The Daily Show: Ears Edition - ICYMI - Riz Ahmed on His "Venom" Role and Asserting Himself Through Music

Episode Date: July 10, 2019

Actor, activist and rapper Riz Ahmed talks about his role in "Venom," the importance of representation in film and what compelled him to write his song "Mogambo." Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

You're listening to Comedy Central. Hey everybody, John Stewart here. I am here to tell you about my new podcast, the weekly show coming out every Thursday. We're going to be talking about the election earnings calls. What are they talking about on these earnings calls? We're going to be talking about ingredient-to-bread ratio on sandwiches. I know you have a lot of options as far as podcasts go, but

how many of them come out on Thursday. Listen to the weekly show with John Stewart wherever you get your podcast. Please welcome Riz Ahmed. Welcome to the show. Thank you for having me, man. It's been a while. I've been watching you blow up. I mean, so many people were fans of you from the night, fans of yours from the night off. Many people were fans of yours, seeing you in so many different movies. You've played so many different roles and now you're in Venom playing a character that I did not like as a human being for the first time.

Right, thank you. Cheers. Right. Did you enjoy it? You know, I did actually. I feel like, you know, I never thought I'd be in a movie like this. To be honest, you know, you get to play with all the toys and all these great actors. And I also, I think Venom's quite a like timely story. Right. In what way? Well, it's like about an American guy who gets invaded by a giant POC alien.

And, um, and like, to begin with, we'll read the comics. He's a fact. And to begin with with with with with with with with with with with with with with with with with with with with with with with with with with with with the 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 thi thi thi thi thi their thi, thi. thoes thoes thoes their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. ti. ti. toy. toy. toy. toy. toy. toy. toy. toy. toy. toy. th. thi. thi. It's a fact. And to begin with, he tries to get rid of him, but then he realizes he can't really live without him. Right, right. So, you know, it's kind of something in there. You know, what I find interesting is the idea behind the character and what you're saying. You know, when you're, like, you know, characters who are either of Middle Eastern or South Asian descent,

where he saw themselves as like one thing and that was like bad guy number four, terrorist number seven, right? But here you want a movie where you're playing a character who's this wild billionaire who thinks he should be king of the world, right? Very unrealistic character that we cannot see in real life. But you're playing this character. And jokes aside, what is great is you're playing a character that is a star of a movie, in a Marvel film as well, and you look the way you look, which is a powerful thing when you think of like the journey that you've gone through. When you look at diversity and when you look at representation, how do you work towards one of the two?

Are they as important to you as the other? It's such a difficult discussion to have right now in Hollywood. How do you deal with it? It's interesting in a way, because I was thinking about this, and we're talking about this backstage, is like, it's kind of weird that it's remarkable at all that I should be able to play a range of different characters. Because you think about it, that's the basis of acting itself. But the basis of acting is I could be you and you could be me, it's just the circumstances are slightly different, right? Emotionally we're all the same. So it's just weird if you think

about it that certain people's faces or experiences are seen as universally relatable and other people aren't. But it's obviously not th., otherwise, you wouldn't be able to be moved by any art that wasn't about anyone else. So I mean, that's my take on that. But in terms of diversity and representation, I don't like to talk about diversity. I feel like it sounds like an added extra. It sounds like the fries, not the burger. It sounds like something on the fries, not the burger, you know? It sounds like something on the side, you've got your main thing going on,

and yeah, let's sprinkle a little bit of diversity on top of that. And that's not what it's about for me, it's about representation. And representation is absolutely fundamental in terms of what we expect from our culture and from our politics. You know, we all want to feel seen and heard and valued. So I prefer to talk about representation. You've done a great job of that.

Yeah. You've done a really great job of playing so many different characters on screen just as an actor. Like you've gone for such a diverse set of roles, you know, that challenge you in different ways. What I didn't always know about you is that you are also a rapper, like an MC. And like, like for real, for real, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, th, th, th, th, th, th, like, like, thi, like, that, like, thi, thi, thi, tha, to, to, tha, tha, to, tha, tha., tha, tha is that you are also a rapper, like an MC and like for real for real, not like as a gimmick. You just, no genuinely because like some people go like, I rap and then it's like it's a joke, but no really we've actually got a clip of one of your music videos right here.

But my voice live my people off the dance bed headlines to the headlines. Yeah. That's, that song comes from a body of work that is powerful because you speak not just about what's happening in the world but what has happened to you as a person. All right, there's one of my favorite songs is 9-11 blues. Right. Tell us what 9-11 blues is about. Well, yeah, I mean, that track's called Mugambo is the track that just came out yesterday, actually.

And, you know, the message for that song is, I guess there's been a throwne. to my work, I the message, I the message, I the message, I the message, I guess, I guess, I their, I their, I guess, I guess, I guess, I guess, I guess, I guess, I guess, I guess, I guess, I guess, I guess, I guess, I guess, I guess, I guess, I guess, I guess, I'm, I'm, I guess, I guess, 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'm, I'm, I'm, 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's, the the thi. the thi. the thi. the thin, thin, thin, thin, thin, thin, th. th. th. t. t. t. t. tel. t. tel. tel. tel. tel. tel. tel. tel. th. th. than I've ever said it, which is that, you know, we're living at a time where I said a lot of people are feeling unheard and unvalued and just unwanted. And really the message of this song is, yeah, some people might not want us here, but we're not going anywhere. You know, we're here to stay. We're part of this country was built on the backs of people who are trying, you know, people are trying to exclude those people from power now. Right.

So it's really a kind of, I just felt sick up of feeling so depressed, man. I felt, I just felt so like sick and tired of feeling despair. I said, I wanted to make something defiant. So, so I describe this track as a kind kind kind kind kind kind kind kind kind kind kind kind kind kind kind kind kind kind kind kind kind kind kind kind kind kind kind kind kind kind kind kind kind kind kind kind kind kind kind kind kind kind kind kind kind kind kind kind kind kind kind kind kind kind kind kind kind kind kind kind kind kind finger that you can dance to. I like that. I like that. The middle finger that you can dance to, I like that. But, but, from the story behind that first track you're talking about, Postmanland, that was my first rap song that I recorded and it, and it got banned. Um, as soon as I released it, which thank you. But, you know, DJ started emailing me saying, feel like, you know, we're living in a politically sensitive environment.

We can't play this track. And it was really just making fun of the post-911 circus of fear, this really kind of extravagant, cartoonish, you know, bogeyman kind of narrative that we had going on about Muslims. But yeah, I wrote it because the first film that I acted in, it won an award at Berlin Film Festival. We got on a plane, we all celebrating, landed back in the UK.

And as soon as we landed, we got detained by British intelligence officers. And they like took me into this side room, and I was like, thiiii. And they put me in all these armlocks, and they were like, did you become an actor to further the Muslim struggle? And I was like, now I became an actor to get girls, but it doesn't work. Because it's weird because it's like, yeah, this wasn't the kind of kink I had in mind. You know, you putting me in an arm because isn't what I was aiming for.

And I just thought, this is such a crazy, crazy situation, you know, being intimidated like that because you're just acting and just expressing yourself. And I thought, you know what, I'm going to been amazing at expressing yourself. You are someone who is outspoken in a time when a lot of people are like, I don't want to get involved in the politics. And that's something that you're really passionate about as a human being. Brexit is something that's huge. But I wanted to ask you, don't you feel like me? I just think what you do, by the you're such an important voice, the stuff you say... Thank you. I'm not saying it.

Thank you, I'm sorry. It's inspiring to what? You get up every night, you do this, and I just kind of think, like, I don't know if you feel this, but it's not like you chose politics. If you're born into a certain body in a certain place and time, politics chooses you. Oh yeah, you can't kind kind a kind you kind you kind you kind you kind you kind you kind you kind you kind you kind you kind you kind you kind th. th. th. th. th. th you're kind thus thus thus thus thus, you're kind th. th. th. th th th th thus, you're kind to thi. It's to to to to to to to to to to to to, it's inspiring to, it's inspiring to, it's inspiring to, it's inspiring to, it's inspiring to, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's to, it's to, it's to, it's to to to their their their thi. It's inspiring, it's inspiring, it's inspiring, it's thin, it's inspiring, it's inspiring, it's inspiring, it's inspiring, it's inspiring, it's inspiring th th thin, it's inspiring their th their their th their thii. It's inspiring to I'm making rap songs, I'm not trying to make political songs. They're very personal songs. It's just one person's personal songwriting will be about their dad hiring a limo for them to go to prom. Mine is about, you know, the gloves coming on airport security.

Right, right. That's my Friday night. thrown. It's just it's just coming from a personal place, you know It's a personal place. Yeah, you deliver it well. I'm excited to see everything that you're gonna do with. Thank you so much. Thank you so much. Thank you so much. How do you. Vendomely be in the the total fifth.

Rizzo, you know, everybody. The Daily Show with Kvernoa, ears. to daily show, to, the, the, to, the, the, to, the, the, to, the, the, the, the, the, th, th, thii. th, thi. thi. thi. thi. tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, thi. thi. tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, thi. thi. thi. th. th. th. th. to, th. th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. the. the. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. to. too. too. too. too. too. too. too. too. too. too. too. too. too. too. to. to. to. to. to. t Comedy Central app. Watch full episodes and videos at the Daily Show.com. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, and subscribe to the Daily Show on YouTube for exclusive content and more. This has been a Comedy Central podcast. Hey, everybody, John Stewart here. I am here to tell you about my new podcast, the weekly show. It's going to be coming out every Thursday. So exciting. You'll be saying to yourself, TGID. Thank God it's

Thursday. We're going to be talking about all the things that hopefully obsess you in the same way that they obsess me. The election. Economics. Earnings calls. What are they talking about on these earnings calls? We're going to be talking about ingredient to bread ratio on sandwiches. And I know that I listed that fourth, but in importance it's probably second. I know you have a lot of options as far as podcasts go, but how many of them come out on Thursday? I mean, talk about innovative. Listen to the weekly show with John Stewart,

wherever you get your podcast.