The Daily Show: Ears Edition - TDS Time Machine | Jon Interviews Trailblazing Women

Episode Date: March 12, 2025

Jon Stewart sits down for extended interviews with three trailblazing women of the 21st century.  Listen to Malala Yousafzai's first visit to The Daily Show. Talk healthy eating and the power of gardening with First Lady Michelle Obama. Planned Parenthood president Cecile Richards dives into the importance of her group's work for women. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

You're listening to Comedy Central. Welcome back, my guests tonight. She's an advocate for girls' access to education worldwide, is the youngest person ever to be nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize. Her new book is called, I Am Malala, the girl who stood up for education and was shot by the Taliban. Please welcome to the program, Malala Yousafzai. Nice to see you. Thank you for being here.

Thank you so much. It's an honor for me. It is an honor for us. I know me. This is... By the way, we talked a little bit before the show. Nothing feels better than making you laugh. I will say that. I enjoyed that very much. Thank you. I am Malala.

It's honestly humbling to meet you. I enjoyed that very much. I am Malala. It's honestly humbling to meet you. You're 16. Where did your love for education come from? We are human beings, and this is the part of our human nature that we don't learn the importance of anything until it's snatched from our hands. And when in Pakistan, when we were stopped from going to school, at that time I realized

that education is very important and education is the power for women. And that's why the terrorists are afraid of education. They do not want women to get education because then women would become more powerful. That's exactly right. When did the Taliban come to Swat Valley? Because before then you describe it as a paradise of sorts. A Taliban came in 2004, but at that time they were quite good. They did not show the terrorism and they did not blast any school at that time.

But they started the real terrorism in 2007. They have blasted more than 400 schools in Swat. They have slaughtered people. And in the month of January 2009, they used to slaughter even two, three people every night and they have flogged women. We have seen the barbaric situation of the 21st century and we have seen like the cruelty and we have seen harsh days in our life

and those we regarded as the darkest days of our life. So it was really hard for us at that time. You describe in the book, still, no matter what, they took the signs off of schools. They went underground, but they continued in the face of, you spoke out publicly against the Taliban. What gave you the courage to continue this? You know, my father was a great encouragement for me because he spoke out for women's rights, he spoke out for girls' education. And at that time, I said that why should I wait for someone else?

Why should I be looking to the government, to the army, that they would help us? Why don't I raise my voice? Why don't we speak up for our rights? The girls of Swat, they spoke up for their rights. I started writing diary. I spoke on every media channel that I could, and I raised my voice on every platform that I could.

And I said, I need to tell the world what is happening in Swat, and I need to tell the world what is happening in swat and I need to tell the world that swat is suffering from Terrorism and we need to fight against terrorism when did you? realize The Taliban had made you a target When in 2012 You were I was with my father and someone came and she told us that, have you seen on Google that if you search your name and the Taliban have threatened you?

And I just could not believe it. I said, no, it's not true. And even after the threat, when we saw it, I was not worried about myself that much. I was worried about my father because we thought that the Taliban are not that much cruel, that they would kill a child because I was 14 at that time. But then later on I started thinking about that and I used to think that the Taliban would come and he would just kill me. But then I said, if he comes, what would you do Malala? Then I would reply myself that Malala, just take a shoe and hit him.

But then I said... But then I said, if you hit a talib with your shoe, then there would be no difference between you and the talib. You must not treat others that much with cruelty and that much harshly. You must fight others, but through peace and through dialogue and through education. Then I said, I'll tell him how important education is and that I even want education for your children as well. And I'll tell him, that's what I want to tell you.

Now do what you want. I know your father is backstage and he's very proud of you, but would he be mad if I adopted you? Because you sure are swell. adopted you. Because you sure are swell. We are back. We're talking to Malala. The book, I Am Malala is on shelves right now. Your love of school reminds me so much of my children. Okay, maybe not. The people of Swat Valley, when the Taliban first came, they thought they're bringing order, they're bringing services.

They established a court that was faster than Pakistani courts. Yeah. And the people responded. When did that begin to turn? When the Taliban came, they were trying to convince people, and they were just misusing the name of Islam, and they were telling people,

we would just set up another court for you and we would provide you justice on time because usually in courts in Pakistan people dies and their case is not yet resolved in the courts. So that's what is happening in the courts of Pakistan. So people just said like if the Taliban are it, why don't we support them? But then they were that much cruel that they started slaughtering people. And they even blasted a generator of electricity.

And it was the month of Ramadan in which we keep fast, in which we don't eat on the day, in which we don't drink for the whole day. They blasted the electricity generators, which was providing electricity to the whole city of Mingora. And we could not have water, because electricity is related to water supply as well. And people were sitting in the dark.

People could not buy electricity generators. People were just sitting in the light of candles. And people were just dying of thirst at that time. But my father is a great father because he bought generator for the school to create electricity and to provide water to the street and to that community. But still, many people were suffering from that hard situation.

And other than that, our freedom was taken from us. The women's freedom. We could not go to market. We were not allowed to go to school. We were just kept imprisoned. We were just limited to the four walls of our house. Women's rights were denied at that time. And that's why I spoke, because I believe in equality and I

believe that there is no difference between a man and a woman. I even believe that a woman is more powerful than men. Wait, whoa, wait, what? What? Wait. You know, Malala, this was going so well. You were doing so beautifully, and then suddenly, bam! This is the part that they began to say you cannot dance. You cannot, the women cannot do these things. You say that many people believe this is a wrong interpretation of Islam, of the Quran.

Do you, why have the Taliban and these more extreme groups been able to be successful? Is it the fear that they bring to these towns? Is that why the people have had a hard time throwing it off? The first thing is that they were really cruel. They had clashing coves, they had guns in their hand. And if I have a gun in my hand and I tell you something, do this, you have to do that because it's for your life. So there was fear all around. That's why people could not say anything. And the second thing was that they were misusing the name of Islam. They were telling people

that we are doing this for Islam. We are doing this for Allah. We are doing this for Prophet peace be upon him. So as well as they were using religion for their own personal benefit. So that's also the reason. But then later on people try to realize this and the girls are very brave and girls in our school like we were at that time we were just 11 or 12 years old but we spoke of our rights to every media channel to every newspaper that we could. And we did not know at that time that our small interview would have an impact or not, but it had,

because we were raising up our voice and we were speaking up for our rights. And we were speaking for peace in Swat. We wanted to live a normal life, because Swat is like a paradise on Earth. I believe in two paradises. One I'll get after death, but the other one that is on earth, for me that is Swat, because Swat is really beautiful. And you would be astonished when you see the lush green hills

and when you see the tall mountains and the rivers that we have, the crystal clear water, and you can find trout. So it's really beautiful. You would love Swat. Malala, I'm from New Jersey. So, I know a little something about paradise. The beaches, it does, it sounds magnificent and it is heartbreaking because you see what these children want and what these people want

is to just live in peace without having this imposed on them. And I think we don't know what to do to help. You know, there are passages in the book about the United States, and we come out great. But there is, you know, there are attacks in SWAT and in those areas with drones and they talk about a man, a CIA agent who shot two men in Lahore, Raymond Davis and this is is I think we have a common want and desire but perhaps are not accomplishing it in in the manner that that shows the people how we how we feel but in some ways we don't know what else to do.

What is your thought on that? I think that the people of America, the United States, they truly support peace, and they say that we must not fight against war through war. They believe that dialogue is the best way, and we must try to find a solution for it. And in my opinion, the solution that would work to fight all these wars and all these problems

that people are facing is only education. Because you can stop war for a second, but you don't know it would start again or not. We have seen First World War. We have seen Second World War. And I think Third World War is coming. But I believe that we must stop it now. I don't want to see a Third World War in this world again.

And the best way to fight against this war is education because as we can see that children are suffering from terrorism, they are suffering from child labor and child trafficking. They're also suffering from the cultural norms and traditions. There is not only one issue that we are facing through, there are many others as well. So I think education is the best way. People would be thinking, just going to school, learning about chemistry and physics and maths,

and that's it. Going to school is not only learning about different subjects, it teaches you communication, it teaches you how to live a life, it teaches you about history, it teaches you about how science is working. And other than that, you learn about equality because students are provided the same benches, they sit equally. It shows us equality. It teaches students how to live with others together, how to accept each other's language, how

to accept each other's traditions and each other's religion. It also teaches us justice. It also teaches us respect. It teaches us how to live together. So that's why I support the idea of sending children to school because it is the best way to fight terrorism. And I want people to support us in this cause. And through Malala Foundation,

we want to work for education of girls in the developing countries, especially in Syria now. They are suffering, they are homeless now. We want to help children in Afghanistan because they have been suffering from terrorism for decades. We want to help the children of India as well because they are victims of child labor. So I think issues and problems are enormous, but the solution is one, and that is simple.

That is education. I am humbled to speak with you. I will say this. I don't know where you come from, but I am very glad you're here. Thank you for being here. Thank you. I'm honored to be here. Please get the book, donate to the Malala Fund by visiting www.malalafund.org.

Malala Yousafzai. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. My guest tonight, she is the First Lady of the United States. She has written a book called American Grown, the story of the White House kitchen garden and gardens across America. Please welcome back to the program first lady Michelle Obama.

How are you? Good. Thank you. Nice to see you. It's good to be here. Good to be back. It's nice to see you again. This is my book.

The book is called American Grown. Look at this. You as First Lady, everybody has an issue, and you decided, I'm going to take on this idea of getting children to eat well. Wouldn't you have been more successful with, let's say, colonization of Mars? Because, as a parent of two children, unless this garden sprouts cheeseburgers, no. What gave you the idea to do this? You know, it was really my experience as a mother trying to get my kids to eat well.

I mean, you know, what most people don't know, we're seeing an epidemic of childhood obesity. One in three of our kids will be overweight or obese, and we are spending billions of dollars in health care costs for preventable illnesses. And in my life, I saw how that was happening, you know? Too busy parents don't have time to cook, eating out too much, you know, activity is being eliminated from our schools in many ways. The average kid is spending 7.5 hours a day in front of a screen.

The average kid, that's on average. And it's... Wow, can I just very quickly? Kids, if you're at home right now... Daddy says you can beat that. Daddy knows you're not average kids. I want to see ten hours from you today. My kids can do it.

They can make it. No. Oh, did I get that wrong? No, no. Oh, I have it backwards? Go the other way around. Oh, all right. Yeah.

Well, we used to, you know, in the old days, they opened the back door, you went out, and you ran, but it is a different world. It's harder to get kids. It's a different world. Yeah, yeah. With modern life, things are changing. Many kids are living in communities where their parents don't feel safe having them

run outside, right? Fast food is the exception, or the rule rather than the exception. Just culturally things- A lot of times it's cheaper though. You know, it is, you know, you're trying to feed four people. You got a dollar man. He's got a lot of good food on, you know, it's very difficult. Is this for you more of a symbolic idea

that they start to understand? Well, the garden is a way to begin the conversation because what I also learned in changing my kids' habits is that if kids are involved in the growth process of food and they get a better understanding of where their food comes from and they're engaged, they tend to be more likely to be excited about it. And the garden has been a really important catalyst for that discussion.

I mean, we've had hundreds of kids working with us in the garden to help plant and harvest. And usually with the harvest, we end with a vegetable feast. And we've got kids who... I'm sorry, just very quickly. It's a vegetable feast. The phrase vegetable feast. It's a feast.

And we've had kids... Is there a cheese faucet for this vegetable feast? We've served everything from flatbread, veggie pizza that many kids have said is better than take out. You know, because the truth is that vegetables that are grown fresh taste much better. I mean, I know when I was growing up, you got those store-bought tomatoes in that plastic tin, and they tasted like water. Or the ones in the bag that you boiled, but they were filled with that crazy yellow sauce. That they said is like a butter-ish substance. in the bag that you boiled, but they were filled with that crazy yellow sauce that they

said is like a butterish substance. You know, when we grew up, you cooked broccoli until you could cut it with a fork. It's not supposed to be that way, but when you get kids engaged in pulling a tomato off the vine, it's really good. So we start with kids. I'm just going to write this down. Engage your children. Engage your children in the process.

Talk to them. Talk to them. Do not leave them outside. You as First Lady, you have an approval rating of like 85, 90 percent. Like it's through the roof. You exaggerate. But it is. Your approval rating is like your ice cream. Your husband's approval rating, it's like astronaut ice cream. It's vegetables. It's vegetables. My point is, forget about politics, forget about any of that. In just marital relationship, in just arguing,

how do you not use that? And wield it. If I had an 80% approval rating and my wife was at 50%, I'd be like, really? We're going to a French restaurant? Because the people say... Does that ever... No, no, I don't wield it over him.

Because the truth is, is that one of the things that I've seen over the last three and a half years, I've seen what it takes to be president. I kind of watched this thing pretty closely and you know the president is getting all the hard decisions where there's no easy answer. That's the kind of stuff that comes across his desk and really when it comes down to it when you're making those judgment calls all you have is your character your value your vision for this country and I see him being so consistent in you know disregarding the chatter and the noise and really moving forward towards a country where there's more equity more fairness where our kids will grow up in schools that educate

them whether they'll have opportunities I mean have you seen him change his decision-making as it goes along? As it's gotten, as the gravity of it has been, did it start out more dartboardish and then move? You know, what's, right, exactly. Never, never. I mean, in fact, the harder decisions, I think he's been so consistent.

I mean, he's come in, he told America what he was going to do, pass healthcare, make sure that more people have access to healthcare and that our kids can start their lives with insurance as opposed to graduating from college like so many without insurance. He's ended the war in Iraq, brought our troops home, making sure they get the benefits and the respect that they've earned. Are you telling me? Because I didn't know that.

I was not. I have not been following this. Let me ask you this. Are there people in the White House that you go like, I could do that guy's job though? No one. Really? Everybody's like, glad I don't have to do his job,

and I'm right there. What about like a, I'm just going to throw it at you, Biden, Joe. Anybody? You ever think like, oh, okay. I love Joe. Anybody? You ever think like, oh, okay. I love Joe. Is it hard though to raise a kid around Biden? Because I would assume

that there's a lot of like Joe language or like he's like the uncle that comes over and like, oh, you brought them guns like You know that kind of thing like is he is that time no no he's All right. No, he's a great vice president. All right friend. No, that's my kids hang around him

And you're good with it. Has he always been the same, you know we're reading all these stories now about your husband as in high school and in college. And you know, when you met him. What was he doing? What was he? Because you're just a little like, what is that? The script of a Cheech and Chong movie? What the hell's going on?

But then when you met him, did you put the kibosh? Or had he already like sewn those and was done? Yeah, by the time he was in college, like so many young people, he realized that he could do more with his life. He had a mother that was always saying, you're so gifted. You're so talented. Slap him in the back of the head.

Get yourself together. And I think when he lost his father, that was one of those click-in moments. And he really buckled down. I think he transferred schools, went to Columbia. And then that's when he got really serious about, really thinking about how would he use his life to the fullest.

It's interesting. That was before me. Other presidents, you know, this president, George W. Bush, sort of went through his times where he was a little bit out there. I really related to that. It's the turnaround. That's the part where I was like, oh.

I'm not taking any bait. Don't worry, it's organic. You did very well. You did very well. I see what this man sees in you. You're very good. American Grown is on the bookshelves now. You're just saying, eat a little healthier, get out there.

It's not a dictate. And plant a garden. And plant a garden. You know, it's a good way to start. That would be very nice. First Lady Michelle Obama. Thank you so much for coming. Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. He is the president of Planned Parenthood and president of Planned Parenthood Action Fund. Please welcome to the program, Cecilia Richards. How are you? Fantastic.

You know, I've been watching the news recently. Yeah. There is a tremendous discussion going on in this country right now on women's health issues, contraception, mainly amongst, I guess you'd call them, penis Americans. So we thought, why not bring in someone without a penis to discuss how it affects the people that it actually are being talked about. That's big of you. And it's great. Let me say this. You're welcome.

Has that been odd to watch? It's incredible. It's absolutely incredible to see now, well first, that birth control itself is a topic of political debate in this presidential election. You mean religious liberty? Well, I mean actually, yeah, I mean for women, obviously birth control is not a, it's not a religious topic, it's a health topic and 99% of women in America use it. And at Planned Parenthood we provide birth control to millions of women every single year. So yeah, I think they're kind of mystified by what the

controversy is all about. That's it. That's it. Are you, does this put, you know, what is this, do you fear that you are going back into a place where we have to have the contraception conversation all over again, that that was a battle that was fought? Well, you would think so, again,

since everyone uses it now. And actually, the exciting thing is, for the first time, we think women actually will get, finally, get birth control covered by their insurance plans, which is a great health, it's a great advance for women's health, it's a great economic issue for women. But again, I think we're seeing in this presidential primary, this sort of

like race to the bottom, where every presidential candidate on the Republican side is trying to say, I would be absolutely the worst for women, including being opposed to birth control coverage. I think the last time we actually, that birth control is probably a controversial topic was during prohibition. So, this is- No, the 60s and 70s it was an issue. I mean, that's when, wasn't that when Griswold was decided? Isn't that the whole-

That was actually when, yes, actually for the first time married couples could use birth control legally. And now I guess what they're saying is, the interesting thing to me is how it's been changed to be an issue about women wanting someone to pay for them to have sex or money coming out of other people's pockets so that women can have sex, it strikes me as a very interesting direction

to take the conversation. Yeah, it's actually really hard to, I don't even know if I can respond to that. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I can. I did on the show. No, and thanks for covering this issue.

No, for women, look, at Planned Parenthood, we see one in five women in America at some point in their lifetime. And this last year, I think I've heard from every single one of them, because they are absolutely astounded that we are now re-debating issues that I think have been settled for a long time. The caricature of Planned Parenthood and the one that I think critiques it is this idea of an abortion factory where it's the idea is that's how you make your money and you're going to set up a drive-through and there's no thoughtfulness, there's no morality to it.

It is, you know, that is the type of evil place that it is. What's the reality of the place? What's the mandate? The reality is we're the largest family planning provider in America, and we do more to prevent unintended pregnancy and the need for abortion than any organization in this country. And so, and I'm- What would be something that you think,

maybe your critics would be very surprised to know about? More than 90% of our services are preventive care. We provide not only more than 2 million folks with birth control each year, but we do more than 750,000 pap smears every year, breast exams for women. On different people, I mean that. Obviously that wouldn't be right to do to one person. No, that's right. No, actually, I mean the great thing about Planned Parenthood, we're all across the country.

And what's, for many women, we are their only medical provider. We are their doctor. And the one doctor visit they get a year is at Planned Parenthood. And that's why, again, I think there's just been this sort of groundswell of concern when politicians are saying we're going to end not only Planned Parenthood, but all family planning in America. What do you think, if Planned Parenthood was one of those things that was put to a vote in America,

I get the sense that it would be... I think we'd win. A pretty popular place in local communities, it seems like people understand it better than they do on the national stage. Absolutely right, John. In fact, as I said, one in five women have been to Planned Parenthood, so

they actually know what we do. I just, not that I'm competitive, but I did just see some national polling. 69% of the American people not only support Planned Parenthood, but believe that we should get public funding to provide the services that we do. Congress' approval rating hovering around 10%, I think. So I think if it really came down to who do you think's on your side, as a woman, as a family, I think folks would vote for Planned Parenthood.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Who?

Who would you be running against, again? Yes. 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 episodes anytime on Paramount Plus.