The Daily Show: Ears Edition - Michael Kosta On Trying To 'Find The Funny' While Filming in Eagle Pass, TX

Episode Date: March 11, 2024

In this podcast exclusive, Daily Show Correspondent Michael Kosta and Segment Director Sebatian Ischer discuss their trip to Eagle Pass, Texas and whether the media's narrative around the border crisis is accurate, how Michael Kosta tries to find the funny when dealing with complex issues, how local residents are being impacted by the militarization at the border, and how conservatives are exploiting this issue. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

John Stewart here, unbelievably exciting news. My new podcast, The Weekly Show. We're going to be talking about the election, economics, ingredient to bread ratio on sandwiches. Listen to the weekly show with John Stewart, wherever you get your podcast. You're listening to Comedy Central. Hey Daily Show, Ears Edition listeners. This is Sebastian Isher, segment director for the Daily Show. Today I'm joined by Daily Show correspondent Michael Costa.

Welcome. Hello. Hey, everybody. So we just aired a piece that brought us both to the, to Eagle Pass, Texas to explore the issue with the migrant crisis at the border. Give us a quick summary of the piece. The summary of the piece is that we go, the Daily Show goes to Eagle Pass, Texas to hear from the locals about the invasion, the disruption of their life. And the little twist, the little hook, is that the in a little hook is that the environment, 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 the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the thiq, 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 the the the the the the the the the the the the the their, their, their, their their their their their their their their their their their trieauui.eaugeaneaneaneanean.ean.ean.eckriauiqriexxxexexexexexexexexe, their the invasion, the disruption of their life, and the little twist, the little hook, is that the invasion is not from Central Americans trying to cross into the United States, but from the Republican governors, the National Guard, the news media, everyone who's come down to this specific place

and caused and created a chaotic environment. But how are the locals coping with this relentless onslaught? They've come and taken over the town. It's our land and there's just people coming in. They're causing, you know, havoc and craziness. There's chaos. Shouldn't you be welcoming?

Don't you have any empathy for the journey they've taken to get them? They're not welcome, get the hell out of our place. You can't move around with seeing them, you can't get a meal in a restaurant, can't get a hotel room unless you're willing to pay $400. Wait, wait, who are you talking about right now? State Guard from Florida, Tennessee, Arkansas, and Idaho. And you. And th, and you, and you, and th, and th, and th, and you, and you, and th, and thii, and you, and you, and you, and thi, and you thi, and thi, and thi, and thi, and thi, and thi, and thi, and thi, and thi, and thi, and thi, and thi, and thi, and thi, and to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to th, and th, and th, and th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, theean thean thean thean thean thean thean, thean, thean, thean, thean. thean, thean, thean,. So is that an accurate assessment? Yeah, that's totally what the piece is. Maybe we should explain what Eagle Pass is a little border town. On the Rio Grande River. Right. Eagle passes in Texas. Across from the river is Mexico. And there's one crossing, legal crossing, there's like a little bridge, right?

There's a legal crossing, which is like one of the biggest border crossings to Mexico, in terms of like goods and legally people going across. And then there's an illegal crossing right next to it. Right. Where, I guess, at a couple of months ago, a lot of migrants were coming over, through the river. And that led to the shutdown of th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. the the th. th. the the th. the the the th. the the the the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, they, their, their, there, there, there, there's, there's, there's, there's, there's, there's, there's, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, the. And, they. And, they. And, they. Ande. they. they. they. they. they. theymea. theymea. theymea. theymeauoea, theymea, theymea, theymea, theymea, their, their,. And that led to the shutdown of that area. For anyone who's listening, usually when they show southern border stuff,

it's Eagle Pass. It just became a really popular crossing, and there was thousands of people crossing illegally. And by the way, we should mention this. This is something I learned. They cross illegally. And by the way, we should mention this. This is something I learned. They cross illegally, but they do it in a, often, not everybody, often in an organized fashion, because then they want to talk to Border Patrol and claim asylum.

I think sometimes people envision people crossing, like sprinting through the river, climbing a tree and then like getting on a bus and they're out of there like Jason Bourne. They they're actually. They're actually. They're actually, they're actually, they're actually, they're actually, they're actually, they're actually, they're actually, they're actually, they're actually, they're actually, they're actually, they're actually, their, th, th, th, th, th, th, thi, thi, thi, like, like, like, like, like, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. their. thi. thi. thi. thi.. thi. thi, thi... th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th, th, th. th, thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. they're, thi. they're th like getting on a bus and they're out of there like Jason Bourne. They're actually like lined up a lot of them to cross, meet a border patrol agent, and claim asylum. So it's done in a often a cordial way. Now, there are of course people that don't do that, but what I learned in the piece and we'll get into all this, but really it seems like the American system of asylum seekers need some revision. Yeah. But that's maybe getting too far ahead. Right. Yeah. But I think that point of them coming across and basically giving themselves up to Border Patrol.

These are not people that are trying to sneak in or disappear, you know. And there's a funny part in the piece where I truly was confused because when we're talking in front of the church with the with the older gentleman and he was saying how they had guns. And I thought he was talking about the migrants. And I was like surprised. I was like, I'm surprised that like they got their families and plastic bags at. And their their their their their their their th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. I th. I was th. I was th. I was th. I was th. I was truly truly true true truly truly truly thruly thruly thruly thruly thruly truly truly truly truly thruly th. I th. I their their their their their their their their th. I th. I true true true true. I true. I true. I true. I true. I true. I true. I truly. I truly truly truly truly truly truly truly truly truly truly truly truly truly truly truly tru about the migrants. And I was like surprised. I was like, I'm surprised that like, they got their families and plastic bags of clothes and they also have guns. And then he corrected me, he said,

no, I'm talking about the people out of state who came down to protect the border. And I was like, holy sa, the people citizens who've entered Texas to quote unquote protect the border. That was a funny moment. Who were like MAGA militants basically? Yeah, essentially. Yeah.

What you need to be afraid of is some of these convoys of people. You're talking about Central American caravans. No, no. We're talking about the people that are invading the country here, not the Mexicans. The invasion here is from Governor Abbott and the Trumpers and the Maga people. Yes, Eagle Pass has been overrun since Governor Greg Abbott declared a crisis at the border and sent in the Texas National Guard, attracting a flood of Republican governors, congressional delegations in even billionaire weirdos. You know, we made a lot of jokes about how this town was being invaded by Governor Abbott and stuff but they actually did take over this park called Shelby Park and shut it down so that local people could not use

the park they can't enter it anymore. They still can't. And they put barbed wire all the way around it and that's where all the photo ops are happening. Like whenever you see Trump down there or anybody, they're in that park the park. the park. the park. the park. 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 the the the the park. the park. they. their. the park. the park. the park. their. the the their. 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 the the the the the the the the the. the the. the. the the the the to. to. to. to. to. to. to. to. to. to. to. to. to. to. to. to. to. to. to. t And that's where all the photo ops are happening. Like whenever you see Trump down there or anybody, they're in that park in front of the river doing press conferences. And they actually have a festival at Shelby Park called the Abrazzo Festival, which means hugs. Festival of hugs. So they literally have a festival of hugs that is now surrounded by Florida National Guard. Florida fish and game. Because they they, they, they, they, they, they, they, they, they, they, they, they, they, they, they, they, they, they, they, they, they, they, they, they, they, they, they, they're, they're, they're, they're, their, they're, they're, they're, they're, 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, and game, because they lent, quote-unquote,

their services to Texas for some reason, barbed wire, storage containers, right, like train, they've lined the park. It's a sad sight to see. It's like, is this where we're at in humanity, in America, that this is what we turn to park into right now? But that's the, that's what the piece is about. Yeah. I think also a really key takeaway for me was the fact that they militarized this crossing with the border patrol and all of these barbed wire and stuff and it doesn't actually work. It doesn't, it's not keeping anybody out really because people can just go around it. Yeah and they do. And they go to you know other crossings. So really it is just a, it's like a stage for them. They set up like an

expensive backdrop. Well a lot of the people we talked to said hey the barbed wire does work but when you really dig into it what works or at least what has worked now is that the Mexican National Guard on the other side and we saw them in the piece stops the influx earlier. Now me and you talked about this what does that mean they go in Mexico? I don't know, but really it appears the reason that this influx has stopped at this particular border is that Mexico is policing it more on their side. But what happens with those people that get police there? I don't know. I mean, what people were telling us is that it comes down to money. Like the US basically pays Mexico to the border, the border, the border, the border, the border, the border, thaa, tha, tha, tha, tha, thia, thia, thia, thia, thiole, thi, thi, thi, tho, tho, tho, thi, thi, thi, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, too, too, too, too, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, the, the, too, tooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo, tha,that it comes down to money. Like the U.S. basically pays Mexico to enforce

the border on that side so that people don't get over to the Rio Grande. Right. And to talk about like how the barbed wire doesn't deter. So we went to this Bican farmer's land that has a lot of barb wire and fencing up, which she didn't ask for but it is her land but the government supposedly, I don't know if they paid her to put it there, I don't know. But she said, I don't want, it used to be a pretty sight. I don't want this here, but now it's here. What you see when you get there is you see clothes on the barbed wire. You see where people have crossed the river, even though there's buoy fences that sadly migrants have lost their lives being trapped in, and then they throw their clothes over the barbed wire and they climb over the barbed wire to get to and

into the United States. So it slows them down probably, but they're still doing it. You see a lot of clothes on the barb wire. I mean it's like you immediately know what it is. And I think these are the people who are probably the most Desperate and least savvy about what's going on that are trying to cross there. Yeah, because the people who know what's up know where to go Right. Right. Right. There's spots miles up and down from that area. Yeah, it feels? It feels? It feels? to. to. to. to. 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 the the the the theyles. they. the the theylows. theylows. their. their. their. their. the most. the most. the most. the most. the most. the most. the most. the most. the most. the most. the most. the most. the most. the most. the most. the most. the most. the most. the most. the most. the most. the most. the most. the most. the the the most. the the the the the most. the the most. the most. theyl. theylape. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. the most. the most. the most. the most. the most. the most. the area. Yeah. It feels it feels desperate, it feels flailing, it feels emergency, it's you know, it's it's you're getting people who are hungry, cold, tired. You see kids shoes. I mean there was kids shoes, you know, it's like now before you get all sad it probably means they made it if we're seeing the clothes. Right. Because they leave them there because they're wet and they keep moving.

But it's a fucking mess. And anybody who lives in the United States, and I say this as a Michigander, we don't really understand up here. You got to really pay attention and really think about what it's like down in our American border. It's, because you just don't have this growing up in Michigan. I can't, I could never relate to what this was. Right. Yeah.

So I guess one other thing we should try to mention because it's in the story, but we you know, we didn't have time to get into all the detail. But a big part of this standoff is that the governor of Texas has sent in the National Guard and kind of taken over border enforcement as opposed to the Border Patrol that's federal that was usually doing this. And in the, you know, Democrat-controlled states like Arizona and California, the Border Patrol is still doing the same job. And in Texas now, it's become a thing that the state, you know, is basically doing that. And they're using the barbed wire and are way more aggressive, I guess, about it. And I think that's a-

So Governor Abbott's basically doing, is violating the federal law and taking over. The only people that are going into the water are individuals from the press that want to see how ugly it is out there. The governor of Texas is here disrupting your job and you wanted to deport him. Get them out because I mean I'm expected to follow federal law, local state law, I would expect the same thing from our leader of our state. And I feel like that's part of you know what is kind of disturbing about this is that you are basically saying we don't care if these people get chopped up in the razor wire. We don't care if they drown necessarily as long as it helps us keep them out. Right. And knowing that some people are going to come over anyway, that seems

like a very kind of a harsh and brutal way to treat humans. Right. You know, the Republican sided people that we spoke to in the piece were very proud of the barbed wire. They said it was working, you know. I I I I I I I I I. I I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I th, I th, I th, I th, I th, I th, I th, th, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, we thi, we thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, th. And, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th th, th thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, they thi, they thi they they they're they're thi they thi they're thi they're thi thi they're thi thi thi, thi, thi, very proud of the barbed wire. They said it was working, you know. I mean this reminds me of John Stewart's piece on this Monday night, but it was like the ideology of the Democrats isn't matching up to the reality of the situation, but the Republicans are more excited to push fear than actually solve the problem. And it does seem that, it seems like a bipartisan border reform bill would be the best way forward where both parties can give and take a little bit, and we even had that, and it got killed.

Yeah, and the people that were there, they told us they really would want this bill to pass. And they were like, we need money. That's the main thing we need to deal with th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th to th th told us they really would want this bill Yeah, past and they were like we need money. That's the main thing we need to deal with this. Yeah And Trump called his cronies they killed the bill and Then you see what he's I mean he's he's doing the playbook right he's up there right now campaigning on fear and migrant in migrant crime and fentanyl and it is a messy problem but come on Amer as Joe Biden I think said like come on we can solve it week we've solved greater problems we can solve this we can at least get closer to a solution but we don't want to solve it we don't want to solve it because it's useful you know yeah yeah how do you balance the seriousness of a topic like this

with trying to be funny and make jokes about it? I feel like you're thinking that I wrote that question. Because the first thing I said to everybody who brought this, because this is my third or fourth border, southern border piece. I did a piece with Duelse when Trump with the Tijuana, San Diego border. I did a piece where I dressed as a part of Trump's wall, called Bricky the Border Wall,

and went to a Trump rally. I did a border piece with you, where Americans were crossing daily into Mexico in Yuma, Arizona to get dental care. And you had dental surgery in that piece. Yeah, dental surgery in that piece. Yeah, dental surgery in that piece. And then I did this piece. And my initial reaction, when someone says,

hey, it's a southern border piece, San Costa, I go, it's really hard to be funny. It's really hard to be funny with this topic. There's baby shoes next to the Rio Grande River. As all Daily Show pieces, I think we did get some funny moments, but it's hard because it's real. It's this isn't like it's not a light subject, but the hypocrisy of claiming it's a problem and then refusing to solve it is a good target. Yeah, there's good room there for comedy.

And I think in this case we had the whole, all of the hype and the propaganda around the invasion and the Fox News angle and the politicians saying the same thing again and again, and we could sort of play off of that. So we weren't actually really talking about the actual sad, tragic reality. We're talking about the fake bullshit reality. And it's good that we had that conversation many times before the piece, because we had a clear hook to hang our hat on. I mean, ladies and gentlemen, the fucking like North Dakota governor is down there.

Governors that believe the border is a campaign strategy for them go down there even though their state is 3,000 miles away. I mean it's just like 100% they use this little park that had to cancel its a Bratso Festival to get re-election in Louisiana. It's insane. Right, it's almost like you have to get re-election in Louisiana. It's insane. Right. It's almost like you have to go if you're a Republican governor, and you have to send fish and game or whatever random office you have left.

Yeah, it was, I think what did it for me, because I was a little bit hesitant about the piece in the beginning, like not going, before we went, was that 13 or 14 Republican governors showing up. It's just, it's such a photo up. Right. It's not, they don't give a shit. They're not trying to solve the problem. They're there to show their most extreme base. I'm a hard ass.

I support putting barbed wire down. So, um, I thought Biden might have had something when he had gotten this bipartisan bill, at least part of it, moving forward. I was excited about that, but then obviously it got killed, so then I'm back to my, back to being a little pessimistic about it. Yeah, and it's true that the hotel was wildly overpriced because it was full of National Guardsmen who were like hanging out, playing on their laptops, going for runs. Yeah.

So the hotel, what you're saying there is the hotel jacked the price is up because of all this influx of National Guard and news media. Our hotel was like 360 bucks a night. It was that same hotel anywhere in the United States is $129 a night. They had waffles the first morning and then they took the waffles away. I mean, if you're going to charge me 360, where are my fucking waffles? You know what I'm saying? Yeah, they should be consistent about the waffles, at least. And it's Texas so you know what the waffles are shaped like, right? Do you remember that? Yeah, yeah. Weirdly, Ohio. And it was like... It didn't make any sense. It was shaped like Texas. Yeah. Yeah.

And the the rooms looked out on the parking lot. In the parking lot. Yeah. Yeah. John Stewart here. Unbelievably. the weekly show. We're going to be talking about the election. the election. the election. the election. the election. to be to be to be to be to be the election. to be the election. to be to be the the election. to. the to. to. the to. the to. the the to. to. to. to. to. to. to. to. to. to. to. to. to. W. W. W. W. W. W. W. W. W. W. W. W. W. W. W. W. W. W. W. W. W. W. W. W. W. W. W. W. W. W. W. W. W. W. W. W. W. W. W. W. W. W. W. W. W. W. W. W. 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 the the the the the we're gonna be talking about the election, economics, ingredient to bread ratio on sandwiches. Listen to the weekly show with John Stewart, wherever you get your podcast. One thing I want to jump back to is you talked about how hard it is to be funny in these pieces, in these pieces, and I think it is, it is a bit trickier because it's kind of a risk you don't want to seem glib or come off like an asshole by making jokes around them, something that is very painful and, you know, sad. But I think there are some very funny moments in the piece. Are there? Tell me about them. I think that some of the organic conversations with the people we talk to, like the Democratic chairwoman who was

calling the politicians Pendejos. And then the back and forth between what is a Pendejo? Right. It's a political stunt. The Republican Pendeckos who don't get a ban. I might have in Spanish but I forgot Pendeco. Do you mean politicians? Well it it it it it it it it it it's. It's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's the their it's their it's 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 their their their their their the. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I the. I thi thi thi thi thi thi. I thi. I thi. I thi. I thi. I thi. I thi. I thi. I thi. I get a bad. I might have in Spanish, but I forgot pendeco. Does they mean politician? Well, it's kind of a heavier word than idiots. Motherfakers? Not as heavy as motherfaurs, but heavier than idiots, stupid. Somewhere between mother-ficker and idiot. I would say so.

You know, that is a funny, absurd thing that you're not going to see in any other news story about the border crisis. And it kind of says something about how people see the politicians, you know. Well and, you know, look, I made my own bed. I've told Jen Flans, the executive producer, many, many times, I want the hard pieces. I want this show to rely on me to be able to pull off these things. Right. Because I don't know my favorite comics can do that. But when you're boarding the flight for Eagle Pass you go why did I say that? So yeah it's

also funny when that Republican woman is working at the mall and we had to she had to take a 15-minute break and go talk to us in the parking lot and then just real casually just throws around like a really old racist term that I hadn't heard since I was like 10 years old and she it just rolled right off her tongue. And I think you you did a follow-up question with her and you almost kind of gave her an option to walk it back. I felt like we were like, are you sure you want to be saying this? And she was just totally blase about it.

Yeah. I was like no, that's what they are. I'm talking about you call them? Wetbacks? Wetbacks. Man, I haven't heard that word in a long time. Okay, now that she'd gotten that out of her system, I was ready for a more nuanced conversation. We just want them to come legally through the front door. Calling them wetbacks to me is not a, we welcome you here. I want them they aren't wetbacks. So they don't have to swim the river.

They wouldn't be wetbacks if they didn't. I mean, just the word invasion alone is an incredibly racist word that you hear all the time about this. About six months ago when I was guest hosting, and they kind of asked, what do you want to talk about? The southern border was on the list because I said, we're not covering this. This is a real thing that's happening, it's a problem, and we're so untouched by this in New York.

And then, migrants started to show up here, right? Martha's Vineyard, and it has changed the conversation. I don't want to say it's an effective strategy by Abbott, but it's definitely got more people and more places aware of what's happening. That's all thing. They hire the bus companies, and they put people on the buses, they give them water to drink, and they basically send them to these locations. And a big part of the problem is that there's no infrastructure for them when they get there. And then the mayors of New York City and Denver and other places where these migrants are

showing up are asking the feds for money. But the feds can't do anything because they haven't passed the bill with the funding. So it's the standoff that is just creating, then there's like more homeless people in New York who don't have any to go to go to go to go to go to go to go to go to go to New York who don't have anywhere to go. And whenever I do a field piece I walk away with a very simple solution to a very complex problem that I've just educated myself on for two days. Everyone. And my solution for the southern border is if you seek asylum to the asylum hearing in 24 hours? 48 hours. I mean, wouldn't that solve a lot of the problems?

Because right now, they seek asylum and they know that they'll be waiting years. I mean, from the New York Times article, it was like, maybe 10 years some people or something. So then they're setting up a life here while they're waiting for our government to get their shit figured out. Why can't we do this faster? I think it's, they need money, they need more judges, they need more infrastructure

and nobody wants to pay for it and they don't want to pass any bills because nobody wants to compromise on what they want. And I the the the th, th, th, th an the than than than than than than than than than than than than than than than than than than than than than than than than than thi thi to the tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to their their their their their their their their their their thi thi thi thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. the is thea things that I did not expect or even had an An understanding of before we went down there. I expected the hotel at 360 bucks a night to have lotion Right and I sent a PA out to go get lotion Okay, yeah, and I want this in the podcast. It's in the piece twice actually I think this has been your it's kind of your passion point for the story I'm not even a big lotion guy, but., but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, the the the thi, thi, thi, thi, th I th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi. thi. thi. I thii. I thi. I thi. I thi. I they they they they thi, thi,twice actually. I think this has been your it's kind of your passion point for the story. I'm not even a big lotion guy but if you're gonna spend 360 now my expectations are higher. And it is dry down there. It's dry. It's dry. It's dead. Yeah. The other thing that we know is the reason that so many people are coming to their jobs is there are jobs for them. Yeah. Yeah. It's a very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. thi. th. th. th. th. th. th. thi. thi. thi. th. th. th. th. th. the th. the th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. the the the thi. the thi. the the the thi. thi. thi. thi. th would not be coming up here. So economically they are contributing a lot and people are saying that that's a big

part of why the recession after COVID in the US has been much less bad than in a lot of European countries is because we have all these immigrants coming in and we have a strong workforce and then these people spend money and they contribute and all that kind of stuff. I guess the hypocrisy of getting these people in here their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. I. I. I. I. I. 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, te.e.e. their, te.e. their, thi. their, their, their, their, their, their, the kind of stuff. I guess the hypocrisy of getting these people in here, giving them jobs, exploiting their labor, and then pretending that they're rapists and murderers coming over is, you know, I think that's the part of it that is kind of, makes me kind of angry and also is a good reason why we do these type of pieces. Yeah. One of the one of the questions we talked yesterday for this is how you conduct interviews with people when you're kind of in the field like this. And is it different from how you're doing an interview

at the desk, you think, or what's the strategy like? Yeah, I mean it's much different. At the desk, it's like the glitz and glamour of showbiz and you've got six or seven questions, you got a countdown clock. They're there to promote something. You better get that. The whole reason they're there is because they got to promote their book or. These are as close, you know, in the field, these are in particular the pieces, the interviews in these pieces, which were not done at their offices and a chair with nice lighting. I mean, this is as close to to to to to to to to to to to to to to the the the the the the the their their their their their their their is as close their is as close their is their is their is their their their, their, their. their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their is... their is. their is. 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, is.e.e.e.e.e. Wea. I. I is. I is. I with nice lighting. I mean this is as close to truly just talking to someone. The only difference is that probably them and me thought about what we were going to wear the night before, right? Because you know

they look everyone at least got a nice shirt on. But I mean you're as close to a real conversation as you're going to get. I think for me, the keys are, listen, listen, listen, Michael, shut the fuck up for a second and just listen to what they're saying. But I say that jokingly, but also so seriously, it's like, because we have these lists of things to ask, and we have these things that we are kind of not trying to get, but hoping we can maybe get, and it like just listen to them dude so many of them are so happy you're there to talk to them

so just listen to what they have to say. And I feel like the funniest things in these interviews are not stuff that was written or planned in advance but was just an organic response to what they were saying like the the maga guy that you talked to to to to to to to to to to to to to to the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the to the to to to to the to to to to to to to to to to to to they. they. 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 the toldld. the the the the the the the the the the the the the they. the the they. the the the they. the the the the the the the the the they. they. they. they. they. the they. the they. tooe. too. tolde. I was. told. told. I told. to what they were saying, like the MAGA guy that you talked to, who was there supporting Governor Abbott by basically sitting outside the border for a week. He had driven down and he was sleeping in his car and just sitting outside the border. And he smelled like it. He was ranting at people and basically doing news interviews all day long. What was the funny part? You were disagreeing with him about the, you know, how efficient or how effective all this stuff was in terms of the barbed wire and the army and all

that stuff and he basically said well you're you're you sold your soul to the devil. You're like a fancy New York media guy. I'm from Texas. Yeah. I'm here to support those people who are fighting for me, my life, my land. Do we have guts enough to defend ourselves, do we? Now you're shaking your head and you don't really get it's tactical. You're wearing a suit and you've been successful in the New York media. You know what? You sold your soul to the devil. If I sold my soul to the devil to be successful in news media, I would be more successful. I wouldn't be sitting here in an Eagle Pass, Texas. You think I want to stay at a Marriott Town Plaza with no body lotion?

That sounds like something the devil would say. The super religious, they always have that back in their back pocket. They can always just say that's what the devil would say. Then they win. How can you fucking... I mean, how can you beat that? But, you know, besides the fact that he was crazy and he said some very horrible things about the migrants, he was also a pretty friendly guy. He was, you know, happy to talk to thi. And I feel like that's also another interesting thing is that you get to go to these places and to-a so-called real Americans out there who, in some cases, have very negative ideas about what we're doing, you know, or what you're representing when you're there in the suit and stuff, but they still have like a basic kind of friendly

American outlook a lot of the time. I think what it does when you talk is it just, it removes all the signage and tribalism and you just get a human. so the th, th, th. So, th. So, th. So, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, their, thi, their, thr-a, thi, thi, to thin, to to to to to to to to to to to thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, to to th, to to to th, to thi, to thi, thi, thi, thi, thin, thin, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, to, their, they, to, to, to, to, their, their, their, their, just it removes all the signage and tribalism and you just get a human. So I saw a scared man, I saw a fearful man, and I probably still hold my judgment to him to be accurate, but maybe a little bit less. And isn't that the whole point of a conversation? I don't know. But I think also, you know, he's probably consuming a lot of media and seeing a lot of those same politicians that are down there grandstanding in front of the border talking about the

invasion and all of that stuff and that and you see what it, you know, how it materializes in the psyche of a normal person who is just consuming that stuff. I think that's a great point. I think it's easy to see the rhetoric and you don't necessarily the the the the thoe thoe thoe th. th. thi thi thi thi the of thus. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. the, the, the, the, thi, thi, the, the, the, the, the, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thin, thin, thin, thin, thin, thin, thin, thin, thin, thin, the, the, the, the. theeeeeeean, theeeeeeean, thean, theeeeeean, the theee. the. the. think it's easy to see the rhetoric and you don't necessarily see the result of it. You see it go into this machine, but you don't see when you crank the machine, you don't see what it spits out. And it's a guy like Dan. And it's problematic. The sound bites that they look at create a psyche that's problematic. You know, we did a lot of interviews for this piece, and some of them were just random people we grabbed on the street,

some of them we had planned in advance, and one guy who we talked to who was actually a great interview was the chairman of the Republican Party in San Antonio, this guy named Jeff, who was a good interview, and you spared with him very, you know, enthusiastically. He debated you on a lot of topics. And then we ended up not using him because we just couldn't fit him in for time. Although maybe, you know, maybe there was a sequel at some point and we can get Jeff in there. And you know what, Americans? We had a nice spar. We had fun. Yeah. We listened to each other.

We both stopped talking when the other person had something to say. And we disagree with each other. And he's a nice guy. You didn't call him any names. You know, you didn't curse him. What was the sign on the door? Sign of the door that you can take in this office and there is a picture of a gun. So Texas. I think the thing that was interesting about him is that he was another one of these guys

who was very friendly, very open to talking to us, and also very sure of all of his talking points and completely convinced that he was not wrong and that there was no other way to look at it. And I think that that's that that that that that that that that that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's thiiii. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. the thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. that that that that that that that that there was no other way to look at it. And I think that that's sort of why the issue is so effective for politicians because in a way, unless you go down there and actually deal with the people that are coming through, it's just kind of an abstract canvas that a lot of people project a lot of ideas on to, and it's kind of useful because you can use it to be scary, or you can use it to be a humanitarian or, you know,

and it's sort of disconnected from the reality of it. The southern border can be a tool for any politician, because you can use it as a tool to say, this is America, a Statue of Liberty, bring it, and it can also be a tool of get these people out. This is my country, strong borders, law and order. And the answer is something in between. He talked about his immigrant parents.

And I kind of repeated what he said, and then he said something real quick that would deflect it. But I was trying to make the point, dude, we all came from somewhere. And people used to get on a boat and get to Ellis Island and then they would get the stamp there. And that was the right way to get in. But like, what's the difference really? I know. And I also love when the other side, the Republican side says, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, th, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, and, and, and, and, and, the, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, 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, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the it the right way. I mean I bet you half the people that say that are wrong. I mean of course your parents I have kids I lie to them every

day. I tell them that that all types of things that make me sound better. You don't know we don't know who did it the right way who did the wrong way you know and and and does it matter if you came here and you built a life, and you have a family and kids that went to school here and all that stuff at some point. And you want to be the most capitalistic about it? They came here and paid taxes and contributed to the economy. If that's like really how we're defining contribution, they contributed. Right. So I am not disappointed we didn't use him, but can you tell me why he didn't make it in? You know, I think what it was is that the conversation we had about the bipartisan border bill, which was a really important part of the story in the sense that there was a solution that they were working towards

and that was, you know, being supported by the Border Patrol and it was introduced by a Republican. By a Republican who was pretty conservative and then basically it was killed by a tweet from Trump that said we don't want to give Biden a win on this issue and then Republicans in the House said we're not to bring this up for a vote. So it was killed. And he was saying, well, the bill was not good and it was also not really bipartisan because the more extreme side of the Republicans did not want to vote for this bill anyway. So you made the joke that it should have been a tripartisan bill, right?

The Democrats, Republicans, and crazy Republicans. But the problem with that side of the bill the bill the bill the bill the bill th. th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, th. And th, th, th, th, th. And thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi's thi thi thiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii. And thiii. And thi. And thi, thi, and crazy Republicans. But the problem with that side of the argument is that it's complicated to talk about the bill. It's complicated to talk about what was in it. Why didn't it pass? Why did Biden not set it up before this? You know, all of those things just take time to explain and it's almost like we should do an entire piece on that thing in itself. And once we started going to the border the border the border the border the border the border the border the border the border the border the border the border the border the border the border the border the border the thoo tho thii thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi-s thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. th. th. th. th. th. It's th. It's th. It's th. It's thi. It's thi. It's thi. It's to to to to to to to to to to thi. thi. thi. thi. toeeeee. thi. toe. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thithing in itself. And once we started going to the border and talking to all the people there and it was just too much real estate basically. And I feel like that happens a lot with the pieces that we are too ambitious, we try to do too much and then in the end we have to pair it down to what is the cleanest, clearest point we can make with this and then have to hope that people are going to, you know, look into it more or that the show will cover things, you know, that we can't get to. And that is really the biggest fight in these pieces is

how to get it down to a six-minute cut that fits on the show. So we lose tons of great. We lose tons of great stuff every time. You know what I want to do actually is I want to pitch another border story for you. Oh great. Are you down? I love that you hate all these stories and every time I bring one up you're like oh no and then at the end you're like oh you know what we did learn some things. Well I feel that way about every field piece. Right. I'm reluctant and then I'm thankful at the end. But they're hard. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. I th. th. I th. I th. I'm th. I'm th. I'm reluctant. I'm reluctant. I'm reluctant. I'm reluctant. I'm reluctant thi thi thi thi thi thi. I'm thi. I'm thi. I'm thi. I'm that I'm that that that that that that thi. I'm thi. I'm thi. I'm to thi. I'm to to to to to th. I'm thi. I'm thi. I'm thi. I'm thi. I'm thi. I'm thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. to to to to theeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee. toe. toee. toe. toe. to the. to to the. the. to I'm thankful at the end. But they're hard. They are hard. And you have butterflies and you talk to people you wouldn't normally talk to, and it's all good for you.

It builds character, but sometimes you don't want to build character. You know? I got kids at home, dude. My character's being tested already. Yeah, well, I appreciate that you're stretching out of your comfort zone to do these pieces because I think it's great for the show. It's good for the show. And it's good for America. Yeah, it's good for America.

Thank you. You're fun to work with, even though you don't call action or cut. And I hope you enjoy the piece everybody. I hope you enjoy the the piece the piece the piece the piece the piece the piece the piece the piece the piece the piece the piece the piece the 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 Fairmount Plus. 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 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.