The Daily Show: Ears Edition - From PA to Showrunner: Jen Flanz’s Journey At The Daily Show | Behind the Show

Episode Date: September 23, 2024

Desi Lydic sits with Daily Show executive producerJen Flanz to discuss Jen’s journey at the show from production assistant all the way up to showrunner. They discuss the early days, when the show was hand-delivered on tape to the broadcast center every night, how Jon Stewart showed her how to lead by empowering people on the staff, and the advice she has for anyone looking to move up in TV.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

As a kid growing up in Chicago, there was one horror movie I was too scared to watch. It was called Candyman. It was about this supernatural killer who would attack his victims if they said his name five times into a bathroom mirror. But did you know that the movie Candyman was partly inspired by an actual murder? I was struck by both how spooky it was, but also how outrageous it was. Listen to Candyman, the true story behind the bathroom mirror murder, starting October 3rd, wherever you get your podcasts.

You're listening to Comedy Central. Now! ["Daisy Lydeck Theme Song"] Hello, and welcome to The Daily Show Ears edition. This is Desi Lydeck. You might have seen that the Daily Show Ears edition. This is Desi Lydic. You might have seen that The Daily Show won an Emmy last week, and Jon Stewart had a very special shout out. But if you really want to know the heart and soul of the team, if you really want to know

the keeper of the flame of The Daily Show, Ms. Jen Flans is our executive producer. And Jen, Miss Jen Flans has been there since 1998. And just say, just say to the people. I love our show and I love the people we work with and I love working in TV, so thanks. I love John. So here with me today is the keeper of the flame, captain of the ship. It's showrunner, EP, and writer, Jen Flans.

Welcome. The keeper of the flame makes me feel like I'm in the Olympics and I'm running with a torch, which is hilarious because I don't run. No. And I'm afraid of fire. But like, whatever. I love it. But it is basically the Olympics. hilarious because I don't run. No. And I'm afraid of fire but like whatever I love it. But it is basically the Olympics. Your job. I was like, I

couldn't hear anything on stage so like I didn't know he said that till later. I mean I knew he was saying something nice but I didn't follow the words and then when I saw Keeper of the Flame I was like wow that makes me sound so much more athletic in my mind than I am. You were the Gabby Thomas of late night. Just running. You are.

Just running. It was such a beautiful, well-deserved shout out. And I think anyone who knows The Daily Show, even remotely, knows that you are the Keeper of the Flame, that you are the glue that holds everything together. You are the Olympian. What were you thinking in that moment? Well, thank you for saying that.

I love talking and I don't love speaking publicly. So I was like, oh no, John, I told, like, mm-mm, no. But I was also very, very, very flattered. And I was just so happy we won. I mean, you know, like this iteration of The Daily Show and the fact that you, let's please acknowledge that you also won an Emmy and also got a shout out because the four, I mean, John has won before,

but you, Kosta, Klepper, and Ronnie, it was your first one. And it was just like so awesome to see and to be there for it. And I really feel more than ever this iteration of the show is just such a good version of what we've done and a real build on where the show has gone over the last few years. But I was thinking, oh my god, I hate talking in public. Did you know that he was going to toss it to you?

You know, he said, I I hate talking in public. Did you know that he was gonna toss it to you? You know, he said, like, I'm gonna say something, and I said, you can say my name, I'll wave. And he said, okay, so that's what I expect. Like, I was, you know, on the way up, he's like, okay, I'm gonna say something. I was like, oh my god. And then I was gonna wave.

And then he's like, no, no, no, you get up here. I'm so glad he did. You know what, John, and this is I literally coming to this realization right now. John has pushed me out of my comfort zone so many times to do things that I didn't know that I could do that he believed that I should and could do. And that was just another example of it.

But you know, he really has has been such a mentor to me and encouraged me and always treated me just like he knows that I can do things. And he just gives them. And now I'm the kind of person that's never going to say no. If you want me to do it, I will do it. But there's definitely been a million times over the years. And that was one of them where I'm like,

I don't know if I can do this. But sometimes I'm just like, well, if he thinks I can do it, I can probably do it. I want to ask more about that. But I have to acknowledge, in this moment, speaking personally, you have taken on that quality as a leader and spread that to other people, because there are 1,000 times when I have been here

at the show and gone, I can't do that. I don't, I've never done that before. I don't know if I can do that. And you so confidently are like, you can do that. Go right out there and go do it. We're going to do this. And I'm like, well, Jen Flann says I can. So I guess that's what we're doing. It does. I will tell you that because I, first of all, I think you can do anything, but you can do no wrong. I laugh every time.

I can't run. I also can't run. We have that in common. Neither of us. But I feel like I know I've done that with you, where I'm like, no, you can. Because I think, and I hate to make it like a woman thing, but it's like sometimes women doubt themselves more than men.

Men just go and do it. And I have been like, I'm going to make sure that you know that you can do it because you can. And that goes with hosting or going out into the field, doing a big interview, whatever it is. And also, I'll always be honest with you, is there something I think you can't do? Like, I don't know, bench press 200 pounds. Like I'm gonna tell you. No, I can do it. I can do it. I'm gonna tell you I'm gonna say I can do it I'm gonna be yeah you know I didn't expect that about you now that I know I'll only encourage you you do that for everyone here at the show though and I think that that's a quality one of the many qualities that I admire about you but you have a way of empowering everyone around you everyone

here at the show and helping them build confidence, giving them the trust that they can do their job, while also gently guiding them towards a vision. Was that something that you picked up along the way, or was that something that you feel it's just innate in you? You know what? I'm a big sister. I'm the oldest of four.

My parents trusted me to guide and really watch and parent my siblings. So being a big sister is like kind of like, I don't always, the role I was meant to play, right? Like I'm just, I'm big sister in life. I'm a big sister at the Daily Show like and I really hesitate to be like I'm a mom. I'm not a mom. I can't take care of you completely, but I can encourage you and cheer you on. And I think that I love being a manager, and I love managing a process,

and I love managing people and making them like, I feel like when people are the best version of themselves, we make the best version of the show. And I really have always thought like, I am not good at much, but I am good. I think I'm good at seeing talent in other people and putting the right players in the right positions and like coaching and like being a team coach. And that's essentially what it is, right? That's what the job that I ended up with is. And I love that. I think we have so many talented people here.

And it's just a matter of putting them all in the right positions so that we win the World Series. You are good at a lot. You say you're not good at much. You are good at a lot of things. You have to be to be in your position. So like John mentioned, you started at the show in 1998 as a PA.

True story. When you, first of all, talk about the differences in the show in 1998 as a PA. True story. When you, first of all, like talk about the differences in the show. I'm sure it's immense, but just even like the production wise, the analog version of the Daily Show versus now. I mean, my first day I started as a PA, I got a pager. We didn't have cell phones really. I mean, I had my own that like was on my family plan.

My parents had one in like, you can only use this in an emergency, like if you get in a car accident or your car breaks down. Yeah, like that. 143, I love you. Do you remember that? I had a pager in 92. Oh, the pagers were like boobs, like everybody wrote boobs.

But yeah, so when I started here, it makes me sound like a dinosaur, but we got a pager. And my pager literally never went off the whole time I had it. But I had it for like, whatever, like two years or something. Do you still have the pager? I wish. Oh, damn.

No, we had to give them back to like Nextel or something. Oh, Nextel. Whatever like company we were renting them from. It's a deep cut. It was a deep cut. Nextels were like a huge thing for The Daily Show during one of the conventions. I want to say it was 2000 was our first experience with them.

But we were walkie-talkieing each other all over the place. And that was kind of the first way you could text. Or that The Daily Show could text. But anyway, yeah, so the immense difference between the technology then and now is also why I encourage people who are good at their jobs to do them because I'm not sure I could learn all the technology now. But we, yeah, we used to, like, it would be on tape. So like the field shoots would go out, they'd come back and they'd have a tape, tapes. You'd have like, oh my God, this field producer

shot nine tapes. Are they psychotic? Like, oh, I remember Stu Bailey used to come back with only like three or four. And we'd be like, we love him. He's the best field producer because we don't have to log so many tapes. But like-

And did they also shoot with one camera? So they would do one side first and then shoot the other? Yes, if you needed a two camera shoot, it was very expensive. And they really had to consider who the interview was with. But yeah, it was so different. I mean, even when I was a PA, there were four of us. And each one of us had a late night.

So I don't remember. Maybe mine was Wednesdays. And you would take the actual tape of the show, like we'd record it to tape. You'd have to wait here until the edit was done. Take the edited master down to HBO, downtown was like on 23rd Street and we were on 57. And just like in a cab and you were delivering the master.

And it's the only way the show got out at night. So like there was this immense pressure because the technology was not up to speed where you're just like, I hope this like, God forbid I get like kidnapped in this cab right now. Like I have the show or like. I love that. That is such a producer. You were destined to be an EP because you thought that way. You're like, you're not. You're not like, oh, you... I love that that is such a producer. You were destined to be an EP because you thought that way. You're like, you're not like, oh, no, my...

What would my parents think if I got kidnapped? You're like, what would happen to the show? That is... This show would not air that night. So it's like, there used to be a guy that you'd drop it off to, just a one person, and he'd like sometimes go out for a cigarette. And if you dropped it, you'd leave it on his chair

and you're like, I hope nobody moves this before he comes back from his cigarette. This is the show. So yeah so the technology was it's really the updates and listen we used to like we didn't have email I remember using my own Hotmail account when I started we had the day this office that we figured out we could do AOL instant messenger to each other's computers. I mean forget it. Like we were... New world. New world. New world is your oyster. I can't couldn't... Slack wasn't even a figment of my imagination. Oh my god. We've come so far.

We've come so far. Walk me through the process of your job titles throughout the years. So that, you started out doing those types of jobs. I remember you telling me that you, one of my favorite bits on The Daily Show was Beth Littleford coming in with the Vaseline Lenz interviews, hiding behind that big flower. The Beth Littleford interview.

Yeah, they were amazing. And you used to set the flowers? I bought and set the flowers. I actually made a deal with a deli down the street, a corner deli that had only New York bodegas, tons of flowers. And the guy, we had a friendship. I would go in every few weeks, get a ton of flowers for Beth's interviews, and set them up.

So that was one of my, I mean, I, like, I've done a lot of jobs here. So that was my, as a PA, I did that. But then, like, that kind of translated to when I was a coordinator, then I really was, like, managing all the PA's runs to get the props and other things. Like, talk about technology,

we used to rent movies at the video store. And so we'd call, I made friends with this guy, Alan, who used to own Alan's Alley, and it was a video store down on actually like 22nd Street. And it was- Alan's Alley sounds like an adult video store. It does. It does. And I think it did have a back room,

but Alan was basically like, he was the best guy. He was so nice on the phone all the time. He loves, it's closed now obviously, nobody's renting the videos. But like, he used to screen videos. I'll be like, oh, do you have any, can you think of a movie where there's an avalanche and somebody falls off a cliff, but like,

maybe they don't die and they pop back up. And he'll be like, we need it for the show. And he would mow off the top of his head three movies and then screen them for me before I sent a PA down to go pick up the tape to bring it back to the show. So he was kind of an employee. Alan was the original Google. He was the original.

Poor Alan was replaced by Google. Oh my god. Poor Alan. And then Google. Oh my god. Poor Alan. And then, I mean, when the store was closing, Elise and I went down and we said goodbye. We thanked him. What's Alan doing now?

I don't know, but I wish I knew. He was so nice. If only we had an Alan to search up what Alan is doing. God, you know what? I'm going to Google it as soon as we're done with it. Alan, if you're out there, give us a call. Let us know what you're up to. Call me.

Yeah, so we had, I mean, there were other video stores we also called, but we always called Alan's first because he was so nice and cooperative. And then? And then you went, so, PA to production coordinator. Actually, I was assistant production coordinator, then I was production coordinator, then I was a production manager,

then I was a coordinating producer, which was kind of when I straddled from being more in the production track to more creative. And it really was a product of me being like, hey, I can't do budgets. I'm really bad with money. I don't think that that's the track I should be on. But I do love managing, and I love managing a process.

And there's actually nobody here who really is translating the creative, the scripts and everything to production and to making sure that it gets done. Like there's a wide gap between like, oh, people should read the script and like just interpret, you know, like who's talking here. And it's kind of like a trend of my career here has been like just finding gaps and being like,

this is something that seems like somebody should do it. I'd love to do it. Defining your own role. Yeah, and it was something that like, I made up the title coordinating producer from like looking at IMDB and other shows. I'm like, hey, we don't have that title here. What if I had that?

And anyway, so the courtroom producer, then I was a supervising, then I was a co-EP, then an EP, and then EP showrunner writer. What a great lesson for people to learn. Like if you don't see a place for you within your workplace, write your own ticket. See a place that they might need somebody to do something. Think outside the box. Create your own role.

I was a little wild, Westie, back in the day. It was half the size staff that we have now. So there was more room for that. But yeah, I think, I mean, people are always like, oh, did you always want to be a showrunner? I'm like, no. And I feel like I give the worst career advice because I'm like, no, don't dream big.

Just keep doing your job really well and then the next thing will come. Yeah. And so it's kind of been my, I mean, listen, I love what I'm doing and I am so glad to be the showrunner here, but I was never like a PA and thought, oh, I could be that, like I could be Madeline,

the woman who used to run the show. I was like, I wanna be a really, really good PA. And then I got a promotion and then it was like, okay, I wanna be a really, really good assistant production coordinator. And then things just kept coming. So I don't know if that's- Was there a moment in time that you thought

I do wanna be the showrunner? No. Until I was doing it. Was it when John asked you to be the showrunner? Yeah, totally. Like, it was, you know, it was, I think it's a confidence thing, you know? And I think that I wish that I was as confident as like, yes, I should be in

charge here. But I was like, oh, I like doing this, or I'm good at doing this. I'm good with people. I'm good at translating the funny to the, you know, actual physical how it's going to manifest in the studio. And I think that I love that he saw that in me and that that could keep my career growing to a place where it is now. And then obviously Trevor also had a big hand in it. When he got here, he was like, I was already one of the EPs,

and then he was like, you know, basically like, I trust you. What do you think, you know, about how to run this place? And so that gave me even more confidence. It was also a lot because I was here with John, I was mentored under John, I knew how to make The Daily Show, and when Trevor got here, he was new. And then all of a sudden, I'm the elder expert

that knows how to run the place. And I was like, oh, wow, somebody has to do this. So it's gotta be, I gotta do it. I know I've been here, I know how to do it. And so Trevor putting that trust in me also just kept it going. And then John coming back and being like, I can't even, we've evolved the show so much since he left.

Oh yeah. And expanded social podcasts, you know, activation spaces are the way we run the news team, you guys at desk, in addition to him, we did guest hosts. It's like, he's like, I cannot believe, you know, what you've done here, which is, was really, really a great feeling for him to just be like, impressed.

I'm like, it's like when your parents come to see you at work or something, and you're just like, oh, I want to show you everything I can do. I know I talk about it. I know I've talked to you about it. But like, look. And John Stewart. And he taught me everything. So, yeah, it was I think our first live show with him back here.

He after the show said to me, he's like, what you guys do, this is like what we did like on crack. Like this is just beyond what we used to do. And it is, I hate to say it's a lot because of the technology, we do a lot more. But I think our team is just so tight. We have a shorthand. We kind of thrive on that deadline, deadline thing. And he was just like, wow, you guys, you really elevated. You raised the game here. How did that feel? It felt so good.

It felt so good to be like, I didn't only keep this place, like your legacy intact, but you think I elevated it. And that is so, it meant so, it just like, working together again has meant so much in that, one, he's just fun, you know, he's a great guy. It's really fun to hang out with him. He's the best, he's just like, the best. Truly the best, he's everything you want him to be

and so much more. He is, and it's so funny when people are like, I'm like, he's just like exactly what you think. He's what you think he's like. Yeah, he's exactly what you think he's like. He's awesome, and yes, he's a really good hang. But in addition to that, it's just, it's been so nice to show him what we can do here,

and how much it doesn't, when he was here round one, he was, by the end of it, he was in charge. He screened every piece, he signed off on every pitch. He signed, like, he was managing. He, people want him, they're like, I wanna raise. I'm like, dude, like how, I think back and I'm like, the amount of work that was on his, no wonder he burned. You know, was like, hey, I gotta step back.

This is a lot of work. And to be able to take some of that off his plate for him, only because he stepped away, came back, and it was already parsed out to other people, why take it back on, has been really nice. It's to just let him focus on the thing that he's amazing at, which is he is actually good at all of it, which is the crazy part.

It's great. He's really just good at all of it, which is the crazy part. It's great. He's really just good at everything. But it's been nice to be like, I know you can do all the other stuff, but why don't you just focus on what you want to say and the point of view of the show and helping us all focus on what kind of content we're going to do and not worry about if our recycling know if we're doing paper and plastic or just plus, you know, like he's involved in every Every every discussion we he would be involved in so it's been really nice to be able to like take a little of that pressure

Off his plate and just be like just have like fun Like I'm saying we want to say so great for him to walk back into this and just know he's in the absolute Best hands the show is in the best hands. We're going to take a quick break, but we'll be right back. As a kid growing up in Chicago, there was one horror movie I was too scared to watch. It was called Candyman. The scary cult classic was set in the Chicago housing project. It was about this supernatural killer who would attack his victims if they said his name

five times into a bathroom mirror. Candyman. Candyman? Now we all know chanting a name won't make a killer magically appear. But did you know that the movie Candyman was partly inspired by an actual murder? I was struck by both how spooky it was,

but also how outrageous it was. We're gonna talk to the people who were there, and we're also going to uncover the larger story. My architect was shocked when he saw how this was created. Literally shocked. And we'll look at what the story tells us about injustice in America. If you really believed in tough on crime,

then you wouldn't make it easy to crawl into medicine cabinets and kill our women. Listen to Candyman, the true story behind the bathroom mirror murder, starting October 3, wherever you get your podcasts. ["Candyman Theme Song"] We're back with Jen Flans. You've seen so many evolutions of the show from 1998 with Craig Kilbourne and then John coming in

and basically defining modern political satire and then Trevor coming in and evolving it to his version of the show with you and then the guest host era and now John being back and there being sort of this ensemble version. What are the what's your North star or your main tenants of keeping the DNA of The Daily Show through each evolution?

Um, truly, you know, a lot of it's John's like, let's like have a good time. Like I really am lived by like, if we're making something good here, it will translate. Right. Like if we're making something we feel good about, we believe in, makes us laugh, then it will translate to the audience and never really getting caught up in like the ratings

or the press or listen, I love, I love to get good press. Unless it's good press. When it's good press, you get caught up in it. But the bad we ignore. But the social mentions, things that you kind of have to tune it all out and make the thing that you believe is the show that we should be putting out in the world.

And it was always like, listen, if we put out something and we get canceled, then that's – but we went down feeling good about it, giving it our best instead of just chasing ratings or something like that. So that was always – and listen, the Comedy Central exec you know I remember Doug, Michelle Kent like and even still now with Chris Neenat like we aren't um held to a rating you know listen ratings are important um but it just doesn't guide anything and I think that it translates on screen when you're having fun in the building and I like love to throw a party, have everybody together, having a good time.

And I think that party planner in me just also brings that vibe to the show, which is, let's just make sure we're having fun. Because if not, I think on screen it looks like pained. Yes, we feel that. Yeah, and I feel like, listen, we've had weeks or shows where you feel it. Like, people are tired, and I think it translates on screen. You really are so good about that because I feel like you're always optimistic,

you always rally the troops, you make sure that we are having a great time, doesn't matter what's going on. Good snacks all around. Good snacks all around. It's important. Egg sandwich Wednesdays. Obviously. I'm like, it really, it's also like, it's not just me.

Like the team here, we've been together for so long. People are friends. You know, it's like a cozy environment. We have this studio. We're far from everything in the world. We're like out on way over almost in the Hudson River and near the horse stables and nothing else. We're kind of like isolated and insular.

And I think that works in our favor, you know. I'm curious about, was there ever a time you talked about John being so instrumental as a leader and kind of pushing you out of your comfort zone and him saying that he believes in you even if you weren't quite ready yourself. Was there ever a moment when you started to doubt yourself and how did you persevere. I think I doubt myself at almost every moment. I'm like all the time. I think that I, in my head with John or Trevor or the correspondence, I'm like I don't want to let anyone down. So I just make it happen, you know, whatever it is. And that is, you know, I wish it came more from a place of like confidence, but it comes from a place of like,

I don't want to disappoint people. And then I do it and then I'm like, oh cool, I could do that. Now I have the confidence next time to do it, you know? And you'd think you'd remember that the next time you're in that situation. But then you doubt yourself again. Do it all over again. Yeah, but I have a fake it till you make it attitude.

Yeah. Just fake it. Put on a smile, go out there, get it done. You'll get it done. And what's the worst thing that can happen if you don't? You leave the tape in the cab and the show never airs. And that will never happen. And then you call Alan.

It will never happen on my watch. Exactly. I think that's actually an incredibly confident way And that will never happen. And then I call Alan. It will never happen on my watch. Exactly. That is, I think that's actually an incredibly confident way of looking at it to make it about the team. Like I'm here for the show and I want to do what's best for the show and with my team and I don't want to let people down. So that's a very confident thing to do.

I think the insecure thing to do is to make it about yourself and think about, you know. You're always so nice. I'm not being nice. I'm telling you the- It's the worst thing about you. Yeah. Well, let me tell you. Listen, I-

I appreciate that. I want you to know, just because you're my boss, I'm not here for softball questions, okay? I'm going to ask you the hard-hitting questions. Ask me all the hard-hitting questions. All right. I know you can. Are you ready?

I have confidence in you. What is your favorite color? Turquoise. Wow. Or aqua. I never know what to call it, but I love it. Follow-up question. Which one is it, turquoise or aqua?

I think turquoise, because it's like the color of the water when you go to the Caribbean. Like, that color is my favorite. Because it makes you think of vacation. It automatically puts me in the best mood. It's just like calming. Yeah, it's my favorite. OK, favorite food.

Favorite food, that's hard. That's a hard hitting one. I really can't. I mean, french fries are undeniable. Excellent answer. If you put them in front of me, I will eat them. But ice cream, it depends. Mint mint chip?

I love Breyers mint chip, the white one. Oh, yes. White mintship is like the best mintship. That one is my favorite mintship. Yeah. I do want to ask, OK, so I get this question all the time. And part of me really hates it. But I have to bring it up.

Being a woman in comedy, being a woman in late night, is it something that you think about? Because there's something, there's part of me that's like, I don't want to, I don't fucking think about it. I'm just in comedy. Stop asking the question. I would love to not have to talk about it being a rarity that women are in late night.

But at the same time, it is true that sometimes you're the only woman in the room or one of few women in the room. Is it something that you pay much attention to you know what I didn't? Until it was like the conversation so like for like the first 15 years. I worked in TV I didn't even think I didn't even think about it right and like there were women at the Daily Show so I never It didn't occur to me. I guess, you know, I knew there weren't late night shows hosted by women, but I also grew up loving Letterman and loving Conan.

And so I wasn't like, oh damn, I wish it was a woman. I was just like, I love this show. So I didn't really think about it. And I kind of, I feel bad that I didn't think about it. Like I'm like, oh, should I have been more, I think that you don't like a plan on being like a trailblazer, right? Like you just like look back and you're like,

oh, that was, I have blazed a trail. Yeah, yeah. But like, I didn't think about, oh, making sure more women are in the room. Cause it was always like, let's just get the best person for this job. And many times it was women and oftentimes it was men. And I now think about it in a way of like,

trying to keep some balance. Because it helps in the room for perspective. Like you and I know, like there are jokes that like, when we're in a room together with like, Sarv, like we'll laugh at it. And maybe the guys aren't laughing yeah and you're like well 51 percent of our audience will laugh that's right they are you know it's like half the world's as women so but there are certain things that like make us

laugh and don't make men laugh because the references aren't resonating with you or whatever so I think just for the sake of like rounding out a show and making sure that you're reaching all parts of the audience, it is a really important thing to have all genders in the room. But I will say like, I don't think about like, are they talking to me that way because I'm a woman? You know, I really try to not. Right, it's not at the forefront.

I try not to make it that because I feel like sometimes it puts you in a place where you're looking for the room to be against you if it's too heavily weighted. I feel like when you are like, I am the only woman in this room, you're automatically a little bit alone and on the defensive. Whereas if I look at it like, I'm sitting in a room with people I love working with that

make me laugh every day. These are my friends. These are my coworkers. And I love them. And they happen to be men. They also happen to be evolved men. And if there's something that they don't get in the room. They're not like grabbing my butt.

They're just like, they are men. Well, lucky for you, all right? No, but you know, it's like, they are very evolved men. They are. And they'll ask. If there's a joke that they don't get, they'll say, why's like, they are very evolved men. They are, and they'll ask. If there's a joke that they don't get, they'll say, why is that funny? Or why, you know, and then it's a conversation.

Or like, does this offend you? And I think coming at the room, or any room you're in, all of our meetings, from a place of like, this is a community, this is a welcome, warm room to be in, and not like I'm alone, or I'm one of two, or I'm one of, you know, like counting up the numbers. It just, I don't think that's productive

for a creative environment. I think, I think at like a level of hiring, you should be aware so that those rooms are mixed and diverse at some point when you're in them. But once you get in those rooms, I think it's not the right thing to focus on. I mean, we make a show four nights a week. We have a really quick turnaround. To sit there and be on the defensive just feels like it would take away from what you

could possibly put out that night. Right. I totally agree. What would you say to someone who wants to have your job one day? Someone who wants to work in TV, particularly other women coming up, and look at you and go like, God, I want to do what she does. What advice would you give? I would advise to, I mean, I think work really hard. Work hard at the job that you have. Learn as much as you can. I think one of the reasons I'm good at what I do, and as I say it, I'm like, oh my god that sounds

so self-centered. But like, no, the one of the reasons I'm good at what I do is because I've done so many different jobs here and I know what every, it makes you like know what everyone does and appreciate what everyone does and how hard people work and even if it's a job you haven't done it's like you know what their role is and I think working your way up I think you know it's a generational thing now and I hate to be like I'm old but like I know that there's a thing where like people are PAs and they're like I want and I and I want to be a showrunner now and And you're like, oh, but if you take the time to work your way up and learn everything,

you're going to be such a better showrunner. Great advice. And just be honest with people. And I don't think you have to be sugary sweet. I don't think you have to be nice, good mood all the time. I think it's good to be respectful of the people you work with. I think it's important to go respectful of the people you work with. I think it's important to go home at night, be able to look yourself in the mirror and say, like,

I'm a good person. I feel good about the person I was today. And I think that makes you, you know, a good leader. And yeah, that's my advice. I think work hard and be nice. Work hard and be nice. But be honest. Ooh, great advice, work hard. Tell people that jokes are bad when they're bad. I mean, that is really part of it. I know I can always count on you for that. Like guys, I'm not laughing.

That joke tanked, we're cutting it. Like, I love that part of my job. Fully appreciated. Honesty. Thank you for being the one to do that so we don't do that in front of everyone else. Jen Flans, thank you for being the one to do that so we don't do that in front of everyone else. Jen Flans, thank you for being the keeper of the flame. I am eternally grateful to you for a million reasons.

I'm not going to cry right now, but I love you to bits. I love you to bits. I'm like, I really, thanks. It's hard. I hate talking about myself, but talking about myself with you made it okay. Thank you. Thank you for having me on about you. All right. Absolutely true. Thank you. Thank you for having me on the podcast. You got it. Anytime.

Thank you for listening to The Daily Show Ears Edition. We'll see you next time. 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 Paramount+. As a kid growing up in Chicago, there was one horror movie I was too scared to watch. It was called Candyman. It was about this supernatural killer who would attack his victims if they said his name five times into a bathroom mirror. But did you know that the movie Candyman was partly inspired by an actual murder?

I was struck by both how spooky it was, but also how outrageous it was. Listen to Candyman, the true story behind the bathroom mirror murder, starting October 3rd, wherever you get your podcasts.