The Daily Show: Ears Edition - Ted Cruz & Tucker Carlson Battle Over Iran While Trump Enters His Decorating Era | Matt Berninger

Episode Date: June 19, 2025

Jordan Klepper covers the latest on a potential war with Iran, including the fight between Tucker Carlson and Sen. Ted Cruz that was heard across the MAGA-verse and Trump’s big decision to ignore the problem and focus on erecting flagpoles. Jordan Klepper and Desi Lydic go head-to-head over the latest sports news: DeMarcus Cousins's outburst in Puerto Rico, Aaron Rodgers's surprise wedding, and Caitlin Clark's return to the WNBA. Grammy award-winning singer-songwriter and frontman of the band The National, Matt Berninger, sits down with Jordan to discuss traveling back to his Midwest roots in his new solo album “Get Sunk.” They talk about burning down the idea of who you are to find your authentic self, how he started writing songs on baseballs, connecting to Taylor Swift’s honest songwriting, and how the song “Inland Ocean” is a prologue for the album.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an iHeart Podcast. 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 Jordan Jordan Kleppler. -♪ -♪ -♪ -♪ -♪

Welcome to the Daily Show. I'm Jordan Kleppler. We got so much to talk about tonight. Donald Trump takes a mental health day. We go balls deep on sports stories about balls, and Tucker Carlson and Ted Cruz have a douche off. So let's get into headlines. ["The Daily Show Theme"] For two days now, the world has been waiting

for Donald Trump to decide whether to accept Israel's invite to go to war with Iran. We know he's viewed it, but he still has an RSVP. I hate it when that happens. Now, in the meantime, the question has started a separate war inside his MAGA base. And today, it exploded into a heated debate between the two most likable and charming voices on the right.

On the one side is Ted Cruz, who wants war with Iran. And on the other is Tucker Carlson, who thinks Ted Cruz doesn't know shit about Iran. How many people living around, by the way? I don't know the population. At all? No, I don't know the population. You don't know the population

of the country you seek to topple? How many people living around? 92 million. Oh, damn, Ted Cruz! Are you a pair of $800 Ferragamo boat shoes? Because Tucker Carlson owned you, buddy. Ted Cruz was like, I know the population. Just give me a second to count, okay? Let's see, there's the Ayatollah, that's one.

The Iron Sheik, two. Is a Latin one, I don't know, no. If you enjoyed seeing Ted Cruz get metaphorically punched in the face, how would you like to see it again? Why is it relevant whether it's 90 million or 80 million or 100 million? Why is that relevant?

Well, because if you don't know anything about the country. I didn't say I don't know anything about the country. Okay, what's the ethnic mix of Brown? Oh! Oh no, oh no, oh no, not ethnic mixes. You don't want to go toe to toe with Tucker Carlson on ethnic mixes. That's his best subject.

Look at poor Ted Cruz. He's like, uh, uh, uh, uh, I'd like, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, So come on Ted, you got this. They are Persians and predominantly Shia. Okay, this is cute. You don't know anything about Iran. So actually the country. Okay, I am not the Tucker Carlson expert on Iran who says- You're a senator who's calling for the overthrow of the government and you don't know anything about the country.

No, you don't know anything about the country. This is awesome. You don't know anything. No, you don't know anything. I don't care about! No, you don't know anything! I don't care about who wins the fight. I just like watching the fight! It's like Alien vs. Predator, but somehow more gross.

You can see how heated this is getting. Clearly, MAGA is much more divided about whether to overthrow Iran than they were about whether to overthrow America. Every little comment in this interview turned into a semantic battle. We're carrying out military strikes today. You said Israel was. Right.

With our help. I said we. Israel is leading them, but we're supporting them. Well, this, you're breaking news here because the U.S. government last night denied, the National Security Council spokesman Alex Pfeiffer denied on behalf of Trump that we were acting on Israel's behalf in any offensive capacity at all.

We're not bombing them. Israel's bombing them. You just said we were. We are supporting Israel. These high stakes. We? I? You?

For the party that promised no confusion around pronouns, This is really confusing. The point is, the MAGA world is tearing itself apart, and everyone is waiting for Trump to make a decision. And remember, Trump abruptly left the G7 summit so he could rush back to the White House, meet with his national security team in the Situation Room, and decide if he's bringing America into this war. So we were all waiting for the big announcement,

and then it came. Trump said in a truth social post, it is my great honor to announce that I will be putting up two beautiful flagpoles on both sides of the White House, North and South Lawns. Yeah. Yes, that is definitely an announcement.

Not the announcement we were waiting for, but sure, have a couple flagpoles installed at the White House. That'll be something for the groundskeepers to take care of while you're busy in the Situation Room dealing with more important matters. At 11 o'clock, we're lifting the flag. But we're gonna lift the pole now, and then they're going to the other side.

Okay. All right. Fine. Be out there introducing the whole thing. Now, back to the Situation Room. So, we'll have one on this side of the building. We'll have one on that side of the building properly placed. These are the best poles anywhere in the country. Or in the world, actually. They're tapered.

They have the nice top. You know, I don't know if you people are aesthetic. You know, they're the fake news. I don't know about them. I don't know if they are. But it's a very exciting project to me. -"What's going on here?" Feels like someone told him, sir, you're not doing well in the polls,

and he was like, I hear you, I'm on it. ["I'm on it." Applause and cheering.] By the way, what was that aside about how the fake news doesn't understand flagpole aesthetics? I mean, this is a whole new stereotype of the liberal media I didn't even know about. They lie about Hunter Biden's laptop,

and they have no appreciation for tapered flagpoles. Now, personally, I think it's cool that Trump found a new use for the 50-foot pole that Melania refuses to touch him with. He was clearly having a good time, although he stopped himself from getting too carried away. Let's have a good... They call it a lifting. They also use another word, but I'm not gonna use that word.

You know what that is? The word, it starts with an E. You know what the word is? If I ever used it, I'd be run out of town by you people. All right, so enjoy it. Oh. Come on, Donald. You think if you say the word erection,

we're gonna all act like children and take it out of context? I mean, come on. Come on. Where'd you get a silly idea like that? I'm gonna come. Okay, yeah. Okay. Now I remember, right?

It's crazy for Trump to suddenly get all worried about saying erection. His closing campaign message was, Vote for me. I saw Arnold Palmer's incredible penis. But, okay, you came out, you talked about flagpoles, you met the flagpole guys, you made some flagpole-related dick jokes. Time to turn around, go back inside,

and stop and or escalate this war. Let's not waste any more time. Say what you want about Biden. He wasn't for open borders. He wasn't for transgender for everybody. We don't know where it's coming from, sir. I said, check out the tariffs. He calls back about a day later. Wow. Somewhere in this group, there's somebody that is gonna

captivate some movie producer. Not Harvey Weinstein. The only thing too late is Powell. Powell's too late. Too late, Powell. Let's have dinner. Too late. You ever have a guy that's not a smart person and you're dealing with any illegal immigrants

in there? 35 club championships. You all know that. I know that. 35 club championships. Groceries are down. Eggs are down. You know the eggs?

You know what I do whenever I talk about Gavin Nuskin? I say, look at the railroad. Austria has very, very flammable trees. Good Lord. I don't want to say anything, but if your flagpole erections last more than four hours, you probably want to see a doctor. Donald! Donald! Focus! Focus! Focus!

Get back to the flag poles! No, wait! Get back to the war! I mean war! He's got me all mixed up! Just someone ask him about the war! Have humans answered questions about whether you are moving closer, or you believe the U.S. is moving closer to striking Iranian nuclear facilities. Where's your mindset on that? I may do it. I may not do it.

I mean, nobody knows what I'm gonna do. Yeah. Right. Super helpful. Thanks, Guy. That is the key to this whole thing. Nobody knows what he wants to do, including Donald Trump. He'd rather be doing home renovation projects than figuring out how to fix all his f***-ups. And, honestly, I agree.

I think we should encourage him to spend all his time on landscaping projects as opposed to bringing America into another Middle East war. Frankly, I think a lot of people would be relieved by that decision, even overjoyed. It might even give people, I don't want to say it, but it starts with an E. When we come back, I fight with Desi Lydic about sports.

Thanks very much. Welcome back to the Daily Show. I do guys speak for everyone when I say politics drools and sports rules. For a full recap of the biggest stories in the world of jocks and straps, we turn to sports war. of the biggest stories in the world of jocks and straps, we turn to Sports War. Get ready for battle. It's time for... Sports War! Brought to you by gambling. Gambling. It's literally free money. -♪ Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha What's up, sports pros and sports frauds?

I'm Desi Lydic. And I'm Jordan Klepper. This is Sports War, the show where we are legally not allowed to agree with each other. So if I say cheerleading is not a real sport. Then I say, of course cheerleading is a sport. Why else would I be constantly watching it when I'm alone at home? Whatever keeps you indoors and away from people, let's kick things off with our top story. Kaitlyn Clark has returned to the court from injury and not a moment too soon for the WNBA.

It wasn't just the Indiana fever that missed Kaitlyn Clark. The WNBA missed her and badly. Kaitlyn Clark effect. Since the WNBA stores injury, ticket prices have drastically dropped. WNBA ratings plummeted 55% league-wide. Wow. So Caitlin Clark gets injured, and you all just stopped supporting women's basketball.

You people bailed on the WNBA quicker than Desi did on her fifth marriage. Look, fair weather fans make me sick. I, Jordan Klepper, champion of women, friend to the female Maya Angelou lover and Susan B. Anthony mega fan, am here to tell you there is plenty, I mean plenty of excitement in the WNBA besides Caitlin Clark.

Name one WNBA team. Okay, I'll name three. The Cleveland Clams, Toledo Tampons, and the Boston Bushes. Go Bush. Jordan, you idiot. Those are possibly correct. I don't know. I was bluffing.

Regardless, it's great that Clark's absence gave fans a chance to watch cooler, less popular sports, like, I don't know, women's cornhole, which I happen to have played professionally. In fact, people say I'm the Caitlin Clark of cornhole. You're the Caitlin Clark of cornhole. Who says that? You just did, you big dumb giraffe. Which brings us to our holy hut, bed of the night.

Will our ratings decline if Jordan Klepper gets injured by the hood of my car? Brought to you by gambling. Gambling? You can't spell degenerate without great. Staying in the world of basketball, did you know it's also played by men? And one former NBA star is making headlines in Puerto Rico by going a little nuts.

Former Golden State warrior Demarcus Cousins was suspended for the rest of the season in Puerto Rico's basketball league after this heated exchange with a fan during a game. Cousins made an obscene gesture, exchanged words with the fan. The four-time NBA All-Star was ejected. Ha-ha! This is awesome!

He grabbed his crotch and wiped it on that fan's face. Oh, anyone can shake a player's hand, but not many get to taste a player's ball sack, you know? I just bought season tickets at the Puerto Rican basketball league and I'll be watching every game, court side with my mouth wide open. Jordan, you human glory hole, you couldn't be more wrong.

DeMarcus Cousins should know how to act professionally during the game, but after the game, he should break into that fan's car and rub that tankstank all over his steering wheel. That guy will have pink eye before he leaves the parking lot. Wait, is that how I got pink eye? Which brings us to tonight's Sack Attack, Bed of the Week.

How many CDs will DeMarcus Cousins buy in his free time? Wait, wait, wait a minute, wait a minute. Hold on, hold on. What CDs? CDs nuts! ["The Daily Show Theme"] ["The Daily Show Theme"] These nuts have been brought to you by gambling. Gambling. Sack up and bet.

I should have seen it coming. Moving on from a former pro to a current pro who just won't go away. Well, after months of speculation, looks like Aaron Rodgers, the former Jets and Packers quarterback, is going to the Pittsburgh Steelers. So this was a decision that was best for my soul. Good for you, Aaron Rodgers.

He listened to his soul, the one part of his body that can't get CTE. Desi. Desi, Desi, Desi, did your Botox your brain? Come on. Aaron Rodgers shouldn't be doing anything good for his soul. Everyone knows that bad souls equal great players. O.J. Simpson, terrible soul, incredible player.

Mother Teresa, great soul, dogshit quarterback. You're just mad she wouldn't sleep with you. The one that got away! But luckily for the Steelers, Aaron Rodgers' soul wasn't the only thing making headlines. You're just mad she wouldn't sleep with you. The one that got away! But luckily for the Steelers, Aaron Rodgers' soul wasn't the only thing making headlines. Rodgers was at the Steelers mandatory minicamp yesterday. Notable difference compared to last season,

Rodgers was rocking a wedding ring, and he did confirm that he's now married, although we don't know the identity of his wife. Whoa, the man does a lot of ayahuasca. Are we sure he knows the identity of his wife. Whoa. The man does a lot of ayahuasca. Are we sure he knows the identity of his wife? He could have married a ficus plant. Either way, you know it's true love because he found someone willing to live in Pittsburgh.

Jordan, we should not be celebrating this. Everyone knows football and marriage don't mix. O.J. Simpson, great football player. Terrible marriage. But what do I know? I've only been married 12 times. Which brings us to our Say Yes to the Bet Wager of the Week. What eradicated disease did guests contract

at Aaron Rodgers' wedding? Brought to you by Gambling. Gambling. He went to Jared. That's my bookie. And that's all the time we have for Sports War. Join us next week when we debate if hockey would be better if they played on pogo sticks. What?

Of course not. They'd slip all over the ice. No, there's no ice. They're playing on a layer of pogo sticks. Oh my god. That's the dumbest thing I ever heard. Think about it. It's a little layer of over-the-top. It's a little layer of over-the-top. It's a little layer of over-the-top.

It's a little layer of over-the-top. It's a little layer of over-the-top. It's a little layer of over-the-top. It's a little layer of over-the-top. It's a little layer of over-the-top. It's a little layer of over-the-top. It's a little layer of over-the-top. It's a little layer of over-the-top.

It's a little layer of over-the-top. It's a little layer of over-the-top. It's a little layer of over-the-top. His new solo album is called Get Sunk. Please welcome Matt Berninger. -♪ -♪ -♪ -♪ Welcome. Thank you. -♪ Matt, I love this new album.

I truly do. And a thing that I noticed, I'm a Midwest boy. I'm from Michigan. And I know you're a Midwest boy from Cincinnati. Is that right? A lot of people in this world think the Midwest is anything that's not on the coast. First of all, screw those people. But what I noticed within this album is you have very specific references to Indiana.

And I think, I know that's not Ohio and I know that's not Michigan. To you, what does Indiana mean? Why is that making its way on this album? I grew up on the west side of Cincinnati, which is right on the border of Indiana. And my Uncle Jack had a farm, which is where I spent, like, so many weekends and summers

and Christmases and everything at a Christmas tree farm. Originally a tobacco farm, and then switched it to Christmas trees when he found out that it caused cancer. Not Christmas. Oh, good. Okay, good. Yeah, I didn't want to have to fact-check you on that one. It's still okay to do.

Christmas just causes poverty, I believe. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, so I spent a lot of time on that farm. And so this record, I was really just kind of visiting that idea of, like, what makes you you? You know, why did I end up like this with all my combination of neuroses and anxieties and stuff?

And then also just trying to figure out, you know, like, where were those happy, happy, yeah, carefree times? And just trying to connect with that. I wanted to make a record that was happy, and it was, you know, positive and uplifting. And it's kind of hard to do, you know, sometimes, especially now. And I don't know if I made a happy record,

but it was revisiting that time and place made me understand a lot about myself, I think. So you're thinking about what makes you you. I mean, you are an interesting person in many ways, but the you of you has been a famous person for a long time. The you of you back in Cincinnati and Indiana, probably not as much so. What are you discovering about the Matt of today versus the Matt of today

versus the Matt of 10 years ago? I think a lot of the reason why I was going back to think about that is because, yeah, for about, I'd say for 10 years, I feel like I've been a little bit, have become something, you know, through the national and the sort of brand of the sad, depressing, you know, borderline alcoholic college professor, you know, sort of... -"It's good work if you can get it."

-"Yeah, yeah, and it fits. It fits. But it's also that has kind of turned into its own character, you know, and so I really was getting sick of that character. Did you feel like it was a self-fulfilling prophecy? Yeah, a little bit. I mean, a little bit. Or you just get trapped in a, this is the way a guy like me behaves, you know, or whatever that is.

And I think sometimes you really, everybody, you always want to discover yourself and figure out who you are. And I think sometimes you really, everybody, you always want to, like, discover yourself and figure out who you are. And I think sometimes people do that and then get stuck in that label or that idea of themselves. And that's a trap. So I kind of felt myself trapped. Like, I put myself in my own trap of, you know, who I was

and what Matt Berninger is or whatever. I was a lead singer of the National. That's kind of all I was. So I wanted to undo that a little bit. So I sometimes feel like I'm trapped being me. How do I get out? I don't know. I mean, the truth is, I went through a really long period

of depression and stuff. You know, it was in the pandemic, and a lot of people did, but I went through a period where I didn't want to write songs, didn't want to get on stage anymore because I felt that whole lifestyle, the touring and all that stuff, had sort of turned me into somebody I didn't like anymore. And so I think the depression was triggered by,

well, then what do I do? You know, if I'm not going to be a lead singer of The National, do I go back and be something, you know, a graphic designer, which I used to be? What do I do? And I didn't want to do that. So I was kind of stuck not knowing what to do, you know? So that caused a lot of depression. And so I think digging into all that,

like, why am I so at such a low spot, you know? And I think it was I had to sort of, you know, just burn all that down, the idea of who I was, and kind of slowly rebuild something maybe more authentic. But I don't know if, you know, here I am. I don't know if this is authentic. Yeah, I'm not buying it.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I think this is total bullshit right here. We have our makeup on. I know. This is a lot. Yeah, we don't look this good. You should have seen him before the makeup. I was a goddamn mess! I was a ghost!

It's not real hair. That's not real. Thank you. I look great backstage. Thank you very much. I'm curious, too, a little bit about your process. Specifically, I heard you weren't writing on notebooks when you were crafting this album. Is that correct? I, uh, I, yeah, notebooks,

I used to fill up so many little notebooks, Moleskine notebooks, and always trying to get cool-looking notebooks, and writing in cafes and stuff. But then, I've had so many notebooks that were in plastic bins that were on shelves, and never going back to it. And so I kind of stopped writing on notebooks for a long time.

I was writing on my phone for, I mean, a lot of people. You can't. It's a really useful tool. But then you get stuck on your phone. So a lot of it was just to get the phone out of my hand. And I like baseballs. They feel great. I don't follow baseball, but I toss baseball all the time. You know what I'm saying? With my daughter. And my dad and I used to... That's when my dad and I had our best conversations, but I toss baseball all the time. You know what I'm saying? With my daughter and my dad and I,

that's when my dad and I had our best conversations, tossing baseball. Just playing back and forth. And that's what baseball means to me. Yeah. And I was from Cincinnati, the big red machine in the whole 70s, west side of Cincinnati. Pete Rose was a hero.

Yeah. And not so much anymore for me, for obvious reasons. And so all that stuff, like, the whole identity of, like, what a West Side Cincinnati kid I was and what I thought the world was and who my heroes were, all that changes, you know? Yeah. So you'd put your songs onto these baseballs. Yeah. Yeah, I forgot about talking about baseballs. So instead of, like, I think I started doing it on an airplane,

and I usually have a baseball or two with me. And just a whole... Wait, you were doing it on an airplane? I started writing on an airplane. So, I imagine seeing you, and most people are like, this f***ing crazy guy is scribbling some sort of manifesto out of baseball. No, he's an artist crafting

the next great Grammy Award-winning album, right? That's what we need to think. We have to add more empathy towards the things that we see Yeah. No, but the writing on the baseballs things was, it just felt good, because of the weight of the baseball. And it's just an easy thing to, I can lay on the couch and drink wine, smoke weed, and write on the baseball. You know, it's just fun. And the phone is in the other room.

So it's a way, it's also, the words start to go up against each other, and so it's just a trick to change my process, you know? I think process is the whole reason why it's also fun, you know? The making of stuff, the going out and promoting. I mean, this is also fun, too, part of the process. But I think even even the right...

I wanted to change the way my brain was... normally puts words together. Yeah. And so, writing on whiteboards or with Sharpies or writing on... I mean, I write in books that I'm reading. I'll just write in between the lines instead of bringing a separate book, you know, because I'll be like, oh, what's... I remember I wrote something great in, you know,

that my copy of The Sun Also Rises. I know where that book is. Yeah. As opposed to just a notebook on a shelf. I can't find it, you know, so... Did I see you post as well? Are you rewriting The Great Gatsby? Is this what I just saw you post? I'm not rewriting The Great Gatsby.

I'm using only Fitzgerald's words in writing a different novel. Kind of line by line. It's called The Great Sponge. Yeah. I'm only about three pages into it. But I'm actually really attached to the characters. It's about a father and a daughter. It's not about the great Gatsby at all.

But it's only using his words. Yeah? Do you feel like you need that restriction to create? It's just about the great Gatsby at all, but it's only using his words. Yeah. Do you feel like you need that restriction to create? It's just, mmm... Putting yourself in a corner helps you find a new crack. You know, it forces you to... It makes your brain go left instead of right sometimes, you know, where you're so used to going right. So, yeah, you put yourself into a constraint of some kind

is really, I find that really... The baseball itself is like, you have to turn it and you have to go around the seams. And then you run out of, you eventually run out of space. I'm like, okay, well, that's... My songs have too many words anyway, you know? So it's like, it forces me, like, okay, that's all that stuff. And it's not really, it's all just random kind of just letting your mind go.

And I'll go back and take the pieces off the baseball, and I'll color, like, all that stuff. I'll highlight parts and put pins in it. So then I'll look at all the baseballs. I'll have a big bunch of baseballs. Like, all that red stuff, all those red stuff kind of goes together. And so that's how, you know, it's a collaging process.

-"The other point where you're like, oh, shit, my second verse, my daughter's playing with it out in the yard. Oh, damn, just get it back in there. And I also like not being precious about anything. Like, the notebooks or anything. I've lost so many notebooks. I've lost so much stuff over the time that you think,

oh, that great stuff is there. And losing everything is a really healthy thing to do. You know? Because then you just start putting new seeds in the ground and different stuff grows. So... I love that. I love that. You've talked about, you mentioned sort of being

put into a category of like the sad dad drunk professor, Wonder Boys category. I'm curious about like, you talked about how that audience, you found there's an audience both for this, like, middle-aged man music that's also found a kinship with Taylor Swift fans and a younger teenage female fan base. What is that connection? Uh...

No, no, I tell you, it's a real, it's a pretty, I think it makes a lot of sense. I mean, the Taylor thing specifically is like, I mean, she writes very personal diat, I think not always, she writes all kinds of songs, but the personal, the real personal access do you have to her mind and her heart and all the confusing thoughts

is why she's... why she is who she is, right? And she's a masterful songwriter that connects with people. And I think I write very... I try to write pretty honest, emotionally murky, sometimes very ugly, emotional stuff. And so it's really similar.

I think there's a real connection to the way she writes or the way she thinks about songs and the way I do. And she's been a fan for a long time. I met her 10 years ago. So that connection and the work she's done with Aaron was pretty organic and pretty, it made a lot of sense to all of us. And yeah, and I've got, my daughter's 16,

and she loves, she really, really loves my writing, you know, and I think young people like the dark, complicated stuff, you know? And, like, kids always like the stuff that's a little scary. The children's books, you know, Where the Wild Things Are, all that stuff is a little bit, because life is scary. And if somebody, if they're not, if the art, or the books they're reading don't represent life,

they don't buy it, you know? So, yeah, so I think teenagers do. I mean, I was a teenager when I discovered Tom Waits, you know? Yeah. And Nick Cave and Joni Mitchell and Leonard Cohen. But these are people who write really directly and honestly and filled with, you know, all their flaws, all the flaws of their heart and soul.

They put it right out there, you know? So I think that's the connection, I think, which I really... That's why I think it's kind of there's this connection between the national and the teen sort of thinking. I love that. I love that. We're gonna hear a song from you. Yeah. Inland Ocean. What do I need to know about Inland Ocean?

This is the first song, one of the first songs that ended up, that made it to the final. I wrote like 30 or 40 songs, but this one I wrote a long time ago and I knew that it was going to be the first song on whatever record I was going to finish. I wrote it with Walter Martin of the Walkman and who's here tonight. And yeah, this one kind of sets up, I think is a good prologue sort of for the album. It talks about just that murky idea of middle America.

And it sets up Indiana, and it's just a good first song. Well, I'm excited to hear it. Before I let you go play the song as a fan, I think this is a wonderful album. Could you mind signing my notebook? I would be happy to. Yeah, all right. Yeah. Good song. Yeah, all right. Yeah.

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