The Daily Show: Ears Edition - The Daily Show at the Movies

Episode Date: January 9, 2022

In this collection, The Daily Show focuses on the world of cinema, including the use of digital de-aging technology, the history of Black horror movies, female orgasms in film and more. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

You're listening to Comedy Central. How Hollywood works. This is Hollywood. Home of the Major Motion Picture Studios who produce all your favorite movies. The filmmaking process begins with a writer's idea for a new story. The writer toils day and night to turn that idea into a script. The studio then throws away the script and green lights a reboot of an older idea. After the script selected, the movies cast with children of celebrities and actors the

producers want to have sex with. Now that the movies cast, it's time to go into production in Atlanta, where tax advantages and lower wages attract all of Hirelid's left-wing executives. Once the movie's been shot, a rough cut sent to Beijing, where senses make sure the film doesn't offend party leadership. After a few edits, the film enjoys a red copper premiere, with stars dressed in evening wear, and then a wide release with a general public dressed in sweatpants. And finally, it's buried deep in the menu of a streaming service where few people will

ever find it. But that's all right, because chances are the movie was terrible anyway. And that is how Hollywood works. Movies! They're like books, but louder. Ever since I can remember, I've loved going to the movie theater, intentionally burning myself with hot butter and trying to sue the theater. But as much as I like the movies, there's nothing better than seeing one crash and burn.

The new Hollywood release, dear Evan Hanson, is inviting internet mockery and an unwelcome reception from critics, not the least over its decision to cast 27-year-old Ben Platt in the role of a high school student. One reviewer called the age-defying portrayal, disturbing. While a writer for the guardian wrote, The attempt to make Platt seem younger somehow renders him both older and inhuman. An act of near sabotage so distracting, it basically renders the movie unrecoverable. You're telling me the s-hokker's supposed to be 17? I'm pretty sure I saw this guy at

a strip club in the 80s. And nothing against this actor. He's talented. I'm sure he'd be a fantastic lead in a movie about a guy going back to school for his second master's degree. But I find it very hard to believe this kid recently grew his first pub. It doesn't matter how good an actor is. If I see anybody that old in a high school parking lot, I'm calling the cops. And yes, I'm also in the parking lot, but not because I'm a creep. I'm just there to sell them beer. But let's be fair to dear Evan Hansen. Hollywood is a long history of trying to make its stars appear younger

and an equally long history of failing at it. When you see the next Will Smith and Robert De Niro movies, you may be shocked to see the actors looking decades younger. The Irishman drew attention for its extensive use of digital technology to deage the actors, allowing De Niro and others to appear to be decades younger. At age 76 he's joked that the technology will allow him to prolong his career indefinitely. Yes, digital technology, a force so powerful, it almost gave LeBron James the ability to act! And while the Irishman was able to make De Niro's face 30 years younger, there was one small issue.

His body was still old as shit. Look at him trying to beat up that guy. The ten man is watching that scene going and I thought my joints were f-fied up. If you ask me the most impressive thing about this scene isn't the CGI, it's the actor who's pretending to be injured by De Niro's orthopedic shoes. And this is the problem with trying to deage actors. At a certain point, it just doesn't work. I mean, yes, Robert De Niro is one of the greatest living actors.

But the man is 70. Of course he's going the th going th going th going th going th going th going th going th going th th th th th th th th th th th th the greatest living actors. But the man is 70. Of course he's gonna move like C3PO with shingles. But hey, as badly as dear Evan Hanson and the Irishman failed, at least they put in an effort. Because the truth is sometimes Hollywood is too lazy to use weird makeup or CGI effects to de-age their actors. Sometimes they just throw an old person in there and hope nobody notices. Hannah Montana's brother was a 29-year-old 16-year-old. Sunny and Rizzo were twice as old as a high school teenager and those girls from Penn 15 must be like what 35? My point is Hollywood has done

this for pretty much every actor in the entertainment business. It's desperate. It's embarrassing. God damn it, I want in. That's why I've made a real showcasing just how young I can pull off. Roll it. Dude, I just saw Kyle's dickety-tuck. Mrs. Greenfield totally busted him from vaping during algebra. That is so raven.

I don't want to go to soccer practice. I just want to stay home and watch Paw Patrol and eat this f-finding. Oh, I broke a veneer. Feeb. Oh, ha! Will someone please give this poor baby a titty? Hollywood? I'll be waiting. When you think of Black Horror, you think of hits like Get Out, or this year's remake of Candyman,

which reminds me, speaking of, speaking of that. Candyman, Candyman, Candyman, Candy Man, Candy Man. I knew he wouldn't show up. Cheap bastard owed me $50. But we wouldn't have Jordan Peel if it weren't for the pioneering black films that today are mostly forgotten. Movies like Son of Ingagi, which in 1940 became the first horror film to feature an all-black cast. And unlike a Medea Halloween, they were all played by different people.

Son of Ingagi book stereotypes by showing a black middle class family battling a monster in their home, paving the way for the Winslow family to do the same thing against Steve Urkel. Ooh, those suspenders. And on top of that, the scientists in this movie is an old black woman. It was like a scary hidden figures. Although I have to be honest, I found hidden figures to be pretty scary too.

Oh, that damn math. Another major film in Black Horror was 1968's Night of the Living Dead, starring DeWane Jones, the first black actor to play the lead role in a mainstream horror hit. He's a hero for most of the movie. And then his character ends up getting shot by white folks who mistake him for a zombie.

It was a profound lesson on racism. It is the living who are racist and we should all strive to be more like the zombies who will eat the brains of any race. Wait, is that the lesson? Once the 1970s hit and black exploitation films got big, horror movies got a little bit wild. We had movies like Blackula, Blackenstein, Dr. Black, Mr. Hyde, and of course, Addie. It was originally titled The Black'sorcist, but they got in trouble for copying that movie, but a little white girl tinkles on the living room carpet. Then there was Petey Wheatstraw. In 1977, Dolomite star Rudy Ray Moore plays a comedian who is killed by his rivals for

being too successful. Today they would have just found his old tweets. That's how you get written. Anyway, the comedian makes a deal with the devil to come back to life and get revenge on his killers by using the devil's magic pimp cane. Now, the first question is, why would the devil's the devil the devil the devil the devil the devil the devil the devil the devil the devil the devil the devil the devil the devil to come back to life and get revenge on his killers by using the devil's magic pimp cane. Now the first question is why would the devil have a pimp cane? I do not know. If I'm gonna be honest which I don't even know why pimps have pimpkains. Does pimping call sprained ankles? Is that why pimping ain't easy? I don't know.

This movie raised many questions for me. And finally, one black horror character that doesn't get the credit she deserves was Rachel True's performance as Rochelle in the 1996 movie, The Craft. Now, although the Craft is not technically a black horror movie, the soundtrack does include a song by Jewell, and there's few things more terrifying to black people than that. Woof, Jew. But Rochelle, Rochelle was a groundbreaking character for black women in horror. She takes revenge on a racist bully at school after becoming a powerful witch, which is literally black girl magic.

And this character was especially important because it was the 1990s. Teen horror was in the midst of a renaissance, but black girls didn't really get to see themselves in anything scary. All they had was scary spice. She wasn't even that scary. Posh was the scary one. Always look like she just got back from Poison and James Bond. Well, that's all the time we have for today. I'm Roywood Jr. And this has been CP time.

And remember, before the culture, we'll try this again. Candyman. Oh, there you are. Where's my money, Daniel? It's no secret that women's on-screen portrayals have evolved throughout history. We've gone from playing secretaries being saved by James Bond, all the way to nuclear scientists being saved by James Bond. But I want to focus on one specific aspect of female depictions. The orgasm.

It's when a woman is stimulated to the point of climax, causing a physical and neurological response that scientists refer to as bang-tastic. And over the years, depicting female pleasure on screen is something that's changed more than the batteries in your vibrator. The first known female orgasm on the silver screen was in the 1933 German film, Ecstasy, when Hedy Lamar took the Broughtwurst Express all the way to Pleasure Berg. Turns out the world wasn't ready for this. Everyone denounced it from Hitler to the Pope. And if you ask me, the Pope has no place weighing in on sex scenes. He's celibate. I mean, when we need your opinion

on the best stain removers for white fabrics, then we'll call you. Unfortunately, being the first actress to climax on screen, followed Hedy Lamar for the smartest person in Hollywood. Yeah, as her side hustle, she was a brilliant scientist who invented the basis for all modern wireless technology. Without her, no one would be orgasm, because we wouldn't be able to watch porn on our cell phones in the bathroom. And that was the last big, on-screen female orgasm for a while, because around the same time, the haze code was enforced in Hollywood. This was a set of censorship guidelines that banned movies from explicitly showing or discussing sex. Even married couples had to be shown in separate beds,

or as it's now called, the reverse chocolate factory. With a four-you bedridden for the past 20 years, it takes a lot of work to keep this family going. No one was getting off. The Hayes code finally ended in the late 60s, Which, as timing goes, is like having your dry January end at an open bar in Cabo. America was embarking on a sexual revolution, so female pleasure came back on screen. Unfortunately, it was often treated as a novelty that existed for men's amusement, so you got scenes like the one in 1968 Barbella. Where evil doctor eyebrows over here traps Jane Fonda in a machine that's supposed to give her orgasms until she dies, except that she climaxes so hard she breaks the machine.

My goodness. At the time it was considered a campy, sexy thing, but looking at it now, it's a violation. Remember everyone, if you're going to put a woman in a machine that orgasms her to death, you need consent first. Another major moment came a few years later with the movie Deep Throat. It tells the story of a woman who keeps giving men oral sex because her pleasure zone is in her throat. That is not how it works. But Deep Throat became the first porno film to go mainstream and inspired both my uncles to become Dennis. The female orgasms in Barberella and Deep Throat were basically male fantasies about how women experienced pleasure.

So it was appropriate that the next on-screen orgasm to make a splash totally to make a splash totally debunked those fantasies. 1989's when Harry met Sally famously includes an extended scene of Meg Ryan faking an orgasm in in in in in in in to Billy Crystal that maybe he wasn't the cunnelingest king that he thought he was. Oh, oh yes, yes, yes! Oh, God! This scene was groundbreaking for a few reasons. It told all the women watching who had faked orgasms that they weren't alone.

It taught men to try to be attentive at at at at at at at at at at past past past past past past past past past past past past past past past past past past past past past past past past past past past past past past past past past past past past past past past past past past past past past past past past past past past past past past past past past past pastastaste the the women watching who had faked orgasms that they weren't alone. It taught men to try to be attentive to their partner's needs, and it catapulted Pastrami to become the top aphrodisiac of 1989. It also started a conversation about the performative nature of the female orgasm. Women face far too much pressure to satisfy their partner's ego instead of themselves. I mean, no one ever has to fake it for their vibrator. If they don't get the job done, they just go back into the drawer and they think about what they did. In the years that followed, female pleasure became more and more common on screen. But they were still often treated as punchlines, like Jennifer Aniston getting, climaxes in Bruce Almighty, or Catherine Hegel accidentally orgasming at dinner when a little boy grabbed her remote-controlled vibrating underwear.

Okay, there is so much wrong with this. It's non-consensual. It's a kid doing it, and it perpetuates the dangerous myth that vibrating underwear gives you anything but a five-alarm electrical burn. And even when orgasms weren't meant to be funny, it could be hard to take them seriously. Like in 40 days and 40 nights when Josh Hartnett makes his partner orgasm by caressing her with flowers, which, believe me, is not that easy.

Not to be a size queen, but you're gonna have to use at least a sunflower. The aughts weren't a step forward for orgasms, but they weren't a step back either. They still needed to to to to to to to to to to to to to the other the other the other the the the the the the the the the the the the thauxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxinin. the the the the the th. th. thia. thiaq. th. thiaq. thoasms. thoom. thoomorg. the thoomorg. the the the the the the the the the the the thoom. thoom. the. the. the. the. the. tha. They still needed to step a little to the side. Now the other side. Then back and forth. Yeah, right there. Thankfully in the present day, we're starting to see much more realistic and positive depictions of women pop in their turkey timers.

These days you can hardly turn your TV on without seeing a woman getting off. And finally, movies and shows are doing this through the female gaze. And if you don't know what that would look like, then you haven't seen Bridgerton. It's a show about 19th century British society taking care of their little women. She's a Beth in the streets but a Joe in the sheets. Thanks to Bridgerton, there haven't been this many female orgasms since, well, since everyone started watching Bridgerton. So that's the history on the female orgasm on screen. And who knows what the future holds.

But it is important because the way women are portrayed on screen holds the mirror up to how they're treated in real life. And as all women know, sometimes holding up a mirror to something is the only way to get a good look and figure out how it works. Watch the Daily Show, Week Nights at 11, 10 Central on Comedy Central and stream full episodes anytime on Paramount Plus. This has been a Comedy Central podcast.