The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz - Hour 1: Why Have One Bad Answer When You Can Have Two?

Episode Date: January 23, 2024

Let's talk about the excellency of Joel Embiid, Nikola Jokic, and Kevin Durant! Then, Lucy loves 'Love on the Spectrum,' Fyre Fest is back, and we debut Taylor's Swift Report. Plus, Ronny Chieng of The Daily Show joins us for one of the most awkward interviews in our show's history, and it's entirely our (Dan's) fault. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

You're listening to Giraffe Kings Network. This is the Don Lebatore Show with the Stugatz Podcast. I would say that generally speaking, it has been a rough and haggard couple of years for Stu Gotz. However, moments ago, 30 minutes ago I saw him beaming and radiant at least in part. I'm assuming because he had to search the internet, scour the internet for Tony Campbell stats from 1990. And what did you discover as we were talking about the Terry

Rosear trade and how easy it is to be a looter and a riot, a guy who gets his numbers on a bad team. What did you discover when you went into the Tony Campbell files? Tony Campbell averaged 11.6 points per game for his career, the year you're talking about 1990 he averaged twenty three point six points per game their team was twenty nine and fifty three the twenty three point six points per game were more than James Worthy and Magic Johnson per game. Okay so that is what the heat have acquired put it on the pole please juju did the heat just acquire James Worthy and Magic Johnson at Levitage a whole spoke be able to coach Terry Rose here up so that what looked like a loser in Charlotte will look like a winner

here because what I watched last night's two guts the top of basketball Jimmy Butler has been this for many years but what was mesmerizing to me about last night's two gods? Because I still when I'm watching Yokoch against Greek freak or Yokoch against Embiid I'm still confused by it because those skill sets are so foreign to me Embiid I've been telling you for a while and you guys have been laughing at me That I think that everything that's in that package could seem like top five player of all time Kind of dominant, but you have to win big in order to do that and he knows that which is why Stu got When he scores 70 in a regular season game he is now at the standard not good enough don't care I know you guys are doubting me because I have to play in the playoffs with a mask and I'm hurt and I flop

around and you don't think I'm actually this great. You think in the playoffs I'm gonna fold it up, but when I saw him play against Yokic, it was really confusing to me, Stugatz, to watch somebody be clearly better than Yokic while playing against Yokic. He was clearly better than Yokic. Am I, am I, am I? No, but in the game, in the game, that night he was. You know, last week, when they played each other, he was better than Yokic.

You know, last week, Yokic overtook Michael Jordan for the greatest player efficiency rating in NBA history. But not the greatest player. He's number one. He's so unclear, I mean. Well, it's just so unclear. Yokic is number. He's number one. Well, this is so we're clear. Yolkich is number one, Michael Jordan is number two, and LeBron James is number three in player efficiency rating, all-time NBA right now.

He had a night, I was checking out box scores, I think it was over the weekend, where he had 42 points, 12 rebounds, eight assists, and I breezed right past it. And if you want to challenge everything that you think you know about basketball, Carl Anthony Towns is 18th all the time. Oh, but you say that. I head of Carl Malone. Mike. The mailman.

Mike, Who Pipes Global Rating has Shay Gilgis Alexander as the best player in the league the first half of the season, period. But you will find some curious names on that list when you get to eight and twelve and sixteen. I think subbonus is in the top six. So the way that we're doing some of the metrics on this stuff can be confusing to people. But let's just examine what it is that happened last night because, to God, I'm telling you, in the game where Embiid played against Yokecich and he knows, Embi Bede knows that's the standard. That's the guy I'm playing for MVP. Everyone knows this. He outplayed him and last night after Pop, champion, Pop, dares to say before the game that we're going to hammer his ass, he goes for 70. So this is what I want to play for you first. Think about the compliment, Stugatz,

that it is when Kevin Durant, Kevin Durant, all-time scorer is informed after his game last night when he had a game-winner, Stugatz, that very few people in the history of the league can make, he's informed that Embiid just went for 70. I don't know if you saw Jolot on beat score 70, Kat had 60. 70? Yeah, Jolot had 70 today. 58-3.

Yeah, 70. So what did NICE like tonight in the NBA? Suspiciously dark hair. What are you saying? I don't know. What are you saying? Oh no. What are you alleging? Mike's an expert, I mean. Jesse, hadn't seen him in a while and good for him.

Let's play again. Looks good. Just look at the childish wonder on his face, Dugat, as if he's like, he's saying to you, wait a minute, and B did in an NBA game what I did at Rucker Park, what are you talking about? Let me look at this reaction. It's innocent and charming the person who's having this reaction if you saw Jolot and BX4 70 cat has 60 70 yeah joha 70 today 583 yes 70 yeah so what did knights like tonight mean in the NBA in the NBA.

That guy giving you awe. That guy. Let's play and be here those two guys because I do find all so interesting that he is saying, I know none of this matters too. I know you guys are going to hyperventilate about this, but I've got to do this in

playoff games. You and Michael Jordan, the only NBA players to put up 65 points, 15 rebounds and five assists in a game What does that mean to you you and MJ baby? Will never did this No sir just you and MJ How crazy is that?

I don't believe that I don't you know some of those you know Will Whakers you know we you know we still gotta see but I'm sure will he's done it Oh, he's done it all right, but he hasn't I think you might be talking about two different things 20,000 times well did it I came in last week after that game You've been talking about Dan between Yoko chin and bead and I asked a question I wanted to put it up as a topic. How am I supposed to watch Joellen Bede? Because he's so magical to watch, and 70 points last night, he's so skilled,

he's arguably the most entertaining player to watch in the league at this point. But the issue is that until he wins, there's not really any validation for it, and I actually tend to agree with that too, because it's covering someone that's all about like championship or bust. And he agrees with you.

It's so difficult to know how to just enjoy watching it. So Kevin Durant really did bring me a lot of joy there as like, oh, right, we can just enjoy these types of performances and enjoy the artists at work because that's what Embiid is at this point in his career is a guy who's gonna win multiple MVP's the question is will he win the championship? Let me real quick just show you Stugans the end of the game last night in Phoenix when Kevin Durant is hitting

the game winner for those of you just watching, just listening via audio, know that Kevin Durant is moving to his left, away from the basket, and Bull's defense is coming toward him, and Caruso is coming toward him. The way that Kevin Durant makes that game winner. Show that again, where clearly he is covered here. Caruso is trying not to, Caruso is a very good perimeter defender, barely misses the ball, but only misses the ball because Durant is moving the ball because he feels him. And so that shot made in that situation

when it's hard to get those shots at the end of game. That's incredible. The movement of the ball is absolutely incredible in midair. he only did it in the finals he did according to you and fact well did that in and history he did that here's what I have failed to do today and I'm sorry because of my obsession with the basketball things that happened last night. It was a big night in the association. It was, but here's the problem.

Lucy has not been involved in today's show because she is in her 80s garb and all she wants to talk about is not Kevin Love. It's love on a spectrum. She is so bored by what it is that we're doing because she believes that she has found a form of entertainment better than the one that pays her here to sit for two hours listening to us chew on basketball.

I'm not bored. I just wouldn't say I'm having fun, necessarily. Also, the hairstyle, really fun, really cute. It's starting to give me a little bit of a headache because it's pulling all my hair to the side and then the headband, but it's okay. We persevere through because I found my new show and it's Love on the Spectrum on Netflix

and it is the most just feel good wholesome show on TV right now. They've already had a season out. The second season just came out where they focus on people who are on the spectrum and like how they're entering the dating world. And it is just like, it is so wholesome. It is so sweet and it's really, really good.

And I recommend you guys all watch it. I've seen that show advertised and I saw down for love advertised and I was like a little bit concerned with what the show would be and if they were taking advantage of people. So you're saying it's not that? No, it's very like, it's, there's never any moment

where it feels like it's disrespectful or trying to make fun of anyone. It's genuinely just like, wow, this is an insight I didn't have before and it's like great entertainment because like you're like five seconds into meeting these people who all agree to be on the show. And you're rooting for them so much to find love. And it's just like, it is so sweet

and like you catch yourself just feeling so good. I watched it for like five hours yesterday and I was the happiest I've ever been. And I'm wearing 80 stuff right now. I was happier than them right now. One of the most popular comedians anywhere in America right now, Shane Gillis, is able to navigate this line with humor here

in ways that are allowed today because he is trafficking in, there is such a buoyant happiness around people who are afflicted who also deserve love. Shane Gillis has helped humanize because I believe he's got this, I believe he's got some of this in his family history and there is a line here between exploitation of something and making this charming and you're telling me that this is just universally charming. So growing up I did a ton of work just like within my school and my community with Down

Syndrome students who went to my school. So you learn like what's appropriate, what's not appropriate and it is so perfect and it never feels disrespectful. It's like just a very like, it honestly is great if you're not like super used to interacting with people in this community because you're able to get like an insight into their lives and it's it's really like it's so tastefully done it never feels disrespectful of anyway and like the whole time you were just so actively rooting for all of these people it is such a feel-good show. Is it because the happiness is so innocent? It's not polluted by any of the

human frailties that wreck the rest of us. Yeah, it's just so sweet when you're seeing someone who's like so like like there's one guy in the show who loves swords. He loves swords so much and it's so sweet to see people talk about their interests. Billy, Billy, Billy, a kindred spirit Billy. I might be in. Billy, you might be dating. You might leave your wife for a real soulmate. Stugats here from my friends over at SimplySafe and telling you about them for years why I have had their home security system in my house for many, many years, protecting both me and my family. I would not recommend anyone else.

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That's why their indoor security cameras are the only ones on the market with physical privacy shutters to ensure your privacy, that's why their indoor security cameras are the only ones on the market with physical privacy shutters to ensure your privacy 24-7. Try simply save for 60 days risk-free if you don't love it. Return your system for a full refund. Keep your home and family safer than ever in the new year. As a listener, you can save 20% on your new system with fast protect monitoring by visiting simplysave.com slash d slash dlb customize your system in just minutes That's simply safe comm slash dlb. There's no safe like simply safe Don lebatard kensley jansen. I gotta be careful here

What I just do there Let me start again still gots. He's the closer comes in ninth inning Closes the game out. His name is Kenley Jansen. He has blamed his recent... This is the Don Lebatar Show with the Stugats! We're presented by DraftKings Fantasy Sports. Check out what DraftKings has to offer this season with Code Dan. Because life is more fun when you're in on the action.

DraftKings, the crown is yours. Game of the problem, calling out to gambling agent eligibility restrictions apply. end on the action. DraftKings, the crown is yours. Gamble problem, code one, you have to gamble, agent eligibility restrictions apply. We're prohibited, see draftkings.com for details. Taylor is now out in the field and we are debuting a new segment. It's going to be kind of loud, it's going to be kind of fast,

it's going to be kind of crazy. Taylor's on a cigarette boat of some sort. Where are you Taylor, right now? My favorite boat. Taylor, where are you? We are on the thriller from Bayside. Red boat of some sort, where are you Taylor right now? My favorite boat. Taylor, where are you? We are on the thriller from Bayside. I'm trying to get comfortable being uncomfortable and what better way to do it than being a

with a bunch of tourists out here. All right, I just heard what sounded like was it was a Himalaya operator. How fast are you going right now? How fast are you going? I? How fast are you going? I can't see the captain, but I would guess about 85-90 miles per hour. We are moving right now. Alright, how fast does it go? What's the maximum speed of that boat? Uh, I'm looking at pushing triple digits. Okay, so this segment, in order to capitalize on the Taylor Swift algorithm.

This segment is meant to give takes as quickly as you can. You're looking at your phone, do not lose your phone. How scared are you? Why are you bent down so lowly? Very scared, the wind is whipping in my face. We don't know how long this signal will last. This is the first ever broadcast for us on a cigarette boat. So Taylor, begin your swift report.

I want to give the Detroit Lions their flowers. Dan Campbell gets the headlines for turning around this team, what General Manager Brad Holmes deserves. A lot of credit for turning Detroit around through the draft and getting them back in the NFC Championship for the first time since 1991. Three years before I was even born looking back to the first draft class assembled by Campbell and Holmes in 2021. The Lions had seven picks, Panazzo and Amarra. St. Brown were first team All-Pros this season. Derek Barnes had the game winning interception against Tampa a Fought to a metal phone more swiftly and one and a half sack

I'm not sure around and a Lee McNeil had the highest defensive grade my phone is shaking. I'm trying to read I can't read fast fast forward to this draft Aiden Hutchinson and Aiden Hutchinson went to James and we set up it set up more More wind in your face. He's just reading stats. More wind in your face. In the last...in the last...exactly. In the last four games, Jameson Williams was coming off a tourniquet. Whoa!

With more long-term projection. That was a perfect long-term projection. He was coming off an ACL injury. They were using him as a deep threat next to the same brown. And then you look at this past Detroit draft class. More wind in your face. He's just reading stats. He was coming up an ACL injury. They were using him as a deep threat next to same brown And then you look at this past Detroit draft class More winning their face, more winning their face

contributions this tweet from Benjamin Sawick against the Bucks the Lions leading in reception It was Sam LaPorta their leading rusher Jameer Gibbs the leading tackler Brian Branch all rookies one article I saw from NFL comm this past April had the Lions as the worst grade in that draft with the C plus. The only team that got a C, but you're looking at the Lions now and you're getting major contributions. They wanted them to take Jalen Carter at 12. But the Lions instead listened to their evaluations

and they didn't listen to the people that they needed. More swiftly. You're going slower. They're going slower. You're going slower. Faster. You don't have to run back in the first round it and the Javier Gibbs is explosive and he's game changing and he has great change in direction and can Detroit get to the Super Bowl that's the question the only thing standing between

them and the Super Bowl is Brock Purdy faster this is not your father's Detroit Lions team Wow this is the part where he's going towards Star Island and we're going to see the step Faster. This is not your father's Detroit Lions team. Wow! This is the part where he's going towards Star Island and we're going to see the Estefan's houses because they live next to each other in separate houses. Did you know that? I'm also afraid of open water. He averaged more points than Bernard came. You're afraid of open water?

I'm afraid of falling into open water. Has it slowed down? It seems like it's slowed down some. I did not know that Estefan's lived in separate houses. I believe that's the story. So they have houses right next to each other, and I think that they've said they have the separate houses, but they're still married. My dad was her insurance agent. Ooh! No one cares! I thought that was cool, nevermind. We're kind of insurance.

I believe it was like Otto or her boat. I don't know, but she got an accident. I thought it was in the boat. Taylor, is it over now? Is everything done? It looks like we're coming through a manatee zone. Okay so does that mean we're gonna speed up again? We just don't want to kill. I think that's a naval academy behind your coast guard. Thank you for your service. I believe we

are gonna speed up again. All right let's do you have another take or is that would you like it? You know what? This one's not gonna be red because you gave us a lot of stats. You need to explain I'm gonna wait for this boat to speed up. The average more points than Scotty Pippen. And as soon as it speeds up, I'm going to ask you a question, Taylor, that I think you've been waiting to receive the entirety of your broadcasting career.

And when you dreamt of being this person that has a media career, you've wanted someone to ask for your opinion on this. So as soon as you tell me how it's speeding up, where are we Taylor, on the speed? Where are we right now? We are speeding up. I'm gonna try to not duck on this one.

Okay, so stay- I wanna get up and walk over to the tourists. No, no, stay with your face up, but I need you now to tell me, Taylor, why you believe, how fast are we going? How fast, right now? We're picking up mid 60s. All right, I want it to be a little faster.

Tell me when we get close to 100. Okay, yeah. We're close now to 100? We're moving now, we're moving now. Okay, face up, I want you to explain to me as swiftly as Taylor can, why the New York Knicks are now better than the Miami Heat We got OJF Nobee, baby. We're nine and two since OJO and an OB

Team has the second highest defensive rating in that stretch. You might look at the record They have a losing record against teams with winning with winning records this year That's neither here nor there this New York team We're buying in right now Jalen Brunson last four games, is averaging over 30 points per game on higher than 52% from the field. This is the next year. We're going to at least the conference finals. Zach Loz said on NBA Today, don't be surprised if we wake up in the next year in the conference finals.

Why are they better than the heat? You told me why the nicks are good. You haven't told me why they're better than the heat. Faster. Just look at the heat roster. I don't like anybody. I like Jaime Hacas Jr. I was a big UCL IEI, they played Carolina. Rose almost just went down when they just turned that boat. That was a quick turn. But yeah, look at the Heat's roster. Nothing to be afraid of.

Dan, you're going swifter than Taylor right now. I'm disappointed so far with Taylor's speed in general the speed of how he's delivering things We're gonna let them slow down one time and we're gonna give him another chance at this and he doesn't seem to understand He needs to be doing this swiftly. He averaged more points than Larry Nance Mike How do you feel so far about Taylor's audition to try and get more airtime instead of Jeremy and Billy? Less Taylor more swift. Okay, let's see. I'm going to put together another question here. Where are we on how much time we have left in the ride, Taylor?

This is, Dan, this is, I'll tell you from someone who's done this, this is the part where they kind of do little sightseeing over by Star Island where you're going to want to get Taylor again is when they go out into open ocean because then they really let it rip. Okay, I'm going to let him go for a second and maybe we will come back to that when we speed up. But let's think of the proper question to ask him so that we can get. This is going to be his last chance.

He's playing for minutes here. He's trying to get, so there's it's man, I don't need to explain to the people. To become a crowded room. There's not a lot of space. Everyone's fighting for minutes. Occasionally we have a Carl Anthony Town situation where people forget that Stugots is Anthony Edwards and all of a sudden you haven't heard for Stugots for three segments because we keep feeding Carl Anthony Towns. The checks don't clear. I understand that

that's what you've been doing for two and a half years. We've all seen it. A lot of voices that the average more points than fat lever. We're going to get Taylor's best take and put maximum pressure on it in a segment. We're not gonna do that right now. That water reminds me though of what I saw going viral yesterday that made me both happy and sad because Firefest, you got to somehow making a new appearance.

That thing. We are in the age of doesn't matter whether you're scandalous, infamy is just as good as fame. And so I saw videos over open water that suggested that this scam that produced multiple documentaries about how it pays to be a scam artist is now making a new appearance and in Miami is where it's happening and of course it's happening in Miami. Look at this video just people falling from helicopters because Firefest returns,

Firefest 2 in green beautiful ocean waters in Miami is just slick and beautiful people and bathing suits and influencers and sunshine and no lineup whatsoever yet announced or anything like that because it's not important. What's important is the visual. It's all that matters. It's what pays and sells now. Jump from helicopters. This is how we're going to advertise Fire Fest 2, a national and international shame that produced, again, multiple documentaries.

Is Jarrul apodidus? I don't see him in this video. No, but Billy is. Not Billy Guelby. Billy the star of the documentaries? Yeah, the guy that served hard time because of scamming folks. When you jump out of a helicopter into the ocean, I've never done this.

You should just fall, right? Like the people that are jumping up to do a backflip seems like a bad idea when there's a blade spinning around over their heads, right? I would say generally speaking. Also, someone was just on fire. Mm-hmm. Well, then it's in line with the branding.

Speaking of fire, because I've been wanting to get this video up for two days, and I don't know, I think maybe my skills of communication are deteriorating. I have wanted on the screen for two days video of a Buffalo Bill's fan, or I'm sorry, a Detroit Lions fan. Yeah, we covered that in the local

while you were in the penalty box. We can loop it if you'd like. I would like to loop it because I can't get nearly enough of this video, which is wonderful when Billy wonders about people being on fire. He averaged more points than Derek Coleman. I don't know that I saw a funnier football video this year than this guy's ass on fire because he jumped,

he did a somersault into a folding table and then couldn't get his fiery ass extinguished. After being wrestling flipped onto a table, I don't think we can do comedy better than this. This has been the lions and the Bills for about 20 years, maybe longer with the Lions. I want to give you guys a stat. Please keep that running in the corner for the remainder of the show. Stugatz in the NFC. Now that the Lions have made the NFC Championship game, you want to guess who these are? Everybody. I'll give

everybody the guesses in the NFC. Only two teams have not made it to the NFC championship game you want to guess who these are everybody I'll give everybody the guesses in the NFC Only two teams have not made it to the NFC championship game this century now that the Detroit Lions have Do we want to guess this century? Hmm since the year 2000 There are only two teams in the NFC who have not advanced that far. I this is easy the commanders there go that is one The Cowboys? That is two. What? Oh my God.

The cowboys is a bit crazy. Crazy! The cowboys have been awfully popular for 25 years without ever actually getting to the game that matters the most. That's bad. Crazy. The lebatard. And finally, fruit loops are all the same flavor just different colors

I refuse to believe that is that right? I refuse to believe it I mean try the grapefruit loot and tell me that doesn't taste different than the cherry one because it does I love fruit loops Stugats put it on the pole gear mo at Lebatard show Did you know that all of fruit loopsops were the same flavor, just different colors? I refuse to believe it. This is the Don Lebatar Show with the Stugats. Stugats, he is a correspondent for The Daily Show. He's an actor, he's a comedian, he's very funny. Ronnie Chang is with us and I have to apologize to him on the front end because

there are a number of things I want to talk to him about. He's got two Netflix stand-up specials out now. You can stream them, speak easy. An Asian comedian destroys America. And he's also traveling all over Florida right now. You can catch him live on his Love to Hate It tour, Fort Lauderdale, February 15th, February 16th in Tampa, February 17th in Orlando. Why are you apologizing? Because you haven't done anything yet. Well, but I'm about to though, because at some point during this conversation, we're gonna go out to a cigarette boat, and I'm hoping that Taylor will join us

to give us a sports take. Maybe Ronnie will ask him the question, and we can merge our two worlds that way. But Ronnie, thank you for joining us, and I wanna talk to you about The Daily Show, because it's such a pioneering, comedic show, and I don't understand why they don't have a host yet.

And during the recent awards ceremony where Trevor Noah won something, you can hear and see Roy Wood behind Trevor Noah saying hire a host. You can see him mouthing hire a host. You guys must be so furious that they haven't hired a host yet, or maybe you're not because now they're going all correspondence and they're gonna do it piecemeal um I you know fear I don't think I'm furious it it's it's kind of like a the daily shows kind of like a family so I can't imagine being furious at the show especially because they gave me my big break in America. So furious, no, not furious, hoping, hoping they'll find a host.

But I mean, I think we've been handling the show pretty well so far, you know, without Trevor. I mean, remember like when Trevor left, it wasn't that wasn't planned either, you know, so they didn't have like a much of a head-top either, I think. Do I put you in a bad spot by asking you about it because corporate interests have sort of taken over all of these entities that are doing no, well you apologized on the front end. No, no, I'm not telling you the truth. It's not proper interest. They hired me onto the show from Australia and Trevor was the one who gave me a big break and everything that's great that's happened to me in America has been because of a daily show.

So if you ask me, do I have hate in my heart for the daily show? Of course not. They're like my family. I don't know what would be the equivalent for you. Would it be ESPN or would it be the Miami Herald or you know, the people who gave you your first shot and always did right by it. Oh, I understand what it is that you're saying. I would just, yeah, can you be grateful

and also want your employer to be better? Can both of those things be so? No, you cannot. You have to be just like that. Okay, all right, you cannot. You have to be just like that. Okay, all right, fair enough. Fair enough. Because when I come from, you gotta be, you gotta show gratitude. No, yeah, and that, that makes sense. It doesn't, and it's not just, it's not just culturally, you'll be happier if you're someone who is grateful. I think so.

And if you can make your living in comedy, which is a difficult way to make a living, someone who is grateful. I think so. And if you can make your living in comedy, which is a difficult way to make a living, I assume that you're walking around every day grateful that people pay to hear your jokes, hear your funny. It's a ridiculous... Oh, look, hold on a second. Hold on a second, Ronnie. So we're bringing in our speedboat here.

We're going very fast again Do you have a sports question of any kind Ronnie that you would ask our speedboat? Correspondent that you would want him to give you an answer to as fast as possible No, okay, I put you in a bad spot a You apologized in advance. I keep doing, and now Taylor is going slow again. So Taylor, you give me a... We're waking, we're waking. Okay, we're going faster now. Give me a second, Ronnie, forgive me.

They're asking me to spin a whole lot of plates now as we wait for this. No one asks you to do this. You asked for this. I can't ask Ronnie a question, big fan. Okay, yeah, you ask Ronnie a question before the boat speeds up, Taylor. Go ahead, but ask it quickly.

Ronnie folks, now we're about to have big lapses. Ronnie, what do you think the Chiefs have to do to beat the Bills this week? They probably have to not get injured, and then they'll probably do it. It's a good answer. It's excellent football analysis. He's not wrong in any way at all. Ronnie, what do you make of the state of comedy at the moment? It seems to be in a more interesting place than at any time in your career.

This is, I feel like it's, I feel like I'm doing the interview with the countdown on the, okay, because I'm looking at the guy on the boat, so I'm wondering how long I have to answer. All right, well, he's going fast again, so now we have to ask him. Taylor, same question. Same question, Taylor. What do you make of the state of comedy right now? Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha Not a good teammate. You're the faster passes me the ball with one second on the shot faster and

Expects me to do something and then it's just a shot clock violation. I'm just holding up You've said nothing the state of comedy Taylor quickly I like comedy Ronnie I'm sorry. You want why why give to you know why give one bad answer when you have two people giving bad answers. Exactly. The reason I ask you the question is because the Daily Show has been smarter than anyone

in media and comedy for so many years and you've been able to navigate all the political minefields. So, oh no. Taylor, why has The Daily Show been such a pioneering entity that has changed the way that media has covered? I'm a big fan of Ronnie. I gotta be honest, don't think I've ever watched the Daily Show Salute to you Ronnie. I was a big crazy rich Asians fan, but Thank you for all your hard work Taylor the chiefs already beat the bills

Ronnie in all seriousness, it's a pioneering effort that you are doing daily as a correspondent for the show You know you can you can ask me about sports. We don't have to keep forcing these Daily show comedy questions man. Okay, fair. I mean, that's why I wanted to you know, that's what I know you from is from Round the horn. What do the cheese have to do to beat the Ravens? Different team. We need to stop going out to Taylor. We need to stop doing this because, uh, Is this live? Is this live? Or is this gonna be edited?

No, it's live. We can't edit this. We're sorry. Do you think it would be better? I'm so sorry. Do you think it would be better edited? No, I don't think I think which is the sport that you like the best? Is it football or is it another sport? If I was asking you for serious analysis on a sport, what's your wheelhouse? Yeah, hit me with basketball. on a sport, what's your wheelhouse? Yeah, hit me with basketball.

Basketball was my wheelhouse. Well, last night was a great night in basketball. Like what did you, what did? Embed. Embed, Katie hit the winner. And one more thing happened. Carl Anthony Town scored 62 points and they lost because they shouldn't have been feeding Carl Anthony.

Yeah, I don't know. Is it the return of the centers? Is it the return of the low post game? I'm all for it. You know, I grew up with that that so that's the game I understand I actually stopped watching basketball for like eight years and then when I tuned back in I was like why are the scores like 130 to 140 I remember when I first came back to basketball I said whoa what is going on and one thing defense anymore but hey everyone's

down with low post games I love it but it's not just that? It's that the centers that you're used to doing it in the low post can also do it from three. That's why the games are in the 130s. And I wonder when you have NBA hitting 50 by the third quarter, does the whole team, the coach just throw out the plan and just go, all right, we're just going to keep feeding him. It's the regular season. Let's just try to go for a record here. Or is that actually the game plan? But do you believe in the idea that Embiid, as great as he is in the regular season, is obviously somebody, just look at him, who should be among the best players in basketball and should be someone who is championship worthy? Yeah, sorry. What was the question? Yeah, he is that.

Yeah. No, that people question Joe L. M. B. Because they say, oh, you've never done it. You've never done it in the playoffs. You're somebody who can people like me. Right. You could score seven.

Oh, yes. Yes. So I mean, he's pretty, he's pretty undeniable. Uh, I, I, you know, what I think is interesting is that these, these non Americans who are doing it in the league right now I mean join beat is Cameroon, yeah, right like you know, so and Joe kids Obviously not American either. So I think it's that you know, that's interesting. I think the rise of a non American games in

In the NBA, I don't know what that says about the development of basketball players here. You know, whether the AAU is just, you know, creating carbon copy, you know, everyone's playing kind of the same game and there's no individual flair. I don't know. I don't know. But I mean, the, you know, looking at what's happening there is undeniable, right? The rise of international players. Why did you leave basketball for a few years? Why did I? I think is when I joined the Daily Show, I was so focused on not screwing it up that I actually stopped caring about sports and everything because I kind of recognized it

felt like a once in a lifetime opportunity. So I just put everything I had into it. So I didn't look out for my desk for like a few years. When I looked up, suddenly the scores were 150-140. But you know what, I shared an office with Roy Wood Jr. at The Daily Show and we just, we would leave ESPN on in the background all the time. So I would see you and your dad talking and you know it was great. So you kept us, you kept us going through a lot of pretty heavy political days. Well, one of the reasons that I want to talk to you though so much about the daily show,

and I do appreciate that you want to talk about sports is because I don't... Oh, God. All right, we've got to ask Taylor a question. Go for it. Taylor, go ahead and sit up as strong as you can and tell us who's going to be in the Super Bowl and why. I have the Ravens and the 49ers, Lamar Jackson. This is the year that he gets over the hump. The 49ers have such a great defense.

I love what Bose is doing. I love what Fred Warner is doing. Brock Birdie, a lot of questions about him, but I think they have just enough to get the job done. That's your dismount, just enough to get the job done. And you want a career in this industry. Job done, you end with a cliche. He picked two number one seeds. I mean yeah, take the chalk, give me a bunch of cliches and just be all superficial. I ride fast in a hundred

mile an hour speedboat. The reason Ronnie that I was talking to you about the Daily Show is I don't think people understand how hard it is to do that well, how much commitment, how obsessive it has to be, that you and Roy Wood are artists who have to craft something in a way that's really meticulous and it's not easy, and you lose basketball as a hobby because you have to be good at it. Well, that's very flattering. I mean, we're just comics. I wouldn't put us on a pedestal like that. We're just doing a show. I mean, I don't even think sometimes when we do the show, I feel like we're doing it for ourselves in that sense.

That's why when, if Taylor hasn't seen it, like, yeah, I would be surprised if Taylor, sorry. I'm glad he's a fan, but I'm always like, it feels like we're just doing the show for our own sensibilities. And then when other people watch it, we'll always say, oh, that's a bonus.

But it's very much a team effort thing. So I can't even really take credit for what you're describing. That energy and diligence takes, there's a whole team of producers at the Daily Show making it happen. Right as producers, correspondents. So it's like a real collegiate family.

So surely though, you have noticed, if you are sitting in that environment over the last few years with Roy Wood watching, you know, the evolution of American politics, what would be your answer to why it is the NBA has gotten less popular because it's too woke? Has it gone less popular? I mean, I think culturally students that guys, I mean, part of it is that you're, you're,

we don't have model culture anymore, right? So whenever we, whenever we have anything in American pop culture is competing with the internet, tick, TikTok, YouTube. So when you say viewership numbers are down objectively, like, yeah, I believe that because people have more things to watch, right? We're watching more streaming services. We're watching, uh, we don't think we need to watch games live anymore. Right.

We can watch it on demand. We watch highlights, but I think when it comes down to the regular, We can watch it on demand, we watch highlights. But I think when it comes down to the regular playoffs and the finals, everyone's still watching it. Everyone still knows what's happening with NBA basketball. Is it less popular? I mean, yeah, in the sense that our culture has flattened and everyone's watching everything now. But that's, I mean,

that's not the fault of the NBA, is what I'm trying to say. You can see Ronnie on his love to hated tour again, Fort Lauderdale at the Parker, February 15th, Tampa at the Tampa Theater, February 16th, and Orlando at Hard Rock, Orlando, February 17th, and you can go to ronnychang.com for more tour dates and tickets. Ronnie, I also apologize on the back end though. I mean. Well, we're going to have you on again and do it right and do it better without someone on a speedboat. Okay. So if you would be, if you would do us the courtesy of doing it again because I botched the first six minutes of this. Um, maybe not.

Sure. Maybe not. Does it sound promising? sure Doesn't sound promising I don't blame you if you don't but but thank you for this with the first yes I did lose you with the first question Ronnie. Thank you for being on with us. Thank you for tolerating us No problem. I'm actually a big fan of you guys. So thanks for keeping it going. I love that you were guys Represent Miami love the show. Thank were. You guys represent Miami. Love the show.

Thank you, Rod. And again, I'm sorry. Nice to meet you, Taylor. Nice to see everyone's together. See you later. I thought that went well.