The Daily Show: Ears Edition - U.S. and Iran Wage a Meme War as Pete Hegseth Blasts "Unpatriotic" Media | Lee Sung Jin

Episode Date: April 17, 2026

Ronny Chieng plunges into America's evolving war with Iran, how global fuel shortages are making Thai news anchors sweaty, whether Iran's AI video of Jesus casting Trump into hell falls under Hegseth���s “patriotic” label, and how all this chaos is somehow improving the U.S. stock market. Plus, Iran’s stream of “slopaganda” is inspiring Michael Kosta to do his part in the emerging meme war. Grace Kuhlenschmidt breaks down the hottest tech news, including the rise of "tech neck" from chronic phone use, marathon runners racing against robots in China, and an AI avatar that could finally give the world a lifelike Mark Zuckerberg, in the latest edition of Tech Yeah! From a Powerpoint pitch to a hit series, writer and director Lee Sung Jin joins Ronny and breaks down how the new season of his award-winning Netflix series ”Beef” came together through honest collaboration and real-life inspirations. Jin explores generational divides and relates them to why this season takes place at a country club. Plus, he tells the story of returning to Korea after 20 years to film parts of Season 2 with legendary actors Youn Yuh-jung and Song Kang-ho, and getting a surprise set visit from “Parasite” director Bong Joon-ho. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

You're listening to Comedy Central. From the most trusted journalists at Comedy Central, it's America's only sorts for news. This is The Daily Journal. Enriching weapons-grade memes, Pete Heggseth can't take a bad review. And good news, your phone is making you ugly. Oh, wait, sorry, that's bad news. Sorry, my bad. But first, let's get into the latest on the war in Iran.

Nothing bad can happen. It can only good happen. Let's start with the straight of Homoos. Much like clavicular, we all found out exist two months ago, and now people won't shut the fuck up about it. Well, we have an update. It's still closed. No one can get oil,

because turns out this thing we never heard of was the choke point for the entire fucking planet. Whoops. There are long lineups for fuel from Pakistan to Cambodia to Vietnam. Sri Lanka shortened work weeks to save electricity, In Bangladesh, the energy crisis has forced universities to close. In South Korea, people are being asked to take shorter showers. Okay, not cool, South Korea.

Times of global unrest are when people need to jerk off in the shower the most. And the war is not just making it harder to get clean, it's making it harder to be dead. In Thailand, the strict measures have prevented this temple from refilling its tanks, meaning they would have to suspend cremation. Are you telling me Thailand is filling up with dead bodies? Well, nobody tell RFK Jr. Did anyone call dibs on there?

And while Thailand can't set fire to his dead people, it also can't cool down its living ones. The Thai government has ordered government employees to lower office air conditioning to save energy. During a morning show segment, Thai TV news anchors ditch their suit jackets on air. Let's just take it off so we can set an example of how to save energy too. By wearing less clothing, it can help with our moods and the coping with the weather. Yeah, yeah, it's kind of hot in here. Let's take off our jackets. Betty?

Oh, oh, what's that? Breaking News. Looks like we have to shower together, too. Just to save water. Curse this war. Actually, oh my God, I just realized. This whole oil crisis is going to end with me seeing Wolf Blitzer's dick. This shows you what life is like for other countries in a world dominated by America.

We start a war and now everyone else has to have swamp ass. But hey, if it's any solace to the rest of the world, I'm sure the American economy is suffering just as much. The American stock market just hit a record high. Isn't that something? That's right. The American stock market is as high as ever, thanks to the investment strategy of,

la la, la, la, everything's fine. Money, money, money, money. The stock market is like America's Instagram. No matter what's really going on in your life, always looks good on the stock market. Hey, happy anniversary, baby. Our marriage is perfect, and we definitely are sleeping in the same room. For most of the world, this war cannot end soon enough. And today, we got an update from Pete Heggsett, Secretary of Defense and Worst part of every Hooters' Waitresses Day.

He came out at a press conference this morning, and you can tell he's laser-focused on defeating Iran. A note to the press, to the press corps, to the American media. As I just can't help, but notice the endless stream of garbage, the relentlessly negative coverage. Okay. Right. No, obviously he has to defeat the American media first, but then Iran. In the press, you only seek the negative, earning each and every day the fake news. label. Okay, okay, I get it. We suck. We suck. Fine. Okay. But what about the homoze? Sometimes it's hard to figure out what side some of you are actually on. It's incredibly unpatriotic. Where's the coverage of the new spirit in the country? Yeah. Yeah, you stupid fake news

media. Show some headlines about spirit in America. Like how about Spirit Airlines may have to liquid aid due to the rising fuel prices? Okay, well. You guys are so happy that spirit is literally. You know what I mean. Okay. Stop with all the crybaby anti-Trump questions. Like, why haven't we achieved any of the goals in the war?

Just fucking babies. Only good Christian patriotic questions from now on. Okay, go. Iranian embassy accounts are sharing an AI video of Jesus Christ, kind of bloodily killing President Donald Trump. Does the Pentagon have a response? to this, including the fact that this AI Jesus is casting Trump into hell. Now, there's a question.

What does, I quote, what does the Pentagon think of Iran's AI video where Jesus kills Trump and tosses him into hell? Which, by the way, is too graphic to even show on TV. And as we all know, there's no other place besides TV to watch videos, so I guess you'll never see it. But what say you, Secretary Hexeth? Are you pro or con this video of Trump being sent to the fires of hell by AI Jesus? As far as a video like that, of course, that's disgusting and detached from reality. Yeah, okay.

Thank you for clarifying that Jesus punching Trump straight into hell was not reality. I don't think there were a ton of people going, so are they going to arrest Jesus for this or what? I mean, I was all set to go to my nearest church, find a priest, and be like, what the fuck, man? Man, get control of your boy. This leads to an important point about the Iran war. Memes are weapons now. War with Iran isn't just playing out on the ground. It's exploding online.

Iranian embassies and pro-Iran groups are flooding social media with AI-generated memes, many mocking President Trump and U.S. policy. Mocking President Trump. No one's ever thought of that. Big deal. Look, no offense, Iran, but you're not exactly known as a cultural powerhouse. Okay, so good luck impressing Americans with your little videos. The secrets are leak it.

The pressure is rising. We locked on the target. And now you... Holy shit. Did I... Is there a sequel to a Lego movie I don't know about? Did I just see Iran fire a loser rocket at Lego Trump? I mean, look, do I support Iran propaganda?

No. Could it end up on my Spotify rap? Absolutely. I mean, I kind of can't wait for Iran the headline Coachella next year. But if I told I can do that, you know what? I bet Donald Trump and his virgin maxing meme lords

can go even harder. All right? Show him what you got, Trump. Want to see me do it again? Want to see me do it again? What the fuck was that? That was the shittest meme. ever. How is Trump bad at this? What is the point of electing a cyber bully if he sucks a cyber

bully? I was worried we might be the bad guys in this war, but after seeing this disc track, I'm realizing it's much worse. What Drake? For more on the meme war and who is winning it, let's go live to Michael Costa. It seems like America is winning the meme war. Well, up to now, no, Ronnie, but things are about to change because President Trump is calling on all Americans to do our part and help make memes for the war effort. Wait, he wants us to make memes? Ronnie, in World War II, Americans planted victory gardens so the soldiers could have vegetables. Well, Americans don't eat vegetables anymore, so that shit's not going to help.

Instead, Trump needs able-bodied Americans meaning as much as possible. I'm doing my part right here. Check out this meme. Boom. Got him, Iran. Suck it. USA! U.S.A!

What the fuck am I looking at? It's the ICAN has cheeseburger cat. But instead he's saying ICAN has straight of hor moose. It's classic. Yeah, I know the mean, dumbass. I just don't know how

America is going to win by posting 20-year-old cringe. All right, well, I'm trying, okay? War is hell. But if you want something a bit, more updated, check out my latest creation. Imagine you're the Ayatollah, sitting all gay at your computer. When

we drop this, boom, we accept your surrender, Iran. No, what are you applauding? I don't get this. What is this? Okay, look, you see the guy in the middle? That's the straight of her moves. And he's supposed to be focused on this girl,

Iran. But instead, he's focused on this girl, USA. And the straight is like, damn, America, you've got a great ass. But his girlfriend, Iran is like, oh, no, you didn't. And the straight is like, yes, I did. And then everybody... Costa, Costa, your meme is making no sense.

Okay, I don't understand what any of this means. It makes total sense. This meme is about how America is a country with a great ass. The meme is not about asses. Look, trust me, the internet is going to go crazy over this. Speaking of which, how do I get this on the internet? Is there a PO box I mail it to? Costa, no one in Iran will care about your super shitty memes.

Hey, man. at least I'm doing something. All right? What are you doing? Sitting there at your cozy desk? Well, I'm knee-deep in the shit out here, risking my life for this country. I spent all week on these memes. Look at this one.

Check this out, Iran. Why does the text say Michael Jordan? I mean, shouldn't it say, like, Iran? It's not Iran. It's a picture of Michael Jordan. Have you ever seen this meme before? Oh, wait, hang on. Hang on, Michael.

I'm getting a word that Iran has seen. your memes and they've actually posted a meme in response to your memes. I'd like to see him try. Okay, yep, here it is. You get sure it's breaking news right now. And it says bad at memes, great at micropenus. What's the hell? How do they mail that to the internet so fast?

They really do have advanced tech over there. But you know what, Ronnie? Okay. I'm willing to sacrifice. They can make fun of my micro penis if it helps us win this war. How would that help us win the war? Think about it, Ronnie. We get Iran totally focused on fighting with memes owning us, clowning us.

And while they're all glued to their phones laughing, we sneak our ships through the straighter her moose. Costa, that... Okay, that actually is kind of smart. Exactly. I know, Ronnie. In fact, it's genius. It's so genius that I made a meme of it. Michael, that's too much text.

I came and see the guy behind it. Well, that's Michael Jordan, obviously. Michael Kosta, everybody. Until then, we took the Grace Koolen smit in our ongoing segment, Tech, yeah. What's up all my home keys in 5Gs? I'm Grace Koolen Schmidt,

but some people call me Grock Kulenschmidt, because you can ask me anything. And I love picturing people naked. And, Sh! Tech, yeah, where I tell CPU all about the biggest stories in tech. Let's start with a story about the spine, which is the H-DMI, it goes from your mainframe to your printer.

Trust me, this thing never runs out of ink. Tech is warping our necks, our backs, our shoulders, and our traps. Increased smartphone use can lead to what's being called Techneck. It's when you lower your head just so while scrolling so that little lines form on your neck. 60% reports spending at least five hours a day looking at their screens, which causes pain, Headaches. Okay, if Technic is a thing, then call me the throat goat. When I breathe, I sound like a pug.

It's tension. Technic is a badge of honor, like a boxer's cauliflower ear. Or a twink's blown out back. Put in the work. This is the next stage of evolution. First, man evolved to walk upright. Now we've evolved to walk around hunched over, rewatching that video of Lenny Kravitz splitting his pants.

For some weird reason you don't love your hot-ass hump, there's a simple cure. Could the solution to all of our technique woes be as simple as getting some tummy time? That classic technique that babies use to strengthen their own necks and backs is now catching on with adults. Not appropriate to do like at the office, but you can work this in at home, guys. Oh, come on, I can't do it at work. My coworkers love when I act like a baby. Hey, Ronnie, the cure for Techneck is tummy time? I was like, hang on, I'm saving that for my wedding night.

I was going to virgin for weeks. We might be ruining our bodies, but don't worry, robot bodies are stronger than ever. In China this week, dozens of humanoid robots will be racing against humans in a half marathon. It's going to feature more than 100 robots, some fully autonomous, others remote controlled, Last year, a human took home first place. This year, the teams are pushing their technology to see if the robots are going to take us all out. Wow. They invented a Kenyan robot.

This is a huge, huge help for sanitation workers because robot marathoners can't shit their pants. Yet. Trust me, when I say there's absolutely no downside to teaching robots how to chase us down, think how early I'll be to everything if I'm running. for my life. So awesome as a lady who loves playing tag, but doesn't have any children. I'm so sick of going to the playground and asking little boys if they want to be it. Don't want me talking to your kids because they're slow as fuck.

But jocks aren't the only ones getting digital. Nerds are two, including the king nerd himself. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg is reportedly training an AI clone with his image and voice, along with his mannerisms, tone and public statements. Meta may start allowing creators to make their own avatars if the Zuckerberg experiment goes well. Unfreaking believable! After decades of technological advancements, we finally invented a way to make Mark Zuckerberg seem lifelike. And it captures all of his signature facial expressions, like angry, happy, scared, sunscreen.

I was lucky enough to get a sneak peek at AI Zuckerman. and it did not disappoint. In our short conversation, I learned so much, mainly that men aren't for me. Fortunately, when Daddy Duck opens an AI door, he closes an AI window because he just announced they're shutting down a huge part of the Metaverse.

Sorry, I'm getting a little emotional. I'm going to miss the Metaverse. There's so much to do in there, like this. Wow, this is so cool. Hello? Anyone want to do tummy time? Well, that's all for this edition of Tech, yeah. Tune in next time when I show you how to turn off ad blocker.

Please welcome. Mr. Lee, Sun J. Yeah, you wrote Created Beef. Season 1. Well, China. Original IP in America. Thank you. Yeah, how did you put it together?

I was just a lot of sleepless nights. Okay. More specific questions, like, how did you convince them to back original stories? You know, it actually started with PowerPoint. I was like an econ major, and so all my pitches to networks are, like, very involved PowerPoint. Like, I get, like, the macros and animation and everything going. Right. And Bella Bajaria and Ginihau at Netflix, they saw that PowerPoint, and they were like, yes.

It must have been one hell of a PowerPoint because they not only did they let you write and make the show, they let you direct it as well. I think that was your directorial debut, the season of one. Yeah, the season of the finale was. That was less PowerPoint and more like running out of time. Oh. Yeah, we were just like really behind and they're like, you do it. Really? That's a big, no, you're being modest.

That was your big break? Yeah. We're running late, so you fucking do it? Yeah, that's the trick, you know? You have to time everything to where they don't. Oh, my God. Just make it, like, so chaotic that they don't have time to process their decision making. I was going to ask you give tips to the kids.

Yeah, that's number one. Yeah, be late. Make everything super late, so they have no choice but to put you in charge of this. Exactly. But it obviously paid out. I mean, and when you're directing the first season, I don't know. I just, it's so, you know, I just feel like I'm blowing smoke up your. but like, I'm not.

See, season one just felt so inspired, you know? I don't know. Yeah, people here watch it. Yeah, it's very inspired. There's something in it. And I keep saying this, but it's very rare. You know, we've got so much shit on the internet right now to watch

and you compete in so many things and to make a show that breaks through, you know, this real triumph of writing and acting and directing and marketing even. Like, for this to come together, I don't know. It's just, I don't know. How do the fuck did you do? It's honestly, like, the collaborators. Like, I'm just good at, I guess, like, assembling Avengers, you know? And it's just a lot of very honest conversations.

Like, even with, like, you know, like you say, like the marketing. Like, a lot of times you just hand off the marketing, but then we, like, have a two-way conversation about it. And we're like, you know, like, season one, it was the middle finger, you know? Oh, those you? Well, it was actually a conversation amongst many people. So just so people don't know, the season one, like the billboard was like, yeah. You invented the middle finger. No, no.

It's the season two, you know, we were like running out of ideas and then someone like flipped the middle finger over and like squashed the ant and we're like, that works. And so it's just a lot of back and forth. I guess it's certainly not born of one person. I think the joy of what we do is the. alchemy of when like a bunch of people come together and you achieve something like bigger than I tell everyone to shut up and not. No, collaboration is obviously one of the joys of it and you, but I mean you, when you went into it, again, I say that it just felt very inspired.

This first, the first season and the second season, for that matter, but the first season. And I'm wondering like, did you see, did you have the vision for it all in your head or how much of it was you discovering it as you were making it, you know? A lot of it is discovery, you know. I have a pretty limited imagination, so I kind of depend on the real world just showing me things. So season one was based on like a real life road rage incident that I was involved in, very loosely based, or I wouldn't be here today. And season two again, you know, I didn't have any idea. Well, I had a lot of ideas.

Netflix just kept saying no. Yeah, yeah, we were like. sleeping awards and and you know i was like pitching them all ideas and they were like uh no thanks and uh yeah i'm like what's the guy got to do to get a pickup around yeah yeah you think you make beef and you guys you should shut the up and let me make what i want but uh it wasn't until i was walking in my neighborhood and you know i'll speak very vaguely because i still live in said neighborhood but uh i heard a very like what's called it a heated argument coming from a couple's home what race what race

No, it doesn't matter, but it kind of does. You know, no cops care, so I think you know. Okay. But, you know, for me, it was actually when I was retelling the story to friends where inspiration struck, because when I told my Gen Z peers, they were all like aghast, you know, like, did you call 911? Did you follow up? And then when I told, you know, my peers my age and older, they were just kind of like, I mean. Who amongst us has it?

So I thought that dichotomy was really interesting, so luckily Netflix agreed. Right, and that actually brings up a good point is that one thing you've done with season two of Beef, which we'll get into about how it's an anthology in a second, but like season two of Beef is really, I feel like you really did capture that a very authentic representation of,

older millennials now in 2006. And I feel like this is the first show to do that. Because we've captured millennials before but it was always, you know, it's from 10 years ago. That's the impression of millennials in pop culture that we haven't really solidified in the blockchain and it's, it was it was like a caricature of millennials by boomers or Gen X. Yeah.

But you as a millennial yourself, this show, you know, one of the themes of second season is this generational thing which you just described. And you really, really dialed in the, the, it was like spot on, how it feels to be a millennial right now. And then you also managed to get Gen Z in there, too. Yeah. So, I mean, how do you manage to capture those guys? Uh, those totally good.

Have you seen them? They're crazy. They're like breaking bones in their faces. They're like, I don't know. Yeah. I feel like this is a trap for me. No, you can shoot them. It's okay.

It's okay. It's God given right. Every generation can shoot on the next year. You know how much shit I took from baby boomers for like 20 years? Yeah, 20 years of shitting. What the hell do the millennials ever do? We didn't even do anything. All we did was eat avocado.

It made it sound like we were Nazis. All we did was fucking avocados. Shitting on us for like over a decade. Shut up, boomers. Shut the fuck up. I shoot on both sides. Yeah. No, that.

That rant was just like literally season two. That should be our promo video. No, I mean, I think our take on elder millennial was just like leaning into the elder part of it. You know, I think that's what's new is that millennials are all like, oh, no, we're old now, you know? And I think with Gen Z, you know, I tried to self-reflect and think about

when I was in my 20s and I was on writing staffs, you know, and I would judge the older, writers so hard, they were like 37, you know? And I'd be like, oh my God, we're staying till 705 p.m. They must hate their families, you know? And here I am 44, and I'm like routinely at work till like 11 p.m. I also like to think that we will be more gracious with letting Gen Z, giving them space to work. Yeah.

Versus how these boomers were when I was. They were awful. And they were entrenched and just boxing everyone out. You couldn't do anything. You couldn't get fired because they were just too entrenched in the system, man. These boomers. Well, that's actually a big reason why we set this season in a country club. Because from my observation, most members are boomer or silent gen.

And in my mind, no matter how hard those employees work, they'll never get to be members. And I think that's like a perfect microcosm of what's happening today in 2026. Like everyone feels like you know Everyone before us grabbed the bag before we could So we're just going to be employees for the rest of our lives And so yeah we took that metaphor and try to make a somewhat comedic show I hear a lot of ooh so There's like boomers in this audience

Who are like there's audible like oh You got it so I mean yeah it's good And the other thing you kind of nailed in beef season one, and I don't want to give away what happens in two, but like this idea of, you really managed to bring in like this authentic integration of Asian culture into these storytelling, which doesn't feel like tokenism or doesn't feel shoehorned. You know, everything feels really just, you're trying to tell a story, happens to use Asian culture, but you want trying to like tick a box or anything, which I thought was very cool.

Oh, thanks. In season one when Stephen Yerner's character tries to kill himself. with a hibachi grill. Like, I wasn't like, oh, they just did that for DEI. I was like, you know, this makes sense in the story. Yeah, well, that, not to bring the crowd down, but that was actually based on my real personal life. Okay, yeah.

Yeah. But, you know, obviously I didn't do it or else, you know. But, you know, just write what you know. No, that kind of all. That kind of authenticity. And, I mean, I got to give my flowers to Koreans right now, I guess. For those who don't know, he's Korean. Not that it matters, but I'm just saying...

Two woo's. Two woos. But I'm just saying that it just feels like in this moment, like, what is it about Korean culture that? They're doing such a great job of commenting on American capitalism. Like, what is that? Why is that? Why are they just nailing it? Uh, maybe like, it takes one to no one, perhaps.

I think, like, Korea is, like, capitalism, like, on steroids, you know? We're just, like, very, very good at it. Like, K-pop is just, like, music plus capitalism, you know? And I say that with great reverence, as I know the K-pop fans are very fervent online. There's no overlap with this YouTube. They don't come to this part of the internet. But yeah, I mean, you know, you say it's on steroids, but I mean, this is the capital of capitalism. But somehow these Koreans are just, like you filmed some of this season two in Korea, right?

Yeah, we did. We shot for a month out there. That was probably the peak of my career, like honestly, to go back. I hadn't been back in, you know, like 20 years probably. I went to elementary school there. and I was shooting the scene with the great Juno Zhang, who won an Academy Award for Minari. And it was the...

That guy was not Korean, me. So shout out for, you know, Minori for cross-andals. And she was shooting her first ever scene in Korean history with the great Songkang-o, the dad from Parasite, who's one of my favorite actors of all time. And we were shooting at this beautiful building, more pacific that no one ever gets to shoot at. And in the middle of shooting,

Director Bong Junho showed up on set and surprised us. And he kind of like went up to the monitor and elbowed me and he jokingly said, are you sure you want to frame it like that? It's like, I'll frame it however you want, Director Baum. And that was like peak for me. Right. Yeah, that's really cool.

That's really cool that you got to go back to Korea and see that and get your flowers from Koreans as you should. Thanks. Yeah, that's, I mean, my parents, really didn't like take anything I did seriously until that moment. And I mean, I just kind of, I just kind of want to end the interview with a bit of a, you know, with your success and how you managed to navigate the industry. Your information and knowledge based right now is very current.

So I'm wondering if you could share something to the kids watching this. But we don't, first of all, the kids will never make it to the end of this video because they, no, no. These Gen Zs are the attention span of goddamn go fish. But you should reward the ones who do make it to the end of this video. And you should kind of give them, if you could, if you don't mind, kind of give them, I mean, how would you see, if you were to advise someone right now who has a story in them who believes it can be the equal of your show? How should they navigate it? I think it's probably maybe like two things.

Like one, just get really good at your craft, you know, like put in the 10,000 hours. I think that's one good thing from us coming up with boomers above us, you know. It wasn't like handed to us. We had to put in a lot of hours. And then I think while doing that, the most important thing is to just like be yourself. You know, I think everyone in this room, you're like one in eight billion people. And that's like the most unique thing. That's like the thing that like Claude AI has very difficult task in trying to replicate.

And so I think that's priceless. So you like, you know, try to do those two things at the same time. and I don't know, maybe get like really good at PowerPoint or something. All right, that's all right. Episodes. All episodes of a new season of beef are streaming on Netflix right now. Hey, Zlishanjin, everybody. Yes, we did it.

We're going to take a quick break, but we're right back after this. He all talking about it. He's done a fantastic job. He's got a very difficult job. Pope's got a tough job. You know, got issues in the church. But Donald Trump has a very, very difficult job to do. The toughest job in the world, I believe that Donald's.

Donald Trump is better than sliced bread. I think he's almost a second coming, in my humble opinion. 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.