The Daily Show: Ears Edition - GOP Shills for Tesla, Trump Admin Flubs JFK File Release & DEI Scrubbing | Peter Wolf

Episode Date: March 21, 2025

Jordan Klepper covers Trump’s anti-DEI fallout, including the Pentagon’s erasure of Jackie Robinson and The Enola Gay. Plus, Troy Iwata joins the Republicans' campaign to revive Tesla stock and keep Elon Musk rich. With many Americans preparing for doomsday, the apocalypse has become good business. Michael Kosta visits Fortitude Ranch, a post-apocalyptic survival community where preppers can wait out the end times in country-club glamour with their own rooms, artillery, and food supplies…for a hefty amount of cash. Legendary musician, artist, and New York Times best-selling author Peter Wolf joins Jordan Klepper to talk about his new memoir, “Waiting on the Moon.” The former J. Geils Band frontman recounts the era in which he wrote their album “Full House,” and how he strived to write a “not-boring” memoir by sharing vignettes about the people he idolized. Plus, he tells some stories from the book, including when he drank Bob Dylan’s wine and the time Muddy Waters became his houseguest.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

You're listening to Comedy Central. From the most trusted journalists at Comedy Central, it's America's only source for news. This is The Daily Show with your host, Jordan LeBron. Welcome to the Daily Show. I'm George Flemming. Got so much to talk about tonight. The DOD only wants hetero bomber jets. Jackie Robinson gets benched. And Republicans start a GoFundMe for the richest man on Earth.

So let's get right into it. -♪ I'm gonna come. I'm gonna come. -♪ Donald Trump made lots of promises during the presidential campaign, and he emphasized one thing in particular. Starting on day one, we will bring competence and common sense back to the Oval Office. Restore competence and effectiveness

to our federal government. Kamala says, vote for her, and you're voting for joy. What's the one word counterpart? Competence. Competence. But real competence, real, real competence. Not just, he's sort of a competent person. No, real competence. Yes, yes. The more you say that something, real, real confidence. Not just, he's sort of a competent friend. No, real confidence.

Yes, yes, the more you say that something is real, the more people believe you. My real, real girlfriend lives in real Canada. She's just, not just sort of my girlfriend, she's my real girlfriend. She's real, and I touched her real boobies. By the way, what room is that? I feel like the beast must have Belle trapped in the room next door, right?

But yes, Trump promised his presidency would be marked by competence. And now that we're two months in, let's see how that's going. Some serious security concerns over the newly released JFK files and real anger after social The Washington Post reports that among them are former congressional staffers and one of Donald Trump's most vocal defenders, his former campaign lawyer, Joseph DeGenova. He is furious, telling the Post, it's absolutely outrageous, adding, it's like a first grade elementary level rule of security. He says, it's like a first grade elementary level rule of security. He says, it's absolutely outrageous, adding, it's like a first grade elementary level rule of security

to redact things like that. Whoa, man. Looks like 304-556622 is really upset about that leak. Man, social security numbers, addresses, full names. The only thing that wasn't in the JFK papers was who killed JFK. And Trump's poor, poor lawyer, he's probably like, oh, man, I never would have represented you

in your 2020 election fraud case if I knew you'd be untrustworthy. But we can't be surprised. Everything Trump has done so far has been sloppy. Whether it's Doge not knowing who they're firing, ICE not knowing who they're deporting. Turns out they can't even do a classic DEI purge right. Tonight, the Pentagon's sparking outrage.

After removing from its website a story celebrating the army record of American icon Jackie Robinson. A senior military official tells us tonight that the Pentagon relies on computer software to scrub DEI content from its websites and that ultimately those stories about Jackie Robinson were removed by mistake. Yeah. Oh. Don't blame us. Blame our racist software.

We should have never used Chat KKK. Classic mistake. Classic mistake. Be careful where it is. The Jackie Robinson mistake wasn't even the most embarrassing anti-DEI flub. In some cases, photos seem to be flagged for removal simply because their file included the word gay, including service members with that last name and an image of the B-29 aircraft Enola Gay, which dropped the first atomic bomb on Hiroshima.

That's how lazy they were with this. They just Control-F'd for gay-sounding keywords and deleted anything that showed up. Now, kids won't know about the Enola Gay, they won't know about transport planes, and they'll never hear about the heroic service of Captain Grinder McSizzery. Tragic.

What's extra tragic is this could have all been avoided if they had just named the plane Enola Gay Nohomo. You know? But maybe getting things right isn't this administration's top priority. They have a crisis on their hands. Tesla stock is in the toilet. And they can't let that happen.

They can't let that... They can't let that... They can't let that... Crisis. They can't let that happen because Elon Musk is a key member of the Trump administration, and more importantly, Republican Party sugar daddy. So, last night, they sent Commerce Secretary

Howard Lutnick to Fox News to make a pitch. I think if you want to learn something on this show tonight, buy Tesla. It's unbelievable that this guy's stock is this cheap. It'll never be this cheap again. When people understand the things he's building, the robots he's building, the technology he's building, people are gonna be dreaming of today

and Jesse Waters and thinking, gosh, I should have bought Elon Musk's stock. I mean, who wouldn't invest in Elon Musk? You gotta be kidding me. Whoa! Gross, a bit gross. Cabinet members should not be shilling for companies. And that includes those Henry Kissinger Hymns.com ads. But to be fair,

he wasn't just out there shilling Tesla stocks. The Commerce Secretary was pushing Elon products that hadn't hit the market yet. Go online and look up Optimus. It is the coolest thing you've ever seen. We're all gonna be buying robots. They're gonna cost about $30,000. You're gonna be buying a Tesla robot,

and anybody who doesn't buy a Tesla robot is going to be silly. Yeah! You hear that? People who don't buy a $30,000 robot that isn't on the market yet and will probably strangle you in your sleep? You're gonna look silly. These poor, everyday Fox viewers must be so confused.

They came here for the xenophobia and pretty ladies, and now they have to mortgage their house to buy a robot with a thigh gap. It's so embarrassing that this guy is using his position on TV to sell shit to the American people. Why are you so hungry for Musk's approval? When you should be hungry for a Taco Bell, build your own craving box. A Chalupa Supreme, a burrito, a side, and a drink for under seven bucks.

It's called integrity. And it's how you live, Moss. It's amazing. I ordered my Tesla today. I told my wife, hey, I think we should buy a Tesla. So you're going out to buy one. Go get a Tesla. I'm going to buy a Tesla today, by the way. I'm buying a Tesla today. Nice.

Nice. Nice. Nice. Nice. Oh, man. Pretty soon, even Fox is going to stop saying Merry Christmas and replace it with Happy Tesla December to Remember sales event.

For more on the Trump administration's priorities, we go to the White House with Troy Iwata. Troy. Troy, what's the mood over there? Bad, Jordan, real bad. But we're hanging on to hope that we can get Elon Musk through this hard time. And luckily you can help for the simple price of $30,000.

That's just 70,000 cups of coffee a day. You can make sure the richest man in America stays the richest man in America. Well, okay, whoa, whoa. Troy, Troy, are you running a charity for Elon Musk? I was trying to before you rudely interrupted me. This man is barely worth $300 billion at this point, but we can change that for the simple price of $50,000.

You can help a 53-year-old boy afford all the things he was already able to afford. Okay, wait, no, no. Stop the music. Stop the music, please. Look, I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I just don't understand why it's our responsibility to help a man who's destroying his own brand with deeply unpopular policies.

Wow, Jordan. Okay. I thought liberals were supposed to care about immigrants and African Americans, of which Elon is both. And, you know, he's not as rich as he used to be. He lost $40 billion. That's 40 billion Arizona iced teas. But we can fix that for the simple price of $160,000. You can support an African man in need and his beautiful growing ketamine addiction.

No, Troy, sorry. No, stop. No, this is insane. Why is the number getting higher? I just don't get why Elon Musk's choices should be America's problem. Okay, you know what the real problem is? You keep f***ing interrupting me. Okay, all right, fine. All right. I think it's on Elon to fix his own mess.

You know, I'm sorry. Didn't mean to interrupt you. It's okay. I forgive you. Because you can help. For the even simpler price of $2.5 million. You will get a thank-you letter from one of his 37 children asking how they can get in touch with their father. Troy, come on! Come on, Troy! Jordan, I am trying to help someone!

Okay. Like, it's bad enough that the executive branch of the U.S. government is devoted to hyping Elon's businesses. Shouldn't we help the less fortunate? You mean like Jeff Bezos? For the simple price of one non-union factory. All right, you know what? Never mind. Joya Wada, everybody.

When we come back, we find out how to survive the end of the world. Don't go away. Don't go away. Don't go away. Don't go away. Don't go away. Don't go away. Don't go away. Don't go away.

Don't go away. Don't go away. Don't go away. Don't go away. Don't go away. Don't go away. Don't go away. Don't go away.

Don't go away. Don't go away. Don't go away. Don't go away. Don't go away. Don't go away. Don't go away. Don't go away. Don't go away. Don't go away. Don't go away. Welcome back to The Daily Show. Everyone is worried about the world right now,

but even with the Trump administration, there's only a 40% chance of an apocalypse, at most. But are you ready for that chance? Michael Kosta spoke to some people who are. America seems pretty idyllic, but at any moment we could be faced with a pandemic, a climate disaster, or even a civil war that would lead to total societal collapse. But for some Americans, this is a great business opportunity.

The hottest trend in the booming prepper market? Post-apocalyptic real estate. Market leader Fortitude Ranch sells shares in remote survival communities in eight US locations with around 800 paying members. I met CEO Drew Miller inside his giant Jenga tower in West Texas. It's like joining a country club. So in good times you can come out here and vacation, recreate, go to fun sites in the area. But when the shit hits the fan, we turn into a survival community. The country club that I belong to doesn't have a.50 caliber assault rifle hanging in the corridor. So you have people now who have bought into Fortitude Ranch.

Oh yeah, we've been around for over a decade now. Okay, but these are just like right-wing nut jobs. Nope, they're normal people. Most of them are professionals. The estimate now is that one-third of Americans are doing prepping for a collapse. According to Drew, the stereotype of preppers as paranoid, gun-humping, roadkill, eating outcasts is becoming outdated as societal collapse is getting less outlandish all the time. So what are you preparing for exactly?

Well, number one, the economy is not functioning. Okay. Number two, there's widespread loss of law and order. So when the grid goes down, up to 90% of the U.S. population will die. It's H5N1 pandemic. It's a North Korean attack on the electric grid. Yellowstone blows up, causes a winter that destroys crops worldwide, by the way. Taylor Swift retires.

She doesn't quite make the severity. Agree to disagree. Agree to disagree. In a way, are you kind of hoping there's a total collapse, just to prove that you're right? No. I'm resigned to it. But there would be a quick, like,

I told you, motherf*****s. Now get to your stations, but just everybody say Drew's the smartest. Millions of preppers have been saying this, so... So who are the new normie preppers? I sat down with ranch member Ryan, who seems more Bushwick barista than rugged survivalist. You don't give me right wing prepper vibe.

No, I'm not a right winger at all. I have no idea how to, you know, if you drop me off in a mountain somewhere, like I'd survive for a few days. What do you think is causing not just you, but millions of Americans to feel that maybe doomsday is coming? Political realism, right?

Like, there's some shitty things that are happening right now. I mean, just for the ability to not look at news anymore and just know that if something happens, you're covered. This is definitely cheaper than therapy. Both my parents are psychologists, so I'm seeing. That's why you're so f***ed up. How much money would you say you'd give Fortitude Ranch? It's about $3,000 and then, you know, a few, you know,

quarterly payments. It's not cheap, Fortitude Ranch. No, it's not cheap. So what does Ryan get for his $3,000? I suited up to take the tour. First stop, the entry level Spartan room, which would make most New Yorkers say, I guess I don't have it that bad.

So the bunk beds here, there's probably about 14. Kind of fun, kind of like camp. You know, all the little games you could play with each other. My buddy Mike Keller, I fell asleep at the sleepover and he put my hand in the warm water, right? And I shit myself. They're not gonna do that to you.

But of course, there are several upscale tiers, from a private room with a very personal toilet. Having the toilet next to the bed, it almost gives it that prison feel. Well, it's a couple, so they shouldn't mind. I mean, some people get off on watching people use the bathroom. I don't know about that.

To surviving in luxury in a penthouse suite with a walk-in kitchen. So this would be considered a high-end suite? Correct. You know if I wanted to knock out this area and put a breakfast nook here, do you have a contractor for that? In its own dual-purpose wall bed. Wall up Murphy bed. Pretty nice clean mattress. It's a full clean size. Yeah this is pretty good. This feels perfect for clean size. Ah! Ah! Ah! Yeah, this is pretty good. This feels perfect for the collapse.

Fortitude Ranch doesn't just offer a place to rest your head, but also the hardware necessary to blow off anyone else's. The major weapons we recommend for our members is either a 12 gauge pump shotgun or an AR-15 like the ones behind you there. You know what I like here? The knife. You cool what I like here? The knife. You cool if I just use that? I feel like people who use guns are afraid of intimacy.

Not me. Ow. Fortunately, all ranch members are trained to engage in combat operations. We see you! We're gonna shoot you! Back up, bitch! Drew's got a gun. So if there was a Marauder out there, the guard would shoot immediately. You don't say back up itch?

No, we don't. Well, don't you come to me when you wipe out an entire troop of Girl Scouts on cookies. And most amazingly, this ranch is all-inclusive. The food supply for each member is guaranteed for a full year, although some ranch inhabitants might not be as happy with the arrangement. If it gets really, really, really bad, you'd potentially be dining on llama. Let's be honest, if the collapse lasts long enough, anybody could be food. Not our members, but if you're a marauder and you attack us, we're not going to eat

you directly. We'll bury marauder bodies where our chickens can feed on the worms they produce. We want every calorie we can get, a survival situation. Cool, thanks. Good talking to Drew. I'm going to get the f*** out of here. Drew's chicken a la marauder would certainly be a must try, but it did also raise some lingering questions about this post-apocalyptic paradise.

I mean if society collapses out there, there's the same likelihood that society would collapse in here. That's a good point. Right? Yeah, taking a chance. Have you thought about that, dude? I have, but it is what, at a certain point, it's just like, you know, you got to prepare for this. You got to prepare for this. You got to, like.

So you're not worried about Drew or his staff killing us, eating our food, or worse? I haven't put much thought into it, and I just, you know, it is what it is at a certain point. It is what it is. Better not to dwell on the worst case scenario when you're prepping for the apocalypse. After all, being in the surviving 10% of humanity

would also offer some exciting opportunities. I've decided that I'm willing to be a member here at Fortitude Ranch. We will be willing to lease to you the luxury suite during a collapse. But I would like to be in charge of the repopulation program. I don't think Fortitude Ranch is gonna organize

anything like that, but what you do on your personal time is your personal thing. I love these libertarians. Thank you, Michael. When we come back, Peter Wolfe will be joining me on the show. Don't go away. Welcome back to The Daily Show. My guest tonight is a legendary musician and artist who was the front man of the Jay Giles Band.

His new memoir is called Waiting on the Moon. Please welcome Peter Wolfe. Thank you. Peter Wolf! Can I say, not only legendary frontman of the J.Giles band, a tour, but also now New York Times bestselling author, Peter Wolf. Is that right? Congratulations! Thank you. Thank you, Peter Wolf. Is that right? Congratulations. Thank you. Thank you very much. How does that feel? Well, I'll tell you, I was coming down from Boston,

and all of a sudden, my phone started lighting up like Times Square, and all of a sudden, I found the news, so it's too soon for me to even feel anything. Yeah. Let it in, Peter. Let it in. Let the portal come down. But, you know, I'm the kind of guy that, you know, comedy depresses me. So, you know, if it's half empty,

well, not you, not you. Thank you. Thank you very much. Jesus. But if it's half empty or half full, I go to the half-empty side. So it still hasn't kind of sunk in. The best thing about half empty is it's closer to a refill. There you go. That's pretty good, right? It still hasn't kind of sunk in. The best thing about half empty is it's closer to a refill.

There you go. That's pretty good, right? Yeah! Oh! Oh! Oh! Oh! Oh!

Oh! Oh! Oh! Oh! Oh! Oh! Oh! Oh!

Oh! Oh! Oh! Oh! Oh! Oh! Oh! Oh! Jordan does not know about this. But I did some research on him, and he comes from Kalamazoo. So I got you some special bourbon from Kalamazoo. Oh, dear Lord. Can we get something from Kentucky in here, please? Oh, my God. We'll go blind, Peter.

Well, maybe we'll talk for a little bit, and then we'll have a little shower. Or should we just... Let's celebrate. Celebrate. Celebrate. Cheers. Celebrate. Celebrate. Cheers. Thank you. Cheers.

Cheers. Oh! Cheers. Yeah, that tastes like Southwest Michigan, baby. Oh, baby. Yes, sir. Or better about Flint water. Oh, it takes minutes. A little healthier than Flintwater.

I know. Yes. I have to say, as we're getting personal, this is a special moment to me, in that the sounds in my household growing up were the sounds of the Jay Giles band, oftentimes Full House, oftentimes the Bloodshot album. And my father would come out singing Bright and Early on Saturday morning.

And more often than not, he would sing you saying the phrase, take out your false teeth, Mama, I want to suck on your gums. Yeah. And I have you to thank for both that comedy and the little scar that I left on my heart. And now I find out, I don't know if I should be saying this, but I got to meet your dad in the dressing room.

You did. He came, yeah. Where is he? Where is he? Mark Klepper, he's over there in the corner. Yes. All the way from Kalamazoo, Michigan. Yeah. We got to get him out. We got to get him out for one quick shake. You want to get him out? Yeah, one quick shake.

Mark Klepper, come on out. Here's my dad. Come on. come on. You want to come out? I was telling your dad that Full House was my favorite Jay Giles record. And you like all of them, but that one happens to be my favorite because it just was like a snapshot of what we did. Yeah. Like the decisive moment. And we just started at, you know, 99 miles an hour and just kept going. Yeah.

And your dad was there. It was in a place called the Cinderella Ballroom. And the place was so funky that about six months after we played there, they just tore it down and it's still an empty lot. You literally brought down the house. We brought empty lot. You literally brought down the house. We brought down the house. You brought down the house.

I mean, it's... I mean, it's... This book is, it's great. You're sort of, I read this, you're sort of the forest gump of music and culture of the last 50 years. Like you have chapters in here, the little vignettes with Eleanor Roosevelt, Andy Warhol, John Lennon, Norman Rockwell, David Lynch, like these little

moments that you find yourself in. Why frame your experience through that lens? Well Jordan, you know, during the pandemic everybody was, friends of mine were writing rock operas, symphonies, you know, doing this and doing that. I just sat and I watched old movies and read. And then a lot of musicians started putting out memoirs. And a lot of them were just, you know, a cookie-cutter kind of thing. And unless you were really into the musician, they were kind of boring.

And... And not all of them, but many of them. And so I decided, uh, I was thinking for 10 years of writing a book, and there was a friend of them, but many of them. And so I decided, I was thinking for 10 years of writing a book, and there was a friend of mine, a esteemed writer, Peter Gernick, that wrote some great books on music, the best books in Elvis that had ever been written. And he said to me, Peter, if you're gonna write the book,

you better start now, because the people you're gonna want to read are gonna be dead. And so there are a lot of notable names in this book, but it's really, I didn't want it to be about me. I wanted it to be about the people that I idolized and people like Aretha Franklin, who I got to work with, and people like, you know, Muddy Waters and John Lee Hooker. And a lot of the book, yeah.

Yeah, that's right. We got a John Lee Hooker fan here. Cougar Mugler. And Van Morrison and all these people that I was honored, you know, to get to meet. And so when I wrote some... When I read some of these other books, they would describe, oh, we ran into so-and-so.

But they didn't really tell you what so-and-so was about. Yeah. So I tried to, you know, bring out the experiences that I had with these artists, and not all artists, and people not well-known, but people that I thought were just great characters and who really influenced my life. I loved a chapter that I loved is you talk about being in the Greenwich Village in the 60s,

sort of as Dylan is coming up. And you're a little bit younger than Dylan, and sort of coming up and watching what was happening and being a part of that scene. Like, what did that scene feel like? I think right now there's sort of this new focus on that era in music with the movie that came out, but it seems so dynamic and yet so intimate

at the same time. It was. I mean, Greenwich Village was like a small left bank. There was no neon signs. You had all filled with painters, lots of Bohemian people. And of course, there was the folk music. And a lot of great jazz. There was great jazz clubs.

So you had people like Charlie Mingus and Thelonious Monk playing in little clubs. And you can see him almost every night. And then there were the folk singers. I was 16 years old. And I was in this store going through some records. It was a very famous store called the Folk Law Center,

where all the folk musicians hung out. And I'm hearing behind the curtain this voice. Yeah, piggy, piggy, oh, hello, my little piggy, oh. Aretha Franklin. Uh, no. We need some more! And so I got mesmerized by this voice. I couldn't see who it was. It was behind the curtain.

Didn't know if it was, you know. And all of a sudden, this fella comes out with these two other people walking out with guitars, and they go up to the owner of the shop, and I said, who was that guy? And from that point on, I became mesmerized with the person who became Bob Dylan. And I tried, who was that guy? And from that point on, I became mesmerized with a person who became Bob Dylan.

And I tried to find out everywhere he played. I was 16 years old, and Bob had just come into New York City. I think it was his second week in New York City. And so I got to really see him as he, you know, first became Bob Dylan. And he used to go and hang out at this place called Gerties Folk City. And every Monday, they would have a hootenanny.

And you paid a dollar to get in, and you had to be 18. The drinking age was 18. I was 16. So I would always go with someone as tall and handsome as yourself. -"Smart move." Very smart move. -"Very smart move." And so we'd get in, and I'd always rush to the bar where Bob would be every Monday, and he'd be sitting at the bar. And I remember every Monday, and he'd be sitting at the bar.

And I remember he'd be sitting at the bar. I'd be over here, and he'd be talking to some guy. I just heard this guy, Robert Johnson. Man, I could tell you, man, this guy was something else. He has truth in Robert Johnson. And I could tell truth in people. And he's talking, and he had a glass of wine next to him. And so I'd be sitting next to him, and...

Laughter ...Bob would be talking, and he'd turn around and go, Oh, hey, Joe, another little glass here. Guy would throw it up. Bob would take a little sip. He'd put it down. I'd go, Whoo! I was 16. I couldn't get any of it. So he'd keep going.

I would drink all of Bob Dylan's, you know, wine. You would take it? Yeah. You'd get the Bob Dylan juice. So I stayed a fan all the way through the years, and I'm still a fan. And because he's still going, he's still doing it, and he's unique. And just getting to know him, and there's

a story in that book where I was drinking. To get really loaded back then, I would drink these things called Rum 51, Bacardi 151, 151% alcohol. Okay. So the whole idea is don't eat. Drink two of those down really quick. Yeah. And you get smoshed. I was gonna say, I think that would burn your insides.

And so I'm staggering down 6th or 7th Avenue. There's a Henry Steakhouse. And there I see my idol, Bob Dylan, Avenue, there's a Henry Steakhouse. And there I see my idol, Bob Dylan, sitting there all alone reading the New York Times. And he sees me coming, and he pulls the Times over his face. It's too late, and I walk over to the table, and I sit down, and I say to him,

which everyone says to a celebrity, excuse me, sir, I don't mean to bother you, but... And then they proceed to do everything they said they're not gonna do. Well, in the book, it's one of my favorite chapters is my interaction with Bob, and I'll just leave it at that. You're gonna have to buy it, everyone,

is what you're saying. Or go to the library. Go to the library to get it. I... What I love about some of these stories is it does feel like, like, you have these wonderful stories with Muddy Waters and John Lee Hooker, John Lee Hooker, and that essentially are you working your way into carrying musical equipment to get close to folks.

Like, it feels as if music and also, like, tradition was being passed shoulder to shoulder. Literally, or perhaps merlot to merlot, whoever you're stealing liquor from. -"Burban to Bourbon," yeah. Yeah. Like, in some ways, your book is, like, a testament to the art of hanging out. Well, you know, I saw Muddy Waters first on an album cover, and I was intrigued by this album cover,

Vest of Muddy Waters, and I would just play it over and over. And then I finally realized he was playing at this small club, Club 47, where Bob Dylan, Joan Baez got her start. And so I would hang out. He was playing one afternoon. I got there at, like, 2 o'clock in the afternoon and just waited and waited. And finally, these two black Cadillacs

came coming up to the club, And there he was, my idol. Beautiful, handsome, noble, regal, outstepped Muddy Waters. And I ran up to him and said, Mr. Waters, welcome to Cambridge, Massachusetts. Is there anything I can do for you? Yeah, you can carry that equipment in the club. And he thought I worked in the club. And so I was in the club, and it was a coffee shop. And I was in the bathroom in the loo,

and two of Muddy's band members, the great James Cotton Notice Band, they were in the... And they're saying, this is a coffee shop. And one of them said to the other one, yes, or what? He said, they don't serve coffee. He goes, they don't serve booze?

He says, no, man, it's just coffee. He said, what kind of club is this? So I come out of the stool and said, I'll get you some booze. And I did. And that started the friendship. And I had an apartment two blocks away. And so what eventually happened was the dressing room

was the size of this cup. And so Muddy and the entire band ended up at my apartment for over two weeks. And I got to sit there, and there was Muddy Waters lying down in the futon, you know, had his, you know, T-shirt on. What's the word would you call it? Tank top. Tank top. Tank top lying on the bed, and he would tell me stories

of how he first saw or heard Robert Johnson. Yeah. Everyone was all talking about different things. James Cotton was cooking up all this down home. And I just drove it all in. And I tried to describe how great these men were and also how their lives were, where they just went from city to city. They didn't have really much money.

They just lived from dollar to dollar. And, you know, they were legendary. And they supplied our, you know, musicians like me with so much. So I tried to repay it by recapturing them in the story. And there's the thing that... Yeah. If I might tell one tale, that the John Lee Hooker, who became a favorite of mine,

they're all our favorites, but John Lee in particular, because John Lee traveled alone. He didn't have a band. And he had these wraparound sunglasses. He was not too tall. He had a terrible stutter when he was offstage. When he was onstage, he never stuttered. And I got to meet with him and then went to his first performance.

And like Muddy, very few people came at that time. And so I convinced him to let my band, which was called, this was the 60s, The Hallucinations. Sure. But we were all art students and all hallucinating. Sure. So I convinced John Lee Hooker to let us open up for him. And then I asked, you know, Mr. Hooker,

would you mind if I came by the hotel and hung out with you? Notice the guy had wraparound sunglasses, you know, the cap. He sang songs like, well, you know, these great blues songs. And he said, yeah, come by Lenox Hotel, 4 o'clock, room 302. Oh, man, this is like Christmas time. I was standing by that door at 3 o'clock. 4 o'clock, I knocked on the door. I heard a voice, come on in.

And I walked in, the door was open. I opened up the door and it was really dark, except for a TV screen. And there on the bed was the great John Lee Hooker with these argyle socks, you know, all the way up to there. And he had on tank top, durag on his head, wrap-around sunglasses. On the night table was a bottle of Ballantine Scotch.

There was cool cigarettes all up in the ashtray. And there was, you know, this, you know, cool. And then on the other bed, she was just beautiful, curved. I mean, beautifully laid out on the bed, all across the bed was this 335 guitar. Sure. Yeah. And there was the blues man, and he said,

come on in. Room was dark, TV was on, I pulled up a chair, he said, sit on down. And I'm sitting down, you know, waiting for a conversation, I'm realizing that John Lee is right, riveted in the TV screen. So I look over at the TV screen and this is the man that sang, I'm mad, I'm bad.

I can cut you, I can beat you, I could stab you, I could kill you, I'm mad, I'm bad like Jesse James. This man with the wrap-around sunglasses watching TV, and I realize John Lee Hooker is watching Lassie. And when he realizes, I realize, in his innumerable ways, Peter, let me tell you, man, man, man, man, that lassie, he's one motherf***** smart dog. Well, Peter, nothing but wonderful stories in this.

Waiting on the Moon is available now. Peter Wall, we're gonna take a quick break. We'll be right back. We'll be right back. That's it. That's it. That's it. That's it. That's it. That's it. That's it. That's it. That's it.

That's it. That's it. That's it. That's it. That's it. That's it. That's it. That's it.

That's it. That's it. That's it. That's it. That's it. That's it. That's it. That's it. That's it. That's it. That's it. That's it. criticizing about renewables and and energy independence with renewables.

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