The Daily Show: Ears Edition - TDS Time Machine | Summer Blockbusters

Episode Date: May 25, 2026

As summer movie season kicks off, take a look back at The Daily Show's blockbuster coverage. Stephen Colbert explains that he prefers the trailers to the movies themselves. Jon Stewart interviews MCU stars Samuel L. Jackson and Robert Downey Jr., and pesters George Lucas with Star Wars minutia. Sigourney Weaver visits to explain Avatar before it becomes the biggest movie of all time. Star Wars star Lupita Nyong'o sits down with Trevor Noah to break down being an alien. And Rob Riggle works through his feelings about Steve Carell's blockbuster success. -- The Daily Show airs weeknights at 11/10c on Comedy Central. Stream full episodes on Paramount+ Follow TDS: YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, Twitter, Facebook Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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You're listening to Comedy Central. Program this past Sunday was a banner day for fans of the Star Wars series. As Fox aired the first glimpse of the latest installment of the saga, Attack of the Clones. We must stop them before they're ready. Begunned this Cold War has. Joining us now, our resident expert in all things, science fiction, Stephen Colbert. Stephen, you've worked with Bradbury with Huxley, uh, understudied many of them. What did you think of, of this particular trailer?

John, I loved it. The special effects were mind-blowing. The editing was crisp. Jimmy Smith was in it. I don't want to tell you the ending, but, but what the heck? I'll just show it to you. Your first chance to see the trailer for, Look at this. Now, for those of you who don't know how to read, they're telling you that this is the exact same trailer you can see this Friday during previews before the showing of the new Fox animated classic Ice Age. I have got to see that.

Ice Age? No, the new Star Wars trailer. But it's the same trailer you just saw on TV. Right, right, right, right. But it's going to be on the big screen in a big theater. I can't impress upon you how the largeness of it will increase its size. At home, I'm bigger than my TV, but in a movie theater, the screen dwarfs me. The TV trailer has only wet my appetite. The feast is this Friday. So you're really looking forward to this movie? No.

Did you not like episode one? No, I mean, I love the trailer, but I heard the movie was terrible. It was like 133 minutes. I could watch 30 or 40 trailers during that same time. You just like trailers? What's not the like, John? I mean, you've got the buttery voice narrator asking me to imagine a world where something happens, or every so often a film comes along that does something.

You know, I love the excitement when the trailer is fun and upbeat, and then you hear that needle scratch like, and everything sort of stops, and then someone mugs for the camera like, whoa, whoa, whoa! Or when someone's about to say a dirty word, then they cut to a tanker truck exploding, like, like, suck my... You know, that, that, my friend, is trailer tainment. It is, it is, it is. You don't like movies at all?

I love movies, John. I just don't see why they have to be so long. You know, nobody walks out of trailers because they're perfect. In fact, there is nothing in this world that wouldn't be better in trailer form. I mean, take this Star Wars commentary, for instance. Wouldn't have been a lot better if we had just done it like this? In a world where one man loved it. John, I loved it.

Jimmy Smiths was in it. He's about to get more than he bargained for. I'm pregnant. Movies are just watered down trailers. The Stephen Colbert trailer commentary, winner of the coveted bomb door. Suck my... Coming to The Daily Show, 3rd. show three minutes ago.

This is new film is called Captain America, the Winter Soldier. Please welcome back to the program, Samuel L. Jackson. It's all about that, right? This is a continuing saga of the badassery of Samuel Jackson. Well, thank you. More and more. These films, these characters have been around for 50 years, 60 years. Nick Fury was around when I was a kid.

I used to read Nick Fury comic books. You know, he was a white guy with a cigar and a patch. Yes. But then he became David Hasselhoff for a while, and then he became me. So the evolution of Nick Fury continues. It does indeed. And may I say, it's been upgraded. I believe the Samuel Jackson was upgraded.

I'd like to feel that way, too. But I almost wonder, you know, they were never able, the technology of movies was never at the advanced level that it is now, that these superheroes could on screen really appear realistic and you could get the jolt. I wonder if that's why it's only now that these movies are so big. I think part of it's the technology, and I also think part of it is the accessibility

of what we're able to do as real people now. You know, when I was a kid, I would read a comic book and I would want to be in a world where, you know, there were women walking around in tights with green hair and blue hair and folks had capes on and they were wearing boots. They called that San Francisco. I believe back down.

Oh, yeah. Exactly. And now, you know, we have all that. And people are walking around, you know, people are walking around talking on things and they're looking at stuff on the little devices. So it's all very real for us. The only thing missing is this cat that actually flies. Yes. You know, they land somewhere.

You know, and he's probably out there somewhere just, you know, waiting to come out. I believe that's right. Yeah. I wonder, I've always thought that science takes its cues from, you know, all the great Asimov and Wells and all the great sort of fiction writers and science fiction writers, and they see something like that in a comic strip and go, I bet I could make that. You know, that they're taking their cues almost

from the imaginations of a guy like Stan Lee. Yeah, well, there's that, and, you know, there's also the fact that I used to dream I could fly. Right. I used to dream I could breathe underwater, you know, and all that kind of stuff, and I wanted to do it really badly, you know. And now, you know, I put on that costume

when I fall into that Marvel playground, I'm like, I'm in heaven. Yeah. Yeah, it's like, ha, ha, ha. This is happening. You know, I put my high patch on, and I walk out there, and I'm invincible, man. And they create it realistically. You know, in the old days, the superhero like Hulk, they just find the biggest guy they could

and paint him green. Back in the day. And that would be, you know, but the effects now and everything else that surrounds it, is it when you're doing it, when you're making it, is it tedious? Is it, do you feel the excitement, or is it just you in spandex in front of like a green flat? like, now the monster's coming. Like, in the beginning, you sort of felt that way. Back when I first started doing Star Wars,

it was just a big green room, and we had some things in there. And then, you know, I have my lightsaber, and George will say, okay, there's this thing attacking you. And I go, how big is it? He says, it's as big as an SUV. And I go, really? And how fast is it? He says, fast as you want it to be.

So I'm like, so I can do anything I want, and you'll just. draw stuff around me. He said, you kick all the ass you want. And we will make sure it looks like you're the baddest motherfucker in the universe. So I'm back in my room. I love it.

I love it. I got my music going in my head. I'm like, da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da. I'm jumping and then all of a sudden, when I go to the movies, it's like, yeah. Amazing. Look at me. Yeah, yeah.

So, yeah, it's all that and more. But when you're doing that car chase, we had, like... But that looks actually dangerous. Like, are you... But we had, like, 12 cars that all did different shit. So when you see the movie, there's one point where it's like 19 guys firing bullets at it.

The windows are just resisting the bullets, and I'm just sitting in the car like, and that's like a dope-ass feeling. Yeah, you know, you sitting there like, yeah, my... And it's actually happening while you're in there. And you're just in the car, you know, And we were shooting in Cleveland. So we're on the streets of Cleveland.

There are people in the office buildings like, I'm excited. They have made, I'm telling you, Marvel Studios, they have made these movies so well, and they're doing tremendous stuff. I've been loving it because I love that stuff as I was a kid. So far. Really?

Like I told you backstage, this one actually has a story, has a plot. Yeah. You know, I mean, it's more than just. That doesn't often happen. It's more than bad guys punching, you know, good guys and good guys. and bad guys. I mean, that's a big-ass mystery going on in here.

And I still haven't figured out how they got Robert Redford to do this movie. It's awesome. Yeah, it's like, Robert Redford's in this movie. Are you ever tempted at any point in the movie to just move your eye patch to the other side just to see it on the road? No, because my scar's over here. You know, it's like, yeah. Captain America, Winter Soldier. Your theater's on Friday.

Samuel Jackson. And people are either productive or dead weight. It's my first day of work and I need to make a big impression. Were you just checking me out? No. It's too bad. I see at least 15 ladies I need to talk to before my beta block or wears off. My coworkers don't take me seriously.

It's not a human. It's just a piece of meat. Someone bring a gurney. Her latest film is called Avatar. Parker. You know, I used to think it was benign neglect. But now I see that you're intentionally screwing me. Grace, you know, I enjoy our little talks.

Oops. I need a researcher, not some jarhead dropout. Well, actually, I thought we got lucky with him. Lucky? Yeah. How is this in any way, lucky? Well, lucky your guy had a twin brother, and lucky that brother wasn't some oral hygienist or something.

A marine we can use. I'm assigning him to your team of security escort. The last thing I need is another trigger-happy jar. And then they turn blue. Please welcome! Sigourney Weaver! Great to be here. The movie, and I'm going to be perfectly frankly.

Yes. All right. I heard a lot about this movie before it came out. I'd seen a couple of pictures of the thing. And this thing looked like, what we call in the business, a giant turd. This thing looked like it was a freight train out of control into water world world. Right. Right. It has since come out, and it is blowing people away.

away. It's like 90-something percent. The people are saying it has reinvented filmmaking in a way. What was your feeling as you were going through? How long did this process take? Well, I think Jim Cameron has been working on it about 12 years, but I got involved in 2006, and we started rehearsals and performance capture 2007 and then did live action, 2007. in 2008. See, right there, I started performance capture in 2007. Now that is, to the layman, I don't know what you're talking about. I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry. What did he do? Well, he invented special 3D cameras so that he could put his actors in little black suits with helmets with cameras and ears and tails in what he called a volume, which is a big empty space,

and he had a virtual camera where you could look in and see your character in the actual environment of the movie. The Pandora, the virtual world that was created. The Pandora, absolutely. The Pandora and Rainforest. And we were, you know, 10 feet tall and blue with ears and tails. And you could see that in the moment. You could see a roughed out version of it. And then we would do our scenes, just like he would in a kind of early theater rehearsal, you know, using like this would be like a bush or something, you know, or a tree.

or, you know, he'd give us things to represent certain things, just, you know, but he would do everything he could to make it as organic for us as possible. And in fact, the level of technology is now so refined with this particular movie that all of the facial expressions, that's why we have a camera right here, everything you see, it's not painted on, it's not us voicing these faces, these puppets. This is the actors coming through the Navi identity. as these other people. Let me ask you a question, and I mean this seriously.

Okay. Is this man a wizard? You know, that's a great word for him. And is he using his powers for good? So far, let's not cross him, though. How does he even think of this, and what is it going to cost me for children's toys? Well, I don't know the answer to the second one.

He's been dreaming of... This is the movie he wanted to see when he was 14. He's been doodling. he's been drawing ever since then. Honestly. Yeah, mine was took place in a woman's prison. But the important thing to remember is this. With the new technology, that's going to be an awesome movie.

You don't even have to go to prison. It's just, they put the camera right on their heads and you're transported to Sing-Saint. But he's an amazing guy. But as an actor, you're an actor of great renown, you do beautiful stage work, you subtle things, and he puts you in a blue tail and you're 10 feet tall, which is like,

a half a foot taller than you are. And he, uh, is it comfortable as an actor to do this? You're wearing a virtual world on your head. Yeah. Well, actually, it did take them a couple of tries through that. But I think, you know, you offer me ears and a tail, and I'll go anywhere. The curious George people are on the line right now. But, you know, he is a wizard.

What does it weigh? What does it weigh? It's just like a little bicycle helmet, but it has. as a camera right here, one dreaded to think of how they would use that shot, but I think it was mostly for reference. And you got used to it very quickly. It was just sort of there, you know, it was just sort of, you didn't, you kind of looked right, right past it. Is this a new kind of filmmaking that opens up a whole, has he created a new way of filmmaking? I think he has. You know, I think he, once he took our master shots with all of us in our suits, we could then all leave. and he could do all the coverage with the information he had in that virtual camera.

He didn't need anyone else. So I think a lot of these techniques, I do think it's ushering in a brand new way to make film. I think it's going to be a positive thing. I think it will certainly raise the bar for big movies, but I also think some of these techniques would be good for... As an actor, as an actor of note, as an actor who is used to the human and right, you're down. It's okay. Oh, this is human. The thing that's most moving about this experience when you see it, forget the 3D, is

the story, the adventure, the romance, the experience of the movie, the special effects are all sublimated to that. You know what? I'm going to go see it. Oh, right. And I'm going to buy the toys. Avatar's in the theaters on Friday. It's going to be huge, my friends.

Sigourney Weaver. My guest tonight is an Academy Award-winning actor who can be seen in the highly anticipated Star Wars, The Rise of Skywalker. She's also written a children's book called Sulu. Please welcome Lupita Njongo. Welcome back to the show. Thank you very much. Good to be here. And let's start by saying congratulations on all of your nominations. How many nominations do you have?

Because sometimes I feel like Instagram is just repeating a post and then I realize you've gotten nominated for another thing. What's your latest nomination now? The Screen Actors Guild. That's for us. Yes, for us. Yes, yes. Are you a little bit worried that when you go, to accept your award, you are going to kidnap you

and then go accept the award on your behalf? Like, how do we know you're you-night right now? Do you ever think of that? All the time. Welcome back to the show. Thank you for having me. Let's start off by talking about Star Wars. New movie coming out.

Mazkhanata. Mazkanata is your character. Yes. And you're coming back again. These are the most secrets of movies, though. Like, the trailer doesn't give anything away, which I enjoy. they don't let you tell us anything.

Yeah. Like, why are we here? Well, you know, I don't know. I don't know. But it seems to work every time. It works every thing. Yeah, because the movies are amazing, but then, like, you can't tell me anything.

Like, normally I can ask you, like, what happens in a story? And I can be like, would this happen or that happen? I can't see it. Like, nobody knows what's going to happen. It's like lock and key. Okay, one question. Maybe you can tell us.

What's Baby Yoda like? Is he in, is he in, is he in, Is he in the movie? No, there's another story? You know, I know almost as much as you do. To be very honest. They give you just what you need to know. Right.

So I'm curious as well. I can't wait. Is it because they want you to go and watch the movie as well? I think so. That hard-pressed for cash. Yeah, Disney is just hardcore. They're like, no, Lou Peter. You're going to come and watch the movie.

You're going to pie. But it must be really special for you being a part of such a major franchise. I mean, you've done so many epic films. You're an Oscar-winning actor, but at the same time, you're part of Star Wars. Was that something you thought about when you're growing up is like, I'm going to be part of the biggest franchise ever? It never occurred to me, I have to admit.

And I watched Star Wars growing up, but I didn't know that it was a cultural phenomenon. Right. You know, I just liked, like, C-3PO. It just come on on public holidays, you know? So it was a public holiday movie. And then I got cast in Star Wars, and my brother cried. And that's when I was like, okay.

And then I was watching, what is it, whose line is it anyway? And I realized that Star Wars, like, it was pervasive in all popular culture. Because one of the questions was like, oh, you're Darth Vader. And I was like, wow, like everyone is all about Star Wars. And then there was this big splash about me being a part of it. And I was like, oh, oh, shit. Let me ask you this, that. Is there a part of you that's happy that your character is like a, like, you,

You wear the dot things and you do the acting, right? I am so glad. Because then you don't have, because Star Wars fans are like the best fans in the world, but they will chase you. They're intense. And they'll chase you with lightsabers to get like a selfie.

But they don't, like a lot of people might not know that you're in the movie. Yeah, the real buffs know that I'm in the movie. Got it, got it. But yeah, just like, you know, lighter Star Wars fans don't. Right. So I get away with being in it and also not being in it, which I like a lot.

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Thanks, John. I'm plugging away. Yeah, yeah, yeah. No, I think that's right. I think that's right. This phenomenon... Right. ...is insanity. Right. It's worldwide insanity. Yeah, I should come out right now.

No. It would be dramatic. There would be a flare to it. They're shaking with excitement and glee. Right. Well, I mean, I feel this way about... about, you know, the movies that I was really into growing up, and I love the enthusiasm.

Who did you, were you a superhero guy growing up? Now, your father was a director, so you were involved in film. I mean, I was around movies all the time. They were underground movies, so it was kind of odd. Putney Swole Blues. Yeah. Very cool stuff. But, I mean, I remember when I saw the first Superman movie

with, you know, Christopher Reeve, it's fun. You believed a man could fly? Well, no, I mean, because the effects weren't very good back then. The effects in this are really ridiculous. Like even, this is the thing with, do you remember, okay, so the first three Star Wars movies you see? Yeah. And you're like, these are excellent movies. That's how I got involved in science fiction and these types of things.

But then you see the next three where the level of special effects have gotten so great. Right. But they're prequels to the other ones. Yeah. Which look like old-timey talkies? And I can't explain that to an eight-year-old. This doesn't suffer from that. No, not yet.

Are you going to keep going? I don't know. They don't tell you? What do you think of... Don't you have to sign? Don't they make you sign like you're involved now for 12 of these? Right, right. Well, no, I mean, I had a long contract with him and now we're going to renegotiate.

Really? You are Iron Man. You are. In this one, it's the Mandarin. Yes. Now, this is a, the Mandarin is a classic. Yeah. The fact that they're bringing back the Mandarin,

this is from a villain from when I was a kid in the 60s and all those old cartoons. Is the thought process to reintroduce some of those classic villains now? I guess so. I mean, Kevin Feigey, who's the president of Marvel, is really the guy who had the vision this whole time. He's a big fan of the show, by the way. I'm going to bring him the baseball cap. And I remember on the first Iron Man, I was like,

all right, well, we've got to use the Mandarin. And he was like, hold on. And then the second time, I was like, Mandarin, he's like, no, we got Mickey Rourke, relax. And then in Avengers, I was like, well, clearly, for all of us, he was like, that's not, don't worry about it. It's his brother. So, and fortunately, this time, I mean, we have Sir Ben Kingsley,

and I think that it was the right time and the right guy to play this part. And you know, whole thing's just magical, John. You're going to be done. There is, you know what I think there is probably? I think there is a movie. promotion suit that you get into. You go like this and it just goes,

go, goz-o-o-z-o-o-so-c-c-c-c-c-c-c-c-c-c-c-c- You jet off to the other things. Yeah. Now, do they, are they still putting you in danger? Are you too valuable now to the franchise to be suspended from wires? Are there people now that they must? Right. What is your in terms of- You're really on to something, aren't you?

I really am onto something. I like doing that stuff, you know? Right. And once in a while, you take a spill or, you know, you shut down production for a bit while you heal up. Sure. No, I'm the same. I do all my own. Really? Look how close you are to the edge are.

There are many times. I just roll off the back. No pads, no back pad. What are you kidding me? Look at me. I'm 150 pounds of osteoporosis. I can handle it on the thing. What country's most, like, if you went anywhere, who is the most whacked out about this? Who is the most?

Everywhere was great. Korea was amazing. China was mind-blowing. I had a ball. Has there any place where you've been stunned, that they get it, that they see it, that they... I mean, honestly, I was really... I was humbled this time just because the fans for this franchise are... They're really artistic, too, so they give me, like, painted helmets, and sometimes they weep.

You know, I mean, I'm 48 years old. I'm looking at the back nine. I get to feel like a beetle. That's nice. Let me... Let me ask you something. Let me ask you something. You're 48 years old. Yes, sir.

You really think you're looking at the back nine? Because I'm 50? Yeah. And I'm heading to the 19th hole. I got maybe three or four good holes left in me. Yeah. But you think you got another nine coming here? Well, I mean, you know, I believe in science.

If you find something out, I beg of you. Sure. Because I would like to play through. I'm the same as you. I would like to play through. Well, optimism is key. Are you an optimistic? You, you, uh, here's what I heard.

This was a discussion between a, um, a Russian military guy and Chuck Missler, who's, uh, who's, a Christian, I love Chuck Missler. All right. He asked the Russian guy as their hope for Western civilization. Uh, the Russian guy said, well, you have to understand the difference between an optimist and a pessimist. The optimist believes the future is uncertain. The pessimist is always right. So it's our duty to be optimist, but clearly the pessimist has more information.

Right. Because he's always right. So I'd rather have less information. No, I think that's right. My favorite part about that? You said the word duty. The director behind some of the biggest films of all time. He also created the idea for the new book, George Lucas' blockbusting.

Please welcome to the program. George Lucas! Very excited to see you. We've been a long time in the cold weather. It's so nice to see you. Thank you for coming by. I guess my first question is, Senator Organa takes Leah to Alderon.

to Alderon and and and, and, uh, Darth Sidious doesn't feel a disturbance in the force. I mean, seriously, you expect me to believe that he can raise Leah on Alderon and, and the Sith lords, the Sith lords, they're not going to pick up anything. I mean, Canobi is on Tatooine. He's living right up the street. I mean, nobody's gonna pick up on this.

I mean, oh, God! I never thought of that. I know you didn't, but I've been... Yeah, but you had to have talked. about 40 years ago before I would have included it. So I was very young at the time. How crazy is it that this, the love and adoration and respect that people have for these movies,

also the flip side is the resentment. And like, do you, how do you deal with the duality that you get? Life is duality. Whoa. Yeah. Page 324. Done. Do you, are you able to retain a sense of humor?

Do you feel, you have to. You have to answer your critics. Do you feel, where is it in your mindset? It's a work of fiction. It's a metaphor. It's not real. And therefore, you can either like it or not like it, whatever. It's not like.

But George, I've built my life around it. So to suggest that, obviously, means I have to go down into my panic room and make some changes. It's whatever you'd like it to be. You know, we had a piece earlier about nostalgia and about the way, is some of it that people view things from their childhood with this glowing lens that... That was a great piece, absolutely great piece. And it's absolutely true. We have now three generations of Star Wars fans.

The first generation saw episode four and the next two. And then when the next three came out, they hated it. They could not stand it. And that's when we first discovered that there was a whole new group of kids out there that loved it. And they didn't like the first three. You know, they said episode four, it's boring.

We don't want to see that. You know, they love Jar Jar Binks. My son, and you met myself, my son's favorite movie is the Phantom Menace. And I've explained to him, no, it's not. Your favorite movie is a new hope. And Empire Street, Back and, and now we have a, now we have a,

show on Cartoon Network, Clone Wars, and there's a group of kids that are very young, and some teenagers and some older people who can't get enough of Star Wars, who that's their favorite show. And some of the kids have never seen any of the films. That's all they know is the Clone Wars. Right. Where's your mindset on it? Do you still have, like if I'm you, I'm up at the ranch,

I'm in the R2 costume, naked, at around three in the morning going, boop-poop-poop-poop-poop-poop-pooh-pooh-pooh-pooh. You could do that. I'm not that short. I put on my rubber Jar-Jar Vinks hat. You can fix my height and post, can't you? I can't fix my. I've been working on mine for years, and if I can't fix mine, I can't fix yours either.

Do you feel, do you still have the imagination? The worlds that you've created, both in Indiana Jones and in Star Wars, are so vivid. vivid and there's such attention to detail and the joke earlier about the different questions and all that that occurs does that feel like a different guy created that is that you does your mind still work in that fashion are you still thinking in terms of stories like that what's what's your your process been like now yeah I mean it's it's I mean I love doing the Star Wars at the beginning I thought it was

going to be one little movie move on it's not at all what I expected my life to be but so you're disappointed I guess the way things are talking out. Yeah, I was, actually. I expected to turn into something great. But, you know, you take what you get. And, you know, I... That's got to be the title of your autobiography.

George Lucas. What are you going to do? But, you know, I'm having fun now doing television. It's a lot more goofy and fun. And, you know, you know what that's like. And I am working on a producer. I am working on a, producing a feature on African-American fighter pilots during World War II called Red Tales, about Tuskegee Airmen. So you're doing all kinds of different things.

And if people read this book, cover-to-cover, they will know how to make a blockbuster film that will spin off, I'm assuming, some sequels and some merchandising. You obviously haven't read it because there's nothing in it. No, it is. It's the only way I could get on your show. No, that's not true. It's to create a doorstop because I know you love doorstop. I know that you're always talking about them. I knew if I presented you with a doorstop, I could get on the show.

Can I tell you what I like about this? It's the crazy details. Like you have all these charts in here about different films. Like the idea that Superman shot more footage than Gone with the Wind, I had no idea. Then it's filled with those kinds of juxtapositions and facts that for someone like me, I find very interesting. But then again, I've memorized your films.

Anybody who loves movies will love this book. Because it's not the sort of, to ivory tower opinion of somebody about what's a good movie, what's a bad movie, and the art and the whole thing. And it's not a history, which I love the histories, you know, Kevin Brownlow, you know, very detailed history of film and stuff. This is like a history of the business and the technology and the art and how they all intersect with each other. It reminds me of those great James sports books, the ones that are just filled with great statistics and facts from all throughout baseball that you always love to look up and do all

that stuff. And I thought it was fun. I love these kind of books. I did one before called Cause a death, which didn't go very far. Couldn't even get me on the show. We like to go a little more cheerful. This is the same kind of reading, which is if you're fascinated by this sort of thing, you would really enjoy it. Well, it's a pleasure to have you on the show.

And you come back again without having to write such a big book, please, because I'm delighted to have you on, and it's great to see it. All right, thank you. George Lucas is Blackbussing. See it. There are on the bookshel. These seasons in full swing, everybody, to guide you through the maze of film choices.

We present Rob Riggle and his brand new Tonight I'll be talking about... I'm sorry, can I just stop for a second? Did you name your new segment Riggles? I don't be a killjoy, but you can't even say that on the air. You can't get out of here, really? Wow, wow.

Oh, sorry. Okay, anyway, tonight I'll be focusing on one of the summer's most anticipated releases, Evan Almighty. The budget of $175 million, it's the most expensive it's the most expensive comedy in Hollywood history. Sure enough, Evan is a visual extravaganza full of amazing special effects. And boy does it suck.

It sucks. Oh, to have been born a genetic freak with 10 thumbs so I could point all of them down for Evan Almighty. John? I actually, I had an advance copy this week, and I watched it. I really enjoyed it. I enjoyed it, actually. Well, that means a lot coming from a man who played bad guy number three in the faculty.

All right, Rob. You know, you realize the film stars our guest tonight is very special to see if Carl's going to be on the show. Yes. Yeah. I mean, that particular gentleman plays Evan, a U.S. Congressman, ordered by God to build an art, becoming a modern-day Noah. The film raises an age-old theological question. Can God create a turd so big even he can't stand the stink of it? All right, well, why are you...

Let's just see a clip. Let's just see a clip. I want you, Evan Baxter, to build a marker. Oh, look at me. I'm Steve Carell. I'm in a gray t-shirt. I'm too lazy to put on any clothes because I just got out of bed. I'm so dumb and stupid.

I'm a jackass in my... You're just, you're talking over the entire clip. Better than listening to it. All right, you're entitled to your opinion. You're just saying the movie's a waste of time. Yeah. Well, okay, I mean, Morgan Freeman was great. And there actually were some pretty funny jokes.

The story zips along pretty nicely. Oh, and I totally teared up at the end. And the kids love it. Adults, too, really. The only thing you didn't like in the movie was... Steve Carell, right? Let's go to another clip. Destroy!

Destroy! Destroy! You watching the movie appearing to train for some type of combat in front of what looked like defiled pictures of Steve Carell? What? What are you implying? I mean, what are you saying that I'm biased in some way? Consumed with jealousy?

That it eats away at me somehow? That he escaped the hell of being a daily show correspondent? To become a big movie star? Huh? Well, I'm stuck here like some schmuck. A schmuck? Actually, I... That I vowed to do everything in my power to sabotage his career.

Because if I can't break out and succeed, nobody will. Because that's crazy. You know, he happens to be a super guy. I can introduce you to him and you guys can talk after the show. Really? Nah. I'd rather have my hate. It's always been there for me.

John? Thank you, Rob Briggle, everybody. We'll be right by it. Explore more shows from The Daily Show Podcast Universe by searching the day. 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. This has been a Comedy Central podcast.