The Daily Show: Ears Edition - John Bolton's Book Bombshell and Lev Parnas's Trump Recording | Charles Yu

Episode Date: January 28, 2020

Mike Pence makes a bizarre remark to Pope Francis, John Bolton's new book adds to the Trump impeachment drama, and author Charles Yu discusses his novel "Interior Chinatown." Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

You're listening to Comedy Central. When 60 Minutes premiered in September 1968, there was nothing like it. This is 60 Minutes. It's a kind of a magazine for television. Very few have been given access to the treasures in our archives. But that's all about to change. Like none of this stuff gets looked at, that's what's incredible. I'm Seth Done of CBS News,

listen to 60 Minutes, a second look, starting September 17th, wherever you get your podcasts. January 27th, 2020. From Comedy Central's World News headquarters in New York, this is the Daily Show with Trevor Noah. Ears Edition. Welcome to this daily show, everybody. Thank you so much for tuning in. Thank you for coming out. So amazing. Wow. So much energy. Thank you so much. Take a seat. Let's do it, folks. I'm Trevor Noah. Our guest tonight is a novelist who has written for West World on HBO.

He's here with a new book that takes on race and pop culture. Charles, you is joining us everybody. Also on tonight's episode, John Bolton crashes the impeachment party. Desiletic takes us to Mars, and the Pope asks Mike Pence for forgiveness. So let's catch up on today's headlines. Let's begin with some international news out of the Vatican, where Pope Francis had a

special visitor. Vice President Mike Pence, making a special stop during his overseas trip, getting a chance to meet Pope Francis in Vatican City. The meeting was twice as long as President Trump's visit in 2017 as he was leaving. Pence said, thank you, your holiness, you have made me a hero. God bless you. Yes, that's right. The most religious man in the world met the Pope. And I bet after meeting Mike Pence,

the Pope walked away like, yo, that guy's a Jesus freak. That guy really likes Jesus. Also, I don't really get, what did Mike Pence mean when he told the Pope, you a hero? How does meeting the Pope make you a hero? Unless he meant the Pope literally made him a hero, then it makes sense. Here's a question, here's a question I have though.

Do you think the Pope took Pence's confession? Because if he did, that would have to be the most boring confession the Pope has ever heard. The Pope would be like, you walked in on your wife, taking off her shoes shoes, to. to. to. to. to. to. to. to. told. told, told, told, the the the told. the the the the the the the the the the the the the their, their, the Pope, the Pope, the Pope, the Pope, the Pope, tho, tho, the Pope, the Pope, the Pope, the Pope, the Pope, the Pope, the Pope, the Pope, the Pope, the Pope, the Pope, the Pope, the Pope, the Pope, the Pope, the Pope, the Pope, the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the Pope, and the the the Pope, and I.a, the.a, thi. thi. thi. thi. thooooooooooooooo. the. thooooooooo. the. the. the. like, you walked in on your wife, taking off her shoes, I don't care. What? No, eating salty food is not a sin. What the hell, man? All right, moving on to more international news. The coronavirus is spreading faster and faster every day.

And now the Chinese government is working overtime to stop it. Breaking news about the deadly coronavirus. Just today, more cases the cases, the the the the the the today, today, today, today, today, today, today, today, today, today, today, today, today, toovedeea, toovedea, toooma, too, too, too, is too, is too, is too, is too, is too, is too, is too, too, toe, toe, toe, toe, toea, toea, toea, toea, toea, toea, toea, toea, toea, toea, toea, toooma, toooma, toooma, tooomorrow, tooomorrow, today, today, today, today, today, is nota, is nota, today, more cases were confirmed here in the US, bringing the total number to at least five. The virus is now spreading faster. So far, it's killed at least 81 people in China. More than 2,700 others have been infected across 13 countries. Wuhan, the epicenter of the outbreak and 14 other cities now in lockdown. That's a total of 50 million

people ordered to stay in place. Workers in Wuhan with heavy machinery racing against time to build a brand new thousand bed hospital in just 10 days. Yes, China has announced that they're building a thousand bed hospital in just 10 days. Ten days to build a husband. There is no other country that can do anything that fast. Like in America, it takes longer than that to get cable installed. I've learned when you order cable in this country. You aren't ordering it for you.

You're ordering it for your grandkids. That's what you're doing. It's just like, I just want little billion to have Comcast one day. Yes, yes, I'll be ready. But I guess this is the double-edged sword of China's cultural efficiency. Like the people in the country are extremely efficient, but saw their diseases, right? Because think about, this disease is going all over the world at an insane rate. That, like, you know, there's there's no, there's no Jamaican diseases that have threatened the world. Yeah, because, 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, their, like, like, 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, 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, threatened the world. Yeah, because like the people, Jamaican diseases are chilled out, you know? It's just like, yeah, man, we infected this one person. Should we go and infect the entire population?

It's like, no, so much work. We're just going to enjoy this man's mouth. We're not going to infect anybody else. We just relax. We're ira-a-a. Also, okay, also, am I the only one who's noticed that the virus has gone everywhere except Africa? Huh? I mean, look, don't get me wrong.

Don't get me wrong. I don't want the virus, but I'm kind of hurt. Why is Africa always left out? I mean, maybe the coronavirus is just scared, because it knows if it shows up in Africa, Ebola will be waiting at the airport like, oh, Corona! Look at me, Corona. I'm the virus now, huh? All right, and finally, in some transportation news, this could make driving a little bit more

fun. If you ever make it up to Vermont, you may see something different on the road, license plates with emogies. Vermont is the first state in the country-s the-of-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-a-o-s th-s th-s th-s, th-s, th-s, th-s, th-s, thi-s, thi-s, thi-s, th-s, thiolv-s, thiolv-c, thi-c. th. the coronavirus, the coronavirus, th. the coronavirus, th. the the the th. We th-c. We the th-c. th-c. the th-c. th-c. th-c. th-c. th-c. th-c. th-c. th-c. th-c. th-s, th-c. th-c. th-c. th-c. th-c. th-c. th-co-co-co-s, th-co-courin. th-courin. th-c. th-c. the-courn. the-c.ense plates with emogees. Vermont is the first state in the country considering adding one of six emoes to their license plates. The symbols would not replace any letters or numbers and some drivers on the road are on board. If you were to have the option to do an emogy on your license plate what would that emoji be? Um probably a heart and a rainbow. It would probably be an angry face and a kissy smile. Yeah.

I love this. Angry face and a kissy smile. I like that. Emojies on license plate. This is a great idea. Like, if everyone has emoes on the license plate, it would be so much easier to remember the license plate if there was a hit and little. Now it'd be like, yeah, I remember it. I got it. It was three women chach-a-ying. I remember that. They choc-ch-it-all over my grandpa, man.

At the same time, I do think emojis could also make life tougher for cops. Because they're going to be out on repeat, egg plant, water squirt, water, skirt, 69. God help us all. All right, that's it for the headlines, let's move on. Tell top story. Impeachment. It's the constitutional way of saying, buy Felicia. And this weekend was full of major bombshells that could change the trial bigly. So, let's check in on the latest developments in another installment of the magical, wonderful road to impeachment. It's probably presidential harassment. On Friday, after three days of presenting evidence, the Democrats finally wrapped up their case

in the impeachment trial of President Donald Jolene Trump. And now, Trump's defense is taking the floor and presenting their arguments. And it basically boils down to this. One, this is just a political attack by the Democrats. Two, Trump did nothing wrong. And three, there are no first-hand witnesses, thrown to Trump about a quid pro quo. And that last one is pretty balsy, right?

How are you going to complain about having no eyewitnesses when you're the one one one one oneewitnesses. It's a pretty slick move. You can't have it both ways. It's like if you're a vegan, you can't complain about all the chickpeas in your life. Okay? Yeah, you chose that chickpea life. Now you just got to stay quiet except for all the farts, but that's you. But now, this is where it gets interesting. Right in the middle of team Trump making that argument about witnesses, we got some big

news from someone who Democrats have been trying to get to testify in this trial. And I'm talking about John Bolton, former Trump national security advisor and star of HBO's Deadwood. You see, the White House has been terrified about what he might tell the Senate and now it looks like we know why. Breaking overnight bombshell, former national security advisor John Bolton, ready to turn on the president as news leaks from his explosive new book about what he claims really happened with Ukraine. Bolton says the president told him that he wanted to continue freezing $391 million in security assistance to Ukraine until officials there helped with investigations

into Democrats, including the Biden's. President Trump signaling that he is going to paint John Bolton as a disgruntled former employee. Take a look at his tweet from earlier today. He says if John Bolton said this, it was only to sell a book. Wow, this is a big deal. Because we now know that if Bolson testifies, he would say that that that that that that thuuil, thuil, thui, thui, thui, thui, thui, thui, thui, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thui, thui, thui, thi, thi, thi, thi, thu-a, thi, th thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thu, thu, thu, told, told, told, told, told, told, told, told, told, told, told, told, told, told, told, told, told, thi's thi's too, thi's too, too, too, too, too. too. too. too. too. too. too. too. too. too. too. too. too, too, too, too, this is a big deal. Because we now know that if Bolton testifies, he would say that Trump personally told him that he wanted to hold up aid to Ukraine

until he got dirt on the Biden's. Which is the whole thing. This is the heart of the entire impeachment thing. So I don't know how Senate Republicans can justify not hearing from Bolton now. Like, there's no reason. Imagine an eyewitness to a murder wanted to testify and the judge just refused. You know, it's just like, your honor, I saw this man and I saw the crime firsthand. It'd be like, ah, bop, no spoilers. No spoilers. No spoilers.

I want to see how it adds. And by the way, is Trump really going to argue that John Bolton is just another disgruntled employee employee, em-in- you, but he sure seems to have a lot of disgruntled employees. Like how come nobody ever leaves the White House gruntled? I'm just like, thank you Mr. President, I am so gruntled to have worked with you. So Bolton's book has thrown a big, hairy curveball into this impeachment trial. But believe it or not, the Bolton revelations aren't the only big new piece of evidence. Because remember Lev Parnass, yes? Rudy Giuliani's right-hand man and the count from Sesame Street?

Well, after Panas said that he worked for Trump to get dirt on Joe Biden, Trump repeatedly claimed he has no idea who this man is. And that's even though they've appeared in more photos together than Mariah Carey and Christmas trees. So now the question is, is Trump lying about not knowing Parnas, or is Parnas lying about knowing Trump? Well, it turns out Parnas has the receipts. Breaking overnight, the release of an explosive new audio tape

that reportedly features President Trump speaking to Igor Fruman and Lev Parnas at a dinner in 2018. On the tape, a voice identified as Parnass can be heard telling Trump that the ambassador to Ukraine was bad-mouthing him. Yeah, she's basically walking around telling everybody, wait, he's going to get impeached, just wait. I mean, it's incredible. Get rid of her. Get her out tomorrow.

Okay, get around tomorrow. Take her out. Okay? Excellent. Do it. President Trump has repeatedly said he doesn't know Lev Parnes. But on the tape, they talk in detail about Ukraine. White House Press secretary Stephanie Grisham said the gathering doesn't mean the president knew of or even remembered LeParnas. The president sits at many, many dinners, at many, many roundtables, with people that

he does not know. Yeah. The president has many, many dinners, sometimes all on the same nights. Come on guys, I'm sorry. You just can't keep pretending that Trump doesn't know this guy, right? Because first, they, they, they, they, they, they, they, they, they, they, they, they, they, they, they, they, they, they, th th th th thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, the thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, th. the the the th. th. The th. The th. The th, th, th, th, th, th, th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. thi, thi, thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thri. thri. thri. thri. thi. thi. thi thi thri thi. thi. thi. thi't keep pretending that Trump doesn't know this guy. All right? Because first they said Trump wouldn't remember all the people he takes photos with. Okay, I understand that. Now they're saying, Trump can't remember all the people he has private dinners with.

What's next? They're going to be like, look, the president gets matching quid pro quo back tattoos with a lot of people. He can't be expected to remember all of them. But another thing this tape demonstrates is that once again, this president has an insane number of people who are secretly recording him. Like, this is not normal. Do you know how many people have secretly recorded Trump now? Lawyers, aides, henchmen. Basically everyone everyone Trump trusts, with his secrets, is wearing a wire. At this point, we have enough tapes to produce an album, which is exactly what we did.

Are you ready to hear President Trump unfiltered, uncensored, and unaware that he's being recorded? Introducing, now that's what I call Trump being secretly recorded. The president put his trust in a few select people and they've been taping his ass the whole time. You'll hear recordings from, left parnets. Take a round, okay? Excellent.

Do it. Michael Cohen. And this classic call with Amarosa when he pretended he didn't know she got fired. Amarosa, what's going on? I just saw on news that you're thinking about leaving. What happened? We've selected the best from over 500,000 hours of audio from places like the Access Hollywood Tape. Grab them by the pussy. Take advantage now because we will never have a president this gullible again. This is all sort of like off the record, right? Not anymore.

And if you call the next five minutes, we'll have this bonus DVD. Now that's what I call the president sniffing. Awesome! Call now. There's no guarantee of recordings will lead you in between. We'll be right back. When 60 Minutes premiered in September 1968, there was nothing like it. This is 60 Minutes. It's a kind of a magazine for television.

Very few have been given access to the treasures in our archives. You're rolling. But that's all access to the treasures in our archives. You're rolling? But that's all about to change. Like none of this stuff gets looked at. That's what's incredible. I'm Seth Done of CBS News. Listen to 60 Minutes, a second look, starting September 17th, wherever you get your podcasts. Welcome back to the Davis show. My guest tonight is an author whose critically acclaimed new book is called Interior

Chinatown. Please welcome Charles Yu. Welcome to the show. And congratulations on a book that has gotten many, many, many people talking. Critics loving it saying it's a beautiful new way to talk about a story that everybody wants to be talking about right now. Interior Chinatown. It's a novel. Yes. But when you read it's basically written like a screenplay. Right. Why did you do that?

I work in Hollywood, so I already had the software. So I just, it's easier. You know, I think a lot of what you were talking about the previous segment, stories resonate with people. And movies and TV really do. And I wanted to tell the story that way, also because of what the story is about, which is a character, Willis Wu. Right. It's interesting that you make it so simple

because that's really what it is. It's a story about a character, Willis Wu, who is a man who just dreams of making it big on the big screen. And what's beautiful and what resonates in the book is it talks about the challenges that he faces and so many Asian Americans and Asians in America have faced with being represented on screen in a way that is not boiled down to stereotypes. Right. Yeah, I mean, it's his dream, so Willis's story is basically that he, his job is to be generic Asian man on a show called Black

and White. And so, you know, everyone's seen Law and Order. And you have the two leads in the front and they're discussing the case and way in the back, pretty much out of focus, it's like an Asian guy unloading a van. Right. I was like, what if you told the story from that guy's point of view in the law and order universe? Right. And I started to get interested in this world and exploring the world because the view from

the bottom looks different than the view from where the leads are standing. It really is powerful because you... You talk about in this book, One Man's Journey, but really a lot of this book deals with how Asians have been pushed to the side in America and a lot of storytelling. Some people have it good though because they go like, oh at least Asian people have the model minority thing to them so they're seen as less threatening and they're given more opportunities. But you have a different view on that idea. Yeah, absolutely.

I think, you know, the model minority is just sort of the age old strategy of divide, you know, divide and conquer. And holding one group up justifies holding a group apart. And it's not just you're sort of saying Asians have it good, you're kind of showing the other groups you could do it too. And also the fact is there are plenty of Asians who have not succeeded. There are, the characters in this book are struggling.

Economically, they're struggling to assimilate culturally. That's a story that we don't see as often. In the media, stories about Asian American American success but not always this story. In this book is a character who dreams of just getting to play the lead in a Kung Fu film. That's what he's dreaming of doing. Interestingly enough though, and I mean I get why the character's doing it. That's one of the things that you say like always broke your heart in the smolest way when you'd be watching TV with your family is you'd look up when you'd in the smallest way when you'd be watching TV with your family is you'd look up when you see an Asian person on the screen,

you'd be like, wow, that's amazing. And then they would always be distilled into like a few categories. Like, why do you think that that affected you so much, especially with your children? Right, yeah, I mean, that's exactly what's happening now now, it's happening now is that I'm a dad old enough.. that thia. th. together and sort of I had made peace with being you know watching Asians on the side but now they're old enough that I have to turn and explain to them you know why is that guy doing a funny accent you know or right why is that

person squinting their eyes and playing an Asian on TV and you know there has been a lot of progress we see stories about Asians but we still don't thi to thooooo to the to they.. they. they. they. they. they. they. they. they. they. they. their they. the. their to to to to to to to to to to to to to to the. thi. thi. their they they they they they they they they they's they's they's they's they's they's they they they they they they they they they they they they they their their their their their their their their their their their their to to told. told. told. told. I I I I I I I I I told. I told. I told. I'm told. to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to told. to to to to the. they're they're they're their I wanted to be able to, you know, explain to them. So I had to kind of work through it in this book. And you know, for instance, I was recently watching the Golden Globes and I watched Aquafina get that award and my daughter was sitting next to me. And it was like, I felt uplifted. And so did she, and I could see in her eyes that this was something that we'd both, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, thin, thin, thin, thi, thi, thin, thin, thin, thin, tho, tho, tho, thin, thi, thi, tho, tho, and I th. And, and I was, and I was th, and I was th, and I was, and I was, th. And, th. And, th. And, th. And, th. And, th. And, th. And, th. And, th. And, th. And, th. And, th. And, th. And, th. And, th. And, th. And, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thr. And, thr. And, thr. And, thr. And, thr. And, thi. And, thi. And, thr. And, thi. And, thi. And, thi. And, thi. And, both remember. And at the same time, we see things on TV where you sort of can't believe that that's still on TV in your 2020. So.

Yeah, it's a really fun story that I love. It moves, it's fast-paced. It feels like you're watching a movie in a movie, which is really fun. And it talks about something that I think we all need to be talking about more more more more more more more more more more more more more more more more more more more more more more more more more more. show. Congratulations from writing a fantastic book. Interior, China Tentown is available now. Charles U, everybody. Thank you very much. Thank you very much.

The Daily Show with Trevnoa, Ears Edition. Watch the Daily Show weeknights at 11, 10 Central on Comedy Central and the Comedy Central Watch full episodes and videos at the Daily Show. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. And subscribe to the 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. When 60 Minutes premiered in September 1968, there was nothing like it.

This is 60 Minutes. It's a kind of a magazine for television. Very few have been given access to the treasures in our archives. But that's all about to change. Like none of this stuff gets looked at. That's what's incredible. I'm Seth Done of CBS News. Listen to 60 Minutes, a second look on Apple podcasts starting September 17.