The Daily Show: Ears Edition - Trump and Republicans Want YOU to Pay $400 Million for His Ballroom | Gaten Matarazzo

Episode Date: April 29, 2026

Josh Johnson looks at how the GOP is scrambling to use the shooting at the White House Correspondents' Dinner to hard-sell Trump's $400 million ballroom on the pretense of national security, with American taxpayers footing the bill. Plus, Jordan Klepper finds out if other countries have security ideas better than just "ballroom." From Peter Doocy to Dr. Oz to Marco Rubio, Triumph the Insult Comic Dog got up close and deeply personal with the D.C. power players and media heavyweights swarming the red carpet at the White House Correspondents' Dinner, aka Black Tie January 6. Actor Gaten Matarazzo talks to Josh about starring in the new comedy, “Pizza Movie.” They discuss the foods that Matarazzo would go on a wild goose chase for and how he prepared for this “love letter to stoner movies.” He also describes his return to his theater roots in “Octet,” an upcoming movie musical directed by Lin-Manuel Miranda. -- Stream full episodes of The Daily Show on Paramount+: https://www.paramountplus.com/shows/the-daily-show/ The Daily Show airs weeknights at 11/10c on Comedy Central. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

She knows. How? Did you blam? No. The Devil Wears Prada 2. He's the movie event 20 years in the making. Honestly, can't with the secrets anymore, so I think we just should tell her. Will you two please spit it out already?

This Friday, be the first to experience it only in theaters. In light of the recent scandal, I'm here to restore your credibility. Oh, because we're a team now? That's a nice story. The Devil Wears Prada 2 in Theaters Friday. You're listening to Comedy Central. Trusted journalists at Comedy Central. It's America's only sorts for news.

This is The Daily Show with your host, Josh Johnson. Josh Johnson, we've got so much to talk about tonight. Donald Trump is using you for a go-fund me. Lindsay Graham makes an even tougher sale than bombing Iran and triumph the insult comic dog, Hump some legs at the Correspondents Dinner. But first, let's start with the most urgent issue facing America today.

Donald Trump still doesn't have a ballroom, all right? Let's get into it in our new segment, let them eat ballroom. The country's going to hell in a handbasket. Let's do a little dancing. As we all know, there was an attempted assassination at the White House Correspondent dinner this weekend, which, first of all,

terrible week for light-skinned dudes. You got this guy going for the president and chewing carpet. Clay Thompson, on Megan the stallion. No pressure, but Drake, this album's got to be fire. It's all on you. But that was just my takeaway.

Republicans had another, somehow, dumber, takeaway. A group of Senate Republicans is pushing to fund the construction of President Trump's 90,000 square foot ballroom using taxpayer money. We're going to introduce legislation that would authorize $400 million to be spent to secure the, to build the presidential ballroom.

$400 million? That's our money. Why do we have to pay for this? We didn't try to shoot the president. This guy paid for the ballroom. This is the administration that is obsessed with government waste. I can't believe they dissolved Doge right before Trump demanded

a $400 million ballroom. It's like how the Michael Jackson movie ended right before he starts molesting. You just went ahead and skipped all the important stuff, huh? We live in such a crazy time now that events don't even need to be connected to each other.

Someone tried to kill the president, so now we're going to build a ballroom. But I feel like someone completely trustworthy told us we wouldn't have to pay for anything. We're putting up our own money with the government is paying for nothing. We did this no charge to the taxpayer

whatsoever. All private money. Not one penny is being used from the federal government. And, and, to his word, it isn't one penny, it's 40 billion pennies. Honestly, as soon as I heard about the ballroom, I knew we would end up paying for it. Like, Trump is the type of dude to whine and dine you

and then forget his wallet. Now, those would you be sitting with you like, I hope you had a great time. I just, uh-oh, uh-oh, uh, who. I hate to do this, but, uh, we're still going to have sex, right? Don't get me wrong. With so many seniors getting scammed in America, I'm glad one of them is turning the tables. I just don't want it to be on us, you know?

And 400 million is way too much. Why is this ballroom so expensive? Is the roof going to be made of Coachella tickets? What could possibly make this thing cost so much? Like, be specific. Underneath, there will be a lot of military stuff. Military stuff? What military stuff?

Name ten military stuff. I'll wait. Lindsay Graham sounds like me in fifth grade trying to convince my mom to get me an Xbox. Like, you know, they make educational games too. Here's what I don't get. The president travels with tons of security everywhere he goes.

So what problem are we trying to solve exactly? The ballroom itself will avoid the dilemma of having to leave the White House grounds. He literally could have left his bedroom, walked out the back of the White House, and been at the ballroom. Wait, wait, wait. The president needs to walk out of his bedroom

into the ballroom. This feels like it's Lindsay's dream. I can see Lindsay, like, I must rise from my silk sheets and directly into the cotillion. Oh, it's a mass cotillion where I can be my truest self. This is not what a president is supposed to be focused on.

Unless that president is seven years old. They're writing a list. like I'm going to have a slide that goes right from my bed to the pool. And I want a soup made out of candy, so whenever I get hungry, I can just eat my shirt. But still, as good as the White House is, Trump is going to have to leave sometimes. It really does put President Trump at risk to go around Washington, D.C. like this. The president should not have to leave the White House to go to the Kennedy Center,

to go to the Hilton, and venture out. People should come to him. Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. The president should have to leave his house. You don't want the leader of the free world to visit anything. Hold on. Is the president depressed? I know people keep trying to shoot him, but still. Come to think of it, did he just get McDonald's door dash to the house?

That sounds like a man who's given up all life. Wait until he finds out about snuggies. There have to be arguments for this ballroom that, don't just make the president sound like an indoor cat. I never understood the opposition to the ballroom. I mean, all women love ballrooms. All women love ballrooms? That argument is so sexes,

it's one step away from being super woke. Like, all women love ballrooms? Why can't the president feel like a pretty girl? I don't even know how big of a deal this is because, sure, all the Republicans are on board, but there's no way there's even one Democrat that's going to support this. So far only one Democrat,

Senator John Federman of Pennsylvania has come out in favor of this project. This dude is a ballroom guy? He's never worn a blazer that wasn't loaned to him by the mayor deed. The one time I've seen him wearing a jacket and tie, he was wearing them with a hoodie. He looks like he robbed somebody who was wearing a tie. It's like they told him he couldn't come in without one,

and then he saw a guy wear what? He was like, get over here. What does he want a ballroom for? I bet Republicans say if he voted for it, they'd add a bell tower just for him. Look, I know Republicans had Project 2025, but I was starting to think they never wrote Project 2026. Because they're on day four of arguing

that the president needs a ballroom to dance in while we're at war during an affordability crisis. But if we ask the government for housing or health care or daycare, this is what we get. The United States can't take care of daycare. We can't take care of daycare. We're a big country. We have 50 states.

all these other people were fighting wars, it's not possible for us to take care of daycare. Medicaid, Medicare, all these individual things. We have to take care of one thing, military protection. And, and, and a ballroom. Now, the big question is, do other countries apply the same logic of ballroom protection into their security problems? Jordan Klepper went to find out. Just days after political gun violence in our nation's capital, I went to time to ask people from foreign countries, why is this happening here? In London, it's never really been a big thing, you know?

The whole gun thing is not a big thing. It's just crazy to me, because that kind of stuff usually wouldn't happen in Europe. I think most of Canada's pretty safe. Yeah. You're able to say, please, to speak your mind without having to worry about being shut down. And doing that with words, not shot down.

With that outside perspective, like, what are things Americans can do to make America safer? safer. Lose the guns. Okay. That would help. Okay, noted. Yeah. If we don't do that, is there anything else? Try to be decent, respect people in general, of course. Okay, let's say if that's not our sweet spot, what else you got? Reduce the number of guns. Reduce the number of guns. A number of guns, yeah. No. Have you considered more ballrooms? Without guns, yeah. Okay, you're really hung up on this gun. These tourists were focused on the guns when Trump had a much simpler plans.

It's drone proof, it's bulletproof class, we need the ballroom. So how were these outsiders still so lost? You know where you are right now, right? Yeah, Times Square. Time Square. And you know why Times Square was so f***ing up in the 70s? Tell me. No ballrooms.

Well, there was one, maybe more of a strip club. Ah! But this place was wild. Wouldn't you feel a little bit safer with a closed situation, maybe a chandelier hanging, plate at dinner? I've not been to a ballroom, so. You gotta go to a ballroom.

I'm just, this is for your own. own safety. Still, the more I talk to people from countries without constant political violence, the more I realized they could see a way through. Kind of communicating, keeping an open mind. Try to get to a middle ground. I think it's about unity. You know where I fight unity with people that I disagree with? Weddings. Yeah. I gotta say the last time I was able to talk with my uncle who was on the other side of the aisle, it was my cousin's wedding, you know. A little Michael Jackson comes on, everybody dances a little bit, they start a movie, we're all having a great time.

Where did all that take place? At the wedding. And where is the wedding? In America. And where? But the location in America, that the wedding is held within? New York. That's technically upstate, but it's pretty close.

It's that it's housed in a... A chapel? No, it's not a chapel. There's a room. There's a room. There's a room. The courthouse? No, it's not a courthouse.

It's a room. It's a room. It is a room where we have a ball in that room. A ball room? man. Finally, I was getting through to these people. This ballroom solution just makes sense. Makes no fucking sense.

You don't need a fucking ball. You know, what's the point? I gotta say, you have a lousy attitude. If you could come up with any other way to solve our gun violence problem other than ballrooms, I'd love to fucking hear it. But that's our time. Thank you very much. Thank you, Jordan.

When we come back, tried the insult comic dog, goes to DC. There's something else here now. Something new. From exclusively on Paramount Plus. on Paramount Plus. It's the series Stephen King calls scary as hell. Everything here is impossible,

but it's also real. Sci-fi vision calls it the best show streaming right now. We're running out of time and we still don't know the rules. Don't miss what the movie blog calls something you need to watch.

Saving those children is how we all go home. From binge all episodes exclusively on Paramount Plus. Saturday's White House Correspondence dinner was a terrifying and somber night. Maybe we shouldn't have sent triumph the insult comic dog to cover it. But we did.

Here's his report from the red carpet before the dinner started. I am here at the White House Correspondent's Dinner. An annual gathering of the press that celebrates, or in tonight's case, fondly remembers free speech. On this night, members of the press sit down for a lavish dinner, served by some of their former colleagues. So many of the biggest names in D.C. are here, such as Redoubt. Redacted and redacted. Ooh, CNN. This is a big night.

How about Wolf Blitzer? Is he going to be here? I'm assuming he's going to be here tonight. Because I want to catch him before the bosses replace him with Jake Paul, you know. Here, Leisure, is that where we're going tonight? Listen, where are all the stars? That's what I want to know. Do you see any? You're a star. I'm the biggest star here. It's pathetic.

This thing needs a red carpet like the Olive Garden needs a velvet rope. Fox News guy. Come on, you're not above this. The sun! We got the sun! Peter, do you see... This is a catch. What a knife. No comedians.

We don't need comedians. We have a mentalist. And do you think Trump's going to tell some jokes like how he won the Iran war and how gas prices are going down? Pretty good stuff. It's Peter's dead. Peter, let's go. Peter, no, Peter, if the mentalist asks Trump to pick a number,

it'll probably be under 18, would you agree? It's a politically motivated life. You guys at Fox News know what I'm talking about. Okay, now he really has to go. It's great to see all you Republican guys out here praising Trump. Normally, I'm the only one out here licking someone's nuts. Dr. Raz! I love dogs.

Let me ask you about the mentalist. Are you worried that if he pulls a rabbit out of his hat, will RFK Jr. try to eat it? Oh, my God. Janine Piro, this lineup is crazy. It's like black tide January 6th. She'll never talk to me, but I have a secret weapon. Check it out.

Janine! Janine! Mark Wayne Mullen, the head of the DHS, I have to tell you, I'm a little resentful of you guys. I was stooping a Mexican hairless, and she was picked up by ice. Over in the back there is either breathbare or someone to...

to draw American dad from memory. Do you think Trump will eventually be tried for war crimes? Not for Iran, but for what he's done to the Oval Office toilet. Have you met Skaash Patel? I have, I have. You know, I hear he's a good guy. He loves sports. Great guy.

Are you worried that if he doesn't win his $250 million lawsuit against the Atlantic, that he won't be able to cover his tab at the poodle room? His tab at the what room? The poodle room. I think people need to stop complaining about Cash Patel drinking so much. If you know a better way to come down from how much cocaine he's doing, I'd like to hear it. I don't know if Cash Patel is a cocaine party guy.

Of course not. You know, and a lot of great people are here. You can tell that some of the most powerful people in Washington are here tonight because all the escort services have switched to surge pricing. Oh, my God, it's so exciting. All the big names are here from the cabinet. And Caroline Levitt is here? I mean, physically.

Her soul left her body about a year ago. We're very so Caroline Levitt. Where is Stephen Miller? Anyway, I heard he's stuck in a glue trap. Caroline, Caroline, are you feeling secure? Women in this administration are dropping faster than inbred French bulldogs. Look at her. Seriously, I haven't seen anyone so full of shit since that time I watched the Chihuahua

by the king-sized Reese's peanut butter cut. So Pete Higgsets right over there. I see him? Yeah. Can you give him his drink tickets? He asked me to pick him up for him. Hey Pete, where are we pre-gaming? And post-gaming.

And mid-game gaming. Sharon, what's special about this night? Other than it's the only celebrity party you're invited to anymore. Bobby. Please, Bobby. Can I see my brother one last time? He's in your freezer.

What brings you to the White House correspondence dinner? Are you kidding? This is a wonderful night. We're honoring the First Amendment with Donald Trump. It's kind of like having Kanye come for Passover. So what rotting husk of a once great industry are you with? Oh, USA Today. Okay, good.

And tell me this. What's the plan after this is over? No, no, I don't, I'm not talking about tonight. I'm talking about after the news industry is over. Marco, come on, you can do this. What's the matter, Mr. Secretary? Afraid of a little dog. I'm down on my luck, Marco.

Please, just one question. Just tell me which country you're attacking next. I'm trying to win some money on Polly Market. I'm trying to win some money on Pali Market, man. Just give me a wink if it's Kazakhstan. Thank you, Triumph. Welcome aboard Via Rail. Please sit and enjoy.

Please sit and sit, play, post, taste, view, and enjoy. Via Rail, love the way. Actor and producer who stars in the new comedy Pizza Movie. Please welcome Gaten Maraza. Thank you so much for coming.

I'm so happy to be here. Thank you for having me. I'm a very big fan of yours, I have to say, before I was doing research. It's happened for a very, very long time. So I'm very, very excited that you are, that you are here. This makes me very happy. I feel the same way about you. This is very cool.

I appreciate it. Even if it was just us, even if they weren't here, this would be very cool. This is fine. This is great. So this movie is like a new age Harold and Kumar. Sure, yeah. You get that reference? I do.

I love that movie for a very long time. And that was a movie that was mentioned in the pitch when I first read the script. And it was pitch as well. It's just like a love letter to stoner movies in general. What I... What... What... This is a very funny thing to talk about on this show,

which I loved very much. Yeah, it was a blast to make. And what was really fun is that they knew they wanted to go for... and mention as many kind of usual tropes that Stoner movies kind of tried to go into all the time. That can be a bit of an eye roll and kind of just go so far into them that it's self-referential and bizarre and really fun and kind of spin on it.

It was so much fun to make. It was nuts. How do you prepare for the role? Oh, man. What? There's plenty of research in terms of things to watch. Yeah, experiences to have. Oh, man.

You could go on and on. Yeah, in ways, for sure. Yeah. My dad's here. Oh, okay. Not good. All right. All right.

That's fair. And the thing is, the drug in the movie doesn't exist in their life. Fictional drug, yes. That was explained to me specifically as the reason that we can do whatever we want is that we made up the drug so we can just go for it. Yeah. And that was really cool. The drug, I think I'm allowed. I think I can say this without spoiling too much.

The drug that we take is an experimental drug that was made in our dorm by a previous tenant and a previous student there. And when we take it, we realize it is going to hit us in distinct phases that are representative of several comedic movie tropes. And that to stop ourselves from our worst nightmares finding us and shoving chainsaws up our ass, we have to eat pizza, specifically pizza. or else it will go horribly wrong. Okay. All right.

I feel like, what a synopsis. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I wish that clip before, was, I wish I could say that that's out of context, but that's pretty much in context. Yeah. That's as much context as you get before that starts. Oh, that's fair. And then this movie is about you and your friend in search for that pizza, right?

In search for that pizza. What is a food? or a dish, something that you would sort of go through hell to get? That's a good question. Oh, man. I think just things I grew up enjoying that, like, my family would make a lot of. I would put pizza in there. My grandfather makes one of the best pizzas I've ever had,

which is great he had pizzerias growing up, and so did my uncle. So I would probably, I would go through a lot for a slice that he would make for me to be nice. My mom makes a pretty crazy mac and cheese. But it's like nostalgia food for sure. I think I would do a lot for. Absolutely. Yeah, but I don't know if I'd go through too much. I don't know.

I'd like to say I would. You would like be like it would be nice. Yeah, within reason. I'm not going to drive, though. I won't drive or anything. Yeah, I certainly won't make anything. Absolutely not. I know that so often in Stoner movies

it's about getting the thing that's going to taste the best while you're high. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. But I'm curious, what is the worst meal that you've ever had? Oh, man. I'm not picky. Okay. If it's edible.

Yeah. And if it's not gonna make me sick, right? Yeah. If it's not gonna make me sick, I'll usually find something to enjoy about it. It's kind of the same way I feel about movies in general. Okay. I'm like, if there's, this is exactly what it's trying to be, then I'll usually enjoy it. But I remember one time I was out to eat with my girlfriend and we shared a dish, and I think, like, something was, like, off.

Something that had spoiled. Mm-hmm. And it was just, it was like, like rank. It was weirdly. It was like a little bit like stinky. Yeah. And not in a very, not a good way. And it wasn't a dish that would have like, that would have been something to expect. And I felt. So it wasn't stinky and like a blue cheese way. No, no, no, no. It wasn't like funky or like, like, what's that? It was more of like, this is not going well. And this is as you're chewing.

And the manager of the restaurant was a fan of the show that I do and wanted to talk about it for a little bit. And I didn't want to be rude, and so I just kept eating the food. I know. And I muscled a lot of it down for... It was tough. I didn't get sick, though. Yeah, okay. All right. That's fantastic. Which is a win. I think in that department, is a clear width. You definitely didn't deserve to get sick.

Because you were over here not just like having a good conversation, but also be like, eh, it was delicious. Yeah. I thought it was great. It was awesome. He's like, you want more? You want to take it home? Like, no, I don't know. I'm stuffed. I'm stuffed.

No, I'm so full of poison. I couldn't possibly eat more. So you are actually going to be in the movie musical coming up that is directed by, am I not supposed to say? No, please. Okay. I'm so happy you have. When your eyes got big, I was like, I'm still new to this.

So that when you were like, oh, I was like, oh, no. No, this is very good. I love to talk about this. Okay, great, great. So, no, no, this is, this is perfect. I just want to make sure I wasn't. Please do. You see those clips that the person is hosting

and then they spoil something? They're so good. And then you're like, oh, you weren't supposed to tell me. You can tell whoever you want. Okay, all right. You are in the movie musical coming up that is directed by Lynn Manuel Miranda. Yes, I am.

Very, very exciting. Very, very good reaction. Yes, indeed. He usually gets one. Yeah, and so tell me about, not just like process, because I know you started in theater and everything, but like what that is like to get yourself in the headspace project to project, because this is going to be very different.

It's tremendously different. It's a really cool musical that I actually didn't know much about until Lynn approached me with him making the movie of it. It's called Octet, and it's a musical that consists of eight people. It is sung completely Acapella, and it takes place. in a church basement for an addiction support group for people who are addicted to technology. And it's crazy concept.

And the cast is really cool. There's some really awesome people that's, yeah, I'm geeking out every day I'm there. I just got back from rehearsal today, which it's just been an absolute blast. It's really, really cool. And yeah, getting into a weird new headspace like that, or even just jumping into a project that is,

even the process of it is just so distinctly different from anything that I've done before. Because I've worked in musical theater. I've worked in film and TV, and this meshes those two things in a really cool way. We have a rehearsal process before we even start shooting, which we're in now. So we're rehearsing it as if we were going to put it on a stage, and yet we are, there's still a bit of pre-production and worrying about filming it, which is bizarre to me, and certain things will be shot and long takes that we have to rehearse for as if we were doing a play or a musical,

and that's going to be really cool. but Lynn's a brilliant guy and is, I believe, a true genius. I think that word gets thrown around a lot, and I think he is a real one. And anything he puts his hands on, it's just kind of magic. So it's just a no-brainer. He's incredible. That's incredible.

That's so excited. I'm so excited. I'm so excited. Thank you so much for being here with me. Thank you so much. I mean, I appreciate it. Y'all, give it up one more time. Pizza movie is available to stream on Who,

and who won Disney Plus. Get in Modelizer. We're gonna take a quick break, but we'll be right back after this. That is so awesome. Amazon presents Jeff versus Taco Truck Salsa, whether it's Verde, Roja,

or the orange one. For Jeff, trying any salsa is like playing Russian roulette with a flamethrower. Luckily, Jeff saved with Amazon and stocked up on antacids, ginger tea, and milk. Habaniero, more like habanier, yes. Save the everyday with Amazon. The argument that it's a

lavish vanity project, maybe, but it's mostly for national security. They're building a nerve center for the defense intelligence agency underneath, and you can't get a drone through a missile through is the safest place on planet Earth. We can have not only what house correspondence in there is we can have kid rock concerts in there. 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.