The Daily Show: Ears Edition - This Week's Interviews | Ben Wikler, Megan Rapinoe, Elliot Page, and Karolina Wydra

Episode Date: July 26, 2026

Former chair of the Democratic Party of Wisconsin, Ben Wikler, sits down with Jon Stewart to discuss his new book, “This Is The Plan: How to End America’s Meltdown and Save Democracy.” Together, they unravel the story of how Democrats flipped Wisconsin from the gerrymandered Republican stronghold to a state with a Democratic governor, pro-democracy state Supreme Court, and fairer legislative maps. They talk about the strategy behind Wisconsin’s political turnaround, beating Elon Musk’s record-breaking spending in a state Supreme Court race, the importance of WI Democratic Party leaders letting the voters decide the gubernatorial primary race, and what it will take to rebuild the Democratic Party’s power nationally. Desi Lydic sits down with soccer legend, activist, and entrepreneur Megan Rapinoe, who's launching a new podcast called "Why Are You Like This?" The two chat about the World Cup red card scandal and life as a fan after retiring from professional soccer. Plus, Rapinoe talks about her work advocating for equal pay and LGBT rights, how her activism cost her a brand deal, and reframing the term “soccer mom.” Oscar-nominated actor Elliot Page sits down with Desi to discuss starring in Christopher Nolan's "The Odyssey." He talks about noticing Christopher Nolan’s deep commitment to storytelling on the set of "Inception," filming "The Odyssey" amid extreme weather, and working with an extraordinary cast and crew to develop a film that brings people back to theaters. Actor Karolina Wydra tells Desi the crazy story behind landing her Emmy-nominated role in the hit Apple TV show, “Pluribus,” and marking her return to acting. Plus, Wydra shares how meditation and dream work helped her play Zosia, a character who lives in a hive-mind consciousness with no ego and no fear. -- 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

When West Jet first took flight in 1996, the vibes were a bit different. People thought denim on denim was peak fashion, inline skates were everywhere, and two out of three women rocked, the Rachel. While those things stayed in the 90s, one thing that hasn't is that fuzzy feeling you get when WestJet welcomes you on board. Here's to Westjetting since 96. Travel back in time with us and actually travel with us at westjet.com slash 30 years. You're listening to Comedy Central. The Strategist, former chair of the Democratic Party of Wisconsin, the author of the new book,

This is the plan. How to End America's Meltdown and Save Democracy? Please welcome with the program. Ben Wickler. This is the plan. And let me remind the people, so they may think to themselves, Ben Wickler's got a plan. I don't know Ben Wickler.

I don't know why he would have a plan. Talk to me a little bit about the genesis of this because you ran the DNC in Wisconsin. And for those who do not know the story of Wisconsin this century is Scott Walker and a Republican takeover of a state where they tried to rig the maps, they tried to rig the courts,

they tried to do super majorities of a relatively purple state. You helped devise the plan to fight that, successfully so. Talk about what happened there. Absolutely. That's all the time we have. So my state, Wisconsin,

which has a deep progressive tradition and a deep far-right tradition, Joe McCarthy's from Wisconsin. Yes. So is fighting Bob? So is fighting Bob LaFallet. It's the place where workers' compensation, unemployment insurance, that Social Security Act was written by Wisconsinite,

all these things. Great things came from our state, progressive taxation for state to ratify the 19th Amendment, and also this far-right street that runs through the state's history. We zigzag sort of like the country. But in 2010, there was this huge right-wing wave fueled in part by Citizens United. Yes.

And my Senator Russ Fein, who I interned for, was my political hero. He'd passed campaign finance reform to get big money out of politics. He was swept out, replaced by Ron Johnson. In the state legislature, Republicans won, had been Democratic, they won majorities in both chambers, they won the governorship.

But when they came into power, they didn't just do the right-wing things that they'd talked about. They immediately tried to rig the system permanently, so they'd never lose control. They attacked unions. They basically declared war on teachers, created a teacher crisis, in the state. They rigged our maps more than the country is gerrymandered right now. They passed one of the most extreme voter suppression laws in the nation. The judge said it was the most extreme

anti-voting law in the nation. The next election, 2012, Democrats won statewide, Barack Obama won, Tammy Baldwin won in the U.S. Senate race. Republicans' majority in the state legislature grew, even though they got less votes than the Democrats, because they'd rigged the system so they'd never lose control. They were rigging the state legislature. legislature, so that they would always have a majority or super majority or something akin to that. At that point, majority. They went for super majorities later. And where's the court, where's this Wisconsin Supreme Court in this right in that moment? So Wisconsin State Supreme Court was almost evenly divided. There was an incredibly close state Supreme Court race in the spring of 2011.

Republicans held on to their majority by less than one percentage point. Okay. And that meant that the state had a state Supreme Court that rubber-stamped everything they did. So basically, Wisconsin- All the maps, everything. All the maps, the voter suppression law. They basically allowed Scott Walker and his friends and cronies, the Koch brothers network, this sort of far-right billionaire donor network, to break election laws, and then they changed the campaign finance and election laws to suit their model of winning

elections. And once they'd broken democracy, they started defunding public services. So there were suddenly people call them Scottholes after Scott Walker. Pot holes in the roads all over the state. They had to spend hundreds of dollars a year on new tires. So what they're doing is unpopular in the state, but the way that they have jerry-rigged the system, unpopularity was no longer a barrier to re-election. That's exactly it.

And that's the con, right? That's why I've written a book. This is the John Stewart plan. Yes. So it almost worked. Donald Trump in 2016 won Wisconsin. Yes. Narrow margin.

Narrow margin, less than one percentage point. A lot of our elections come down to less than one percentage point. They had cemented what looked like for the foreseeable future control of the state legislature. Yes. And the state Supreme Court was so dominated by the right that in 2017, there was only one uncontested far-right candidate. No one wanted to run against that person. Someone wrote that it looked like the right was going to dominate the state Supreme Court for a generation to come. It seemed as though they'd succeeded.

And Wisconsin wasn't the only state where this happened. Take Iowa. Iowa... Florida. Take Florida. Wisconsin in 2018. No, I'm saying, take Florida. State after state.

In 2018, the Wright had a plan. They called it Red Map. They invested in winning state legislative races. And then as soon as they won, they used their power, like getting a genie in wishing for more wishes, to lock in control so that even if voters rejected them in the future, they would always have majorities of the votes in the legislature. That's right.

make themselves unaccountable. North Carolina has tried to, you know, a Democratic governor, whenever they win North Carolina, the North Carolina legislature, if it has Republicans on it, makes a new law saying, yet the governor is not allowed to do anything. That's exactly it. And they did the same thing in Wisconsin. And my view, and I argue this in the book, is that Project 2025 is reheated Project 2011. This is a nationalized version of what they've been doing in the states when they took control. That's right. Which is to defund public services, to rip off the public, to give tax cuts to the super wealthy, and then break democracy so that when people don't like what they're doing, they have no say in the matter of fixing it.

But as we stand here today, the governor of Wisconsin is now a Democrat. The state Supreme Court of Wisconsin now has a more progressive majority. Five-two pro-democracy majority. And the legislature in Wisconsin is also now... Fair maps, and Democrats have at least an even chance of flipping both legislative chambers on November 4th. So riddle me this, Batman. How? Because writ large, that seems to be what is happening now on a national level. So what did you do?

So this is, I'm proud of having played a role. This is thousands of people, including the state party chair before me, who worked on the groundwork laid by the state party chair before her allies, national unions, they've been decimated in Wisconsin. People still kept investing, kept volunteering. But what happened in Wisconsin is that we, a big week, built a movement of people who rolled up their sleeves and decided to keep fighting in mayor's races,

school board races, in local judicial elections, in state Supreme Court races, where it seemed like we were gonna always be outgunned and had basically no hope. We fought for all these different offices and mapped out a plan for what it would actually take to unrig the system so that when people were like, why should I even work in the state legislative race when we know who's gonna have the majority?

The answer is if we stop the Republican supermajority, then if we win the state, Supreme Court race and flip the majority there, they can pass new maps and the supermajority can't override the governor's veto. It's this intricate zigzagging puzzle. Which one of these is Milwaukee? I can't figure out. But how did you inspire people to not feel anxious and helpless like they couldn't do anything like this was a fait accompli? What was done, somebody had to design the idea of how you could take it back, but somebody had to activate all those regularly people to get involved.

I will tell you this. When this system was built, starting in 2017, before I moved home to Wisconsin, the idea was we're going to find people in their living rooms who want to be part of the solution, ask people to get friends together and say, we're going to be responsible for our neighborhood. There's a huge big picture. We're all part of this big fight. But we're going to start here in this neighborhood, in the election that's coming up in April, that no one else in the country even knows it's happening.

but we're going to roll up our sleeves, and elections here are so close, so often, that it might be that the five extra voters we find add up to enough around the state to tip this thing by a couple thousand votes. And it actually started to work in races where Democrats kind of hadn't been focused in the same way. You know, nationally, love me some Democrats.

Democrats can get focused on who the next presidential candidate will be in 2028. It's 2026 right now. Right. Instead of saying there is a judicial election happening in a month that could determine whether the state is gerrymandered for the next 16 years. Right. And we brought the focus to these local races that added up in the kind of web of how American political power works in this country that added up to enough power to unrig our state system. So it's a great. What I love about the book is you get specific on what actually, what on a molecular level, make up the levers of power from local to state areas and how you need to get involved. And it's very much a logistical and architectural blueprint for that.

And I haven't seen something like that written in such an accessible way for people to get a hold of. And it's great. Thank you. Who is... Who is... But who is the Ben Wickler who is going to do that for what Democrats should stand for at the same level of specificity and connection? Because the blueprint is great.

It strikes me as you've built an incredible vehicle. But the fuel is the inspiration that people get from candidates. I feel like the conditions that sparked this right-wing revolution, that people started to feel like government was no longer responsible in any meaningful way to the effects that their policies had on people writ large. That's the area where this fills in a ton of gaps. Who's filling in that other side that isn't boilerplate? Like, we've got to talk to them like real people at the kitchen table.

and you're like, shut up. Who's doing that work? Here's what I'll say. There are dozens of people thinking about running for president. There are amazing people running for governor and Senate and Congress around the country. They are talking, you know, a lot of the great ones are talking about they want this policy, they want that policy that will solve a problem in people's actual lives. What I try to do in this book is say, if you actually want to pass policies,

they can stick and actually deliver for people in ways that they can touch and see and feel, you have to unrig a political system that right now is built to allow a handful of far-right billionaires to write the rules for everyone and face no accountability. We, in Wisconsin, after 2024, Elon Musk came to my state to try... He bought it. He tried to buy it. He tried to undo what we'd done in the state Supreme Court. That's right.

He went to Green Bay, Wisconsin. He put on a cheesehead, and he said, you might not think that this election will affect the entire destiny of humanity, but I think it will. And for him, this was his demonstration. that these pesky little Wisconsinites could not stand up to the world richest man that everyone needed to fear him. He spent more money in that race than anyone's ever spent in any judicial election in American history. And then we beat his ass by 10 percentage points and he was booted out of the White House.

I get it. See, what I like about this is what you present here is the theory of the case for power. You even make the case that the filibuster should be a, abolish. And I generally, knowing how the Senate is, in many ways, affirmative action for Republicans, just in the way that it's established now, that made me nervous. But the case you make is, no, blow it up, let them do the thing they want to do. When the country sees what it is, there will be a backlash to the poor nature of the policy. And then Democrats can come in. and if they develop proper policies and can execute them competently,

we'll have a chance to finally execute them. The American political system right now is Democrats get control. They mess everything up. The country goes into crisis. Imagine 2008. Flip that. I think you might have. Excuse me.

Excuse me. Excuse me. Let me say that again. Have you read this book? Wickler! Do I have to do everything around here? Let me try again. Right now the way our political system works.

The U.S. Supreme Court has had a majority appointed by Republicans since 1970. Yes. And in electoral politics, Republicans come in, they get control of the federal government. They screw everything up. Yes. George W. Bush, we get to 2008 global financial meltdown, disastrous forever wars going on and on, mass death. Then you have a Democrat coming in. Barack Obama, great, very exciting.

Some emergency legislation passes to clean up that mess. but so much of what Democrats fight for and organize for and advocate for so much of the inspiring vision cannot pass. Yes. Because of the 60-vote filibuster in the U.S. Senate. Bills pass through the House, they die in the Senate. It's a mausoleum for the policies that people are begging for, overwhelming majorities of the public, things people want. Things like health care. Sure.

Yeah. So then what happens? Then people are like, oh, this sucks. Democrats didn't give us. You haven't delivered. That's right. Let's vote for change. Let's get the other guys.

But to be fair. oftentimes, they don't. Yeah, but why is that? It's because the system right now is structured to stop things from actually happening. Oh, I'll give you that, that's for sure. You have to change the system itself.

Yes. This is my argument. If you don't change the system. So right now in Wisconsin, and I'm going to move my hands as much as you. You can't out. Let's do this. You can't out move me.

I'm going to go, just because they're longer, my chair rolls. Let me tell you something with you. Let me tell you something. The rules in our system. That's right. But, all right, so now you've got a governor's election now in Wisconsin.

Evers is out, right? He's done. He's served two great terms. You've got a system. You've got some progressive candidates. You've got some establishment candidates. The party is not backing any of the progressive candidates that have the plan they want to stick with the establishment candidates that might not want to rock that boat. Why is that?

Because what you're discussing is what moderates those plans sometimes, what might not. makes it not be able. People always say, don't let perfect be the enemy of the good, but don't let the good be the enemy of what will fix it. And that we tend to be in that position all the time. So in Wisconsin, the way that the party works, which I think is a good way that the party works, the party says whoever comes out of the primary, we're going to be the boots on the ground to support that person, get them through the finish line. But the party itself, the Democratic Party of Wisconsin, will not put its finger on the scale. I'm the now the former chair, my successor,

Chair, Devin Remmerger, his commitment is we're going to work with every candidate to make sure they know how the general election can unfold, and then we hit go. I think that people lose trust when they feel like the party is trying to decide these things in smoke-filled rooms. It should be the voters who choose the nominees. Yes. And then they would go the difference.

In some ways, there's a real energy amongst, you know, the progressive candidate in Wisconsin. Would you agree? I think there's tons of, grassroots energy and, you know, there's a, yeah, you can see it surging and, you know, sure. But it feels like they're trying to not make that happen. There are different elected, so there are currently five candidates for governor.

Yes. I think there's a lot of candidates. Yes. Have a lot of big ideas. A lot of them describe themselves as definitely progressive. One's a Democratic Socialist. There's a variety of different views and strategies for how to get there. Right.

And different elected officials are endorsing different people. Governor Ivers just made an endorsement of one of the candidates. As the Democratic Socialist candidate, who's currently in first in the primary, she said, everyone can have their own voice in this, and the voters decide who's going to win. That is how democracy works. The party and the structure shouldn't advantage one candidate or one set of ideas. It should be the voters who make the choice. And then we should come together and say, let's do this.

And let's not only win the governorship, let's win the assembly majority and the state senate majority, and then actually pass the things that can unreguling. the system and make the difference that we need. That's what I'm saying. That's called democracy. That's the whole idea. Wait, you're talking my language. And now, and we're in that same bullshit place now where

all these new ideas, suddenly the Democrats, these Democratic socialists, they're crazy. And you're like, well, but generally their crazy ideas aren't where the energy is. The energy isn't around, like, we shouldn't have prisons or borders. The energy is around a belief that

their economic populism. And when you call it socialism, I think it's a misnomer. Like in the same way that if you call Social Security socialism, that's kind of a misnomer. It's about strengthening a safety net for a country that has suffered too long, overvaluing capital and money and undervaling labor and work. That's all this is. A million percent. And it's, so I don't get the whole hull of a blue. I think one of the reasons why you see some candidates catching fire right now. Yes.

is that they speak directly to what a total meltdown crisis we're in as a country. What people are actually experiencing in their day-to-day lives. And then they tell people, you can do something about this. And I invite candidates, and there are candidates who identify as centrist running in some state. There are Democratic Socialists and other states. It takes everybody. It takes a lot of times. And I would say that right now, the most exciting parts of the tent, wherever you are in the geography,

are the parts where people say, this is not working and we need to change it. We don't need to go back to something that wasn't so great before. We need to go forward to something where it's not... There's a specificity to... Here's what we're going to do.

X, Y, Z things and they lay it out. And then, again, to this is the plan. When you get in power, you need to be willing to change how the system works so you can actually change the policy, deliver for people, and sustain it. If the U.S. Supreme Court, to take one example,

if the U.S. Supreme Court keeps striking down, everything a Democrat does, anything that is intended to protect democracy from the power of big money. Or workers. Or workers, striking down workers' protections. Anti-corruption laws. Wisconsin created the first workplace protection agency. We're off Wisconsin now.

I know, I know. But this is my point. You know, they will keep... Jersey's no piece of shit, by the way. I mean, it's great. Every state... I mean, Wisconsin. All right, fair enough.

But the U.S. Supreme Court's going to keep striking the stuff down until we reform, meaning either expand or put term limits on the U.S. Supreme Court. We got to do that too. Don't bid. We are... We... The pendulum swings in American politics, but what the right does is when it swings

their way, they catch it, and they grab it, and they don't want to let it go. And you need to electrify the pendulum so that you cannot grab the thing and stop it from moving. Were you ever a magician? I think I saw the pendulum. This... What I lay out in the book is step by step.

It starts at the end of the book. There's a chapter called This Is It Is It a Chapter called This is the Plan that ties together all the pieces. The first part of the This Is the Plan's plan is this week. Every Tuesday, there's an election somewhere. And most of those elections have no volunteers across the country. They have no people chipping in $27 from wherever. Nobody gets involved.

A lot of them are unopposed. A lot of them are unopposed. But if you look around and find the races that actually start a row of dominoes that can affect future legislation around gerrymandering, or affect money in politics and a state, where people like Elon Musk want to waltz in and take over everything, then getting involved in a mayor's race here, a county recorder's race here, can have a huge effect.

That's right. But it goes from that step, something any of us can do, where the margins of victory are often sometimes a single vote. And I list some of those races in the book. It goes all the way to then 26. We went in states. We went in Congress. 28.

We win a federal to effect at 29. You even deal with the backlash to all these victories. I do. And it's to remove the power of that backlash to break our democracy from 2030 to be accountable. To be accountable. You have to be held. You have to have.

You have to have. Yes. You have to actually deliver it and make the difference. That's the plan. And we can do it. Come on. Every person here can do this plan. Yes, we can.

Yes, we can. We're going to take a break. We'll be right back. My day kicks off with a refreshing Celsius energy drink. Pre-K drop off. Then straight to the gin. Back home to meal prep before heading to the fire station for my shift. When the three alarm comes in, I'm ready.

CELCUS, live, fit, go. Grab a cold, refreshing Celsius energy drink at your local retailer, or locate now at celsius.ca. Enjoy Celsius responsibly. Design for occasional energy boost, not as part of your daily diet. Please adhere to recommended serving limits. Our legend, activist and entrepreneur who's launching a new solo podcast called Why Are You Like This? Please welcome Megan Rapino. We're so happy that you hear.

You are a soccer legend, two-time World Cup champion, Olympic gold medalist. First soccer players who ever received the Presidential Medal of Freedom? I'm going to tell you something. As someone whose report card in grade school said she needs to work on skipping, I can't relate to this level of achievement. It's so impressive. So we, the U.S. just hosted the World Cup. What do you think is harder getting Americans to care about soccer or getting Americans to care about women? We seem super into the World Cup.

Yeah, we nailed that. When's the rest going to follow? Yeah, probably soccer. Yeah, okay. So far. It feels like that's changing, but, you know, slowly. I hope so. Yeah.

It is. What was your take on this whole red card drama that happened? You've definitely gone head-to-head with Trump before. How do you think that affected the men's team? Certainly not well. Yeah. Didn't give them the boost maybe that they were thinking it would or that Trump was hoping that it would.

I don't know. It seemed like I kind of threw them off their game. Whether it was like, you know, meant to be a red card or not, I don't know. I'm not a ref and I don't even know the rules. I feel like people are always... So many people are asking you, they're like, well, what about this? And what about this? I'm like, I don't know.

Not my job. I don't know. I don't know. But it didn't go well. They had like such a good vibe. I feel like they had like the underdog kind of vibe going. And then, you know, who got involved and everyone was like, no. Yes.

No. We don't like it. And then obviously, Belgium was like, no, we absolutely can't lose to this team now. Yeah. And the men's team maybe hasn't gone, you know, faced that kind of difficult team. The women's team is used to this all the time.

Yeah. Pushback from. Yeah, we're like, bring it. Yeah. Bring it on. We can handle that. Yeah, they don't. They're not getting asked about like abortion bans

in their press conference, so where this is like old hat to us. Yeah, you're used to it at this point. We're good. Yeah. One thing that I appreciate about you so much is that you have acknowledged that you have a platform and you have a purpose and you understand your influence and you don't wanna squander it.

You've been the face of advocating for so many issues like equal pay as a woman, thank you. You're welcome. LGBTQ rights, you've become a huge advocate. Was there a moment in your life or in your career when you decided this is my purpose? and I can actually make a difference here? I mean, I think being gay is just part of it.

I'm like, okay, something's up here. I was like, hold on. I have a brother who was formerly incarcerated, so I feel like from a young age I had started to get an education on what our prison system was like and what it does and doesn't do for people. And then I think going into sports and being in women's sports, it was like, something's not adding up here.

So a couple different converters. a couple different convergences in my life. But yeah, I think definitely being a woman and being gay, I'm like, well, I mean, I gotta get in there. Yes, and you have. I gotta get in there. You wrote a piece in Marie Claire about losing a brand deal.

Talk us, walk us through exactly what happened because this was shocking to me. Yeah, I mean, honestly, I feel for the people who work at the company because like the humans didn't flag it, and then AI just came over the top and was like, no, and they were already like, we're working with this person, and we have. I think I was, like, flagged because of my support. But I've had a long time support of trans people, obviously, and of all sorts of people.

I mean, all of us, really, I'd love everyone to have their rights. That's really... But, yeah, it was sort of at the last minute. I don't know. They ran it through the AI, as they call it, and they were like, not her. Mm-mm. This is, she had a brand deal, and the AI took... over and flagged, flagged Megan for, yeah,

for being an ally. Yeah, how up is that? Yeah, I don't like guys, what? Yeah, so if there, there's anyone else out there that's interested in someone who's a real advocate, an ally, any brands out there that want to do good business, yeah. What do you think is riskier advocating for trans women in sports or setting up an entire genera?

of boys to have a gambling addiction. Yeah. Confidence is dangerous when a girl gets it. You know what I'm saying? Yeah. I don't see AI flagging that. No, certainly not. You retired in 2023.

How has that been for you? I mean, you were someone who is such a recognizable elite athlete. How is it going on this journey now finding who you are and what fills you with joy outside of? of the game. You know, it's been like the craziest experience. I feel like it's great. I was excited. I was ready. I never want to play again, and I know that I can't. And it's also just like so weird. Do you know me like retirees in the building? A couple? Yeah. It's just strange. Like also one day you're doing this thing you love. I've been doing it for decades and really my my whole life. And then the

next day it's like, you can do anything. It's kind of like a gay wedding. People are like, You can have anything you want. And it's like, that's a lot. Maybe we'll just do the same thing, you know? Sure, with one thing. Yeah, let's not reinvent the wheel. But it's been fun, too, like just stepping away and having a lot more time and space

and figuring out what I want to do next. And, yeah, going to more family stuff or going on vacations or doing different things. It's nice to be on the fan side of things. Yeah. Well, and now you're immediately jumping right back into work because you've got this new podcast out. Why are you like this?

Yeah. As because of the title, I'm going to flip the question on you and ask you, Megan, why are you like this? Yeah. I blame my mom and dad probably. Jim and Denise, those are the reasons why I'm like this. I don't know. I feel like I got that question all the time implicitly or explicitly. Sometimes just a side eye of like, ooh, what is she doing over there? I feel like I'm like this probably because I'm just different already and curious about what the world looks. looks like when it's sort of made for all of us. So I feel like that's kind of how I approach things. And I'm really looking forward to talking with people who are, you know,

taking the left and everybody is going right or doing things differently or could be really successful in a more kind of status quo pathway, but have like just chosen to do something different. I think those people I'm most interested in. And just like why people are the way that they are. I think it's, it'll be fun to talk to all kinds of different people about that. Who's your dream guest? Well, I've been on a look to cameras or mom, Donnie.

Hey, girl. I'm in New York. We're doing a great job. Make it happen. We've got the soccer connection. I would love to do him. I feel like he's doing stuff very differently. Jalen Brunson over here in New York, that would be interesting.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Asia Wilson would be awesome. Michelle Obama would be great. Yes. Yeah. Excellent list.

You can come on the pod anytime you want. Oh, okay, now you mention me. Sure, sure. After Michelle Obama. Okay. Best for us. I loved, I happened to read your memoir, and I love that you acknowledged soccer moms

and kind of acknowledged that it sounds like a bit of a derogatory term and people make fun of soccer moms, making orange slices and holding their Stanley cups. But you really gave so much credit to your mom for taking on pretty much a full-time job to drive you and your sister around to play soccer. Oh, yeah. Oh, my gosh. I mean, my mom and my dad, I feel like soccer parents in general, it's like you just, like, you think you're signing your kids up for soccer, and it's really

just like a chauffeur job. And like the orange slice job, and you're like supporting them through this and you're driving them everywhere. It's a lot of time. We had a lot of like early weekend drives where my mom, you know, she worked late too. She was a waitress, so she didn't get off work till like midnight and we're up at 4 a.m. driving and both her and my dad tag teaming. So yeah, shout out to all the soccer parents. I have to make a confession. I am a soccer mom. My son just started playing soccer this year. And I hope it's okay, but he wrote a few questions to ask you. Would you mind answering his questions? Yeah. Okay, he's 10. He said, how old were you when you started playing?

I was, oh gosh, probably like five. I'm a twin and we have an older brother. Brian. So he's five years older and us. So I think we were both just kind of like following him around, but I think five was my first team. Okay, you were five when you started and he'd like to know when you were a kid, how much time did you spend practicing? Answer this carefully. Yeah. Honestly, not a lot. Oh, come on. I know. Like, not. Yeah. I mean, I played a lot. Again, having a twin sister, Rach, like we played all the time. But actual practice, like not that much. We played all kind of. kinds of sports and I don't know probably like twice a week or something did that make you want to

practice more because your parents kind of were just letting you enjoy the fun of it yeah I think so and it made me really excited for the games I feel like those were like the most important I mean we played a lot of games definitely played other sports and yeah they were always like listen we're into doing this like if you guys want to do it but we're not going to be driving this train we're going to drive this van but not this train so just let us know okay note to self make It's fun. Yeah. I hadn't thought about that. Yeah. Yeah. This is his final question. What's the main difference between U.S. men's soccer and U.S. women's soccer other

than the really good at it part? He wrote it. Yeah. He wrote it. He wrote it. The jerseys look a little bit different because we have the stars on top. Yeah. Yeah.

That's good. Yeah. That's good. I appreciate you coming on. I appreciate all that you do. do all of your advocacy. And I gotta tell you, I like that you're like this. So thank you for being like this.

Thank you. The original series Furious is coming to Disney Plus, starring Emmy Rossum. Furious follows FBI agent Alice Black on the hunt for a mysterious and calculating serial killer. Both walk their own paths toward justice. And as their lives start to intertwine,

the line between right and wrong begins to blur. Don't miss the three episode premiere of the Hulu original series Furious on July 27th, only on Hulu on Disney Plus. My name is Peter Parker, but I'm also Spider-Man. This Thursday, we're faced with a threat. That can be anyone. The world may have forgotten Peter Parker.

I'm just a neighbor, friendly neighbor. But he hasn't forgotten them. Sometimes Spider-Man has to do the hard thing. That's my responsibility. Dr. Banner? I didn't know you could get that big. brand new day in theaters Thursday who stars in Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey

Please welcome Elliot Hey You here congratulations on all of the success on the Odyssey Every IMAX showing in New York is sold out through mid-August How does it feel to be part of a project that is single-handedly saving movies?

Oh my God It's such a dream To get to be involved with this project I get to work with Chris Nolan again, this extraordinary cast and crew that makes a movie like this possible. You know, I'm just so lucky to be a part of it. Now, I know that you're an avid reader. Did you read The Odyssey?

Well, in school. More than I can say. Yeah, the character I play in this is actually not originally in the Odyssey. Right. So for me, the focus was really on, you know, being able to capture him in these, you know, few scenes and hopefully, you know, made Chris Appie. Oh, God. You really, really did.

Your performance is incredible in this. It truly took my breath away. You have such an important role in the film, and that you're really the heart and soul, and your character stays all the way through the end. I mean, in a way, you're kind of embodying Odysseus's shame and selfishness. going into this role, knowing that, is that thrilling for you as an actor,

or does it terrify you? You know, both in the best way, you know, and getting to work with someone like Chris who obviously just has such impeccable vision and execution and, you know, I think, yeah, those were the initial conversations I had with Chris about this character and Sinan being the sort of consciousness of, you know,

facing Odysseus and the impacts of war. the brutality of war and violence. And so I think I was terrified and just, you know, wanting to make sure I did an okay job, you know, and pulled it off in the movie. And so, but it was the good kind of, you know, the good kind of nerves, of course. Right, of course.

Well, you truly did that. Your performance is remarkable. You, this is the second time you've worked with Christopher Nolan. What do you think it is about him as a director a director that makes his work so distinct. Gosh, I mean, I can remember, it was actually like Chris who brought this up. He said he remembered this moment in Inception and we were shooting a scene and I turned to him at one point. And I said, oh my God, you really do just care about getting like the best possible shop, you know, to tell the best possible story.

And I think I'd had experience on larger movies where that didn't always necessarily feel like that was the goal on said, you know. And I think working with someone who just wants to tell the best story they can possibly tell, you know, gathers extraordinary talented, you know, people and crew together to make the vision possible. And yeah, there's really nobody like it. I heard that the filming of this was no easy feat. That it was incredibly hard and grueling at times. You were hiking in water, in mud. all of the actors have been talking about this whole process. What was the hardest day on set for you?

Or was it easy in Matt Damon as just acting like a big baby? No, I, for example, I worked early on in the shoot and then I was back, you know, later on in the shooting. To be honest, I couldn't even understand how they were all still standing, you know. I definitely had an easier job than other people. And I'd say, you know, the challenging things were probably just like weather and temperature.

and, you know, but I'm lucky in that I grew up working in Canada as a kid. So I'm used to some pretty brutal, working in some pretty brutal temperatures. Yeah, okay, take it easy. You have health care. All right, you do get health care in Canada. This is true, this is true. The Odyssey is a 3,000-year-old story, been around almost as long as the daily show. Congratulations, by the way of it.

Thank you. Thank you. But it clearly is still so resonant to that. Was there a part of the story that you connected to deeply? Oh, good question. I mean, I think what I connected to deeply, like particularly, like, when seeing it was how much it resonates in terms of our times, in terms of war, the impacts of war, the lies that are told to go to war. And so I would say that's what resonated with me the most and those themes throughout the film.

Is it true that you're a boxer? a boxer? I don't know if I can call myself a boxer, but I do, I love to box. Was this part of the prep for the film, or is this something you just enjoy doing? This was actually technically a part of, I started because of prep for something else that we'll see if that ends up happening or not, but the real benefit for me is that I did really fall in love with boxing and I have an awesome coach. What is it about boxing that you love? I think I love how extremely difficult it is. Obviously from, you know, a physical standpoint and, you know, tiny little adjustments you're making with your body to get the outcome that you want mixed with the mental intensity

of it. And I can't really think about anything else when I'm doing that and enjoy just the degree of focus and like physical exhaustion, honestly. See, I would love to get, I feel like it would be a great way to get my aggression out. but I don't love the idea of getting punched in the gut. That's the part. I feel like watching the news does that time and time again for me over. So I don't know if I could take it. Yeah, that's fair.

You have to take in a lot of junk all the time. I'll leave the boxing for you. Congratulations. I am so happy that you were here. Thank you for being here and congrats on everything. In Toronto, every arrival is a statement, and nothing says it better than this. Cadillac Optic was the number one selling luxury EV in Canada for 2025.

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to crafted sodas like the Sprite Berry Blast with berry flavors and cold foam. Who knew ice cold drinks could be so fire? Six all new drinks are here. Now at McDonald's. Refreshers contain caffeine. A nominated actor who stars in the hit Apple TV series, It's plurbus. Please welcome Carolina Weedra.

Excited to have you. Congratulations on your well-deserved Emmy nomination. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Congratulations to you guys. Yeah, it's wild. I still, like when you said that Emmy nominate, I go, wait, that's me. Are they talking about me? That's you. What is happening? It is so well-deserved. You're nominated for supporting actress, but also the show itself got 18 nominations. Yes.

It's incredible. Now, you play Zosha, who's one of the joined, one of the hive minds. So does that mean if you win the Emmy that you have to accept on everyone's behalf? Yeah, basically. So basically the whole world got nominated. Hey, this is good news for all of us. All of you guys. I wish everyone luck.

This story of how you got this role is wild. You were working steadily shows like, truly. blood and justified and sneaky Pete and then you decided to kind of step back for a bit and raise your children. That's right. Have a family. And I heard your agent and manager took that super well. Yeah, they took it very, very well. They said, thank you very much. We don't want to work with you anymore. So, yeah, that was very disappointing. Isn't that that's, it was very, it was shocking. Name names. You know, sometimes I want to be like, so and so and so. I'm not going to do that. But it was, you know, I think it was scary because I was 39 going on 40 when I decided to have kids.

And also, I decided when the pandemic happened, the shutdown happened in March. And in July, my husband now were like, I think we need to procreate. I think we need to have, I think it's a really good time to have children. Right. And so, yeah, and it was important for me to be stay-at-home mom for the first two years because I grew up in communist country. So I know communism very well, because I know there was a lot very well. And so, you know, my parents would travel to different countries to bring a better life for us.

And so they weren't around, and so it was important for me to be there for my kids because I missed them. And so when that happened, you know, you feel so disappointed in the people that they make that choice where they say, I don't, you know, I don't want to work with you anymore. And so then I had my second son, and after he was 18 months, I really want to start acting again, and I got out of nowhere, I got an email with an audition for the show. And I didn't know how I was ever going to come back to acting,

and so when that came through, it came from someone that I didn't know. It was a commercial agency. I was on their roster, but I didn't work with them. And if it wasn't for casting that remembered me from years prior, that I would have never had the opportunity for the work. the opportunity for you, which is so wild to me.

And their side of the story is that they were running out of resources. They had over 5,000 submissions for this role worldwide. They couldn't find Zosha. They went through their digital files. They, you know, and they were running out of resources, and they had to go through their old cabinet, handwritten notes of all the actresses they've ever seen. And they stumbled upon my photo.

And they went, whatever happened? whatever happened to this girl. And that's how I was able to audition for this. And clearly, you left and change. I'm still like, I'm still pinching myself because I can't believe that. And now being, I mean, it's just, I literally feel like I'm dreaming

and I'm waiting for somebody to go, okay, kid, you had a fun run. That was great, wasn't it? Now, back to reality. It's all real and so deserved. Thank you. I am such a fan of the show. I'm always telling people,

I'll say, I'll say, you have to watch. I try to explain it and then realize there's no way to explain this show. So I just say, watch it, trust me. How do you explain the premise of the show to people? I mean, I do love the logline. The most miserable person in the world trying to save the world from happiness. Someone's got to. Someone has to.

So I think, and Ray Sehorne does an incredible job as Carol Circa. She really does. She's phenomenal. Phenomenal. Yeah, it's a wild concept. I mean, you know, a virus. breaks out and everyone becomes happy and content and joyous. Except a few, a dozen people.

A dozen people that are immune to the virus. And also the world becomes one consciousness. And they communicate telepathically and anybody can perform anything and they're the best at it, which is so interesting. It's such a wild concept, especially with the AI, with the conversation of AI today. Exactly. And I want to talk about your character because Zosha is, on one hand, you're sort of playing

this slight detachment, this heightened intelligence, almost AI quality. And yet you play her with so much warmth and texture. How do you prepare for something like that? How do you even approach a role like that where you're having to play that dichotomy? Thank you for saying that. Well, when I first read it, I was definitely, you know, the concept of the concept of, you of who the others are was overwhelming, exciting and overwhelming, because you're like,

oh my God, how am I going to approach this? And I'm a big dreamer where I do dream work for my characters to tap into this subconscious, which started with Carl Young. He wrote the red book. He used dreams to heal himself, and you can use that for your characters, which is quite fascinating. What is this wild concept? Dreams.

I gave up on those long ago. Dreams. What are what a dreams? Dreams mean. How did that work? Before you go to sleep, you write a letter to your subconscious asking to reveal to you whatever it is that you want answers to. And what's fascinating is that things come up and you get kind of, you know, some people

are like this is so woo, but it's not. It's like, it's, we all dream at night, you know, and our subconscious talks to us through images and so that you can use that for your characters. And so whatever comes up, there's a process that you go and, you know, you can talk to the images or you know certain things come up be like oh way I could use that this relates to my character and meditation came up for me because ego gets lifted when we meditate a lot right and and we are you when you meditate daily for a long time what happens is that you know you're your body but you do feel this connection to the

world energetically in a different way you do become one collective but energetically and you feel unconditional love for the world and there's no ego. And there's more and more studies talking about that. So meditation, I was meditating a lot for this character to tap into that energy because she lives in a different frequency. I mean, there's a lot of different layers to her and, you know, when I ask Vince about who the others are, he says, you know, he's very simple, so his response was they're happy,

content, unflappable. And they don't have a full spectrum of emotions, but they are fully-fledged human beings. Right? So they're not robots. So they experience feelings only limited amount of feelings, where are the positive feelings, I would say, and anger and grief and sadness is a memory that they experience and doesn't live in their body. They don't have nerves. They're not afraid. They're not even afraid of dying because their memories uploaded into the system, into the hive mind. So it's so interesting. It's truly fascinating. Do you think that this kind of dream work and meditation could work for our administration.

I would be highly recommended, yes. Okay, I think we need to. I think I should have a meeting with them and be like, hey guys, so I have a cure. A quick master class for them? Yes. I think it would be, the world would greatly appreciate it. I should take him through a dream class.

I'm curious, what do you think Zosha was like as an individual before she became part of the hive? What did her individuality look like? Did you discuss that with Vince? I didn't because, and normally that's something that I do. I do back-surfing my characters because I think it's important because we have, you know, we all have our ticks, our trauma, and everything.

We come from that place and behavior comes from that place. And with her, because she's not who she was prior to the joining, I didn't want it to color my performance. I wanted to build who she is today. So I didn't ask Vince any of those questions, but you do see in episode eight, the monologue that I have about, mango ice cream. Yes. And so there is a moment where you get to see a little bit, and this is another fascinating thing. When I talk about the mango ice cream, I pause because I don't have the

memory of it and I have to tap into the collective to bring out the memory of who she was, because it doesn't live in me anymore. It's right, so we talked about that and, and you know that she was born in Poland and that she came from no money. She didn't have any money. So, That's the only thing I know, but I haven't built her backstory, which I'm very curious about. This is why you're Emmy nominated, though. You made the right choice. It's working for you. It's definitely working.

Thank you. So from here, what would your dream role be next? Do you want to play a woman who's just completely unhinged? Oh, yeah. Goes nuts, wild. Just utterly mental and just like ugly does like the ugly cries. I want to like go full on out. Let it all out.

Because think about it when you have to suppress you, feeling so much on a daily basis when, you know, when Carol, played by Ray Seahorn, when she beautifully has these big emotions and you just got to hold that in all the time. You know what it made me, it made me a better mom. Oh. You know why? I mean, I know it's cute, but like, you have two little boys and, you know, they're beautiful and a lot. And as you know, you have, yeah, it's like you're the punching bag and you just like you love them through it all. Of course. But it made me less reactionary. Oh, which is wild.

So you tapped into your collective. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. I'm going to try that. I'm going to try this dream thing. Yeah, yeah. I'll take me later for it. Well, listen, if you ever,

if you end up getting a totally unhinged character to play, come over to the Daily Show. You can do your research by watching cable news all day. That'll send you into a pure rage panic. You are such a joy. And congratulations on everything. Thank you for being. Thank you for being.

Explore more shows from the Daily Show podcast universe by searching The Daily Show, wherever you get your podcasts. Watch The Daily Show weeknights at 11, 10 Central on Comedy Central, and stream full episodes anytime on Paramount Plus. This has been a Comedy Central podcast.