The Precap | Josh Johnson on the Reaction to the Press Gala Attack, the Michael Jackson Movie Success, and Not Caring About the Royals

Summary

The Daily Show: Ears Edition – The Precap | Josh Johnson on the Reaction to the Press Gala Attack, the Michael Jackson Movie Success, and Not Caring About the Royals April 27, 2026

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Overview

In this lively episode of The Precap, writer Joe Opio sits down with this week’s Daily Show host, comedian Josh Johnson. Together, they dive into the nation’s major headlines, from the chaos and reactions at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner shooting to the box office surprise of the Michael Jackson biopic, and the apparent American apathy towards the upcoming visit of the British royal family. The tone is witty, insightful, and candid—a signature Daily Show blend.

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Major Discussion Points & Insights

1. White House Correspondents’ Dinner Attack Reaction

• Public Response & Modern Media

  • Social media’s role created confusion, with countless POVs but little consensus about what transpired (04:45–07:01).
  • Josh: “So much of the country falls into two camps: one, they either don’t care or they think it was fake.” (04:45)
  • The event’s coverage felt “goofy” due to fragmented, crowd-sourced footage.
  • Lack of a single, authoritative version due to every attendee sharing their slice of the moment: “There’s no, like, one account … which also feels crazy because the news was there. These people are the news.” (07:03–07:09)

• Normalization and Satire

  • As another assassination attempt, it’s met with dark humor and collective detachment.
  • Joe: “Someone even went like, ‘Oh, a new assassination attempt has dropped,’ like it was an album.” (07:34)
  • Trump’s history of sowing distrust in institutions stokes conspiracy thinking; his own obfuscations leave space for suspicion (08:26–09:29).

• The Event Continued—Right Call?

  • Surprise and sarcasm about not canceling the dinner, with Josh noting: “The only people that will be disappointed [are] the 12 people that watch it on C Span.” (10:22)

• Evacuation & Gender Dynamics

  • Notable viral moments: RFK Jr. leaving his wife, Stephen Miller possibly shielding himself with his pregnant wife—“the duck/rabbit illusion of cowardice or chivalry.” (14:26)
  • Josh: “If you leave your wife behind, you should plan to be an unmarried man.” (13:12)
  • Online debate about what these reactions ‘say’ about men in crisis.

• Trump Era Absurdities

  • The event lacked a comedian—the first time ever, replaced by a mentalist. Both hosts joke this could be an ill omen, suggesting comedians are “good luck charms.” (17:09–17:44)

2. Michael Jackson Biopic Success

• Critics vs. Audience Backlash
  • Film was “trashed by the critics, but the audience obviously loved it … $217 million at the box office.” (19:33)
  • Josh: “Sometimes with critique, you just have to remember that the people watching and the critics don’t care about the same things.” (20:37)
  • Explains that critics focus on technical/artistic rigor while general audiences want entertainment and spectacle.
• The Wider Trend
  • Points to films like Super Mario and Minecraft: critics pan, fans pack theaters (21:08–21:34).
• Timing & National Mood
  • Release timing is perfect: “The US being in the middle of a war we don’t understand, and people actually being apathetic about a shooting at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner … this is the time where if you were gonna release a Michael movie, it’s now.” (23:46–24:51)
  • People want communal escapism and joy amid constant bad news.

3. Bear Insurance Scam & “Whitest Crime”

• Absurd Insurance Fraud in California
  • Recap: Perpetrators dressed as bears to trash luxury cars and claim insurance payouts. (26:08–28:46)
  • Josh: “That is a scam … by people who truly understand insurance.”
• Delayed Justice & American System
  • Ridicules how, despite clear video evidence, the scam took two years to prosecute.
  • Both riff on the “open and shut case” American archetype—“I thought this was the whitest crime I’ve ever seen.” – Joe (27:48)
  • A bear might not be a bear: “Turns out, you can’t trust the bear because the bear might be a man dressed as a bear.” – Joe (29:15), Josh: “Which is honestly even scarier than a man.” (29:18)

4. The Royal Family Visits America: Who Cares?

• General American Indifference
  • Josh is openly indifferent: “I don’t really care … I just am not … I don’t even know why people care when they go anywhere.” (30:36)
  • Joe suggests the royal brand lost luster with King Charles and Camilla, compared to Queen Elizabeth, who captured the public’s imagination more.
• Trump’s Aspirations and the Monarchy
  • Trump, however, is likely excited: he adores ceremony and “loves the glamour.”
  • Joe: “Trump would love to be what King Charles is … the ultimate dream is to be like … the royal family of the US.” (33:41)
  • Josh describes the concept of a figurehead as “the original reality TV.” (34:15)

5. US–Iran Crisis & “Mascot” Governance

• War, Ceasefires, and Indecision
  • Trump’s ceasefire extensions and uncertainty about negotiation outcomes: “I feel like we are watching, in real time, someone who is very consequential and … has no plan.” – Josh (37:19)
  • Both discuss the real-world consequences not yet felt by most Americans because the crisis hasn’t bitten into daily life.
  • As soon as “a very understandable graph” can show how Americans are personally affected—prices, travel—political will might change. (37:51–40:07)
  • Predicts Trump will eventually settle on a concession-laden deal, spun as a win, when the optics demand it.

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Memorable Quotes

• On social media and news confusion:
  “These people are the news. And so it happened where the news is. And so then they were like, almost talking satellite to their news station as the news.” – Josh Johnson (07:09)
• On spousal abandonment in crisis:
  “If you leave your wife behind, you should plan to be an unmarried man.” – Josh Johnson (13:12)
• On critics and audiences:
  “A critic could be right … but it’s fun. Or like, you can brush some things off.” – Josh Johnson (21:34)
• On Michael Jackson biopic timing:
  “I think that now we’ve actually been beaten down to the point where if somebody just plays something that we can dance to, people will flock to the theater.” – Josh Johnson (24:51)
• On insurance scam absurdity:
  “That is a scam … by people who truly understand insurance.” – Josh Johnson (28:03)
• On Trump’s ideal role:
  “Being a figurehead is the original reality TV.” – Josh Johnson (34:15)
• On cult documentaries:
  “It just blows my mind how few cult leaders are good looking.” – Josh Johnson (41:18)
• On cults and patriarchy:
  “Even cults adhere to these patriarchal standards around who you listen to, who you follow.” – Josh Johnson (45:23)
• On the Italy World Cup proposal:
  “For me, it sounded like the most American thing … ‘this kid didn’t really get the grades … but hey, their grandpa and their dad contributed … we should just bring them in at the cost of some kid who earned it.’” – Joe Opio (46:37)

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Segments & Timestamps

• White House Correspondents’ Dinner, Social Media Response: 04:00–17:44
• Michael Jackson Biopic & Critics vs. Audience: 19:13–25:38
• Bear Costume Insurance Scam: 26:08–29:18
• Royal Family Visit / Trump as ‘Mascot’: 30:14–34:15
• US–Iran Ceasefire, Real-World Consequences: 35:14–40:07
• Off-topic: Cult Documentaries, Looks & Power: 41:00–45:41
• Italy-World Cup Swap, Trump’s Take: 45:52–47:25

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Closing Thoughts

The episode is marked by sharp observations, dry humor, and trenchant commentary on how Americans process crisis, celebrity, cinema, and politics. Whether reflecting on the chaos of modern news, the escapist successes of pop movies, or the peculiarities of both power and powerlessness, Josh and Joe manage to keep things brisk, biting, and laugh-out-loud funny—even while admitting the world’s current state can feel more absurd than ever.

Transcript

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[Joe Opio]

You're listening to Comedy. Hello and welcome to the precap, a daily show podcast where we sit with this week's host to recap some of the latest news and also to preview what's coming up next. I'm Joe Opio, a writer at the show, and today I'm joined by this week's host, the man, the myth, the legend, Josh Johnson.

[Josh Johnson]

How's it going, man?

[Joe Opio]

No, it's going great.

[Josh Johnson]

It's going great.

[Joe Opio]

I'm just my first time doing this, so I'm. Great to have you as my first guest. Last time I checked, actually, you were sitting down for an interview. The last time I saw you on a podcast, you were sitting down for an interview with Michelle Obama.

[Josh Johnson]

Oh, yeah. Yeah.

[Joe Opio]

And now a week or so later, you're sitting down with me. So I don't know how to process this. Is this like another milestone in your career or is it. Yes, you know, most dramatic downfall in show business. Street.

[Josh Johnson]

I think to be able to have a conversation with top Ugandan comedian Joe Opio is. Is absolutely incredible because I never get to see you. So this is. This is special. Yeah.

[Joe Opio]

You're always on the road. I used to see a lot, a lot more when. Used to be in the writer's wing.

[Josh Johnson]

Yeah.

[Joe Opio]

And then once you took off, you went like, I'm cutting. I don't. I made it out of the ghetto. I'm never coming back. So we never see you back there. You come every once in a while, but no, it's a pleasure to have you on the show on this podcast, and we have a lot, a lot to cover.

[Josh Johnson]

Okay.

[Joe Opio]

And as I was telling the team, who better than the man who helps America make sense?

[Josh Johnson]

Oh, thank you.

[Joe Opio]

News. Every week we have a lot to go through, and I think we should start actually with the biggest news. The biggest event of the weekend that everyone was talking about. The New York Knicks leveling their playoff series against Atalanta, which is wild.

[Josh Johnson]

No one saw it coming with a game.

[Joe Opio]

Yes.

[Josh Johnson]

Yeah.

[Joe Opio]

On the road. The winner. On the road. But seriously, no, let's talk about the White House correspondence dinner. We knew we would talk about it, but we didn't know that it would be such a huge talking point. And that's precisely because of what happened. What's your take on what happened?

[Josh Johnson]

It is wild to me that so much of the country falls into two camps. One, they either don't care or they think it was fake. I am not Seeing people expressing a lot of concern or stressed about something like this happening. Again, every president has had their threats and everything, but this one in particular, I think that it came apart because it just felt so goofy in how it was presented to the public. So, for instance, everyone there. Right. Has a phone. And so because everyone there has a phone, we're all getting their POV of what's happening. And so not every person there, but everyone with the phone.

[Joe Opio]

I don't know who.

[Josh Johnson]

Yes. I don't know who shot footage on their phone and then didn't put it out. And so we're seeing lots of stuff that has nothing to do with the shooting. And if you're being honest about any incident like this, there's the whole world going on while it's happening anyway, right? Yes. But because we are seeing it in social and we're seeing it on the news, and we're getting different versions from different people who saw very specific things or had a certain proximity to the shooter. We're also getting people who are like, y', all, they're stealing Prosecco.

[Joe Opio]

Oh, yes. The genres. Yes.

[Josh Johnson]

So now it's like, oh, okay, are they worried?

[Joe Opio]

Yes.

[Josh Johnson]

Whereas when you watch, like, a documentary about a shooting that took place in the 70s and they actually sit everyone down and you hear from eight or nine people how traumatic the whole thing was and what was going through their head and stuff like that, this thing feels like one thing to you, which is a shooting that was terrifying. Right. But because we're in this modern era where anybody can just post and upload and share what is somewhat confidential to completely commonplace, it puts people in a place where they see the whole idea of what's happening. They see every angle. And by seeing every angle, it shows you that no one thing is presented just one way for everybody.

[Joe Opio]

Okay, so there's no official account.

[Josh Johnson]

There's no, like, one account. Yes. Which also feels crazy because the news was there.

[Joe Opio]

Yes, yes, yes.

[Josh Johnson]

These people are the news. And so it happened where the news is. And so then they were like, almost talking satellite to their news station as the news. And then stuff would still happen where they were like, well, I actually didn't see any of that.

[Joe Opio]

But then the question to go back to the point you made about the two camps, and I'm going to make it a two parter, because first of all, this has happened way too many times. Someone feels.

[Josh Johnson]

Yeah.

[Joe Opio]

Someone even went like, oh, a new assassination attempt has dropped. Like it was an album.

[Josh Johnson]

Yeah.

[Joe Opio]

Cause in the past, you go like, oh, there was an assass assassination attempt or there was an assassination, but it was like once every blue moon. So it was like quite the event. This Trump has so far gone through three and which I find ironic because Trump ran promising to make America safe again. He proudly brags about making D.C. safe and it feels like there have been more crimes committed against him than any other president. But okay, that's one part. The other part is Trump is also very big at. He has been very big at sowing distrust in the media, in the civic institution. So do you think that somehow has inspired, you know, the conspiracies and the fact that. Cause he's a conspiracy theorist.

[Josh Johnson]

Yeah.

[Joe Opio]

And so he has like bred that kind of.

[Josh Johnson]

Once you. Once you see it and everything, it is hard to turn it off. And so I think that you, you have to be very careful with manipulating people's emotions or their beliefs around something because they will not turn that thing off once it looks like.

[Joe Opio]

Oh, just because it's affecting you.

[Josh Johnson]

Yes.

[Joe Opio]

Cause Trump is very good at breeding distrust when it comes to other people.

[Josh Johnson]

Yes.

[Joe Opio]

Obama wasn't America. No. Biden wasn't real president.

[Josh Johnson]

Or when it affects him. He kept saying he didn't lose the election. You know, and so now there's. Even if you want to take this guy's word for everything, he's not even really giving you enough details on things. You know, and then you see the footage and it's like, even the footage of the guy running is very bad footed. It's the type of footage that is in a TV show about a shooting.

[Joe Opio]

Yes.

[Josh Johnson]

You know what I mean? Where they're like, we can't make hell the shooter's face because, you know, this camera is like the second camera ever made.

[Joe Opio]

Did the fact that the event still went ahead also not help matters? Because I'm thinking if I'm with, God forbid, but if I'm the shooter and the event still goes on, that can do wonders for my ego.

[Josh Johnson]

Yeah, no, no. That would definitely make you wonder if you accomplished anything. I don't know why they still had the dinner. I think that to me, you cancel. I don't know where they were in the dinner. It seems like some of them had eaten. And I think that you just call it, there was a shooting. It would be understandable if you. The only people that will be disappointed that you called off the White House correspondence dinner after a shooting are the 12 people that watch it on C Span.

[Joe Opio]

Oh, yeah. Who wanted to watch the whole event.

[Josh Johnson]

Yeah. I'm not seeing a world where People look at them canceling after a shooting and go, I can't believe they did that.

[Joe Opio]

What a bummer. I wanted to watch.

[Josh Johnson]

Yeah.

[Joe Opio]

I was intrigued when you said we watched footage or we kept watching, like, all these other, like, POVs. And part of that is we watched the live evacuations, and some of them were very goofy.

[Josh Johnson]

Yeah.

[Joe Opio]

Like, you had RFK Jr. You had the vice president getting evacuated before or getting taken out of the room before the president. You had RFK Jr going and somehow leaving his wife behind. Yeah, you had. There's been lots of conversation around, at least online, about how the officials or the members of the Trump cabinet reacted during the moment, either by abandoning their wives or by protecting their wives. And what do you make of that?

[Josh Johnson]

Yeah, I mean, it's gonna be hard to. It's gonna be hard to not look like you showed your true colors in a crisis. You were in a crisis and you didn't know. You didn't know you would make it out on the other end. And so anything you did is what I imagine you would do again. And so it does make. Does make it worse when someone has a reaction that's not exactly moral or noble.

[Joe Opio]

Yes.

[Josh Johnson]

Because here's the thing. I don't know. I'm not acting like I know what I would do in their situation or that I would just. That I'm just, like, so noble to the core that I would do exactly the right thing in that moment. Like, if you're scared and you run, you're scared and you're running, you're running. Cause you're scared. You may think about the fact that you have a kid 12 seconds after you get out of the building and you see that. You see that all the. Like. That's also the thing you see in the movie sometimes where people make it all the way out of the building and then they go, my baby. And then they meet Spider man to go get the baby.

[Joe Opio]

Yes.

[Josh Johnson]

Right.

[Joe Opio]

Yes.

[Josh Johnson]

And I feel like. I feel like in a moment like that, you. You're panicked. And so if someone comes and grabs you, if someone's gonna take you to safety, maybe you don't ask too many questions right away.

[Joe Opio]

I'm gonna ask this, and I'm an expert on gender dynamics. If you're a married man in an active shooter situation and you leave your wife behind, wouldn't it be more masterful for you to not make it out of that situation than to deal with the aftermath of your wife asking why you left her behind?

[Josh Johnson]

I think if you leave your wife behind you should plan to be an unmarried man. I don't know a world where she's like, oh, you know, stuff happens. Like, I think that if you are in an active shooting and you leave your wife, your wife will then be like, so you would leave me?

[Joe Opio]

I feel like something that no partner would ever let go. Like, you're gonna be fighting 12 years later easily. And she'll go, like, you left me.

[Josh Johnson]

Yes. Well, also. Also, you gotta remember that couples now, every. Every couple goes through scenarios. What would you do if this thing happened?

[Joe Opio]

Yes. Yes, yes, yes.

[Josh Johnson]

And now you've shown them what you would do in the worst possible situation. So now they don't even need to ask. You know, sometimes you get those questions. Would you. Would you still love me if I was a frog?

[Joe Opio]

Yes. Oh, yeah.

[Josh Johnson]

It's like, we don't even have to play hypothetical. I know. I believe you.

[Joe Opio]

Would you choose me or the kids? Would you choose me or your mom?

[Josh Johnson]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Joe Opio]

And RFK Jr. Was like, no, I would choose me.

[Josh Johnson]

I would choose myself.

[Joe Opio]

It was. It was. Yeah, it was interesting. And the Stephen Miller, Some people are saying he protected his wife. Some people are saying he used his

[Josh Johnson]

pregnant wife as a shield.

[Joe Opio]

As a shield. Cause in one of the pictures, he's leading her out, but she's in front of him.

[Josh Johnson]

You ever see that optical illusion with the duck and the rabbit? And it just depends on how you look in the picture. If you see a duck or a rabbit. I think that's this situation, because I guess if the attack is from the left, he's shielding his wife. If the attack is from anywhere else, he's hiding behind his wife. So it's a hard one to know exactly what to say. I'll say this. As someone who's not a fan of Stephen Miller at all. I tend to believe that the way he is shielding her.

[Joe Opio]

Yes.

[Josh Johnson]

Is a little bit shielding for him.

[Joe Opio]

But at least he would say, even if his wife went like, oh, why are you using me as a human shield? He would say, at least I didn't leave you behind.

[Josh Johnson]

I didn't leave you behind.

[Joe Opio]

I didn't abandon you like RFK did abandon.

[Josh Johnson]

Because I'll tell you. I'll tell you what, the thing about a human shield is that you can only hold it in one direction.

[Joe Opio]

Yes.

[Josh Johnson]

So technically, you're shielding whoever you human shield as well. If you're talking about the different direction.

[Joe Opio]

Yes, I agree with you. Kash Patel also drawing lots of attention for his reactions.

[Josh Johnson]

I've never seen somebody still have a job like Cash Patel. Like, in my mind, there's like, nine times where I would have been fired. When I think about the people who I know who have been fired in my life and what they got fired for. And he's out here doing, like. He's reported to be doing some of the most fireable things you could possibly do. They literally had to go get him. Like, he was barricaded.

[Joe Opio]

He looked. When I looked at the video footage, he looked. When the shooting was. He looked like how I would look. Yes. He looked like, I can't believe this is happening now.

[Josh Johnson]

No, he makes me feel like I could be FBI director.

[Joe Opio]

Yes, that's exactly. Yes. He makes you feel like anyone can do the job. And then later, when it came out that his girlfriend was actually hiding in a room and she was. She had another guy holding her hand. That doesn't help your reputation as the top law enforcement guy in the country.

[Josh Johnson]

It's also. You saw the thing of him outside after. Yes.

[Joe Opio]

On phone. Yeah.

[Josh Johnson]

And he's on the phone. You know, that person that doesn't know what to do at a scene. And so they call 911, even though the police are already there. And they're like. They'll literally call 911 and be like, hey, we have an emergency. It's like, well, I hear sirens in the back. It's like, yeah, but if y' all can send some extra people. I'm just trying to do something. I'm just trying to be helpful.

[Joe Opio]

I think you're being a little bit more. For me, he looked like a guy trying to call a guy inside the club when he's stuck outside trying to. I'm a guy inside. If I call him now, he'll come and get me. Past the velvet rope.

[Josh Johnson]

That's what he looked like. This was the first one to ask.

[Joe Opio]

Correspondence dinner that I didn't have a comedian.

[Josh Johnson]

Maybe that's it.

[Joe Opio]

Thank God for small masses. Yeah. Because I. I feel like you could. You could have been hosting. You could have been one of the names hosting. Because it's always hosted, like, almost by. By, like, you know, the hottest comedian at the moment. And it has been hosted by lots of comedians from the Daily Show. Yeah. This was the first one. They had a mentalist instead of a comedian.

[Josh Johnson]

Yeah.

[Joe Opio]

And maybe just goes to show.

[Josh Johnson]

I don't know. Yeah. Maybe comedians are good luck charms.

[Joe Opio]

Interesting.

[Josh Johnson]

You know, you can make the point like, hey, every time we have a comedian, this doesn't happen, does it?

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[Joe Opio]

Okay, so white House corresponds to that was hard to process, but more big news from the weekend. And I think this a little bit, maybe lighter, a little bit better news, a little bit brighter.

[Josh Johnson]

Okay.

[Joe Opio]

Depending on where you stand. The Michael Jackson biopic coming out.

[Josh Johnson]

Yeah.

[Joe Opio]

Trashed by the critics, but the audience obviously loved it. And it traced to 217 million odd at the box office. Did you expect it to be a hit like that or did you have some reservations because of who Michael Jackson has become, of how his reputation has suffered a bit?

[Josh Johnson]

No, I figured it would make money. I figured it would actually be huge. You saw the people dressing up and you saw the people dancing at the end of the movie together and everything, having like a Michael off and everything. And yeah, I expected it to do pretty well. I was a little surprised when the critics like trashed it so hard. But I also think that sometimes with critique, you just have to remember that the, the people watching and the critics don't care about the same things. There's a lot of critics out there who are gonna be very technical, especially in a, in a, in a movie about a person's life. They're gonna be very technical about what the movie got right or wrong or they're gonna.

[Joe Opio]

What is left out?

[Josh Johnson]

Yes. What was left out? Who was sanitized, who was, who was made to look like the villain and everything. And I think the Audiences, by and large, when they go to see a movie, they just want to be entertained. And unless it's a documentary where they are looking for information, I don't know how much the general audience is going to be thinking about the representation of this auxiliary character or something.

[Joe Opio]

When you think about. Sorry to interrupt. When you think about the trend in recent movies, you know, Michael being the latest, but also movies like Super Mario, Galaxy World, movies like Minecraft, which were trashed by the critics but loved by the audiences. Yeah. Do you feel like critics are losing. Have they ever had the influence anyway? Are they losing their.

[Josh Johnson]

I mean, I think they had influence when it was in print, when critiques and things like that were in print, and people had less of a social media outlet to get feedback on how the movie was from their friends and everything. I think that's when critics had the most sway. I think critics also can do themselves a disservice by not accepting that they are critiquing from a place of knowing about film and the audience is looking for the escapism that film brings or just the, like, fun and entertainment that a film is gonna serve you with. And so I think that a critic could be right. Like, that's my thing. Sometimes a critic is right and I'm still like, oh, yeah, but it's fun. Or like, you can brush some things off. When a movie gets a very bad rating, I'm trying to think of another movie that got a really bad rating. And I thought to myself, like, I enjoyed the movies.

[Joe Opio]

I don't think got the best ratings from the critics, but they still raised to a billion dollars. There's so many movies recently that haven't gotten, like, the best treatment from the critics. But maybe as you're saying, the critics are going for, like, the technical excellence of the movie. While same thing with the Oscars. Sometimes the movies that win the Oscars were not exactly crowd pleasers. And I think Chris Rock did a good bit about that with, like, White Chicks, where he went into the streets and White Chicks. Everyone loved White Cheeks while critics, like, trashed it. But clearly, sometimes I think there's that discrepancy between what the critics are looking for in a movie and what the audiences are looking for. MJ was a huge figure.

[Josh Johnson]

Yeah.

[Joe Opio]

Globally. It didn't matter whether you're in Africa. It didn't matter whether it was pre social media. Everyone seemed to at least know about him. And do you think that's part of this one? This movie is going to have legs. Is it going to have Legs. Anyway.

[Josh Johnson]

Yeah, I mean, I think. Isn't it just a part one as well?

[Joe Opio]

Yes. No, but I mean, like, normally weekend opening gross can sometimes, you know, I think.

[Josh Johnson]

I think this is the perfect time to release if you're. If you're worried about Michael's legacy overshadowing the movie or people being iffy about going. I think the US being in the middle of a war that we don't understand, and people actually being apathetic about, like, a shooting at a White House correspondence dinner. I think that this is the time where if you were gonna release a Michael movie, it's now. Cause I was talking to Devin about this, and I was like, do you think that if they had come out with the movie, like, a year earlier, it would be doing this well? And I feel like we were in somewhat agreement that, like, maybe a year and change ago, if you had come out with the Michael movie, people would be like, you know, he's got such a. Such a controversial past. Or I don't know if I can go see a movie that celebrates a person, whatever. And I think that now we've actually been beaten down to the point where if somebody just plays something that we can dance to, people will flock to the theater. I do feel like that's what's happening.

[Joe Opio]

Oh, so you think Aya has made a change in the national mood in America?

[Josh Johnson]

100%. I think that if you were to put the movie out even a few years ago, it wouldn't do as well. I think that now people are just looking for something to feel.

[Joe Opio]

Cause real life is so grim.

[Josh Johnson]

Yes, yes, yes. I think people are just looking for something to feel a part of, in a way. When you go somewhere and people are excited enough to dress up and people are dancing together and everything, it's not a holiday. It's just like, people. Even now, there are people who are like, I'm gonna go to this theater on this weekend because I know other people are gonna go, and it's gonna be like an experience, and people are trying to experience it together.

[Joe Opio]

That's a very interesting observation, because I read and I saw clips from, like, theaters during, like, Minecraft the Movie. Even when you movies like Sonic or movies that are based on, like, really iconic characters and people go there for that. People go there to almost, like, have an interactive experience with the screen.

[Josh Johnson]

Yeah.

[Joe Opio]

And I think it's. Yeah, it speaks to that, what you're saying about people wanting to be part of. Of a larger moment. But the insurance scam.

[Josh Johnson]

Yeah.

[Joe Opio]

That's something that if you wrote it as a movie.

[Josh Johnson]

Yeah.

[Joe Opio]

Maybe they would think it was way out there. So in case you don't know, this, this is an insurrection scam that was happening in California where people dressed up as bears. Three people could have been charged, dressed up as bears, went and trashed these luxury cars and then filed insurance claims trying to claim that it was a bear that actually trashed the cars and so that they could get a payout.

[Josh Johnson]

Yeah, yeah. I remember when this happened. And this is a testament to how slow the American justice system works, because this is like, when they were actually doing it and got caught and got arrested, I think was two years ago.

[Joe Opio]

Okay.

[Josh Johnson]

At that. For something that we saw you do on video, two years is a long time to wait to tell you we saw you do it on video. You know, like, I don't know how court systems work in other countries, but I imagine, like, if the evidence is there, if I'm in. If I'm in Uganda and I did something and it's on camera and you see that it's me, and maybe I'm even holding a sign that says my name right in my mind, I could be wrong. I don't know the system. But I imagine in Uganda, if there's that much evidence against you and they file charges and you've been arrested, that it doesn't take two years to be like, oh, yeah, that was you.

[Joe Opio]

I feel Americans have a phrase for that. It's supposed to be called an open and shut case.

[Josh Johnson]

Yes, yes.

[Joe Opio]

But it took two years. I thought the first time I read about this, and I wasn't as well versed with it as you are, clearly, I thought, this is the whitest crime I've ever seen.

[Josh Johnson]

Look, the insurance side of it, people dressing up as a bear. The insurance side of it, and the fact that, like, it's mildly plausible does feel. Yeah, it does. It. Yeah, yeah.

[Joe Opio]

It feels as white as can be a little bit.

[Josh Johnson]

Because if I'm being honest with you, I'm like, I just don't know anybody. I've never met anyone in my life just personally, that was like, hey, so I got a plan, all right? I'm gonna dress up as a bear, and you're gonna scam you Go ahead, leave the car unlocked. Let me do my thing. We're gonna take home at least six figures. Like, to me, that is a. That is a scam. Yes, it's a scam. That is done by people who truly understand insurance. I'm sure that even when they got in the car as A bear. They made sure to tear up the right amount of stuff to both be believable and be like, insurance is gonna cover this, it's gonna cover this. I'm gonna leave the steering wheel alone. Insurance is gonna cover this.

[Joe Opio]

You know, I love Rondita in the story where they say the wildlife expert took one look at the video and went like, that's clearly man in a bear.

[Josh Johnson]

Yeah.

[Joe Opio]

And you've had, you've had the famous, the famous online question that they ask women.

[Josh Johnson]

Would you trust, oh, in the woods, A man or a bear?

[Joe Opio]

A man or a bear? See, it turns out you can't trust a man because he could actually be dressed or you can't trust a bear. Cause most women choose the bear.

[Josh Johnson]

Yeah, a lot of women choose the bear.

[Joe Opio]

It seems you can't trust the bear

[Josh Johnson]

because the bear might be a man

[Joe Opio]

dressed as a bear.

[Josh Johnson]

Yeah. Which is honestly even scarier than a man. Because a man dresses a bear. We talk about somebody who's into some different stuff.

[Joe Opio]

Zootopia 2 has come home to Disney.

[Josh Johnson]

Let's go get ready for a new case.

[Joe Opio]

We're gonna crack this case and prove work according to greatest partners of all time.

[Josh Johnson]

New friends.

[Joe Opio]

You are Gary the Snake and your last name the Snake.

[Josh Johnson]

Dream team. New habitats. Zootopia has a secret reptile population. You can watch the record breaking phenomenon at home. You're clearly working at Zootopia 2. Now available on Disney plus, rated PG now at McDonald's.

[Joe Opio]

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[Josh Johnson]

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[Joe Opio]

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[Josh Johnson]

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[Josh Johnson]

Prices may be higher for delivery.

[Joe Opio]

Well, that has been a review of what happened at least over the weekend, but lots coming up as well. There's always news happening in the Trump world. There's always news happening in the world. And I think the most interesting is the royal family from Britain is visiting the us Excited or not about that visit.

[Josh Johnson]

I don't really care. I don't, I don't care about them coming. I don't know. I don't get it. I don't get what the thing is with them. I, I just am not. I'm just. I, I don't even know why people care when they go anywhere.

[Joe Opio]

I feel like part of you is like, no, we really have the British royal family here.

[Josh Johnson]

Yeah, it's like we got Megan and Harry. This thing now feels like

[Joe Opio]

an older, much less sexier version of them.

[Josh Johnson]

Like I understand there's a ceremony involved and that there's, like a decorum to it and everything. And I guess as people who have watched the country devolve into, like, AI slop and even, like, journalistic slop and everything, I think that some ceremony probably seems nice right about now. But I don't know. King Charles and Camilla just don't. I don't think about them at all. I don't think about them the way that I thought when I. When the Queen was alive. I thought about the Queen when she would visit or just the Queen would just do stuff. Like whenever she was driving. I thought that was wild. She drove up until the end and you'd see her driving the vehicle herself because she liked to drive.

[Joe Opio]

I think the problem with the Charles is I think he waited a bit too long or the Queen lived a bit too long. Cause, yeah, yeah, it feels like he was waiting, waiting. And then when he ascended to the throne, people no longer cared. And also didn't help that when he ascended to the throne, his brother got involved in what he got involved in with Epstein, and that somehow took the shine off. But also, like, I think you expect royalty to have a certain look. At least we've been told when they go like, oh, Prince. Chelsea was a prince for so long. But then he didn't have what we are taught by Hollywood, by pop culture. We didn't think that's what a prince looks like.

[Josh Johnson]

Yeah, he feels like. What's the best way to put this? It feels like we don't know him enough to, like, care about him being King.

[Joe Opio]

Well, you're not excited about the visit. I'm sure Trump is. Cause Trump loves the Pope. Trump loves the glamour.

[Josh Johnson]

Yeah.

[Joe Opio]

Trump loves the glitz. And there's gonna be lots of, you know, pomp and glitzy ceremonies happening when he's. Actually. Some people would even argue, and I was talking to the team before we came in here, they would argue that Trump would love to be what Prince Charles is, or whatever King Charles is. He would love. He would love to be. Cause when you look at it, and many people are saying, oh, right now, the UK and the US are not like the best of friends because of what's happening in Iran. And the UK doesn't seem to be as on board. But I feel like Trump has a problem with the Prime Minister. He doesn't have a problem with the Royal Family because he doesn't see the Royal Family as policy leaders in the uk. I think he sees them more, as you would say, mascots And I feel like that's what Trump would love to be. And the reason Trump keeps stressing Americans is because you guys. Guys have actually burdened him with policy. He just wants to be like a mascot for the US where you come out, you've seen mascots for sports teams. Doesn't matter if their team sucks. They're always going like, our team is winning. Mascots are pretty popular with everyone. And when you make Trump do policy, now he's unpopular, now he's not polling well. And I feel like for him, the ultimate dream is to be like. For the Trump family. To be like the royal family of the U.S. yes.

[Josh Johnson]

I mean, being a figurehead is the original reality tv. Like, when you think about a figurehead of a nation that doesn't have much political power and it's just there to reassure the people or something, that, to me, is like reality tv, because you actually do keep up with that person and you wonder what they're doing and you keep track of. Yeah. Where they're visiting and everything. And I'm sure, to your point, yes, Trump would love that. To not have to govern and just be able to campaign, because he kind of did that first term. Like, he kind of would just do this victory lap after winning the first time, and you were like, I don't know why you're in Arizona kind of campaigning. You just won. So. Yeah, I don't. I don't know, man. I. I feel like I'm. I feel like he'll have a great time and.

[Joe Opio]

Yeah, he's gonna play dress up. Well, he's not having great time when it comes to Iran. And I think.

[Josh Johnson]

No, no, that's.

[Joe Opio]

He just keeps. We're talking about this, how he just keeps extending the ceasefire. We don't know what's happening. He has.

[Josh Johnson]

Yeah.

[Joe Opio]

I don't. He just keeps extending out. Apparently, the brocade has gone global. He has called back. You're talking about how sometimes he seems to stumble into. When it comes to, like, the negotiations with Iran, he just went, like, you know, no need to travel to Islamabad. Maybe you should just give me a call. And you seem to think it's not as crazy as it sounds.

[Josh Johnson]

Yeah, I honestly think that there are some things, especially when you're in peace talks, that should just be handled over the phone. FaceTime, maybe. Zoom. But this thing of, like, we're both gonna fly to the other country, to a neutral country. To a neutral country. Flying takes time. If I'm fighting a war, I wanna know as soon as the war is over. And I don't need you to fly to the place to eat the tea cookies and have the conversation. It's like, no, if you could figure this out in a couple hours on the phone. Better you figure it out on the phone than like being set in a schedule for a week and a half from now.

[Joe Opio]

I also feel like the worst thing you want to do after a flight all the way across to Islamabad, Pakistan, is get down to you're cranky. Probably. You know, when you get off a

[Josh Johnson]

flight, you're jet lagged, you're cranky, you're not feeling well.

[Joe Opio]

Yes.

[Josh Johnson]

You're not your best.

[Joe Opio]

Yes.

[Josh Johnson]

Yeah, yeah, I could see that. I mean, that feels like a Snickers commercial right there. Of just like, you're not you when you're hungry.

[Joe Opio]

Yeah, Just sit at home. Okay, so then what do you think is going to happen? Like, do you have an idea how this is going to shape up with

[Josh Johnson]

the US And Iran? Yeah.

[Joe Opio]

No, no. It feels like negotiations are on now. They are off. Whitkop is going and Jared Kushner now. They're not going. J.D. vance is headed now. He's not. The ceasefire is on now. It's been extended indefinitely. Do you have any? Because Trump seems to be playing it by the ear, which probably is something you shouldn't do when so many things are depending on the ceasefire. But do you have an idea? Is this war anywhere near the end or are we.

[Josh Johnson]

No, I couldn't even begin to guess because I feel like we are watching in real time someone who is very consequential. And I have a plan. And so whenever I try not to make guesses off people who don't have a plan. Do you know what I mean? Like, if somebody ran in and didn't have a plan, I would be like,

[Joe Opio]

he doesn't know what to do next.

[Josh Johnson]

Yes, yes. Because he doesn't know what he's gonna do next. I don't know what he's gonna do next.

[Joe Opio]

So the straight remains closed for, you think, the foreseeable future?

[Josh Johnson]

Yeah. You know, I think this is me doing exactly what I said I wouldn't do. But this is my guess, right? My guess is that the strait stays closed until we finally have projections that everyday people can understand about how bad the straight being closed is. Because right now we're still working off of reserves and people still don't have to fully familiarize themselves with the consequences of the strait being closed. And I think that there are people who wanna believe the President's messaging that are still Able to, because nothing has affected them just yet. If they haven't tried to fly or if they don't buy things in mass, they might have noticed prices go up a little bit. But like, it's really, if you're buying plane tickets and if you are in any way working with like fertilizer, there's so many things that are about to skyrocket. Right. But if you don't really engage with any of that stuff, if you go to the grocery store and get your groceries, you go to work and you go home and maybe you go to a movie once in a while. I think that right now you've only experienced a slight spike in groceries and you've been told, oh, okay, well, it's gonna take some short term pain for some long term changes and it won't be until someone can come to you with a very understandable graph. We're talking like three words on the graph and it just says like the length of time the straight is closed means the prices will go up, means you'll be able to afford like fewer and fewer things. And then I think that off of that backlash, because Trump cares about the market and he cares about the polling he cares about, Yes, I think then he would come up with a solution that he could try to sell as a win, but would actually be a deep, deep, horrific concession to Iran. And I say horrific concession because I think that when you are desperate, especially as a leader, you'll do anything to get out of that position. And so him doing anything to get out of that position probably means giving them something that they never would have got, you know, four years ago. And so I'm, yeah, I just look at it as, he's already tried to sell off things as wins that were actually him ceding ground. So I just imagine that's going to happen again.

[Joe Opio]

Interesting prediction face someone who said they wouldn't predict what Someone without a plan.

[Josh Johnson]

Well, I just don't know if I'll be right.

[Joe Opio]

That was way more in depth than I expected.

[Josh Johnson]

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, I don't know if I'll be right. So it doesn't, it doesn't matter how well you put it or how many words you say. If you're wrong, you might as well have just been wrong.

[Joe Opio]

Well, only time will tell.

[Commercial Narrator]

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[Josh Johnson]

Trust us, we've tried this summer. It's time to put that angry ball

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[Josh Johnson]

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[Commercial Narrator]

time outside and less time slathering on aloe lotion.

[Joe Opio]

You're welcome, Columbia.

[Josh Johnson]

Engineered for whatever.

[Joe Opio]

And now we get to the part which we call the Daily Show. Until any topic, anything you've read, anything you've watched, anything you've argued about, anything you've seen online that you feel you should share with our viewers.

[Josh Johnson]

There is a documentary series on Netflix about these Mormons and their cult leader who took the place of the previous cult leader. And it just blows my mind how few cult leaders are good looking. Like these people. Get a lot of people to follow them and do stuff that they don't want to do. And then you see them and you're like, for this guy.

[Joe Opio]

Oh, so you think looks should at least be a factor?

[Josh Johnson]

You would think it'd be a bigger factor. I'm saying based off of human nature, you would think it'd be a bigger factor. I'm not saying it should be. I'm not, I'm. I'm not in support of any cult leaders. I'm just saying.

[Joe Opio]

You're saying you're more surprised by how average looking. Yes.

[Josh Johnson]

Not even average. Below average. Half the time. Half the time it's somebody that looks like you would not want to sit next to them on a bus.

[Joe Opio]

How many of these things have you watched for you to come to this conclusion?

[Josh Johnson]

Dude, I've watched a ton. I've watched so many that I can't even remember the names of some of the cults. Like I remember I watched one on Heaven's Gate. I've watched some on nxivm. I've watched some.

[Joe Opio]

I watched one of nxivm.

[Josh Johnson]

Yeah, Yeah, I agree with you.

[Joe Opio]

Yes. He wasn't. He wasn't Brad Pitt.

[Josh Johnson]

That was a weird one for me. Cause I was like, he looked. He just looked like he retired early. Like he was gray in places that didn't seem to match symmetrically. Which look, if you can gray well, as a man, it's pretty. It's a pretty good life.

[Joe Opio]

If you can gray like George Clooney.

[Josh Johnson]

Yeah, if you can gray like George Clooney, the world will reward you for being good looking. And this dude grayed in a way where he. Cause I think he liked to play basketball with his cult. It was like a big thing that they play basketball. And he looked like somebody who would hurt himself if he played basketball. And so I've watched A ton of these cult things and I love how

[Joe Opio]

you watch them and you're like, no, I wouldn't follow that one. No, I wouldn't follow that one. No, no chance. I would want to sit near that one on the subway.

[Josh Johnson]

Some of them, the first year ish of any of these documentaries, the first year of the cult is actually pretty dope. You just hanging out with your friends and eating snacks and stuff and then something turns. And I think that when people like that, in that, in that they're trying to be this messianic figure and they are trying to exploit people and get the most that they can out of them, trying to extract everything financially and on a level, spiritually from them, they'll work them physically and everything. And then you just look at the guy and you look at him after everything is settled, like when he's been arrested or stuff like that. But you also look at him when he was doing it and I'm like, it's not like he had a fall from being hot.

[Joe Opio]

Yes, yes.

[Josh Johnson]

He was never a good looking person. And it. Yeah, yeah. I mean, not to be vapid, but it does kind of blow my mind that you would have an ugly cult leader.

[Joe Opio]

I love that your message is if you're going to at least join a cult, be as shallow as a guy on Tinder. Yes. Because swipe right only on nines or above. So that when anything falls apart, people go like, oh, at least we see what he saw. We see what they saw in him.

[Josh Johnson]

Yes. When they make this documentary.

[Commercial Narrator]

Yes.

[Josh Johnson]

Cause you know, you know what? Actually this is a good, this is, this is a good example. Right. They will make a documentary. Sometimes the cult leader is a woman and whenever the cult leader is a woman, I think it's just the social pressures. This is a better looking person. This cult leader is like a good looking woman. And so then you see that even cults adhere to these patriarchal standards around who you listen to, who you follow. It's always the same type of woman that you could imagine being like a venture capitalist at a startup or something like that. Like, like someone who is not just well spoken and convincing, but someone who's good looking. Or maybe the men are.

[Joe Opio]

Or maybe it speaks to the fact that women have to do a lot more to get what an average dude will get just by being an average dude.

[Josh Johnson]

Yeah, yeah. Look, I don't, I'm, I'm not for this inequality in the cult leadership, you know? Yeah, we gotta start opening our minds up.

[Joe Opio]

I wasn't watching card documentaries I was doing something way more benign. I was following what's happening in the soccer world. And the thing I wanna talk about, or the thing that has been trending in my world.

[Josh Johnson]

Yeah.

[Joe Opio]

Is the fact that someone did propose to Trump and Trump actually was all for it, that Italy should replace Iran at the World cup. Which for me was. And their reasoning was. And this is someone, of course, that Trump knows from. He's the guy who actually introduced Melania to Trump. And so they have the Epstein link going for them. But he did propose that Italy should replace Iran because right now Iran is fighting with the US One. But also because Italy has won four World Cups. They were not able to make it to this World cup. But he was like, oh, they have won four World Cups, so maybe we should just replace Iran. And for me, it sounded like the most American thing in the world because they were going like, oh, you know, the same way you do it with college, where you go like, oh, this kid didn't really get the grades to join this Ivy League school. But, hey, their grandpa and their dad contributed the school. Maybe they have, I don't know, a library named after them. We should just bring them in at the cost of some kid who earned it. For me, it sounded like the most American thing. The Italians are pretty mad about it because they don't want to be seen

[Josh Johnson]

as they're mad babies in that way.

[Joe Opio]

Yeah. They want to earn their way to the World Cup. And the fact that Trump was all for it also speaks a lot about who Trump is as a person or how, at least Americans don't understand exactly how the World cup and soccer work, that you have to earn your place at the tournament. You can't just get parachuted in because you won four in the past.

[Josh Johnson]

I think. I don't know. I think Trump does understand that. He just wishes it worked that way.

[Joe Opio]

All right, Josh. It was a pleasure. That's all the time we had for the Precup. I'm Joe Opio. You can't catch. Remember to please catch Josh Johnson as he hosts the Daily show on Comedy Central, Paramount plus, and of course, in this form right here on the Daily Show ES edition. It was a pleasure having you, man.

[Josh Johnson]

Good to see you.

[Joe Opio]

I know this was fine.

[Josh Johnson]

Yeah.

[Joe Opio]

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