The Daily Show: Ears Edition - Ralph Northam's Imperfect Blackface Apology Tour | Phoebe Robinson

Episode Date: February 12, 2019

V.A. Gov. Ralph Northam discusses his blackface scandal, presidential hopeful Amy Klobuchar's anger comes into question, and actor Phoebe Robinson stops by. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

You're listening to Comedy Central. 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. February 11, 2019. From Comedy Central's World News Headquarters in New York,

this is the Daily Show, everybody. Thank you so much for tuning in. And thank you for coming out. It's good to have you all here. I'm Trevor Noah. Our guest tonight is a writer and comedian in front of the show. A comedian from Two Dope Queens currently airing on HBO. Phoenie Robinson is here, everybody.

I can't wait to ask her what it's like to work with Jessica Williams. Also on the show, the governor of Virginia joins a book club. The Earth is a giant bug zapper, and Senator Amy Klobuchar throws her hat into the ring at one of her staffers. But first, let's catch up on today's headlines. The Grammy Awards. It's the night when white Americans are reminded how much black people like to thank God. And last night's show was no different. Music's biggest night the Grammys and what a show it was.

Huge night for women. Cardi B became the first solo female artist to win a Grammy for Best Rap album for Invasion of Privacy. We took home the award for best Rap Song for his song, God's Plan. But many viewers upset that his powerful speech appeared to be cut off. Casey Musgraves, who took home the biggest award of the night, album of the year, also appeared to be cut off. Okay, now here's the thing. A lot of people were angry because people's speeches were getting cut off. But the show was also four hours long.

I understand that you're winning an award and you want to thank everybody, but we also don't want to be watching this thing for four hours, okay? You're gonna get cut off. You don't want to get cut off? Give a quick speech. It's called the radio edit. You people should their speeches at the Grammys? Oh, I didn't expect to win. Yeah, you could have just written something in case, all right? It was either you or one or four other people. It's not like mega millions. You know you have a chance. Of course they're going to cut the people off. People get cut off when they're up there. Yeah, because like mention Michael? Yeah, you mentioned Michael. We heard Michael the first time.

You know what it's like, it's like those people who wait in line at Chipotle, and then when they get to the front, they're like, uh, no, no, ah, you came in the door, you knew where you were going. Oh, what do we have yet? Just get into the shit down? You know why you're there? No one shows up to a circumcision like, oh does anyone have any scissors? You spend six hours getting into a dress and you couldn't write down the name of your manager? Come on!

Anyway, I enjoyed the Grammys. Moving on, every day, we get a new reminder of how fragile our planet is. We really don't know how much longer human life will be around, but the good news is, we're not going to be the first to go. And I know we talk a lot about the environment, but the world is truly underthreat, scientists say, from a catastrophic collapse of nature's ecosystems. Now, this is according to a new global global global of insects. This report published in the Biological Conservation Journal finds the total massive insects around the world is falling two and a half percent every single year. And at that rate, scientists say all insects could vanish within a hundred years. Now this is one of those stories where someone has to tell you why it's bad.

Because when you hear 2.5 percent of bugs are dying each year, most people's Now, this is one of those stories where someone has to tell you why it's bad. Because when you hear 2.5% of bugs are dying each year, most people's reaction is, can we do 10%? That's why they had to use butterflies in the footage. Like, because if it was a was was a wasp, you'd be like, yeah, I don't care, let them go. But this is really bad when you consider the food chain, right? We need insects because birds eat bugs and then cats eat birds and then horses eat cats. Look I don't know how this works. I just know we need insects okay. I'm not a scientist.

But insects are going. Insects are dying people. It's so bad. You know how UNICEF used to show those ads with starving African kids covered in flies. Well now they use the same ads, but the Africans are like, now we need a dollar to save these flies. Can we save their flies? And you know what, here at the Daily Show, we want to do our part to save the insects. So we rescued 500 cockroaches from the... Okay, everyone, look under your chair. If you see one, kill it.

Don't even mess around. Kill that shit. Finally, Amazon is in the news once again. This time, the store with all the junk we don't really need to buy has a CEO with junk we don't really need to see. The richest man in the world, founder and CEO of Amazon, Jeff Bezos, is not going down without a fight. The tech giant says the National Inquirer and its owner, David Pecker, are trying to blackmail

him. Bezos claims the national inquirer and its parent company, AMI, threatened to release text messages and explicit photos unless Bezos called the photo. He shared an alleged email sent from AMI's chief content officer describing multiple personal photos they had obtained of Bezos, including a below-the-belt selfie. Okay. I know this story is about the national inquirer trying to blackmail the richest man in the world. But to me, the biggest story is, why is the richest man in the world sending

dick picks? No, if you're broke, I get it, all right? It's sort of the one thing you have left to advertise. Like, listen, boo, I live with my parents, I can't pay for dinner, but I am a male of the species. But when you have $140 billion, dick picks make no sense. First of all, every dick looks poor, okay? You never see a dick and think, hmm, that dick looks like it has a summer house. No, every dick looks like it's asking for loose change. You can try and make it look rich, like Jeff Bezos could have a fabrigey egg. But you still see it and be like, how'd that poor ass dick get a Faberjay egg?

A man that rich shouldn't be doing this. Bezos is so rich, instead of sending a dick pick pick, he could have done anything, he could have like paid Pixar to animate his dick and send it to the woman. Lin Manuel would do the music for him. Forget dick's pickets. Slide into the DMs and you'll probably get it. You know what? If Jeff Bezos texted me at 3 a.m. like you up, I'd be like, you better believe it. And I've got a bag. I got a backpack, Jeff.

Let's go. Bezos is an idiot for sending dick picks. He shouldn't be blackmailed, though. He shouldn't. Like that part of the story. sent with Amazon reviews. Yeah. One star, item not as described. All right, let's move on to our top story. Virginia. It's a state that used to be known for things like slavery, plantations and being the capital

of the Confederacy. But now, that proud history is being the capital of the Confederacy. But now, that proud history is being tainted by accusations of racism. Over the past week, a series of black-faced scandals have plagued senior officials in Virginia. And in the face of calls for him to step down, Governor Northam sat this weekend with an actual black person to make his case. Did you ever think about resigning when the drumbeat became so loud? And by the way, they're still beating for you to step down.

Yes, I have thought about resigning, but I've also thought about what Virginia needs right now. And I really think that I'm in a position where I can take Virginia to the next level. It will be very positive. What a ball a way to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to too too too too baller way to keep your job. I mean, there's like, that's how you stay in office, but there's really no other job where you could pull that move, right? Can you imagine working at Wendy's? They're trying to fire you and you're like,

yes, I was taking money from the cash register. But I think what Wendy's needs right now is for me to stay and help us, heal from this epidemic of workplace theft. But nobody else is stealing. You see, it's working already. We're all healing. That's why I gotta stay. But okay, fine. Northam says he should keep his job because he's learned his lesson. The question is, what exactly has he learned?

Governor Ralph Northam now says his blackface scandal serves a higher purpose. He says he's learned from it and that he wants to spend the rest of his time in office focused on racial issues. Advisors have assigned him to read roots and the case for reparations, the Atlantic article by Tanahasi Coates and that he's doing this whole sort of reinvention of himself. I was born in white privilege and that has implications to it. And it is much different the way a white person Such as myself is treated in this country. Whoa Someone's been studying hard at woke night school.

He's reading roots. He's talking about white privilege. I feel like a week from now Ralph Northam is going to show up in a dashiki just being like the blood of the white devil must run through the streets. I now have the strength of the Blick Panther. Now look, you shouldn't have to read roots to know that Blackface is wrong, right? You can just watch the miniseries. It's way easier. But still, credit to Northam for trying to learn and improve. Although now, ironically, he's learned so much about black history that it's getting him into even more trouble. If you look at Virginia's history, we're now at the 400-year anniversary.

Just 90 miles from here, in 1619, the first indentured servants from Africa landed on our shores in old point comfort what we call now Fort Monroe and while... Also known as slavery. Yes. Yeah. Ah, poor Northam, man. Seems like no matter what he says, he just makes it worse. Because almost everyone who saw that clip had the same reaction as Gale.

They're like, uh, indentured servants? It's a nice way to say slavery? Like, what do you call blackface? Extreme tanning? Huh? What do you call AIDS? Permanent flu? Huh? What do you call a tsunami?

Aquaman in 3D? What is it? But now, to be fair to Northam, some historians do say the first Africans to arrive in Virginia were actually indentured servants, not slaves. In fact, America had black and white indentured servants before slavery became an all-black thing. Yeah, it was basically like the NBA. It used to be mixed, and then they were like, actually, black people are way better at this. We don'tthen they were like, actually, black people are way better at this. We don't need the white people anymore.

Go play racquetball or something. I'm not gonna lie. I'm not gonna lie. One of the things that makes Northam so entertaining is that he's like the Michael Scots of politics. Every time he tries to get out of a hole, he just keeps digging himself deeper. At a press conference nine days ago, he raised more questions, admitting to wearing shoe polish to darken his face, impersonating Michael Jackson for a dance competition. Are you still able to moonwalk?

Oh. Inappropriate circumstances. My wife says inappropriate circumstances. For many of us watching, it looked like you were about to actually demonstrate the moonwalk. Were you thinking about showing off your moonwalking skills? No, because I don't have those at age 59. No, what are you doing? What do you mean? The correct answer is no, I was not going to moonwalk because I was in the middle of a blackface apology, not no, because I'm out of practice. That's the wrong no. It's like if your spouse asked you, are you trying to poison me for the insurance money? You're like, what? No!

Poison would look too much like suicide and they don't pay for that. It's the wrong no. So, look, the apology the apology apology apology apology apology apology apology apology apology apology apology apology apology apology apology apology apology apology apology apology apology apology apology apology apology apology to to the apology to the apology the apology to the apology toooo? the apology the the th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. thi. thi, tho, tho, tho, to to to to to to to to to to to to to th. I I I I I I I I I th. I I I I I I I 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. thi. thi. thi. I'm tho because tho because I'm tho because I'm tho because I'm tho because I'm tho because I'm thtour isn't going perfectly, but I will say this. At least it's an apology tour. The question is now, how do people in his state feel about him? Because that's all that really matters. And you'll be surprised to find out that the numbers are not as black and white as you think. A new poll by the Washington Post and George Mason University in Virginia found that Virginians are split on whether Governor Northam should step down but 58% of African-American Virginians surveyed said he should not resign. I think they need to get up off him and let him do his job.

That's right. In Virginia a lot more black people than white people believe governor Northam should keep his job. Huh? Which seems crazy, but it actually makes sense. It makes total sense. Because think about it, to black people, especially in Virginia, every white guy serving in office has probably done some racist shit in their past. So you might as well have a white guy who has already been caught

and feels bad about it. Yeah, because you know that guy is never messing up again. And now he has he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he th th th th th th th th th th th th th th tho tho tho tho tho tho tho that that that that that tho- tho- tho-m tho-m tho-m tho-m tho-m. tho-m. tho. th. tho th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. it. Yeah, because you know that guy's never messing up again. And now he has a racism debt that he has to pay off. And let me tell you, white guilt can be very useful, my friends. Black people in Virginia could ask Northern for anything now. Better schools, criminal justice reform, a holiday for Beyonce's birthday. A black person in Virginia could ask Northam to pick him up from the airport and he'd be like, I'll be there in 15 minutes. So I don't think this is crazy.

If I were a black person in Virginia, I would also want to keep Northam around because until his term is over, he's going to be working every day to pay black people back for what he's done. And I know what you're thinking, you're like, what are you saying, Trevor? He's their slave? No, no, no, not slave. Indentioned servants. We'll be right back.

We'll be right back. John Stewart here. Unbelievably. . The weekly show. John Stewart here, unbelievably exciting news. My new podcast, The Weekly Show, 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.

Welcome back to the Daily Show. So, I know you can feel the tension. There's only 630 days until the 2020 election. So if you fire up your slow cooker now, you'll have the most economics, e e e e e e e. the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the e. the the the the the the e. the the the the e. the ea, ea, ea, ea, ea, ecicicicicicinex, eaicicinex, ecicinex, ecicinex, ecicicicicinex, economics, ecicicicicicicicicinex, economics, economics, ecicicicicicicicicicicicicicicicicicicicicicicicicicicicicicicicicicicicicicicicicicicicicicicicicicicicicicicicicicicicicicicicicicicicicicicicicicine, ea, ea, eaicinecane, ea, eaiccon, econ, econ, econ, econ, econ, econ, econ, econ, ec.eaicon, ec.e, ec.e, ec.economic, ec.economic, ec. There's only 630 days until the 2020 election. So if you fire up your slow cooker now, you'll have the most tender election night grisket ever. But that doesn't leave a lot of time for Democrats to narrow down their field of contenders, which just keeps growing and growing. So let's check in on the latest developments in our ongoing segment, World War D. Let's kick it off with Kamala Harris. She went on the breakfast club this morning and said that if she becomes president, you're not going to have to hide your weed in the vegetable

crisper anymore. First of all, let me just make the statement very clear. I believe we need to legalize marijuana. Have you ever smoked? I have. Okay. And I inhale. I did inhale. I did inhale.

I did inhale. It was like, yeah, thrown. the ti. theymea's ti. to be a scandalous thing for a politician to admit, but now it's like, yeah, who cares? Weed is getting so normalized in America now that instead of drinking beers at O'Malley's pub in the future, it's going to be candidates who are going to stop by a leafy-lary's Dancateria and Santa Monica to Vague. That's what it's going to be. So Kamala didn't didn't make much the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the thulau thu thu thu thu thu thu thu thu thu thu thu thu thu thu thu thu thu thr- thr- the' ne. the. the. 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 thuilar thuilar thuilar thuilar thuilaruilaruilaruilaruilaruilaruilaruilaruilarublea to to to to to to to to to be to be to be to be to be to be to be to be. tooes. tooes. t. tmoo'nueue. tmue. Somea. Somea. Somea. Somea. Somea that's that's that's that's that's Democratic Senator Amy Klobuchar announcing her bid during a snowstorm in Minneapolis.

I stand before you as the granddaughter of an iron arm miner. As the first woman elected to the United States Senate from the state of Minnesota. To announce my candidacy for President of the United States. Yay! Can we go home now? We can't fill our legs. Announcing your campaign in a snowstorm. From now on, everyone's going to have to top that. That's the bar now. Biden has to announce from inside a tornado and then Bernie will be like, oh yeah, well I'm currently being struck by lightning and it has no effect on my

hair. Now some people said that Klobuchar holding a rally in the snow shrode grit and determination. But to President Trump, it was evidence of something else. The president clearly paying attention to his potential challenger, jabbing at Klobuchar's position on climate change. He tweeted this, saying that Amy Klobuchar announced that she is running for president, talking proudly of fighting global warming while standing in a virtual blizzard, and freezing temperatures, bad timing.

By the end of her speech, she looked like a snowman woman. Snowman woman? This is such a weird tweet. Because on the one hand, he's denying decades of scientific research on climate change again, but on the other hand, he's being kind of woke, you know, like snowman or woman. It's time we acknowledge that women can also be snow people. In fact, some snow women were born in snowmen folks. A lot of people don't know that. God doesn't always put the carrot in the right place, folks. Not always. We've got to be inclusive.

But here's the thing about Amy Clobyshaw. Normally, this kind of campaign rollout would be considered a success. But unfortunately, her announcement was overshadowed by some other news. All this comes amid a report that Clobuchar had such a bad reputation over treatment of staff that a number of potential staffers withdrew from consideration to manage her campaign. Sources tell the Huff Post, senior senator is quote, habitually demeaning and prone to bursts of cruelty that make it difficult to

work in her office for long. Her anger left staffers in tears. She threw papers, throwns, their papers. And sometimes even hurled objects, and one aid was accidentally hit with a flying binder. Wow. Throwing binders at her employees? They need legalized weed in her office. So, fresh after her announcement, the first obstacle to Senator Klobuchar's presidential run has already presented itself. How does she respond to the accusations? Well, not in the way you'd think.

I am tough. I push people. That is true. But my point is that I have high expectations for myself. I have high expectations for the people that work for me. And I have high expectations for this country. Whoa, whoa, whoa. She has high expectations for her stuff. She's going to betreat everyone in America like her stuff. She's going to be calling random Americans at 6 in the morning.

Hey Brad, why aren't you at work yet? What? What? I'm sorry, Madam President. Oh, you're going to be sorry. Then a binder just flies through the window. Ah! Ah! Ah! I do this because I'm tough on them. That sounded like what my mom would say before she'd whip my ass. I'm doing this for your own good.

I have high expectations for you. But look, are these reports about Klobysh's tempera going to be a problem for her? They could be. Because if there's one thing we know is that the only people who make it to the White House are the ones with a calm, even temperament. We'll be right back. Welcome back to the daily show. My guest tonight is a comedian, a best-selling author and actor who can be seen in the new film, What Men Want, and is one of HBO's two dope queens.

Phoebe Robinson! Oh my God! Oh my God! Oh my God! What? Oh my God! Oh my God! Welcome back! My people standing for me during black costume is amazing. Thank you. You get people standing for you all the time. You are kicking ass Phoebe Robertson.

Congratulations on everything that you're doing. Has it felt like a world win for you? I mean, I know that you, you were genuinely grinding for a long time as a comedian, as a writer, and then it felt like everything just clicked you went too dope queens two dope queens went from a podcast into a TV show now you're in a movie are you soaking it all in I'm so I'm soaking it all in I'm exciting I am it feels very exciting I am on shop bop all the time getting discount sweaters I'm feeling really good I made it you guys I'm excited I don't know about that your fashion has the the the the 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 is th is th is th is th is th is th is th is th is the the the the to to to the the the 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 to to to to to to to to th th th. th. the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the te te. te. the te. te. te. te. to to that. Your fashion has been one of the things people comment on most on too dope queens. They go like every...

Do you plan that as like, do you go like, this is going to be the fashion for this show? Or is that just a byproduct of your style? Yeah, I have like a it off the park. Right. We look to like Tracy Ellis Ross and Salonge and all these amazing Queens. I just want to be on that level, you know? This is what I've always loved about two dope queens is that it really covers everything. It's not afraid to be funny. It's not afraid to be angry. It's not afraid to be black, but it's not afraid to be not stereotypically black. What do you enjoy most about being on the show and

what are you excited about in this new season? I think Jess and I when we met we were both kind of like we do improv, we sometimes we date white did, sorry guys. And we just we just want to be ourselves and so we will you know we love waiting to exhale, but we also love waiting to to their, you, you, you, to to to to to to to to to their, their, to to their, to to to their, to to their, to to their, to to to to to to to to to to to to to to thi, 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 th, th, th, th, th, th, th, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, the, the. the. the. the. the. the. the. theat, the. that, that, th I think that's like a great mix. And so we just have fun. And I think people really respond to that. You've also on, you've got a stand-up to it coming out. Yes. And I love it. It's called sorry Harriet.

Yes. Because I'm ignorant. Like I really am like, I'm like, I'm like, making like dick jokes so sorry Harriet I'm so sorry girl you say that but you one of the smartest people I know though I feel like that's the game that you play though right you like mask your smarts in the dick jokes of course because you want people to feel like at ease and then you hit them you're like and they're like oh well knowledge so it feels good it's very interesting how I guess men and women do it different because your technique

is I whip out the dicks and then people get calm and then I come with the knowledge and I'm like no I go at the knowledge and then I'd whip out the dick. I feel like it's a different game that we'd be playing. Yes. Very different techniques that we have. The movies. Yes. Are you enjoying that? fun to kind of be on a set and this was the biggest movie I've ever done what men want like Taraji was awesome and I just was like I kept to myself I like didn't want to break the thing so I was just like sweating out like my all

natural deodorant I was like I definitely can't talk to her now because I was like I was so excited to be a part of the thing do you think do you think he's like do you do you you you you you you you you you you the you the to to the to the the to to the to the the to to the to the to the to the to the th to thin. thin. thin. I'm thin. Do thin. Do thin. Do thin' thin' thin' thin' thin' thin' thin' thin' thin' thin' thin' thin' thin' thin' thin' thin' thin' thin' thin' thin' thin' thin' thin' thin' thin' thin' thin' thin' thin' thin' thin' thin' thin' thin' thin' thin' thin' thin' thin' th' to th' to to thin' to to thin' to time? Not all the time, but he'll just be, I'd be like, what are you thinking? He's like, nothing. I'm like, there's nothing happening at all right now? Yes, yes, there is nothing happening in his hand. That's what you do, men are not lying when they say, there's absolutely nothing happening. How? I'll be like, they. I, tha, tha, tha, tha, tha, tha, tha, tha, tha, tha, thi. I'. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. I'm, thi. I'm, thi. thi. thi, I'm, like, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm like, thi. thi. I'm like, thi. I'. I thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, th. I th. I th. I th. I's, th. I's, th. I's, th. I's, th. I's, th. I'm, th. I'm, th. I'm like, thi. a good hour of my life. Like I'm like, oh shit, I gotta go back here.

Why are you torturing yourself? Before I let you go, you are gonna be going to Africa, to Kenya specifically in the coming months. Yes. What is that for and why is that so big for you? Well, I've teamed up with red and one organizations that were were the their their their their by Bono and I'm obsessed with YouTube, but I really have been, and I've been like involve in charity for a while and I really like what they do. And so I've been really statesized sort of talking about like how they raise money,

how they're, you know, try and get all the drugs over to Africa. So I really wanted to be on the ground of donors and I don't know what to expect. Have you been before? I've never been. I've never been to Kenya or never been to Africa? I've never been to Africa. Oh wow. I feel like I'm gonna cry like an Oprah cry like I'm gonna do like oh yeah yeah you must you need to kiss the ground and you must walk. You need to be like, yeah, yeah, yeah, that's how we roll. I'm excited for you, that's going to be fun. Take lots of pictures and then come back and tell us about it when you come back. Yes, absolutely.

This is so much fun. Tudow Queens, airs, Fridays at 11. For stand-up ta, Ears Edition. Watch the Daily Show weeknights at 11th, 10 Central on Comedy Central and the Comedy Central Act. Watch full episodes and videos at the Daily Show. to the Daily Show. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram and subscribe to the Daily Show on YouTube

for exclusive content and more. John Stewart here. Unbelievably exciting news. My new podcast, The Weekly Show. 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.