The Daily Show: Ears Edition - Ed Helms and Jordan Klepper on Finding Authenticity as a TDS Correspondent | Behind the Show

Episode Date: August 26, 2024

Past and present generations of Daily Show correspondents unite as Jordan Klepper and Ed Helms discuss Ed’s journey to The Daily Show, how Ed found his voice as a correspondent, and how he’s picked projects since then, including The Office and his current podcast, SNAFU with Ed Helms. 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 the Daily Show Ears Edition. This is Jordan Clepper and I'm excited to be joined today by a Daily Show Trailblazer, the great Ed Helms. Ed, welcome.

Well, hello, thank you so much for having me. Thank you for being here. That's a pleasure. What's it feel like to come back into the daily show studio and fold? What are the first thoughts that's thoughts?............... And, the first, the first, thiii. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. tho. toea. toea. toea. to bea. the toea. toe. toe. toe. toe. toe. to bea, to bea, to bea, to bea, to bea, to bea, to bea, toe, toe, toe, toe, toe. And, toe. And, toe. And, toe. And, toe. And, toe. toe. toe. toe. toe. toe. toe. the the the the the the the the the tha. the tha. the the tha. the tha. the the the the the tha. the tha. the toea. the door. Is that lots of tension, anger, frustration. Decades have just built up anxiety? Yeah, Rick, contempt. No, I have to say like for one thing the studio is and not just the studio itself but the offices, the building, everything, it's so beautiful now. Yeah. Back in my day, I'm probably going to say that a lot. It was, uh, it was, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, th, th, the, the, the the the the the the the the 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. th. th. the the the the the the the the the th. th. the the thi, thi, the thi, the the the. the the the the to the the the the the theeeee. the. the. the. the. the. the. the offices, the building, everything, it's so beautiful now. Back in my day, I'm probably going to say that a lot. It was just a little more, I don't know, frumpy?

And now it's like sexy. It's like a cool, it's like very, like a cool workplace. Too sexy? No, no, like just right. It's got good vibes. And of course, there are a lot of people that still work thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, I's thi, I'm thi, I'm thi, I'm thoes, I'm thi, I'm thi, I'm, I'm, I'm, I's, I's, I's, I's, I's, I's, I's, I I's, I's, I I I's, I's, I's, I I's, I I's, I's, I's, I's, I's, I's, I's, I's, I's, I's, I's, I's, I's, I's, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm tho, tho, tho.a.a, thoooooooooooo.a.a. And, tha. And, tha. And, tha. And, tha, thooo. And, I'm tha, I'm like just right. It's got good, it's got good vibes. And of course, there are a lot of people that still work here that I know and love, and so it's really of just absolute delight to walk back in the door. I cannot overstate how fun it is to see people. And even like newer folks, and you're not new to the show by any stretch, but you're

new by my standards. Yes, by the long look of time. Yes. If you look at that, there's the Paleolithic, the Colbert, the Helm, the Cordry, Pliocenes, and then yes, I'm one of the newer ones. Yeah, that you're of the Hominid era. And, um, but you're also lovely. And it's just so cool to meet and connect with new folks too. So we all share this this tedious bond. Yeah, it's a land that they say the no assholes rule, but there usually is one. Was that who was that for you?

Who was the asshole? Gosh, there were a lot of assholes. Let's be honest. Cordry, oh, the worst. Colbert, the huge asshole, Correll, big asshole, every, it was a no-nice people rule. Everyone, you had to be an asshole. Yeah, I take that back. I said the no-asshole thing, but I think I meant the direct opposite. No, it's a good, it's always, yeah, it's always been a good vibe. Do you remember the the Daily Show audition? I do, yeah, very vividly.

You were, no, correct me if I'm wrong, you came from improv UCB Land. Correct, to some degree, but I was also like very deep in the stand-up community. So at that time in New York, improv was pretty fresh. There wasn't like a very well-established improv scene. The Upright Citizens Brigade kind of came on strong in about 99, 2000. I had started doing stand-up in New York around 96 when I graduated from college. I came straight here and just jumped into all the open mics and stuff that I could do. And I was just starting to, like, get some, som, the the them, the them, them, them, them, them, them, them, them, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well well well well well well well well well well well well well well well well well well well well well well well well well well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, the the the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, here and just jumped into all the open mics and stuff that I could do. And I was just starting to like get some, you know, just the tiniest bit of credibility

as a city club comic, like just getting tiny little bits here or hosting spots there. But getting up at all of the legit clubs. meanwhile, the Upright Citizens Brigade really came on strong in about 99, and I was like, that looks really cool and fun too. So I started doing that also, but it's unclear to me exactly what put me on Comedy Central's radar. I think it was the stand-up. Because Naomi Frisch was the head of talent in New York for Comedy Central, and she was like in the comedy clubs all the time.

So I think it was more of the stand-up. But the audition that I went on was an open cattle call. It was massive. Yeah, everyone in town, everyone I knew was going on this audition. It was at one of the commercial casting companies. I mean, there were hundreds of people. Yeah. Similar type situation, you do essentially, what we call it the Daily Show, a chat?

Well, or did you have to write a chat for the audition? There were two steps. The first was this, like, massive cattle call. And they just gave you a script when you got there and so you didn't have any time to really like prepare for it and then you just walked in and did it to camera but I was such a student of the show at that point because I'd been really obsessed with it and it was like in my imagination I was like I'm gonna be on Saturday Night Live or the Daily Show

like these are my two like North Stars I had two North stars I had two North stars the th stars. the th stars. the th stars. th stars. th stars. th stars. th. to to to to th. to the to th. I th. I th. I th. I th. I th. I th. I the the the the the the th. I the the the thi thi 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 the the the the the the the the the th the th th th th th th th th th th th th th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. thi thi ti ti ti ti ti ti ti ti ti ti ti ti ti ti ti their their their their th Night Live or the Daily Show. Like, these are my two North Stars. I had two North Stars. Most people have one. I had two. It's tough directionally. It's tough directionally. It's terrible for navigation to have two North Stars. But I had been sort of like cultivating my S&L audition, like getting that kind of like ready to go.

And I was like, whichever one comes first, I'm just gonna jump at it. So I was really a student of the show and I was watching it religiously, advanced to Generous and Mo Rocca, and of course Colbert and Corel were both on, and I watched it every single night. And I got to a point where I was like, I know all the tricks.

I know what these guys do. I know how they talk. I know how they arched their eyebrows. I know when they arched their eyes. So like, there's really a craft to correspondenting. And I studied it. I got the audition right at the sort of like peak of my daily show preparation, which was a very lucky moment. But I walked into that audition, like,

I remember sitting there in the waiting room and there there was tons of people, and I was like, all you suckers, no way. I know what I'm doing. Like, I walked into that audition with, like, a kind of confidence that I definitely did not earn. Or have any right to have that that that that that that that that that that that to have that that that that that that that that that that to have that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that audition with like a kind of confidence that I definitely did not earn or have any right to have, but for some reason I just felt prepared. Was that the case with other auditions you would walk into or was it like this one you're

like I know this? It's a good question. At that point, I was doing commercial voiceover auditions every day, like five or six auditions a day. So I really had this muscle tuned and I could walk into an audition, like, you know, do my best and walk out and never think about it again. And with voiceovers, a good booking ratio for voiceovers might be like one in 30 auditions. And that's a good ratio, but that's also you're booking like one a week.

That means you're a badass voiceover actor, but it also means you're auditioning like thousands of times. And so I just had this like audition muscle very finely tuned, and that served me in my daily show audition. So I walked in, I knew the casting director. She was a friend of mine at that point. I had th, I had th, I had th, I had th, I had th, I had th, I had th, I had the casting director. She was a friend of mine at that point. I'd been in her office a thousand times and I just did the audition best I could. I walked out. I was like, I think I did pretty well.

Oh, this is the other thing. They gave me a script that I had just seen Colbert do on the show. Like, it was maybe two weeks old. So they're like, they're throw these auditioners. Yeah, we'll throw these auditioners a curveball. This is from two weeks ago, but I'm like, can't fool me. I've been watching every night. So I had just seen Colbert do this exact script. Were you in your head about, I feel like that is the challenge in that.

You study it, you know the rhythms, and you know like the responsibilities of that and where the hell, how do I understand the Colbert rhythm but balance the helms in this? I will say that what you're asking came maybe a year later. In that moment I was like, how do I do this in exactly the way Stephen Colbert did it. Truly, like that's all I thought about was like he is the sort of like perfect version of this job.

How do I do it like him? And that served me because I then got the callback. And the callback was a chat in the studio with John. And there were five of us that got callbacks from that massive cattle call. Yeah. Now I'm really nervous. I was still confident, but I was super nervous. But again they gave us a script that they I had just seen on the show

like two weeks before. And so I felt like okay I know how to do this. In Salt Lake City things have gone remarkably smoothly so far thanks to an unprecedented level of security in and around these Olympic Games. with more it's our chief security analyst, Ed, thanks for joining us. Talk to us a little bit about the security of these games. John, these Olympics are undoubtedly the safest ever. The perimeter of the site is surrounded by an elaborate fencing system, electronic surveillance checkpoints at every entrance. X-ray equipment at each venue, machine gun turrets here, here and here.

Packs of white wolves roaming the grounds freely devouring everything in their path. Remote-controlled laser-guided penguins with bombs for heads. The top of Mount Allen pops open, revealing a death ray, capable of destroying a small moon. Okay, moving on to the... Also, 12,000 security personnel from federal, state and local agencies. Agents patrolling the backcountry, some making rounds on skis. Others are employing camouflage. Well, I guess that's to assist with hazardous materials. Ice skates and ski blades have been dulled. Hockey pucks are made of some kind of space-age nerf and biathlon athletes will hug instead of shoot. So the hazards are all taken care of I guess everything's under control so we

can... Except for one. It's winter. Ice-cicles everywhere. You could stab someone. It's the perfect crime. There's no prince. There's no weapon. All that's left is a puddle. Water keeps it secrets. John? Thank you, Ed.

That audition round, I think, me and Cordry and then three other comedy people that we knew were in that last round and Rob and I got hired. Did you know it afterwards? Did you like, oh, I got that? I got that. No, I don't think so. I think it was a day or two later that I got the call and actually. In your bones, though, I thin, I thinn't, I felt good. I had no idea if I was going to get it, but I had learned through thousands of auditions that if you can just do your best, that's like a home run.

Because it's really never, ever up to you. And even if you think you're right for something, if the person who's casting it doesn't think you're right for it, guess what matters? That opinion, not yours. And that was something that got beat into me as a voiceover actor was this idea that like the audition process is so completely totally out of your control.

And I think it takes a lot of actors a long time to actually internalize that. And that's that's that's that's that's that's th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, thi thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, th, th, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, that that that that that that that that that that that thin, that that thin, that that that that, that, that, that, that, think it takes a lot of actors a long time to actually internalize that. And that's where voiceovers was such a kind of like hack for me because the volume of voiceover auditions at that time was so massive. Yeah. And I was going on so many. I became a full-time voiceover person. It's all I did. I went on from like five, six, seven, eight auditions a day. I was in recording sessions two or three days a week for different products, this, that, or the other. Like sometimes like little radio spots, sometimes giant ad campaigns. I was a seriously working voiceover guy. Is your agent from 2000 still taking clients? Is that possible?

Can you pass my name along? I had really, really great agents at that time. Yeah, it was a wonderful little moment in my career. The Cunningham Esco, Sleven and DePiney crew, big shout out and credit to all of them. A really wonderful agents. Then you shift into getting that daily show gig. Yeah. You audition, when I went on my audition,

they test you on how to be in the studio and be ready in the studio, be able to do a chat, be at the desk, but half of the job of being a correspondent is get your ass in the field and do one of the weirdest jobs in comedy. Totally. Sit in a chair across from what could be a very important person, what could be a very strange person, could be a very angry person, and then tell jokes to their face. Yeah. How did that feel for you? You come across and seem to be a very kind, nice person. I think Colbert famously asks and is told correspondence to like leave your soul on a hangar

back in the studio. You have to kind of go out with balls and no fear and say these.. And their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their to their to their to to their to to to to sit to sit to sit to sit their jokes. to sit to sit to sit in to sit in to sit in to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to sit to sit to sit to sit to sit to sit to sit their to sit their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their the in the studio. Yeah. You have to kind of go out with with balls and no fear and see these rooms and talk to these folks. In the bar business. Liquor and firearms don't mix. Alcohol causes conflicts. Firearms resolve conflicts. It's no no banner. Um, Logic tells you that alcohol and firearms don't mix. 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 you prefer me reaching to my back, the back, and the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the firearms the firearms the firearms the firearms the fire the fire the fire the fire the fire the fire the fire the fire the fire the fire the fire the fire th firearms and th firearms and the firearms and the fire thir thir thir thir thir thir thir thir and their and their and their and their and their and their and their and their and their and their and their and fire and fire the firearms and fire the firearms and fire the firearms and fire the fire the fire the fire the fire the the the the the the the the the th. th. the th. thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the their firearms firearms thi thi thi thi thi thi thi the me taking this bottle of beer I got in my hand and cracking it over your f-fee face or you prefer me reaching to my back, pulling out 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. Was that easy to wear? No, that was incredibly uncomfortable for me. I am a Southern boy raised by a mom and dad who want to make everybody comfortable and keep

the peace and I think my career choice is a bit of a reaction to that, but of course I could never fully shed that either. And so that job of being deliberately awkward with someone, being deliberately confrontational or even like, at times, kind of mean, it did not sit well with me. And it was a challenge every time. And the ones that, where I had a ton of fun were really the ones where I could just be silly or incredibly stupid or incredibly silly. That to me was, it comes very

easily to me to be very stupid. But but then you know you kind of get the most affirmation from the ones that are like real conflicty. I got good at it. I got to where I could do it, but it always, you know, it always felt like a little bit of, um, like I was giving up something a little bit. And I, and weirdly, I'm actually incredibly proud of a lot of those things and a lot of those moments, but it never stopped being just kind of like, never stopped feeling like it was just against the grain of my, just like who I am or something. No, I always felt that when you could be silly in a field piece or doing something even very public, but where it's very clear the joke is on you, it felt like a form of like the theater performance. Yeah, yeah, you get to be the gesture in this big space,

and everybody understands the point of view. I remember doing some of my first field pieces and then watching the tape afterwards and having that sense of I got some Midwest nice in me and that feeling of like oh instinctively with strangers I want to make everybody feel comfortable in that space. Yeah. And I remember Jason Jones telling me at the time he was like you have to let them sit in. the si si si si si si si si si si si si si si si si si si si si si si si. 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 their. I. I. I. I'm. I. I'm. I'm. I'm. I'm. I'm. I'm. I'm. I'm. I'm. I'm. I'm. I'm. I'm. I'm. I'm. I'm. I their. I their. I their. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I I. I I. I. I I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I the. I the. I'm. I'm. I'm. I'm. I'm. And. And. And. And. And. And. And. And. And. And. And. And. And. And. And. And. t. And. And. And. And. And. And. And. And. And. And. And. And. And. And. I'm. I you have to let them sit in that silence. Yes. And let them fill that with something. That's when they talk and reveal themselves, CEO. And it was like, well, that's what I feel the worst. Right, right, right.

Right. I hate this silence. Yeah. I want to cover it up. Even if I sn But that's kind of the gold we're aiming for. Yeah. Yeah, I'll say two things. I think Corel really paved the way for the silly version of stories. Like, Advanced DeGeneres and Colbert were so good at the more sort of like sardonic or ironic

attack dog kind of angle. And then Correll was so good at the like, just dumb, like sweet, dumb reporter that could somehow also be like laser sharp satire. And that I think also was what was so special about the two of them, is that they really weren't doing the same thing. Like they didn't have the same comedy game. And all of us that came after, we're always trying to kind to kind to kind to kind to kind to kind to kind to kind to kind to kind kind to kind kind kind kind kind kind kind kind kind kind kind kind kind to kind kind to kind kind to kind kind to kind to kind to kind to kind to kind to kind to kind to kind to kind to kind to kind to kind to kind the the to kind to kind to kind to kind to kind to kind their, 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 they really weren't doing the same thing. Like, they didn't have the same comedy game. And all of us that came after were always trying to kind of like find our game, find our voice as a correspondent.

Like you asked earlier, like it took me a year before I stopped just deliberately imitating Colbert. Like, what, was there something that clicked or it was just a comfort in how you worked within a daily show setting? Yeah, I think it was a moment of having some success under my belt and being like, I've kind of earned some a little bit of credibility and it's time to like enjoy my own instincts here and to kind of like take some pride in my instincts and that might be different from what I would expect Colbert to do or expect someone out, Corral to do or whatever. And I think my imitation of Colbare served me very well at that time. It was really was a kind of, he created a gold standard. But I think now, and especially watching the show

over the last 10 years, like, it's so fun to just see so many correspondence with like really unique voices, but really getting the same satire, like getting that just like good media satire dialed in. Everybody's just crushing it. But I wanted to ask you this on that subject of kind of like being uncomfortable with the silence and all that. This happened to me a lot. You know, we'd find some story, we'd start brainstorming and break all these funny questions to ask the person and and then we get there and it definitely took me probably five or ten segments before I understood that like when the cameras are getting set up, don't talk to the subject. Like do not chill out with them, don't get the the the the their their their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. the the, th. th. th. th. th. thi. thi. tho, thi. thi. thi. tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, to to to to to to to th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, to, to thin. toe. toe. toe. te. toea. tea. toea. toea. toea. toea. toea. toooooooooo. toe. talk to the subject. Like, do not chill out with them.

Don't get to know them, don't have like a cup of coffee and like chit-chat. Which is a danger, because I feel like, I've made that mistake too, or like, you'll arrive at somebody's house. You can have an hour hanging out in their kitchen. And then be like, I've got to say some pretty to say to say to say to say to say to say to say thua to say to say to say to say thua to say to say thian tos to this person right now and you're like well now we're becoming friends Yeah, exactly the less you know the better and you don't want any vibe Established before you sit down you want all of it on camera That took me a while because again my instincts were to just be like hey how's it going? Even if they were some like monster that I just be like they're a person. Let's just chat of course and then we sit down th. th. th. th. th. th. their th. their their th. their th. their their they th. they they their they their their th. their th. th. th. th. th. th. th. their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their the the the the the the the the the the the the the the their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their th. the. the. the. the. tho the. tho the. the. the. the. the the the. the the the the the the the a person, let's just chat. Of course.

And then we sit down for the interview and are like, oh shit, I got to ask these hard questions. But I also, I would find myself, and I'm so curious your take on this, like sometimes you're interviewing people that are problematic or difficult or have some point of view that seems strange or wild or wrong And then you have your funny questions, but so often I would just be like Oh, man, like I never get to meet someone like this in my normal life like can I just I just want to to try to their brain. I like I want to have a real conversation. I really want to get inside their head and like understand how and why they think. I had a bunch of moments like that where I was like, hold on, am I a real reporter?

Am I having like real reporter instincts here? That I want to just like get to the bottom of this story? For real? And so often I would just find myself in these fascinating dialogues. And I just want to like to like to like to like to like to like to like to like to like to like to like to like to like to like to like to like to have to have to have to have to have to have to have to have to have to have to have to have to have to have to have to have to have to have to have to have to have to have to have to have to have to have to have to have to have to have to have to have to have to have to have to have 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 to have a the to have a the the the throoooooooeuoeu., tooeo., too. tooom, too. too. tooom. toe. toe. to like drop the script, drop the game, drop the satire and just be like what's your fucking deal man like who are you what is it how do you think and just get into it with somebody but of course you never ever ever could do that. There's I definitely found myself on multiple shoots with you know you are talking to people who are on the extremes and then also talking to people who are experts in fields that you never get a chance to engage with, right?

Yes. There's also an ego thing. There's times where it's like, I'm going to play the dummy who does know these things. But by the way, I've read all your articles. I know all this. Yeah, I'm smart, too. It's so funny. We're going to take a quick break. We'll be right back. John Stewart here. Unbelievably exciting news. My new podcast, The Weekly Show. We're going to be talking about the election. Economics. Ingredient to bread ratio on sandwiches. Listen to the weekly show with John Stewart. Wherever you get your podcast. We're back with Ed Helms. It has been a little bit interesting in, I do think, like, you know, Daily Show as media

satire has, you know, Colbert helped create it as did all of the early correspondence of like the archness of the overly confident reporter is sort of the big target of a lot of that initial satire. And I do think what has been curious over the last 10 years is the media landscape has changed and so news doesn't look the same. It's not just all white guys who are telling you what they know about the world. That dynamic has shifted, but also even just the structure with which people watch news has changed, and what they want from their comedy has shifted, and so there has been this new balance of like, how do you bring a certain amount of

authenticity to who you are? I feel like when Trevor came in, the audience had to know who Trevor Noah was before he could be arch about stuff. And frankly, Trevor didn't love going arch on stuff, and that was more with correspondence. Sure. Came in, but when he started to bring people on, archness was a tool they could use, but he brought Roy Wood Jr. on because Roy's funny and smart

and knows how to play off that. Yeah. And can use the tools of reporter satire, of just like authentic stand-up. Sure. It's been interesting to watch how that has shifted, and part of it is being, I think, a reflection of, frankly, the news that we are watching, and what an audience wants from their comedy. They feel like they almost need to know you now and you can't hide as much behind character.

Interesting. I think you're onto something. And it's also a reason that this new rotating host format, I think, is so successful because it gives all of you a chance to be genuine and to sit across from an interview subject and have those real moments. Like, we never had that. And I have to say, like, I can look back on my correspondent character who shared my name, right? My correspondent character had my name but was not me. Like, very different from me.

And arguably, like, kind of a dick. And that also didn't sit well with me. Because I had to then like move through the world as this, like, you know, and that's, I do give the audience credit. Like they understood I was being a sort of like dick for comedy and say, but still I think what's so cool now, you're exactly right. Audiences want to feel like they kind of understand someone in a little bit more of a genuine earnest way.

And this, what the show is doing now, like I really think the show is in a is in this incredibly special moment for a number of reasons. It has a really great talent pool. You accept it obviously. Thank you. Yes. But the the the talent here is so so good and the show is responding to a wild cultural moment and that's special. Like at back when the correspondent crew was just me, Cordray, Colbert, and Sam B. I feel like we also had the good fortune of being in a pretty wild cultural moment which was the W years and and that may not have been like great for the country.

But it was great for the show. The world of comedy satire. It really did. I feel like those years kind of crafted the voice of the show that John was able to kind of continue to articulate. Did you feel, it's curious describing how you were a character, very much a character outside of who you were, but on a very successful political satire show.

Did you feel a burden outside of that to be political? To articulate political takes outside of your character, whether that's maybe at a personal level, but even more so just on a media level? I feel like part of the... I go out now and I do stand-up shows and I will do a Q&A at the end. And they're very serious. The Q&A is are the the the the th is th. th. th. th. th. th. thi thi-a is thi-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-s thi-a-a-s are thi-s are their-s are thi-s thi. their-s their-s their-s. their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their th. th. thi. thi-s. thi-s. thi-s. thi-s. thi-s. ta-s. ta-s. toda-s. today-s. today-s. today-s. today-s. and I will do a Q&A at the end. And they're very serious. The Q&A is very serious. Oh, interesting. The political moment, people want answers and they're frustrated and they want to articulate where they're at. But they see me coming there as somebody who they understand the comedy that I do, but very much want to talk to me as somebody who is in the political world and want tho.. thi thi thi thi thi And I had a similar experience. I was still doing stand-up at the time.

I did a stand-up show at Columbia School of Journalism. And I remember it was weird because I'm telling some dumb jokes and then I did wind up getting into a dialogue with the audience and similar thing. It was just sort of serious. And it became a dissection of like the craft of journalism and whether or not it's in a good place. And you know, Fox News was really exploding at that moment. It was still relatively new and people were trying to still process it. And I think for kids at Journalism School like Columbia, like, they really, like, they really, like, they, they. they, they, they, they, they, they, they, they, they, they, they, they, they, they, they, they, they, they, they, they, they, their, their, their, their, like, like, like, like, and their, and their, their, and their, and th, and thi, and thi, and thi, and thi, and thi, and th, and thi, and th, and their, and their, and their, and their, and their, and their, and their, and their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, th, th, thi process it. And I think for kids at Journalism School, like Columbia, like they really were curious about, well, what is going on? Right.

Are we entering a broken industry or like a broken apparatus? And like, yeah, I don't know, it just was, I do share that. When you made the choice, so you were correct for me if I'm wrong, but office comes along and there's an opportunity for episodes on the office, but that means you are going to have to leave the daily show, correct? Correct. When that moment happened, did you feel like that was a step away from the political world? Was that a danger? Was that appealing to you at all? Was that a part of your consideration? Great question. So after four years here, I really was feeling like I've maxed out. And not maxed out like burnout. I just was feeling like I'm still young and hungry, and there's nothing else I can do here. John's not going anywhere anytime soon. And even if he goes somewhere, like, I'm not necessarily like next in line to be host or anything.

Like, I kind of had hit a ceiling and there was no like upward mobility. And I was starting to feel like, and I think this is just part of my personality, I just got restless. Like I was like, I feel like I have more to prove as a performer and as an actor and I think being this very specific kind of character on this show what was suddenly feeling like not enough like I wanted to act I really wanted to do silly stuff and I was watching Karel. He left maybe five or six months after I started. So we overlapped here for just a little while and then he left to go do, I guess he did that movie, Bruce Almighty and then watching Ellie I think, or some sitcom that he got on. And I just was like, that's, that looks really fun.

And it's the same thing that got me to loving the Daily Show was like, that looks so fun, right? And it's why I wanted to be on Saturday Live. I really just, I wanted a career that I could like, just love and enjoy and be passionate about. And I was starting to feel like, there's more I can't do th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, thin, thin, thin, thin, thin, thin, thin, thin, thin, th, th, th, th, thin, thin, 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, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, thin, thin, thin, thin, thin, thin, thin, thin, thin, thin, thin, thin, thin, thin, thin, thin, thiii, thin, thi, thi, thin, there's more I can do and I but I can't do it in this format. Yeah. And so I started auditioning for sitcoms and I got a pilot and it was a really incredible experience. I only had to leave this the Daily Show for two weeks which was by the way a big ask because there were only a few of us and like, it was a big deal.

I was like, guys, I got a network TV pilot, can I go for two weeks? And they're like, I don't know, okay. And so I went out to LA and I shot this pilot and it was one of the most incredible experiences. It was a multicam pilot, which it's like a live audience. Yeah. It was so exhilarating. It was so fun and it went amazing. And NBC was like, this is our next big show. We love this show. And then and then the entertainment president changed. And they were like, we're gonna recast this show. Ed you're still in it, but we're gonna redo the pilot. And so they, we re-shot 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 their their their their their their their their their their their 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 their. It was was their. It was their. their. their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their.ea.ea.ea.ea. their their.ea. It was. their. their. their. It was. their. their going to recast this show. Ed, you're still in it, but we're going to redo the pilot and then, and so we re-shot the pilot and it was a train wreck and and then that it just didn't go anywhere. Yeah. But I had been ruined. I was like, I love this so much. I just wanted to go to LA and be on a TV show. and so I just was sort of like putting that energy out and cultivating that with my representation and so forth and the office meeting happened.

I met with Greg Daniels and they already had this character in mind for Andy and they're like, what do you think? And I was like, oh yeah, this is great. And we all just sort of started spitballing, and they were like, all right, well, we'll let you know. And it was a while later, they said, we're going to try this out, this like Stanford Branch thing. And so here's a two-week, two-episode contract. And I was like, I don't know if I can leave the Daily Show for whatever. Because then like what if it doesn't work? And they're like, well, it's going to be eight episodes.

I'm like, okay. So then I really have to quit the Daily Show if I am going to take this. That was a very scary moment because it was like, I can't ask for two months off. I have to like either take the plunge and go do this these eight episodes on the office, which was still a new show. It was season three, but it was still a pretty new show because there were only six episodes in the first season. So it was still like gaining momentum, but there was momentum for sure, and I could feel that. I knew the office was special. I knew that Steve had been, like Steve had been, 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, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, thi, thi, th, th, th, th these these these these these these these these these these these these these these these these these th, th, th, these 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, thi, thi, thi, the, theee, the, theee, thee, thee, the, the, the, the that like I knew the office was special. I knew that Steve had been like Steve's casting in the Ricky Jervais role was like a really inspired choice that I believed in. I just knew he would crush it and so I felt like that show was special and something special to be a part of but it was a that was a soul-searching moment because I I knew that if I left to do eight episodes on the office and it didn't work out

after that, there was nothing. It was a void. You're like, but fuck and I'm gonna take the leap. Yeah, but I then, I sort of took the leap, it took me a minute. But I went off, once I came 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. th. th. th. that that that that that 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 the the the the the the the the th. th. the th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. theee. to. the. to. toe. toe. toe. toe. toe. toe. toe. toe. th. th. th. th. th. took the leap, it took me a minute, but once I came around on it, I was like, this is definitely the right choice. And I went and shot the first two episodes and they were like, yeah, this is going great, we're definitely going to do the six more. I was like, okay, eight. And it was just going so well and it was so fun and exhilarating. And then like six episodes in, they're like, I th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, I thi, I thi, I thi, I thi, I thi, I tho, I tho, I tho, I tho, I tho, I tho, I thi, I thi, I th. I th, I th, I th, I th, I th, I th, I th, I th, I th, I th, I th, I th, I th, I th, I th, I th, I th, I th, I th, I thi, I thi, I thi, I thi, I tho, thoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo, I'm that, I thi, I thi, I're like, I think we want to keep you and Rashida. Maybe we'll like take the story back to Scranton. What do you think? And it's like, yeah, that works for me.

But... So what happened? Did people end up watching this television show? What was it called? I'm told that it that it was okay. Office? No, but you know what's incredible? Here's how I knew that I was I was doing something right. Yeah. Because that year I went to the Emmys because both the Daily Show and the Office were nominated, and I was a cast of both. That year and both won best show in their categories. And I was like, okay, okay, the the show, okay. th, the the the the the the, okay, okay, okay, okay, okay, okay, okay, okay, okay, okay, okay, okay, the the their their their their their their their their their their their their their th. Okay, their th. Okay, thi thi, thi, thi, thi, that's thi, that's, that's, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. thi. thi. thi. thi. that's that's that's that's their that's their their that's that's that's that's their that's theeeeeeee. It's the-oooo-o-o-o-o-co of both that year. And both won best show in their categories.

And I was like, okay, this is a good move. Like this is, this feels like a special moment. I think that. Like what are these shows have in common? This guy. Do you see this? Yes. You see this America? Yeah, but I was definitely like very giddy in that moment and just incredibly proud to be a part of these things.

Yeah. Can I say a really, really overused and treakly word? Oh, I want to hear it. Gratitude. So much gratitude. I wish you had it. No, but I truly, like, I, like, peeking back on that moment. Did you say that because it felt so gross bragging about getting two Emmys in one night? Oh, I didn't get the Emmys. Oh, I didn't get the Emmys. Okay. The show's got the Emi.

Oh, okay. Yeah. Yeah. too long. That's what I'm hearing. I'm getting soft. Having done all of this, and this chaotic time we're in, what interests you now? As you create characters, as you create projects? Clearly somebody who has followed their passions and also what is silly and what is fun? It feels like this day and age, that's few and far between. What is silly and what is fun? What are you gravitating toward? What are you hoping to keep chasing? It's? It's? It's? It's? It's is? It's is? It's thi. It's thi. It's thi? It's thi? It's thi? It's thi? It's thi? thi? thi. It's thi? thi. It's thi. It's thi. thi. thi. It's thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. What is thi. What is thi. What is thi. What is thi. What is thi? What is th. What is th. What is th. What is thi? What is thi? What is thi? thi? thi? thi. thi. thi. ti. ti. te. te. te is today is tea. today is te is today is te is today is thauui. thas. tha, what are you gravitating to her? What are you hoping to keep chasing? It's a great question, and I do feel incredibly lucky just to be in a position to mostly just chase things that I am psyched about.

One of them is my podcast, Snafu, which is sort of scratching my cultural political itch, which the Daily Show I kind of also did, right? is sort of scratching my cultural political itch, which the Daily Show kind of also did, right? That I've always, since I left the Daily Show, I've always missed feeling like I was part of something that was saying something about culture in a meaningful way. And so this podcast, Snafu is sort of a, is my own version of that. And I love, I love, I love, love, love, I love, love, love, love, love. And I love, I love, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I love, I love, I love, I love, I love, I love, I love, I love, I love, I love, I love, I love, I love, I love, I love, I love, I love, I love, I love, I love, I love, I love, I love, I love, I love, I love, I love, I love, I love, I love, I love, I, I, I, I, I, I, I th. I th. I th. I th. I the, I the, I the, I the, I the, I the, I the, I the, I the, I the, I the, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the so this this podcast snafu is sort of a is my own version of that and I love it. It's really fun and it's funny but it's also very earnest and it's very it's very me like it's just my personality coming

through these these incredible stories about history and then I'm also I have little kids now and I find myself looking at parts and I'm like, I'll get an offer to do like a horror movie or something. Or even just like a very intense drama and I'm like, eh, I don't really want to be in that headspace for three months. Like, I want to be able to come home and giggle with my kids and, like, be a dufous.

And somehow this movie feels like very scary and dark and weird. So maybe, but that none of, all that is to say, like, I still love all kinds of acting and I would definitely take a dramatic role that is that's exciting but it's gonna be a higher bar and then on the comedy side I just like I just did this movie with Jen Garner last year family switch which was a really broad Netflix Christmas comedy it was so fun like it was just ridiculous. I'm a dad now. I'm getting more and just like,

I think my humor is, I'm just getting, it was like more dad humor. It happens. So my humor might be declining a little bit, but I don't care. I just want to be a dufous. And I was very heartbroken when we didn't get a sequel to vacation. When I got to be Rusty Griswold and like that again was just such a dumb comedy, but I was so proud of it.

Yeah. And I like I loved how dumb it was and so silly. And I was like, I could be rusty for the rest of my life. Like if I, if all I did was like rusty griswold movies, I would be so thrilled thi thriled thriled thriled th, I th, I th, I th, I th, I thriled th, I th, I be rusty for the rest of my life. Like, if all I did was like rusty Griswold movies, I would be so thrilled. And I'm still, it's not out of the question that another vacation comes up. But at the time, like, it just wasn't, you know, box office stuff was crazy and whatever. But that's the kind of stuff I just love. And always have and always will. I'm curious with Snafu. With the podcast, you do take these moments in history, these giant

fuck-ups, and also the, in some ways, people who see conspiracies and then are often more than not proven true about what is broken. Has that shifted your perspective on kind of the conspiratorial mindset that is pervasive in this day and age? Good question. I try to keep an open mind. I think I'm extremely skeptical towards any conspiracy theory and I think part of that is the first question I always ask when I hear a conspiracy theory is like, well, well, how many people would be involved in this conspiracy? And you, and you, true, and true, and true, and true, and true, and true, and true, and true, and true, and true, and true, true, true, true, true, true, true, true, true, true, true, true, true, true, true, true, true, true, true, true, true, true, true, true, th th th th th th true, true, true, true, true, true, true, true, true, true, true, true, true, true, true, true, true, true, true, true, true, true, true, true, to to to to that is to to to to to to to that is to that is that is to that is that is that is the, the, the, the, think part of that is the first question I always ask when I hear a conspiracy theory is like, well how many people would be involved in this conspiracy? And usually it's thousands and thousands of people. And that right away I'm like, no fucking way. There's no way thousands of people can keep a secret, period. And so it like the moon landing for example, like not a conspiracy,

because thousands and thousands of people would have perpetrated that. And somebody would have bragged about it to their bro at a bar. Like that's an easy one. Now what's interesting is this current season of Snafu, we look into a lot of these activists in the 1970s who thought that the FBI was was surveilling illegally, too much surveillance. And that is also very conspiratorial feeling, right? Sure. And it's something that I think a lot of conspiracy theorists now also think and suspect that we're being watched. We're being watched by the NSA or the FBI or Russia or my neighbor or corporations or aliens.

There are versions of that that are clearly conspiratorial or conspiracy theory. And then there are versions that are sort of like, well, there's, 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, 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, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the,, or conspiracy theory, and then there are versions that are sort of like, well, there's a reasonable amount of concern that can then expand into conspiracy theory level. But what's interesting about this story in the 1970s is that these people were confronted by mountains of evidence that they were being surveilled. You know, it was a much less technologically advanced time. And so in order to surveil, the FBI would send out agents to actually stand there at rallies and they would put these guys in crew cuts and wingtips in tie-eye shirts to just stand on the edge of of rallies. A lot of times the FBI at that time wanted people to know they were being surveilled because it was also an intimidation tactic. So it's a little bit intellectually

dishonest to conflate the fear of surveillance in 1971 with a lot of like contemporary fear of surveillance, but there is also a rational amount to fear. Edward Snowden revealed that we were being relentlessly surveilled by the NSA, all of us, all of our phones, and that is legit. Now that led to more deeper layers of conspiracy theory about it, I think AI is going to really disrupt, or I should say it will just pour kerosene onto the conspiracy theory community. And I find myself starting to go down rabbit holes of like, oh, geez, what is AI gonna do?

Like, you know, deep fakes and all that. And we're not far off from deep fakes starting to happen in real time. We're like, you could be on a zoom with someone having a live conversation, and they're not there. It is an AI version of somebody having a conversation with you. That's real soon. That feels like that's a real fear you have right now. Yeah. Like that's an attachment issue. I don't know if you're real. I am very suspicious. And I am here. Yeah. There's a amount of healthy skepticism. That's exactly what an AI Jordan Clever would say right now. And I don't know how to make you believe this is actually happening. No, but I don't know what to make of it right now, but I just, I sort of feel like AI is

is going to really disrupt our trust in institutions in a pretty scary way. And it's right around the corner, and we are not doing anything about it. I'll tell you there's a real incredible thought leader in this space Tristan Harris. I've done an interview with him he's wonderful. He's incredible. I had to do I had to make farting noises the whole time and that's just, oh I'm sorry, as a character, that was a daily show interview. Oh yeah, okay, he called back. No I actually know he was definitely he was definitely somebody I tried to to to to to to to to to to to to to to he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he was definitely he was definitely he was definitely he was definitely he was definitely he was definitely he he was definitely he he he he he he he was he he he he he he was he he was he was he was he was he was he was he was he was he was he was he was he he was he he was he he was definitely he was definitely he was definitely he was definitely he was definitely he was definitely he was definitely he was definitely he was definitely he was definitely he was definitely he he was definitely he he was definitely he he was he was he was he was he was he was he was he was he was he was definitely tried tried tried to to tried to to tried to to tried to to to try to he was definitely he was definitely he was definitely he was definitely he was definitely he was definitely he he to totried to impress with how much I knew about him. Yeah, my ego came in already. Yeah, for anyone listening, Tristan Harris is a really, it just has tremendous integrity in how he's approaching tech, really, I mean, he has an organization called, what's it called, yes, the Center for Humane Technology, which is basically sort of holding the social media industry

and the AI industry to account. And these are very important things. Yeah, we need responsible people in those positions. We do. Because I do think that misinformation is just wide. Ed, it's been lovely talking to you. Jordan, a delight. Come on back anytime. I love it.

I'm going to come, I'll be back here in the morning with donuts. Please. Please. Please. Please. Please. Please. Please. Please. Please. Please. Please. Please. Please. Please. Please. Please. Please. Please. Please. Please. Ed. Ed. Ed. Ed. Ed. Ed. Ed. Ed. Ed. Ed. Ed. I to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to 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 the the the the the the the th. th. the the. the the the thea. the the the thea. the thea. thea. thea. to. the come, I'll be back here in the morning with donuts. Please do, okay, yes. Ed Helms, thank you so much for joining us on the Daily Show Ears Edition. New episodes of Snafu, Medberg, are airing weekly on Wednesdays. Listen on the I Heart Radio App and Everywhere Podcasts are heard. Thank you for listening 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 Paramount Podcasts 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.

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