The Daily Show: Ears Edition - Trump Targets Obesity & Threatens Nigeria While Airlines Cut Flights Amid Shutdown | Ethan Hawke

Episode Date: November 7, 2025

Trump plays dead fish during a medical emergency in the Oval Office, the White House’s Ozempic announcement has Americans losing 400 pounds each, the president finds a new enemy in Nigeria, and Jordan Klepper reports on shutdown-induced flight cancellations that will have people walking home for the holidays. On another episode of Sports War, Jordan Klepper and Ronny Chieng fight over whether the Dodgers deserved to win the World Series, the integrity of the NBA amid a sports gambling scandal, and an Aussie darts player whose dirty nickname sparked controversy. Academy Award-nominated actor Ethan Hawke sits down with Jordan to discuss his new movie “Blue Moon,” which takes place on an “important night in art history,” after Lorenz Hart attends the premiere of his former collaborator’s musical, “Oklahoma!” They talk about his physical transformation into the character (including that comb-over), working with Richard Linklater for the ninth time, what the film says about American mythology, and his show on FX, “The Lowdown.” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

That's annoying. What? You're a muffler. You don't hear it? Oh, I don't even notice it. I usually drown it out with the radio. How's this? Oh, yeah.

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Like NCIS, Tony and Ziva. We'd like to make up your own rules. Tulsa King. to take out the competition. The substance. This balance is not working. And the naked gun. That was awesome.

Now that's a mountain of entertainment. Paramount Loose. You're listening to Comedy Central. From the most trusted journalists at Comedy Central, it's America's only source for news. This is The Daily Show with your host, Jordan Clepper. Welcome to the Daily Show, I'm Jordan Klepper. We got so much to talk about tonight.

Trump finds a new country to invade. You might have to walk home for the holidays. And Dr. Oz wants to make you snatched. So, let's get into headlines. Let's start with the big health care news. Today, Donald Trump announced a major deal to drastically cut the price of OZempic and other weight-lossed drugs.

It's all part of his campaign promise and his one consistent principle of no-fatties. He made the announcement at the Oval Office today in an event that turned into a major HIPAA violation. Secretary Howard Lutnik. Do you take any of this stuff, Howard? Yeah. Okay, good.

CMS administrator, Memonize. He doesn't take it. Where Steve, do you hear, head of public relations for the White House? He's taking it. Steve, he's on OZepic. Told his wife he's been doing CrossFit at the garage, but nope, it's OZepic.

Steve's got to be careful, though, because I heard Ozempic interacts with Cialis, which Steve is also on. You know what? Joking aside, obesity is a serious issue. So, this could be a benefit. Dr. Oz, you're a doctor, theoretically. Give us a reasonable expectation of success here.

Mr. President, our estimate, based on the company numbers as well, is Americans will lose 135 billion pounds by the midterms. Whoa! 135 billion pounds by the midterms. Why the midterms? Did they add a swimsuit competition to those? Look, I'm no mathematician, but 135 billion pounds divided by 340 million Americans

means we each have to lose 400 pounds by the midterms. Look, and I know that sounds like a lot. But remember, that's just the average. Some people only lose 300 pounds, while other people will lose 500 pounds. Some of us will lose no pounds at all, which will be offset by everyone losing 800 pounds. The point is, regardless of how much you lose,

Donald Trump will be tracking it and announcing your personal results at a press conference. And by the way, another crazy thing that happened at this health conference is that someone had a health emergency. He passed out. They attended to him. He's fine. But I only bring it up

because it resulted in one of the greatest images of the Trump presidency. Look at this. Everyone is attending to this guy. Meanwhile, Donald Trump is zoned out like he's in a... marriage counseling session. You know what?

All kidding aside, Mr. President, I appreciate your war on Fupus. You're the America First President. I'm just glad you're focused on the American people. If the Nigerian government continues to allow the killing of Christians, the USA will immediately stop all aid

and assistance to Nigeria. We're going to do things to Nigeria that Nigeria is not going to be happy about and may very well go into to that now disgrace country. Guns are blazing. Whoa. Guns a blazing.

I mean, if you say so, President Yosemite, Sam. You know what? Maybe try it again, but with a bit more gravitas. I'm hereby instructing our Department of War to prepare for possible

action. If we attack, it will be fast, vicious, and sweet. Fast, vicious, and sweet? You're talking about military action or a new wing sauce on hot ones? Look, I don't know where this attack on Nigeria came from, and I'm not the only one.

Trump's boys on Newsmax were also a little surprised. You know what? It's about time someone stood up for Christians, Rob. He's doing a lot. That's a big one, Nigeria came out of left field. Yeah. Even the anchors on Newsmax are like, oh, where the f***ed Nigeria come from?

I prepared 20 minutes on Bad Bunny doing the Super Bowl. No, I guess I'll pivot to Nigerian holy war. Oh, shit. You know what? It seems like President Trump has the time to start lowering the price of weight loss drugs and fomenting war with Nigeria because it turns out there's not much.

else going on. The government shutdown is now the longest in American history. Oh, yeah! That's right, the shutdown. Nothing's going on because the government is irrevocably broken. State 37 of the shutdown, and there's no end in sight, especially because Trump still refuses to even meet with the Democrats. At this rate, by the time the government opens back up,

Mike Johnson will have gone through puberty. Look, don't worry, Mike. Those hairs are supposed to be there. You know what? It's fine if the shutdown stretches on forever. It's not like things are falling apart. New details about the FAA's plan to make unprecedented reductions

to air traffic beginning tomorrow to ensure the safety of the flying public during the government shutdown. The list of the 40 airports that will be affected from Hartsfield Jackson in Atlanta to LAX in Los Angeles and from Miami to JFK in New York. 40 of the top airports

that's all the important airports. And don't come at me, Buffalo-Lancaster Regional Airports. Your Hudson News is shit. That New Yorker was from two months ago. Get out of town. Like, this is going to mess up travel for the holidays for most of the country. And the airline's plans for how to avoid this, not super helpful. Frontier CEO, making this recommendation,

if your flight is canceled, your chances of being stranded are high. So I would simply have a backup ticket on another airline. Frontier Airlines wants me to get a backup ticket. Respectfully, you're the backup ticket. You've always been the backup tickets. It goes United, then Southwest, then American, then the Goodyear blimp, then a catapult, then Frontier Airlines.

Here's what we are. Our reality, our reality right now is that the president is spending his time doting on his pet projects and starting new wars while the country is scrambling to deal with the immediate crises that he is actively ignoring. If only there was a picture that would offer a perfect metaphor for this.

Now, in the meantime, If you were hoping to travel to any major city anytime soon, you're shit out of luck. Although, there is one place that's taking advantage. The government shutdown is ruining air travel. Flights are canceled in cities around the country. Except for one. Come to Money Gap, Nebraska. Our airport is unaffected by the shutdown.

Because we don't even have one. Your plane can just land on the highway. No one's using it. Our little town has everything you were planning to do somewhere else. Were you looking to play slots in Vegas? Well, we got a pay phone that sometimes gives up a quarter. Try your luck. You don't need Nashville to have a bachelorette party.

We got a large storage shed, a boom box, and a copy of Jock Jams 4. Traveling for loss in the family? We don't have your grandma's funeral, but we'll have a grandma's funeral. People die here all the time. And you won't miss the beauty and splendor of the Grand Canyon when you can stare at our sinkhole. Been there since 79. Forget seeing Mickey and Donald at Disney World. We've got our own lovable animal friends, specifically feral hogs with a taste for human flesh.

And why spend the holiday strolling the streets of Manhattan when you can come here and do fentanyl? You don't need a fancy convention center to host your business conference? Come here instead and do fentanyl. You don't need to pay for expensive glamping here. You can sleep pretty much anywhere. Except there, that's the Douglas Ranch and he shoots to kill. You don't need a New Year's Eve wedding in Miami. We'll marry you here.

No Catholics. Here at Muddy Gap, we're not worried about the shutdown because we don't even recognize the authority of the federal government. And when the final war comes, you'll join us in our last stand against the globalists. Muddy Gap, America's only remaining vacation destination. When we come back, Roddy and I talk sports. Don't go away. no frills delivered. Shop the same in-store prices online

and enjoy unlimited delivery with PC Express Pass. Get your first year for $2.50 a month. Learn more at pceexpress.ca.ca. Welcome back to the Daily Show. I think I speak for everyone when I say politics rules and sports rules. For a full recap of the biggest stories

in the world of jocks and straps, we turn to sports war. We're ready for that. It's time for Sportsball. Brought to you by gambling. Gambling. It's not just for professional athletes. What's up, numnuts?

I'm Ronnie Shane. And I'm Jordan Clepper. This is Sports War, the show where we are legally not allowed to agree with each other. So, if I say college basketball is more exciting than the NBA. Well, then I say college basketball. Who's watching the NBA and thinking, gee, I wish these players

also had homework. Come on, Roddy. Homework builds character. Yeah, your mom builds character. That's right. She raised a good boy who grew up into a fine man with compassion and empathy. Fuck you, Ronnie.

Let's kick things off with the Los Angeles Dodgers who continued celebrating their World Series victory this week. The Dodgers and their fans basking in the glow of back-to-back World Series titles. Will Smith was the hero, hitting a game-winning home run

in the top of the 11th inning. An estimated 250,000 fans flooding downtown L.A. At the World Series after party, Dodger star and newly crowned champion Freddie Freeman doing the worm. Wow. Wow. Congratulations. Who says white people can't dance like it's 1995?

My penis hurt just watching them. All in all, this World Series reminded me of Jordan's pre-show bathroom routine. It was long, dramatic, and involved multiple Japanese guys. Shut up, Roddy. Everything done by them, to them, is consensual for me. Nothing, nothing. Top Dodgers catcher, Will Smith, hitting that series-winning home run and finally redeeming himself for that time he slapped Chris Rock in the face. That was a different, Will Smith, you moron. This one is a one. white guy. I know, Ronnie, and I'm talking about a white, Chris Rock, that white Will Smith

slapped. There's a lot of people named Chris Rock and Will Smith out there, and they all hate each other. Point is, the Dodgers championship was straight out of a baseball movie, a true Hollywood ending. Oh, did someone break a bat over your giant head? This was another boring Hollywood reboot, okay? The Dodgers won. Hooray. They won it last year and spent more money to do it again this year. Big deal. If you want to see a true Hollywood underdog story, imagine a team of grandmas winning the World

Series, all played by me, Ronnie Chang, in nine different old fat suits. I call it Grand Slam, and it's filled with hardcore nudity. Which brings us to our fat suit, Fat Cat, Better Than Night. Which British actor will play show A-O-Taddy in a Netflix

original series about the Dodgers? Brought to you by gambling. Gambling. You lose 100% of the bets you don't make with your wife's credit card. Speaking of gambling, it's been a tough month for America's favorite new pastime. A new fallout from the gambling scandal in the NBA. Authorities accuse Miami heat player Terry Rozier, faking an injury and feeding that information to betters. Commissioner Adam Silver speaking out. There's nothing more important to the league and the fans and the integrity of the competition.

That's right. That half man. Half Lizard is right. This affects not only the integrity of the NBA, but it puts the entire sports gambling ecosystem in jeopardy, which is why it's time for a rare sports war ceasefire. Sports War ceasefire. We here at Sports War have prepared a joint statement. Thank you, Ronald.

To whom it may concern, if you're the kind of depraved low-life scum that would throw a game to win a bet for your friends, then we have one thing to say to you. Hit us up, bro. Seriously, Terry, what the fuck? I love having inside information. Hey, anyone planning on tearing the AC out tonight?

Well, slide into my DMs. I'll put you in my parley. Don't worry, I can be trusted. Okay, you wouldn't believe the stuff Jordan has told me in confidence. Like how he's the Hymns.com customer of the year. Okay, you know what? You only know that because you were the runner up. Which brings us to our rock.

hard better than night. How many months until Jordan flies to Thailand for penal rejuvenation? Brought to you by gambling. Gambling, your wife's PIN number is 5266. If she changes it, just say, what? You don't trust me?

Turning now to sports for people who can't play sports. Big news in professional darts. Ozzie Darts player has been banned from using his nickname at the upcoming World Championships. Tim Pussy, Magnet, as fans refer to him, is not allowed to use his moniker for the December event

after the governing body deemed it well vulgar. Hey, chill out, professional Dots League. Let him use his nickname, The Magnet. Why are these officials being such a dick to pussy, all right? The only reason a Dott League should have a governing body is to make sure you're drunk and fat enough to play. Ronnie, you know less about Duccy. darts than you do about pussy. The darts governing body is right on the money here.

First of all, this guy stole my nickname from college. There is no chance your nickname in college was Pussy Magnet. Yeah, I know. It was Tim. What? Your name is Jordan. Yeah. Back in college, let's just say I was a real Tim. So I say, good for the darts league. When I'm watching darts, I'm not trying to think about Tim Pussy getting laid.

I'm trying to think about what went wrong in my life that I'm watching a professional darts game. Which brings us to our Vijay Parlay, Bed of the Night. What will Tim Pussy's new nickname be? Brought to you by Gambling. Gambling. Your wife's birthday's coming up. Buy her a nice necklace. So the credit card statement says K-Juelers,

then return that necklace for cash and buy a much cheaper necklace. Use a leftover cash on a seven-way parlay on North Korean Corridhole. If your wife calls you out and says, wait, This cheap-ass necklace caught $10,000. You didn't buy an expensive necklace, return it for cash, and then buy a cheaper necklace

so you can bet the leftover cash on North Korean Cornwall, did you? You just start crying and say, how dare you? Then head straight to the airport and beg them for a job. After a few months, they'll promote you to baggage handler so you can rifle through people's luggage until you find a decent necklace, then bring it home to your wife and say, found it, honey, gambling.

It's just that easy. Well, that's all the time. We have a sports war. Join us next time where we debate if hockey would be better if it had a ball, court, and black people. That's basketball. Oh, yeah, that's a great name for it. I was going to call it black hockey.

I mean, you can play it up. You know, instead of a strong. You know what's better than the one big thing? Two big things. Exactly. The new iPhone 17 Pro on Telescence. five-year rate plan price lock. Yep, it's the most powerful iPhone ever, plus more peace of mind with your bill over five years.

This is big. Get the new iPhone 17 Pro at tellus.com slash iPhone 17 Pro on select plans. Conditions and exclusions apply. Welcome back to the Daily Show. My guest tonight is an Academy Award nominated actor, writer, and director who currently currently stars in the film Blue Moon. Please welcome Ethan Hawke. King of the world.

Just feeling good. You guys made me feel good. Right? They loved it. Yeah. You made me feel it. Woo. I got to tell you.

Ethan Hawk. I have heard stories about Hollywood, contracting and getting smaller. And then I see you are in Black Phone, too. You are in Blue Moon. I turned on the TV. You are in the low down. Like, are we experienced a hawkassance right now? Like, I'm not worried about AI taking my job.

I'm worried about Ethan Hawke taking my job. You should be worried, because I've been watching you, and I've got some ideas. You can do it, right? Yeah, yeah, I got some ideas. I can do that sports center thing you guys got going. I can take Ronnie on. You know, it's harder than it looks, you know?

It didn't look very hard. Okay. Just leave some jobs for the rest of this. All right, yeah, you got it. It's so funny in that clip, you hear everybody gasp when they see you. You're a five-foot-tall man who has a comb over hair.

Like, there's Ethan. Oh, God, he's let himself go. He's let himself go. I know. My wife came to set when she's watching the monitor, and she's like, I think I'm going to go home. This is not doing anything for it. What's harder?

Playing a five-foot person or a comb-over person? Oh, comb-over. Com-over is, right? Yeah, it's just not sexy, you know. So I had to shave the, you know, middle of my head and leave it wrong and comb it over, and I died there. And you really realize that you work on the comb over, and when you're in the mirror, it looks fantastic.

You know, but it's just any other angle from the back. That it's just the direct on looks kind of fine. Yeah. I see why guys, you know, Trump does it pretty good. He does. Give him the, the one thing we can all agree on is his hair looks fantastic, right? God, God, it does.

The envy of his job. Everybody loves it. This movie's fantastic. Blue Moon is wonderful. It takes place in a night at Sardis after the premiere of Oklahoma. Right. And it's a theater movie. It's very much.

It's a true story based on. Yeah, but that makes it sound not good. Oh, shit. Yeah, no. Theater movie, like, it's, all right, it's, can I set it up? You know what? You're taking everybody's job there. Is that what this is?

Set it up. What are you guys? All right. It's a night in life. It's 1943, the middle of the war. Rogers and Hart, greatest songwriting. team of their generation cover of Time magazine that the Lennon and McCartney of their day. Except this is the first time Rogers has written with anyone else, a young man by the name of Oscar Hammerstein. They're about to change musical theater history. Larry Hart is about

to be sent off to Antarctica to death. It's literally as if you're with Lennon McPartney, the day the Beatles are going to break up. One of them is going to be in a band five times bigger than the Beatles and the other one is going to be dead. That's we're talking. Real time, you're at the party. It's a good. movie. Did I sell it? That's it. It's a great movie.

Thank you. I think honestly, you get to sit. This movie has such great conversations about art, the world, about love. Like, it's all in there. And also, it's directed by Richard Link Letter, who you worked with many times before.

And he loves you. In a way that you see, he does not, there are no tricks. They sit on you. You have long, long, long, monologues and there's no tricks around it. We're sitting with Ethan Hawk and we're watching him act. And that has to be intimidating as I'll get out.

It was the hardest job I've ever had. Partly because you say Rick loves me and I imagine some part of that is true. I don't know. He's never said that. And I feel the same way about him. And we were taking a big dare together and he's directed me and this is our ninth film together. So he's seen, he spent years of his life editing. my performances. And he just basically said to me,

I don't want to see you. And so any time we'd be shooting the movie, and I'd do a take, he'd go, I saw you there. And the third line, you know, when you picked up that. I saw, that was you. That's the Ethan, I know. He just, he wanted me to disappear. So I had to come on that set, five feet tall,

comb over, terrible skin, alcoholic, shaking, nervous wreck. And I tried to disappear into it. And, you know, he basically said to me, you've been talking about acting for the 30 years I've known you. Why don't you show me if you can do it? And I was like, I'll show you, and then I got really nervous.

I mean, the cast is amazing, though. Yeah, Margaret Qualley, Andrew Scott, Bobby Kenevali, a lot of great people. You guys are dancing with each other up there the whole time. Well, Bobby and I've known each other, you know, for a long time. We've done plays together, and he really came over there and supported me. He's a great actor, and he, I just needed, he's the barkeep, and I'm the drunk at the bar stool, can't stop talking. And so I needed him.

and Andrew Scott, I didn't know before. I'd seen him play Hamlet years ago in London. I wrote his name down in a journal. I was like, I got to work with that guy. Margaret Qualley's friends with my daughter, so that worked out well. I gotta use my daughter to make connections. Use whatever connections you have, right?

Yeah. There's an interesting conversation that happens in the movie. It's about Oklahoma, and your character kind of articulates an artistic vision for theater in a way that he leads in the satire. He wants theater to be used as, used as a commentary on what's happening right there, mixed with Roger's view of sincerity in the theater and sort of reaching towards that. Where do you land on that divide? Where do I land on my

judgment of the musical, Oklahoma? Yeah. Yes. Who's right? He's critical of it. That thing goes on to be the biggest musical ever, and yet he thinks this thing doesn't deserve the praise it's getting. What I see the movie is about is it's a moment in American history where we're right in the middle of war, we're winning the war, and we start this process of self-mythologizing ourselves as a country. It's a musical called Oklahoma. That is not the story of the Oklahoma territory, all right?

Girls in gingham dresses saying, I can't say no, is not the story of America, okay? All right? And we start doing this thing where we believe our own narrative about us as a hero, and it does a lot of good, and it makes a lot of people really happy, and it feels really good. And it's, what my character sees is the start of a lie of being nostalgic for a world that never existed. And so the movie's kind of spinning around.

It's not just, it is a night in the life, but it's an important night in art history, jazz age is ending, something else is starting. I think it was Hitchcock, who said, Sound of Music, set cinema back 20 years. Do you ever hear this quote? No. Well, and that's a Rogers and Hammerstein musical, too.

And it's, we love it so. much. I don't even know what Hitchcock meant, but I kind of know what he means. Because it's just, you just believe in this myth of everything being sunny and, you know, my favorite things. And Hitchcock was asking more of an audience, and he knew then, oh, we're never going to be able to sell it. Yeah. I mean, American exceptionalism is a comfortable lie, but is inherently perhaps a lie. And you tell it every night. I do. Right? Thank you. And I deliver it. I deliver it. With compassion, right? I've heard you talk about the cast in Blue Moon.

You talk about it being like a symphony and different instruments. Look to what's happening on FX with the lowdown, which is a totally different experience. It's a fun. It's noirish. It's gritty. It's not giving into this narrative of American exceptionalism.

It's showing some fun, moneyed sides of... Have you seen reservation dogs? I have very much so. Well, the guy who makes the lowdown, Sterling Hard Joe, is a great filmmaker. And I fell in love with that show Reservation Dogs. I went down. I did a little cameo in the show. And it was just the most exciting time I had on a set since, you know, working with Link Letter, really.

It was the whole city of Tulsa is alive with all these young artists. And they really have something to say. And they feel like, I don't know, there's something in the whole spirit and energy of what they're doing. I just wanted to join their band. And Sterling invited me down there. We made the show The Lowdown. And the season finale aired, like yesterday, I think. So it's out.

Check it out. It's very good. Not a waste of your time. Yeah. It's fantastic. I will say, I have not only such a fan of your work, but the algorithm sends me so many Ethan Hawk videos of you talking about art. Am I clothes?

Some of them. I asked Chatsy BT to take it off, so I get the whole picture, yeah. But I keep you with the comb over. It's just a weird thing I have, you know. The nude stuff with the comb over is my best. That is, I really think. You're so vulnerable there, Ethan, I appreciate it. But I think you have great taste.

You did a movie called Blaze, which I loved and got me way into Blaze Foley. I told you this backstage. For the Criterion Collection, you suggested a movie called The Blues According to Lightning Hopkins. See it. It's amazing. Which was an amazing documentary that I had never heard of and blew my mind. Before I let you go, what are you passionate about now? Give me something to get interested in myself. Make me love something.

to get interested in yourself? You want me to get, you want to get interested in you? No, I'm already, I'm way too fascinated with myself. Yeah, I was going to say that. I was going to say that. Something else. I said, you seem fine on that front. Oh, I love me.

In fact, I can give you stuff about me if you want to get more interested. It's just first thought, best thought. I'll tell you, you may think you know everything. There's a new book that just came out called John and Paul a love story. And it's the story of McCartney and Lennon, not told as the Beatles story, but it's really just a portrait of their friendship. And it's really, really moving. And it made me kind of revisit all my thinking on the Beatles.

And I thought there's so much, I think, that is special about what they touched and why they continue to touch people. It's A, a level of artistic excellence that we really haven't seen very much of. And B, male friendship. And I think that's what really connects people to it, is we don't see a lot about that. And when you see a real sincere friendship, it's powerful. That's beautifully sad. Well, the movie, Blue Moon, is fantastic.

I haven't seen a performance like that. It's John Barrymore. Oh, you're my name. She's got a fucking Barrymore. The legend, Ethan Hawke. Blue Moon is in theaters now, and all episodes of FX's or lowdown are available to stream on Hulu.

Ethan Hawke. You take to a which point. Right back after that. That's our show for tonight. Now, here it is. We're all because they want to return to the failed Biden policies that created, and also Obama policies. I watched him the other day up talking about Donald Trump is a mean person. I'm not a mean person. I just want to have a country that's great again. Is that okay? I'm not a mean person.

He's a mean person. 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.