Trump’s Affordability Tailspin: 50-Year Mortgages, Tariff Checks & Maybe Socialism | Rob Riggle

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Speaker 5 You're listening to Comedy Central.

Speaker 6 From the most trusted journalists at Comedy Central. It's America's only source for news.
This is The Daily Show with your host, Josh Johnson.

Speaker 7 Welcome to The Daily Show. I'm Josh Johnson.
We've got so much to talk about tonight.

Speaker 7 Trump can't stop writing IOUs, Sean Hannity's diss track just dropped, and a new breakthrough will allow you to live forever if you're a mortgage. So,

Speaker 7 let's get into the headlines.

Speaker 7 We all know the economy isn't great right now. Rent is too expensive.
Grocery prices are too high. People are fist fighting Starbucks over bear cups.

Speaker 7 That one isn't really about the economy, but I just like watching middle-aged people fight over cups.

Speaker 7 That bear has turned Starbucks into Waffle House.

Speaker 7 The point is, it's rough out there. So no wonder last week Democrats won a ton of elections by running on affordability.
And that sent President Trump into a little bit of a tailspin.

Speaker 9 You know, they have this new word called affordability and they don't talk about it enough. We are the ones that have done great on affordability.
They've done horribly on affordability.

Speaker 9 Affordability, they call it, was a conjob by the Democrats. We are the victors on affordability.
I don't want to hear about the affordability because right now we're much less.

Speaker 7 Damn, that man just went through the five stages of affordability and

Speaker 7 I get why he feels threatened because normally he can just lie. But you're the president and people know if they ate or not.

Speaker 7 It doesn't matter how many hats they buy or how many photos of him and Epstein they pretend they didn't see.

Speaker 7 you can hear your stomach growling when you're hungry. They're not going to be like,

Speaker 7 that must be an illegal immigrant in my stomach stirring up trouble.

Speaker 6 Get out of there, immigrant. Get out of there.

Speaker 7 But you know what? If Trump wants to focus on affordability right now, that's great. There's a lot of stuff that's too expensive.
For example, houses. No one can afford a home.

Speaker 7 Everybody keeps waiting for him to show up on Prime Day, but it never happens.

Speaker 7 So maybe Trump could do something to bring down mortgages.

Speaker 12 The Trump administration moves forward with a plan to introduce 50-year mortgages.

Speaker 7 Or you can make them much longer, you know, because you know where we'll all be in 50 years,

Speaker 7 dead.

Speaker 7 This seems like a bad idea. And if black people could get loans, I'd be worried.
But hey,

Speaker 7 hey, maybe I'm just hating, all right? I mean, how much would a 50-year mortgage save people?

Speaker 12 Take a $400,000 loan at 6% interest. Under a 30-year mortgage, the monthly payment would be just shy of $2,400.
Under a 50-year loan, it drops to just over 2,100, a savings of nearly $300 a month.

Speaker 7 Oh, boy.

Speaker 7 $300 a month? See, it's not a stupid idea. You know what?

Speaker 7 I'm going to apply for a 50-year mortgage right now.

Speaker 12 But over time, that savings is erased by a much larger interest bill.

Speaker 12 Because while the total interest on a 30-year loan would be about $463,000, the interest on a 50-year loan would total more than $860,000.

Speaker 11 Signed, Ronnie Chang.

Speaker 7 So you're saying that after interest, a $400,000 mortgage is going to cost me $1.3 million.

Speaker 7 That is the opposite of affordability. This man is creating generational debt.

Speaker 7 They're going to be fighting to get out of grandma's will.

Speaker 7 Grandkids will be like, I barely knew her, all right?

Speaker 7 I wouldn't even hug her at Christmas because her skin was too loose.

Speaker 7 But look, forget mortgages because Trump's got other plans to make sure you afford whatever you want. You're going to be exhausted from affording.
You're going to afford everywhere.

Speaker 5 President Trump now says he wants to send out $2,000 rebate checks paid for by his tariffs.

Speaker 9 One of the things we're going to do, we're going to issue a dividend to our middle-income people and lower-income people of about $2,000?

Speaker 8 Wait a second.

Speaker 6 Okay.

Speaker 7 Trump's making everybody pay tariffs, but only poor people are getting the $2,000 checks. So he's just redistributing taxes from rich people to poor people.

Speaker 7 Did Donald Trump just stupid himself into socialism?

Speaker 7 I mean, I mean, you're doing a great job, Mr. President.

Speaker 7 We always believed.

Speaker 10 Everybody, shut up, all right?

Speaker 7 Don't say a word. Let this play out, and we'll have free health care by Christmas, all right?

Speaker 7 Nobody, nobody, nobody call him Mango Mom Donnie, all right?

Speaker 7 Great idea, Mr. President.
Very capitalism.

Speaker 7 But hey, you know what? $2,000 would help a lot of people. If the money's there, the money's there.

Speaker 14 If the president sent $2,000 checks to the 150 million people who make less than $100,000, it would cost $300 billion,

Speaker 14 even though the tariffs are only projected to raise about $217 annually.

Speaker 7 The money's not there.

Speaker 7 And now I'm starting to get worried because that's $83 billion short. And I'm not saying Trump is the worst president of all time.
I'm just saying I've never met anyone who was $83 billion short.

Speaker 7 And by the way, he's only $83 billion short if he hasn't promised the tariff money to anybody else.

Speaker 9 We're going to take some of that tariff money that we made. We're going to give it to our farmers.
The big thing we want to do is pay down debt.

Speaker 12 The president tapped into tariff revenue to keep WIC money for women and infants and children going out the door.

Speaker 7 Tariffs is one of the reasons why we have the money in the Treasury to actually be able to pay our troops.

Speaker 9 And I think the tariffs will be enough to cut all of the income taxes.

Speaker 16 Donald Trump's suggesting the tariffs could fund the country's child care needs.

Speaker 9 That'll easily pay for the golden dome.

Speaker 9 And we'll have a lot of money left over.

Speaker 7 Money left over?

Speaker 7 The money that never existed is already spent. And you're running around the country promising money you do not have to multiple people many times over.

Speaker 7 Every week I'm at this desk, I say this, and I guess I'll have to say this for three more years, but this is crackhead behavior.

Speaker 7 Please, for America's sake, you can't go down this path. This is going to end up with you behind the White House with China doing unspeakable things for money.

Speaker 7 Please reassure us when you are promising money to people, you have an idea where it's coming from.

Speaker 17 You put out a Truth Social post earlier today where you blasted the air traffic controllers who had not shown up for work and offered potentially a bonus of $10,000 for those who have worked despite the shutdown.

Speaker 9 I'm sending them a $10,000 bonus.

Speaker 17 Where's that money coming from?

Speaker 7 Somebody please hide the dumpster behind the White House.

Speaker 7 For more on Trump's plan to give everyone $2,000, let's go live to the White House

Speaker 7 with our own Grace Cool and Schmidt.

Speaker 7 Grace, you've been reporting on this story. Is this a serious plan?

Speaker 12 Absolutely not, Josh. A $2,000 tariff dividend is such a stupid plan, it's laughable.

Speaker 12 But I want $2,000. God, I want it so fing bad.

Speaker 7 But you just said it's stupid.

Speaker 12 Oh, it's one of the dumbest things this dumb-dumb president has ever done. It's going to bankrupt the country and drive inflation through the roof.

Speaker 10 But on the other hand, mommy want dead money.

Speaker 6 Mommy wants to fing that money so bad.

Speaker 7 Grace, let me explain.

Speaker 12 You've already paid this money in tariffs right i am aware consumers have been shouldering the costs of these tariffs i'm not stupid but i am american so two thousand dollars please

Speaker 12 no come on we gotta be better citizens than that there are better ways to spend the money definitely we could put it toward medicare for all or paying down the debt. And

Speaker 12 there's one other program that slipped my mind.

Speaker 12 But maybe two G's might help refresh my memory.

Speaker 7 I'm not paying you the money.

Speaker 6 Then shut the f ⁇ up and let Trump pay me!

Speaker 7 So that's it then. Americans are fine bankrupting the future for some money today.

Speaker 12 It's not just money, Josh.

Speaker 7 Oh my God.

Speaker 15 It's 2,000 monies.

Speaker 12 Forget Mavdani's free buses. With 2,000 monies, I could buy my own bus.

Speaker 7 You can't buy a bus with 2,000 money. I mean dollars.

Speaker 6 Why are you so hard for cash anyway?

Speaker 12 I'm really behind on my 50-year mortgage.

Speaker 6 Here's Corey Schmidt, everyone.

Speaker 11 When we come back, we check in on award season, so don't go away.

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Speaker 7 Welcome back to The Daily Show. If you've been to the movie theater lately, which you haven't, you know that awards season is officially upon us.

Speaker 7 So let's get all the latest award show news in another edition of Who Want It Best.

Speaker 12 Welcome to Who Want It Best where we cover the only reason to do anything, awards.

Speaker 12 I'm Emmy Award winner Desi Leidick.

Speaker 10 And I'm a thin gay guy, Troy Iwata.

Speaker 10 You know, this past week was packed with award shows. And as you probably guessed, we have to start off by talking about the highly anticipated Bellatour Awards.

Speaker 12 Oh, yes, of course, the Bellatour Awards.

Speaker 10 Everybody knows what the Bellator Awards are.

Speaker 12 We don't even have to explain it. Nor should we.
No.

Speaker 7 No.

Speaker 10 Let's talk about this year's keynote speaker, the glamorous, the debonair, the sex symbol of our time,

Speaker 6 Steve Bannon.

Speaker 19 I will tell you right now: as God is my witness, if we lose the midterms and we lose 2028, some in this room are going to prison, myself included.

Speaker 6 I told myself I wouldn't cry at the Bellator Awards again.

Speaker 10 Every year, like clockwork, here we are.

Speaker 12 Of course, like everyone, I watch the Bellator Awards for the fashion. Can we talk about Steve's fashion?

Speaker 10 I think we have to. It's just incredible.
He's wearing a shirt by Gucci, a coat by a dumpster,

Speaker 10 and then another shirt that's vintage 1942 Hugo Boss Boss that we've been told not to ask questions about.

Speaker 12 Lock him up before some other woman does.

Speaker 12 But of course, the Bellator Awards were just the appetizer to last week's main course, the Fox Nation Patriot Awards.

Speaker 10 Where those who win are declared the most patriotic Americans, and those who lose are never heard from again.

Speaker 10 So fun! It's so fun!

Speaker 10 It's fun!

Speaker 12 It's fun! It's fun! It's fun!

Speaker 12 And returning as the host with the most head circumference, Sean Hannity,

Speaker 12 let's see that charismatic melon in action.

Speaker 10 Wow, the crowd is loving it.

Speaker 12 The vocal commitment, the stage presence.

Speaker 10 The fine motor skills, right?

Speaker 7 I mean,

Speaker 10 how does he do it?

Speaker 10 I just want more. Please tell me it goes on for an excruciatingly long time.

Speaker 6 Start spreading the news.

Speaker 20 I'm leaving today.

Speaker 6 No longer want to be a part of it.

Speaker 6 High-tax New York.

Speaker 22 These commie momdani blues

Speaker 20 are longing to leave

Speaker 20 right to the very

Speaker 20 heart of it.

Speaker 20 Bye-bye, New York.

Speaker 12 It was the perfect song with definitely the correct amount of syllables.

Speaker 4 It was so good.

Speaker 10 It was so good, I could die now. I want to die now.

Speaker 7 I might kill myself.

Speaker 12 But Sean Hannity wasn't the only Megawatt celebrity to grace this stage. The show was full of stars.

Speaker 21 When do you hear the lineup? It's sick. It's great.
It's fun.

Speaker 19 It's going to be amazing.

Speaker 21 Just hanging out with Jason Aldean backstage. Give it up, Jason

Speaker 21 Aldean. By the way, Jason Aldean is going to be back on this stage.
We have a special treat for you because Jason is coming back out. All right, ready for more star power?

Speaker 20 Back.

Speaker 21 I love Jason Aldean.

Speaker 21 No way!

Speaker 10 They got Jason Aldeen five times?

Speaker 12 I mean, how can you say no to performing at the Fox News Patriot Awards? It's an opportunity to be heard by millions of people who are no longer on speaking terms with their children.

Speaker 10 You know, but it wasn't just glitz and glam. Hannity also gave us a classic heartfelt awards show moment.

Speaker 21 I doubt there's a person in this room right now that would have ever bet 30 years ago

Speaker 20 that this thing,

Speaker 22 not only that Ainsley Earhart would date the other thing,

Speaker 21 but she

Speaker 19 will be my wife.

Speaker 10 I love you, sweetheart.

Speaker 6 Who is it?

Speaker 20 What?

Speaker 22 Mike Waltz is here?

Speaker 21 Mike, stand up.

Speaker 8 Good to see you, buddy.

Speaker 10 Oh my God. Oh, my God.
Sean Hannity and Ainsley Earhart and I guess Mike Waltz are going to be together forever.

Speaker 12 If those three bottoms can't make it work, no one can.

Speaker 12 No one.

Speaker 10 But of course, of course, all this was just a lead up to the big prize of the night, the Patriot of the Year.

Speaker 6 Oh, who's it gonna be? Who's it gonna be?

Speaker 12 No, don't tell me. Don't tell me.
I want to be surprised. Okay, tell me.
No, don't tell me. I want to find out like everyone else.

Speaker 21 Roll up, ready.

Speaker 21 Join me in welcoming Fox Nation's Patriot of the Year, the First Lady of the United States of America, Melania Trump.

Speaker 21 Wow.

Speaker 6 Wow.

Speaker 12 Melania won just a year after her husband won the exact same award?

Speaker 12 What are the chances? What? What is fans? What are they?

Speaker 10 It's official. They are awards royalty.
The Trumps are now up there with the Coppolas, some of the Culkins, and the Gillins Hall.

Speaker 12 And Melania wasted no time doing the most patriotic thing she could do, plugging her movie.

Speaker 15 The silver screen and I have been in deep conversation lately. You may have heard the news.
I produced a new film with

Speaker 15 Amazon MGM named Melania, capturing my life, my business, my philanthropy, fostering the future, building my East Wing team, and of course, caring for my family.

Speaker 12 It was the perfect speech with with definitely the correct amount of syllables.

Speaker 10 And by the way, such a classy move to shout out her East Wing team after they were all buried alive during the demolition.

Speaker 6 R.I.P.

Speaker 8 R.I.P.

Speaker 8 So fun! It's so fun!

Speaker 8 We have so much fun, Lord! It's fun! That's your award show wrap-up!

Speaker 10 I mean, I can't wait until next year. I hear they're trying to get Jason Aldeen.

Speaker 6 Oh!

Speaker 10 Do you think he'll be available? I don't know. Is Is there anything in this cop? Nope.

Speaker 6 Cheers!

Speaker 6 Thank you, Denzi and Troy. When we come back, Rob Wiggle will be joining me on the show.
Don't go away.

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Speaker 25 But my electric vehicle phobia. I'm not ready, Dr.
Ross.

Speaker 24 I believe in you.

Speaker 25 Oh, my God, John Blacks.

Speaker 25 We're inside it.

Speaker 24 Try to take deep breaths, okay?

Speaker 25 Move the ventilated seats. They're touching me.

Speaker 24 You can do this, Chad.

Speaker 6 Drive the car.

Speaker 24 How do you feel, Chad?

Speaker 8 I feel cured.

Speaker 25 Woohoo!

Speaker 25 I'm doing it. I'm doing it.

Speaker 13 The all-electric BZ. One drive can change your mind.
Toyota, let's go places.

Speaker 4 In the time it takes us to say, we're using Folger's instant coffee, seamlessly blended with water and ice, a splash of whatever kind of milk is your thing, and gotta get that caramel drizzle.

Speaker 4 All to make a toasty, roasty, caramel iced coffee. You could be enjoying it.

Speaker 24 Every damn

Speaker 25 sip of it.

Speaker 4 Damn right. It's Folger's Instant.

Speaker 4 Welcome back to The Daily Show.

Speaker 7 My guest tonight is not only an actor and comedian, he's a former Daily Show correspondent and a U.S. Marine Corps veteran.

Speaker 7 His new memoir is called Grit, Spit, and Never Quit: A Marine's Guide to Comedy and Life. Please welcome back, Rob Wirkle.

Speaker 8 Thank you. You guys have made some seriously awesome upgrades to this place.

Speaker 6 Oh,

Speaker 4 yeah, what's it like to be back?

Speaker 8 It's awesome. Yeah.

Speaker 8 Really, this place looks amazing

Speaker 8 compared to the dump it was

Speaker 8 back in the day. But that one little kitchenette area is still the same.
Yeah.

Speaker 6 I did notice that, which I kind of appreciate.

Speaker 8 It'll never change. It'll never change.
That old crusty coffee pot. So that was nice.

Speaker 7 It was crusty when you were there.

Speaker 6 It was crusty.

Speaker 7 No, thank you so much for joining me. Thank you so much for coming.
I've been watching you for so long. I actually, without knowing it, I went on like a Rob Wriggle marathon.

Speaker 7 I had watched Step Brothers, The Hangover, and just lots of episodes of Martin Family.

Speaker 6 And

Speaker 7 I felt wild because I was like, man.

Speaker 7 Is something going on in my life where the same person is in everything?

Speaker 8 Yeah, I think you could write a thesis on that. I think someone did write a thesis on like Michael Caine, you know, at any given time you can catch a Michael Caine film.

Speaker 7 Oh, you're blowing my mind.

Speaker 6 Yeah, exactly.

Speaker 8 We're about to get Matrix level weird.

Speaker 7 Oh, so you have this book and you are not only, you know, a veteran of the Daily Show, but Marine Corps veteran and everything. I'm curious,

Speaker 7 what is it like to do

Speaker 7 comedy and be in the military? Because in just my experience, really just speaking for myself, most comedians are cowards

Speaker 8 yeah you know people do ask that question or a form of that question a lot which is you know the military and comedy how does that you know how does that jive it doesn't they're two totally separate lanes

Speaker 8 but I do think that there is some crossover as far as like the intangibles go you know the mindset you know working in comedy and and a life in the arts you're going to be rejected you're going to hear the word no, you're going to be knocked down, you're going to be told you're no good, you're going to run into obstacles nonstop.

Speaker 8 It's a hard life, there's no money. That's very similar to the Marine Corps.

Speaker 8 So,

Speaker 8 yeah, there's a lot of parallels in that regard, but I do think the Marines did give me certain things, like the proper mindset, the right mindset that you just don't quit.

Speaker 8 Make that decision before you start, and chances are good things will happen.

Speaker 7 Yeah, no, that makes sense because it feels like in the Marines you would get the sort of literal version of everything comedy gives you as a metaphor.

Speaker 7 Like when I get knocked down, someone didn't laugh. I didn't actually get hit.

Speaker 6 You know what I mean?

Speaker 7 Like that, that is, that is, is wild because even in

Speaker 7 your story, like your personal story in the book, it's like at 24 you decided you were going to do comedy and so you

Speaker 7 made it work with the military, but at the same time you wanted to be on SNL and

Speaker 7 you had like set this goal to be on SNL and then you did it like at like the 10-year mark or something, right?

Speaker 6 Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 8 It was well I was I was in flight school and I'll try to give you the reader's digest version of this story because it's long, but matter of fact, it's right here in this book, everybody.

Speaker 6 Oh!

Speaker 8 Just

Speaker 8 shameless.

Speaker 6 Shameless. No, but shameless life.

Speaker 10 It's convenient to have it right here.

Speaker 6 It is very nice, Devil. It's so good.
No, I was in the

Speaker 8 again reader's digest version. I was in the Marine Corps.
I was flying planes down in Corpus Christi, Texas.

Speaker 8 I had a friend of mine who was up in Chicago doing improv, and he said, Riggle, this is what we did in college. Only it has a name.
It's called improv. And I think you're good at it.

Speaker 8 I think you're better than some of the people up here. Well, that's exactly what I needed to hear at that moment because flight school was fine, but I wasn't loving it.
It was just fine.

Speaker 8 And once I pinned those wings on, I was in for 10 years. I was locked in.
Then I figured out, oh my God, I'll probably do 20 at that point. Why would I get out? It's such a

Speaker 8 so all of a sudden I was like, that's happening, you know. Well,

Speaker 8 I sat down and had my quarter life crisis as they call it and I said what do I really really want to do with my life and I said I think I want to be a comedian now mind you I had never done anything comedically I know no one in the business I'd never been on stage I'd never really done anything but I just had this this burning desire to do it so I quit flight school became went to the ground side on the Marines

Speaker 8 which allowed me to you know fulfill my contract with the Marines and then move to Chicago and I ended up getting to New York York, taking classes,

Speaker 8 working seven years grinding at every place around town, any place I could get stage time, studying with the UCB, all these things.

Speaker 8 Ended up deploying, going to Kosovo, ended up going to Afghanistan, working on 9-11 down on the rubble piles. Ended up doing a bunch of things.

Speaker 8 And sure enough, 10 years almost to the day that I wrote down in the book, this book I was reading at the time, I wrote down in the book, if I quit flight school, I'm going to do what?

Speaker 8 Number one, get on SNL. Almost 10 years to the day that I wrote that, I got a call from Lauren Michaels asking me to join SNL.
So

Speaker 8 that happens.

Speaker 6 Yeah, that's incredible.

Speaker 7 That's like, like, that's truly, truly remarkable because plenty of people have like plans, ideas for what they want to do.

Speaker 7 They might even write them down and then 10 years later, they're like, that's where I left that piece of paper.

Speaker 6 You know what I mean?

Speaker 7 Like, you, yeah, you made it happen. And in the book, you talk about how there's like this sort of like inner drill sergeant that gets you to do the things that you don't want to do.

Speaker 7 How do you,

Speaker 7 without getting yelled at, manage to create that drill sergeant for yourself?

Speaker 8 Well, I think everybody needs... a drill sergeant in their life of some form, a coach.
You can call it whatever you want to call it.

Speaker 8 And if you're lucky enough to have someone in your life external to you to remind you, hey, get up, go work out, go go read that book pick up the phone and call that person you're avoiding because you don't think it's the right time or that you know somebody if somebody's pushing you you have a chance of doing it for the most of us we just don't have anybody pushing us and you never will that's what most people don't realize you're never gonna have any push you have to be your own drill instructor you have to be so I've had many conversations with myself and I learned that voice came out and it came out in the form of a drill instructor because if I was being honest with myself, I was being lazy, I was being, I I was afraid.

Speaker 8 These are the reasons that I didn't do the things that I know I should be doing. And so it took a drill instructor

Speaker 8 tone to get me off my butt to go do what I needed to do.

Speaker 8 I remember I was on 31st and 7th. I had just taught an improv class, and I knew I was going to be invited to audition for SNL.

Speaker 8 And I needed to develop these characters for my audition, but I was exhausted. I had been up.
I had done PT physical training with the Marines that morning since 5 a.m.

Speaker 8 So it was 9 o'clock, 10 o'clock at night, I was tired. I just wanted to go home and have a burrito and go to bed.

Speaker 8 And I had to stand on the corner of 31st and 7th, screaming at myself out loud. So not uncommon in New York, by the way.

Speaker 8 And I stood there and I argued with myself and I was like, go, go down to the UCB. It's open mic.
You do sign up for five minutes and just work out a character. I don't have anything to do.

Speaker 8 I don't even have a character.

Speaker 6 I don't care. Go make one up.

Speaker 8 I'm having an argument with myself, right?

Speaker 6 This is what you do.

Speaker 8 Improvise a character. Just come up with it.
I don't even care what you do. So I lost the argument with my drill instructor and I went down.
I didn't go home.

Speaker 8 I went down to the UCB and I created two characters that night that I ended up using in my audition. And then I ended up getting the thing.
But I could easily, I can make excuses all day.

Speaker 8 I'm very good at it.

Speaker 8 I could have easily gone home. I could have said, I'll start tomorrow.
I'm tired. Let's call it a day.
But sometimes you got to kick your own butt.

Speaker 7 No, that makes a lot of sense. That makes a lot of sense.

Speaker 7 And to me, it's also just such a phenomenal outlook because now when I'm on the subway, I'll be like, maybe that's just his inner drill instructor coming out.

Speaker 6 Right? Yeah. Right?

Speaker 6 You might look at folks a little different.

Speaker 7 I'll move with less fear.

Speaker 6 Exactly.

Speaker 7 So do you find that these sort of lessons that you took away from

Speaker 7 the military, and you were doing comedy while you were still serving and everything, but like, do you think that the overlap is

Speaker 7 like incredibly strong, or do you think it was just strong because of your approach to comedy and your personality?

Speaker 8 With regard to me being in the Marines and

Speaker 7 because the way that you marry these parallels together in the book is really interesting and there are ways I've never thought about it. I've been doing comedy for a while.

Speaker 7 Like, you know, we even have

Speaker 7 a a bit of a similar track, except mine included no military.

Speaker 7 But I sort of, you know, started comedy in Chicago, moved to New York, all that stuff, and did some improv classes and everything. And

Speaker 7 yeah, I guess

Speaker 7 there's something about your approach in the book that seems so personal, even though you're applying it in this broad way.

Speaker 8 Yeah, I think there's, well, going back to,

Speaker 8 you know, I think there's a lot of intangibles.

Speaker 8 I think the, you know, the, it's a mindset thing. I think if you choose a life in the arts, it's going to be an uphill battle.

Speaker 8 And you're, you're, you're never going to feel quite satisfied and you're always going to be self-judging. And you, you really, it requires a lot of

Speaker 8 mental maybe or emotional fortitude because you're going to, you're going to just run into walls and obstacles non-stop. And you have to really believe in what you're doing.

Speaker 8 You have to love what you're doing to overcome those things because it be the the temptation to quit is way too easy.

Speaker 23 Way too easy.

Speaker 8 And yeah, and then if you get that mindset and

Speaker 8 if you put the right ingredients in, I think good things will come.

Speaker 8 There is no secret to success. It's not a secret.

Speaker 8 It's what you would expect. It just kind of sucks.

Speaker 8 It's hard work. It's discipline.
It's consistency. It's getting back up when you get knocked down.
It's not taking no for an answer.

Speaker 8 It's just continue to grind, continue to seek every opportunity you can, continue to grow, find ways to grow. Don't let people define you.
You define yourself.

Speaker 8 All the cliches that are out there, they didn't just fall from the sky.

Speaker 8 They appeared because of this has been tried and true year in and out, year after year after year for millennia.

Speaker 7 Yeah, yeah, that makes sense. And then do you, I guess your transition fully to sort of civilian life from being in the military and

Speaker 7 everything you said was

Speaker 7 an easier thing for you because you had lanes that you kept things in, like you had sort of mindsets for when you were in one thing and the other.

Speaker 7 Do you have advice for veterans who are having trouble with that, like adjustment back to civilian life?

Speaker 8 Yeah, you know, I do work with a lot of veterans organizations, and one of the problems we're seeing with a lot of our Afghan and Iraq veterans,

Speaker 8 you know, we have a suicide problem with a lot of our veterans. It's because they isolate themselves,

Speaker 8 They

Speaker 8 refuse to reach out. And it's, I don't know how you want to classify it, but it's not uncommon really among first responders or veterans or anybody, really.

Speaker 8 It's hard to put your hand in the air and say, I need help.

Speaker 8 But

Speaker 8 that's the one thing you should do and you need to do because when you isolate, you start a path downhill and it becomes very, very hard.

Speaker 8 So if there are veterans out there that are you know transitioning back to civilian life or whatever and looking for you know don't isolate there's all kinds of amazing organizations out there to help you.

Speaker 8 You've got a great set of skills that you learned in the military. Just bring them forward because they will apply.
Even if it's not a direct application,

Speaker 8 just trust that you know if you've got the fortitude that you learned in the military, it'll carry over into civilian life too.

Speaker 7 I ask everyone that I interview, you know, when we start to wrap up the interview, if we could do it in a way that is a little bit special, just you and I, right?

Speaker 7 And I noticed, you know, from when I saw you backstage and when you came out that, you know, you're a big guy. You're like a strong guy and everything.

Speaker 7 I actually asked them to make sure your seat was a little lower so we'd be more level. High level.

Speaker 6 You know what I mean?

Speaker 7 And so

Speaker 7 you're too big to arm wrestle. I got to bring you down to my level.
But I do text a lot. So what about a thumb wrestle? Does that.

Speaker 6 Yeah, okay. Okay, all right.

Speaker 6 All right.

Speaker 11 Okay.

Speaker 7 Oh, your hands are huge.

Speaker 8 Okay. All right, now do you do the whole count off?

Speaker 7 We can do the count off.

Speaker 6 Okay, all right, you ready? One, two, three, four. I denounce the thumb.

Speaker 6 Is that on you?

Speaker 7 And then I go like that. Oh, I thought it was going to be the like five, six, seven, eight thing, but we can do it.

Speaker 6 You're going to use that? Uh-huh. Uh-huh.

Speaker 6 Okay.

Speaker 6 Oh. Huh.

Speaker 6 Huh? Huh.

Speaker 6 No, no.

Speaker 7 Brit Smith and Never Quit is available now. Rod Riggle.

Speaker 7 We're going to take a quick break, but we'll be right back after this.

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Speaker 27 Visit Purina.com slash purple to learn more.

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Speaker 6 That's our show for the night. Now, here it is: the moment of Zen.

Speaker 7 It was a fun moment when Donald Trump turned to his assistant and said, Go get me my phone.

Speaker 7 See.

Speaker 6 Ready?

Speaker 28 Explore more shows from the Daily Show podcast universe by searching The Daily Show, wherever you get your podcasts.

Speaker 28 Watch The Daily Show weeknights at 11, 10 Central on Comedy Central, and stream full episodes anytime on Fairmount Plus.

Speaker 5 This has been a Comedy Central podcast.

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