The Daily Show: Ears Edition - Republicans Play "War Plan" Semantics as Journalist Brings Receipts | Steve Coogan

Episode Date: March 27, 2025

Ronny Chieng dives into the churn of Signal-gate as Pete Hegseth downplays the war chat, Michael Waltz makes excuses, and journalist Jeffrey Goldberg releases texts. Chris Distefano jumps in to solve America's issues, from export tariffs to immigration to DOGE cuts to Canada and Greenland sovereignty. Comedian and actor Steve Coogan joins Ronny Chieng to discuss his expansive career and new film, “The Penguin Lessons.” They talk about their experiences at Edinburgh Fringe, his West End run portraying four roles in a “Dr. Strangelove” adaptation, why comic characters like his infamous Alan Partridge speak to both political parties, and his experience on-set with real and robotic penguins.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

You're listening to Comedy Central. From the most trusted journalists at Comedy Central, it's America's only source for news. This is The Daily Show with your host, Ronnie Timm. Hello, welcome to The Daily Show. I'm Roy Chang. We've got so much to talk about tonight. So let's get right into the controversy that's still rocking Trump's cabinet in another installment of The Worst Wing. first wing. What a bunch of losers.

None of that was AI. By now, we all know that Donald Trump's meritocracy brain geniuses planned an attack on Yemen in a signal group chat and accidentally invited a journalist, Jeffrey Goldberg. And this story might have ended on day one if the administration had just owned it and made some bullshit statement like, sorry, we're taking accountability, hashtag listening and learning and blah, blah, blah, blah.

But they just can't help themselves because whenever they're in trouble, their default response is to punch their way out of it, which only makes things worse. So now we're still talking about this. but they just can't help themselves because whenever they're in trouble, their default response is to punch their way out of it, which only makes things worse. So now, we're still talking about this three days later, instead of what I wanted to cover tonight, which was 23 and me going bankrupt,

and what they're gonna do with all your DNA. One word, face off. Okay. Okay, that's it. That's it. That's it. That's it. That's it. That's Okay, that's two words with a slash and we can't decide. Look, it doesn't matter, all right? The point is, they're going to put your face on someone else and the White House wants

to move on. They've got to come clean and stop stepping on their own dicks, okay? So let's start with something easy for National Security Advisor Mike Waltz. How did the reporter get invited into the group chat? I don't mean to be pedantic here, but how did the number get into chat? Have you ever had somebody's contact that shows their name and then you have somebody else's number there? Oh, I never make those mistakes. Right?

You've got somebody else's number on someone else's contact. So of course I didn't see this loser in the group. It looked like someone else. I mean, I'm sure everybody out there has had a contact where it was said one person and then a different phone number. No. No one's ever had that. People don't have a contact with a phone number for a different person. Unless they're having an affair with Jeffrey Goldberg.

And look, even if that was an actual somewhat relatable mistake, maybe try not making that mistake when you're planning a war. And why are you shitting on Jeffrey Goldberg? He's a loser. This guy sucks. He's dishonest. He didn't do anything! All he did was wake up in the morning and you added him to your group chat. You like abducted him and forced him to see your secrets.

But okay, the bigger issue is what was shared in the group chat. Jeffrey Goldberg says there were war plans that were so sensitive he didn't even put them in his article. But Pete Hegseth spent the last two days saying he's lying. Nobody was texting war plans. Nobody's texting war plans.

Nobody's texting war plans. Okay, great, could be more clear. Nobody was texting war plans. Nobody's texting war plans. Okay, great, could be more clear. Nobody was texting war plans, you hear me? Nobody was texting war plans. Nobody was texting. And we begin with the breaking news. The Atlantic Magazine's editor-in-chief, Jeffrey Goldberg,

is releasing the messages from the Yemen strike plan's group chat. And the screenshots show discussions of weapons and specific timing of US military strikes. 1144 AM Eastern that time weather is favorable. Just confirmed with CENTCOM we are a go for mission launch. 1215 Eastern F-18 launch declaring this first strike package. 1345 trigger based F- 18 first strike window starts.

Target terrorist is at his no location. So should be on time 1415 strike drones on target. This is all caps. This is when the first bombs will definitely drop. Okay, look, just because you write in all caps, this is when the first bombs will definitely drop, doesn't mean they're war plans. Okay?

This is Pete Hegseth. Maybe he was talking about Jaeger bombs. But if you... If you... If you ask me, that looks a lot like a plan for the war. It had military time and everything, okay? It had more details than you get from DoorDash. And those guys tell you everything, all right?

856, we have received your order. 859, we are preparing your food. 906, we accidentally dropped your food. 907, actually don't worry about it, we're on our way. So I think it's a war plan but what the hell do I know? I've never seen one before because no one's ever been dumb enough to put one in a group chat with a journalist. Maybe this is a good thing okay? The receipts are out so we can call a spade

a spade a spade and admit that these are indeed very specific war plans. I don't think it's specific enough to be considered war plans. It doesn't tell you, hey, we're gonna hit this particular village, this particular city, this particular target, this particular individual. They were talking about when,

not specific longitude and latitude and all that other stuff. Oh man, Janine must be a nightmare to make plans with. Hey, you said me that Chili's at seven, but where's the longitude? Like stop pretending you need some arbitrary detail to make it a war plan, okay? It's like saying this wasn't an orgy.

We didn't have the pink feathers and the eyes wide shut mask. Well, there are more than three dicks. Then it was an orgy, okay? Everything else is semantics. You know what, you tell me, if having a detailed schedule plan of attack is not a war plan, then what is it?

Do you think these are war plans? Oh, this, you know, it's an outline of what is about to happen. There were no war plans in any of this stuff. There's a conversation. This was a private conversation. I would characterize this messaging thread as a policy discussion,

a sensitive policy discussion, surely. What is a war plan? Whoa, what is war, man? It's just raw spelled backwards. I think it was Shakespeare that said, what is in a plan? That which we call a war by any other name would accidentally get texted to Jeffrey Goldberg. For more on this stupid argument, we go live to the Pentagon with senior war correspondent Michael Kosta. -♪ Whoo! -♪

Michael, Michael. Hey, am I crazy, or are these very clearly war plans? You're crazy, Ronnie. You know, maybe a civilian reporter like yourself spills his cortado all over his little Ugg boots reading these texts. But the grizzled veterans at the Trump administration know that these are not war plans. I mean, would it be a war plan if I said, carrier, strike group two will engage 14 targets

in northeast Syria at 0900 tomorrow. Sent com says go. I repeat, sent com says go. Over. Yeah, that sounds like a war plan. Yeah, because you're a civilian, you know, peeing through his Fall Raven jacket all over his Lululemon yoga mat. But it's not a war plan, because I didn't say something specific, like what type of plane they're using.

You have no idea that it's an F-18. Yeah, you just said that it's an F-18. Yeah, well, F-18 could mean anything. It could be a bingo number or a parking spot. F-18 could be Pete Hegseth's search on a dating app. You don't know. Okay, but F-18 is clearly a plane. Oh, you're an expert now. The only military figure you know anything about You don't know. OK, but F-18 is clearly a plane.

Oh, you're an expert now. The only military figure you know anything about is General Tso. By the way, by the way, by the way, that's a burn about you being a civilian, not an Asian. OK, then why don't you enlighten me with your military genius? If that's not war planning, then what is it? It's war manifesting.

You know, Hegseth was asking the universe to drop a Tomahawk missile, and it happened. Haven't you ever read the secret, you know, the book, not the state secret he texts Jeffrey Goldberg? You really want me to believe this was war manifesting? Of course it was manifesting. No different than making a vision board. Kind of like this one. You know, look look Holy shit, is that a war plan for Canada?

There you go again with that phrase war plan, it's not a war plan. It's an operational scribbling that phrase war plan. It's not a war plan. It's an operational scribbling. Of a war plan. Look, it has like arrows and airplanes and like weapons and those little crosshairs and the times that it's clearly a plan to invade Canada. Okay, look, but we don't know which Canada, you know? And none of these arrows are even labeled. So we don't know where we will be attacking, which is why the people of Winnipeg and Banff here and here will never see this coming on Saturday at noon. It's gonna be sweet. Okay, where did you even get that wall map?

The DOD accidentally mailed it to my house. Mike Waltz has my address in his contacts. It's not a big deal. He's having an affair with my wife. Okay. Great job, I guess. Michael affair with my wife. Okay, well. Great job, I guess. Michael Kosta, everyone. Thank you.

When we come back, we find out Chris DiStefano can solve it, so don't go away. Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah!

Yeah! Welcome back to The Daily Show. America has a ton of problems right now and no one knows who can solve them. But Chris DiStefano will give it a try in our new segment, Can Chris Sol solve it? ["The American Family"] ["The American Family"] ["The American Family"] ["The American Family"] ["The American Family"] ["The American Family"] Hey, guys. I'm Chris DeCyfanou, as Ronnie said, a.k.a. Chrissy the American.

And if you're like me, you love having opinions on things that you don't know anything about. Like, for example, there's no way childbirth is that bad, right? I mean, we have Tylenol. See? It's easy, Ronnie. So today, we're going to go through some of the world's biggest problems to find out if Chrissy can solve them. Hit me.

Markets gripped by anxiety about an all-out tariff war. Tariffs. I have to be honest. I have no idea what a tariff is. I really don't. And don't pretend you do either, babes. And unless you went to, like, Hofstra University or one of the fancy ones, but I couldn't get in. When I first saw the word tariff, I thought it was a Dune character.

I was like, yes, Tarif will lead the Sand People to freedom. I'm in. But listen, apparently that's not what Tarifs are. It's, yeah, it's a tax on imports. And that sounds bad, because America imports everything. I'm pretty sure the only thing America makes are the real housewives.

And those ladies are 50% plastic, so I don't even know if that counts. I mean, where does plastic come from? I honestly don't know, but it feels Chinese. Anyway, if you're going to have a war, a trade war is probably better than like a war war. You know what I mean? Like with guys and women, obviously.

They kill each other too, ladies. My Gramps was in a war war. He was crawling through the mud dodging bullets in Okinawa. Now I'm just paying 80 cents more for guac, but hey, we're still both heroes. I'm gonna go ahead and call this one solved. Next topic. The battle over President Trump's actions to secure the border and combat illegal immigration.

Immigration. Everyone. Buckle up. Everyone. Please stop saying there are two sides to this issue. We have to have a country with laws. The border should at least be as secure as the deodorant at CVS. If you want to get in, you have to hit a button and wait for ICE to come unlock the wall.

But listen, that being said, we also have to celebrate legal immigrants. That's right. Even though I look like the fire chief of Ron Conkoma, my wife and kids are Puerto Rican. Hola. So yeah. So I know how it feels when people hate on the Latino community. What's up, dad? Look, the reality is this immigrants can make our country better. For instance, our soccer team has never won a single World Cup. It's embarrassing. How about free green cards to anyone who can make a penalty kick?

Right? It's a good idea. That's what I thought. I mean, let's get it done. Vamanosotros or whatever. It's hard for me to learn Spanish. That's for my wife and kids to talk shit about me. I mean crap.

Sorry, mommy. As you can see, I actually know what I'm talking about on this subject because like I said, I not only have a Puerto Rican family, but I'm also from Queens, the most diverse community in America. And yeah, right? And look, hey, look how I turned out.

I'm only kind of racist. So what I'm saying is this country should welcome everyone who wants to meaningfully contribute to American society except Dominicans. I'm sorry, but yeah, like I said, I'm Puerto Rico, Papi. And apparently there's bad blood, but I don't speak Spanish and my kids will teach me. So either way, this one's soft.

All right. Yeah. There we go. No, seriously, that was, I was nervous on that one. That was a controversial subject. So I want to get to something a little lighter. So hit me. All right.

Can I spin again? Can I spin again? Because I just I don't want to say anything yet. Can we just get rid of the trans rights that on the board? Not on the board. Jesus Christ. Don't clip that drama surrounding Elon Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency. Doge. That was close. Wiggled out. Okay, Doge, please do that was close. Wiggled out. OK, Doge, please do not tell me you're against the government running more efficiently. I mean, anyone who says that doesn't remember the DMV

before they installed the bakery number system. I mean, right? Remember that? It's still too slow, though. I mean, by the time I get to the window, I forget why I'm even there. I'm like, yeah, let me get a half a pound of mortadella. I mean, sorry, I have a DUI.

That said, some of these cuts might be going too deep. I mean, they just listed Guantanamo Bay on Airbnb. And hey, if you've ever stayed at an Airbnb, it could be worse. My solution, let them do their cuts, but I get to bring a baseball bat on a plane. If you're at the funding air marshals I'm not going down without a fight now. Give me that seat. Give me that aisle seat. I'd pee a lot

Chrissy the prostate all right solved it moving on President Trump is doubling down on claims that controlling Greenland maybe in America's future Okay, so Canada isn't the only cold, pasty country Trump wants. He's also after Greenland. Now people are really mad about this for some reason, and I gotta be honest with you, I've never even met a single person that's been to Greenland, let alone anyone from Greenland. And like I said, I'm from Queens. We got everybody there. One time I had to break up a fight

between a Hare Krishna and a meter made from Tajikistan. I was like, you guys both wear robes, just be friends. That's true. Now, also, this is crazy. Did you know there's only 50,000 people in Greenland? I have 50,000 people on my block. Not for nothing. You guys are also being kind and greedy with that land.

It's 600 million acres. That's got to be at least four Home Depots. What are they doing in Greenland? I mean, is that where they make the plastic? I don't know. And if you're a liberal and you hate this, maybe you shouldn't have spent so much time telling Trump to go green. This is what he thought you meant. So, and I, it's true, and I gotta be honest, that's what I thought you meant too. I'm an idiot. We cannot please these people. So I'm just gonna mark this one

not soft. All right, yeah, can't win them all. Well, that's it for me. I hope you didn't learn anything today because if you did, that means you're even dumber than me and I got bad news for you, you're definitely getting rejected from Hofstra. So I'm Chris DiStefano and I hope I solved that one for you. Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you, Chris. Thank you, Chris. Thank you, Chris. When we come back, Steve Cooley will be joining us on the show, so don't go away. Thank you. Welcome back to The Daily Show. My guest tonight is a legendary comedian and actor whose new film is called The Penguin Lessons. Please welcome the one and only legendary Mr. Steve Coogan. I know that's unusual.

No, they reserve it for legends. Your legends. So great to finally meet you. I've been following you for a long time. Huge fan of yours. You make a legend. It's so great to finally meet you. I've been following you for a long time. Huge fan of yours. You make me feel old, but keep going. Yeah, I mean, because I kind of, we kind of, you started in live performing.

And I also started in live performing. I know. And we both went to Edinburgh. You went to Edinburgh in 1990. You did a show with Mr. Frank Skinner. And then you went back in 1992. You did a show with Mr. Frank Skinner, and then you went back in 1992. You did a show with Mr. John Thompson, and a second, at the same time,

you're doing a show with Richard Herring, and was it Armando Inucci? Armando Inucci, Patrick Marlboro. Stuart Lee was on that. Stuart Lee, yeah. And then you won the Perrier, which is the best show at Edinburgh for the show with John Thompson.

And I went to Edinburgh, I won nothing, and I fucking hated it. Yeah. So. Edinburgh, I won nothing, and I f***ing hated it. Yeah. So... Yeah, I hated it too, the first time. I went with Frank Skinner, this British comedian, and the reviews were great for him, and for me they were terrible.

And the newspaper they were in, he hid under the sofa, so I wouldn't find it. I did. Yeah, but then you came back with a vengeance. Oh, in the end, I won. Yeah. Yeah, but I guess, yeah, no, Edinburgh. I say all of that to be like, first of all, I've been to Edinburgh.

It's the biggest live-performing festival. But I guess you, being a household name, comedy legend, very established in the UK, but you still stick with live performing. You never let that go. And I guess I'm wondering for myself, I like to think I'd be able to do it too, but. I think it's good.

I mean, I have a recurrent dream where I'm about to go on stage with no material and I wake up in a cold sweat. But, you know, I think- But why? Why do you stick? What makes you stick in the live? I think it's important to, you know, when you write why do you stick? Why do what what makes you think I think it's important to you know

When you when you write comedy you do comedy on TV, you know You there's so many layers between you and the audience. You don't see them laughing You do I mean you do because they're over there and you're there But a lot of these guys are That's what those guys with the whips are So I think it's important to get rid of all the filters because you can sort of, you don't wanna be in an ivory tower. You gotta be connected with your audience

and make sure they're still laughing and see the whites of their eyes and all that stuff. Right, as a live performer, you use it to stay connected to the crowd. Is there any element of it where you feel like, just as career diversification and just from a pure money point of view in terms of like, oh, that stuff people can take away

from you, TV, film, but live performing, it's always. It's true, if people wanna come and see you, they'll come and see you and you're in total control. And also it's like, it's quite gladiatorial. If it's successful, you get all the credit, but if it fails, it's all your fault. Yes, yeah. And you do like, I mean, you get all the credit, but if it fails, it's all your fault. Yeah. And you do, like, I mean, you kept, again, you got,

I don't know if I should tell people this, you have, like, all the money in the world. You don't need to do anything anymore. I'm not quite as rich as Elon Musk, but you know. Right, you're close. You're second. Yeah, and you still got, and I mean, you did, not only do you do the Alan Partridge live show,

you did, like, Dr. Strangelove recently. I did the Stanley Kubrick movie. We did it on stage where I played. Peter Sellers did this famous movie. Anyone over 50 in the audience might know this movie. Right? Wow. Wow. I'm surprised, too. Where did you guys come from?

So, this, he did this movie about nuclear war, a comedy, a black comedy about nuclear war. And Peter Sellers played three roles in it, and I did a live stage version. So this he did this movie about nuclear war a comedy a black comedy about nuclear war and Peter Sellers played three roles in it and I did a live stage version and I did four roles Because I wanted to do better than Peter Sellers. I just wanted to beat a dead man No, but which is great cuz four roles and you are like losing you I saw you doing press for it and you were like losing your voice from it You're doing like when you when you're doing four roles on stage you're on and off so fast when you go off stage

you they pull all the clothes off you, not in a good way. Yeah. And then put it all back on you. And it's like a formula on pit stop. Yeah. Cause you're just going bam bam bam bam bam and you're back on stage and I did 140 shows and I'm done.

Yeah. But. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And again, again, all the money in the world, why did you do that? I think, I don't know, maybe I'm a Catholic, and because I'm Catholic, I like to sort of punish myself and do penance.

You know what they call penance? It's Lent, so you know. That was your penance. Dr. Strange's love was your Lent. I think somehow, hard work is good. If life gets too easy and you get too lazy, it's good to kind of make, to scare yourself. Right. And I guess that goes back to what I was saying

about you being this legendary comedic figure in the UK, Alan Partridge, and you've done it for so long now. I mean, do you do stuff to just kick yourself in the ass, just to, because you've managed to, like, reinvent this character you've been doing for, I guess, what, 30 years now. Well, yeah, in the UK, it's an institution. People over here, he's not that well known over here. The only people who know him over here are the cool people

like Bill Hader. Woo! Ben, Ben, Ben Mills. For me, I know him. I know you, you're one of the new gens. Are you Gen Z or Millennial? I don't even know. I'm like Y and then they call me Millennial

and I resent that, but I don't know. I guess I'm one. OK, well, I'm definitely an unreconciled. I'm a last of the baby boomers, start of Generation X. You're in between there. So just to set it up. All I know is I'm a white middle-aged guy, so I know I'm an endangered species.

Not as endangered as you think right now. They're doing pretty well right now. They're having a resurgence. That's true, I'd say. They were endangered for a while, and we accidentally brought them back. I know. But, um...

I'm sorry about that. No, no, but the point is that Alan Patrice is a... I like to call you mom famous in the UK. Everybody knows moms know... Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's true. Do you know how famous you have to be to be mom famous? It is true, yeah. It's very difficult.

And so you're that level in the UK, and so like, is that like why you come? I'm kind of part of the furniture in the UK. Your institution. Yeah, but over here I'm still kind of, I'm still a bit, because no one knows who I am, I'm a little underground, so I'm still quite cool and edgy. Right.

So I come here to feel cool, and I go back there to earn a living. But yeah, but I mean, that also is relevant for me too, because I really had to ask myself this. Not only coming to America, but staying here in American show business, why do you come to America? Why are you in America? It's not like I want to come to America

to live the American dream. I come here because I get to work with interesting people. And fortunately, because the people I admire have had a chance to work with them in the past, people like Owen Wilson and Stella. And, uh... Yeah. And, uh...

And, uh... And, you know, so I go and work with people I respect, people who want to do, you know, I want to entertain people, but I want to have some substance to it, too. You know, I like to make people laugh. I like to punch up, not punch down, like your president. Right, right. So, but.

Yes, that's right, our president. We are applauding the president right now. Okay, God bless America. Yeah, and you, so you do come to America to kind of get your ass kicked a bit, and challenge yourself, and. I just, I go where the interesting people are. I'm lucky enough in my career that I can work with people

I like and respect. That's why I'm here with you. Oh, yeah. Thank you. I really appreciate it. That's very nice. So that's what I do. And I'm over here right now promoting this new movie,

Penguin Lessons. Yes. So and I know that there's a good audience here. I'm not in some ways in the UK, because I have this famous character, I'm kind of pigeonholed. Over here, I do some odd movies that kind of have follow. I did a movie called Hamlet 2 that has some kind of cult following over here.

Yeah. No, you did everything. You did everything. You did Around the World in 80 Days, Jackie Chan. You did, oh my did around the world in 80 days. Jackie Chan. You did... Oh, my God. Your premium spot. You were in Tropic Thunder. Tropic Thunder, other guys.

Other guys, yeah. You did Philomino? Philomino was... Oscar nominated? Yeah, I got the Oscar nomination. Nice. Oh, nice to win. Didn't happen. So you did a bunch, I mean, you talk about this a lot

in America about how you were doing, you were kind of doing Alan Partridge, household name, and then you came to America and you were doing kind of, not bit roles in American movies, but kind of smaller profile roles. If someone will pay me my airfare and put me in a nice hotel and pay me, I mean, I did like two days on the Joker

and that was great. Yeah, and so I guess by asking for myself here is like, it seems like you, cause I'm trying to build that, that's kind of where I'm going myself. I'm like, you know, I'm doing 20 on the call sheet, grateful to do the role, have fun. But you talk about doing these roles in America,

finding them a little bit unsatisfying, and that's what inspired you to write a new film, you know? Yeah, well, I was doing a film called The Other Guys and Mark Wahlberg and Will Ferrell, very funny guys. With Adam McKay, the director. Adam McKay, who is a great director. Yeah. And I was po... I know.

I enjoyed it a lot, but, you know, it was kind of like... I like to be in the driving seat. And I wonder, when I was doing that, I like to be in the driving seat. And I wonder why I was doing that. That's why I discovered the story of this Irish woman whose child had been taken from her and sold to an American couple back in the 1950s. And that was it.

So I pursued that as a writer, which was drama. And before that, I had just done comedy. And I didn't know if it would work out, but we wound up at the Oscars, so I thought, okay, well I'll do some more of this stuff. People seem to like it. But is that the strategy, I mean, would you say you need to do these kind of small roles in America

to build enough political capital? I have a career in the UK, and I like to do a bit of comedy, a bit of drama, you know, like, sometimes, you don't want to get too serious because you can vanish up your own ass. So it's important to have a laugh and just remember, it's just don't get too full of yourself. So I like to do a bit of yin-yang, you know,

so make people laugh, make them cry, make them cry too much, they're not going to want to see you anymore, so you're going to make them laugh again. No, but you definitely play that yin-yang almost better than anyone I've ever seen because you've got the comedy bona fides, like, legend comedy characters. And then you do dramatic roles, not just Philomino.

You do, like, Jimmy Savile, you know, which is one of probably the most disgusting people. Yeah, I play the sex offender. He was a fake. I know, it's a terrible thing, but, you know, it was a terrible story, actually, in the U.K. But the worst thing about it was, when I said, I'm playing Jimmy Savile, the sex offender,

people actually said, you'd be perfect for that. -"Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!" -"Wait a second." -"Yeah, so you managed to do Ying Yang. Just, I don't, anyway, just, you know, hats off to you. And every project you do, you know, you were talking about it with the other legend, Irish legend Tommy Tiernan,

on his show. You said you're looking for projects that are funny but have heart in it. And I feel like you've definitely been going that way. I mean, you did this movie in 2019 called Greed, which was about a fashion mogul. And there were political overtones in that about the wage gap and...

Yeah, I mean, the thing is, you want to make people laugh and you want to make people think at the same time. And there's ways to do that. Also, I think, you know, a lot of comedy is about... Some comedy can be about cruelty. I think it's always important to be... You can be smart and tough, and you can be kind at the same time.

You don't have to be a dick. Right. I got to be a dick. Right. I gotta write that down. Yeah, do, do. I'll email it to you later. I didn't know you could do it without being a dick. I've been approaching this all wrong.

Yeah, but you, so, I mean, just going back to the politics. So my point is that you kind of try to do things that have not just be funny, but have a message. Yeah, well, I think, look, it's like anything. When you have an argument with someone, you can bang heads. And if you have a different point of view, you can not end up resolving anything. And also, if you have those facts and statistics,

they get twisted. And people can present their alternative facts and all that stuff. But if you tell a story or you make someone laugh, then you kind of show you people relax a little. And you can talk about serious stuff as you do on this show in a funny way, then people relax about it. And it takes the edge off it. And it stops people being scared.

You know, we're living in scary times. And if you can laugh, have that gallows humor, then we can all get through it together, I think. Yeah, something like that. Right. Right. Right. And I gotta...

I have to expertly pivot to what you're promoting or your publicist is gonna kill me here. So, no, but really, I mean, this, I did have a plan and this is where I wanted to get with all this is that you talk about political activism. So, your latest movie is Penguin Lessons. Like, what is it about and do you mind just saying what you think the political message is?

Yeah, I mean, look, I mean, it's a film, ostensibly you look at it and go, it's a cute film about a penguin. I'm not really interested in doing a cute film about a penguin. I just think, I don't- Did you tell the penguin that? I didn't, I didn't, I told his agent.

There is a live penguin in this thing. There's a few penguins in it. But to me, my buddy was writing it. Jeff Pope, who I've written a bunch of films before with, and he said, Hey, I made this film about a penguin. Do you want to be in it? And I said, no. I said, well, hang on. If I make the guy someone who doesn't like penguins

and doesn't like animals and doesn't like children and doesn't really like people, then that gives him somewhere to go. And the penguin acts as a catalyst. And it was set against the fascist regime, the military dictatorship that existed in Argentina in the late 1970s. So there's a kind of dark, brooding backdrop to it. Any parallels to modern times? Well, I figured out that everyone loves the penguins

because they're cuddly. And fascism is very popular at the moment. So something for everybody. Right, fascism Disney, Disney-fied. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's like fascism meets Disney. Yeah, which is Disney. Which is Disney.

Yeah. Yeah. Wait, hang on. I had to quickly do a calculation to see if our parent company was Disney but it's not. It's Paramount. We'll find. I think I did a show with anyway. No one did they don't watch YouTube. So yeah but I did this is kind of just for me now. Because did you, when you, again. By the way, I just want to say about the penguins,

because I'm a little worried. No penguins were harmed in the making of this film. And we have a robot penguin in the film, as well as real ones. So if we ask the penguins, we didn't ask the penguins to do anything difficult. Right. Because there's one scene where you throw the penguin back into the ocean.

Yeah, that's like a, there's a fake one. I throw and then it's and then we cut it together Right, you gotta see that for legal reasons. Yeah. No, and also I've never thrown a penguin in my life But I get canceled for throwing penguins. I It's in the movie. It's in the movie. Yeah, it's trickery. Okay magic the magic of movies Yeah, so not real penguin the movie, yeah. It's trickery. Okay. Magic. The magic of movies. Okay, yeah. So not a real penguin? Okay. Yeah, but we had a robot penguin and we had a puppet penguin. Someone had their hand up a fake penguin, so to speak.

And so, yeah, we sort of mixed the two together. And I just... Yeah, and when you're doing these scenes, I was watching it and it's like, it's comedic. It's not, I wouldn't say you did, you're obviously not doing a sketch when you're in this movie. So is it difficult to kind of like dial it to where it's...

You know what I mean? Where you're not doing a sketch. No, no. It's funny. It's not silly. It's not dumb funny. It's I play a guy who doesn't really like penguins and winds up adopting one by mistake and ends up teaching these kids at school with it. Yes. It's very touching. It's not goofy. It's not play goofy. And like I said, there's a little bit of fascism in there

because we need more of that. Yeah, a little bit sprinkled in there. Yeah, a little sprinkling of fascism. Yeah, and I just feel like you're like this beloved character in the UK, both Steve Coogan and Alan Partridge. I think your character, Ellen Patridge, appeals to people on the left and the right in the UK.

I would say- That's true, that's true. And you're, Steve Coogan yourself, you're very politically active. You're out there, you're campaigning publicly. I pick and choose my fights. If you bang on about what you think about stuff, after a while people go, who cares what you think?

So, and it's like, oh no, him again. That's why I'm there right now. Because who cares now? No one cares what I think about stuff after a while, people go, who cares what you think? You know, so, and it's like, oh, not him again. That's the way I'm at right now. Because who cares now? No one cares what I think. I guess that's what I asked him. I was like, why you kind of answer the question? Like, I feel like you never used, chose to use Alan Partridge as a political overt political character. Well, the thing is, you have to...

He's more satirical. You've got to, if you're just trying to entertain the people who already agree with you, you're never going to change anyone's opinion, you're never going to change anyone's opinion. You're never going to challenge them. So you have to reach out. You have to put your arms around everybody and say, look, I don't agree with you, but come over here.

Let's have a laugh. And maybe we can learn something. And so I do that with that Alan Partridge character. And sometimes I slip. I try to make people laugh. And if occasionally you can slip a secret message under the door while you're doing it, then that great and I do do that with the parties, but if you just preach it to the converted What's the point? Yeah other than making money? Yeah, I mean and I like to do that occasionally

Anyway, but I could talk to you forever, but I just want to say thank you so much. Mr. Steve Coogan your legend Thank you for calling me cool. I really appreciate it. You increased my street credit, okay? Thanks for entertaining everybody. Thanks for coming on the show. I really appreciate it. You're the best, man.

Thank you. This is Steve Coogan, everybody. The Penguin Lessons will be in theaters nationwide, March 28th. It's Mr. Steve Coogan. We're gonna take a quick break. We'll be right back after this. We'll be right back after this. We'll be right back after this.

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We'll be right back after this. We'll be right back after this. We'll be right back after this. We'll be right back after this. and what do you think the lesson from it should be secretary? Well more than I'm gonna I'm gonna leave all that to to the legal experts you know I'll say one of the few advantages of being one of the older people in the cabinet is that I still like to pick up the phone and call people. Explore more shows 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

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