The Daily Show: Ears Edition - Jordan Klepper Sneaks Into America's Biggest Gun Show | Long Story Short: Re-Examining Masculinity

Episode Date: April 22, 2023

Jordan heads to the world’s largest gun show in Tulsa, Oklahoma, to investigate America’s unique obsession with guns and how gun companies are targeting the youth. And in Long Story Short, America is in the midst of long overdue changes around gender and power as it re-examines ideas about masculinity. But too often the conversation focuses on what men shouldn’t be, rather than what they should be. Jordan Klepper looks at Andrew Tate and breaks down how a void of role models has harmful consequences for young boys. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

You're listening to Comedy Central. America. the tree. to the true. America. Land of the Free and Home to an astronomical amount of mass shootings. So I went to the world's largest gun show in Tulsa, Oklahoma to investigate our unique obsession with guns. The bounty was plentiful.

Small guns, big guns, Kamala Clips, Katanas for some reason. And more Nazi swag than Harlan Crow's guest bathroom. Eleven acres of guns. Seems weird to use acreage as a measurement of guns, but this is America. Barry, why are you here today? America, America. You're here because America dot, dot, dot. Yes, guns.

I feel like that's an American haiku. Little E.E. Cummings over here. What are you looking forward to? Relaxation. And being able to look at guns free. That's relaxing to you. It's sort of like your bonsai tree is looking at an array of guns. Makes you Zen. It makes me feel better. And this guy might as well have been at a meditation retreat because they were selling guns everywhere including the parking lot. You're going to hopefully sell that inside?

Do you need a license? Can you just kind of go to the gun show and... You try to find somebody who wants to buy it, it it it it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to be to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to be to be to be to be to be to be to be to be to be to be to be to be to be to be to be to to be to the, the, the, the.a, thea, the thea, thea, thea, toea, to to to be to to to be to be to be to be to be You're going to hopefully sell that inside? Do you need a license? Can you just kind of go to the gun show? And you try to find somebody wants to buy it or you find what you want to buy it? And then if somebody's like I'm interested I'll buy it then what do you do? First of all you kind of like look them over. Is that what a background check guess if I was like, I need to get a gun quick to do bad shit, this is actually exactly where I would come. How much is that going for? About 900. What if I came up there and was like, I don't know, I've had a little bit of a rough day.

My wife just broke up with me. I'm feeling a little on edge. Well, I ain't th the thin' thin you know, or it looks like he's like crazy as shit, you know. What if I say the words of somebody who's crazy as shit, but I look composed like I do right now? Now, I'd probably sell it for you. While the selection of firearms was diverse, these days there's only one real star of the gun. What are you hoping to see? A couple AR AR-15s, maybe, some tactical ones. I just want to add to it, make it more tactical, make it have some lasers or something. Why is AR-15 such a good gun? It's just cool. A-a-do people use them for day-to-day. There's a lot of day-to-day AR-15 usage. I have a-a-a hunting. Squirrels, deer, wild hogs.

You're killing wild hogs too? We have had them threatened us, but... They've been threatened by pigs? My dad has. Why do you think the AR-15 is seen as scary? Because it looks like a military weapon? Do you think it's scary because it kills a lot of children? doesn't kill the children. It's the person wielding the weapon. Why do they tend to use that weapon in particular? Because in media it's portrayed that way.

Well no, but in schools it happens that way. Was I misunderstanding this? If AR-15s aren't the real threat in America, what is? Look up bicycle accidents. Coyotes? Acid attacks. Are there mass acid attacks? Look up. Trampoline accidents. Coyotes. Bars. Acetacks. Are there mass acid attacks?

I wouldn't say mass, but they do happen. Statistically there are more murders committed in this country every year with hammers, baseball bats and other blunt fort objects than any handgun, rifle, shotgun combined. Well that statistic can't be correct. Automobile accidents, falls, poison. Two by fours, heavy books, a statue sitting on your table. Right, it seems like, yeah, we should be looking all murder weapons from the game of clue and then get to the other lower level ones like the AR-15.

The more I talk to these people, the more I wondered if all of this tactical shit has always been a part of gun culture. That's a new thing. That's new. That's a new thing. I went to Montana to talk to Ryan Bussey, who spent 25 years in the gun industry, but now advocates for gun safety. I'm deeply troubled by the firearms culture that's emerged in and around guns in our country now. It mirrors much of our political, radical and transformation as a country. The industry itself, prior to about 2005 or 2006,

would not allow any kind of tactical gear, hardly any AR-15s, no bulletproof vest, no helmets, and its own trade shows. It seemed like the industry understood that propagating that kind of thing would lead to very bad shit. You bring an AR-15 to a gun show in 2009 and you're a weirdo?

Yeah, just 2008 and 2009 is when the weirdo stuff starts wearing off, but yeah, you're a weirdo then. Now it's commonplace, now it's ubiquitous. But they used to be weirdos. They used to be weird. And AR, I know a a a a a a a l la, I I I I I I I I th, I th, I th, I th, I th, I th, I th, I th, I th, I th, I th, I th, I th, I th, I th, I th, I th, th, th, thi, thi, thi, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, thi. thi. thi. thi. thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thee the theeee thean, thean, the theean, thi. thi. thi. thi. And AR, I know a lot of liberals think AR stands for assault rifle and they're wrong. It stands for, are you looking at my small penis? Is that right? It stands for Armelot rifle, which is the first company that developed it.

Armolite rifle? Yes. Liberals see the AR 15 and tend to think it's a weapon of war, and it feels like I go to a gun show and people say, it's for hunting, it's for sport. Who's right? Well, you just, all you have to do is look at the industry's own marketing. The industry sells it as an offensive weapon of war. They're starting to market towards kids, right? Yeah, so, you know, guns have long been marketed to kids. their guns, trying to get kids involved in the shooting sports and in hunting. But what's different now is that's being marketed to kids through things like the JR-15,

the Junior 15, not the AR-15, the Junior 15. It's a shrunken down kids version of an AR-15, yeah. A JR-15, is that so little kids? to government overreach? If you're word about child grooming, here, your child grooming. This is how gun manufacturers are reaching out to the public. Here you got the marketing for the JR 15 to little kids, check that out. Great, so we have pacifiers and a skull. Tactical pacifier. Tactical pacifier. Cute, yeah my two and a half year old would be drawn to that. This is a magazine cover. You have the vicious skateboard attacker and the glorious father defending his terribly afflicted family. Was that one in case Tony Hawk goes crazy? Yes. Honey get the

sword Tony Hawks here. So this is Pike's Tactical Ad. It was a 2018 huge ad at the industry trade show. Guys in jeans, t-shirts, backwards ballcap, AR-15, staring down the protesters. Here you have Kyle Rittenhouse, jeans, backwards ball cap, t-shirt, AR-15, shooting the protesters. This is two years apart? Two years apart. The marketing works. I don't know how, if you can't draw a direct line between those two things, I can't

help you. What are steps we can take to limit the number of mass shootings with weapons like the AR 15? I think like our politics, a lot of this is about voluntary social norms. Yes, legislation needs to be instituted to help reinforce some of these norms, but some of this is going to be on us. That's right, it is on us. So it shouldn't be too hard for all of us to come together and agree and agree to to to to to to to to to to to to to come together together together and agree and agree and agree to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to be. to be. to be. to be. to be. to be. to be. to be. to be. to be. to be. to be. to be. to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to the to the to. the. the. the the the thea. toe. toe. toe. toe. toe. toe. toe. toe. toe. to to to to us to come together and agree on what weapons should and should not be owned by the average civilian. Should we be able to buy tanks?

You bet you? Yeah? You bet you. If tanks are okay, should we each be able to have an Apache helicopter? There should be a line of the things that are available? Well, maybe we shouldn't go around with nuclear bombs. to our backs. That's th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, thu thu thu, thu, thu, thu, thu, thu thinks, thinks, thinks, to be to be to be to be, to be to be to be to be to be to be to be to be to be, should be, should be, should be, should be, should be, should be, should be, to be, to be, to be, to be, to be, to be to be to be to be to be to be to be, to be to be to be to be, to be to be to be t, to be to be t, t, to be to be to be ta, ta, to be ta, ta, ta, too, ta, ta, ta, ta, ta, ta, ta, to be able, to be to be ta, to our backs. That's the line. But, I won't. You don't have to, but you don't have to. We had nuclear bombs, we were agreeing.

Looks like we've still got some talk to a lot of men. A lot of dumb men. We tree women with respect here. Yes, we do. That's an American ideal. Yeah. Tell me about your shirt. What's it say?

It says, huh? But not like Monica. Read the transcript right. Have you read the transcript? I have not like Monica. Read the transcript right. Have you read the transcript? I have not read it. Look at the transcript, right? Yeah, look at the transcript. Have you read the transcript?

Uh, I trust the word of our president, man. Come on, fake news, what you got? Go find yourself a safe space. Let me get this straight, you're yelling to to me the the the the to me, you, you, you, you, the the to me, the the to the the the the the the to the the the thive, the thive, the the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the tran, and tran, and the trane, and the the trans and the the the trans, and the the trans, and tra, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look a shield. Uh, we, yeah. You know, we never kept in touch. But outside of my job interviewing dumb men, I'm also the father of a young son. And as a father, my biggest goal is to not end up interviewing my son as part of my job. Make sure that happens, he's going to need some help. And that's what I want to talk about in today. You know that the that th that that that that that that that that that that that the that the that their their their their to their to their to to to to to to to to to to to to to to the the the to to to to to to to to to to to to to to the their their their their the the the the the the to the the to the the the the the the the the the the the the their their their their their their their their their to to to to to to to to to to to to. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, today, you today, you to to to the the the to end up interviewing my son as part of my job. Make sure that happens, he's going to need some help. And that's what I want to talk about in tonight's long story short.

America is in the midst of some long overdue changes around gender and power. We're re-examining ideas of masculinity, femininity, the spectrum in between, and how fluid it all is. It's a difficult and necessary conversation, but luckily for us we get to have these nuanced debates on Twitter. Now, this cultural change is important, and I'm glad it's happening, but when there is a cultural shift, it's easy to get lost within it, and even though it feels strange to say this, a group that is being left out is young boys. And I know, I know, I know, a war on men?

It sound like I'm on a network that just got sued out of $780 million. But, I know, I know, jokes on you, Comedy Central doesn't have that kind of cash. My point is, we've had a great conversation about what men shouldn't be. Men shouldn't be toxic. They shouldn't be overly aggressive. They shouldn't pay a porn star to keep quiet about an affair they had right after their son was born. It's a high, high bar. But we haven't been showing men what they should be. And that matters to young boys who are looking for an identity, for a to to to to to be, to be, to be, to be, and to be, and the the their, and their, and their, and their, and their, and their, and their, and their, and their, and thi, and thi, and th thi, thi, the thi, thi, thi, thi, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, and, their, and, and, their, their, and, and, and, their, their, their, and, and, their, their, and, their, their, their, their, thi, thi, thi, toomorrow, tooomorrow, tooomorrow, too, too, too, toomorrow, toomorrow, toomorrow, to, to, to, are looking for an identity, for a narrative about what it means to be a man.

And that vacuum is being filled by people with the worst possible idea of manhood. Former kickboxer and Big Brother contestant Andrew Tate, infamous for being the self-proclaimed king of toxic masculinity. Tate's core message centers around the belief that masculinity is in the crosshairs. And he's defending it. His target audience, young men. This whole idea of being toxicly masculine is complete garbage. I think the most dangerous men are the weak men. Feel, feel, feel, feel. Leave the feelings to the girls, right?

That's what they do. We act. We're men of action. Empowering females is the easiest of men. Study, study, study, give up your whole life in school. Then you get to be a doctor. You can't even buy a mother-pick sports car. The problem with most of you is that I am sitting here with my sunglasses, bald head, millions of dollars, nearly unmatched fighting skills. I am Morpheus. I need action. I need constant chaos in my life to feel content. I need to be driving a supercar and fighting, fuck a bunch of champagne and going crazy. Okay, okay, okay, we get it. You have a small penis.

And by the way, not to tarnish his sparkling image, but Andrew Tate is currently under investigation for human trafficking. I know it's always the first one you suspect. And by the way, not to tarnish his sparkling image, but Andrew Tate is currently under investigation for human trafficking. I know, it's always the first one you suspect. Now, maybe you don't know Andrew Tate. Maybe you're thinking, who is this porn parody Vin Diesel? You may not know him, but trust me, your sons do.

With over 13 billion views on Tick Tock, Tate's rhetoric is moving from online to the classroom. So I'm a teacher and I teach sixth grade. The amount of young 11-year-old boys that told me that they love Andrew Tate is ridiculous. One teacher says she hears blatant misogyny from the boys in her class, hearing them say that girls belong in the kitchen and only exist for reproduction. And another claiming they they th th th th. th. th. th. the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the theateateateateateate te the the teate ta ta ta ta ta ta ta ta ta ta ta the the. the the the. the the the the the the the the the the the the the the. the the. the. the the. the. the the the the the the te te te teeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeateeeeeeeeeeeeean. tean. tean. tean. teee exist for reproduction. And another claiming they talk about alphas in sixth grade now. One teacher in South London noticed that his students were parroting Tate's ideology. About a third of the 30 students in the class passionately argued that women were responsible for their own sexual assaults, one of Tate's top lines.

Wow, times have really changed. When I was in sixth grade, the most toxic role model for boys was Michelangelo. He eats pizza for breakfast, lunch and dinner. That turtle doesn't give a f-b-sick. Seriously, how can you be misogynistic in sixth grade? That's like the one year in life where all the girls are bigger than you. I wouldn't be running my mouth about Allison if Allison could hang me by my underwear on the flagpole. The solution to this problem is not to cancel Andrew Tate.

Interpol is probably going to do that for us. Because even if he disappeared, someone else would take his place and spew toxic shit at young boys just as well. And social media algorithms would pump it into young boys' eyes and ears just as fast. Because that's really all this is about. Ander Tate is not interested in being a role model. He wants clicks for money. He doesn't want to raise your son.

He's taking dad's seat at the table, but he's really the loudmouth uncle. That uncle who seems cool when you're a kid, but when you grow up you realize living in a hotel is not a vacation. What we need is an alternative, positive narrative for young men to follow. And it's ironic that these guys are talking about taking the red pill and using these matrix metaphors because if you're looking for a complex, emotionally available male role model to counter their bullshit idea of manhood, just look at the guy who took the red pill. Janarievs. This...

This... This is a man who is wildly considered to be kind and decent. He donates huge sums of money to cancer research. He gives up his seat to women on the subway. He bought Sandra Bullock, Champagne and Truffles because she had never had them before. He's the perfect man. Yeah. Maybe his movies glorify gun violence, but nobody's perfect.

And that makes him even more perfect because our children shouldn't strive for perfection. That will only make them sad. And those movies sometimes are pretty cool. The point is, young boys need a cultural role model who is kind and comfortable in his skin. Not guys who are so fragile in their masculinity, they can't puff a cigar without putting it on every social media platform like they invented fire. Hell, Keanu Reeves, he isn't even on social media. That's how healthy he is.

So, as a society, we have two options. We can either follow Kiano Reeves around and put everything he does on Tick-Tock, or probably better. We make sure that the conversation about modern society includes a role for men that young boys can look up to. Because long story short, if we don't talk to our boys, Andrew Tate is going to talk to them. And that means, 10 years from now, I'm going to be talking to him.