamacare was coming out. But he told me his wife was waiting in the Waffle House, because I'm in, this was in when Obamacare was coming out, but he told me his wife was a waitress, he was waiting for her to get off her shift, and she made $2.67 per hour. And then they let her keep her tips. And then he was anti-Obamacare,

but they didn't have healthcare at the Waffle House, and I'm like, but you see how this can help you. So I just remember that. And I remember. But the nice thing about the piece was it kind of, it just reminded you, Pete. It reminds you of like, a lot of these issues, people don't care.

It's all the people in power and in the government that make big issues out of these things that nobody gives a shit about. And that's why I just really wish we could have some sort of secure nationwide voting on major issues like that. Yeah, referendums. Let's talk about guns. Like, all right, who wants rifles to know, rifles to exist for hunting and then

let's get rid of automatic weapons. Do we need those? We don't. Yeah, even gun owners want to get rid of that stuff. It's like 80 percent. Yeah, it's nuts. I guess we can talk a little bit more about the bridge piece. That's right. People of Michigan are going to have to pay for the entire... Wait, what did he just say? Michigan will pay nothing for this bridge.

Define nothing. Zero. Zero dollars. Zero outlays. Zero risk. Zero liability. Define zero. No cost to Michigan at all.

Absolutely nothing. Define nothing again. But nothing probably means something, especially when you consider how many times America has been burned by slick-talking Canadians. Look, when politicians tell you that this isn't gonna cost you nothing, grab your wallet, grab your money and run

Break wide, dude The Canadians are saying they're gonna pay for this bridge But I don't trust them and they say a lot of things sometimes in French And they buy our milk at Sam's because the Canadian milk is very expensive True story, what does that have to do with this? Nothing. Canada is offering a Trojan horse. Oh, you think they're going to hide a bunch of Canadians in there and they're just going

to jump out and attack us once the bridge is complete? No, it's not going to be Canadians. It's going to be Chinaman. Yeah. I just want Americans on that bridge. I don't want a Trojan horse delivering China steel and Chinaman. Just FYI, I don't think anyone was using Chinaman anymore. That was one of the best. That was that was a great piece and the people that you talked to were so funny.

I had a guy say. I just remember that I remember the ex. The key party guy? No the ex Black Panther guy. Oh I'm pulled out who In my town. I run this town. I run that town. And then when you tell them, when you go back to all of them to tell them that the bridge is owned. I don't want to tell you how to run your black market business, but. The bridge is owned by an individual,

like a family that owns the bridge, and this is why. Maddie Maroon. And he goes, yeah, I know that. And he pulls one and he goes, he goes, it's all about these politicians that I just, I'll never forget this image. He pulls out this ginormous. And I just go like this.

What? This ginormous wad that's like, it must be four inches thick of cash. And he waves it around going, it's all about the cash. I'm like, the cash guys got like thousands of dollars in cash he was so big he was a giant and I go and he's like I run this town yeah yeah I know that guy owns a bridge so what I don't want to they had paid them off I yeah we were in we were in a and the woman do

you remember the housewife yeah Yeah, and the milk prices. They come over here, you know. You know they come over here to buy their milk. You know that, right? Canadians, shifty. And I go, what does that have to do with any of this? I don't know, but. And then there's a guy.

And then the Chinese. The guy, the tea partyer guy who goes, he said China man. And I go, hey, just FYI, I don't think they call him China anymore. And I go, hey, just FYI, I don't think they call him China anymore, and I go, and they go, I think this got cut out. I go, they prefer Oriental. Yes, that did get cut out.

Because I remember that was, that was a joke that we all wanted to keep. But they cut it out as we went along. They were like, yeah, that's a little too much. So, it was funny. And then we got to do that stylized Clint Eastwood Chrysler 300 piece with the steam. I drove around in GoPros with the pros attached to the car. Yeah.

We did the bridge section. It's like the M&M thing. The M&M like, yeah. If I remember you found a toll booth. We couldn't shoot. But you faked it. Oh my gosh. The toll booth, remember?

Yeah. And you keep, you keep, because we have you, we have you driving. You can't shoot on any, because of Homeland Security, you can't shoot on any bridge. So you kept, but in this, in the piece, you keep driving on the bridge and trying to talk to the toll booth collector.

I'm here to talk to Maddie Maroon, the guy who owns the bridge. 475, sir. Thank you. So yeah, the guy who owns the bridge is named collector. Oh, they're fine. Denise, don't you think it's a little odd that one man owns a bridge? You need to stop f***ing around. Go and watch this piece again. We found a New Jersey Six Flags and made their ticket booth look like a toll booth. It was great.

You even had cars going by in the background. It was such a brilliant production. And then I remember John coming in the edit bay and he goes, how did you do this? This is amazing. And we looked at each other and we're like, movie magic. Do you really want to know? He goes, yes, tell me.

And then when he goes, no, he walked out and he walked back in and he goes, fine, just tell me what you did. I go, I can't shoot on any bridge. So that's kind of a reenactment at a New Jersey Six Flags. And if you look at closely, the same production van drives through three times, faking traffic. It's all sound effects for the horns. Yeah.

Yeah, that was a fun piece. That was a really fun piece. And she was a great actress, too. Yeah. The last one on my list of my favorite series is, of course, Tanks, Tanks, Tanks. Oh, I got to drive tanks. Tanks, tanks, tanks, little tanks, big tanks.

Does your country need tanks? We got more tanks than we know what to do with at Big Al's Western Tank Emporium. And they're not just for attacking Africa. They could do it all. Juicing, printing, packing, clutter, and of course, navigating traffic. We will not be undersold because I'm outmadra-gal

about tanks. We may invade you with a ground war and destroy the tanks we sold you in the first place. There's a place in Casota? Minneapolis? Where you can drive a tank. I've shot machine guns so much on this show. I shot a Tommy gun in there that didn't even make the piece.

They're like, do you want to go shoot a Tommy gun? I'm like, yeah, sure. I'll shoot a Tommy gun. And then I got to drive these tanks. But the thing is, it was such a weird place. So the piece for the listeners, the piece was they were there's a the United States government is still buying tanks. There's no well, there's a factory.

The story was there's a factory in Ohio, I think. Some of the details of manufacturing tanks, manufacturing tanks, and it's all and it's all. Some of the details and manufacturing tank manufacturing tank and it's all and it's all It was all part of some pork from some Ohio Senator yes, that's kind of where it was. There's miles con. Yeah miles and So this factory keep and you talk to a general if you remember a retired general. It's like higher general We got we don't need any more tanks. We got plenty of times up here stops Yeah, and so so they keep building. There's like, and this, the factory has like 80 employees.

It wasn't like a ton of people, but this guy makes a big stink about like, we can't shut down the factory. We can't lose these 80 jobs. And so there's all these extra tanks and they just put them in this graveyard out in Utah. There's a tank graveyard with, they all cost a ridiculous amount of money. So then we end the piece with you, like a I use well you like a used car salesman trying to sell tanks Then don't I get and you get in a tank and you start crushing you got like you got to get a tank It's like the bed and then you you crush like toys and stuff. They had me crush two Saturns

Oh wait, you you crush cars, that's right. I crushed cars driving a tank. That's right. This job was so amazing. They bought some beat up old used cars and you crushed them. But there was a lady. Tanks, tanks, tanks.

This place has a woman, like they have these attractive woman in a bikini that was like, is supposed to like rub your shoulders while you drive the tank. I don't know who wants this. I don't remember that. No, she didn't make the piece, but that's what this place was. Yeah, it was...

It was like chicks in... Where was it, like North Carolina or something? A chick with an automatic rifle on it. Was it in the Carolinas? Where was it? It was in Minneapolis. Oh, wow. At like an hour and a half outside minute. And I think it was like,

Casota, Minnesota or something like that. Yeah. All right, so I guess we're running out of time here, Al. Minute like an hour and a half outside minute and I think it was like a soda of Minnesota or something Yeah, all right, so I guess we're running out of time here. I gotta go rehearse. Yeah Great seeing you are doing You're now on Lopez look Lopez versus Lopez. Yeah, I'm on George Lopez's sitcom, which is the best Daughter Mayan and I play a stoner on on a multicam, which is the best gig ever. And I also write, so I have a CBS overall deal, so I write TV shows and develop stuff for CBS.

And then I'm back on the road doing stand-ups, so please come out and see me do some stand-up comedy. I think I have a bunch of dates, Austin, Chicago, Milwaukee, Madison. Website. I should put things on a website. I don't care. Yeah.

This is, you're gonna be the only people who know. So please come out and see me just stand up. It'll be fun. Glad to have you back in the building. Love being back in the building. Yeah. All right. You need to come more often.

Sure, anytime. If only there were Latinos who were in the news. Explore more shows from the Daily Show Podcast Universe Sure, anytime. If only there were Latinos were in the news.