The Daily Show: Ears Edition

Episode: Maduro Faces Judge & MAGA Scrambles to Justify Abduction | Director Park Chan-wook
Air Date: January 7, 2026
Host(s): Ronnie Tank, Roy Cheng
Special Guest: Director Park Chan-wook

Overview

This episode features a satirical breakdown of the U.S. government's surprise abduction of Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro, the MAGA movement’s struggle to justify the event, and a comedic exploration of the latest in microplastics research. The show concludes with an extended, witty interview with acclaimed director Park Chan-wook, discussing his new movie and broader reflections on cinema and capitalism.

Headlines & Main Theme

The Abduction of Nicolas Maduro: America’s Shift in Foreign Policy

• Event: The U.S., under Donald Trump, forcibly extracts Nicolas Maduro from Venezuela and brings him to trial in Brooklyn, an act commentators dub “doordashing” a head of state.
• Satirical Angle: The legality, ethics, and geopolitical logic of the abduction are lampooned, and the responses from MAGA circles, religious leaders, and Fox News are put under a comedic microscope.
• Underlying Theme: America’s shifting identity from a supposed “benevolent force” to a self-acknowledged global "bully," and the public’s bizarre responses, including a fashion craze around Maduro’s tracksuit.

Detailed Summary

1. Venezuela: The Coup, The Courtroom, and the Commentary

• [00:32] Roy Cheng: Opens with a rundown: “America took Maduro’s oil, but we cannot take his drip. God drops the 11th commandment and we find out why your dick don’t work.”
• [00:59] Roy Cheng: Jokes that “reading is pointless” since he didn’t see this coming despite following the news, highlighting the shocking and sudden nature of the U.S. action.
  • Quote: “The world is still in shock over Donald Trump's surprise doordashing of Nicolas Maduro to Brooklyn. And he didn't even tip.” [00:59]
• Maduro’s assertion of his presidency in court is mocked:
  • Quote (Roy Cheng): “Ah, you blew it. You should have just said no. The judge will be like, you heard the man. Case dismissed.” [02:09]
• [02:21] Court Details: Both Maduro and his wife, Celia Flores, plead not guilty to cocaine trafficking charges. Roy jokes, “I guess in other countries, first ladies have actual responsibilities.”
  • Quote (Roy Cheng): “Now, they might spend the rest of their lives together in prison, but to be fair, aren’t all marriages kind of a prison? It’s okay. I can make that joke. My wife only watches on Mondays.” [02:31]
• The MAGA response is lampooned as confused and scrambling for a rationale.

2. Justifying the Abduction: MAGA Rhetoric and Religious Spin

• [03:57] Roy Cheng: Introduces MAGA justifications, mocking the detached Fox News analysis.
  • Quote (Roy Cheng): “Who is this show for anyway? Like, how dumb is his audience that they’re like, hey, let’s see what Greg thinks of this.” [03:37]
• [04:21] Roy mocks Speaker Mike Johnson's spin: “It’s not a regime change. It’s a changed regime. Thank you. Stupid Yoda." [04:21]
• The “omelette” metaphor gets roasted:
  • Quote (Roy Cheng): “I mean, this guy up the metaphor so badly that he accidentally got it right. Because that’s not how you make an omelette. But that’s exactly what we did in Venezuela. We just went in and broke everything.” [05:10]
• [05:53] Evangelical justification: A MAGA pastor claims God wants the U.S. to seize both the “spiritual oil and the natural oil.”
  • Quote (Roy Cheng): “Is that what the Holy Trinity is? Regular, unleaded, and diesel?” [06:20]
  • Quote (Roy Cheng): “I know Christianity is weird, but this doesn’t sound like something God would say, like, don’t kill, don’t steal, but feel free to go absolutely apeshit on oil.” [06:20]
• [07:21] Stephen Miller: Lays out Trump’s new doctrine of power politics:
  • Quote (Stephen Miller): “We live in a world, in the real world... that is governed by strength, that is governed by force, that is governed by power.” [07:21]
  • Roy’s retort: “This is what a superpower looks like now. A guy whose head looks like a up circumcision.” [07:43]
• The “evil empire” framing is crystallized: “Americans... are now the evil empire. And... every American has to decide how to respond in this moment.” [08:28]

3. America’s Imperialism Goes Viral: The Maduro Tracksuit Craze

• [08:57] Focusing on viral consumerism: After a photo of a blindfolded, tracksuit-clad Maduro circulates, Americans rush out to buy the same Nike outfit.
  • Park Chan-wook (mock newscaster): “Manhattan, the so called Maduro tracksuits are flying off the shelves.” [09:15]
  • Roy Cheng: “Can’t this just be a bloody coup without clout chasing. I wish the like and subscribe button was your face so I could smash it over and over again.” [09:22]
• [09:46] Parody Ad: “Strongmen’s Warehouse” satirically markets dictator-themed outfits and predicts future abductions.
  • Ronnie Tank (as announcer): “You can buy [Chuck Schumer’s] slippery glasses. Our prices are so low, they’re practically war crime. So come on down now to Strongman’s Warehouse. What are you waiting for? Congressional authorization? Pussy.” [10:41]

4. Microplastics, Male Fertility, and Satirical Science

[12:40–15:14]

• [12:49] Ronnie Tank: Introduces microplastics as a 2025 health crisis.
  • Quote: “There are more and more published studies that microplastics enter the human body and we’re ingesting them.” [12:49]
• Microplastics and fertility:
  • Roy Cheng: “Microplastics are decreasing male fertility? That’s terrible. Or awesome, depending on your lifestyle.” [13:14]
• Parody segment on “Vitamin Plastic Water”:
  • Ronnie Tank (ad announcer): “We infuse our plastic bottle with over 250 essential vitamins and minerals. Then we fill that bottle with ordinary tap water. You drink the water... throw the bottle in a river where it breaks down into healthy vitamin-filled microplastic particles.” [14:27]
  • Roy Cheng: “Wait, shouldn’t we just stop using plastic?”
  • Ronnie Tank: “Are you gonna stop using plastic?”
  • (Pointing out the public’s resignation to environmental harm.)

5. Interview: Director Park Chan-wook

[18:25–36:30]

Introduction & Translator Antics

• [18:25] Roy Cheng: Welcomes Park Chan-wook, legendary director of Oldboy, Decision to Leave, and now No Other Choice.
• Comedic confusion as Roy tries to use his own “translator” (Dr. Ken Jeong in a cameo), culminating in awkward attempts at Korean language and banter over translation.
  • Roy Cheng: “I just had to meet Director Park ... much like the character in your movie, I had no other choice.” [20:34]
  • Ronnie Tank: “He is the Korean Scorsese. He is the goat. He is the best of all time. This man inspires me.” [20:22]

The Making of “No Other Choice” ([21:04–24:36])

• Inspiration:
  • Park Chan-wook (through translator): “When I first read the novel, I thought that if I was actually a good writer, I would have written like this. ... What really captivated me is the story about a man who was fired ... instead of putting his rage towards the company ... he instead tries to go after his potential competitors ... that element … was very unique and absurd.” [21:34]
• Industry Struggles:
  • Park attempted to adapt the novel in America for 15 years, facing repeated setbacks.
  • Park Chan-wook: “As much as I want to say all the names, I do have to find my next job and my next investment.” [24:24]
  • Roy Cheng: “If he can’t make a film in America, then no one can make a film.” [24:36]

Genre Blending and “Recipe” for Park Films ([25:03–28:19])

• Approach to genre:
  • Park Chan-wook: “It’s not like a cocktail recipe ... I think in our lives, there’s nothing that’s purely sad or purely just funny ... So that’s why I think they are one entity. Inseparable entity.” [25:56]
• The Lee Byung-hun factor:
  • Park Chan-wook: “This movie was possible because of Lee Byung Hun. And as soon as he got casted, that’s when I was certain that this is going to be a fall moving.” [28:06]

State of Cinema and Capitalism Satire ([30:02–35:53])

• Theater attendance crisis:
  • Park Chan-wook: “The greatest sense of threat ... is that audiences aren’t returning to theaters ... I believe that a threat to movie theaters equates to a threat to movies.” [30:02–30:42]
  • Emphasizes that films are made to be “watched, first of all in a dark space ... with other people.” [31:48]
• Korean films and capitalism:
  • Park Chan-wook: “Koreans are really early adapters in everything. ... With the capitalist system, we really experience it to the extreme, both the good and the bad of capitalism. ... filmmakers are also trying their best at expressing it accurately.” [33:49]
  • Satirical lens: “We rather turn to absurd problems that people in this capitalist system experience. And we try to humorously give a satire of that.” [34:54]

Why Koreans Satirize Capitalism Better

• Roy jokingly presses for an answer on why Americans aren’t as good at this.
  • Park Chan-wook: “Some Korean people really appreciate [American satire] more than perhaps American audiences do here. So maybe we see that better than American audiences do here.” [35:42]

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Roy Cheng: “This is like watching a 12 year old do a news report about the first time he saw boobs. The rumors are true, people. Those are awesome.” [03:37]
• Roy Cheng: “I wish the like and subscribe button was your face so I could smash it over and over again.” [09:22]
• Park Chan-wook: “You can almost say directors are always a potential unemployed man.” [24:57]
• Roy Cheng: “Inseparable entity … Is he talking about me right now?” [26:58]
• Park Chan-wook: “Of course, you can watch movies at home, but I think movies were fundamentally made to be watched, first of all in a dark space … and finally, you have to be able to experience it with other people.” [31:48]
• Roy Cheng: (On films) “stop watching films on their phones while taking a shit on the toilet.” [32:08]
• Ronnie Tank (ad announcer): “Our prices are so low, they’re practically war crime. So come on down now to Strongman’s Warehouse.” [10:41]

Important Timestamps

• [00:32]–[03:24] Opening jokes, Venezuela and Maduro kidnapping story
• [03:57]–[08:28] MAGA/Religious Justifications and Shifts in U.S. foreign policy
• [08:57]–[10:41] Maduro tracksuit fashion craze, “Strongmen’s Warehouse” parody
• [12:40]–[15:14] Microplastics crisis and parody product “Vitamin Plastic Water”
• [18:25]–[36:30] Interview with Park Chan-wook: Hollywood struggles, genre blending, state of cinema, and capitalism
• [35:42]–[36:30] Satire of American versus Korean approaches to capitalist critique

Tone and Style

• Satirical, irreverent, rapid-fire.
• Hosts lean heavily on sarcasm, absurdity, and meta-commentary, especially when lampooning political hypocrisy or viral culture.
• The interview with Park Chan-wook is more earnest but still laced with self-effacing humor and affectionate film-geek energy.

For Listeners Who Missed the Episode…

This episode of The Daily Show: Ears Edition delivers blistering satire on America’s latest foreign policy fiasco—the abduction and trial of Venezuela’s Maduro—while skewering the media spectacle and the oddities of the internet age (including a real-time tracksuit craze). The episode's second half pivots to a smart, funny, and oddly moving interview with director Park Chan-wook, offering rare insight into international filmmaking struggles, the existential threats to movie theaters, and the art of satirizing capitalism. If you want to laugh, cringe, and learn, this episode has it all.