The Daily Show: Ears Edition - Wall Street Halts GameStop Rally | Regina King & Doug Henwood

Episode Date: January 29, 2021

Doug Henwood weighs in on the GameStop stock surge, Roy Wood Jr. talks to African political scholars about America's democratic crisis, and Regina King discusses "One Night in Miami."Please visit dailyshow.com/FirstRespondersFirst to help provide medical and psychological treatment for first responders on the front lines of fighting COVID Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

You're listening to Comedy Central. When 60 Minutes premiered in September 1968, there was nothing like it. This is 60 Minutes. It's a kind of a magazine for television. Very few have been given access to the treasures in our archives. But that's all about to change. Like none of this stuff gets looked at. That's what's incredible. I'm Seth Done of CBS News. Listen to 60 Minutes, a second look on Apple podcasts starting September 17th.

Hey, what's going on everybody? I'm Trevor Noah, and this is the daily social distancing show. I am extremely happy to announce that believe it or not, I just completed yet another New Year's resolution. That's right, my friends. I started journaling. And I've got to say, I think it's been pretty great for my state of mind during the pandemic and the quarantine.

All work and no play makes Trevor dull boy. All work and no play. Thanks Trevor, Dalboy. All work and no play. Things to find our tell one. All work and no plane. No, all work and no plane is to work. No, no, no, it feels like it's really working. Anyway, on tonight's show, Rich people are being shot into space.

Wall Street tries to stop Game Stop, and Africa brings democracy to America. Plus, the multi-talented Regina King is here to talk about her brand new movie that's got Oscar Buzz. So let's do this, people. Welcome to the Daily Social Distancing Show. From Trevor's couch in New York City to your couch somewhere in the world. This is the Daily Social Distancing Show with Trevor Noa. Years Edition. Let's kick things off with the Daily Social Distancing Show with Trevor Noah. Here's Edition. Let's kick things off with the coronavirus pandemic.

It's the reason you were able to watch Crudes 2 on opening day in your bathtub. And now there's actually some good pandemic news for a change, people. Cases in the US are dropping steeply for the first time ever. And the Biden administration is purchasing 200 million more vaccine doses and plans to have the entire country vaccinated by the end of summer, which is so exciting. It means I'll be vaccinated just in time for apple picking. I'm partying. I mean partying at like the coolest orchards. I mean clubs. I go to the clubs, you know, I don't pick apples.

And while they are still problems distributing the vaccine, some medical providers are getting creative to make sure that not a single dose goes to waste. A snowstorm that snarled traffic in Oregon ended up being a blessing in disguise for drivers who ended up being in the right place at the right time. That is because. Also stranded in that very same storm was a group of health care workers who had been administering vaccines. The workers had six doses with them and were worried the doses would go bad before they made it back. So they started giving out vaccines to others.

Among those who were vaccinated was a sheriff's office employee who had been trying to get to the vaccine site when the storm hit......... the the storm. the storm. the storm storm the storm the storm the storm the storm the storm the storm. the storm the storm. the storm. the storm. the storm. the the the the storm. the the the storm. the the storm. the storm. the storm. the storm. the the storm storm. the storm storm storm storm storm storm storm storm. the the the the storm storm storm. So, the the the the the storm. So, the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the storm. the the storm storm storm storm storm. the storm. the the storm. the the storm. the the the storm. th. th. th. th. thi. thi. thi. tooooooooooo. to. to. to. to. to. to. to. the to. the the the the the the t others. Among those who were vaccinated was a sheriff's office employee who had been trying to get to the vaccine site when the storm hit. Okay now that, that's a pretty dope story. Imagine being caught in a storm and lucking into a COVID vaccine. That is officially the best thing to happen on a road in Oregon. I mean, normally when you get stuck out, they just die of dysentery. Then you've got to restart. Now, some of the drivers they asked chose not to get vaccinated. And honestly, I get that. I mean, if some stranger in a van offered to give me a shot, I would also say no. I learned that lesson when I was a kid.

Yeah, you can only fool me so many times, Mr. Barry, you know my uncle. Barry, you know my uncle. But I do think that there's an important lesson here for everyone. Whenever there's a blizzard, get in your car and drive around until you stumble on someone with extra vaccines. And that, my friends, is Trevor's safety tip of the day. Moving on to travel news. If you're already planning your first post-pandemic vacation, maybe you've been thinking about a flight to Paris, you know, to visit the museums, or a trip to New York to see Broadway, or a trip to Naniya because you don't know that that's not a real place. Well, for some real adventure seekers, they're planning a way more unique getaway.

And three, very rich men will make up the first crew of private citizens to blast off to the International Space Station. It will cost each of them $55 million to fly on a SpaceX rocket and spend eight days on the orbiting lab next year. The men were introduced yesterday. They are 70-year-old real estate entrepreneur Larry Connor of Ohio. He will be the second oldest person to fly in space. The chief executive of a Canadian investment firm, Mark Paddy, will also be part of the

crew as will Israeli businessman Aton Steba. They will be led by a former NASA astronaut. Wow! $55 million for an eight-day vacation. And that doesn't even count the 7 million they had to pay for a checked bag. But it does sound amazing, you know? I mean, part of me wishes I could be up there with them, looking down at the earth. At the moment they realized that they spent 55 million dollars to have to catch their poop before it floats away. Another question I have is,

have these people never watched movies in space? Something always goes wrong! And when it does, I don't know if it's going to help to have a real estate entrepreneur on board. Oh my God, there's a killer alien headed straight towards us. Let's raise its rent by 7%, which is higher than the standard 5. That'll show it. Oh, fuck, we're so dead. And finally, remember three weeks ago when a mob of Trump supporters tried to overthrow the government, remember that?

Wow, that was so random, right? Well, anyway, investigators are now examining if parts of the attack were planned in advance by the proud boys. And we don't know yet how investigators are getting their information, but now we're th that at at th. th. th. thoe. th. thoe. thoe. tho. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. th. th. thoes, thi. thi, thi. thi. thi. thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their th. And, thi. And, thi. And, thi. And, thi. And, thin, the. And, thr. And, thrownean, thrownean, thau. And, thau. And, thau. And, thau. And, thr. And, thr. And, th. And,oud Boys. And we don't know yet how investigators are getting their information, but now we're learning that at least in the past, one of the proudest boys hasn't been too proud to squeal to the cops. We have some new details to share with you about the leader of the right-wing group, the Proud Boys.

According to court documents obtained by Reuters, Enrique A Tario was an informant for both the FBI and also local police in Miami. Now, it was part of a plea deal that he made after a 2012 arrest for fraud. According to court transcripts, a former and a former prosecutor, the 36-year-old helped with several cases ranging from drugs to human trafficking. You may recall, Tario was arrested in the days that led up to that Capitol riot. Tario denied working with police and said, and said, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I'm, I'm, I don't, I'm, th. thi, thi, thi, thi, th. ta, ta, ta, ta, ta, ta, ta, ta, th. thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, the, thi, the, thi, thi, the, the, thi, thi, ta, ta. ta.a. ta.a.a. ta.a.a. ta.a.a. ta. ta.a. ta. ta. ta. ta, ta, that led up to that capital riot. Tarrio denied working with police and said, quote, I don't recall any of this. Are you kidding me right now?

The founder of the proud boys is a snitch? Man, fascist bigots just aren't as trustworthy as they used to be. The story's insane, people. These dudes just stormed the Capitol. And now they're finding out that their leader their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their theed the capital and now they're finding out that their leader has got the FBI on speed dial? Man, the next Power Boys meeting is going to be hella awkward. Item 1 on the agenda, snitches get stitches. Item 2, where are we hosting our virtual Christmas party this year guys?

Doug's mom said we can't use their virtual basement. I also love how he's like, I don't recall any of this. My dude, th, th, th, the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the th. the th. their, th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. thi, thi, their, thi, th. th. th. their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, the the the the the the the the th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thin, thi. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. we can't use their virtual basement. I also love how he's like, I don't recall any of this. My dude, being an FBI informant isn't the kind of thing you'd forget. It's like being asked if you're a virgin. No one's like, uh, am I? Let me think. I hang out with that one lady a lot. Wait, no, that was my mom, so that doesn't count. Although, to be fair to this guy, I get why someone in a hate group like the proud boys would want to work with the FBI. He probably sort them out like, hey, I heard your crew try to kill Martin Luther King, Jr. Game-recognized game.

But let's move on to the big story that everyone is still talking about. The game stop stock explosion. You know, it's the reason your 14-year-old cousin just bought a Ferrari. Traders on Reddit sent the stock soaring this week, causing billions in losses for the hedge funds that bet against the video game retailer's stock. And today, Wall Street decided enough was enough. And this is a Fox News alert now. Draw your attention to Main Street, where GameStop and AMC shares have been tumbling

in trading action today as a growing number of firms moved to halt trading on some stocks boosted by amateur traders on Reddit. The action is so wild that TD Ameritrade and Robin Hood have restricted trading of these stocks. Wells Fargo also banning its advisors from telling clients to buy or sell GameStop and AMC. And now the criticism centered on Robinhoods tr. tr. tr. tr. tod. tr. tod, tod, tod, tod, tod, tod, tod, toding action action action action action action action action action today, today, today, today, today, today, today, today today today today, today, today, today, today, today, today, today today today today toding action action action action action action action action action action action action action action action action action action action action action action action action action action action action action action action action action action action action action action action action action action action action action action action action action action action action action action action action action to to to to to to to to to today, today, today today today today today today today today today today today today today to today today t advisors from telling clients to buy or sell GameStop and AMC. And now the criticism centered on Robin Hood for abandoning their followers here in favor of helping those who insured it all these stocks in the first place. I don't particularly like the move on Robin Hood today. I'm talking to people this morning that say, okay, that is anti-capitalism. You can't do that. A class action complaint was just filed in the Southern District of New York against Robin Hood.

And this is what part of it says, and I'm quoting, purposefully, willfully and knowingly. Robin Hood removed the stock GME game stop from its trading platform in the midst of an unprecedented stock rise. Thereby, it goes on manipulating the open market. Yeah, that's right people. Wall Street was getting rocked so hard by average people buying stock in GameStop that they just stopped average people from buying it. Yeah, the

same guys, the same guys who are always like, the markets must never be regulated. They must always remain free. Those same guys are now like, oh shit, the poor people got a hold of the freedom. Turn it off, turn off the freedom! So thanks to this ban, the GameStop stock that a lot of people bought for a ton of money is now worth a lot less, which is probably familiar to anyone who sold a used

game back to GameStop. So right now, a lot of people are understandably upset about what Wall Street is doing. In fact, it's bringing together people from all sides. I mean, AOC and Ted Cruz are as far apart as Madison and Austin, and even they're both blasting the Robin Hood app for blocking users from buying GameStop stocks. Everyone's mad. Even people like Jaroo. Jaruul who tweeted, Yo, this is a fucking crime. What the Robin Hood is doing. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. the th. the the the th. the the th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. the, th. the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the the the the the th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. thi. thi. the. the. the. the. the. the. the the. the the. the the the the the the the the. th. ul. Jaru who tweeted, yo, this is a fucking crime. What a Robin Hood is doing. Do not sell. And let me tell you something.

When the guy who did the fire festival thinks that you're a fraud, man, and you're doing some shady shit. Now, please don't get me wrong. This story is huge, and it's complicated, and it's complicated, so complicated that we wanted to bring on someone to talk about it more with us to help you and me understand. So earlier today, I spoke to Doug Henwood. He's an expert on the intersection between economics and politics.

He's also the host of a radio show called Behind the News and the author of Wall Street, how it works and for whom. We talked about the whole Game Stop Surge and what's really going on behind the curtain. Doug Henwood, welcome to the Daily Social Distancing Show. Good to be here. From a distance. Yes, yes, indeed. And it's a perfect time for you to be here. You have really established yourself as somebody who is not just aware of the market and participates in the market, but also calls Wall Street out for what it really is. The biggest story right now is GameStop, Wall Street, hedge funds, and just a lot of money

that is nowhere and yet everywhere. In the shortest way possible, how would you break this down to somebody who had no idea what was going on? Most people, most civilians who don't really know the markets very well have the sense that it's all a big racket, kind of ludicrous, not that different from the casino, like all this image that Wall Street likes to cultivate about itself, that it's rational and it's allocating capital efficiency and all that, efficiently and all that. It's just nonsense. It's not doing any of those things. But mostly it's just a game a a gametry to outwit your competitors,

people on the other side of a trade, whatever, and run away with the most money. It's just, there's nothing terribly rational. It's driven by emotions and psychology and fear, and most recently, over the last year or so, by a gusher of something like $3 trillion in federal reserve money, which has been powering the markets. So it's that sense that a lot of people have that this is all a bit of a racket is completely accurate.

So it seems like, like you're saying, it's like basically people came into the casino and said we're gonna play against the house and we're gonna make a lot of money. What's interesting here is a market that is oftentimes termed free and capitalistic has now been stopped. Can you explain that element? Why was it stopped? Have these people broken the rules?

Have they done anything wrong? Well, I think there are a couple of things going on? One is, you know, these Reditors, they're just the wrong kind of people. But they're playing the same game that Wall Street, talking down a stock, trying to figure out the other guys' positions, looking who's weak, attacking them. They do, Wall Street professionals do this sort of thing all the time. And I think it's very funny to hear their professions of outrage that this is just not moral, you know, it's not fair. It's like the markets are, you know, supposed to be on the up and up and their thulucp, thus, thus, thus, thus, thus, thus, thus, thus, their their thus, thus, thus, their thus, thus, thus, thus, thus, thus, thus, thus, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi. thi, thi. thi. the to to to to to to to to to to to to thee to the thee thi. thi. theee thithe other thing is, yeah, they just try to protect their own. And Robin who it, although likes to present itself

as the democratic institution, the democratic broker for the masses are going to overturn the Wall Street order, it's deeply plugged into the Wall Street establishment. That's how they make their money. They feed their orders to establish brokers who then make money on those trades by taking a little bit of the price. So yeah, I think they are trying to make an orderly market, but they're also trying to keep defenses on to make sure the rabble can't crash the party. So then two questions. One, what does this tell us about Wall Street and the market? And two, what do we do to improve this?

Because it feels like an unfair system. It is an unfair system. It's a deeply unfair system. And one of the things that make me suspicious about all this talk of democratizing a stock market is that the distribution of income and wealth is very undemocratic. And there's nothing that a trading platform can do to change any of that. I mean, the fundamentals of the society are not going to change because some people in Reddit got to play in the stock market. But what does it tell you about Wall Street? It

is largely of little economic significance. The standard story is that the stock market exists to raise money for productive corporations to invest in capital equipment, buildings, machinery, hire people, do R&D. It does almost none of that. The market really is more about extracting value, to the top one percent of society. The ownership of stocks is extremely concentrated. It really is a machine for extracting value for the top 1% of society. The ownership of stocks is extremely concentrated, something like 95% of all stocks are owned

by the richest 5%. And you know, a few guys on Reddit are really not going to change that fundamental fact. So for those people who are on Reddit, you know, for the people who came in because they liked that GameStop got a new CEO. You know, those people who actually wanted to invest, the people who said, I believe in a future or screw the hedge funds. What position are they in now?

I mean, are they at risk of losing a lot of money now? Or are they in a position where they've made so much from the initial investment that if they get out, generally going to be fine. Yeah, I think you're going to exit a position, you just can't start a new one, which is somewhat reasonable, okay. But you know, I think some people are going to really lose a lot of money. If people who are sensible enough sold into this rally, you know, if you bought it at 50 or 100, to 350, you're doing pretty nicely. But I was just looking at the chart for trading in GameStop today, tod, tod, tod, tod, tod, to, to, th, th, th, th, the, the, th, the, th, the, th, th, th, and, and, I, I, I, I, I, you, you, you, you, you, you're, you're, I's, I, you're, you're, you're, you're, you're, you're, you're, you. And, you. And, you're, you're, you're, you're, you're, you're, you. And, you. And, you. And, you. And, you. And, you. And, you. And, you. And, you. And, I. And, I. And, I. And, I. And, I. And, I. And, I. And, I. And, I. And, I. And, I. And, I. And, I's, I's, I's, I's, I'm, I'm th. And, I'm th. And, I'm th. And, I'm th th th th th th th th thin. And, th th th th th th th, it went from something like 350 to 150, you know, during the course of the day. It's been an utterly crazy wild ride. None of it making much sense at all.

Now, I think a lot of people, however, are going to hold on to their positions, hoping that, well, if it went to 350, you can go to a thousand. On Twitter today, somebody said to me, 4,000 with eight or 10 rocket emoges afterward. This is the nature of bubbles. You know, this larger issue here is that the entire stock market is in an epic bubble. I mean, it really one of the great bubbles of all time. The market has only been valued this highly at a couple of previous times in history. 2000, at the peak of the dot com bubble, and 1929 before before the great, the great, the great, the great, the great, the great, the great, the great, the great, the great, the great, the great, the great, the great, the great, the great, the great, the great, the peak of the dot-com bubble and 1929 before the Great Crash.

So you know, we're in some really crazy territory. And things like this are a sign that maybe things are just a little frothy. But you know, I think there is that sense that when people get, people who are new to the market get this deeply involved as a kind of a sign sign that thi are ripening, shall we say. There's a saying on Wall Street that a bare market is when money returns to its rightful owners. And I think we, I don't know what's going to set off that bare market.

Bubbles always go further than you think they could. There's certainly no rationality to this at all. But at some point, somebody's going to be left holding a very depleted bag. Before I let you go, does the person who is holding the depleted bag determine how the situation is dealt with? So if the big players on Wall Street, if they're the ones holding the depleted bag, is it going to be dealt with differently from the government, versus if the people on the ground are holding the depleted bag?

Oh, absolutely. There's nothing right now that we can see that would require any kind of government bailout. You know, a couple of hedge funds may blow up, but nobody cares. There's no systemic risk around that, you know, much the worst for them. But, you know, I think if some Wall Street people left, thrown, their trouble, we'll have a government bailout. That's always what happens. No, Wall Street's quite an amazing game. There is always this, I guess, every, I don't know, 10 and 15 years they seem to run into a wall and the government

bails them out. So, you know, they learn that they can get away with anything. There's a famous story about Sunny Barger, the old Hells Angel who woke up woke up from a coma after a motorcycle accident. And the nurse said to him, well I hope you learned your lesson, Mr. Barger, he said, yes I did. And she said, what's that? And he said, I can do anything and survive. I think that's the attitude that the Wall Street cultivates. They can do anything and survive. The only thing thi that that that that that that that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's the the the that's the the that's the the the the the the the the the the the the that's the that's the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the th. the is the is the. theanneuu. neu. neu. neu. neu. neu. neu. neu. the nurse. the the the the the the the the the the The only thing that would really change anything is if there's enough popular outrage that said we really need to regulate this casino seriously. We didn't really have that serious a set of reforms after the 2008 financial crisis. You know, all right, but not serious. It was not like the reforms that happened after 29 to 32. So maybe, maybe, maybe if we see some kind of very serious smash up, we might finally

wake up and have some kind of regulation of this Saturday. Doug Hanwood, thank you so much for joining us on the show. I hope to see you again. Anytime, thanks. Don't forget, you can check out Doug's radio show behind the news wherever you get your podcasts. All right, when we come back, Roywood Jr. gets some advice on democracy from Africa. And Regina King is still joining us on the show, so don't go away. When 60 Minutes premiered in September 1968,

there was nothing like it. This is 60 Minutes. It's a kind of a magazine for television. Very few have been given access to the treasures in our archives. You're rolling? But that's all about to change. Like none of this stuff gets looked at. That's what's incredible. I'm Seth Done of CBS News. Listen to 60 Minutes, a second look, starting September 17th, wherever you get your podcasts. Welcome back to the daily social distancing show. As the past few months have shown,

America's government is a lot shakier than it appears. Luckily, though, there's a continent that can offer a lot of advice for unstable democracies. Roywood Jr. has more. Okay, so here in America, things have been pretty rough lately. Actually, it's been kind of terrible. Okay, it's been a damn nightmare. We actually had an armed coup.

How do you come back from that? To find out, I sat down with three political scholars, all from Africa, where they've actually seen this kind of shit before. Problems of democracy, problems with dealing with election violence could actually happen anywhere. It could happen to everyone. And in the context of Africa, what has happened when violence follow elections, key leaders going to exile. But Nathan, Trump got kicked off of Instagram, Facebook, Snapchat, the exile is happening. He can't even get on Etsy.

You know how much of an asshole you got to be to be banned from crafts? It's sort of social exile. But I think that there should be substantive punishment. Crafts! That's right. Trump needs real punishment. And I know his supporters are saying, can't we just let it go? Trump's gone.

He waved and got on the helicopter, like Godzilla going back into the sea at the end of the movie. But it turns out that letting it go is exactly the wrong thing to do. We may think that January 6th may be kind of this critical juncture where the unfathomable has happened and therefore we will do things differently. And that usually doesn't happen. What happens is people will say, okay, it's time to heal and it's time to forget and move on,

and therefore never holding people accountable and never deconstructing the institution that allow such violations to take place. That's how you stop racism. You have a terrible moment, and then at a sporting event, you have a moment of silence, and then a month later, you act like that shit never happened. That is very dangerous, particularly. We put black squares on our Instagrams.

Unfortunately, these experts say if we're going to avoid a coup pardew, well, America's going to need a whole laundry list of constitutional amendments. You need a universal voters role, a elections management body. Building systems that are for the people, by the people, working with the people. Take a look at security institutions, taking a look at the financing of politics.

That's fine, but we gotta keepto keep the electoral college, right? The electoral college exists in order to keep white southerners within the United States by empowering them so much that they would be able to maintain a system of segregation and pseudo-slavery. No, the electoral college, I'm gonna push back a little bit. The electoral college was... Actually, the reason that The electoral college, I'm going to push back a little bit. The electoral college was... Actually, the reason that the electoral college was... It's got college in it though, so it sounds smart.

I'm sorry, I'm even cut you respectfully. One analogy is rebuilding a house. Sometimes you have to gut the house. Gut the whole house? Maybe you just get the property brothers to come in for a weekend. They they they they they they they they they they they they they they they they they they they they they they they they they they they they they their their their their th. T th. T th. tho tho tho tho- tho- that that tho- tho- tho- tho- tho- tho gut the house. Gut the whole house? Maybe you can just get the property brothers to come in for a weekend. They knock that out. You watch property brothers? You can try to paint the trim and you can change your countertop.

But ultimately, there needs to be a moment of reckoning. Damn, sounds like this isn't the kind of thing two clones on HGTV can fix in an hour. It may be the worst fix-rupper that we've ever seen. There must be something we're doing, right? The good thing of January 6th was the Georgia election result, and that is the result of decades of work and political mobilization and constituency building. And so if you replicate the work that created the Georgia result all over the United States, then, you know, there's possibly a good foundation to build from. That's the American dream. And the thing about the dream, though, is that you can't lie down and nap and expect it.

You need to work for it. Yes, I get it. I got to work for the American dream. I see now how annoying it is for someone to tell you that. Wow. Which brings up one question. After all the bullshit that America's put African nations through, how good does it feel to look at the TV screen and tell America that they need to get their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their they need to get their shit together. It feels amazing.

What's that German word? Shardenfreider. Trump was referring to African countries as shit-hole countries. Now tell me who is the shit-hole country. Hold on, this is my country you're talking about now. Well, you see, democracy is hard for us. to not just hard for us. Well, America, sounds like we got our work cut out for us. Sorry, I mean, you have your work cut out for you.

Because I got a backup plan. How much to get one of them African citizenship passport joints? Is that what you got out of this conversation? Who's single? Who's single? We can organize you an ancestral visa of some kind. Oh, bet. All right, then. I'm thah. We' thah. We'a. We'a. tha. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. tho. tho. tho. tho. tho. tho. tho. tho. tho. tho. tho. tho. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. It's. It's. to. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's a to. It's a to. to. to. to. to. to. to. to. to. to. to. to. to. to. to. to. to. to. to. to. to. All right, dude. I'm out. We ain't got talking no more.

Appreciate y'all. I'm just leaving America. That's the easiest thing to do. That's what we should have done. Why don't y'all just tell me that shit in the first place? Bitch I'm gone. Did we tell him about our local dysfuncti Nothing, it's great, it's very sunny. Welcome. Thank you so much for that, Roy.

All right, when we come back, Regina King is on the show to tell me about the nights that Muhammad Ali, Sam Cook, Jim Brown, and Malcolm X all spent together. You don't want to miss it. When 60 Minutes premiered in September 1968, there was nothing like it. This is 60 Minutes. It's a kind of a magazine for television. Very few have been given access to the treasures in our archives. You're rolling? But that's all about to change.

Like none of this stuff gets looked at. That's what's incredible. I'm Seth Done of CBS News. Listen to 60 minutes, a second look on Apple podcasts starting September 17. Welcome back to the Daily Social Distancing Show. So earlier today, I spoke with Oscar-winning actor, Regina King. She just directed her first feature film One Night in Miami about the night that Mohammed Ali, Sam Cook, Jim Brown and Malcolm X spent together.

We talked about that and more. Regina King, welcome to the Daily Social Distancing Show. Man, hi Trevor. Hi, Regina, how are you? I, you know, I'm, I am just trying to bend with the win. Right, right. I feel like that's the motto of your life. Ever since I've had the pleasure of knowing you from a far as a person and then being able to stand next to you while you're holding golden awards at award shows, you have always seemed like somebody who goes, I'm doing what I can do, you know, defined by the circumstances that I'm limited to, but I'm just going to keep doing what, the, the, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, and, and, to, to, and, and, and, to, and, to, and, to, to, and, to, to, and, to, thin, thin, thin, thi, thin, and, and, thin, thi, thi, thin, thin, and, thin, thin, and, and, and, the, and, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, thin, thin, thin, thin, thin, thin, thin, thin, thin, thin, thin, thin, thin, thin, thin, thin, thin, thin, thin, thin, thin, thin, thin, thin, thi, to keep doing what I can do, and man, have you been doing it?

Well, thank you, but yeah, that is kind of my motto. I'm just doing my best. Doing your best is an understatement, Regina. You have an Oscar, you have a Golden Globe, you have a record for primetime Emmy Emmy awards. You are doing more than everyone's best, in my opinion. And now you're stepping in to to to to to to to to to to to the world in the world in the world in the world in the world the world the world the world the world the world the world the world thi in the world the world thi. thi. thi. thi. thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, that is kind kind kind kind kind kind kind kind kind kind kind kind kind kind kind kind kind kind kind kind kind kind kind, but that is kind, that is kind, that is kind, that is kind, th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. thi. thi. thi, thi, thi, thin, thin, thin, thin, thin, thin, thin, thin, thin, thin, thin, thin, thin, thin, thin, thin, thin, thin, thin, thin, thi. thi. thin my opinion. And now you're stepping into the world of directing in a major way. Most people direct, and we don't know that they're directing. You stepped in, and already people are saying, man, this film could be in the world of Oscars. Before we talk about the buzz, let's talk about the story, one night in Miami, four legends. What did you think that you could tell in the story that would just give us, I guess, a reimagining of who all these people are? Yeah, I think more than anything for me,

while we know that this night actually happened, the conversations are imagined by Kemp Powers, who wrote the script, who is an amazing writer. He also co-wrote and directed Seoul. So he's kind of out there making big things happen. But I think for me, it was that he put conversations that are conversations that black people, black men have been having for so long into the mouths of these larger than life men. Right.

Who we know just throughout interviews, definitely have these, the opinions that are expressed in our film. So I just, for me, I was like, wow, to be able to humanize them in a way that they are speaking for so many men. It just grabbed me, just jumped out off the page at me. Yeah, I mean, you've made a film about people who each have a film about their own lives. That's how powerful and momentous their existence was on this planet. You know, Jim Brown, Sam Cook, Muhammad Ali, Malcolm X,

all in one room on one night having a conversation about their visions for the future and the way they see the world and the way they see life. Now, I know that this was also a play, and I know that taking a play and turning it into a film can often be a really daunting task because, you know, a play has everyone there sitting in one place and you don't have to do much because that's the, that's the, you know, the forum, that's the platform. You have to direct to make one space feel like it's going somewhere. Talk me through some of those challenges and how you, how you thought about making a movie that doesn't go anywhere and yet takes us everywhere. Well, I think the that's that's that's th. th. th. th. th. thi. thi. thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi think the dialogue was the star of the film to me.

And you know, so Kemp did all of that heavy lifting. And I just always felt like the right actors, powerful actors who really understood what they were taking on would be half the battle, you know, right there. And then from there, just, I wanted to get out of the way of the story, you know, right there. And then from there, just I wanted to get out of the way of the story. You know, like, sure, I wanted it to be a visual experience, but not so much that the camera would distract. So yeah, just a lots of conversations and preparation ahead of time to just allow the dialogue to be the star and allow everything else to just kind of cradle that dialogue and just allow the audience to sit there in it and be there with these men. One of the things I've truly appreciated about you throughout your career is that you are an artist.

There's no denying though that you are also a trailblazer. You know, this movie was the first movie by an African-American woman directed to get into the Venice Film Festival, which seems crazy. I mean, it's 2021 now, but this was the first time that that ever happened. And so I'm sure a lot of people look to you and go like, man, okay, you're making films now for all the black women and you succeed

for all black women and you fail for all black women. How are you able to create creatively without stressing about that burden that you can feel, you know, some sections of society putting on you, whether it's the media or whoever it may be going like, Regina, you do this for every black woman or you fail for every black woman? Yeah, I mean, it it's kind of like always a dance because it's very easy to just get consumed with that energy or that narrative. That it does exist. I mean it is true. I mean we don't get the opportunity as black people to fail up, you know, if we mess up, you know, that's pretty much it.

Usually we don't get another chance. So I do recognize that. And sometimes it does feel like, it feels kind of weighty sometimes. I speak to other people that I know feel the same way. But in that, I feel like like that God wouldn't have brought me to it if I wasn't going to get through it. So I know that I must have been designed for this moment. So I'm figuring it out along the way when those anxious moments come. And in all actuality, I'm still always getting inspiration from from all over. I mean, like, just, I just got introduced to this 14 year old girl,

I think her name is Kayla Love Jones, who did her first short, and it's in the Pan-African Film Festival and the Urban World Fem Festival, and that is inspiring to me, you know, it's like, I, I, I'm just always trying to plug in wherever I can plug in. And, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, th, th, to to the, the, to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to me, you know, it's like, I'm just always trying to plug in, wherever I can plug in, and pick up some energy to keep the trajectory being an upward one, and not the lateral. I've said this to you before and I'll say it again. I don't know how you stay as humble as you are with all the gold trophies you have. I would have all the trophies in my car all the time and I'll just be cutting people off holding trophies out the window if anybody said anything because you truly are legend

who is still living and we're excited for the next chapter of your journey which is directing Regina King. Thank you so much for joining me on the show. I appreciate you, Trevor Nolan. Don't forget, One Night in Miami is available right now on Amazon Prime. All right, we're gonna take a quick break, but we'll be right back after this. When 60 Minutes premiered in September 1968, there was nothing like it. This is 60 Minutes.

It's a kind of a magazine for television. Very few have been given access to the treasures in our archives. Rolling. But that's all about to change. Like none of this stuff gets looked at. That's what's incredible. I'm Seth Done of CBS News. Listen to 60 Minutes a second look on Apple podcasts starting September 17. Well, that's our show for tonight. But before we go, I wanted to remind you that the coronavirus is as bad as it has ever been. And our first responders are out there fighting to save people's lives. Now, if you can help these first responders out in any way,

then please consider a donation to First Responders First, which offers first class medical and psychological treatment for the first responders themselves. Find out more at the link below. Until next time, stay safe out there, wear a mask, and remember, money isn't real, so send yours to me and I'll get rid of it for you. The Daily Show with Trevnoa, Ears Edition. Watch the Daily Show weeknights at 11, 10 Central on Comedy Central and the Comedy Central app. Watch full episodes and videos at the Daily Show.

Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, and subscribe to the Daily Show on YouTube for exclusive content and more. When 60 Minutes premiered in September 1968, there was nothing like it. This is 60 Minutes. It's a kind of a magazine for television. Very few have been given access to the treasures in our archives. But that's all about to change. Like none of this stuff gets looked at. That's what's incredible. I'm Seth Done of CBS News.

Listen to 60 Minutes, a second look on Apple podcasts starting September 17th. This has been a Comedy Central Podcast.