The Daily Show: Ears Edition

Episode: In the Field with Rob Corddry

Date: September 16, 2025
Host: Jon Stewart, The Daily Show News Team
Featured Correspondent: Rob Corddry

Episode Overview

This episode of The Daily Show: Ears Edition with Jon Stewart and correspondent Rob Corddry delivers the trademark satirical take on current events, focusing on unconventional news stories and human interest pieces. Rob Corddry’s “in the field” segments provide comedic explorations of topics like youth news programs, civic art controversies, Powerball-winning lunch ladies, CEO compensation, alternative fuels, bizarre innovations, and the struggles of a teen with a giant head. With irreverent humor and sharp insights, the show lampoons the absurdities of modern culture, media, and economics.

Key Segments and Discussion Points

1. Teens and News: The “Teen Kids News” Project

[03:20 - 08:20]

• The episode opens with a look at Al Primo’s “Teen Kids News,” a program created to make news more appealing to teenagers by having teens report to other teens.
• Rob Corddry chronicles his attempt to mentor the teen broadcasters, using a rapid-fire montage of tongue-in-cheek “news training”:
  • How to emote and smile on camera
  • Projecting news with energy (“I’m punching you with news. I’m driving news in your skull.” – Corddry [04:42])
  • Feigning interest in interviews
  • Over-the-top anchor behavior involving water and lemon
• In the end, the teens still “blew,” but Corddry humorously expresses pride in his proteges while hinting at their inevitable demise in adult news.

Notable Moments:

• "I'm nodding, and it looks like I'm listening to you, but I'm not because I don't care." – Rob Corddry [05:21]
• “Did a friend of yours die today? No. Then you should smile.” – Rob Corddry [04:10]

2. Civic Art Controversy: Peanuts Statues in St. Paul

[08:21 - 14:45]

• St. Paul’s honoring of Charles Schulz with Peanuts character statues meets backlash from the Ross Group, a clique of elderly residents who consider them unworthy.
• Comedy ensues as Ruby Hunt voices her disdain, and Corddry pokes fun at her logic, suggesting perhaps the statues were objected to due to Marcy and Peppermint Patty’s “love that dare not speak its name.”
• The debate humorously derails into ramblings about F. Scott Fitzgerald, John Grisham, and mispronunciations of “Peanuts.”

Notable Moments:

• “What cartoon characters would be acceptable? I don’t personally think that any of them would be.” – Ruby Hunt [09:33]
• “Get out of my dreams, get into my car.” – “Wrong. Billy Ocean.” [11:20]
• “I can’t wait till I get to be that age so I can worry about that type of crap.” – Corddry [10:15]

3. U.S. History: The Shipwreck of the USS Republic

[14:46 - 19:10]

• Rob Corddry presents a history segment on the wreck of the USS Republic, a gold-laden Civil War-era ship lost at sea and later found by treasure hunters.
• Tongue-in-cheek historical comparisons reference WWII and Hitler (“A mere 65 years before the rise of Hitler. That guy is not likable.” – Corddry [15:10]), and Corddry repeatedly injects Hitler footage, to Stewart’s exasperation.
• A satirical critique emerges regarding the private salvage of appropriated federal treasure.

Notable Moments:

• “We typically get the lion’s share of that. Because we’re the guys that found it.” – Treasure hunter [17:02]
• “The Third Reich didn’t have an underwater robot.” – Corddry [18:05]
• “Rob, why do you keep showing Hitler footage? It’s a story about a 19th-century shipwreck.” – Jon Stewart [18:23]

4. Economic Absurdity: Powerball Millionaire Lunch Ladies

[19:11 - 23:30]

• Corddry profiles two Minnesota Powerball winners, lunch ladies Kathy Welley and Judy Faya, who, despite their $2 million wins, refuse to quit their jobs.
• Corddry presses them on economic impact and “job hoggery.”
• Hilarious asides include “pimped out” school buses and songs about being “filthy rich.”
• The contrast is drawn with dot-com billionaire Alan Murabayashi, who cheerfully “sits around the house looking out the window” (22:10).

Notable Quotes:

• “Why does your love feel so much like hate?” – Corddry [19:25]
• “I love my job, I really do.” – Judy Faya [19:35]
• “Denial ain’t just a river in Egypt. Pardon me? I’m calling you Cleopatra, Queen of Denial.” – Corddry [21:30]

5. Corporate Greed: Are CEOs Overpaid?

[23:31 - 27:10]

• In a mock “dollars and cents desk” exchange, Corddry defends outlandish CEO compensation with ever-escalating sarcasm.
• Corddry asserts CEOs are “480 times as good” as regular employees and proposes perks “money can’t buy,” such as sacrificial rituals, which Stewart promptly rebuffs.
• Lampoons the notion that executive compensation is meritocratic and justified.

Notable Quotes:

• “These guys wipe their asses with first-class tickets to Europe.” – Corddry [25:55]
• “Let them take one employee a month and have them ritually bathed... and slaughtered. That’s a CEO perk.” – Corddry [26:30]
• “The Aztecs didn’t become a great empire by not casting virgins into volcanoes.” – Corddry [26:42]
• “That’s a CEO perk that’s horrifying, Rob.” – Stewart [26:35]

6. Alternative Fuels: The Plight of Corn Cob Bob

[27:11 - 33:20]

• Focus on a Canadian ethanol mascot, Corn Cob Bob, tasked with promoting biofuel but banned from Canada Day by corporate sponsor Shell Canada.
• Corddry interviews Cory, the marketer, about public skepticism and the environmental controversy of making fuel from food.
• In a failed outreach event, Corn Cob Bob fails to win over children (“The kids hated Corn Cob Bob, but it wasn’t his fault.” [32:30]).
• Highlights the challenge of making alternative energy appealing to the public.

Notable Moments:

• “Turning food into fuel. That’s like what my tummy does.” – Corddry [28:30]
• “We? We. We. We. That’s what it’s about, isn’t it? We or you?” – Corddry [32:10]
• “I was glad that Corn Cob Bob was booted out.” – Skeptical Canadian [30:45]

7. Super Bowl Ads: Reflections on Consumerism

[33:21 - 36:10]

• Corddry gives a “meta” critique of Super Bowl ads, noting the real winner is “repressed sexual angst masquerading as humor,” and highlighting themes of materialism and misogyny in advertising.
• Corddry waxes existential about the emptiness of consumer society before defaulting to slapstick (“dog biting the guy in the nuts” [36:00]) to escape introspection.

Notable Quotes:

• “The Super Bowl is truly the night when the advertising industry takes all of our black, empty yearning and spins it into dreams.” – Corddry [34:40]
• “We are hurting deep, deep inside of our hearts, John.” – Corddry [35:50]

8. Lawns of the Future: Plastic Grass Innovator

[36:11 - 40:51]

• Profile of Greg Cooper, who envisions “every house in America with plastic grass.”
• Lively debate with city council and neighbors about the environmental cost, the absurdity of industrial lawns, and fears of a dystopian “Matrix” future.
• Corddry’s satirical summary: “As the future unfolds and society crumbles, our houses will be replaced with government re education pods... joke will be on you ape overlords. That grass isn’t edible.” [39:50]

Notable Moments:

• “Sold. I’ll take mine in orange and I want it to taste like strawberry when I lick it.” – Corddry [37:20]
• “Just hose it down. Huh, I like the sound of that.” – Corddry [40:30]

9. Human Interest: The Trials of Tyler Money (Giant Head Teen)

[40:52 - 44:25]

• Feature story on Tyler Money, a 14-year-old with a 26-inch head who can’t find a football helmet to fit.
• The town rallies to help, culminating with a custom helmet and a sense of belonging for Tyler.
• Corddry, balancing mockery and empathy, finds a touching note in a comedic package.

Notable Moments:

• “If your head could talk, what would it say? Get me a helmet. Get me a helmet.” – Corddry & Tyler [43:10]
• “The coach got what he wanted: a happy boy he could use as a mindless maiming machine.” – Corddry [44:01]

Episode Tone and Style

• Satirical, irreverent, and sometimes surreal – The show lampoons its subjects but often lands on sincere, if subversive, notes.
• Corddry’s field segments use escalating absurdity to expose contradictions between public ideals and practical realities.
• Stewart acts as both straight man and coconspirator, pulling Corddry back when his satire gets too dark or outlandish.

Memorable Quotes & Highlights

| Time | Speaker | Quote | |---------|------------------|---------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 04:42 | Rob Corddry | “I’m punching you with news. I’m driving news in your skull.” | | 09:33 | Ruby Hunt | “What cartoon characters would be acceptable? I don’t personally think any.” | | 14:10 | Rob Corddry | “A mere 65 years before the rise of Hitler. That guy is not likable.” | | 25:55 | Rob Corddry | “These guys wipe their asses with first-class tickets to Europe.” | | 26:42 | Rob Corddry | “The Aztecs didn’t become a great empire by not casting virgins into volcanoes.”| | 34:40 | Rob Corddry | “The Super Bowl is truly the night when the advertising industry takes all of our black, empty yearning and spins it into dreams.”| | 43:10 | Corddry/Tyler | “If your head could talk, what would it say? Get me a helmet.” |

Conclusion

This episode encapsulates The Daily Show at its best: irreverent, insightful, and always ready to skewer the sacred cows of culture, politics, business, and human nature. Whether it’s exposing the absurdities of teen news, civic art, extreme CEO perks, or the folly of plastic lawns, Jon Stewart and Rob Corddry use humor to highlight deeper truths about American life. Corddry’s in-the-field antics provide the comic and emotional through-line, making for a rich, engaging listen for fans and newcomers alike.