The Daily Show: Ears Edition - Correspondent Spotlight: The Best of Ed Helms

Episode Date: August 21, 2023

Former Daily Show Correspondent Ed Helms investigates why liquor and firearms don't mix and checks in on Massachusetts' response to gay marriage. He also sits down with Trevor to discuss the success of working with one of the largest Native American writing rooms on “Rutherford Falls,” how it feels to be back in The Daily Show studio, and his anything-goes approach to comedy.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Survivor 47 is here, which means we're bringing you a brand new season of the only official survivor podcast on fire. And this season we are joined by fan favorite and Survivor 46 runner-up, Charlie, Charlie, I'm excited to do this together. Thanks, Jeff. So excited to be here, and I can't wait to bring you inside the mind of a survivor player for season 47. Listen to On Fire the official survivor podcast starting September 18th wherever you get your podcast. You're listening to Comedy Central. Another issue dear to the hearts of American is the right to bear arms. But how secure is that right? Well our own Ed Helms recently traveled to Arizona to bear arms. But how secure is that right? Well, our own Ed Helms

recently traveled to Arizona to find out. Arizona state legislator Randy Graf values our Second Amendment right to bear arms. And I don't see why that right should be abridged. Well, you're doing just about anything. So he proposed a bill that would close a bizarre loophole in Arizona law. Senate Bill 1210 is a very simple measure that a bill that would close a bizarre loophole in Arizona law. Senate bill 1210 is a very simple measure that would change our Arizona statutes and allow the carry of weapons into establishments that serve alcohol. You heard him right. For some insane reason bars in Arizona are currently gun-free.

Is there anything more terrifying than a room full of people without guns? I guess what would be more terrifying would be a room full of people not allowed to have guns. I just got chills. Graf's bill to allow guns and bars has already passed the house.

But even common sense ideas have their opponents, like Democratic representative John Laredo. When people drink, we don't allow them to drive. Why? Well, because their motor skills are inhibited and their judgment is inhibited. Drinking and driving is illegal because cars can crash and kill people. A gun is hardly a car. A gun is more dangerous than a car if you've got alcohol involved.

So I'm just saying that guns and bars shouldn't be allowed with alcohol. I'm just, there's no need to shout, okay? Don't be shouting at me. As a gun-owning former Marine, John Laredo is hardly qualified to evaluate gun laws. Unlike Randy Graf, whose views are informed by his experience as a golf pro. For me, it's relatively simple. For many years, I had to interpret the rules of golf. And the rules of golf book is 65 pages or so long.

We've got our Constitution here. I read that as my newest rule book. If the Arizona legislature passes this bill, then... I'm sorry, can we go back for a second here? Did he just compare the Constitution to a book of golf rules? Oh man, I love this guy! Anyway, the majority of the people that we've heard from are very opposed to this legislation. So aren't you just coutowing to the majority of Arizonians? I think any reasonable, rational person... You're coutowing to me, aren't you just coutowing to the majority of Arizonians? I think any reasonable, rational person...

You're coutowing to me, aren't you? Look, if you're so paranoid that you don't believe you can walk into a bar without a gun, then you probably shouldn't be there in the first place. What are you going to do if a bear walks into a bar and you're unarmed? You're going to get eaten by that bear. So how will this law affect those on the front lines? I spoke with Ernie Ross, who owns the Steelhorse Saloon, a local drinking establishment for motorcycle enthusiasts.

Evidently, the person who is behind trying to push this bill has no experience in the bar business. Liquor and firearms don't mix. Alcohol causes conflicts. Firearms resolve conflicts. It's a no blame. Um, logic tells you that alcohol and firearms don't mix. If, yeah, if you're a pussy. If you're a pussy. Ernie and I had a delightful chat, a rational exchange of ideas. All right, you're calling me a pussy.

So would you prefer me taking this bottle of beer I got in my hand and cracking it over your fucking face? Or do you prefer me reaching to my back, pulling on my firearm, and putting a bullet between your eyes? Which do you prefer? I would say if you hit me over the face with a bo th, th, th, the the the the the th, the the th, the the th, the the th, the the the th, th, the th, th, the th, th, th, th, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, their, thi, thi, their, their, their, the, a the, a the, a the, a the, a the, a the, a the, a the, a the, a the, a the, a the, a the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, thi, and I, and I thi, thi, and I' thi, thi, thi, thrui, and I'eauia'ea'eruia'eruia, thia'erui, thi, thi, thi, thi, their, my firearm, and putting a bullet between your eyes. Which do you prefer? I would say if you hit me over the face with the beer bottle, then you're being a pussy. To prove to the pussies that guns and liquor do mix, I conducted a tool. I conducted a scientific experiment. I'll be right back.

I did find that a small amount of alcohol made me somewhat more aggressive. Yeah. But with the appropriate dosage, my behavior changed completely. You. Shut up. Oh man, come here. Come here. Give me a hug.

I headed back to the Steelhorse Saloon and had the time of my life. Shut up! Get out of here! That is until I reminded them that they're all a bunch of pussies. If only I'd brought my gun. Shut up. The future of America is in your hands. This is not a movie trailer, and it's not a political ad, but it is a call to action.

I'm Mila Atmos and I'm passionate about unlocking the power of everyday citizens. On our podcast, future hindsight, we take big ideas about civic life and democracy and turn them into action items for you and me. Every Thursday, we talk to bold activists and civic innovators to help you understand your power and your power to change the status quo. Find us at Future Hindsight.com or wherever you listen to podcasts. In the last few years, America's so-called culture war has been sadly overshadowed by our so-called war war.

But societal battles continue to be raged all across the country at Helms, reports on one. Last year, Massachusetts became the first date to allow gay marriage, and critics feared the worst. If gay marriage is legalized madam then you're going to have to legalize polygamy. To redefine marriage is really to redefine it out of existence. A breakdown of the family children being born out of wedlock and communities and cultures and decay. Now just one year later Massachusetts pro-family activist Brian Kamenkerk believes those fears have become reality.

You know, the gay marriage issue is destructive on many levels. You have to deal with it in business, you have to deal with it in the public school. So the quality of life has decreased? Yeah. Homelessness has gone up? I can, you know. Crime rates? Crime rates? Crime rates?

Air quality? I mean, let me put it this way. I could sit here and I could probably, you know, find some way of connecting the dots to gay marriage to all of these if I had enough time and I did some research. Yeah, why take time to do the research when saying it is so much faster? Besides, the statistics are clear cut. Now that gay marriage is legal, Massachusetts ranks dead last in illiteracy, 48th in per capita

poverty and a pathetic 49th in total divorces. Somehow Don and Robert, one of the state's first married gay couples, don't see the problem. A lot of things that affect the state of Massachusetts far more profoundly than, you know, two people who love each other in getting married. Name one thing in Massachusetts that's not ruined. Well, I guess I'll look at the other way around. I mean, I can't think of anything that gay marriage has actually caused other than letting people get married.

Easy for them to say. How does legalized gay marriage affect your relationship with your wife? Oh, God, that's such a ridiculous question. I don't even want to answer it. Are you like asking me the the good the good the good the good the good the good the good the good the good good good good the good good good to to be the good good good good to get to get to get the good to get the good good good good good good good to get to be to be the the other to be a good good good good good good good good to be the other to be a good good good good good good good good to be a good good to be a good to be a good to be a good to be a good good good good good good good good good good good good good good good good good good good good good good good good good good good good good good good good good good good good good good good good good good good good to be to be to be to be to be to get to get to get to get to get to get to get to get to get to get to get to get to get to get to get to get to get to get to get to get to get married. I to get to get to get married. I to get to get to get to get married. I to to the. I thea. I the. I to th's such a ridiculous question. I don't even want to answer. Are you like asking me serious questions or not? Of course. Okay, good. Is it hard to stay interested in your wife with temptation out there?

What are some other gay activities you haven't indulged in? Indulged it, what do you mean? Is it? The damage isn't limited to straight marriages. Has legalized same-sex marriages led to more homosexuals? I think that in the Broadway it has. Of course the Broadway has always had its share of homosexuals, but in a broader sense, just how gay has Massachusetts become.

To find out, I'll be using this gay detection device. It's kind of a radar for gayness, or gay radar. It's called a homometer. I calibrated the meter and began my investigation. Ugly, I hate it, I hate that, but so stupid. Oh, that's so stupid. Oh, that's so stupid. Fabulous, fabulous, fabulous, fabulous. I hate it. I hate that, but so... Oh my god. Oh my god, it's so gay! Oh my god, it's so gay! That's so gay! This thing's f-fix up.

What does the insidious infiltration of gayness mean for the state? You know, it's a little scary as to where this movement might be headed. Gay activists use a lot of the PR tactics and propaganda tactics that the Nazis used. That comparison's a bit extreme, don't you think? I mean, what do the Nazis do that was so bad? Perhaps no comparison captures the perversity of what marriage means to gays. A companion through thick and thin, a warm bed at night.

Yeah, someone to share your life with, someone to grow old with. Yeah. That's disgusting. Ed Helms, we'll be right back. We're raising, you know, the gay flag over Boston City Hall. I know what you're saying. I used to come here and no one would f-meat now. Forget about it. The future of America is in your hands. The future of America is in your hands.

This is not a movie trailer, and it's not a political ad, but it is a call to action. I'm Mila Atmos and I'm passionate about unlocking the power of everyday citizens. On our podcast, future hindsight, we take big ideas about civic life and democracy and turn them into action items for you and me. Every Thursday, we talk to bold activists and civic innovators to help you understand your power and your power to change the status quo. Find us at Future Hindsight.com or wherever you listen to podcasts. My guest tonight is actor, writer, and producer Ed Helms.

He's here to talk to us about his show, Rutherford Falls, which he co-created and stars in. Please welcome, Ed Helms! It helps. All right. All right. Welcome to the Daily Show. Thank you so much. It's a little weird because you worked in this very same studio for how many years? Like four and a half years. Four and a half years. Yeah. I like what you've done with the place.

Oh, thank you very much. Yeah, spruced it up a little bit. We had a little pandemic in the middle, you know, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, touched, touched, th and th and tho, thi, tho, tho, th, th, th, for th, for th, for th, for th, for th, for th, for thi, for, for, for, for, for, for, for, for, for, for, thi, th and th and th and th and th and th and th and th and th and th and th. And, th. And, th. And, th. And, thi. And, thi. And, thi. And, thi. And, thi. thou? Right, thaugh, tha, thoua. Right, thaugh, they. Right, thoua, tha. Right, tha. Right, tha. Oh, thank you very much. Oh, thank you very much. Yeah, spruced it up a little bit. We had a little pandemic in the middle, you know, you know, tou tou. Yeah, you know, Yeah, that's a few things up, you know, yeah, but your stuff. Yeah, but thrown. you. today, you're. Wo. the the the th. the th. th. the th. th. th. the the th. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. the you. And by the way, I love what you have done not only with the furniture, but with the show, you're crushing it. Trevor Tremendous. Yes. I love what you've done with everything. I love what you've done with everything. Thank you.

Because I mean, you're easily one of the funniest people around. You know, many people were introduced to you, you know just been so funny. And Rutherford, when I first read about it, it seemed like, oh, you're trying to throw it all away. Because it was a story of, really, it seems like a crazy story. It's like, oh, I'm going to play a white guy who goes into a Native American community and basically like fights with them about their own land. It doesn't seem like comedy. funny and it's a great story. Yeah well it's you know I guess that was that was the challenge was to try to keep that character sympathetic. I mean it really is like that the show was born out of this observation just that people were kind of

not listening to each other and being crazy and and and so we wanted to kind of to kind of depict somebody who is having trouble kind of hearing opposing views or hearing some that maybe his interpretation of history is very wrong. And yet also that that can be a good person who wants to do better also. Can I tell you what I love about the show is that it's funny, it's poignant, it has, I think, I'll stand to be corrected, possibly the largest Native American writing room in all of television maybe. It's like giant, it's up there. It's up there. You have like a Native American class. You've done the

thing that everyone says is impossible. Everyone goes like, if you include people, then white people don't work. And it's like, you're working, they're working. It's a great shows. We're need for season two. I'm doing okay. You're doing okay. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. There's another show called Reservation Dogs, which is also amazing. Yeah. Amazing. And that show has a ton of Native American writers and directors. A lot of our directors, we've shared a lot of directors between the shows. And yeah, it's just, it's been an incredibly humbling experience for me. I think before getting into this, I intellectually understood the value of representation.

And I would, I could talk about it very fluently and advocate for it but but being in this experience has just like really Made it kick in for me in a way that I don't know it's been it's been incredible. It shows you know Because like the jokes that you're telling the storylines that you that you have it doesn't become Something that it's not supposed to be it becomes fresh. It becomes authentic. I mean, that's why it's threat. It's that's th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. the th. th. the the the th. the the the the the the the the th. the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the th. the the th. th. th. thi. the the the they. they. they. they. te. they. tea. they. they. they. the the. thi. the. the. th. not supposed to be. It becomes fresh, it becomes authentic. I mean, that's why it got renewed, is what I think. You know, it's like season two. It's an exciting season change as well. I don't want to spoil anything for those who haven't seen the first season, but essentially, your character comes into this world

where he's try thing in the past. But as we go into season two, the journey changes slightly. What can you tell us about it? So yeah, we left at the end of season one, my character really had this catastrophic identity crisis. And I think going into, and all of season one really, I think my co-creators, Mike Schur and Sierra Teller Ornellis, the three of us really wanted to grapple with some big ideas and some big issues. Season two, we were like, well, we kind of did a lot of homework in season one and this ensemble is so funny and our writers are so full, let's just like lean into the comedy more. So I think this season, we still, there's still a lot of very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, and, their, to, to, to, and, and, to, to, to, to, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, to, and, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, lean into the comedy more. And so I think this season, we still, there's still a lot of very sharp satire

that I'm very, very proud of, but it's also, it's more joyful, it's sillier, it's just, I don't know. When you say lean into the comedy more, I'm excited but I'm also a little worried because, no, I've heard stories about you. I've heard stories. tholk, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I've, I've, I've, I've, I've, I've heard, I've heard, I've heard, I've heard, I've heard, I've heard, I've heard, I've heard, I've heard, I've heard, I've heard, I've heard, I've heard, I've, I've heard, I've heard stories, I've heard, I've, I've, I've, I've, I've, I've, I've, I've, I've, I've, I've, I've, I've, I've, I've, I've, I've, I've, I've, I've, I've, I've, I've, I've, I've, I've, I've, I've, I've, I've, I've, I've, I've, I've, I've th..... th. the. the the the the the the the the the the the the the th. tho, tho. th. th. tho. th. th. tho. th. th. tho. th. thr. the the the the the the thr. thr. mean, at the Daily Show, you know, with John Stewart when you were correspondent, you had a mole removed on camera for the show. Yeah, that's true. Like actually, like the procedure done. Yeah, yeah. On the hangover, you allowed them to take out one of your teeth. Yes. For the movie, that's like a real, that's really happened. Yeah, you see that. You see that. You see you were like like, you were like, you were like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, like, the, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, oh, special effects, no. That was just him. It was just him being affected. That's all it was.

So when you say lean in, are you still willing to do the craziest thing for the moat? So season two of this show, I remove, I get decapitated. For real. My head. It's like, and, you know, thankfully, we've got great doctors and everything. It's like, I'm fine as you can see, but yeah, I go the extra mile. You really do though. I'm super committed, super method. Yeah, like, do you

do your family and friends worry about you? Because I know people who go the extra mile for comedy, like, does your dentist worry? Do you know, do your doctors worry? Yeah, I guess there's nothing, I don't know if this is a good thing, but there is virtually a thii....... I thi, I thi, I thi, I thi, I thi, I thi, I thi, I thi, I don't, I don't, I don't, I don't, I don't, I don't, I don't, I don't, I don't, I don't, I don't, I don't, I don't, I'm thi, thi, thi, thi, th. Do, th. Do, th. Do, th. Do, th. Do, their, their, th. I'm, th. I'm, th. I'm, th. I'm, th. I'm, th. th. th. th. th. th. their, th. th. th. their, th. thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, that, their, thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. their, their, their, thi. thi, the a good thing, but there is virtually nothing I won't do for a laugh. I have no pride or dignity. And so that's a very freeing thing in show business. I think it's not just freeing, it's the reason you're one of the funniest, most amazing people that we get to watch on screen. Thank you for being on the show.

Thank you for joining me here. I appreciate you. Huge fans. Explore more shows from the Daily Show podcast universe by searching the Daily Show, wherever you get your podcasts. Watch the Daily Show weeknights at 11, 10 Central on Comedy Central and stream full episodes anytime on Fairmount Plus. This has been a Comedy Central Podcast. Survivor 47 is here, which means we're bringing you a brand new season of the only official Survivor podcast on Fire, and this season we are joined by Fan Favorite and Survivor 46 runner-up, Charlie Davis to bring you even further inside the action. Charlie, I'm excited to do this together. Thanks, Jeff. So excited to be here, and I can't wait to bring you inside the mind of a survivor player for

season 47. Listen to on fire the official survivor podcast starting September 18th wherever you get your podcast.