Maduro Faces Judge & MAGA Scrambles to Justify Abduction | Director Park Chan-wook

Summary

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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

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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]

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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]

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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.)

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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]

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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]

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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

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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.

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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.

Transcript

[Ronnie Tank]

You're listening to Comedy Central. From the most trusted journalists at Comedy Central. It's America's only source for news. This is the Daily show with your host, Ronnie Tank. Welcome, welcome back show.

[Roy Cheng]

I'm Roy Cheng. We got so much to talk about tonight. 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. So let's kick things off with our ongoing coverage of the war in Venezuela.

[Ronnie Tank]

Leave the oil to me.

[Roy Cheng]

The world is still in shock over Donald Trump's surprise doordashing of Nicolas Maduro to Brooklyn. And he didn't even tip. And I have to say, I did not see this Venezuela thing coming. And I read the news every day. So the lesson here is reading is pointless. But now Maduro will face justice in the best legal system in the world that we illegally kidnapped him to. And it all began yesterday morning when he showed up to court. And if this isn't Iraq all over again, why are they reusing Saddam Hussein's courtroom schedule? Let's see how his first day went.

[Ronnie Tank]

Maduro greeted spectators in the courtroom saying, buenos dias.

[Roy Cheng]

Buenos dias. Smart legal strategy by Maduro. If he speaks Spanish, ice might bust in and deport him back to Venezuela just out of habit. I'm starting to think this guy might beat the ra.

[Ronnie Tank]

As the judge asked, are you Nicolas Maduro? I am the President of the Republic of Venezuela. A defiant Maduro responded.

[Roy Cheng]

Ah, you blew it. You should have just said no. The judge will be like, you heard the man. Case dismissed. But there is some good news for Maduro. He's not alone.

[Ronnie Tank]

This morning, Nicolas Maduro and wife Celia Flores are waking up in jail. Returned after a day in court where they both pleaded not guilty to charges they worked together to traffic cocaine.

[Roy Cheng]

God damn. His wife was trafficking cocaine with him. I guess in other countries, first ladies have actual responsibilities. Hey, I mean, I bet, I bet Trump is jealous of their relationship. I mean, he must be like, melania, why can't we ever do couple stuff like the Maduros? 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. But look, okay, this is a tough one for Maga because Trump's whole thing was not getting into foreign wars. So they must be giving a lot of serious consideration into all of the geopolitical implications of this new doctrine.

[Ronnie Tank]

I've seen a lot of stuff. But this Venezuela thing, that was awesome. Oh, man.

[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. 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.

[Commercial/Announcer]

Oh.

[Roy Cheng]

Oh, yeah. Hey, honey. Greg thinks it's awesome. I'm totally satisfied on an intellectual level now. But it turns out not everyone thinks forcing a regime change in another country is a good idea. And for those people, Mike Johnson is here to ease your mind.

[Ronnie Tank]

I want to say that the way that this is being described, I think is accurate. This is not a regime change. This is a demand for change of.

[Roy Cheng]

Behavior by a regime. It's not a regime change. It's a changed regime. Thank you. Stupid Yoda. It's like. Stupid Yoda says, do or do not. There is no Epstein files. Why is Mike Johnson downplaying this? I mean, the US Overthrew a government at gunpoint with no plan. Doesn't this bother anyone?

[Ronnie Tank]

Hey, look, I'm appreciative of what the President has done with this. And I know there's gonna be those out there that are gonna be the critics. But you know when. Sometimes when you break, we gotta learn how to make some omelettes with it. And this is exactly what we're gonna do.

[Roy Cheng]

We break a few eggs, then learn how to make an omelette. 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. And now we're like, hey, who has a recipe for ome? We have a lot of oil. I know we can use that. But look, I get what's happening here, okay? No one in Maga expected this to happen. So they're all scrambling to find an answer that makes sense to them. Even Maga megachurch pastors are flipping through the Bible like, hey, there's got to be something in here.

[Ronnie Tank]

They say you have seized Venezuela for the oil. Yes, this is true. But the spiritual oil and the natural oil does not belong to forces of darkness. And the oil of the natural and the oil of the spirit is mine, says the Lord.

[Roy Cheng]

No, I get it, okay? The oil is a metaphor for oil. I mean, is that what the Holy Trinity is? Regular, unleaded, and diesel? 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. This is also why Buddha is the best. Because you never see a MAGA monk going, let go of all your attachments, except to Greenland, which is ours. But maybe we don't need religion or up breakfast metaphors to explain why Trump kidnapped Maduro. Because last night we heard from Stephen Miller, Trump's deputy secretary and guy who didn't go bald. It just never came in in the first place. And he gave a very clear answer about why we did this. Because we can. We're a superpower.

[Ronnie Tank]

And under President Trump, we are going to conduct ourselves as a superpower. You can talk all you want about international niceties and everything else, but we live in a world, in the real world, Jake, that is governed by strength, that is governed by force, that is governed by power.

[Roy Cheng]

No, no, shut up. You heard this dweeb, okay? This is what a superpower looks like now. A guy whose head looks like a up circumcision. Okay? And. And with them in charge, America can stop pretending to be the nice guy. And nobody's more excited to be the bully for a change than Stephen Miller.

[Ronnie Tank]

This neoliberal frame that the United States job is to go around the world and demanding immediate elections be held everywhere, immediately, all the time, right away, to create these vacuums. That's not what I think. But you invaded the country. We took, went into the country and we seized the leader of Venezuela. Damn straight we did.

[Roy Cheng]

Damn straight we did. I can swear whenever I want, I don't give a dick shit what my parents say. Bitch, listening to this guy talk is like if Nazis took helium instead of meth. But still, this is a big change for Americans. They're now being told that their view of themselves as a benevolent force for good is gone and they are now the evil empire. And as we look at this photo of a foreign leader in our custody, every American has to decide how to respond in this moment.

[Commercial/Announcer]

And this photo seen around the world of Maduro blindfolded, wearing a tracksuit, sparking a surprising response. It's a Nike tech fleece jacket and jogging pants. Now there's a run on the $140 outfit. Guys have started posting images of themselves wearing it. Here at the Nike store in midtown.

[Park Chan Wook]

Manhattan, the so called Maduro tracksuits are.

[Commercial/Announcer]

Flying off the shelves.

[Roy Cheng]

Wow, you can really go shopping fast when you don't have a life. What's wrong with you people? Okay, not everything has to be content. 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. But I guess this is how we live now. Every step towards imperialism is going to be a new fashion trend. And there's one store that's getting in on the ground floor.

[Ronnie Tank]

Were you too late to get Nicholas Maduro's post arrest tracksuit? Then get ahead of the next foreign abduction. At Strongmen's Warehouse, we've got all the clothing worn by leaders America might one day frog march out of their capital. Like Kim Jong Un's fat guy Nehru, Jack, Vladimir Putin's judo costume and the Ayatollah's thong. He can enrich our uranium any day. We've got the looks from all the countries Donald Trump is threatening to invade, like sombreros from Mexico, ponchos from Colombia, and whatever they wear in Greenland. And if you're wondering, when will this madness end? Will Chuck Schumer be next? Yes, and you can buy his 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.

[Roy Cheng]

All right, when we come back, we find out how to make microplastics work for you. So don't go away.

[Commercial/Announcer]

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[Roy Cheng]

Welcome back to the Daily Show. Let's talk about microplastics. Much like Pedro Pascal, that ain't everything and newsflash is bad for you.

[Ronnie Tank]

For many scientists, 2025 was the year of microplastics. There are more and more published studies that microplastics enter the human body and we're ingesting them.

[Commercial/Announcer]

Hot tea or coffee had the highest levels of microplastics.

[Park Chan Wook]

When we ingest or we inhale microplastics, they disrupt our hormones.

[Commercial/Announcer]

They. They can interfere with our fertility.

[Park Chan Wook]

And we are seeing low sperm counts in men.

[Roy Cheng]

Holy shit. Microplastics are decreasing male fertility? That's terrible. Or awesome, depending on your lifestyle. It's almost like so many men refuse to wear condoms. Scientists were like, hey, fine, we'll just put the condoms inside you now. So the, the bad news. The bad news is. Don't encourage me. Don't encourage me. The bad news is we might be jizzing plastic straws. But the good news is nothing rallies science to take something seriously. Like when it affects a man's dick. And that's already a new product that might help.

[Ronnie Tank]

Your body and your brain are filled with harmful microplastics.

[Roy Cheng]

Even mine?

[Ronnie Tank]

Yes, even yours. That's because decades of covering our planet with plastic trash has leaked harmful microplastics into our food supply. Oh, God. I think you mean oh good. Because now the solution isn't eating less plastic, it's eating more of it. Vitamin Plastic water. The only water that has vitamins where it matters. In the plastic bottle surrounding it. Delicious.

[Commercial/Announcer]

Wow.

[Roy Cheng]

How does it work?

[Ronnie Tank]

I'm about to tell you if you just shut up for a second. Yes, sir. Here's how it works. 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 and inevitably throw the bottle in a river where it breaks down into healthy vitamin filled microplastic particles. Now, animals consume those nutritious microplastics and you consume those delicious animals. So good for you. Meaning all that healthy microplastic ends up back where it belongs. Inside you.

[Roy Cheng]

Wait, shouldn't we just stop using plastic?

[Ronnie Tank]

Are you gonna stop using plastic?

[Roy Cheng]

I see.

[Ronnie Tank]

Vitamin plastic water. It was inevitable.

[Roy Cheng]

When we come back, legendary director 5 Chan Wu could be joining me on the show.

[Ronnie Tank]

So don't go away.

[Commercial/Announcer]

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[Roy Cheng]

Welcome back to the Daily Show. My guest tonight is one of the greatest living directors of all time. Oldboy decision to leave joint security area. His new film is called no Other Choice. Please welcome the legendary Park Chan Wook.

[Ronnie Tank]

Thank you.

[Roy Cheng]

Thank you so much for joining me. I Sorry, I, I, I didn't know you were gonna bring a translator. I actually brought my own translator. Is that okay? Okay, cool. Can we bring out my translator, Dr. Ken Jeong? Is that Ken? Yeah. Could you. Could you please tell Director park how much I love and admire his work?

[Ronnie Tank]

Ronnie loves and admires your Work.

[Roy Cheng]

I'm sorry.

[Ronnie Tank]

I'm sorry, Man.

[Roy Cheng]

He can hear, okay. He's just. I need. I meant in Korean. Tell him in Korean.

[Commercial/Announcer]

How do you say, ronnie, lights are in my door?

[Roy Cheng]

Don't yell. Yo.

[Commercial/Announcer]

What the.

[Roy Cheng]

You told me. You're embarrassing me in front of Director.

[Ronnie Tank]

Oh, I'm sorry.

[Roy Cheng]

I'm sorry.

[Ronnie Tank]

I lied.

[Roy Cheng]

Okay? Guilty. I just had to meet Director Park.

[Ronnie Tank]

He is the Korean Scorsese. He is the goat. He is the best of all time. This man. This man inspires me. This man.

[Roy Cheng]

I had to do what I had.

[Ronnie Tank]

To do and take drastic measures to meet much like the character in your movie.

[Roy Cheng]

I had no other choice. Okay, get the.

[Ronnie Tank]

Okay, great.

[Roy Cheng]

Go back to. Go back to Masked Singer and why you dress like me? I'm so sorry. I'm sorry about that.

[Commercial/Announcer]

Director.

[Roy Cheng]

So this movie is based off of the novel by American author. What inspired you from the novel, to turn this into a movie?

[Park Chan Wook]

When I first read the novel, I thought that if I was actually a good writer, I would have written like this. It was the perfect style for me. And what really captivated me is the story about a man who was fired. And he's fired from a company that he was devoted to for a very long time. But instead of putting his rage towards the company or the executives there, he instead tries to go after his potential competitors when he's looking for a job again. And I thought that element of the story was very unique and absurd.

[Roy Cheng]

Can you please tell Director that I'm nodding when he talks because just our habit. I'm not trying to, But I actually have no idea what he's saying.

[Park Chan Wook]

I do that too.

[Roy Cheng]

So as I was saying, this movie is based off an American novel. And you tried to make it in America for 20 years, but ultimately you faced so many issues trying to make it in America that you had to make it in Korea. And it's a very successful movie now. It's probably up for Oscar awards. Can you please name every single American executive that made it difficult for you to make this film? And let's just get it out now. I heard Sony Pictures in there. Did he say Sony? Did he say.

[Park Chan Wook]

So to clarify real quick, it didn't take me 20 years. It took me 15 years.

[Roy Cheng]

Sorry, sorry. Did you say anything bad about Paramount? Don't translate. He says bad. Okay.

[Park Chan Wook]

And as much as I want to say all the names, I do have to find my next job and my next investment.

[Roy Cheng]

I can't imagine someone saying no to Director park at this point. You know, if you. If he can't make a film in America, then no one can make a film.

[Park Chan Wook]

You can almost say directors are always a potential unemployed man.

[Roy Cheng]

Okay, so. So, you know, there's some man. I don't know how it began. I'm such a big fan of all his films. One of his hallmarks right now in Korean cinema seems to be this kind of genre shift in movies. And I just want to ask in his. When he's in the creation process, is this genre shifting something that he intentionally sets out to combine, for example, you know, comedy into horror, or action into thriller? Or is this something that just organically kind of comes out in his storytelling?

[Park Chan Wook]

Something I can say for sure is that it's not like a cocktail recipe. So it's not like a glass of this, a spoon of that, and a few drops of comedy there. Rather, I think in our lives, there's nothing that's purely sad or purely just funny. For instance, you might find something funny at a funeral, or you might find this great sense of sadness inside a funny comedian. So that's why I. I think they are one entity. Inseparable entity.

[Roy Cheng]

Is he talking about me right now? Also, just so you know, you don't have to match his volume. You can like. You can like be louder than him.

[Park Chan Wook]

I can yell?

[Roy Cheng]

Yeah, you don't have to. I feel like you guys are like getting like soft anyway. Yeah. So, I mean, I bet he says that there's no rest for making a film. I understand. Obviously he's a genius. He's seeing how they see. But I actually beg to differ. I think there is. I can see a familiar recipe in all his great movies. I think it appears to me. And call me crazy, what do I know about film? But if you combine a great story and you shoot it beautifully, and you have great acting, and you put in Mr. Lee Byung Hyun, I think you have a great movie. I mean, does he agree with that?

[Park Chan Wook]

Yes. 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.

[Roy Cheng]

I understood that he said k pop demon hunters, right?

[Park Chan Wook]

I think to American audiences, they might have seen him from Squid Games or K Pop Demon Hunter. So you might consider him as this very evil character, but he's actually a very much an everyday man, almost like our own neighbor. And the humor that he shows in the movie is almost borderline slightly, which is why I think he was perfect for the role.

[Ronnie Tank]

Sure.

[Roy Cheng]

I mean. But no, I agree with him. Because when I saw Mr. Lee in the movie, he was like playing a character I'd never even seen before. I never even played that character. So I do agree with him being so versatile. To be honest, I didn't know he was. He would be that versatile, which is great. You're a respected member of the filmmaking community. In your opinion, what is wrong with kind of filmmaking right now? And feel free to name name.

[Park Chan Wook]

I think rather than problems in filmmaking, the greatest sense of threat that I feel as a filmmaker is that audiences aren't returning to theaters.

[Roy Cheng]

Right. So he's a audience, right? These idiots who can't.

[Park Chan Wook]

You have to make the audience want to come back to the theaters. And how do we do that? I think that's a challenge for all of us to think about, including the studios and the film filmmakers. And you might say this is a threat to movie theaters and not movies. But I believe that a threat to movie theaters equates to a threat to movies.

[Roy Cheng]

Person.

[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 second of all at a space where you're locked in and you're not allowed to leave. And finally, you have to be able to experience it with other people. And that's why I believe movies should be watched in theaters. And in order to make that happen, that's really a task for all of us.

[Roy Cheng]

Test for all of us. So he's saying it's on filmmakers and producers and studios to make interesting, cool things that people want to watch. And it's also on the people to stop watching films on their phones while taking a shit on the toilet. And he doesn't have to agree, just nod his head if he doesn't have to say yes, but just say yes. I mean, my last question to him is, like, a lot of Korean films, including his, this film in particular as well, is commentary on capitalism, and America is the capital of capitalism. But it feels like Korea is doing a better job of satirizing it in movies and really making people think about it and. And see kind of the ugly sides of it. Like, why do you think that is?

[Park Chan Wook]

I think Koreans are really early adapters in everything. So even with the capitalist system, we really experience it to the extreme, both the good and the bad of capitalism. So the polarization of society or hyper competition, I think people are very sensitive to how that happens and to reacting to that. And because of that, in turn, filmmakers are also trying their best at expressing it accurately.

[Roy Cheng]

They don't Autonomy make.

[Park Chan Wook]

And for some filmmakers, like Bong Joon Ho for Parasite or Hwang Dong Hyuk for Squid Games or myself, I think rather than portraying it straight and giving it a realistic portrayal, we rather turn to absurd problems that people in this capitalist system experience. And we try to humorously give a satire of that. And I think that is the way to best capture the essence of the problems that we're dealing with.

[Roy Cheng]

Yeah, but why does he think Americans. Why do Koreans seem to be better at doing that right now than Americans? He's saying we suck.

[Park Chan Wook]

There are American filmmakers who are good at that. And some Korean people really appreciate that more than perhaps American audiences do here. So maybe we see that better than American audiences do here.

[Roy Cheng]

Why are you drawing dicks right on that? Can I see that? You're not even. I don't even know what he said, by the way, because you blocked it with the cup on screen and now no one can. Okay, Director Park, I could talk to you forever about films, you know, but these people are unappreciative. They want to. No, I could talk to you forever, but I respect your time and thank you so much for coming on the show. Speak to me. Thank you. And thank you. Thank you for Chan, for everyone. I love your film right now. No other choice is in select theaters now. Hi Charoon, everybody.

[Ronnie Tank]

We'll go take a quick break.

[Roy Cheng]

We'll be right back after this.

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[Roy Cheng]

That's our show for the now. Here it is, your moment of Zen.

[Ronnie Tank]

She hates when I dance. I said, everybody wants me to dance, darling. It's not presidential. She actually said, could you imagine FDR dancing? She said that to me. And I said, there's a long history that perhaps she doesn't know. Explore more shows from the Daily show podcast universe by searching the Daily Show. Wherever you get your podcasts, watch the Daily show weeknights at 1110 Central on coffee Comedy Central and stream full episodes anytime on Paramount.

[Roy Cheng]

Plus.

[Ronnie Tank]

This has been a Comedy Central podcast.