← The Daily Show: Ears Edition
The Daily Show: Ears Edition
The Precap | Jordan Klepper on Mamdani's Take-Out Orders and Trump's Nuke Tests
00:51:55
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- [00:01]
A
You're listening to Comedy Central. Devin, are you ready?
- [00:06]
B
Devin, am I ready?
- [00:07]
A
Oh, this first part, it's two lines of script, but he's nervous. He's like, should I make eye contact here? Should I pretend like I'm casually reading? If I casually read, do I have to keep my eyeline on these words the entire time? Are we gonna play this? I don't know.
- [00:19]
B
Don't you do the Jordan Klepper thing to me. Don't Jordan Klepper me. You do this to other people. You don't do this to people in the building.
- [00:26]
A
Let me turn it on.
- [00:40]
B
Hello and welcome to the Pre Cap, where we sit down with this week's Daily show host to preview what's coming up and recap some of the news we might have missed. My name is Devin Delaconte. I'm a writer at the show, and I'm joined today by the Jordan Klepper. Hello, Jordan.
- [00:56]
A
Hello, Devin.
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B
Applause.
- [00:57]
A
Yes. Is there applause on these podcasts? There should be.
- [01:00]
B
In your mind. Yes, there should.
- [01:01]
A
There always is. Every podcast I do, there's applause, there's size, and eventually there's clicking off after about 12 minutes when they realize it's just another podcast with people talking. But that's not what this is. That's not what this is.
- [01:12]
B
This is the greatest podcast. This is the podcast all the people want. They want to know what you missed, and they want to know what you're not gonna miss.
- [01:20]
A
We live somewhere in the middle here. This is about what you're going to see this week on the show, but also what we missed last week on the show. We're sort of in the. We're edging. This is Daily show edges right.
- [01:31]
B
Seamless transition. What did we miss last week, Jordan? What did you miss? What has your week been like?
- [01:35]
A
My week has been being stuck on a tarmac because of the government shutdown and weather that has attacked the East Coast. So this is the problem when you get to host the Daily show, you get to sit behind a desk, they put you in a beautiful suit, the audience laughs at your jokes.
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B
It's very cushy.
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A
Life is pretty good.
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B
Very cushy.
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A
Life is pretty. If you're Jon Stewart, you come in once a week and get to do that. I like that. That's a great job. Great job. Everybody should be Jon Stewart, but when you're not, occasionally, when you're not hosting the show, you go out into the world, you talk to people. I traveled out into the world, and getting back to New York City was an impossibility this week. So I spent a lot of time on the tarmac in Memphis because the TSA all across the country is understaffed because it turns out we don't fund the tsa. We send that money elsewhere or we. Yes. I've been on the road a bunch in the last couple weeks for. For some standup shows and for daily show stuff, and most of my flights have been delayed, canceled. I. Three times in the last two weeks, I've gone up in the air, circled so many times that we ran out of gas and had to land somewhere else. I spent a day in Shreveport. We landed in Philly yesterday. We were in D.C. we went from Memphis to D.C. to New York because the weather is crappy. And also they have like two people who are working air traffic control right.
- [02:56]
B
Now, and they're not getting paid.
- [02:57]
A
They're not getting paid.
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B
So they're doing. They're doing more work for no money.
- [03:01]
A
They're doing. Yeah, the people who work at air traffic controlled are not getting paid. So they have to. They have to land a plane, then they take an Uber order and then they go drop off. They pick somebody up with Uber, they do a grubhub drop off, get a little bit of money, come back to the airport so that they can land another plane. So it's taking while. If only there was some sort of way that we could elect people who could be in positions of power, who could negotiate in good faith ways in which to pay other people that help the greater good and our community at large. That would be a system that could work. Work well, now you're just being irrational, I don't think.
- [03:36]
B
Come on. What are you talking about? Pie in the sky? The pie is in the sky because it has not been cleared for landing.
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A
Get the pie down on the ground. We're hungry. Bring the pie down to the ground.
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B
The pie is circling Philadelphia. Going to be.
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A
I'm sorry. Yeah. We're not going to be able to land that pie in New York City.
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B
We don't have a gate for the pie.
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A
Oh, my God.
- [03:56]
B
In the sky.
- [03:57]
A
There's so many pies in Shreveport right now. Just getting gas, waiting to go somewhere else.
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B
Yeah.
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A
So. So I missed. I've cut bits and pieces. I've missed big stories this past week. I've seen images of Donald Trump being. Being kissed up to around the globe.
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B
Yeah. Whirlwind Asia trip.
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A
What have I missed? What was happening this week?
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B
He was in Japan and Japan, then to South Korea, then to China doing a kind of whirlwind trip in order to, I think, secure trade deals and let them continue. You know, look, when you're doing a renovation at your house, you don't want to be there. You want to make sure that you go somewhere else. You want to have a place. You're like, yeah, there's a lot of construction noise once the demolition is done. You're like, all right, I trust that they know what they're going to do. I'll check in with it. I'll have them text me pictures.
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A
Any home renovation is where you, like, go through your phone and you're like, who's that college friend that I like? They're not on my first tier of people I visit when I have time off, but let me get to that second tier. And maybe this is the time that I go to Billings to stay with Ron from high school to just see what things are about.
- [05:08]
B
Yeah, we'll see if Xi Jinping has a futon that I can crash on for a week while my neighbors text me pictures of the renovation that's happening at the east wing.
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A
Some of these details blow my mind in that, you know, everybody kowtows to the lovely Donald Trump. These images from South Korea. I heard that he was given a gold crown.
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B
They did give him a crown. Yes. They presented him with a crown. It was a replica crown or something. It wasn't like a crown crown.
- [05:33]
A
Nope. Nobody's how that works. In order to do that, you gotta steal that from the Louvre if you want a crown crown put in the work. But Trump doesn't know he only has replicas in his office. He just gold plated something shiny. They gave him beef sliders with ketchup on it. Can you imagine? They treat him like a make a wish kid. Like, whatever he wants, just give it to him. Make him feel like king for the day. That's the M.O. for Donald Trump. But if he had just a modicum of taste or interest in culture, he could go anywhere in the world. And they would trot out the stories of all mankind, the antiquities of every. Every culture. They would. He would have access to all the world's knowledge. And yet a man with that type of access gets what he puts out into the world, which ends up being an overcooked beef slider.
- [06:23]
B
I don't know if you saw this video this week, but it was incredibly funny. So he landed, I think it was in South Korea, and there was a band to greet him that was playing, and they were playing ymca. They were playing like. And I just think, like, imagine You're a classical musician that has trained your whole life and you can play the harp or the piano and you're the best that you've ever been. You're like, I have to learn YMCA so he can do the dance when he's on the tarmac. That's a tough position.
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A
Yeah, it's like grumpy people who like, don't like country music, but go to Nashville and be like, there's just no place that was playing the music that I like. It's like you're in Nashville. Listen to some country music. All right, take it in. You can live outside yourself for one frickin second. But not Donald Trump.
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B
It was funny to see the difference between Japan has a new prime minister and she was, she was being very gracious. She was a very lovely host to the president. Then South Korea, also very welcoming. And then Xi Jinping came in for a handshake that was incredibly like, just very cold. Like, I was, look, I was watching that handshake, like, babe, are you mad at me? Like, you seem like you're mad. It had that feeling of, oh, this is very, very tense. But the handshake lasted for so long. It felt like, you know, that the horror movie together, the Alison Brie and Dave Franco movie where they fuse at the lips.
- [07:45]
A
Oh, you're ruining it for me. You're ruining it for me.
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B
Now it's on the poster. They're fused on the poster. It felt like that for their hands, that they were just fused together. We're gonna have to live their lives that way for the rest of the summit.
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A
But this is one of the tragedies of going back to electing very old people for leadership positions. Like, Barack Obama brought the fist bump to some acclaim and to some criticism, but it was an attempt to evolve the handshake, the greeting. And now we've gone back to Donald Trump fighting with people with a heavy handshake, a hardcore grip, like a very 1980s man kind of handshake, where if we had gone, kept going younger, kept going more modern, like where would we be right now? There might be snaps involved. There could be like little finger touches, maybe soft glances, maybe even just like, like a giddy up finger point gun shoot, like we could be in a really fun place internationally. I think it, I think it truly might be the most tragic thing about the political situation that we're in.
- [08:49]
B
International diplomacy needs the finger guns, says Jordan Klepper.
- [08:55]
A
This guy, somebody goes with like two finger guns and a little bit of like shoulder movement. I mean, how fun would that be?
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B
Yeah, I think a trade. You're. You're getting a trade deal pretty quickly if you're coming in with the finger guns.
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A
Yeah. I want all international diplomacy to look like a Vince Vaughn interaction. Yeah.
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B
And I will say the. The handshakes have been taking a toll on the president. Like, when you see they're saying, like, look, this guy shakes a lot of hands. That's why it looks like an eggplant that died. It's a very, very. He's putting himself at risk with the handshakes. I've never seen that shade of purple in my life.
- [09:30]
A
We should have evolved. It. It would have been better for him if he had figured out some casual way to interact with another human being that wasn't based on a status game that he didn't have to win every time. His hands could be usable.
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B
Yeah. Xi Ji Ping finger guns. Everyone's fine. Great to see you.
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A
We're all good. Instead, this man's hands are pulp. And then he can't do auto pen, because I think he's taking. He's revoking that idea.
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B
Yeah. Auto pen doesn't work anymore.
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A
Yeah. You're painting yourself into a quarter dt.
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B
That's tough. That's very tough. So one of the things that came out of the summit, too, and the more sort of newsy side of it, is that I think trade tensions cooling between the United States and China, I think they postponed. There was going to be limits on the rare earth materials that the United States is getting. The rare earth minerals that we need for cell phones and microchips and, you know, there's a microchip and everything now, like, you buy a. Like a refrigerator has to be Bluetooth for some reason. So, you know when, like, your milk is expired, you have to. Because it can. Yeah, you have to. So those are the microchips, and you need the rare earth minerals to make anything. Turns out America doesn't have a ton of the rare earth minerals, which. Who could have seen that coming?
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A
Yeah. If only they had Googled the words rare.
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B
Yeah.
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A
We could have been so far ahead of it. This is. You got to give China credit where they're like, oh, you want to fight about this? Oh, you want to be ticky, tacky on these tariffs? Cool. Well, the rare earth thing, you don't get them anymore.
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B
Like, do we have those? No, they're rare. Ah, damn it. I wish we had known. So, luckily, that has been postponed for a year, so we're apparently good. But again, how did we not Foresee that the rare earth minerals are rare. My son is 7 years old and like most 7 year olds, he's into Pokemon cards. And he knows that when you have a rare Pokemon card, you do not trade it. You do not start a trade fight if someone has a rare Pokemon card that you want. And again, I cannot stress enough. He is seven years old and he understands the trade rules around rare. So I think this is a good step that we are trying to solve the rare earth minerals when we don't have them.
- [11:39]
A
But I gave my 5 year old a pack of basketball cards. He has very little awareness of the game of basketball, even less awareness of the players on these basketball teams. But in that card set there is one shiny card that is a rookie card. And that's his first question was, is this the good one? Is this the rare one? And you say yes, and that is the one that lives. And the other ones just get strewn about the back of the car again now even a five year old. But, but I think the constitution says something about not being able to elect a five year old, but boy, we're really seeing the consequences. Those forefathers didn't understand the wisdom that is inherent in these, these children and the wisdom that gets lost in these, these elderly, elderly folks.
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B
Yeah. Also the founding fathers didn't have Pokemon cards and I think that that was a real problem for them.
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A
I think that was a problem. I really do.
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B
Would have been good. I like the idea of the poke that your son has basketball cards and then you have to figure out the trade value of like Luka Doncic for Mewtwo or Snorlax. Like I don't even know how this translates. Like why.
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A
Yeah, I also don't know if basketball cards are worth anything anymore. I was, I had to kill time with my son and we were at a target and the kid in me saw a whole, a whole wall of basketball cards and also those little plastic sleeves to hold them. And I was like, oh my God, I'm going to, I'm going to bring this into our life right now. And it was fun for a little bit. But again, I think you have to have a little bit of awareness of who these players are and if you can, if you can make money off of it, somehow you have to connect the Luca Donche card to crypto in a way that seems like a financial investment that is worthwhile of your time.
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B
So you got yourself a college fund kid.
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A
You do. That's it.
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B
All right. So that was the whirlwind trip Through Asia. The other big news, I hope you saw this because I don't want to be telling it to you live on a podcast, but Trump announced that we will be testing nuclear weapons again after 30 years. So again, that's a pretty big trading negotiation. Chip, I would say maybe not a glowing rookie Luka Doncic card or whatever, but still, nuclear. Nuclear weapons testing. Did that make it to you while you're on the tarmac, Were you glad to be circling Philadelphia because you didn't have to worry about the nuclear weapons testing happening on the ground?
- [14:04]
A
Yeah. Good news, everybody. They're testing nuclear warheads somewhere and you know it's going to be forced into a. I mean, who knows how he'll do. Will he force it into a blue state where these warheads have to get exploded, or will he, he only give those job opportunities to red states? We will see how this gets pulled politicized. This was one of those Trump examples where he, he throws out some historical fact that doesn't at all feel correct. That has you run to the Internet where it's like, oh, okay, we're doing this again. This feels like this is not something that has happened in a while. And his argument of, well, we're doing this because everybody else is doing this now. So I'm like, really? Really? And I think I quickly looked up, I was like, okay, the last nuclear test was. Do you know when the last nuclear test globally was? Devin Daily Quante.
- [14:49]
B
I know that the US was 92.
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A
Under US. US 92. North Korea was 2017.
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B
Bush. Okay, 2017.
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A
Okay, the last Russian nuclear test 35 years ago.
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B
Wow. Okay. Yeah, they had a lot going on 35 years ago.
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A
Yeah, he's always, he blows these things up. And if your context shrinks and shoves until you're like, is this really happening in the world? Let me do one Google check. Oh, right. He's pulling this out of his ass and now creating chaos. We'll see if this man follows through on it. But yeah, great. I'm so glad to land in New York City to hear what this country is doing.
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B
They're like, can I go back in the sky, please? It's a great look. If you're going to be short staffed on tsa, you want it to happen when the nuclear tests are happening.
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A
And this is great too, because most of the planes I'm on don't have wi Fi. They only have broken biscotti cookies. So. So you really go up there and you are away. You are away from the chaos. It's A. It's a beautiful, beautiful thing for one shining moment.
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B
My question is, did we already do the nuclear test on the East Wing? Because that's kind of how it looks. It's just completely gone. And like, look, that's a real two birds, one stone thing. You're like, I got to do this demolition of the East Wing, and I got to test the nuclear weapons. Look, this is a problem that solves itself.
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A
I mean, this way you have to keep him away from 90s action movies, because I. Every third movie had a version of the White House exploding in a dramatic fashion. And this guy could put. Put those.
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B
Independence Day. Yeah.
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A
There was something down white. Was it a White House down and not an Air Force down?
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B
I think that was 2000s.
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A
You might have been right. I might. It might be a Tatum.
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B
Oh, you're gonna. You're gonna quiz me about nuclear tests? I'm gonna quiz you about disaster movies. Yeah.
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A
Give me the. What was the last disaster movie that starred. I've got the White.
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B
Michael Bay. Yeah. I don't know. Yeah. Was it White House down, Olympus has Fallen. That was another one.
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A
Those both came out, like, same year. Right. Wasn't that. That's like mid. That's early 2010s, maybe?
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B
That sounds right to me. Yes. The movie Civil War had a whole sequence in the White House, but that was just more kind of intense military. Not necessarily a destruction of the White House.
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A
That was like militia based on the White House destruction. Yes.
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B
With friend of the show, Nick Offerman, as the president.
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A
The lovely Nick Offerman. That guy could do no wrong. Even as being an awful president in a film like that, he still does no wrong.
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B
Yeah. We're getting a White House down 2013. This is the kind of research you get when you work at the Daily Show.
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A
We get it out. Yeah. No notes about the other nuclear test that took place?
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B
Nothing. Pop culture stuff. We got it. I can tell you the exact year that the White House was destroyed in the movie Independence Day and by which aliens.
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A
Hey, you worked with Nick Offerman on the piece that he did a month or so ago, didn't you?
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B
I did, yes. Back in July, about the national parks. It was about how the national parks were having problems with the bathrooms and were short staffed. And luckily that problem is solved because they're totally closed now because of the government shutdown. And. Oh, that was another thing. I don't know if this made it to you while you were in the skies this week, but there are people who are going to El Capitan and base Jumping. So they're doing. They're going to the top. And normally they would have to do it very early in the morning because they would be stopped or the staff would stop them. But because no one is staffing them, they're just jumping with parachutes off the top and landing in broad daylight, doing BASE jumping, that kind of thing.
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A
That's wild.
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B
Yeah.
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A
You had to think of, like, the national parks can become even more overground and more open to nature. It's like, I am legend, but for the national parks.
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B
Yes. Well, I think it's a problem because the government shutdown is impacting people's lives in a very negative way. But then there's this thing where I'm like, that is kind of awesome to have somebody jumping with a parachute off the top of a big cliff at the national park. I don't know how to argue with that. And, like, that's. Yeah. Like, you don't think, like, well, the fundamentals of government are breaking down, but it does mean someone's gonna jump over Snake River Canyon and land it on the other side. And that's pretty great.
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A
This is the new skill set. Americans have to work with it. It's like, oh, okay. What happens when the government shuts down? Find your joy in that space, because it could happen a lot.
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B
Yeah. We could just do some awesome stunts over our crumbling infrastructure, and that's going to be really cool.
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A
Yeah. A skate park in the old abandoned USAID building. Great.
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B
We should just give the keys of the government to Michael Bay so he can make awesome disaster movies, but with our actual landmarks and everything.
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A
Yeah. Oh, it's cool. Yeah. Yeah. I got. I got. I got an invitation for a paintball experience inside the EPA building. And I can't wait for it. It's gonna be a blast.
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B
Wow. And it's lead paint in the paintballs, too. That's even worse. It's real slap in the face. So, yeah, that's been part of the government shutdown. But, yeah. No Offerman. Very passionate about the national parks. And. Yeah.
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A
What I remember is he brought you. He brought you scotch.
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B
He did.
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A
He brought.
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B
Yeah, he had Lagavulin. That is to bring in some.
- [19:59]
A
That is a classy move. That is a classy. He worked with you guys. He brought in Lagavulin. Oh. And all I could think was, I was hosting that week. Why didn't I get a bottle of Lagavulin?
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B
Yeah, that's true. No.
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A
If you're listening to the podcast. Nick, I want my scotch.
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B
He brought it to Us not. I mean, Nick, what does the host really do for you? The writers are here for you to do.
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A
I presented. I presented. Nick Offerman presenting. That's not an easy thing. Present Nick Offerman.
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B
You know, when we initially talked about doing that pitch, he was interested and wanted to come talk about it, but they were like, oh, he's like the busiest man in Hollywood. He's in so many movies and everything, so as soon as he's free, he's gonna come and do it. And then I went to see Mission Impossible, whatever it was, seven or eight. The most recent Mission Impossible. And he was in a nuclear bunker having to decide whether every country in the world needed to be nuked. And I was like, man, this guy really is busy. I probably shouldn't put anything more on plate. He has to figure out whether humanity lives or dies in a nuclear apocalypse. I'm like, I'll chill out on the national park script that we hope he's excited about.
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A
We need to get it back on because it is true. He's been cast in so many situations that are truly the end of the world or the world at the brink of apocalypse, where the president, as the democracy collapses, Mission Impossible where it is plasma the last of us. He's at sort of an end of the world or, or post apocalyptic situation. He's really found a niche in the American psyche that's like, huh, who's going to be there when it all collapses?
- [21:27]
B
Look, if you're going to be left with one man to rebuild humanity, it's got to be Nick Offerman.
- [21:31]
A
I support it. I totally do.
- [21:32]
B
That's it. So, yeah, so I guess that's sort of the summary of what we missed. How are you feeling about next week when you're behind the desk? What are the things you're looking at? What's sort of. What have you been doing noodling on while you're. You've been getting ready to host the show?
- [21:51]
A
Well, it's, it's, it's election week, so definitely in New York, you're, there's. We have a big mayoral election, so people are talking about that here. It's, it's also exciting. New York has. We now have early voting, so people are voting around town, which just. As a citizen of this great country, it's so nice to actually have voting be so accessible. I'm excited to see, quite frankly, just how many people show up and vote and early vote because it's, they seem to make it very easy, at least in my neck of the woods, to Vote and we will see. Do they go with the Curtis Sliwa, who's a man of many cats, do we have old school Andrew Cuomo who has taken off the gloves and decided that racism is something that could be really fun to play with on all election day?
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B
It's a real throwback.
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A
It's a real throwback. Or do we welcome in communism with Zoran, who knows, you know, antifa communism is on the ballot.
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B
If you're watching, city has to decide.
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A
You have to decide. But you're also watching New York media ramp up with what the Post puts on its front pages, what the ads are. So we're, we're really, we're really feeling it right now in New York City. So that's Tuesday. We're very compelling to see what happens in New York, how people frame it in New York. And also there's some big governor races that are taking place that I'm sure, sure people will piece. What, what does it mean about the Democratic Party? What does it mean about the state of the nation in general? And we will have fun both with the results and with the hysteria surrounding the results.
- [23:20]
B
Yeah, I think the one thing that we know for sure is whatever the message is out of election Day on Tuesday, the media will overblow it and misunderstand it because it was less than a year ago where they're like, new York City has moved very far to the right. Donald Trump did much better in New York City and the surrounding areas. And so, you know, it's clear that there's a rejection of the Democratic Party and leftism in general. And then the next year, it's like, so a communist is going to be the mayor of New York City. It's like, we don't know. We don't know what it's gonna be. But, yeah, for a year it was like, well, the whole country's moving right now. It's like, I think we're gonna put up a Berlin Wall in America. I don't know.
- [24:01]
A
It's funny when I travel outside, too, because this local race has become such a national race, at least if you're into politics. And so people are always asking me about what's happening there. And quite frankly, I feel people are getting too caught up in that, the politics of it. Yes. Mamdani considers himself a democratic socialist. That is part of the conversation. That is a big part of the conversation. And yet when I talk to people around New York City and you see such a rejection of Cuomo at the primary stages, what seems like it really cuts through is the authenticity argument. And Cuomo has adopted such Trumpian tactics in the way in which he's politicking right now that I just feel pushing everybody away. And there's a larger conversation as to what the Democratic Party wants, especially in places like New York, which is not like the rest of America. But I see a lot of people responding to leftist ideas. But more so than that, somebody who is not playing with such an old playbook. Andrew Cuomo had stability to a lot of New Yorkers. I know a lot of people who have felt connections to him during the pandemic before, some of the information came out about what was going on at the nursing homes. But still there was, like, a steadiness to his moderation. Yeah, but he has engaged in such Trumpian tactics that have become vile. They feel inauthentic to who he is portraying himself as. They feel desperate. He's been cornered in a way and has become so cruel in his. He's revealed a cruelty to his person that. That, quite frankly, you're not seeing in the Mamdani campaign. And so, I don't know, we'll see what all the pundits have to say about what happens on Tuesday, and I'm sure they will make it about the politics of a democratic socialist if he is victorious. But so much of it, to me, is about what feels authentic, what feels outside of the morass of political bullshit right now. I think that is what has resonated most with the people that I talk to.
- [25:59]
B
One thing I will say about the Mamdani campaign is he is so skilled at running for mayor of New York. Like, I've never seen someone who has run a better campaign just within New York. And an example of that is you and I were at the final Wu Tang Clan concert, and then all of a sudden, as we were there, run the Jewels opened. Then the Wu Tang Clan comes out. And then it started making its way through the crowd that Zoran Mamdani was here. And I just remember thinking, this is a man who knows how to run for mayor of New York City. Of all the places to show. Like, you'll see people at Knicks games or at Yankee games, and they'll wave on the Jumbotron. It's like, oh, he's here to see the rza, the Giza, the Ghost Face Killer. You're like, there is like, he's trying to win Staten island, too, which is trying to put Cuomo and Sleebo on their heels. Like, that's the kind of thing where you Think that is such a. It was such a feeling and an energy in that room of the final Wu Tang show in the Garden. And he's like, yeah, I got to be there. You're like, that's someone who. You know, all the talk about, is he a New Yorker? He was from Uganda. I'm like, this is someone who's like, new York through and through. If he's showing up to that show. There was such an energy at that show.
- [27:10]
A
This is Cuomo. Cuomo might have shown up and. And shook RZA's hand and then left. But Mamdani gets there, and he. He remembers Inspector Deck, you, God, Ghostface, Raekwon, the chef. He puts in the time.
- [27:24]
B
Rip the ODB.
- [27:25]
A
Rip the ODB. But I think ODB's son was there. I'm sure he. I'm sure he had some facetime with him. Yeah, I think you are right. Actually. There was. I. There was energy around him being there, which is. It's cool to see. You want somebody who feels like they are a part of this city and part of that conversation.
- [27:40]
B
Yeah. And I think that's one of the disconnects that I felt in following this mayoral race is they're saying, like, oh, the kind of implication that Mamdani is not one of us. And you're like, everywhere he go, it's like, he is living the experience of New York that I am living in a way that Cuomo is not. And that's a really interesting disconnect because I've lived in New York city for over 20 years. I've. You know, I'm around Zoran's district, so I have the same experience that he does of the city. So this idea that he's, like, this outsider, this scary, that's like. It doesn't resonate with me at all, because I'm like, this is just a guy who seems like he's in and around my neighborhood. And so it's not. It doesn't hit the same way. The other thing I will say is Mamdani's done a lot of press, obviously, in this campaign, and every time he mentions a restaurant, it is on point. The recommendation to the point where he did an interview with, like, the New York Times or something, and he listed, like, they were like, what are your favorite restaurants? He listed three places. And I ran home, and I was like, babe, Kebab King is in our delivery zone. We've got, like, mamdani just dropped in. We're like, get on there. It was like, in 30 minutes. We were like, we gotta get the chicken biryani. And it was so good. And then we're like, oh, to the point that there are. On the Astoria Reddit forum, there is a thread about all of the restaurants that Mamdani has recommended where people have, like, put them together, and everyone's like, oh, I love, you know, Abu Kir, the seafood place. Or like, on the Daily show this week, he recommended Mahmoods, a place on Steinway. And there was the first tier of people who are like, oh, I love all these restaurants. And then there was the backlash tier of like, he's blowing up all our good restaurants. Why can't he go and just be like, yeah, you know, the McDonald's on 31st Street's pretty good. Why don't you order from that?
- [29:20]
A
So that is the fine line.
- [29:22]
B
That's.
- [29:23]
A
What does he do as a politician? Does he get the cred of the good reference, or does he not blow it up and ruin it for all the locals who are like, this is our spot. We found it. Send them. Send them to something. Send them to a B. Don't send them to an A. Plus the A. We put in the hard work. It is our little secret.
- [29:38]
B
Mm. And, yeah, but there is a part of me that's worried that if he wins, everyone's talking about, like, oh, if a democratic socialist take over. I'm like, if this guy moves out of my delivery zone, my food quality is gonna go down. So I don't know how to feel about it. But if he stays in the delivery zone, are all these places gonna blow up and be, you know, too. Too crowded? It's.
- [29:59]
A
This is.
- [30:00]
B
These are the issues that New Yorkers are worried about.
- [30:02]
A
This is why you show up at the polls. You have to have your voice heard.
- [30:06]
B
Yes. Yeah. And know where your good biryani spot is, where you get the best seafood in your neighborhood. And look, I don't. To be fair, to give equal time to both candidates. I know that's not a law anymore, but Andrew Cuomo did an interview, and he was asked what his favorite restaurant in the city was, and he said, Fresco by Scato. And that's a. It's on Madison Avenue. And there was this great video where the person who was interviewing him was like, what kind of food is that? Which you think you'd be able to tease together? Fresco by Scato. Andrew Cuomo is an Italian place. But. So it led to one of my favorite sound bites of the week. And we could play it for you right now. Take a look.
- [30:52]
A
Sounds Italian.
- [30:53]
B
Italiano.
- [30:54]
A
Yeah, come on.
- [30:55]
B
Classic lasagna.
- [30:59]
A
A natural. Just. He's just like one of us. It was pretty good.
- [31:04]
B
Italiano.
- [31:05]
A
Yeah, come on.
- [31:06]
B
Classic lasagna. I have been walking around my apartment just saying that to myself for like a week and a half now. I'm just doing the dishes, going, Italiano, lasagna.
- [31:24]
A
All of this cultural stuff you get in all of the political campaigns. But I do think you learn a lot from somebody as to what their true taste is, what food they like, the recommendations they have. You have those friends who have good food recommendations, have good music recommendations. You trust them, you understand them, you understand what they're going. Their point of view is. And from a food perspective, that is a very trusted position. Like, I have so few nights out with a child and with work that if I'm going out once a month or so to a restaurant, it better be a good ass wreck. That person needs to understand the things that I like, the experience I want to have, the price range I want to play, within, how far away I want to go to it. Like, that is a. That is a delicate piece of information that I only have a few people that I would ask that from or take that recommendation from. And if you are somebody who is savvy enough to know what people might like, what types of things appeal to most people and yet is specific enough that it's not trying to appeal to everybody, like, that is a. I'll take that litmus test more than. I'll take a litmus test on what you'll do with the roads, what you do, the housing. Like, let me know. Biryani spots in Astoria. Do you have an inn? Andrew Cuomo, maybe I'd go to him for basic lasagna in midtown. Yeah, he probably knows how to find lasagna in midtown.
- [32:47]
B
He knows the Italiano. He knows the lasagna.
- [32:52]
A
Sliwa, what about Sliwa? Sliwa knows how to. He's like, I'll tell you how to make tacos in a bag. Do you know tacos in a bag? You take, you take ground beef, you put it in a Ziploc bag, you crunch up some Doritos. I can, I know, I know a lady who makes it out of her house, go to that spot. Which you know what I also respect. If you can find a good taco in a bag in New York City, God bless you. I bet Sliwa could help.
- [33:11]
B
I will say he is famously a cat guy, that he has a lot of cats and has talked about moving them into Gracie Mansion. I bet Sliwa knows exactly the bodega to get the cheapest fancy feast where they have, like, the back bodega. He probably knows the owner and the bodega cat by name. He's shaking the paw on the way in. So, you know, Sliwa's got.
- [33:33]
A
He's got the bodega cat vote in the bag.
- [33:35]
B
Does he ever.
- [33:36]
A
That he has.
- [33:37]
B
Yeah, yeah. I. It's funny, the. The. I looked into the Cuomo restaurant once. He recommended it because I'm like, you know, I want. I want to be fair here. And what I didn't appreciate is Fresco by Scato, owned by Rosanna Scotto, who is the Good Day New York anchor. She and her family own that Italian restaurant that it's, you know, local New York celebrity owned. It's our version of the Michael Jordan Steakhouse in New York City. It's Rosanna Scotto's Italian joint with lasagna.
- [34:12]
A
I tell you, if you were in Chicago and a mayoral candidate recommended the Michael Jordan steakhouse as the place to go to, I'm not mad at it. You know, I'm in fact, lean in. Lean in hard. Yeah.
- [34:26]
B
My roommate in college, we went out to Chicago for his bachelor party. He's from there. Like, Michael Jordan Steakhouse. Great. And I will. I'll blow up my office. Made it work. Scott Herkman, I was talking to him about this. He said he had a birthday at Fresco by Scotto and he enjoyed it. But the reason he enjoyed it is because they only charged him $100 per person for an open bar. And he's like, I drank way more than $100, and so did my friends. And I asked him how was the food? And he said, I don't remember because of all the tequila shots. So Fresco by Scotto, apparently a very good place, welcoming for the birthday and food that you might not remember because the open bar is so welcoming.
- [35:05]
A
Boy, does that. That very much just tells you how young Scott is. Where, like, he's like, oh, I know a place where you can drink as much as you want for $100. We're going, Scotto, Fresco, Moscato, blow that shit up.
- [35:19]
B
Yeah. And if you like it, owned by local news legend Rosanna Scotto. That's the move. So, yeah, those are the issues that are important to us in the New York City election.
- [35:33]
A
And we're gonna. Trust me, if you. I think our Wednesday show is mostly gonna be a food review show, so. That's right. Yeah. Tune in Wednesday where we look at. We get all the food from all of the hot spots around town. We bring it in, we have a taste test. We tell you what democracy tastes like.
- [35:48]
B
Yeah, this. Show me what democracy tastes like. This is what democracy tastes like. That's it. I don't know if you know about this either. The. One of the other big pieces of news not as fun next week is that the Supreme Court is hearing argument about the Tarif and whether or not the tariffs are legal. And apparently, when asked about it, the President Trump said he might show up to the Supreme Court and sit there to watch the arguments happen, which is a real intense boss move.
- [36:20]
A
That's a wild boss move. But it's also. If that man can sit quietly in an audience and listen to people articulate legal precedents for an hour and a half, I will be. I will be more than impressed. If Donald Trump does that.
- [36:34]
B
I mean, they will have to welcome him in by singing an a cappella version of ymca so he feels welcome.
- [36:39]
A
Did he hear there was, like, free beef sliders there? Did he get the catering menu? Is that what drew him in initially?
- [36:47]
B
They also could offer him a crown. Ironically, it's a metaphorical one, but a crown is a crown.
- [36:52]
A
That's essentially, I believe, what they'll be discussing.
- [36:54]
B
Yeah, I was talking to our researcher Adam Chotakov about this, and he mentioned the immediate connections to the Godfather Part 2, which is where I think the boss of the mob family comes in and sits in the. In the courtroom during a trial is a sort of an intimidation tactic. And also happens in the Wire, where, if you remember the very first episode, there's a trial that's happening, and Stringer Bell, played by Idris Elba, walks in and sits in the back. And it's sort of an intimidation tactic to be sitting in the courtroom as the arguments are happening to let everybody know who's really in charge.
- [37:26]
A
So did you remember the first episode? You remember the first episode of the Wire? A wonderful show. No disrespect, but the. The memory. What was the last time you watched the first episode?
- [37:35]
B
Well, we rewatched it In, I think, 20, 21 with some friends of ours. We had done. It started. This is a little in the weeds of my life, so I. I don't know how many Daily show podcasters care about this, but we did a full watch of the Sopranos rewatch Sunday night eight Italian dinner. Italiano.
- [37:52]
A
Italiano. I'm watching the Lowdown. I'm watching the Lowdown right now because Ethan Hawke's out this week, so that's that's one of the fun things of hosting is you. You get to binge the work of the people. We have. We have Ethan Hawke, I believe is on Thursday, so I watched his most recent film, which I really enjoyed, and the Lowdown, which is freaking great. Yeah, it's got nothing but amazing actors in it and fun, fun pulpy story.
- [38:16]
B
Great Peter Dinklage episode in that one. Great House Sparks episodes. Yeah. Killer Mike of Run the Jewels is in. In the Lowdown.
- [38:24]
A
Killer Mike is great. There's a couple, there's a couple acting legends in it. Tracy Letts, amazing playwright, wrote August of Sage county, maybe my favorite theatrical experience I've ever seen.
- [38:36]
B
Yeah.
- [38:37]
A
Only rivaled by. Actually only rivaled by the other theatrical experience I loved called Gats by Elevated Repair Service. And the actor in Gats, which they perform and read the entire book, the Great Gatsby on stage. It's a six hour theatrical experience. It's one of the most phenomenal theatrical experience I've ever been a part of. And the person who reads it is Scott Shepard, who is also in the Lowdown. It's amazing. So all these connections. First of all, our podcast audience is like, what is this podcast we're talking about? Yeah, they talked. It's like, if you ever want to paint us as elitist New Yorkers stuck in our liberal bubble, play this podcast where we talk extensively about the biryani in Queens and how elevator repair services six hour rendition of the Great Gatsby called Gats is one of the great theatrical triumphs of modern times. And you'll be like, yeah, these, these assholes. Do they really get what they're talking about in the rest of America? And I would if the planes would land me there. That's what I'm telling you.
- [39:43]
B
These are the issues only relevant in a local New York City election. And this is the week that it is a New York City election. So we, we can live in this just for this four days and then we have to step back and not talk about these things anymore? Indeed. Look, these are the things that sway voters in New York City. Which district has the best production of a classic novel read by a downtown theater company? These are the things we need to know. This is it.
- [40:10]
A
Tune in.
- [40:11]
B
But yeah, national culture, too. This is how you get an Independence Day. This is how you get the big Tentpole franchises.
- [40:18]
A
Yeah, you're right. You have to let it bubble. Let the outside world see what is resonating with them. And then perhaps it gets replicated on a larger scale.
- [40:27]
B
America is a beautiful tapestry knit together local communities and cultures knit together to be one giant thing. We just got a note on the chat. Olympus has fallen. 2013. That's another one.
- [40:45]
A
Called you. No update on the elevator repair service productions of Gats. Yes, you're not.
- [40:49]
B
Definitely not.
- [40:50]
A
Okay, fair enough.
- [40:51]
B
Oh, that's it. Time for a segment we're calling the Daily show and tell. So Jordan, what is something that isn't a depressing headline that you've watched, read or listened to or argued about or just that's generally been on your mind lately that you would like to share with our dear listeners?
- [41:11]
A
I will say we've talked a little bit about our hip hop love and on the road this week I got a surprise drop of one of my favorite musicians. Aesop Rock. Dropped a new album called. What is it called? Oh yeah, I heard it's a mess there too.
- [41:27]
B
Okay.
- [41:27]
A
I haven't done. Great title. I love, I love Aesop Rock. He is, he is a wordsmith. He's sort of like if. God, he's like if. If like Jack Kerouac was a graffiti artist, you know, he's like, he's like a beat poet meets hip hop culture. He has so much fun with words. And one of my all time favorite artists dropped, surprise, dropped an album in the middle of the week as I'm on the road and it just, it lit up my day. So I always, I always in those dark weird times try to find some musician who brightens it up. And I would, I would definitely say A dollar AP Rock does that for me.
- [42:06]
B
That's great. Were there any standout tracks that you recommend?
- [42:09]
A
Yes, he's got one called I think Sack Lunch or something Lunch, which is. It's just about as fun a song as you could, could have. And actually I was. He released it six months ago as a video where he sits in what looks like his home studio, like hoodie up over his head, just wrapping it half on camera, half not on camera. And I sent it to a friend of mine. I was like, I love this. It's so nonchalant, cool and also middle age in a way that I think resonates so well with me where it's like clearly a man who has been working on something for days who doesn't want to get out and over produce it and just wants to sit in his warm sweatshirt and rap for about three straight minutes. And to me it was masterful and lovely. So as, as a middle aged man, I can truly appreciate it. Thank you. Aesop Rock.
- [43:02]
B
Very good. What about you? So for me, I, as a, as a parent, I read a lot of kids books, and there's an amazing one that was recommended to me by a friend of mine in the neighborhood that's called Moonshot, which is about the moon landing, the Apollo 11 mission. And relevant now because I saw there was a news story this week that Kim Kardashian believes the moon landing was faked. She was talking about it, I believe, with the actress Sarah Paulson. And reading this book, I was blown away by the technical achievements of a real moon landing and how the stages of the rockets work. And I, you know, I had always seen the footage of Apollo 11 taking off and knowing about the three of them and the stages of the rockets and then the lander, but just I had never seen an illustration of how all of it fits together and the stages and times at which each parts of the rocket fall apart, and then how the command module will come out and then dock with the lander and then that will go out to the moon and then the lander has to pop back off the moon and go back to the command module and then how it all comes back. Just the. Look, if they faked it, which I don't think they did, that is a real commitment to. They had to engineer how it would have worked. Exactly. And it really is a marvel to see the, you know, the, the feat of engineering that it was to, to make all the pieces work and to figure out all the stages of it and to get two people to land on the moon and one guy to kind of just circle the moon and not land on the moon, which is, you know, arguably the more important part of the whole thing is, you know, be the designated driver to the moon is real tough. So I recommend that book Moonshot. And it reminds me, there was a book that we, some friends of ours, the first friends of ours who had had kids, you know, a decade ago, we got them a book called Laika, which was about the Russian program where they shot the dog, they found a street dog, and like tested whether or not, you know, the, the space. What the space flight does to, you know, a creature inside and. Real weird book to get for a kid.
- [45:17]
A
Yeah. Really, just so, you know, were all expendable.
- [45:21]
B
Yeah.
- [45:21]
A
Enjoy. Good luck with your life.
- [45:23]
B
Yeah. And there's a kids book version and then there's a more grown up graphic novel version. But it is, it's basically if you're giving a kid like if Old Yeller was also the movie Gravity, sometimes look, sometimes kid humans will just shoot a dog into space with no plan to bring it back. Welcome to being a person. So Moonshot is a much better entry into the space program because, yeah, it shows a feat of engineering and you bring the. Bring everybody back in one piece, and that's great.
- [45:55]
A
There's a happy ending. Yeah. Start with the happy ending. Let them understand the realities of space travel. Maybe. Maybe that's. Maybe that's a middle school thing.
- [46:04]
B
Yes. To all you readers and all of you parents out there, start with Moonshot. Work your way up to Laika.
- [46:12]
A
Get the order right, guys.
- [46:14]
B
Yes. Your kids will thank you. Your kids therapists will thank you. Go from there. All right, so I think that's all. That's all we have time for today. We'll save something for the show for next week.
- [46:29]
A
Yes, I think so. I think there's a few theater experiences I had in my early 20s that I think will make a good first act on.
- [46:36]
B
Yeah, that really is all the time we have. Yeah. No, I should probably. Yeah. No. My name is Devin Delacouante. Thank you, Jordan Klepper, for pre capping with me. Catch him hosting the Daily show all the rest of this week or else do it.
- [46:50]
A
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 Comedy Central and stream full episodes anytime on Paramount. This has been a Comedy Central podcast.