The Daily Show: Ears Edition - The Grievance Edition: with Lewis Black and Ronny Chieng | Behind the Show

Episode Date: August 5, 2024

Ronny Chieng and Lewis Black unite for a self-described Grievance Edition of Behind the Show. Lewis takes Ronny back to the early days of The Daily Show and the first iterations of Lewis’s rants. They discuss how Back In Black evolved with the show and American culture throughout the years, how Lewis built his stand-up career as TDS took off, and whether political satire stands a chance against today’s insane news environment.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Survivor 47 is here, which means we're bringing you a brand new season of the only official survivor podcast on fire. And this season we are joined by fan favorite and Survivor 46 runner-up, Charlie, Charlie, I'm excited to do this together. Thanks, Jeff. So excited to be here, and I can't wait to bring you inside the mind of a survivor player for season 47. Listen to On Fire the official Survivor podcast starting September 18th wherever you get your podcast. You're listening to a Daily Show Ears edition. This is Ronnie Chang, correspondent on the Daily Show, and today we are joined by the longest running Daily Show contributor of all time, the one and only great Lewis Black.

Yay, the crowd goes wild. They are listening and they're clapping in the subway and the cars right now. So good to see you. It's great to see you. Yeah, thanks for joining me. Um, I just get into it. I mean, you by your own words are older than shit. And you've been here a long time.

You've been here since before John Stewart. Yeah. I want to ask you about you seeing the show change specifically, not just the show itself, but it's place in pop culture. You know, so I guess, but they brought on other people and sullied my work. You know, I mean, that was it for starters, it was kind of like, really, they're going to be other folks here. So the airing of grievances begins on the year's edition. Yeah, so you've been here, like I read, really, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, the, the, the show, the show, the show, the show, the show, the show, the show, the show, the show, the show, the show, the show, the show, the show, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, the show, the show, the show, the show, the show, the show, the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the show, the show, the the the the the the the the, the, th... the the th. the the the. that, the show, the. the. the. grievances begins on the years edition. Yeah, so you've been here, like, I read to prepare for this.

I actually read the oral history of a daily show which you're featured in. I would say not featured enough in because... But I always find that style of storytelling, anecdotal story time, very interesting by people who are there, and sometimes they contradict each other. And then I found out things I didn't know. That's the other thing, but really? Yeah, yeah. You know, but it started, I mean it was literally, Liz Winstead Numi, I was working in clubs, and

it was one of those things where clubs in New York City. And people were going, God, I can't believe you don't have an agent. You know, really, can't you find an agent? Can't you do this? But meanwhile, Liz Winstead knew me in a guy named Hank Gallo, who was a, who wrote initially for the Daily News, I think it was, and wrote about comedy, way back when, and he became a producer on the show, and they both approached me because I was sitting around and it had tons of material and nobody had heard it. And I hadn't done any specials, I'd done really just maybe, I'd done a couple of you know shows, you know, I don't even know if I'd done an evening at the improv at that point.

Sure. So at that point, how many years into stand-up were you? I'd been doing stand-up on and off, but I was really kind of committed to stand-up at that point for about five, six years. Five six years into comedy. Where I kind of went from being a playwright to putting myself full-time into doing stand-up. So they said, do you want to do this? I said, great. Just to give people a sense, you might me asking, like what year this was roughly. The year was 96-97 I think. I remember that yeah. I remember that Chicago Bulls. Yeah, yeah. That was

like the 40th year that the Wizards my team was in the dumps. Yeah still call the Bullets at that point. Yeah, still had a real name as opposed to that idiotic wizard stupid fuck thing. Yeah and they saw you around the traps presumably.. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. the the the the the the the the their. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah..... Yeah.. Yeah............... Yeah. Yeah.... Yeah.. Yeah... Yeah. Yeah... Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And they saw you around the traps, presumably. Liz and Liz and I knew each other pretty well and she had this idea. And the great breakthrough was that it's a show that I think, I had tried to sell a show like it. You know, how are we going to sell this kind of show?

She sold it, which is huge at the time. And because I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I was I was I was I was I was I was I was I was I was I was I was I was I was I was I was I was I was I was I was I was I was I was I was I was I was. th. I was th. th. th. th. th. that I was. that I was. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. I was. I was. I was. I was. I was. I was. I was. th. th. th. that. th. that. th. that. that. that. th. that. that. th. th. that. th. th. th. th. they. th. th. th. th. th. this kind of show? She sold it, which is huge. Right. At the time that, and because I was hearing things like, I couldn't be on Letterman because the guy who was the producer said, you know, politics aren't funny. Right. And so the grievances continued though, on this, the grievance addition, yeah, so you were kind of doing at that time, you were doing contemporary, political, maybe like, what's it called, like, very topical stuff. I was doing topical stuff, but I was doing also other things, like about Valentine's Day, and about, you know, the holidays, and the general stuff that a comic would do and pick up on and, you know, the candy corn stuff and all that so they

basically bring me on there's no audience we're at what was at the time PBS studios in New York City and they just sat me at a desk and they had a background of people walking around as if I was in some sort of a newsroom right then they just and they just and they I came in and improv oh a segment or the whole show no I just the segment at that th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th the the th I the the the the the the the the the the thi thi thi thi thi the thi the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th I th I th I thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi the to the the the the the the the segment or the whole show no I just the segment at that time Kilborn killborn was in charge Craig yeah and he was I mean he had the desk and so I would come in it was once every two weeks And I would improv stuff right you know and and they and they they saw what what they saw in you for the show was it because I know you as this prolific social commentator very very topical that's a kind of thing which most comics back then probably

were not. Most comics would probably be a bit less prolific and maybe a bit less topical because you want to do stuff that's evergreen and so do you think that's what attracted them to you for the show also also also also also also also also the show the show. also. also. also. also. also. also. also. the show. And their. And their. And. And. And. And. And. I. And. I. I. their. their. their. their. their. their. th. th. And. their. their. And. And. And. And. And. And. And. And. And. And. th. th. I. th. th. I. I. I. I. I.. I............................................................................................... the. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. the want to do stuff that's evergreen and so do you think that's what attracted them to you for the show? Also I had all this material they nobody knew me I had all this kind of material that nobody had ever heard. Well then how did they know about that? Because they both had seen me in clubs. Oh okay. Liz was a comedian.. And Hank had seen me a ton and so they knew that I had them, you know, and it was really like, okay we're going to do this and we don't know how long we'll be on. Let's, do you want to try this? Yes. And nobody knew what it would be like, and I great at this too. You're great at improv, Ronnie. I mean, you are. I'm speechless. Thank you.

It's true. And then you come on and do it, and then they'd come up and they go keep this, do that, that was wrong. I need this, and let's try it again. And then I would do it like three or four times. By the fourth time I'd have it. Then they brought in an audience about like three months into it maybe. Okay.

Then we went on to the teleprompter. So then I would sit down and write it and write it and write it and write and write it and write it and write it and write it and write it and write it and write it and write it and write it and write it, give it to Hank, Hank would help edit it, Liz would edit it. And then I go on and put it in the telepromptu. I'd read it, there was an audience, do it up, it becomes a different kind of a thing completely. You're playing off the crowd. You're playing off the crowd, surfing the crowd. And it was probably a smaller audience than we had now. And then I kept doing that blossomed into back and black when I did the thing that I will advise against. I got really drunk at a Christmas party we had, like a few years into it.

And I said, you know, it'd be really great if I could, what I'd like to do is to do, you know, news clips and stuff like that, instead of just kind of doing this. Just doing my editorials, could we put it in relationship to the news. And they took it, they had at that point access and didn't have to pay for all sorts of clips. So I didn't get those clips, I didn't get the news clips, I got, you know, Squirrels on Water Ski. Oh, right, right. That's the news clips, I got you know squirrels on water skis. Oh right right right that's the stuff I got and I was like son of a bitch and we're gonna call it back in black fine that's great and so you want to something media more dare I say relevant politically but they kept giving you the kind of like

back pages they had a ton of this stuff and I mean for me great because it was on I was on every two weeks so right regular still great in the sense not looking at you know the the veritable gift horse yes yes but I mean I'm going okay and I had Hank was in there was my producer and a writer gifted writer a really good at punchlines yes a couple of the other like now the guys who work with me, the writers, they would come in and we'd look at this stuff and then we'd put it together. They we would all collect the stuff, then I would go ahead and write stuff, then they would write their stuff and we'd combine it all together and I'd do that. And that's what evolved into where we are now. Right, but it was kind of you pursuing something with more teeth.

You were like, I want to say something a bit more teeth, but they kind of saw you as like the, maybe the Andy Rooney segment on the show kind of, like the comic relief on a comic show, which is kind of, and then also, yeah, and they were, you know, it was another way to get out it. And then also when John comes in, so what he starts to do is create an arc with each show. Yes. So then at this point, we're going to use this, this is when we're going to use Lewis. And so all of a sudden they began to pick and shoes. I ended up doing less shows, but it was still fine because now because of doing the show my as you've noticed you know all of a sudden my stock rises so now I'm touring around the

country I become because of the because of the daily show and now I'm getting specials on Comedy Central now I'm the face of Comedy Central along with Dave Atel right then we go on tour with Mitch Hedberg and Dave and I and then boom I'm now I'm just touring. Amazing. Yeah and so you I guess it's fair to say a daily show did break you in. Obviously working hard. Yeah and it and the Conan. Conan I did a ton of Conan at the time too. That I, it broke and then Conan and and also the the specials I did.

Because also there again, now I'm working nights like did you do at clubs and putting together, you know, these half hour specials. Yeah, and then you got HBO specials after that and, and yeah, I guess it was taking off. You kind of skipped a few steps that because, you know, you said like when you first joined the show with Craig Kilbourne, it was like, you didn't even know if the show was gonna last. No.

And then just before John joins, there's a gap where Craig, Kilbourne and the show, that there's a made sense to you why they hired him. You can see that. And then you were like, well they should have auditioned me, but. There's always agreement. Yeah, there's agreement. Did you know like when he took over, you're like, okay, this is going to be better now. Well, I knew it would be better. I didn't know it would explode. Okay. But it also, you know, the thing that you can't really teach anyone and you've been through it, anybody who's experienced it breaks in their career, it's time in place and a lot of it has to do with timing. Yes. And so

John walks in at the point where there was an explosion of cable. So now, literally, and I I I I I I I I I I, and I, and I, and I, and I, and I, and I, and I, and I, you, you, and I, you, you, you, you, the the the the they, you, you, the the the the th is, you know, you know, you know, you know, you're, you're, you th is, you th is, you're, you know, you're, you know, you're, you're, you're, you th. th. th. th. th. th. You, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, th is, th is, th is, th is, th is th is th is th is th is th is th is th is th is th is thi is thi is thi is thi is thi is thi is thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. the thi. It is thi. It is thi. Yes. And so John walks in at the point where there was an explosion of cable. Yeah. So now literally and I see it as I'm performing around the United States before, how do you perform a Biloxi? Well here's how because they see the same things as we see everywhere. Yes. That also had a huge effect on the daily show in the way in which people you know could see it and because now they have an understanding much like they do with with the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the their their their the way in which people, you know, could see it. And because now they have an understanding, much like they do with hacks and a whole bunch of other kind of professions, that they know behind the scenes. And so now they kind of have a sense of what news is about.

They now have a character. They have context for what we're making fun of. Right. And then John was able to coalesce it. And he had a really a great eye for talent. Yeah. He sought it and brought that mean and executed it. We're going to take a quick break and we'll be right back. Have you ever been watching the news and thought to yourself, wow, the Supreme Court sure does suck. We made a podcast about that. We sure did. There is a super majority of conservative maniacs on the Supreme Court right now?. Yeah. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. thi. thi. thi. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. Yeah, th. Yeah, th. Yeah, th. Yeah, th. Yeah, th. Yeah, th. Yeah, th. Yeah, th. Yeah, th. Yeah, th. Yeah, th. Yeah, th. Yeah, th. Yeah, th. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. the the thi. the the the thi. the the th. thi. the th. the thi. the th. th. th. th. th. th. that. We sure did. There is a supermajority of conservative maniacs on the Supreme Court right now, really doing some damage. I'm Michael.

I'm Riannan. And I'm Peter. Our podcast, 5-4 is about all of this. Every week we dissect and analyze a different ruling that has made our country a little worse, a little more cruel. And you would not believe how many of them there are. Check out five to four. That's the number five, dash the number four, wherever you listen to podcast. So, at that point when John joined and it was kind of,

you know, things were really kicking off. I mean, much like the bowls, I guess, like 95 bulls. Like, when you, the tooes, like, the the tooes, like, when you, when, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, of, you know, things were really kicking off. I mean, much like the bowls, I guess, like 95 bowls. Like when, every time you came back, did you feel like it was growing bigger and bigger and you're like, oh, this cultural phenomenon and the production? I mean, it took a while, but I mean, you could feel it, you literally, you could feel it coming. It was kind of one of those things that you felt, you could see the wave in the distance and you went well and then all of a sudden, bam. Right, right. And I think it was a perfect mix of at that time that wasn't, you know, a ton of content that is diluting the pool. There's only so many shows, and thi the beauty of comedy when it's done great. It's always this kind of like the the the the the of of of of of of of of of th. of thi thi thi thi thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. the thi. the thiol of their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thou. toda. today, today, today, today, today, today, today, today, thoooooooom. felt that the beauty about comedy when it's done great it's always this kind of like underground it's like countercultural it's cool you guys were like the cool

kids making fun of the institutions and you were and the fact that was on cable made it a little bit hard to watch which made it even more desirable you know all these tucked away and I mean you know you had and you also had other thi th a th th a th. th. th. th. the the th. the th. the the th. the the th. th. the th. the the th. th. the th. the th. th. th. th. th. th. th. the the the the the. I the. I th. I th. I th. I th. I th. I th. It's kind kind kind kind kind kind kind kind kind kind kind kind kind kind kind kind kind kind kind kind kind kind kind kind kind kind kind kind th. th. th. th. th. the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the th. th. th. th. th. th. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. the the know, all these tucke away. And I mean, you know, you had, and you also had other things that kind of help set it up like, you know, I don't think he gets the, it doesn't get the amount of credit it does, but David tells insomnia was this kind of, are you kidding me? He's wandering around the middle of the night? You know, there was a certain, you just nailed really that whole thing about it, and there were other building blocks around it in terms of Comedy Central. There also what made it great, I think, and it's something I scream about a lot, and I don't think they give the credit is the level of writing on this show was unbelievable. And I still to the stay think that what creates the quality on this is,

one was initially the writers, John and the writers, brought that whole thing up. And now what really does it is, I mean, we had a killer lineup then. We had a killer lineup now. Yeah. Corral and Colbert. So it was a strong group that, you know, that also had a bent in terms thea thea tha, thea, t, t, t, t, their, th, th, th, and, thi, and, thi, and, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thin, the, thi, the, the, was, the, was, was, the the the the the the the the, was, was, was, the, the, the, the, was, the, was, the, was, was, was, the, the, the, the, the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the tho, thrown, thrown, thrown, throwne, was, throwne, throwne, was, they, throwne, was, was, was, was, the wo, was, was, was, was, was, was, was group that also had a bent in terms of writing. And we've got that now again, and it makes a big difference. Oh, no, thanks so much.

Yeah. I wasn't talking about the bulls. Yeah, yeah. And I guess if you could talk a little bit about the way the show has changed culturally, because it started off as a normal talk show kind of like the, like, the, right, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and it, and it, and, and, and, and, and it, and it, and it, and it, and it, and it, and it, and it, and it, and it, and it, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, right, like, right, like, right, right, right, right, right, right, like, like, right, right, right, like, like, right, like, like, right, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, the, like, the, the show has changed culturally because it started off as a normal talk show kind of like news clips with jokes and I kind of called it like America's Funest Home videos with jokes when and that's like a that's the basic version of the show to me like that will get everyone paid but to make the show great it started to have a point of view and the point of view and the point of the to tax show at the to ta, like the the of the the the the the of of of the the the the the the the the the tax tax tax of of of of show show show show show show show show show show show show show show show show show show like like like like like like like like like like like like like like like like like of of of of of of of of of of of of of of of of of of and of of of of of of of of of of of of of of of of of of of of of of of of to of to to to to to to to to to the the the to the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the to the the to the the tha tha t's the basic version of the show to me like that will get everyone paid but to make the show great it started to have a point of view and the point of view at that time was kind of figured out commenting on the cable

news environment. Yeah it was commenting on it was satirizing news and it was also the take was any authority there was right and that was huge right because there was nothing really like there was nothing take was any authority. And that was huge. Because there was nothing really like that. There was nothing doing it. There's still nothing like that doing it. It's still the only show that I think that is American satire. Modern American satire.

Exactly. And I'm trying to ask this question without answering it, because I want to hear your answer. But like, how do you feel that point of view has changed over the years? Because as people have grown more savvy and like how much did it change from unironic making jokes to satire and maybe even parody of news to becoming kind of like essay maybe a bit outragey and then, you know, like how do you feel that I mean it it it grew as it's as its audience grew is its audience got smarter we got smarter and the audience lead you and they not only lead you but they give you the freedom and the freedom that they gave us is huge and you see it now when all of a sudden I can now in the midst of one of my things stand up and yell about stuff. I get upset the audience and it always comes incrementally.

Yes. And it's really grown and there was something that really worked about bringing John back and then something that I was saying from the time before he came back and Trevor had left, I said, let the fucking correspondence host. Stop it! That was my take on. And when I'd have interviews with people around the country, you know, they don't give a shit in Des Moines. I mean, nobody listened. Right, right.

You know, I might as well have been sending telegraphs back, you know, but I felt, th... But, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th. th. th. th. th. th. th. that, that, th. that, that, th. th. that, that, I said, I said, I said, I said, I said, I said, I said, I said, I said, I said, I said, I said, I said, I said, I said, I said, I said, I said, I said, I said, I said, I said, I'd th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. to. to. to. to. to. to. th. to. to. to. to. to. to. to. to. to. to. to. to. the. the. th. th. I mean, they didn't, nobody listened, but, you know, I might as well have been sending telegraphs back, you know, but I felt that. I really did. I felt that it was its time and it would grow again. Having John come back really kind of was like great. Because it basically got them to look again and then by looking again they went, oh, we can try this. And nobody basically had to take over over. to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, their to, their. to, their, to their, to, to, their, their, to, their, their, to, I, I, I, I, I, I, I'm, I'm, I'm their, to be their, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, their. But, their. But, their. But, their. But, their. But, their. But, their. But, their. I. I. I. I, th. I, th. I'm, th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. to. th. th. th. to. th. th. th. th. to. th. th. th. th. th th th th th th to. to look again and then by looking again they went oh we can try this yes and nobody basically had to take like Trevor had to take over yes nobody's taken over so it's your take and then it's the take of those others whoever they are we'll talk about them later yeah yeah but I guess I'm trying to get to this idea that like when the Daily Show started, the news was very different in America. And so you could satirize that. I mean, in a nutshell, like it was Tom Brokaw. It was like, there was three news anchors, maybe.

And there was a way of saturizing it, which I don't know, like, how would you approach that now? Like, if you had to, if a Daily Show wasn't this institution, if you tried to do it, it, it, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, so, and, so, and, and, and, and, so, so, and, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, and, and, so, and, and, and, so, and, so, so, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, so, like, like, like, so, like, like, like,a.s.s.s.s.s.s.s.s.s. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. a daily show wasn't this institution, if you tried to do it now, it almost like you couldn't, I don't even know how you could do it because it's so chaotic and fragmented and there's no monoculture, there's no context for, you know. It would have to be on this. Right. It would have to start there you've got what is it I find myself looking it's going so there's a thing called news fucky and right right and this guy really and these two women are completely psychotic right and are basically saying that the breathalizers are fake I mean you just kind of it's partly having to mirror all you know and which is what we do in part still. I mean some of my stuff still deals in that in that frame. This is why this is what you're so great is because as long as I've known you you've never actually shat on the present and put the pass on a pedestal. You've always been like, it's different and now it's great and it was great before and you know I guess what I'm trying to ask you is is satire dead now you know I mean

well the hard thing for me it has been and I've been yelling about this for about the past since it since Trump came around yeah this is how do you it's satirized what is already satiric yes and I kind of go I go on stage and we'll go read something and go, it's like, what is it, the benefits of slavery, okay? How am I supposed to make that funnier? What am I, what context do I fucking have to put that in for you? It's done. And you look at it and I'll say that to the way. I go, here's my favorite punchline this week and I do this I've been doing it for a year now I got the

benefits of slavery and they'll go oh and I go you assholes how do you miss the joke and if you sit there and grown about it then what you're saying to me is is who maybe there are some benefits right Wake up! And I do feel like that that's part, I mean it's when I watched your set recently when we were doing it, you know, when I watch you work you work, you got that sense. I mean it is, and it's not easy. It's like you work through it, you work through it, right? And I've had to come around other ways to try to get the joke off. Right. So in a way satire is dead, I think it is, I that that that that that that that that that that that that is that is that is that is that is that is that is that is that is that is that is that is that that that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that. that. that. that's that's that's that. that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's th. th. th. th. th. thi. thi. the the the the the the the the thi the the the that. the that. that. that. that. that. that. that's that's that's thi. I that's. Right. So in a way satire is dead, I guess. I think it is. Yeah, I mean, I guess those are the questions I want to ask you about the Daily Show's past,

because you're kind of uniquely placed to talk about all this since you have such vision on it. I did want to switch to the present, though, and kind of talk about this week's hot summer piece. Yeah, it's about how hot it is. It is. It is. It is. It is. It is. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's the the the the the the the the the the th. th. th. the the the thi. thi. th. th. I is. I is. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. It's th. It's th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. I th. I th. I th. I th. I week's hot summer piece. Yeah, it's about how hot it is. It's really insightful. Well, again, I mean... Because it's hot out. Monday was the hottest day ever recorded on Earth. The previous record, which was set on Sunday only lasted 24 hours. It's hot. Really, really hot.

The hottest day ever recorded on Earth. Suck on that, dinosaurs! We can destroy the planet ourselves. We don't need an asteroid like you, pussies. Yes, this summer the heat is kicking our ass more than usual. Last week it was so hot in New York that... And I can't believe I'm going to say this. I asked the hawk to a girl to hit me to hit me th, th, to to th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, thi, thi, thi, it, it, it's, it, it, it, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, it, it, it's thi, it's thi, it's thi, it's thi's thi's hot it's hot it's hot it's thi's thi's thi's thi'' it's thi' it's thi'' thi' thi' thi New York that, and I can't believe I'm going to say this, I ask the hawk to a girl to hit me in the forehead. It is hot out

and not to be disparaging but you have seen a lot of summers so you have summers to compare to. This is the shittiest. This is it. This really wins. I mean by far because I have a chunk of it off. Right. You know, it's like I, really? I'm supposed to go outside? And then, which they don't fucking talk about enough, is the air quality index. Now it's not only 95 degrees, you can't, you're not supposed to breathe. Yeah, yeah, you can't breathe. I mean, except for last summer, it was because of the fires on this part of the United States, you really couldn't go out. Yes, yes. You know, at least we're here. The sky turned orange for a couple days. Yeah, but it made for a wonderful sunset. Yeah, it was almost a permanent sunset. Yeah, you couldn't miss it. It lasted a long time. That was pretty scary, that one. So climate. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. the the the the the. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. the miss it. It lasted a long time. Yeah, that was pretty scary, that one.

So climate change, climate is fucked, politically were fucked. All right, just another day in America. It's just another day. And you have a podcast coming out here. It's a rant cast, I don't, because I don't talk to people. I read the rants that people send in. Some people send in things about peanut butter.

Some people send in things about pickles. Some people scream about things that are going on at their office. Somebody talked recently about the fact that he's had five different bosses in charge and how each of them is a dick and the levels of dick them in corporate America and that this idiot doesn't know th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th tho-in tho-in tho-in' tho-in' thi-in' thi-i-i-i tho-in' tho tho' tho' the th is a dick and the levels of dictum in corporate America and that this idiot doesn't know that and then I comment occasionally on them but mostly I let them stand on their own. What's good about it and it was said when I had to leave the road and the pandemic had started these people were starting to write a you know they wouldn't I wouldn't put him on the daily show right as a writer but they were writing the them them the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the their I I I their. I their. I their. I th. I th. I thi. I thi. I thi. I w. I w. I wouldn't thi. I thi. I wouldn't th. I wouldn't th. I wouldn't th. I th. I th. I th. I th. I th. I th. I th. I th. I th. I th. I th. I th. I th. I th. I th. I th. I th. I th. I th. I th. I th. I th. I th. I th. I th. I th. I th. I th. I th. I th. I thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi, right. Is a writer, but they were writing for my voice,

for that point of view in terms of what was pissing them off brilliantly. Wow, okay. And now they're getting back to it again. Well, this is the thing about you is that for a crossety old man, you are very appreciative of modern methods, and you are very cutting edge in everything you do. I mean you will, I remember seeing you doing the rank cast live during the pandemic. You really embrace technology

and all that stuff. Yeah. It was good. And you've seen it, you've seen it changed completely. You went from literally theater, the oldest form of entertainment to seeing early days of television production of the Daily Show to full daily show and then now you're live streaming on YouTube I mean that's sitting in a in a place just like this. I'm sitting in a what I call a bad cable access studio With nobody around. It's like a lunatic. It's you're watching a lunatic But it's great. Yeah, and I just I'm gonna read this so I don't miss it. I'm gonna say something sincere after I read this out. So, th. So, th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. the the the the the the the the the the the the the their their their their. their. their their. to to to to to to to their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. Yeah, their. Yeah, their. Yeah, their. Yeah, their. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It. It. It. It. It. It. It. It's. It. It's. It's. It's. It's the the t. Yeah. It's t. Yeah, to. Yeah, to. Yeah, to. Yeah, to. Yeah, to. Yeah, to. Yeah, the. Yeah, the. Yeah, the. Yeah, the. the. the. And I just, I'm going to read this so I don't miss it, but I'm going to say something sincere after I read this out. So for tour dates, you can check out Lewis Black.com. Lewis Black's rank cast is available on YouTube or wherever you get your podcast.

And I just want to say, Lewis, thank you so much for your kindness to me and your friendship and your advice. You and all the legends the the their their the legends, their their their the legends, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, toe, toe, toe, toe, toe, toe, toe, toe, toe, toe, toe, toe, toe, toe, toe, toe, toe, toe, toe, toe, toe, toe, toe, toe, toe, toe, toe, toe, toe, toe, toe, toe, toe, too, too, and too, too, and too, and too, and tou, and tooeruuuu.e.e.e.e.e.e.e.e. And, too, too a daily show, when I joined the show, I was like, if I can be 10% as good as these people, I'll be very happy. And so thanks for showing the way. And thanks for speaking to me. Well, that's kind. But you've been way more than 10%.

Your bulls suck. But you personally have been quite remarkable, and we're lucky to have you. Oh no, thank you, that's high praise. And thank you for joining us on the Daily Show Years edition. Everybody will be getting paid a lot. Okay, good. I'm glad someone is. We'll see you next time. Explore more shows from the Daily Show podcast universe by at 11, 10 Central on Comedy Central, and stream

full episodes anytime on Paramount Plus. Have you ever been watching the news and thought to yourself, wow, the Supreme Court sure does suck? We made a podcast about that. We sure did. There is a super majority of conservative maniacs on the Supreme Court right now, really doing some damage. I'm Michael. I'm Riannan. And I'm Peter. Our podcast, 5-4, 5-4 is about all of this. Every week we dissect and analyze a different ruling that has made our country a little worse, a little more cruel. And you would not believe how many of them there are. Check out 5-4. That's the number 5-4, wherever you listen to podcast.