Jon Favreau and Jon Lovett: Pod Save and Survivor

Summary

The Daily Beast Podcast: Jon Favreau and Jon Lovett – Pod Save and Survivor

Release Date: October 3, 2024

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Introduction

In this engaging episode of The Daily Beast Podcast, co-hosts Joanna Coles and Samantha Bee welcome special guests Jon Favreau and Jon Lovett, the dynamic duo behind Pod Save America. Favreau and Lovett, both former Obama speechwriters and co-founders of Crooked Media, delve into a range of topics from celebrity encounters to the intricacies of the vice-presidential debate.

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Celebrity Party Stories

The conversation kicks off with amusing anecdotes from a recent high-profile party at the New York Public Library, hosted by the Clooney Foundation for Justice. Joanna shares her memorable interactions with George Clooney and an unexpected mix-up with Melinda Gates.

• Joanna Coles ([04:59]): “I wore the dress with the most fabric humanly possible... when I swanned into the kitchen, my husband did say, wow, that's a lot of fabric.”

• Jon Lovett ([05:12]): “Have photographic evidence that you were swooning.”

Joanna recounts a humorous incident where a guest mistakenly assumed she was Melinda Gates, highlighting the often comical side of mingling with celebrities.

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The Downfall of NYC's Mayor Eric Adams

A significant portion of the discussion centers around New York City's Mayor Eric Adams, recently indicted on federal charges including bribery and wire fraud. Joanna and Jon express their dismay at Adams' actions, drawing parallels to the infamous Rob Ford era.

• Joanna Coles ([10:06]): “The charges are related to around $100,000 in illegal perks, which doesn't feel...”

• Jon Lovett ([12:36]): “When it comes to criming, it just feels very sloppy.”

They critique Adams' misuse of power and describe his press conferences as increasingly isolating and ineffective, noting the rapid resignations of his advisors and the erosion of his public image.

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Vladimir Putin's Fortified Lifestyle

Shifting focus internationally, Joanna introduces a fascinating segment on Vladimir Putin's extreme measures to ensure his safety, as reported by Anna Nemtsova in The Atlantic. They discuss the lengths Putin goes to protect himself and his family, including quarantine protocols and secure transportation.

• Jon Lovett ([14:33]): “He travels in an armored train, a special train. They have their own train.”

Joanna adds a personal touch by mentioning a large painting of Putin in her garage, illustrating her unique interest in geopolitical figures.

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Vice-Presidential Debate Breakdown

The core of the episode revolves around the recent vice-presidential debate between J.D. Vance and Tim Waltz. Joanna and Jon express their frustrations with the debate format, particularly the lack of effective fact-checking by moderator Tim Waltz.

• Joanna Coles ([17:32]): “If fact checking is your Achilles heel, then that is really a tell for us that we are about to go on a voyage of lies.”

• Jon Lovett ([20:28]): “What if he course corrects? I don't think that's on the menu.”

They critique Vance’s misleading statements, such as his false claims about Kamala Harris serving as an interim president, and his controversial remarks on Haitian immigrants and abortion. The hosts argue that the debate failed to hold Vance accountable, undermining the integrity of the electoral process.

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The Challenges of Modern Debating

Further examining the debate, Joanna and Jon discuss the evolving nature of political debates in the Trump era, emphasizing the increasing focus on performance over substantive policy discussion.

• Samantha Bee ([43:44]): “What is the role of moderators in the debate? How much fact checking should they do?”

• Jon Lovett ([45:37]): “I did think J.D. vance looked as if he was really enjoying himself, whereas you could tell that this is not Tim Waltz's natural environment.”

They highlight the limitations of current debate formats, suggesting that moderators should perhaps step back to allow candidates to engage more directly, rather than relying heavily on fact-checking mechanisms that may not function effectively in real-time.

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Podcasting Insights from Pod Save America

Transitioning to lighter topics, Joanna and Samantha seek advice from Jon Favreau and Jon Lovett on launching their own podcast. The guests stress the importance of authenticity and natural conversation over scripted interactions.

• Jon Favreau ([50:19]): “The more you can narrow the space between how the two of you would be in a conversation with no microphones on and no cameras on and how you're going to be in during your podcast, the better it works.”

They discuss the challenges of keeping guests engaged and steering conversations away from mere talking points, advocating for a relaxed and genuine dialogue to foster more meaningful exchanges.

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Samantha Bee's Survivor Experience

Samantha Bee shares her stint on Survivor, recounting the emotions and lessons learned from being voted out and living without internet access.

• Samantha Bee ([54:31]): “I enjoyed it and I actually have, like, no regrets about it. My disappointment was not going home first because of how people reacted.”

She reflects on how the experience improved her attention span and provided a break from the constant influx of information, offering a personal narrative that resonates with the podcast’s theme of authentic conversation.

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Closing Remarks

As the episode winds down, the hosts and guests reflect on the insights shared, emphasizing the value of open dialogue and honest storytelling. They conclude with lighthearted banter and encouragement for listeners to engage with their new podcast endeavors.

• Joanna Coles ([60:20]): “Every time we get together to do a podcast recording, I learn some precious gem about the world we live in.”

• Jon Lovett ([60:37]): “What you need to do is relate to each other as we normally relate to each other.”

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Conclusion

This episode of The Daily Beast Podcast masterfully blends humor, critical analysis, and personal stories, offering listeners a comprehensive look at contemporary politics, celebrity culture, and the art of podcasting. Favreau and Lovett provide valuable perspectives on media integrity and the importance of authentic conversation, making for a compelling and thought-provoking listen.

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Notable Quotes

• Joanna Coles ([17:32]): “If fact checking is your Achilles heel, then that is really a tell for us that we are about to go on a voyage of lies.”

• Samantha Bee ([43:44]): “What is the role of moderators in the debate? How much fact checking should they do?”

• Jon Favreau ([50:19]): “The more you can narrow the space between how the two of you would be in a conversation with no microphones on and no cameras on and how you're going to be in during your podcast, the better it works.”

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This detailed summary captures the essence of the episode, providing a thorough overview of the discussions while highlighting key moments and quotes. Whether you're a regular listener or new to The Daily Beast Podcast, this summary offers valuable insights into the multifaceted conversations that drive the show's engaging content.

Transcript

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[Samantha Bee]

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[Joanna Coles]

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[Jon Lovett]

Easy.

[Joanna Coles]

They're from DSW. Because DSW has the exact right shoes for whatever you're into right now. You know, like the sneakers that make office hours feel like happy hour, the.

[Jon Lovett]

Boots that turn grocery aisles into runways.

[Joanna Coles]

And all the styles that show off the many sides of you from daydreamer to multitasker and everything in between. Because you do it all in really great shoes. Find a shoe for every you@ your DSW store or dsw.com it took a lifetime to find the person you want to marry. Finding the perfect engagement ring is a lot easier. @bluenile.com you can find or design the ring you've always dreamed of with help from Blue Niles jewelry experts who are on hand 247 to answer questions and the ease and convenience of shopping online. For a limited time, get $50 off your purchase of $500 or more with.

[Samantha Bee]

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[Joanna Coles]

Code listenile.com.

[Jon Lovett]

Have you ever had a customer service experience where everything just works? It feels like we've reached a point where every customer experience should feel that seamless. And you're in luck, because Five9 is changing the entire way customer experiences work. They use AI to create smarter, more informed interactions so you can get your problems handled in a way that's more human. Five9 creates intelligent customer experiences so everything feels personalized. That's just one small part of what their tech can do. It's already changing the game for companies from estee Lauder to CVS, and you can learn more about Next Level Intelligence [e-mail] Beast welcome to the Daily Beast Podcast. I'm Joanna Coles, Chief Content Officer of the Daily Beast.

[Joanna Coles]

And I am Samantha Bee, Chief Kyle, Content Officer of Eric Adams Passwords. I'm his curator.

[Jon Lovett]

Now, every Thursday, no matter what time you're listening to this, you might be walking the dog in the morning. We want you to feel like you're at A great cocktail party. We're going to capture the people and the stories of the week. We're plundering the Daily Beast newsroom, and we have two fantastic guests for you this week. In fact, no one better to analyze this week's veep debate with than our two beasts of the week, our favorite Johns. Well, actually, that didn't sound quite right. Pod Safe America's Jon Favreau and Jon Lovett, for those who don't know them. They're the co founders of Crooked Media, and both were former speech writers for President Obama. And John Lovett hosts the popular podcast Love it or Leave It.

[Joanna Coles]

I cannot wait to hear what they have to say about the debate. We're gonna debrief it all with them. Once Joanna and I have done our own download. We're also gonna discuss the things that we are with, such as, for me, New York City's seemingly least cunning crime syndicate, featuring Eric Adams and his penchant for business class travel, and what we have just learned about Vladimir Putin's rules for his guests. Truly, Joanna, this is a podcast that will make you better at a party, minus the food, minus the alcohol, minus the weird gift bags that are always welcome.

[Jon Lovett]

But we did go to, I think, the best party of the fall last week together.

[Joanna Coles]

Yes, we did.

[Jon Lovett]

And can I say that the best part of it actually was talking to you. We were each going in our own individual Ubers, and we were like, are you there yet? How far out are you? Because I didn't want to go in on my own.

[Joanna Coles]

I don't want to go into a party alone. I mean, I will do it. And we ended up actually going into the party alone, and it was perfectly fine.

[Jon Lovett]

And it was. It was so full of celebrities, my head was kind of spinning around. I mean, there was Cate Blanchett. There was Meryl Streep.

[Joanna Coles]

Yes. You have to tell people what the party was first. You have to set the scene.

[Jon Lovett]

All right, I'm setting the scene. It was at the New York Public Library, which is gorgeous building. It was covered in tropical fauna. And it was for Georgina Clooney.

[Joanna Coles]

It was. It was for the Clooney foundation for justice, which supports human rights. And, oh, dear me, it was a fancy party. I wore the dress with the most fabric humanly possible. It was a really pretty dress, and it was a plum color because I love fall. But when I swanned into the kitchen, my husband did say, wow, that's a lot of fabric.

[Jon Lovett]

I think George liked your dress, though. I am going to release my photo of you talking to him? Because what I loved most about the party was that everybody was trying to talk to George, and George came over to talk to Sam B.

[Joanna Coles]

Well, let me say that first I saw him across the table talking to you, and then I made eye contact with him, and he went like this podcast. And I was like, joanna, you shameless woman.

[Jon Lovett]

I was shameless. I was like, george, you need to be on the podcast. Because we could talk about actually all the good things they do in the world. There is a weird juxtaposition of very famous, very attractive. Did I mention he was attractive? People in the world celebrating, people who are doing real work out there.

[Joanna Coles]

There is so much to talk about. But then he came around the table and he was like, I heard you have a podcast. And that was totally fine. But then someone snapped a photo of me talking to George Clooney, and you can put it on your Instagram. It is so embarrassing because I am literally clutching my heart and my eyes are closed as I. My face is turned to him like he is the son or the son of God, really. And it looks like. I'm. I'm sure that we were talking about the election, but it does look like I am praying to our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

[Jon Lovett]

It is a fantastic photo. I'm going to put it out. You have photographic evidence that you were. You were swooning. You were in full swoon. But so, frankly, was he. He seemed very keen. I think I heard him say he missed your show, and I think he was very excited to. I think he'll be excited to come on the podc.

[Joanna Coles]

You know who else was swooning? The woman who mistook me for Melinda Gates. At some point, Melinda Gates was there.

[Jon Lovett]

She was there with Michelle Obama.

[Joanna Coles]

She was there, and she was kind of in my vicinity. And someone must have said to this one woman and her two daughters, melinda Gates is over there. And she directed. I swear to God. I looked. She was so far away from me. I looked up. I could see her shining, wet eyes just beaming upon me. And then she grabbed her adult daughter's hands and beelined for me and began a conversation with the words, melinda, I'm so delighted to meet you. I must introduce. And she launched into this whole thing, and I felt in that moment the full force of people's need to truly adhere themselves to a billionaire. I bet you did.

[Jon Lovett]

I mean, at what point did you just say. Because there is a moment when she wants to be with Melinda and maybe being kinder, to just say, I'm going to Give you a billion dollars. You totally deserve it. I'll write you a check. Let's meet back here tomorrow.

[Joanna Coles]

Meet me. Meet me at the postal box at the corner of. At some point, I was like, I have to let she. Because she was in a. It was like a full launch. And I said gently, I think you're looking for Melinda Gates. And I directed her to the actual Melinda Gates. And her level of disappointment cannot be overstated.

[Jon Lovett]

Just. Can you do her face falling?

[Joanna Coles]

It was like she kind of went like this. Oh, I. Did she.

[Jon Lovett]

Did she apologize? Did you say, I'm Samantha Bee?

[Joanna Coles]

No, she really rambled and then just sort of turned on her heel and walked in the correct direction.

[Jon Lovett]

I love that story. It reminds me of a story. I was once in an airport, and I have nothing like the celebrity that you have. But I did do a couple of seasons of Project Runway All Stars. So every now and then, people would come up to me in the airport, and a woman came rushing up to me, and she went, I know you. I know you. You're Tilda Swinton. And I said, actually, I'm not Tilda Swinton. But it was confusing cause I had a British accent. Obviously, Tilda is British. And then she went, no, no, not Tilda Swinton.

[Joanna Coles]

I know.

[Jon Lovett]

I know who you are. Cecile Richards, the head of Planned Parenthood.

[Joanna Coles]

Thrilled to be great.

[Jon Lovett]

Will to be mistaken for either of these two women. So I said, no, I'm actually not Cecile Richardson. I do think she's done tremendous wake. I know, I know, I know. You're Tabitha Coffey.

[Joanna Coles]

Wow.

[Jon Lovett]

Who's a reality hairdresser. So finally just said, actually, I'm Joanna Coles. And she went and just walked off. There was no apology. I mean, it was like a weird guessing game in the middle of the airport.

[Joanna Coles]

You know, if people don't like me, but they also kind of don't know exactly who I am or why they don't like me. I just tell them that I'm Katie Couric. She loves it.

[Jon Lovett]

I'm sure we're obsessed. Well, you have particular obsession this week.

[Joanna Coles]

I do. I'm so fired up because I'm just loving this story about New York City Mayor Eric Adams, who has been accused of the most tragi. Comic slate of wrongdoings. And that is saying a lot. Because, as you know, I am from Toronto, where we had the original ridiculous mayor Rob Ford. RIP. Rob Ford.

[Jon Lovett]

I'd forgotten all about it reminds me. What? Drugs? Crack.

[Joanna Coles]

Was it a crack pipe caught on camera smoking crack? And Talking politics, among other things. That was not the only thing. That was just the most famous thing. So if you are not familiar with the story of Eric Adams, the Democratic mayor of NYC was indicted last week with federal charges relating to bribery and wire fraud, among other things. It seems to me like influence peddling is kind of like at the heart of all of this. And the charges are related to around $100,000 in illegal perks, which doesn't feel.

[Jon Lovett]

Like it would get you very far in New York City.

[Joanna Coles]

Oh, no, not really. Not particularly. There are some super choice sections about getting comped tickets on Turkish Airlines, taking flights all over the world with a stopover in Istan. If it's not on the way, it's fantastic.

[Jon Lovett]

I think I read that he was going to Paris, but he had to go via Istanbul.

[Joanna Coles]

Go via Istanbul. At the time of this taping, I actually think that additional charges may be being announced.

[Jon Lovett]

Oy, oy.

[Joanna Coles]

But we don't know what those are. What are New York mayors like? We've had Giuliani, we've had de Blasio.

[Jon Lovett]

Yes. In the Beast, Michael Daly, one of our reporters, had an excellent piece about Eric Adams, and he said that I hadn't realized this, that actually Eric Adams had worked for the transport police.

[Joanna Coles]

Yes. I did not know that either until I read that piece.

[Jon Lovett]

Right. And it was called the O Police because they were always too far away to get hold of anybody if there was trauma or drama in the subway. And when they would tell people they were a member of the Transport police, people would just go, oh, oh.

[Joanna Coles]

Oh, God.

[Jon Lovett]

I have to say I'm sorry to hear this about Eric Adams because he is a very jolly cheerleader for New York. And I will say, when he started his mayoralty, I had him round for dinner and he absolutely charmed everybody at the table. He's incredibly good storyteller. He's very charismatic. So it's depressing to hear that for the sake of $100,000, bunch of travel perks. That's truly depressing. And also you think, come on, it's New York City. 50 million. I'm expecting 50 million. If you're going to be corrupt, be corrupt.

[Joanna Coles]

Yes. When it comes to criming, it just feels very sloppy.

[Jon Lovett]

Did you just say when it comes to criming?

[Joanna Coles]

I did.

[Jon Lovett]

I did.

[Joanna Coles]

It's sloppy. It's very silly. Remember when he gave that tour of his quote unquote, bed Stuy apartment? And all it was was just a basement apartment with a giant sleigh bed in the middle well, yeah, some people.

[Jon Lovett]

Would find that a very. Well, I don't even know how to respond to that. Except that he didn't live in bed.

[Joanna Coles]

Well, nobody thinks that he actually lived there. It didn't seem like a very lived in apartment, but it's sort of like the jury's out on that. It is very funny to me that he had a staffer who allegedly took a bathroom break during her FBI interview and went into the bathroom and furiously tried to delete all the encrypted apps that they would do their alleged frauds with. I find it relatable and yet not something I would look for.

[Jon Lovett]

I'm sure in the FBI bathrooms they must have cameras, don't they?

[Joanna Coles]

It's very sad to me that I feel like I would do crime better than him. Do you know what I mean?

[Jon Lovett]

I do know what you mean. It's not a great story for New York City, is it? Because all his advisors, basically the head of all the departments seem to have resigned.

[Joanna Coles]

Yes.

[Jon Lovett]

Yeah. Who's running the city?

[Joanna Coles]

I'm not sure. I don't know. His press conferences are very sad. Now he's going to the. Into the rotunda all alone with no backup music and no people.

[Jon Lovett]

I know he used to do the New York. What was the song?

[Joanna Coles]

The Alicia Keys song.

[Jon Lovett]

That's right.

[Joanna Coles]

Not anymore.

[Jon Lovett]

Yep. So he's now walking in silent press conferences with nobody with him.

[Joanna Coles]

That's right. What are you obsessed with this week?

[Jon Lovett]

I was fascinated actually by a piece in the Atlantic by Anna Nemtsova, which we actually wrote a little piece about. In the Beast too, just about Putin's obsession with safety and how people are beginning to pierce it. And there was a dossier that came out this week from a. I think funded by an oligarch who lives in Europe, which suggests that he goes to extraordinary lengths, even bigger lengths than anybody expected, to stay safe. So anybody going to see him has to quarantine for two weeks.

[Joanna Coles]

Great.

[Jon Lovett]

And sometimes longer. That his kids are driven around the grounds of where he lives. They're not allowed to sort of wander anywhere, although apparently staff have been snatching photos of them and posting it on social media.

[Joanna Coles]

Right.

[Jon Lovett]

That he has a girlfriend, but nobody knows how many children they have. It could be two or it could be three. He travels in an armored train, a special train. They have their own train. And you just think, God, it must be so isolating to have a life like that.

[Joanna Coles]

I think so. Fun fact about me, we have a giant eight foot painting of Vladimir Putin in our garage in Your garage. We keep it in. It was a prop that we had built, put together for a show that we created called the Detour years and years ago.

[Jon Lovett]

This was you and Jason.

[Joanna Coles]

Yes, me and Jason. And it was up. It was like this hilarious. It's him riding a bear with a spear. And we had it up on the wall in this mansion that we were filming in. And then we kept it because it was hilarious. And it is so huge. I will show you a picture of it later.

[Jon Lovett]

We should bring it, and we could put it behind us on the wall.

[Joanna Coles]

But you know what? I had it in my office for a really long time because it was a great memory of a really amazing project.

[Jon Lovett]

Well, I'm sure your cars are enjoying it.

[Joanna Coles]

They are.

[Jon Lovett]

I would. This is where I should probably tell you. I have strangely interviewed two Russian presidents.

[Joanna Coles]

You have?

[Jon Lovett]

I have. Gorbachev, when his memoir came out. And actually, Raisa Gorbachev, his wife, was really the sort of most recent first lady of Russia. Since then, the presidents haven't had, really, a wife that's occupied that position. And the first lady of Russia feels very different to the first lady of America. And then I also actually interviewed Yeltsin. And yet my favorite story about Yeltsin is when he came over to visit Bill Clinton and got picked up. Do you remember? He staggered out of. He somehow escaped his minders and was found on Pennsylvania Avenue in his underpants, extremely drunk, trying to hire a cab to go and get pizza. He was like, I want American pizza. And I interviewed him actually in Strasbourg years ago, and I was so surprised. It was slightly by accident he was speaking, but I'd stumbled into him backstage because I'd taken the wrong door. And I said to him, oh, goodness, goodness, what are you doing here? And he went, and I don't know. What am I doing here? Not in that voice. Obviously, my accents are not as good as yours, but it was a very strange moment.

[Joanna Coles]

Joanna, you truly. I swear to God, every time telling you that.

[Jon Lovett]

That's not why I love the story on Putin. But it is extraordinary the lengths he goes to to stay safe.

[Joanna Coles]

Every time we get together to do a podcast recording, I learn some precious gem about the world we live in. Thank you so much.

[Jon Lovett]

So we're now going to move on to our download, and obviously, there's only one story we can really download. And I know you're very agitated about it.

[Joanna Coles]

I am.

[Jon Lovett]

And that is our veep debate, of which the beast has been full. We had a wonderful piece by Jill Filipovitch this Morning. Just pointing out frankly all the lies that J.D. vance was telling about not wanting a national abortion ban when we know he's asked for it and called for it and written for it. Yes, but I know you were agitated by it too.

[Joanna Coles]

I was. I woke up very agitated. I mean, of course I watched the whole thing. It was, it didn't. My heart wasn't racing last night, but I didn't sleep. And then I woke up in a state of over caffeinated. Just my pulse is racing. First of all, I wanna say that the debate was held at my old Studio on 57th Street. It was, yes. It warmed my heart a little bit to. It was fun to think of them sitting in the same makeup chair getting their faces put on that I used to sit in.

[Jon Lovett]

Oh, that's so fun.

[Joanna Coles]

In a room previously decorated by Bethenny Frankel.

[Jon Lovett]

Really.

[Joanna Coles]

From when she had her talk show. It's all white pleather. I'm not. It's chrome and white pleather.

[Jon Lovett]

They didn't have very much makeup on though I did notice that whoever had put JD Vance's makeup on had stopped a good half inch from his hairline and I wondered if they'd done that on purpose.

[Joanna Coles]

He, to me looked like he was about to sell me some complex financial instrument that I don't understand that has just like a very high commission rate that he's never going to tell me about. Just a very. Like his facial expression was benign, but the lying was so forceful. Like I think he came across as less of a peevish weasel than he usually does. But until the point when he got corrected, which he was.

[Jon Lovett]

Which he really didn't like.

[Joanna Coles]

He really did not like that.

[Ryan Reynolds]

Thank you, Senator.

[Joanna Coles]

We have so much to get to, Margaret.

[Ryan Reynolds]

I think it's important because we're gonna.

[Joanna Coles]

Turn out of the economy.

[Ryan Reynolds]

Thank you, Margaret. The rules were that you guys weren't going to fact check. And since you're fact checking me, I think it's important to say what's actually going on.

[Joanna Coles]

You know what? Like if fact checking is your Achilles heel, then that is really a tell for us that we are about to go on a voyage of lies. It was very irritating to me.

[Jon Lovett]

Yeah. I don't know where to begin with him. I mean, actually I felt he was very plausible. It felt like he was nothing to do with Donald Trump. Even though he talked about him, he seemed so polished and he came into the debate with so much. Well, with such a lack of favorability. I feel like people really don't like him. Even Republicans Recognize he's not been a good candidate. But he had a very good moment, I thought, last night. I thought the whole debate was good for him. He appeared coherent and pleasant. And I almost had a moment where I was thinking, gosh, what if he gets elected and then in office, becomes president? What if he just swiveled back to all the opinions he had when he first wrote his book and he was declaring Trump the new Hitler? And, you know, what if he. I don't know.

[Joanna Coles]

You mean like, what if he course corrects?

[Jon Lovett]

Yes, exactly. What if he course corrects?

[Joanna Coles]

That's not. I don't think that's on the menu. I don't think that's on the menu anymore because he lives in a world of grievance. I think that what his mission was, and I do think that he accomplished this, is that he was excellent at making it seem like Kamala Harris is the current president and has been for three and a half years. But I think what is primarily driving me crazy today is that the big story today is really about civility and how they got along and how cordial they were with each other, which is really something that I despise. Because who needs civility if what you're saying is pure trash?

[Jon Lovett]

Well, did you feel, though, that Governor Waltz, by the way, I really want to move to Minnesota and make it sound fantastic.

[Joanna Coles]

The Garden of Eden is in Minnesota.

[Jon Lovett]

Who knew? Who knew best Healthcare.

[Joanna Coles]

My goodness.

[Jon Lovett]

I did think that Tim Waltz actually missed a few opportunities to shoot daggers into J.D. vance. I mean, we've got the pet story, which he's knowingly made. You know, he said, who cares if it's untrue? Oh, sure, I'm making a point here, which has had terrible ramifications in Ohio. Even the Republican governor has come out and said, please stop telling these ridiculous stories about immigrants eating pets. It's just not true. And J.D. vance knows it's not true. And that's just the latest in his egregious lineup of Lies for the Sake of Power. But I did feel like Tim Walsh should have actually cornered him a bit more on things like that and his national abortion ban.

[Joanna Coles]

I agree with that. I mean, they set expectations for him so low, which is such a not fun way to have to go out on a national stage and perform. They were all like, hey, Tim, we're not good at this. And by the way, we told everyone that you're not good at this. Just have fun out there and don't fuck this up for us, which is a really impossible mission. He did you know, like, the reason he was chosen was because he called them all weird and that's what everybody was looking for and we didn't receive it right.

[Jon Lovett]

Why didn't he just say it last night?

[Joanna Coles]

Listen, I think that a big part of the problem and why I really am reflecting so negatively on it today is because without any fact checking, what is the point? The whole thing is ridiculous. The whole thing is bs. Like, without any fact checking at all. The job of moderator is anodyne and boring. It is quite blank. You're a traffic cop, no one cares.

[Jon Lovett]

And they had a QR code on it, which you were supposed to click on and then it would fact check. Yeah. CBS ran a QR code. Did you watch it on cps?

[Joanna Coles]

I did and I did not. I didn't notice that.

[Jon Lovett]

Okay, well, there was a QR code that would pop up every now and then, which was supposed to have some fact checking on it, but it didn't. At least for me, it didn't work. I watched it in the Daily Beast newsroom. A lot of us were trying. The CBS QR code simply didn't work.

[Joanna Coles]

Okay. I mean, if no one's pushing back. If no one's able to push back, when J.D. vance says things like, donald Trump saved the Affordable Care Act, I mean, like, we know that that's not true. It's just such a simple thing. And it's simple.

[Jon Lovett]

Well, there's this thing he did when he came into office was try and kill the Affordable Care Act.

[Joanna Coles]

He ran on it.

[Jon Lovett]

Exactly. He campaigned on it. It was extraordinary, that moment. But what was extraordinary was that Tim Waltz didn't push back on it further.

[Joanna Coles]

I know. I mean, it's. When you're in, when those lights are upon you, I mean, this is what happens. It is not his strong suit. It is much more a strength for J.D. vance. Like, we knew that going in, but it. It was really a frustration that they were not able to make clarifications or didn't feel comfortable making clarifications. I felt like the whole process, I felt that I could feel network notes looming over the whole procedure. I mean, listen, if you start one of these things with a question about Iran, then you don't even really want to know what the answer is to your question about Iran. Because everybody just launches into their biography about how they were, like, born in the crook of an old oak tree, and they're like, their mom was squatting in the potato fields and birthed them, and then they went to work. You know, it's Ridiculous.

[Jon Lovett]

But the first question should have been, do you believe that Donald Trump won the 2020 election, or do you believe that Joe Biden won it? That should have been the first question. Instead, that came right at the very end where I'm sure most people had already left. I spoke to several people who tried to watch it and fallen asleep. And so the most important part of do you accept democracy? Would you have ratified the election, which J.D. vance said he would not, was left right until the end.

[Joanna Coles]

Right until the end when everybody's watching Dancing with the Stars. Yep, I agree with you. The first real. Let them do their. Let's not even pretend that we're not doing biographies. Let them do that stuff and then be. And literally ask, tell us why Donald Drum's former VP is not standing here today instead of you. Tell us in your own words.

[Jon Lovett]

Right. Like, how extraordinary is it that a president has changed his vice president because people were threatening to hang his previous vice president?

[Joanna Coles]

There were so many missed opportunities. I listed them.

[Jon Lovett]

Oh, good.

[Joanna Coles]

Go on. I write notes. I do stream of consciousness note taking during debates.

[Jon Lovett]

Well, you were texting pretty frankly frantically.

[Joanna Coles]

I was texting frantically. And toward the end, my texts no longer made sense. But I mean, really pressing J.D. vance on the lies about Haitian immigrants that he told two weeks ago that were incredibly damaging actually sickens me. Like, do you stand behind the comments that you made about Haitian immigrants eating cats and dogs? Do you stand behind your comments that childless people are often deranged and psychotic? Like there. And there is ample evidence you want a nationwide abortion ban. You've said it, you've written about it. Which version of you is real?

[Jon Lovett]

Right.

[Joanna Coles]

I actually think that I would personally listen. I love to throw spaghetti at the wall, there's no question. But I feel like the best debate moderators would be people who don't have a job to worry about after. Do you know what I mean?

[Jon Lovett]

Well, you know who won last night's debate? David Muir and Lindsay Davis, but particularly David Muir.

[Joanna Coles]

Right, right. Yeah, I mean, they did do a great job.

[Jon Lovett]

Why also, as a moderator, would you take the job if you weren't allowed to fact check in real time?

[Joanna Coles]

Listen, I don't know the machinations of what happens behind the scenes at a network, but I'm sure that this was an agonizing process for everybody. And I don't think that the result was very effective. Like, nobody, you know, I mean, they asked him about. They definitely asked about calling Trump, you know, Hitler. But I mean, the real question, then there needs to be A follow up question.

[Jon Lovett]

Right. And he just said, well, I was wrong and now I changed my mind.

[Joanna Coles]

The specific question is, well, when did you change your views on Trump? Because all of the stuff that he said was in 2020 when he had already been president.

[Jon Lovett]

Right. And also, why did you think that he was the new Hitler?

[Joanna Coles]

Yes.

[Jon Lovett]

Saying, oh, I was wrong. Well, it's pretty weird to be wrong about saying something quite so strong.

[Joanna Coles]

I mean, J.D. vance has said that shootings are a fact of life. That shootings are a fact of life that we have to accept.

[Jon Lovett]

Right.

[Joanna Coles]

How did this not come up? We're just talking about heavy doors and windows. This is such nonsense.

[Jon Lovett]

Well, there was also an extraordinary moment where Tim Waltz was talking about how his son Gus had been witness to a shooting at a volleyball event. And actually it was a human moment when J.D. vance said, oh, goodness, I'm so sorry, I didn't know that that had happened. And then he went, Christ have mercy at the end, as if he was some sort of priest. You know, that was a very strange moment.

[Joanna Coles]

It was. That actually reminds me, I don't know why that reminds me of this, but the abortion issue, I need someone to say out loud at a debate real soon, I need people to say out loud that abortions at nine months do not exist.

[Jon Lovett]

Right.

[Joanna Coles]

What we are talking about is palliative care for dying infants. And the GOP needs to stop torturing people with this line of attack or this line that people are going around executing babies on the slab and him talking about how he has a friend who once had an abortion, but he still loves her. I'm like J.D. vance, like, newsflash, you know, a lot of women who've had abortions, one in.

[Jon Lovett]

Five women in America. And actually most people who've had abortions, our parents, our mothers.

[Joanna Coles]

Yes.

[Jon Lovett]

It's actually not the feckless 15 year old girl which the Republican Party presents as someone who's having an abortion. It's actually mothers who've got children who know the incredible amount of effort and energy and yes, money it takes to have a baby.

[Joanna Coles]

And also J.D. vance, you know, a lot of men who participated in the making exactly. Of an unintended pregnancy.

[Jon Lovett]

There's a men's issue here too.

[Joanna Coles]

I don't know. Anyways, no one, just J.D. no one told you because you pepper your daily conversations with like phrases like the blood of Christ and no one trusts you and they are right not to.

[Jon Lovett]

He appears to have no core whatsoever. So he says whatever happens to be in the wind or whatever he thinks Donald Trump will like him for saying. And Donald Trump was going insane on Truth Social.

[Joanna Coles]

He was. Yes, he was.

[Jon Lovett]

I know you're not on Truth Social, but I like to watch it because I like to know what he's saying. And at the Beast, we try and keep reports of what's happening on Truth Social because we know not everybody's on it, but he immediately, I mean, first of all, he can't stand not being the center of attention. So I'm sure it was very painful for him to have to watch J.D. vance.

[Joanna Coles]

Like if he was smart, he would let J.D. vance speak for him more often. But yes, he definitely.

[Jon Lovett]

Well, he'd also learn what his positioning statement.

[Joanna Coles]

So I know I was positive as I was watching that it was definitely bothering him and getting into his craw, which I like.

[Jon Lovett]

What were you doing? Were you sitting on your sofa? Were you in the fetal position? I'm trying to imagine you sitting there firing off your texts, jotting your notes.

[Joanna Coles]

I sit on a big gigantic chair that contains multitudes. So I sit on my big chair with a snack and a drink. I have my laptop, my phone and a notebook and probably a cat.

[Jon Lovett]

And were you watching it on your own?

[Joanna Coles]

No, I was watching it with my 16 year old son. And also Jason was there, My husband was there as well. Yeah, it's unfortunate. And I think that one very impactful thing is that no one can ever name their baby Margaret again.

[Jon Lovett]

He really do the impression of J.D.

[Joanna Coles]

Vance, but he said, Margaret, I don't wanna, I don't wanna guess, but if I was guessing, I would say 12 times 12. I don't know.

[Ryan Reynolds]

So, Margaret, I want to answer the question. Well, first of all, Margaret, diplomacy is not a dirty word. So first of all, Margaret, before we talk about deportations, we have to stop the bleeding. And that gets me to your point, Margaret, about what do we actually do? And the final point, Margaret, is you ask about family separation. Right now in this country, Margaret, we have 320,000 children. Look, Margaret, first of all, the gross majority of what we need to do at the southern border is just empowering law enforcement to do their job. Thank you, Margaret. The rules were that you guys weren't going to fact check the implementation of illegal immigration. Margaret. It's one of the reasons. Margaret. Margaret, I've been extremely consistent and I want to talk about this tariff issue in particular. Margaret. Now you asked, Margaret, what would immediately change the equation for American citizens?

[Jon Lovett]

Yeah.

[Ryan Reynolds]

Well, first of all, Margaret, a number of my Republican colleagues, and some Democrats too, have worked on this issue. And I think there is a bipartisan solution here.

[Jon Lovett]

Poor Margaret Brennan. She probably can't get the echo out of her head.

[Joanna Coles]

The way that he says Margaret is like when an incel calls women female. Do you know what I mean?

[Jon Lovett]

Like, just felt wrong in his mouth.

[Joanna Coles]

It just feels wrong.

[Jon Lovett]

Take the word out of your mouth.

[Joanna Coles]

Take the word out.

[Jon Lovett]

Nel Scovell, who is a great writer for the Daily Beast, has a theory of why RFK Jr. S words sound so wobbly. You know, he's got that very, very wobbly voice.

[Joanna Coles]

Yes, yes.

[Jon Lovett]

And she says the words are so appalled by how he's put them together that they refuse to come out of his mouth properly.

[Joanna Coles]

Oh, boy. Oh boy. Okay, so who does this debate matter to? I have a theory.

[Jon Lovett]

Well, go on.

[Joanna Coles]

Well, I just think it matters to people who want some cover for voting for Trump. People who just don't want to pay their taxes. That's my assessment of it. Just people who are like, just give me one reasonable thing and I'll just go for Trump. Like they probably were anyway. But they wanted a. They wanted a more reasonable projection of a human politician that they could just like, feel okay about.

[Jon Lovett]

I think the polls have got it split pretty much 50, 50 for one. The thing that struck me was that the debate itself, at least the three debates we've had this season, have each favored the younger candidate. So Trump over Biden, Carmela over Trump, and J.D. i think just squeaked ahead of Waltz in this debate. But I also thought watching the two men last night, how Carmela has just modernized and freshened the dialogue and how watching a woman with a man is so much more interesting than watching two white guys just going at it.

[Joanna Coles]

I did enjoy being Vance splained.

[Jon Lovett]

Yes. Vansplaining was a real moment, wasn't it?

[Joanna Coles]

It really was. I really just need someone to say abortion is healthcare 10 times in a row and I'll be satisfied going forward.

[Samantha Bee]

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[Jon Lovett]

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[Samantha Bee]

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[Joanna Coles]

Monday.com for whatever you run.

[Jon Lovett]

Go to Monday.com to learn more.

[Ryan Reynolds]

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[Samantha Bee]

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[Ryan Reynolds]

Give it a [e-mail] Switch $45 upfront.

[Joanna Coles]

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[Samantha Bee]

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[Joanna Coles]

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[Samantha Bee]

I'm cozy.

[Joanna Coles]

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[Jon Lovett]

Blisters.

[Joanna Coles]

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[Jon Lovett]

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[Joanna Coles]

I just want to thank you so much for both being here. I know your time is so precious. This is our little, this is our little spin room thing that we're doing. Did you enjoy the debate last night? What were your initial thoughts? Enjoy. That's. I say that with quotes around it.

[Ryan Reynolds]

Honestly my initial thought was eh, kind of boring, but in a good way because it's like we were saying this on positive America that it felt like a debate on a timeline where Donald Trump no longer exists or at least existed in the distant past. And so it was just two people. Like it could have been a gubernatorial debate or a, or a Senate debate. Tim Walls is talking about Minnesota. J.D. vance is talking about random issues. It's like it was interesting. It didn't feel like the 2024 campaign.

[Joanna Coles]

I thought it also looked like a debate from the 90s.

[Ryan Reynolds]

Yes.

[Jon Lovett]

Yeah.

[Samantha Bee]

You know, we're used to, in a world where Trump is a part of our politics, high highs and low lows. You know, we watched a debate a few months ago. I would say that was a low low. Watch a debate a few weeks ago that felt like a high high. She really kicked his. This was in a kind of lukewarm middle where I think JD Vance, this is his best kind of environment, like an opportunity to bait. Like when he was in college. He's a poster at heart. He's an Internet creature at heart. It's a good form for him. He landed some punches. I thought Tim Walls had some of the best moments of the night but is also obviously not as comfortable in that forum. So all in all it was just sort of, I think I got kind of boring and yet also hair raising experience.

[Joanna Coles]

Yeah.

[Ryan Reynolds]

I thought J.D. vance, he put on a well fitting normal human suit.

[Samantha Bee]

Yeah.

[Jon Lovett]

Yeah. It made me want to move to Minnesota. I will say. Is this the end of the debates now? Are we done? Do we squeeze in one more?

[Ryan Reynolds]

I think it's probably the end. I think that Donald Trump and his campaign feel good about where they are. I think they are, are risk averse and that they know if they agree to one more debate then Donald Trump could once again remind everyone why he is deranged and unfit. And it's also like, it's, you know, the CNN debate was supposed to be the 23rd. That's the invitation for October 23rd. It's only a couple weeks and I don't know that they're going to have time to do this. It's Donald Trump, so he's unpredictable. Anything could happen. He could decide like three days before the debate. He could say, yeah, let's do it, I'll see you there. So I don't know, but I would bet against it.

[Jon Lovett]

I wondered if he might just even debate JD Vance for the hell of it.

[Joanna Coles]

Do you think that each candidate met their minimum goal? Like, who do you think was really reached with this performance?

[Samantha Bee]

JD Vance's best moments were probably around issues that don't matter as much. The same can be said about Tim Walls worst moments. The most important and I think furthest reaching moment of the night was the moment where Tim Walls questioned J.D. vance about democracy. And J.D. vance refuses to say that Donald Trump lost the election. I think that swayed undecided voters who were watching it. I think it's the most important clip coming out of it. The Harris campaign immediately put an ad behind it to get that in front of people. And so, you know, you have like, if you're watching a two hour vice presidential debate, you're pretty engaged. And you may have seen the moment where Tim Wallace else kind of fumbles over an answer around mischaracterizing his time in Hong Kong 30 years ago. And you know, maybe that seemed impactful in the moment they said they cut off JD's microphone. But if you're just watching clips of what comes out of this debate after, I don't know that J.D. vance did what he needed to do for trump. I think J.D. vance did a little bit of work to repair his image as a weird dipshit. But like, does that help Donald Trump win? I don't think so. I think it, I think Tim Walls did more to help Kamala Harris than J.D. vance did to help Donald Trump.

[Jon Lovett]

Do you think that they should have asked the question about the election at the beginning? I thought it was an incredibly weird ordering of questions and that actually you would have had a much more engaging debate. It's probably the single most important question, right? Did who won the 2020 election? And if you can't agree with that, then it's going to color the rest of the debate. So I thought it was really weird that they left it till the end.

[Ryan Reynolds]

I certainly would have enjoyed if they Asked it first, but, but you know, to be fair to cbs, they're a news organization. They have a bias towards what is news and what has just happened. And so I was not completely surprised that they asked about what happened in the Middle east yesterday and what's been going on in the Middle east now for several months, if not a year. So I think that's why they started with that question. I might have then in the second or third or fourth topic, gone to democracy, but I don't really have a lot of quibbles with it just because the way people consume information now, share information, you know, you had, you know, tens of millions of people who watched the debate last night, but everyone's going to share the clips from whatever moment of the debate was a big deal. And I think that's different than the way we used to watch and consume debates, like, you know, even five, ten years ago.

[Jon Lovett]

True. The only thing I would say to push back on that is we know that foreign affairs doesn't really move the needle in a presidential debate here. So I just thought, oh, you way to lose half your audience. I literally thought if you're trying to get people to watch this thing, the way to lose them is to start with the Middle East.

[Ryan Reynolds]

That's fair. That's fair.

[Samantha Bee]

Yeah.

[Joanna Coles]

I want to ask a question about just debates in general because I'm so curious where you think that debates go from here when news organizations see themselves as needing to seem balanced. Like, why even have debates if we're just like neutralizing them? No fact checking, which is really just to please the fact averse among us.

[Samantha Bee]

I feel like there's two questions in there. I think one is what is the role of moderators in the debate? How much fact checking should they do? And I actually, like, I don't agree that having moderators who step in and do fact checking improves a debate because, you know, look, we've been through three. I do not think Donald Trump won that first debate or lost that second debate. I don't believe, believe what we watched unfold last night was really that impacted by the moderators. When the candidates check each other. I think that that is better for the people watching at home than when moderators step in and try to kind of adjudicate the facts on the fly. Like, look, we saw what came out of that Trump Harris debate. I think it was incredibly fair moderating. But Donald Trump has spent weeks saying it was three on one. I think like a little bit of an idea has taken hold that the moderators were, were More unfair to him than they were to Kamala Harris. Do I think that helps people? Do you think that's. That's good coming out of the debate? I don't. It's probably better if they seem like they're stepping back and letting the candidates fight it out. And then we rely on our candidate to fact check Donald Trump or the Republican in real time. What is the purpose of a debate? Right. Like, is this the best way to decide between two human beings? Quick recall, scoring points, making viral moments like, no, of course not. This is a stupid way to choose somebody to run Medicare and the military. Like, incredibly stupid. But if that's what we're going to do, I don't know that the moderator stepping in more is, like, a way to make it better.

[Joanna Coles]

I think I just like it because I personally find it satisfying.

[Samantha Bee]

Yeah, no, I get it. I agree. But, like, you know, like that moment, like, J.D. vance, I think, enjoyed his microphone being shut off. I think. I think liberals on Twitter and JD Vance enjoyed the microphones being turned off the most. And I think that probably says something about how we watch debates versus how undecided or less engaged people watch a debate.

[Joanna Coles]

Right, right.

[Jon Lovett]

I did think J.D. vance looked as if he was really enjoying himself, whereas you could tell that this is not Tim Waltz's natural environment. He's obviously great in donut shops and he's great at big rallies, but he's not great in that environment.

[Ryan Reynolds]

J.D. vance was, like, born to be a debater. He is. He lies easily. He is shameless. And he's like a poster. You know, he likes to post. He likes to. He's like a blogger.

[Joanna Coles]

Yeah.

[Ryan Reynolds]

And he has been, you know, since he wrote Hillbilly lg. He, you know, had been talking to media. He's very well versed in doing interviews and sparring with reporters, sparring with opponents. And so I was not surprised that he did well and knew that he was going to have to, you know, be on his best behavior. Tim Wall said something. It was in a CNN story before the debate where he said, you know, I'm a teacher and we teach. He's like, I teach my students to answer the question. And as a teacher, you learn to answer the question. And that's not really what a debate is. It's more of a performance, which reminded me of what Barack Obama would always say about debates and complain about when we were prepping him for a debate. And he wasn't a great debater either, just because that's not his strength. Because there's an artifice to debating and television debating that I think you really have to, you really have to be cut out for. And J.D. vance is. And I of figured Tim Walls wasn't.

[Jon Lovett]

It's so funny you should mention Barack Obama because his first debate with Mitt Romney was so shocking for people because they'd never seen him in an environment like that where he didn't appear to be completely in control. And then obviously the second debate was much better. But that was a shocking debate. The first one, he just seemed very tired and unable to play that game. As you say, it's a performance.

[Ryan Reynolds]

Yeah, he just didn't want to be there. He had been president for four years and when you're president for four years, you're not used to being, being challenged all the time on a debate stage like that. But also he thought, you know, they're going to ask questions about policy and I'm just going to give answers.

[Samantha Bee]

Also, though, I will say, like we're a little bit inured to just how much worse and dumber debates have gotten in. Like the Donald Trump era. You go back and look like people were after that first Biden Trump debate. People were like, well, Reagan had a bad night in 1984. Then you go watch the Reagan debate. He's like Cicero. I bet if you go look at, if you look at, if you go back to that, that, that, that terrible Obama debate from 2012, I bet it.

[Ryan Reynolds]

Oh, I did know.

[Samantha Bee]

It's fucking fine.

[Ryan Reynolds]

Oh no, I watched it. I watched it either before the Biden debate or before the Harris debate. And that first answer, I was still screaming, yeah, it's a bad, it's bad.

[Samantha Bee]

Yeah. Obviously not as best, but, you know, I think it gets held up a little too high.

[Jon Lovett]

So you just mentioned Biden. What does he do for the rest of the campaign now? What should he be doing? Should he just sit it out? I mean, what, what does the next month hold, do you think? For us?

[Ryan Reynolds]

I think he should be president. And like he's got plenty on his plate between the Middle east and now we have a dock workers strike and everything else that's going on in the country. And I think the best thing he can do for Kamala Harris and for the country and for the party is to just continue being president, support her where he can. But I don't imagine that Joe Biden, like barnstorming the country with Kamala Harris or without her is necessarily going to help the campaign.

[Jon Lovett]

I don't think Joe Biden could barnstorm at this point.

[Samantha Bee]

I just I just need, like, you have them, you know, make sure there's not any kind of like runners or rugs that could easily catch between. Oh, God, the bedroom and the situation room. And just have him go back and forth, I think. No, no step in tubs, no stairs, no slips, no lips on that shower. You know, that kind of thing.

[Jon Lovett]

Yeah.

[Joanna Coles]

Oh, dear. Let's talk about podcasting a little bit, because Joanna and I are launching this big new endeavor and of course, you are just OG podcasters with an incredible partnership. Do you have any advice for us, as in terms of just barnstorming the world of. As we're talking about? Barnstorming. Barnstorming the world of podcasting.

[Jon Lovett]

Yeah. What should we be doing? Should we be fighting? Should we be drinking? What should we do?

[Ryan Reynolds]

The more you can narrow the space between how the two of you would be in a conversation with no microphones on and no cameras on and how you're going to be in during your podcast, the better it works. When people think they are just hearing a conversation between friends and they're overhearing a conversation between friends. And that goes for the guests that you have on as well. I think the, like, the worst episodes we've done, or at least when we were starting to, it's when we're overprepared, too scripted. When we have guests on, especially politicians are like this, where it sounds like they're just repeating talking points and like, that just doesn't work as well.

[Samantha Bee]

Yeah.

[Ryan Reynolds]

And so I think you gotta be as loose as possible.

[Joanna Coles]

Can you ever really get people off their talking points? I find it to be a very difficult mission. It's so hard and you feel yourself in it and you just start sweating, but also slightly falling asleep.

[Samantha Bee]

You can't make someone be not a politician when they are a politician. I do think, like you, this is, by the way, you see this with all kinds of public figures. I think more often than not people can be pulled into a more honest conversation than they could be pushed into a more honest conversation.

[Jon Lovett]

Like you look at Don, what does that mean? How do we do that? How do we pull them?

[Samantha Bee]

If you look at, say, like Donald Trump, like, his most revealing and terrible and damning answers have tended to come in safer environments or off softball questions as opposed to more adversarial questions. I think, like, when we've had people on and we kind of do our, we try to, like, we're going to be tough, tough guy and interview people, I think sometimes that that leads to the worst results. But like, if you can just sort of hang out with somebody and make them feel at ease. Suddenly they feel a little bit looser and a little bit more comfortable and maybe they go a little further because their guards a little bit further down.

[Ryan Reynolds]

Yeah. And sometimes if you know how they're going to answer a question in advance because they have answered it before that way since. And this again, especially happens with politicians. If in your question you can sort of give them the answer that you know, you can already recite the answer that you know they're going to give you back, then they have nowhere else to go. And then sometimes they actually say something interesting.

[Samantha Bee]

Trick them.

[Joanna Coles]

If you interview them for two hours also, you can wear them down. And then they just get tired and they lose track of their thoughts.

[Jon Lovett]

Which is our plan with you guys.

[Joanna Coles]

Yeah.

[Jon Lovett]

We're going to be here in four hours time. We're still going to be asking. What should we be asking you?

[Samantha Bee]

What should we ask now? We're doing both sides of the interview.

[Joanna Coles]

Yeah, that's right.

[Samantha Bee]

Yeah. I do think that, like, you know, if you listen to like, like Joe Rogan will have people on for hours and then one clip will go viral after. And that comes after a very long and detailed conversation. Right. Like, I do think people get comfortable in those long conversations.

[Ryan Reynolds]

Yeah.

[Jon Lovett]

Who's the person that you just felt like was a total waste of time to have on the pod? Who would you never have back?

[Samantha Bee]

Oh, that's a long list. No, that's a. That's such an important question. And I would say one thing you learn from doing this for eight years is. Yeah, nice try.

[Jon Lovett]

Eight years. Wow.

[Ryan Reynolds]

It's eight years.

[Jon Lovett]

I know, it's insane. I remember you coming in when you were starting this and I was dying to invest because I knew it was going to be good. And I was telling Sam the company I was at. Then when you came in, I rushed in and I said, we should absolutely invest in these guys and Crooked Media. And they said, we would never invest in a company called Crooked Media. And I went, no, no, it's a joke. It's a joke. And they were like, we will never invest in a company called Crooked Media. So that's my story about you guys.

[Ryan Reynolds]

We finally tricked someone. So.

[Jon Lovett]

Yeah, yeah, no, no, it's very exciting what you're. What you're building. Really exciting. And who. You still haven't told me who you wouldn't have back.

[Samantha Bee]

That's right.

[Joanna Coles]

You did dodge that one.

[Ryan Reynolds]

I think there's a shorter list of politicians we enjoy talking to because they are Sort of less afraid of just being themselves. We interviewed each of of the candidates in 2020 who was running in the Democratic nomination. And that's like a long list.

[Joanna Coles]

Yeah.

[Ryan Reynolds]

We think back on that. It was just like, oh, Warren and Pete and Biden. But there was like, I'm sitting here.

[Samantha Bee]

Talking to Bill de Blasio for an hour.

[Jon Lovett]

Oh, my God, an hour you will never get back.

[Samantha Bee]

I spent a month with Bill de Blasio. One hour.

[Joanna Coles]

Just started to sweat thinking about that.

[Ryan Reynolds]

Yeah, some. Some of those folks that dropped out early, and we'd sat there for like, 45 minutes to an hour interviewing them, and that's a lot.

[Samantha Bee]

I mean, Sam, you've done boring interviews.

[Ryan Reynolds]

Yeah.

[Joanna Coles]

Oh, I have. Not with you, though.

[Samantha Bee]

Not with us.

[Joanna Coles]

No, not with you. No. And I watched your episode of Survivor and I thought you were excellent.

[Samantha Bee]

Yeah. Yeah. That's what. That's. And that's what happens when you're good at it, when you're excellent.

[Ryan Reynolds]

John and the kids.

[Samantha Bee]

Unbelievable.

[Jon Lovett]

Love it. Talk us through the moment when you realized you weren't going to stay on Survivor.

[Samantha Bee]

Oh, I would say was when Jeff Probst read my name a lot.

[Joanna Coles]

Okay.

[Samantha Bee]

Oh, I knew that I was in trouble because somebody on my tribe had a meltdown and then kind of turned on me in front of the Jeff Probst and all 18 people on the island. And so I knew I was in trouble. And once that happened, I tried everything I could to dig out of it, but I wasn't caught off guard by being voted out. I think, like, I. They just were choosing between two people, one of whom was no longer a threat. And that really kind of killed me. But it was very fun. It's a very strange experience. Right. Like, if I told you, joanna, open up your calendar, go to March, everybody's going to see you be embarrassed on television. That's a weird thing to put in your Google calendar. It's like a weird thing to have. Like, this is going to air and it's going to be. But, like, my. I enjoyed it and I actually have, like, no regrets about it. My disappointment was not going home first because of how people reacted. Actually, the reaction was really great. It was like. It was fun. I was having a good time being out there. There, and it was like a silly, crazy thing to do, and I was glad I got to do it.

[Ryan Reynolds]

I loved it.

[Samantha Bee]

Yeah. It was. Best gift I've ever given John Favreau.

[Ryan Reynolds]

Oh, my God. That's what he said. The moment I knew things were going south is when they Were all introducing themselves and love. It's like I used to be a speechwriter and now I host a podcast. It's called Pod Save America. If some of you heard of it. And you hear some people just going, maybe, maybe. I think so.

[Samantha Bee]

They had, they had heard of it. They had heard of it.

[Joanna Coles]

Good business is glorious.

[Jon Lovett]

Do you get, do you get paid for it and do you get paid per how long episode you stay for? So if you stay for four episodes, you get paid more or is it like Dancing with the Stars, which I think is a flat fee?

[Joanna Coles]

No dancing with us. I know because I just got asked to do it and I said no. You said you get more money the longer you stay. Oh, you do.

[Jon Lovett]

So you're incentivized to stay. So, John, how much did you get for.

[Samantha Bee]

I would say enough for a really nice weekend getaway.

[Joanna Coles]

Great.

[Ryan Reynolds]

Great.

[Jon Lovett]

Weekend getaway in America or weekend getaway in South America or Europe?

[Samantha Bee]

I think it depends on the season, but not a lot. Not a lot, Not a lot. You did get a vacation in Fiji, basically.

[Jon Lovett]

That's good.

[Samantha Bee]

I missed three dinners. But I did spend a month in Fiji, so that was really the fun. I also had this great experience of when you get voted out. First you're alone and then one by one all these people get vot it out. And then you kind of hang out with them at this basically kind of like rundown resort in Fiji. And so that was really what I did. I read books, I played ping pong with people and I had no Internet, no nothing. I just literally read physic. I literally just read physical books and kind of thought about what? Like just, I don't know, thought about my life, thought about my choices.

[Jon Lovett]

I can't believe that you could spend a month without the Internet.

[Ryan Reynolds]

Wild.

[Samantha Bee]

It was very good for me, I.

[Jon Lovett]

Think, I mean like mentally what happened to you?

[Samantha Bee]

So I did, I think like my attention span healed. It really did. Like, it did, it did heal. And like I was able to just sit and read. Like days felt a little bit shorter because you could just sit for a while and just read for an hour or two without feeling like you're, you're jittery. You stop reaching for your phone, you stop missing the news. You also realize how much news you're paying attention to day to day that you completely forget about. About and then.

[Ryan Reynolds]

And don't need to know.

[Samantha Bee]

And don't ever need to know.

[Joanna Coles]

Right.

[Samantha Bee]

I will say though, when I turned my phone back on, like the algorithm, it seemed like tick tock. Thought of me as a person who had, like, been a junkie but got sober and they were, like, a drug dealer outside of school. Like, like, oh, you think you can stay away from this? We saved the weirdest content for your brain till. Till you got back. That's right. This is a story about pooping and real estate.

[Joanna Coles]

Wow. You thought that this Spin Room was a political discussion, but it was actually just cover for us to talk about your survivor experience.

[Samantha Bee]

And you made me feel comfortable, and that's what happened.

[Joanna Coles]

That's what happens.

[Jon Lovett]

I have one question before we go. I know you guys were fantastic speech writers for President Obama. Is it possible, do you think, to write a speech for President Trump?

[Ryan Reynolds]

Trump, yeah, for sure. We have now watched Trump speeches, as I'm sure you guys have for nine years. I could, like, write a president. I could write a Donald Trump speech in my sleep.

[Samantha Bee]

Absolutely.

[Ryan Reynolds]

And then. And then take a. Take a shower afterwards and that.

[Jon Lovett]

But do you think he would be able to deliver it? I can't tell if you're being serious or.

[Ryan Reynolds]

No, no, no, I know he deliver. You can tell his style now, right? He has the speech. He's got the prompters. He's reading it. Sometimes he's surprised by what he reads because he clearly hasn't read it before. And then. Then he sort of goes off on a tangent and he does like the Trump show. And then he comes back onto the. And then he seems more bored on the prompter. He's. He's definitely bored by the written speeches. And they try to, you know, they try to write in his style, but it's.

[Samantha Bee]

Yeah, but his writers are a lot of blood and soil from his speech writing.

[Ryan Reynolds]

Well, he's, you know, he's 80 years old. He's not coming up with anything new at this point. No, he's old. He's just playing the hits. Right. He hasn't come up with new material in a while.

[Jon Lovett]

Okay. And if you were betting people, what would you say happens on November 5th?

[Ryan Reynolds]

We're not.

[Samantha Bee]

We're not. No betting. No betting.

[Ryan Reynolds]

I would rather be. I'd rather be us than them. Yeah, it's a. It's an extremely close race, but I think that in an extremely close race, energy, enthusiasm, that matters on the margins, and this is going to be a margin of error race, so.

[Joanna Coles]

Wow. All right, thanks again. This was amazing. Oh, I thought that was so good.

[Jon Lovett]

They are such fun.

[Joanna Coles]

So much fun. That was great. And you know what? That actually was, I thought, great advice. We keep talking to people who give us great advice, but relating to each other as we normally relate to each other, which I do think that we do. It's something that I would not think to do or be aware of, but I think we're kind of doing it anyway.

[Jon Lovett]

Yeah. And I I now literally waking up in the morning thinking, what Sam? What does Sam think? I mean, I'm getting features.

[Joanna Coles]

People wake up that way. Way. So it's understandable. Once you know me, you love me. Irresistible.

[Jon Lovett]

Irresistible. I I loved hearing about his experience too, on Survivor.

[Joanna Coles]

Yes. Delicious. Delicious. I wish he would have stayed longer. Yeah, he should have.

[Jon Lovett]

It would have been fun if he'd stayed longer. Thank you for listening. And please, like subscribe and share this episode with a friend you want to feel smarter than or to argue with.

[Joanna Coles]

And if you're doing that, you might as well send it to all your weird uncles too.

[Jon Lovett]

So tag us on all your favorite social platforms, tell us what you think. We'd love your feedback and we'll be back next Thursday with another episode of the Daily Beast Podcast.

[Joanna Coles]

As my personal muse once said, be.

[Jon Lovett]

Best, but here we say Beast.

[Joanna Coles]

We see you next time.

[Jon Lovett]

The Daily Beast Podcast is produced by Sarah Demonkoft, Svia, Beren Reinstein and Jesse Cannon. If you've been listening to the podcast lately, you've probably heard us talk about 5 9, the revolutionary customer experience platform that is redefining how customers interact with brands. Everyone wants to be treated well and have a great customer experience. And in today's world that is a huge competitive advantage. But most companies see it as just checking a box. They're missing out on incredible brand building and revenue generating opportunities that are everywhere across businesses. All of those consumer touch points that you don't think of, those are the moments your brand can use to create an advantage. Five9's intelligent AI driven platform lets you make all those moments better and totally seamless. So if you want to build a powerful brand that people love, check out59.com beast.

[Ryan Reynolds]

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[Joanna Coles]

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