The Daily Show: Ears Edition
Episode Summary: "FIFA Gives Trump a Gold Pacifier & Looming War on Venezuela Gives Jon Iraq Déjà Vu | Malala Yousafzai"
Date: December 9, 2025
Host: Jon Stewart
Key Interview: Malala Yousafzai

Episode Overview

This episode of The Daily Show: Ears Edition is a seamless blend of irreverent satire, pointed political critique, and heartfelt conversation. Jon Stewart and the Daily Show News Team tackle the surreal announcement of Donald Trump receiving FIFA's made-up "Peace Prize" against the backdrop of escalating U.S.—Venezuela tensions, drawing biting parallels to the prelude of the Iraq War. The episode culminates with an intimate and revealing interview with Malala Yousafzai, who discusses her new memoir, the pressures of young fame, the importance of mental health, and her ongoing advocacy for girls' education.

Key Segments & Timestamps

1. Opening & FIFA "Peace Prize" for Trump

[01:40 – 05:34]

• Stewart welcomes the audience, including a humorous nod to Malala as the youngest Nobel laureate, poking fun at audience ambitions versus Malala's achievements.
• Main headline: FIFA World Cup will be hosted in the Americas, overshadowed by FIFA's inaugural—and wholly invented—Peace Prize awarded to Donald Trump.
• Stewart lampoons both the creation of the prize and its thinly veiled attempt to "appease" Trump, describing it as the "FIFA appease prize."
• Visual gag on-air: The supposed "trophy" has a questionable design, leading to recurring jokes about its possible origin as a "golden butt plug".
• Quote: "Trump is so needy. It's like the world always has to reach out and stroke his balls. 'Oh Donald, you're such a good leader. Oh, you're such a man of peace...'" — Jon Stewart [04:56]

2. U.S.—Venezuela Tensions: A Déjà Vu of Iraq

[05:34 – 20:05]

• Stewart draws a sharp, satirical contradiction between Trump's "Peace Prize" and simultaneous military escalation toward Venezuela.
  • Troop buildups and the specter of regime change echo the run-up to the Iraq War.
  • Stewart points out the hypocrisy: Trump campaigned as a non-interventionist but is now embracing war rhetoric.
  • Quote: "To many Americans, invading Venezuela to topple their leaders feels a little interventiony... MAGA believes in non foreign intervention, but they also believe in blindly following their leader." — Jon Stewart [08:02]
• The show mocks cable news anchors struggling to locate Venezuela on a map and using condescending educational segments.
  • Quote: "You had a feeling? Do you guys not have a meeting before the news where they might show you where Venezuela is before you go on television...?" — Jon Stewart [09:42]
• Clips and satirical soundbites compare Trump officials' justifications for action in Venezuela to those used for Iraq ("WMDs" now replaced by claims of fentanyl boats).
  • Stewart ridicules this as linguistic bait-and-switch: if you call something "Weapons of Mass Destruction" enough, will the public buy in?
  • Quote: "Or is WMD just the new slang? Like, yo, bro, Venezuela's total WMD67..." — Jon Stewart [12:28]
• Stewart rolls a montage of politicians—Lindsey Graham, Tom Cotton, etc.—recycling the same rationalizations and talking points from 2003 for new conflict.
• Explores the imperial logic behind "America First," now rebranded as "The Americas First."
  • Quote: "South America literally has the name America in it—so it's ours. Our name is on it. We own that shit." — Jon Stewart [18:58]
• Satirizes the real motivations behind intervention—oil, minerals—contrasted with rhetorical appeals to freedom and democracy.
  • Quote: "So yeah, the one lesson this administration seems to have taken from Iraq…there might also be a side benefit to this war you should know about. Venezuela has the largest reserves of oil in the world." — Jon Stewart [18:27]

3. Rob Corddry "Time-Travel" Sketch

[20:05 – 24:08]

• Surreal, meta-sketch: Rob Corddry "time-travels" from 2005 to warn Stewart that the Iraq War is a disaster.
• The segment lampoons both the futility of ignoring historical lessons and the passing of time in pop culture references.
  • Corddry learns hot tub time machine is in his own future, and that Jon Stewart left the show for a lower-rated version (on Apple TV+, alluded to).
  • Corddry quizzes Stewart about Bill Cosby, Kevin Spacey, and "The Apprentice"—all now tainted or obsolete.
• Quote: "I should have gone back in time and...oh, that's the movie. But here we are in the present. Yes. Which I'm assuming is...2095?" — Rob Corddry [22:22]

4. Interview: Malala Yousafzai

[Interview begins at 26:38]

Malala’s Personal Growth and New Memoir

[27:04 – 30:31]

• Stewart notes Malala's transformation from a 16-year-old guest to a young woman in her late 20s: "When you came on the show...you were 16 years old." [27:17]
• Malala reflects on the burden of being perceived as a "perfect" Nobel laureate and her quest for normalcy at college.
  • Quote: "I thought it means that I have to live a perfect life now. I have to be a perfect daughter, a perfect person...But I realized that...I didn't have to sacrifice friendship and so much of my normal life." — Malala Yousafzai [28:50]
• In college, she joined every club to make friends, even tried rowing (which proved, humorously, to be a bad idea due to her dislike of mornings and inability to swim).
  • Quote: "I just wanted to be a student more than anything. And then I became a bit reckless as well...rooftop climbing, blew off classes..." — Malala Yousafzai [30:32-31:12]

Navigating Public Perception, Family, & Social Media

[33:08 – 37:47]

• Malala discusses the tension between her own normal experiences and cultural expectations, especially around modesty, social conduct, and gender roles.
• Recalls controversy over a photo where she wore jeans, leading to backlash in Pakistan's media—a stark contrast to her brothers' freedoms.
  • Quote: "Somebody took a picture of me...skinny jeans and a bomber jacket and my headscarf...there was this whole controversy...I reminded [my parents] when my brother moved to the UK, they immediately switched to jeans and T-shirts." — Malala Yousafzai [33:57]
• Shares her approach to online criticism: "I'm like, I hope they get tired of typing the hateful comments."
• Emotional account of her mother’s upbringing and generational differences in women’s aspirations.
  • Quote: "Her dream was to just find the right guy who would be a nice husband...but there was no answer. And that broke my heart that there has been… many generations of women who never even had dreams for themselves." — Malala Yousafzai [36:28]

Activism, Malala Fund, and Mental Health

[37:47 – 41:21]

• Stewart congratulates Malala on her new school for girls in Pakistan: "They just graduated their first class."
• Malala underscores the power of local grassroots education activism—her Nobel Prize money started the school, which graduated its first class this year.
• Stresses that lasting change comes from empowering local activists; this is the focus of the Malala Fund's work.
  • Quote: "I believe we have to empower local activists...the money goes directly to local education activists, because the work that my father and I did in our hometown, there are so many activists doing that work..." — Malala Yousafzai [39:01]
• Discusses her experience with PTSD and the stigma around mental health for someone publicly labeled "brave."
  • Quote: "I was offered therapy as part of my initial treatment...but I refused to get it because I thought...asking for help makes me feel weak." — Malala Yousafzai [40:24]
  • Ultimately, therapy years later becomes key to her recovery.

Marriage, Feminism, and Personal Choices

[41:27 – 43:12]

• Malala wittily recounts her initial determination to avoid marriage after seeing women's dreams curtailed by it—only to marry the "dreamboat" described in her memoir.
  • Quote: "When I was a kid, I decided that I will never get married...but then I see this guy and he's very, very handsome and all of that..." — Malala Yousafzai [41:55]
• She sought spiritual/feminist guidance (from bell hooks, Virginia Woolf) to reconcile her choices with her ideals.

Final Reflections

[43:18 – 44:18]

• Stewart lauds Malala's candidness and multidimensionality in the memoir.
• Malala highlights the urgency for education in Afghanistan under Taliban rule, vowing to continue the fight.
  • Quote: "This is the most personal reflections I have ever shared...and I talk about how I am leading my life, doing advocacy and work for all girls who do not have equal opportunities. Most importantly for the Afghan girls who are banned from their education right now." — Malala Yousafzai [43:34]

Notable Quotes

• Jon Stewart on manufactured honors:
  "He won the prize specifically created to appease him. The FIFA appease prize." [03:41]

• Jon Stewart on U.S. intervention:
  "It's even more baffling when you think about how Trump ran as the non interventionist, non regime changey America first candidate..." [07:16]

• Malala Yousafzai on mental health:
  "I was offered therapy...but I refused...because I thought...asking for help makes me feel weak...true bravery is still doing what you believe in, even when you are scared." [40:24, 40:51]

• Malala Yousafzai on expectations:
  "I thought I had to live up to this definition, but then I realized that actually true bravery is still doing what you believe in, even when you are scared." [40:51]

Tone & Language

True to form, Stewart blends sharp, satirical analysis (often NSFW and irreverent) with genuine curiosity and empathy in interviewing Malala. The show remains in tune with current events and pop culture, while the interview segments are earnest, reflective, and sprinkled with Malala’s understated humor.

Conclusion

This episode expertly bridges the absurdities and dangers of U.S. foreign policy déjà vu with a deeply human and hopeful conversation about resilience, activism, and self-acceptance. It’s at once scathingly funny, historically astute, and emotionally resonant—essential listening for fans of political satire and heartfelt storytelling alike.