The Precap | Josh Johnson on Speedrunning the End of an Empire

Summary

---

The Daily Show: Ears Edition – The Precap | Josh Johnson on Speedrunning the End of an Empire

Date: January 20, 2026
Host: Nicole Conlon
Guest: Josh Johnson
Episode Theme:
A darkly funny yet sobering preview and recap of a week where the news (impending wars, ICE operations, fractured politics) veers ever further into dystopia, and the comedy team wrestles with finding humor amid escalating crises.

---

Episode Overview

What happens when the chaos of global politics collides with the machinery of a late-night comedy show? This episode peels back the curtain as Nicole Conlon and guest host Josh Johnson react to fresh crises—potential war in Greenland, ICE’s alarming activity in Minnesota—while debating whether it’s even possible (or moral) to be funny about America’s accelerating dysfunction.

---

Key Discussion Points & Insights

The State of the News – "Objectively Bad" (00:54–06:45)

• Nicole and Josh kick things off marveling at how increasingly impossible it is to separate their “great job” from the “bad” focus of the news, remarking on the constant seep of politics into all aspects of life.
  • “There is a contrast between my job is great, but the focus of my job, not great.” — Nicole (01:36)
• The pair joke about Trump’s obsession with Greenland and the arrival of European troops there, using dark humor to underline the absurdity and danger.
  • “That seems very bad that your NATO allies are like, we may have to shoot you.” — Josh (03:18)

The Greenland Crisis & The Trump Doctrine (04:10–11:44)

• Josh and Nicole dissect the supposed rationale for targeting Greenland (security, minerals) and mock how transparent the administration’s ulterior motives are.
  • “It's like breaking into your neighbor's house to make sure they weren't about to break into yours.” — Josh (04:44)
• Discussion shifts to how the government’s true motives (oil, minerals) are sometimes blurted out, skipping past pretexts used in past conflicts.
  • “He tells the truth when he feels like it. When he's tired of keeping up with the lie…” — Josh (08:45)
• The conversation questions who actually benefits from such moves—not everyday Trump voters but business interests.
  • “If you’re just a farmer in Kentucky, I'm not sure how those minerals are going to benefit you.” — Josh (09:20)
• Notable comic melancholy:
  • “I think the minerals themselves will probably trickle down into their water supply.” — Nicole (10:42)
  • “That’s why it feels like we are speed running the end of an empire for no reason.” — Josh (11:36)

ICE Crackdown in Minnesota & Protester Resistance (14:55–22:11)

• Nicole transitions to recent ICE activity in Minnesota, noting the outrage and also the unique protest culture (Vietnam vet in giant fur coat, clips combined with Nas tracks).
  • “If you put Nas under most things, it does enhance them.” — Josh (16:21)
• Josh reflects on the struggle to summon humor in the face of genuine horror:
  • “Sometimes every once in a while something is happening that is so bad...it’s like trying to pull from it to be funny... Feels like if you witness someone be stabbed...” — Josh (16:46)
• He argues that history is not just repeating, but happening now, and that how we respond defines us:
  • “Whatever you’re doing now is what you would have been doing then.” — Josh (21:16)

The Ethics and Practicalities of Resistance (22:11–28:53)

• Nicole asks if not being on the protest “frontlines” makes her a bad person; Josh philosophically responds with the “brick road” metaphor, suggesting everyone must play their part where they are best suited.
  • “Every brick working together...is how you get a smooth road from point A to point B.” — Josh (23:19)
• They discuss the leak of ICE agent data and the limited scope of ICE manpower, with Josh framing the crackdown as an unsustainable “road show.”

Power, Police, and Panic (28:53–36:11)

• Josh and Nicole skewer official slogans and immunity claims, pointing out how legal realities, public resistance, and massed protests matter.
  • “Your slogan is, 'You are stronger than me.'” — Nicole (28:53)
• Talk of ICE’s composition: not all agents are zealots; some are “having their are-we-the-baddies moment” out of sheer self-preservation.
  • “They leave when you throw snowballs at them and they have guns. Do you know what I mean?” — Josh (30:55)
• They joke about the general lack of far-right counter-protesters lately—because many have “joined ICE.”

The Trump Factor & National Leadership (36:11–38:23)

• The hosts mock the surreal incoherence of Trump’s public remarks, the influence of Stephen Miller, and the oddity of governing via “soup brain.”
  • “That’s devastating—to have a leader whose brain is such soup.” — Josh (37:44)
  • “Like a cold, racist alphabet soup where the only letters are slurs.” — Nicole (38:14)

---

Lighter Fare: Oscars and Hollywood Money (38:23–43:24)

• Nicole and Josh pivot to awards season, highlighting Oscar hopes (Jacob Elordi, Teyana Taylor) and especially rooting for Ryan Coogler’s "Sinners" as a triumph over Hollywood saboteurs. They lament the industry’s self-destructive greed and how even “success” is twisted.
  • “Greed is a sick poison...There are people so greedy, it’s not even their money and they want to help.” — Josh (41:00)

---

Daily Show & Tell (43:31–53:03)

Nicole: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s Sherlock Books (43:31–45:23)

• Nicole recommends Abdul-Jabbar’s Mycroft Holmes series, praising the audiobooks for respectful multicultural characterizations.
  • “If you're ever going to do it [a Chinese accent], it has to be at exactly the level that this guy nails.” — Nicole (45:24)
• Josh reflects on American awkwardness with accents, telling a story about mistaken accusations of racism due to cultural ignorance.

Josh: Early Tech & Internet Mysteries (48:30–53:03)

• Josh shares podcast learnings about early “phone hacking” and how absurd and mysterious early tech seems now.
  • “If there is some Internet on this disc right now...” — Josh (51:51)
• Nicole tells a story about having a childhood Garfield.com email—highlighting the weirdness of internet history.

---

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments (with Timestamps)

• “That seems very bad that your other NATO allies are like, we may have to shoot you.” — Josh Johnson (03:18)
• “Breaking into your neighbor’s house to make sure they weren’t about to break into yours.” — Josh Johnson (04:44)
• “He tells the truth when he feels like it. When he's tired of keeping up with the lie...” — Josh Johnson (08:45)
• “That's why it feels like we are speed running the end of an empire for no reason.” — Josh Johnson (11:36)
• “If you put Nas under most things, it does enhance them.” — Josh Johnson (16:21)
• “Whatever you’re doing now is what you would have been doing then.” — Josh Johnson (21:16)
• “Every brick working together...is how you get a smooth road from point A to point B.” — Josh Johnson (23:19)
• “Your slogan is, 'You are stronger than me.'” — Nicole Conlon (28:53)
• “They leave when you throw snowballs at them and they have guns.” — Josh Johnson (30:55)
• “That’s devastating—to have a leader whose brain is such soup.” — Josh Johnson (37:44)
• “Greed is a sick poison...There are people so greedy, it’s not even their money and they want to help.” — Josh Johnson (41:00)

---

Key Timestamps

• 00:54 – Nicole/ Josh open with why “the news is so bad”
• 02:45 – European troops in Greenland/ dystopian future riffing
• 04:20 – Trump’s “security” pretext/ actual motives
• 10:42 – “Trickle down” satire about minerals
• 11:36 – “Speed running the end of an empire”
• 14:55 – ICE’s new crackdown in Minnesota/ protester highlight
• 16:00 – Nas “Ether” remix of protest
• 16:46 – Comedy vs. real-world horror
• 21:16 – “What you do now is what you’d have done then”
• 23:19 – Josh’s “brick road” metaphor for resistance
• 27:02 – ICE agent data leak/ manpower discussion
• 28:53 – Absurd slogans and immunity claims, Philly police response
• 30:55 – Snowball vs. ICE agent anecdote
• 36:11 – “Soup brain” presidency/ Trump anecdote
• 38:23 – Oscars/ Ryan Coogler “Sinners” discussion
• 43:31 – Daily Show & Tell
• 45:24 – Discussion about doing accents
• 48:30 – Early tech nostalgia (AOL discs, dial-up, and phone hacking)
• 53:03 – Nicole’s Garfield.com email story

---

Tone & Style

True to The Daily Show’s brand: irreverent, sharply satirical, and deeply concerned about the state of American democracy. Nicole and Josh effortlessly switch between gallows humor, media criticism, and empathetic, earnest reflection—demonstrating how comedy can both mock and illuminate even as the news itself seems to outpace parody.

---

For Listeners Who Missed It

If you want to hear confident, weary comedians grapple with how to make sense—and occasionally, jokes—out of a country that feels like it’s coming apart at the seams, this episode is a must. You’ll get both sharp punchlines and genuine insight into what it means to cover the news right now, plus a few strong recommendations to pass the time between existential dread.

---

Transcript

[Sponsor Voice]

This show is supported by Odoo. When you buy business software from lots of vendors, the costs add up and it gets complicated and confusing. Odoo solves this. It's a single company that sells a suite of enterprise apps that handles everything from accounting to inventory to sales. Odoo is all connected on a single platform in a simple and affordable way. You can save money without missing out on features you need. Check out odoo@o d o o dot com. That's o d o o dot com.

[Announcer]

You're listening to Comedy Central.

[Nicole Conlon]

Hello and welcome to the Pre Cap, a Daily show podcast where we sit down with this week's host to preview what's coming up and recap some of the latest news. I am Nicole Conlon. I'm a writer at the Daily show, and I am joined today by the one and only Josh Johnson. Hi, Josh.

[Josh Johnson]

How's it going?

[Sponsor Voice]

I'm good.

[Nicole Conlon]

How are you?

[Josh Johnson]

I'm doing my best. How are you?

[Nicole Conlon]

I'm good. It's been obviously, like a crazy week, so I'm feeling a little insane, but, I mean, I'm fine.

[Josh Johnson]

Yeah. It was a very honest answer, you know.

[Nicole Conlon]

Thank you. It's. Well, people are always like, oh, how's the Daily show going? How is it? And it's like, the show is great. The milieu of the news in which we work every day is very bad.

[Josh Johnson]

Yeah.

[Nicole Conlon]

Yeah. So it is. There is a contrast between. My job is great, but the focus of my job, not great.

[Josh Johnson]

It's also not even. It's not even just bad. It's like, yeah, I don't know who it's good for. There are some times where you look back, especially if you take it back to, like, I don't know, Bush era, and there could be people who were like, oh, I just don't think about politics that much or I don't get into politics. And there was more than politics to talk about, but politics just seemed to, like, seep its way into everything else. And then there would be things that happened that you could take a real side or stance on. And it feels like more and more there'll be something that happens where I'm like, look, maybe it's my biased opinion, but this is starting to seem objectively bad. I don't know how you could be like, oh, well, that's good.

[Nicole Conlon]

Yeah.

[Josh Johnson]

You know what I mean?

[Nicole Conlon]

Yeah. Speaking of objectively bad, let's talk about some things that we missed. We were so preoccupied with the impending civil war at home that we haven't really talked A lot on the show about how there's a whole impending war with Greenland as well.

[Josh Johnson]

Yeah.

[Nicole Conlon]

And now European troops have arrived in Greenland to boost the Arctic islands security. And these are troops from France, Germany, Norway, Sweden and Denmark.

[Josh Johnson]

Yeah. I mean, one, I have to commend you on having such great presentation and voice that as you deliver lines that are clearly dystopian, you actually do it with the cadence of like a sci fi post apocalyptic opening.

[Nicole Conlon]

Thank you. I did go to acting school for one year, so that's paying off now.

[Josh Johnson]

Cause you were like, instead of this, there could be another civil war. So. Yeah, I think that's part of what I was talking about when I'm like, that seems very bad. That seems very bad that your other, what, NATO allies are like, we may have to shoot you.

[Nicole Conlon]

Yeah.

[Josh Johnson]

That's one of those things where I don't know who feels good about this. Maybe I don't know enough people, but I feel like I don't know anybody that's like, this is actually phenomenal.

[Nicole Conlon]

There is one guy who's a one issue voter for Trump who was like, we gotta get Greenland.

[Josh Johnson]

We gotta get Greenland. Because I've only been once and I think I'd like to be in a shorter line.

[Nicole Conlon]

Yeah. I did not like the exchange rate.

[Josh Johnson]

I didn't love the exchange rate. And when I landed, I just. The line with your passport, it'd be easier if it just said you have a US Passport come through. Yes.

[Nicole Conlon]

So I know that everything they say is a lie, and this is not why they're doing it. But the reason that Trump keeps giving is we need it for security. We need it for security. We need it for security of both our security and Europe's security. But the thing is, like, the whole point of NATO is like, we can kind of delegate that so we don't have to do all the security. So you're sort of just making more work. Like, Greenland was secure.

[Josh Johnson]

It was secure. I don't know what the. I try to never enter any argument that the administration makes as if it's a good faith argument, 100%. And I think it's a weird thing to. To me, it seems like breaking into your neighbor's house to make sure they weren't about to break in yours. Cause now you've opened up yourself to stand your ground laws.

[Nicole Conlon]

Yeah.

[Josh Johnson]

While. While saying it's all to protect your family.

[Nicole Conlon]

Yeah.

[Josh Johnson]

It's a very bad logic.

[Nicole Conlon]

It's weird to not be able to take them at anything on face value, because in previous wars for example, going to Iraq was like, well, they have weapons of mass destruction. And you're like, that's a lie. You want it for oil. And now with Venezuela, they're like, we're doing it for the oil. And then in Greenland, now they're saying this national security stuff, but they were like, we're doing it because the ice is gonna melt and there's minerals there and we want the minerals. And so my gut react. Reaction is like, but that's not why you're really doing it. Because you never say why you're gonna do it, but that is, I think, why you're doing it. Do you have some other, like, even more ulterior motive that I can't even.

[Josh Johnson]

I think they just process. No, no, I think they've just switched over. I think they realize that the people who they would have been giving some sort of excuse for don't care or.

[Nicole Conlon]

Don'T have any power.

[Josh Johnson]

Yeah, it's, it's, it's, you know those people that are like, ethically non monogamous, that would be cheating if their partner hadn't agreed to be ethically non monogamous. You know what I mean? Like, there are people in these open relationships where you're like, oh, yeah, that works for you and you're happy. And then there's those people who are in those open relationships where I'm like, I could tell you were about to cheat anyway. And we really lucked out that they didn't care. And that's what this feels like. It's like they could have come up with. I mean, if anything, it felt lazy to me that they didn't lean on more at least, or make it seem like the sole purpose of entering Venezuela was as some form of humanitarian duty over how Maduro treated the people and what he had done to them over time and everything. And instead of any of that, instead of any pretext of, we are going to be the administration of peace, we don't plan to get into a war with this country. We actually just wanted to topple this regime because we see how poorly these people are being treated. Instead of any of that, they were like, we do like oil. And it's like that. Yeah, yeah. It rings really reminiscent to me of someone who was about to write an entire speech about how we'd actually be a stronger couple if we weren't held down by society's standards of what it means to be in a strong, united household. And then before they can even speak, the other person's like, hey, are you like, Kind of bored. That's what it feels like. So I take it face value some of what they say. I just don't take the arguments made as good faith because I feel like we see, it's almost. We've had Trump as a president and as a political figure for what, a little over a decade now. And I think in that time, if you have not been able to fully discern what some, Some of. I'm not saying everyone should be in his head. He's not even in his head. But, like. Like, if you haven't been able to find the patterns, then that is. That's a sign that maybe you have, like, no political prowess. Because. Because he does this thing over and over where he lets his cronies say what it's about, then he says what it's really about, and then that ends up being what it's about.

[Nicole Conlon]

Yeah.

[Josh Johnson]

Never once have they come out, said, no, the Jimmy Kimmel thing isn't because Trump doesn't like him. It's, look at his ratings, look at his blah, blah, blah. Trump will then come out and be like, it is exactly what you think it is, through and through, and then make those people look dumb. Never has Trump come out, said what it was about, and then it turned out to be about what everyone around him said it was about. He tells the truth when he feels like it. When he's tired of keeping up with the lie, it's the same way he can't stay on a teleprompter. And so I think that with Greenland, there's. To me, it doesn't seem like a real plan. It's like, you don't need anything here. Not really, because I don't even understand how getting the minerals from Greenland will benefit your base. The people who are in every state that voted for you in large numbers, who are struggling right now through the tariffs, who are struggling right now through the inflation, who affordability is becoming their primary concern. I don't know how those minerals are going to help them. They'll help people who need the minerals, like people who own businesses that make microchips and whatever need the minerals. But I don't know if you're just a farmer in Kentucky, I'm not sure how those minerals are going to benefit you. And so there are all of these big wins that work on a federal level for you to look back and say you improved, whatever. Like the asset class of what the government owns is. I don't know if any of that ever finds its way to trickles down or becomes Present in the. In the lives, the everyday lives of the people who you say you're doing this for.

[Nicole Conlon]

Well, I think the minerals themselves will probably trickle down into their water supply. Yeah, I guess there's that.

[Josh Johnson]

Yeah, yeah.

[Nicole Conlon]

Into the lead pipes that we will put into their houses. And I think. I think that's the main way that the trickling down will happen to those people.

[Josh Johnson]

I could see that. That makes sense because. Yeah, I feel like for a country that's already willing to poison its people with the runoff from building and maintaining a data center, I have a hard time believing that any treasures you find in the way of minerals or oil, like, any sort of increases in fossil fuels, is actually gonna take us to some sort of, like, next level as a people. That's why it feels like we are speed running the end of an empire for no reason. I don't know what it gets you to. Who knows? I guess deport half the country is the goal or something. Like, deport so many people that everyone left is, like, white and in an ice uniform. I don't know what that really gets you.

[Nicole Conlon]

It's, I think, gonna be the same thing as when they, like, chased everybody that they didn't like off of Twitter. Like, Elon Musk bought it, and then all of the. Like, a lot of people left, and then now they're just kind of fighting with each other, and then.

[Josh Johnson]

Yeah, yeah.

[Nicole Conlon]

In America, it's just gonna be them fighting with each other, but this time in person.

[Josh Johnson]

Yeah, I just. I don't know. Some of these things you can look at. Obviously, you can look at history, but you can look at not even history. You could look, like on the Internet, at the current state of another country that did it and be like, that doesn't work. Like, if you look at the Fed with Jerome Powell and them investigating Jerome Powell and all this stuff and how he's almost out anyway, so it doesn't even make any sense. And Trump's gonna replace Jerome Powell with someone. They'll do what Trump wants, which will essentially be like Trump controlling the Fed, which makes it so that Trump controls the interest rate, which makes it so that we will be Trump's seventh bankrupt casino. You know, like, I. I don't know if you have money in America. Maybe everyone is, I guess, this greedy, but if you have money in America, you would think that you would want to maintain the money you have instead of reach for money that doesn't exist yet that could cost you the money you have. Like, it's such a kid in a cookie jar mentality of like, what more could be.

[Nicole Conlon]

Yeah.

[Josh Johnson]

And yeah, I don't know how to make that funny. Like, I don't think, I don't think it'll be.

[Nicole Conlon]

We'll figure it out by Tuesday.

[Josh Johnson]

It will be the work of everyone else that makes it funny. That, that is. I can say that with confidence. You know, I get, I can say with confidence that I'll sit in the morning meeting and I'll be in a thousand yard stare and you and Devin and Kat and Joe and Matt and, and everybody will have jokes like, like Randall and Ashton will have jokes and I'll just be like, all right, yeah, yeah, I'll say it like this so it doesn't feel like we're all going to die.

[Sponsor Voice]

Erectile dysfunction is more common than many think, yet it's now simpler to treat than ever before. There is no need to navigate awkward waiting rooms or schedule inconvenient in person appointments just to feel like yourself again. Think of Hims as a digital front door that provides simple, 100% online access to trusted treatments for ED and more all in one place. Through Hims, anyone can connect online with a licensed medical provider to access personalized treatment options discreetly and on their own terms. This isn't a one size fits all care. It's a platform that puts health goals first with real medical providers ensuring access to the specific treatments needed to get results. HIMS offers access to ED treatments options ranging from personalized products to trusted generics that cost 95% less than the brand names if prescribed. To get simple online access to personalized, affordable care for ED, hair loss, weight loss and more, visit hims.com dailyshow that's hims.com dailyshow for your free online hims.com dailyshow Featured products include compounded drug products which the FDA does not approve or verify for safety, effectiveness or quality. Prescription required. See website for details, restrictions and important safety information. Actual price will depend on product and subscription plan.

[Nicole Conlon]

Let's switch over to another really fun, awesome topic, which is ICE in Minnesota. Yeah, yeah, we've talked about it on the show. There are obviously not a lot of fun angles to it, but one thing that is like cool to see and doesn't immediately make me want to like crawl into bed is there's a lot of like, cool or not cool but fun to talk about protesters who are going out there and are standing up to ice. And one of the coolest ones this week was this guy. He's a Vietnam vet. His hat says he's a Vietnam vet. And if you can't trust a hat, what can you trust? But he's a Vietnam vet. He's wearing a giant fur coat and he's shouting at Ice. And we'll, we'll play some of that clip so you can hear it now.

[Announcer]

I hope you can see through those thick ass glasses that you up. You stand there and sanction this bullshit and they kill a woman.

[Nicole Conlon]

But then there's also this edit that somebody put Nas's aether under it. Have you seen this?

[Announcer]

Yeah, a bunch of bitches if I've ever seen a bunch. And I'm telling you to your face and if you don't like it, you, it's cool.

[Nicole Conlon]

It's not cool for me, a middle aged white lady, to be like, wow, this Nas track is so cool. But it is cool.

[Josh Johnson]

Yeah. I mean, I will say if you put Nas under most things, it does enhance them.

[Nicole Conlon]

That's what I should, I got married last year and that's what I should have done during my wedding vows is just put Nas underneath it. And everybody's been like, wow, she's really dissing her husband. But it's cool.

[Josh Johnson]

It's like really, really cool. You know, he better marry her.

[Nicole Conlon]

Yeah, yeah.

[Josh Johnson]

I look at, you know, the situation with ICE in Minnesota and most of what is happening with ice and it's like, you know, our job is to, is to do comedy and be funny, but sometimes every once in a while something is happening that is so bad, it's a lot like trying to pull from it to be funny or trying to make some sort of joke. Feels like if you witness someone be stabbed, so you witness someone be stabbed and you see the whole thing go down and then you have to do jokes about it and you're like, I guess he did make a funny noise when he got stabbed. Do you know what I mean? Like, even when you're pulling from it, you're pulling in a way that is like, that you would hope meets the moment. Because I think that we can not just entertain ourselves to death. I think we can actually. We can actually sometimes even in comedy, make things feel a bit more distant than they really are. And I look at what's happening in Minnesota and it's like, well, then these are the people who would do something about it if that thing happened, if this happens, is happening right now. So whenever people look at historical events or whenever they look at comparisons to make, or history repeating itself, whatever, and they wonder what they would have done. I'm not the first person to say this, I'm sure whatever you're doing now is what you would have been doing then. So if you look at the people who sort of like took no action or complied in advance, or just talked about the sort of letter of the law over anything that is moral and just. I think that that is what you would have been doing then. Cuz it's what you're doing now. Like this is your chance, right? But like, I think that anybody who is looking at what's happening in Minnesota as if it is something happening in Argentina, it's like, I think people are fooling themselves that it's not gonna come to your doorstep, that things will just like quiet down there, that nothing ever really happens. It's like a big sort of like black pill thing that helps people quell their anxiety. It's like, well, none of this really matters. And it's like, I think it's gonna matter to you. I think it'll matter to you when you get pulled out of your car on your way to work, you know, and the idea that those things aren't happening, or the idea that there's gonna be some resolution without you getting involved is like how every atrocity and tragedy throughout history happens. Like really not being able to put yourself there. It's like it's here now and it's happening now. This isn't like a history lesson. You're not sitting in civics class watching this happen to people in black and white TV footage. It's like they are pulling people out of their car, going door to door, asking people for their papers, all the stuff like that. And I think a lot of people are easily able to compare it to the Gestapo and stuff, because that still feels distant and foreign, what's happening now. And I've seen some other people online say it. It's like, what's happening now is way closer to like slave patrols, you know, it's way closer to like, well, we gotta make sure this person didn't escape. So we're gonna go door to door, we're gonna ask people for their papers. If you get involved, you are jeopardizing or you are obstructing a legal investigation. You know, all these excuses have been used before. And so I think that you can't just treat it like everything's gonna go away. We're very good at doing that. We even do that with our war. Like, war is a thing that we export. It's not something that happens here. And I think that you go back to some of the first Battles of the Civil War. Those people had never seen war before. And the people in the town, I mean, so there. There are instances where there were recorded instances of people from the town knowing where a battle was going to be and going out and having a picnic at the top of a hill, watching it and watching it, because they don't think it's. They don't know what it is. They don't understand. They don't think it's real. Then when they see, like, the horror of war now, now it's. It's hit home. And so that's in our nature as people. Like, sometimes you don't learn until you're the one that gets hit or it happens right in front of you or something like that. Even more so than what is happening in Minnesota. Being scary. I think it's scary to see how people can still, like, activate all of their cognitive dissonance, activate all of their confirmation bias, or just every sort of bias that makes it so they don't have to do anything. It's in a hyperdrive right now. And so I talk to some people because I try to make friends with everybody so I can know what everybody's saying and what people are thinking. And there are just some people that are still. They're still in a mindset that this is like happening on the. On the screen.

[Nicole Conlon]

Right.

[Josh Johnson]

And not anywhere in real life.

[Nicole Conlon]

So let me ask you a question. I see you as like a very, like, wise, well spoken person. I know a lot of your fans do also, and. And I totally agree with you that this is the moment that's like, what you do now is what you would have done then. So I often feel that way. And then I'm like, well, should I drop everything? Should I go physically go to Minnesota and give critical support and put myself on the line? Am I a bad person if I don't do that? What does. What you do now being what you would have done then, like, what is our responsibility?

[Josh Johnson]

I think I think of it this way. You know how this may be too, like, abstract of an idea, but hopefully this makes sense. You look at a road, right? Especially like a. Like a brick road laid from point A to point B. Every brick laid from point A to point B is very important. It makes up the road. But one brick can only be in one place. So this brick right here can't be this brick over here. That would actually be a problem for the road.

[Nicole Conlon]

That would be sort of a wormhole situation.

[Josh Johnson]

It would be a. Yeah, yeah. Now you. Now if every brick is trying to be other bricks. You have a bunch of unevenness. You barely have a road. And so every brick working together, perfectly, cemented together where it belongs best is how you get a smooth road from point A to point B. If the point A to point B that you. That you want is like, where masked federal agents aren't grabbing people out of their cars, out of their jobs, people who are US Citizens. If they're actually afraid, deeply, deeply afraid to make a mistake, if they're deeply, deeply afraid to carry out operations that are probably unconstitutional and illegal. If you want to live in that world, right, then there are all of these people that make up the road to that world, point A to point B. And I think that there are some people that are all the way to point A. These are like the frontline people. These are the people in Minnesota right now because they. Because they have to be, because they live there. Maybe if this was happening in Dayton, Ohio, some of those people in Minnesota wouldn't be out in the street, but it's happening where they are. So then they become the frontline people. And I think that, you know, I'm not saying that this is not some mandate to you, but if this was happening in New York, please tell me what to do.

[Nicole Conlon]

Please give me a mandate.

[Josh Johnson]

But I guess I'm saying, like, if this was happening in New York, maybe you would be one of those people out there. Maybe your Saturday becomes, I'm gonna go protest or I'm gonna go try to help people, you know, bring whatever to help people who get pepper sprayed. And maybe you're in the back. Like, maybe you're in the back lines, and then people get pepper sprayed. They come back. They come to you. You help them with their eyes or something like that. You call people for people. You make sure people get home safe, whatever that thing is, you know, so you have the road that is like, frontline. Those people are there. And obviously, obviously, if there was the ability to have a protest where people showed up in numbers of 120,000 every single day to protest the operations of ICE, that'd be beautiful and overwhelming. People would know what to do with that sort of thing. But we also have to live life. People have responsibilities. They have their kids, and they are living life the best way that they possibly can. So then that's the front line. Then you have these bricks over here. These bricks over here are people trying to spread as much education, spread as much of the word as possible. You have people who are trying to educate people on what their rights Are because it's no mistake that our rights don't get talked to us, you know, and so if you can be informing, and this is a thing now that anybody can do, and I think everybody should do, is that if you can learn to the full. You know, every period, comma, every, you know, every apostrophe, if you can learn your rights top to bottom, and you can learn not just your rights, but also what to do in certain situations. Cause you saw the lady that the woman ran into her house, the doordash lady, and ICE was trying to get her to give up that lady. This woman calls the police because she's like, this thing doesn't feel right, because if they could come get her, they would have kicked my door open now. So then she calls the police, but then the police tell her, like, yeah, just give the lady up. Like, I mean, the police are like. I'm not saying the police are always. And in every city on ice's side or trying to help ICE in every possible operation, because the police are also bound to a lot more than these federal agents are, which is why the federal agents are masked up. Because I think it terrifies ICE that one day there may be a record of everyone who is in there. Everything about who they are and what they did.

[Nicole Conlon]

Bad news, because a big file of that was leaked, some sort of leaker, released the personal information of 4500 ICE and Customs and Border Patrol agents online. But basically a huge. A huge file of these officers. Should I call them officers?

[Josh Johnson]

I think they're. I think they're agents.

[Nicole Conlon]

Agents, Yeah. A huge file of these agents. Information was leaked. So despite the masks and everything, we can still look through it and know who they are. 4,500 is a lot.

[Josh Johnson]

4,500 is like a quarter, as far as I understand it right now. Yeah, like, there's not that many ICE agents.

[Nicole Conlon]

There's not. And that's the thing is, like, they're doing this concentrated in Minnesota right now because they don't have the manpower to do it everywhere. And there are definitely still ICE agents and CBP agents in other big cities, but they can only do a full court press on one metropolitan area at a time.

[Josh Johnson]

And I also think that's where some of the fear plays in. It's like, just like with billionaires, just like with, you know, CEOs of companies. I think one of the. One of the mad rushes towards AI and towards, like, the automation of everything is so that this class of people or this small group of people will finally live In a world where they can step aside from an inevitability. And that inevitability almost always is that there is always more of us than them if they want to play an us than them game, you know? And so I think that when you see them move with. You know, you see Kristi Noem up here at the podium with, like, one of us, all of you. You know, whatever the slogan is, it's like, that's dumb. That's very dumb. That's. That is equivalent.

[Nicole Conlon]

Your slogan is, you are stronger than me.

[Josh Johnson]

Yeah, that is. That is me walking into a biker bar being like, who wants some? I'll take everybody first. It was crazy. I think that having, like, your mask on or, like, thinking you have whatever J.D. vance made up of absolute immunity, which doesn't exist. That's crazy. Like, J.D. vance, as someone with a law degree, knows better than to go out there and be like, these officers have absolute immunity. It's like, that is not gonna hold up in court, especially at a state level.

[Nicole Conlon]

Yeah.

[Josh Johnson]

You already saw the. I think it was a police commissioner in Philly. Be like, if you come here and you do a crime, Trump cannot save you. Like, I know you're an idiot. I am begging you to not come here and do a crime.

[Nicole Conlon]

I'm trying to help you right now.

[Josh Johnson]

Yeah. Cause even the J6ers that he released, it's like, that took a while. Yeah, that took a while.

[Nicole Conlon]

Yeah.

[Josh Johnson]

And it almost didn't happen because he didn't. He. I mean, to a certain degree, he couldn't pardon some of them because he was, like, out by the time some of them got arrested and were being put in jail. But it's like that thing. I mean, I guess if you want to try it. I guess if you want to try spending a year and a half in jail because you felt like big dogging someone on their corner, then I guess you can give it a shot. But I don't even really think that that many. And this isn't me trying to infantilize anyone or just look for the good in everyone. I think that you probably have a real spectrum as far as ICE agents are concerned, and I think that you definitely have some people who are like, oh, no. Like, they're out on the street. They've got their gun, they've got their mask, but they're also like, okay, well, I hope this doesn't backfire horribly. There's no way that everything.

[Nicole Conlon]

They're having their are we the baddies?

[Josh Johnson]

Moment. I don't even know if they're asking it from a moral stance.

[Nicole Conlon]

I think they just from a perspective of there are more of them than there are of me perspective.

[Josh Johnson]

They leave when you throw snowballs at them and they have guns. Do you know what I mean? Like, this is, I think, being an ICE agent and knowing especially like a day like that where the dude who shot somebody left and now people are screaming murderer, Nazi. And they're surrounding you and everything like that. I think that's a lot. Like when you watch World War Z and they're like, all right, you have a gun, but they're coming.

[Nicole Conlon]

Yeah.

[Josh Johnson]

And how many bullets do you have?

[Nicole Conlon]

Yeah.

[Josh Johnson]

And you think they're gonna be calmer after you've shot 10 people?

[Nicole Conlon]

Right.

[Josh Johnson]

Like, it's like, I think from a matter of self preservation, it's really important to look at how these operations go. And that's why I cannot understand what anyone must be thinking. I don't know, I get it. $50,000 signing bonus, and maybe you're broke or whatever. Like, maybe that's what got you in. But I think there have got to be people who are like looking around what is now becoming every day. And I'm sure some of them love it. I think some of them are like fully chronically online black pilled. Like, you notice you don't see that many proud boys anymore. You don't see that many. Like, you know how in the lead up to the election a bunch of like alt right, far right people would come to counter protest the protest. And you don't really see them anymore. You don't see that many people going to a rally or going to like an anti ICE protest and being on the side of ice and standing across from those people. And I think that's cause they're in ICE now.

[Nicole Conlon]

Yeah.

[Josh Johnson]

You know what I mean? And so I'm not sitting here being like, the ICE agents don't know what they did and they don't know how bad this is and how they look. I'm saying that even that guy is next to someone who probably loves this, who's probably wanted this all his life. It gives him some purpose and he's being paid while he's doing it. He gets to antagonize people and he has a gun, money as a mask. He gets to do the Internet in person. And then I think there are some people that are like, oh geez, geez. Like, like.

[Nicole Conlon]

From a strictly selfish perspective, this is not working out. As I had hoped.

[Josh Johnson]

Exactly, exactly. And so I think that even within 20,000 ICE agents, and I'm sure they'll hire more or whatever. But, like, even within those, I don't think you have 20,000 true believers. I think you have probably. You know, if I. If I had to guess, maybe half of them are deep true believers. And, like, they're willing to harass anyone. Because you saw with the Uber driver who started recording them and. And they were like, where. Where's your documentation how I know you're a citizen? You've got an accent. Your accent's different than my. Like, they're getting to do race dog whistles in person and they have the power to arrest someone behind it.

[Sponsor Voice]

Yeah.

[Josh Johnson]

So this is like a Nazi's dream. This is like a modern day white supremacist dream. At the same time, though, I'm telling you, there are people. It's why they leave when they get pelted with snowballs. It's like you can see in some of those videos where enough of a crowd gathers and they're like, this is not worth it.

[Nicole Conlon]

Yeah.

[Josh Johnson]

This is like, not worth it at all.

[Nicole Conlon]

Yeah.

[Josh Johnson]

And if I shoot someone, they will find my name.

[Nicole Conlon]

Yes. Especially now because a lot of them are online.

[Josh Johnson]

Yeah, yeah. And then. And I'm sure it's gonna come out the. The online tendencies of those people.

[Nicole Conlon]

Yeah, totally.

[Josh Johnson]

You know, like, I feel like, yeah, a lot of stuff's gonna be exposed. And I think that's why there's this push now. Cause if you can set the precedent now that, like, when ICE shows up, everybody, like, gets down or lays down, then I think you could take that to each city. But if they have a lot of trouble in Minnesota and they're not really getting as many requests, when you say.

[Nicole Conlon]

You can take that to each city, it sounds like they're doing, like a road show. It sounds like they're doing.

[Josh Johnson]

I think they are. Yeah. I think they are doing, like, as best of a road show as they can. I think that, you know, Trump has, like, a couple failed tours on his record now. It's like, what did going to LA do?

[Nicole Conlon]

Yeah.

[Josh Johnson]

What did going to Memphis do? What did going to D.C. do? Like, what is that really? And how did that help you? Because you're less popular now.

[Nicole Conlon]

Those are questions that we cannot answer because they exist within. The answers exist within the mind of Donald Trump.

[Josh Johnson]

Yeah. Which is like soup, like Alphabet soup. When that man got up and just.

[Nicole Conlon]

Looked up, looked out the window, that was crazy.

[Josh Johnson]

I was like, oh, oh, yeah, yeah. That does make sense for where we are.

[Nicole Conlon]

Like, that he's 80 years old.

[Josh Johnson]

Yeah.

[Nicole Conlon]

It's time to go look out the window now.

[Josh Johnson]

And then look out the window and go, wow.

[Nicole Conlon]

Yeah.

[Josh Johnson]

Sir, you're still on the ground. If you were looking out the window of a plane and you said, wow, I'd be like, yes, that is. The clouds are majestic.

[Nicole Conlon]

Yeah.

[Josh Johnson]

This man looked out at a construction site. Wow. And then came back and sat down.

[Nicole Conlon]

Yeah.

[Josh Johnson]

And you could tell everybody was like, yeah. And that's what I mean. That's like that moment of realization of, like, oh, his brain is soup.

[Nicole Conlon]

Yeah.

[Josh Johnson]

It's like, I wonder if they're having that for other orders. Like, I think that someone like a Stephen Miller loves that thing because he can just tell Trump stuff, and then Trump ends up, like, fake tweeting the thing that he just said or letting Stephen Miller do it. I don't know.

[Nicole Conlon]

He just did that with dog sleds. He was like. They were like, I'm paraphrasing. We just watched this clip, but he was like, greenland's not up to protecting itself. They. They said they were going to increase their military power, and they sent out an extra dog sled. And it was like, no. That is something that, like, Stephen Miller and your White House tweeted as a joke.

[Josh Johnson]

Yeah.

[Nicole Conlon]

And then you repeated it.

[Josh Johnson]

Yeah. It is. It is scary that somebody can, like, give themselves psychosis like that. Do you know what I mean? It sucks. It sucks. I'm thankful that I do come from a good family, but having Trump as president must feel like you ever met somebody whose dad was just, like, a loser and then they had to, like, slowly come to the realization of, like, oh, no. Or, like. Or like, it's like when you.

[Nicole Conlon]

Or he's not. He's not home all the time because he cares about me.

[Josh Johnson]

Yeah. Yeah. It's like, no. He keeps trying to not be home, and the world is like, you should go home.

[Nicole Conlon]

Yeah.

[Josh Johnson]

Like, this man is applying for jobs, and every job is like, what if you just spend a little extra time with your kids? That's like. That's devastating to, like, have a leader who's. Whose brain is such soup. And, like, not, like, cold soup, like a cold. Like a cold racist Alphabet soup that just, like, the only letters in the Alphabet soup are slurs.

[Nicole Conlon]

Yeah. The only letters in the Alphabet soup are hard. Are.

[Josh Johnson]

Yeah.

[Nicole Conlon]

Okay, so that's what's been going on. But there's going to be a whole new world of news next week, so let's talk about some things we might cover on the lighter side. Oscar nominations.

[Josh Johnson]

Yeah.

[Nicole Conlon]

It's It. Yeah, it's crazy that stuff like that is still happening, but it is.

[Josh Johnson]

Yeah, Yeah. I mean, I don't think anything will ever stop an award show. I think.

[Nicole Conlon]

Yeah. Yeah. Nuclear bombs would be going off and we would still get an awards show.

[Josh Johnson]

Yeah, yeah. So we'll see. Are you. Are you rooting for anybody specific?

[Nicole Conlon]

I'm rooting for Jacob Elordi as Frankenstein's monster.

[Josh Johnson]

Okay.

[Nicole Conlon]

He was so good.

[Josh Johnson]

Okay. I haven't watched it yet.

[Nicole Conlon]

It's. He's. It's in my opinion, a little bit long and it's like true. Ish to the source material. But Jacob Elordi in particular as the creature I think is great. I think he's really good. I'm rooting for Teyana Taylor. Cause I thought she was awesome in one battle after another. What about you?

[Josh Johnson]

I think anything. I don't know all the nominations, to be honest. So I.

[Nicole Conlon]

That's what's coming out next week. So the nominations haven't been announced yet.

[Josh Johnson]

Well, I just mean, like, I don't know who's eligible for what, but I'm big on Sinners and I'm especially big on Sinners because of the. This is what I would like to have happen. I would like to have Ryan Coogler, Sinners, Michael B. Jordan, the entire cast and crew, sweep everything. Because then I think that it would make the people who are even more established than Ryan Coogler or the people coming up that are like studio darlings, demand the same deal as Ryan Coogler. I think that there was a weird. I don't. Maybe I don't know enough. You can let me know in the comments. I don't know what I'm talking about. Cause maybe I just don't know what I'm talking about. But I feel like there was such a weird setup that took place in Hollywood with Ryan Coogler where he got that deal. And then it felt like there was a unified effort to take him, the movie and the idea of that deal down.

[Nicole Conlon]

Yeah.

[Josh Johnson]

And it's like y' all made the deal. Like that's wild that y' all would make the deal and then be like, uh, oh, we, we messed up. We looked at the math and we gotta sabotage this guy now.

[Nicole Conlon]

Yes.

[Josh Johnson]

And which is crazy.

[Nicole Conlon]

Cause it. Sinners is like one of the best movies of the year. It was so good.

[Josh Johnson]

One of the best movies of the year. It was actually a high grossing film. And it's like things like that that will save movies and actually save Hollywood. But like greed is A sick poison. Like, it really is. It's like there are people right now that would rather have no Hollywood and not their job than to watch people come up and get theirs. And that. That's like such a deep sickness to me. It's insane. It's like there are people that are genuinely so greedy. It's not even your money and you want to help. Like, you even saw the publications come out and be like, sinners made 100 million, but it didn't make 200 million. And it's like, why are you working then? Like, why? Like, you know what I mean? Like, as a writer, why are you working? I found so much of that stuff just so sickening. And don't get me wrong, it's like if you are Michael B. Jordan, if you're Ryan Coogler, or if you're anybody involved with the creative process of this movie, the success speaks for itself. You don't actually need their awards. We don't remember. I don't remember who won best picture in 96, and I'm sure it was a good movie, but we don't remember that thing. Like, the real staying power are the deals that get made and the creative that comes out. So, like, to me, I just. I just am really rooting for them because I think that the only way forward for movies, the only way forward for creatives is to. Is to start being able to, like, double and triple down on your worth and your efforts. And I think that the model of this one guy greenlighting all this stuff and basically deciding the landscape of entertainment is dying.

[Nicole Conlon]

It's crazy. Hollywood was one of the most successful businesses on the planet for a century.

[Josh Johnson]

Yeah.

[Nicole Conlon]

And then I understand that, like, technology and social media and the way that we consume media has changed and stuff, but they have broken the business for no reason. So that now a thing that used to print money is, like, impossible for anybody to make a living in anymore.

[Josh Johnson]

Yeah. And especially that's after you factor in, like, Hollywood accounting. Yeah, that's after you factor in fraud.

[Nicole Conlon]

Yeah, They'll.

[Josh Johnson]

They'll do fraud and they still don't have money.

[Nicole Conlon]

Yeah.

[Josh Johnson]

And it's like, they do have money, but they don't have money. They have to look like they have money, but they have all the money.

[Nicole Conlon]

Yes.

[Josh Johnson]

So it's still technically printing money. It's just printing money for three people now.

[Nicole Conlon]

Yeah. The printer is just located in one guy's house.

[Josh Johnson]

Yes. Yes. And so. So I'm rooting for anybody who looks like they are at least giving a chance to subvert some of that.

[Nicole Conlon]

Yeah.

[Josh Johnson]

But, yeah, I'm sure the Oscars will be great.

[Nicole Conlon]

Okay, let's close things out with a segment called Daily show and Tell, which is where we talk about something that we've watched or read or listened to or argued about or just been on our minds lately. So I'll go first. This came up. I wasn't actually gonna do this today, but this came up in a conversation that I was having upstairs, and I feel like I talk about this all the time. I hope I didn't say this on a previous episode of the podcast, but Kareem Abdul Jabbar has written a series of Sherlock Holmes books, which are actually about Sherlock's smarter brother, Mycroft Holmes. And they're awesome. They're so good. And I recommend. I'm not a big audiobooks gal, because I like to read, but the guy who reads the audiobooks is really good, and I recommend them. I think everybody should listen to them. And it's about the Holmes brothers, and it is within, like, the lore of Sherlock Holmes, but it is also about, like, Mycroft Holmes wife and his footman, who are from Trinidad. It is very, like, I would say, true to the Sherlock Holmes canon, while also, like, introducing fun new stuff from Kareem Abdul Jabbar's perspective. And I think it's really good. And the reason this came up is we were talking about somebody. I don't remember if it was Trump or somebody in his cabinet did a racist accent. Although whenever Trump tries to do an impression of somebody, this is the voice he does where it's like, I don't know if you're trying to do a Chinese accent or what. That was nothing. But somebody did an accent. And we were trying to determine if it's, like, ever appropriate to, like, do a Chinese accent. And I was like, well, in these audiobooks that I listen to, the narrator is a black guy from England, and there is a Chinese character who he gives a little touch, just a little soup song of an accent to. That I think is very tastefully done.

[Josh Johnson]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Nicole Conlon]

That I think is like, if you're ever going to do it, it has to be at exactly the level that this guy nails.

[Josh Johnson]

I think we are very tense about accents because we don't know anything about any other country but how they sound.

[Nicole Conlon]

Yeah.

[Josh Johnson]

And that's what's doing it. I'm never offended by people. When I go overseas and people try to do an American accent, I'm like, that. Actually, one that does sound like somebody. Like, y' all have watched enough of our TV that you're spot on. And then, two, you don't have to be insecure about doing my accent to me because, you know about our foreign policy.

[Nicole Conlon]

Yeah.

[Josh Johnson]

I think that. You know what I mean? When you know nothing about someone and then you just kind of do a caricature, that's like. That's what feels so offensive. Yeah, but if you're like, no, no, I actually know. Okay, here's the best example I can give you. There was this guy who was. I was. I was with some friends, and there was this one guy who these. These people were speaking. I think they were speaking Japanese. And so he called out to them and was, you know, speaking Japanese. And then our other friend, because we didn't really know this guy. This guy is someone's boyfriend. But then they didn't hear him and they just walked away. Right. And it was a perfect misunderstanding because then our other friends started chewing this guy out for being so racist. And then he had to be like, no, I speak Japanese. I was trying to ask them a question, and they didn't hear me. We actually know so little about the culture. We know it down to, like, kind of the sound to where she didn't even realize this person was actually speaking great Japanese. And so she was like, you must be being racist. There's no way you speak Japanese.

[Nicole Conlon]

Japanese is also, like, particularly tough for Americans, but white people in particular, because a lot of terms in Japanese are just the English word with a Japanese accent. So to do it right, it feels racist. So my friend Raleigh, who I don't know if you know him, he's the. He has The Climate Town YouTube show. He also runs a billiards channel, and he used to work for a billiards company in Japan. And so they flew him over one time, and he was playing pool with this guy who only spoke Japanese, and his translator was like, hey, I gotta run to the bathroom. I have to, like, run out for a few minutes. I'll be right back. And Raleigh was like, okay, no problem. If I want to. I'm playing pool with this guy. If I want to say, like, great shot, how would I say that to him? And the translator was like, I guess you would say great shot. And Raleigh was like, I'm not gonna do that. I super cannot do that.

[Josh Johnson]

Wow. Wow. Yeah.

[Nicole Conlon]

So anyway, that is the end of my Daily show and tell. Do you, Josh, have a daily show and tell for us?

[Josh Johnson]

I think for me, it's. I was listening to this podcast, and I didn't Realize how when you talk about early tech in some things, like you're talking like 70s all the way to 2000, like, some of the tech feels fake. If you talk about tech that hasn't happened yet, it feels like sci fi and it feels so futuristic. Like, yeah, what if you could just stand on this little platform and it was a hoverboard to work or whatever. Right. But then if you go back and you describe how something used to work, that also sounds insane. And so I was listening to this podcast about some of the first hackers and the inputs that they needed. They were basically. Sometimes they were hacking computers, but if they got it like one digit off, it would just be calling someone's phone. And I heard that and I was like, how is that possible? And now. And now, like, once it was explained of dial up and like, like all that stuff, I was like, okay, I still don't even know how hacking works, but I was like, okay, I kind of almost get what you're saying. But like, apparently some of the early hackers who were just trying to do mischief, like, they weren't. They weren't like, you know, this was not Edward Snowden. No, there was no like black hat or like anonymous thing. It was just like, it was really kids. It was really like once kids learned that they could like eavesdrop on something or like they could see the desktop of somebody else, they were just trying to do whatever. And so there would be. So many of the initial hacks were technically to phones, and so nothing was happening. But it's like. Cause you tried to, like, you basically called. You could either get in someone's phone or you could accidentally call their neighbor. And that to me was like, I don't know how any technology works. I probably didn't even describe that. Right.

[Nicole Conlon]

You described it enough that I understand. Did you have. When you were growing up, did you get Internet when it was in the dial up era?

[Josh Johnson]

Okay, so I have a quick thing about this, actually. Maybe this should be my show and tell. I was helping my mom. This is a while back, I was helping my mom move. And so we had put some stuff in a storage unit and then it was like, time to clean out the storage unit because, you know, paying for it, everything. And I opened this box and this box was packed when I was much younger and I found one of the AOL discs and I had forgotten. Did the Internet used to be on a disc?

[Nicole Conlon]

It used to be on a cd. Well, I think the software drivers that enabled you to connect to the Internet this is. We are now at the absolute maximum descriptive power that I have to describe technology. But I think, like, the software that made your computer talk to the phone line was on the disc.

[Josh Johnson]

So then. Okay. Because it felt like when I found it, that I was holding some Internet because. Because of.

[Nicole Conlon]

It fell out.

[Josh Johnson]

Yeah. Because the disc said 90 minutes of Internet. And I was like, okay.

[Nicole Conlon]

Then I think what I said was wrong. And I think there's probably one.

[Josh Johnson]

Yeah.

[Nicole Conlon]

Like, very knowledgeable computer guy listening who's like, tearing his hair out right now. Who's.

[Josh Johnson]

I feel bad. I feel bad. But it did say 90 minutes. Like, it said 90 minutes. It was printed on the. On the CD ROM.

[Nicole Conlon]

We never had AOL. Was it just once you use your 90 minutes, did they just have to send you another disc?

[Josh Johnson]

I don't. Well, no, I think it was to, like, sample the Internet.

[Nicole Conlon]

Oh, this is what the Internet is like. And then.

[Josh Johnson]

Yeah.

[Nicole Conlon]

If you like what's on this disc, it's like a Costco tasting test.

[Josh Johnson]

Yes. Of like. Yeah. Stuff on the Internet. And 90 minutes is not enough considering, like, even if you wanted to go. Let's say you wanted to go to, like, a lewd website back in the day. It was it to load.

[Nicole Conlon]

It takes forever to load.

[Josh Johnson]

It loaded the way a printer printed.

[Nicole Conlon]

Back then, we had inkjet Internet.

[Josh Johnson]

Yeah. So now printers just spit the thing out. But, like, you would line, line, line, image, image, image, image. And then, like, it would conk out, like, middle of the page or whatever. You have to use your imagination. And so I think that finding that for me, I was like, I have truly no idea how the Internet works. If there is some Internet on this disc right now.

[Nicole Conlon]

Can I tell you the most embarrassing thing about my personal Internet history is that the first email address that I ever had was, like, Nicole 524 or [e-mail] because my grandma set it up for me.

[Josh Johnson]

But what.

[Nicole Conlon]

And at the time, I think I had, like, a pair of Garfield slippers or something. And so my grandma was like, got it. She loves Garfield. You're getting a garfield.com email address.

[Josh Johnson]

Can you just make your email address any website?

[Nicole Conlon]

So for a while, Garfield was so popular and held such a place in our culture that they were, like, building more infrastructure around Garfield that I think he really needed. And one of them was an email server on which I operated when I was, like, 11 years old to mostly communicate with my grandma.

[Josh Johnson]

Wow. And how did you set up a forwarding, like, when you finally got, like, a Gmail account?

[Nicole Conlon]

I'M sure by that point I didn't need it. I don't think when I [e-mail] yeah, anything important was coming in.

[Josh Johnson]

That's fair. That's very fair.

[Nicole Conlon]

Okay, well on that really timely note, I think we can wrap it up. I think that's this week pre capped. Yeah, I've been Nicole Conlon. You can catch my pal Josh Johnson hosting the Daily show this week on Comedy Central and Paramount.

[Josh Johnson]

Dope.

[Announcer]

Explore more shows from the Daily Show Podcast universe by searching the Daily Show. Wherever you get your podcasts, watch the Daily Daily show weeknights at 1110 Central on Comedy Central and stream full episodes anytime on Paramount. Plus, this has been a Comedy Central podcast.

[Sponsor Voice]

This show is supported by Odoo. When you buy business software from lots of vendors, the costs add up and it gets complicated and confusing. Odoo solves this. It's a single company that sells a suite of enterprise apps that handles everything from accounting to inventory to sales. Odoo is all connected on a single platform in a simple and affordable way you can save money without missing out on features you need. Check out odoo@o d o o.com. that's o d o o.com.

It'S okay not to be perfect with finances. Experian is your big financial friend and here to help. Did you know you can get matched with credit cards on the app? Some cards are labeled no Ding Decline, which means if you're not approved, they won't hurt your credit scores. Download the Experian app for free today. Applying for no Ding Decline cards won't hurt your credit scores. If you aren't initially approved. Initial approval will result in a hard inquiry which may impact your credit scores.

[Nicole Conlon]

Experian.