Trump's Tariff Boredom, Hegseth Goes Diet Woke, Sports War: Super Bowl | Jesse Eisenberg

Speaker 1 This is an iHeart podcast.

Speaker 2 You're listening to Comedy Central.

Speaker 3 From the most trusted journalists at Comedy Central, it's America's only source for news. This is the Daily Joe with your host, Jordan Cleveland.

Speaker 4 We got so much to talk about tonight. Donald Trump is reaching across the prison yard aisle.

Speaker 5 The military gets half woke, and we'll tell you how New York's mayor stays smooth as a dolphin.

Speaker 4 But first, let's get into another installment of the second coming of Donald J.

Speaker 8 Trump.

Speaker 8 I'm going to comment.

Speaker 9 Donald Trump has been imposing a lot of tariffs since he took office.

Speaker 4 And if the nature and scope of these tariffs confuses you, don't worry, you're not the only one.

Speaker 13 Thank you, sir.

Speaker 14 Next, in 2018, you imposed odd valorum duties tariffs on imports of steel at a 25% rate.

Speaker 14 Since that time, a large number of exclusions exclusions and exceptions to that tariff rule have been implemented.

Speaker 14 Because of the damage to the United States steel industry that those exceptions and exclusions have imposed, we're now, this order would re-impose that 25% odd valorem tariff rate on imports of steel, and it's presented for your signature now.

Speaker 14 Okay.

Speaker 15 Do you understand what that means?

Speaker 3 Do you understand what that means?

Speaker 17 I mean, why don't you tell me, President of the United States, what this means?

Speaker 9 Explain ad valorem to me like I was a child.

Speaker 18 This is Trump's own policy, and he's so bored by it.

Speaker 4 And you can tell because at one point he gets so bored, he just starts peeking into a random folder on the desk.

Speaker 3 Like, what's in here? Candy?

Speaker 17 Picture of boobs? What do we got?

Speaker 19 Oh, oh, oh, just more folters.

Speaker 20 Oh, why is this guy still talking?

Speaker 18 But Trump's not the only one making moves.

Speaker 8 Yesterday, there was a big announcement from Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, Trump's top cabinet member, if you go by blood alcohol level.

Speaker 9 Now, Hegseth got the gig by promising to go to war against woke, and yesterday he won another decisive battle.

Speaker 26 Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has renamed the Army base Fort Liberty back to Fort Bragg.

Speaker 26 The previous name was changed, you'll remember, to Fort Liberty in 2023 as part of an effort to cut military honors bestowed on those who rebelled against the Union during the Civil War.

Speaker 3 There it is.

Speaker 28 I direct the Army to change the name of Fort Liberty, North Carolina to Fort Bragg, North Carolina. That's right.
Bragg, he's back.

Speaker 3 Yeah, suck it, Libs. Ho, ho,

Speaker 6 you didn't want this military base to honor a traitor to America?

Speaker 5 Ha ha, too bad.

Speaker 4 Woke is dead, and Confederate General Braxton Bragg is alive.

Speaker 26 But this time, Bragg is not a reference to the Confederate general. The name now honors an enlisted Army soldier named Roland L.

Speaker 26 Bragg, who the Pentagon says was awarded a Silver Star, Purple Heart, for combat during World War II.

Speaker 3 Okay.

Speaker 29 You renamed Fort Bragg after a different Bragg?

Speaker 9 So after all that bitching about not giving into woke history, you're basically admitting that we shouldn't name military bases after Confederate generals.

Speaker 9 Well, it's a good thing woke is over because I think I can say this now.

Speaker 4 That's a pussy move, Hagseth.

Speaker 18 Just to be, just to be totally clear, Roland Bragg is not a famous figure in military history.

Speaker 4 He's just someone who worked for this weird name switcheroo idea.

Speaker 16 Pete Hagseth basically said, find me a guy named Bragg who served in the Army and didn't own slaves.

Speaker 4 I mean, he didn't even have a Wikipedia entry until today.

Speaker 16 Today! Today.

Speaker 4 Do you know how obscure you have to be to not even have a Wikipedia page?

Speaker 9 There's a Wikipedia page for cats that look like Hitler.

Speaker 32 Hagseth, look, I say either commit to honoring honoring a Confederate general or don't.

Speaker 4 But trying to find some kind of name loophole is just silly.

Speaker 9 I mean, why do I get the feeling Pete's going to try to pull this with his wife?

Speaker 32 Like, baby, baby, I didn't cheat on you.

Speaker 3 Her name was also Susan, okay?

Speaker 3 I'm restoring greatness to our marriage.

Speaker 4 Now, with all this tariff imposing and Fort renaming, you might be wondering, is there anyone who's benefiting from Trump's actions?

Speaker 13 Yes.

Speaker 1 The breaking news, President Trump's Justice Department moving to drop the federal corruption case against the New York City mayor Eric Adams.

Speaker 15 The mayor was accused of taking $100,000 in free plane tickets and luxury hotel stays from wealthy Turkish nationals and at least one Turkish government official.

Speaker 3 Oh shit!

Speaker 3 If you're free tonight, head down to party at the Turkish Airlines Lounge at JFK because shit is about to be lit.

Speaker 3 You know what?

Speaker 16 You know what?

Speaker 4 I applaud Donald Trump for letting a blue city mayor off the hook. This sends a message.

Speaker 10 Donald Trump is not about being a Democrat or a Republican. As long as you're criminally corrupt, you're his people.

Speaker 19 Now,

Speaker 5 I'm curious. I am.

Speaker 5 Curious.

Speaker 9 What was it about Adams' case that convinced Trump to drop the charges?

Speaker 37 As soon as Donald Trump was elected, Adams began a campaign for a reprieve.

Speaker 37 Flying down to Florida to meet with Trump, driving overnight to attend Trump's inauguration, the Democratic mayor declining to criticize Trump.

Speaker 3 Oh, God, Trump really loves getting his ass kissed, doesn't he?

Speaker 23 Which probably explains why all his suit pants have that little trap door on the butt like old-timey long underwear.

Speaker 17 Now,

Speaker 3 to be fair.

Speaker 8 Now, to be fair, the Justice Department didn't say they let Adams off because he kissed Trump's ass. They had an even dumber reason.

Speaker 37 The Justice Department memo said it reached this conclusion without assessing the strength of the evidence.

Speaker 37 Memo also said the case needed a go so Adams could devote his full attention to Trump's immigration policies.

Speaker 4 Yes, yes, of course.

Speaker 9 Trump didn't drop the charges so he could hold them over him for the rest of his term.

Speaker 4 Trump did it so Adams could focus on enforcing Trump's immigration policies. And now that Adams has the time, I'm sure he's bringing a new laser focus to the job.

Speaker 40 Mayor Adams has his plate full, managing the day-to-day business of the city.

Speaker 3 How are you?

Speaker 40 Today, he's taking some time for some R ⁇ R. Angela performed a 10-minute laser hair removal procedure.
Adams spoke with me exclusively during the process.

Speaker 41 When I'm able to come into the community and say, okay, we did this policy, we put these millions of dollars, and now let's go see the results.

Speaker 3 You don't have to do an interview right now.

Speaker 3 I mean, should should we go? This feels like a private moment for you.

Speaker 18 I mean, I thought I wanted more transparency in my government, but now I'm thinking perhaps some secrecy is for the best.

Speaker 44 So, while Eric Adams might waste his workday getting pampered at local businesses, we're doing the hard work to get to the bottom of this story, starting with our very own Grace Kulin Schmidt.

Speaker 2 Grace!

Speaker 5 Grace,

Speaker 18 what's the latest?

Speaker 35 Jordan, the Adams administration is happy to avoid federal charges, but it complicates his reelection campaign because Democrats may punish him for appearing to be under Trump's control.

Speaker 35 Excuse me, can I get some more cucumber water?

Speaker 35 Or even actually just some water. I have a cucumber I can dunk.

Speaker 16 I'm sorry.

Speaker 32 Grace, are you getting your hair done when you should be working?

Speaker 35 Jordan, when Sebastien has a chair open, you take the appointment.

Speaker 9 Okay, yeah, I guess it just doesn't seem very professional.

Speaker 35 How dare you? Sebastienne is a complete professional. In fact, I can't believe he'd host this show without a fresh balayage.

Speaker 34 I mean, I am due for a balayage.

Speaker 9 I mean, let's get more analysis now from Troy Iwata.

Speaker 24 Troy, come on.

Speaker 5 I mean, come on.

Speaker 5 Troy, what's going on?

Speaker 15 Jordan, Eric Adams has promised to not be affected by the pardon, but that remains to be seen.

Speaker 16 I'm sorry. Troy, are you getting your teeth whitened?

Speaker 29 Yeah.

Speaker 3 No.

Speaker 3 You're supposed to be working. What's going on?

Speaker 15 Jordan, when Dr. Buccatini has a chair open, you take the appointment.

Speaker 38 Is he really that good?

Speaker 17 Yes, she is.

Speaker 15 Women can whiten teeth too, you sexist.

Speaker 3 Okay.

Speaker 17 Where is that ditzy bitch? Okay,

Speaker 7 forget it. Let's go to Michael Costa.
Michael, look.

Speaker 7 Okay, good.

Speaker 7 Thank you.

Speaker 6 I'm glad someone's taking this seriously.

Speaker 9 What's your take on the Adams situation?

Speaker 15 It's a disgrace, Jordan. I mean, what we have seen today is naked corruption, pure and simple.

Speaker 15 And the message it sends to the American public is that they cannot trust their leaders to have integrity.

Speaker 15 I'm sorry to say that tonight I pray for the future of our republic.

Speaker 3 Jordan?

Speaker 9 Michael, can you please not get your anus waxed during your report?

Speaker 15 Hey, when Dr. Buccatini has an opening,

Speaker 15 you take the appointment. Wait,

Speaker 6 is she the same Buccatini who does the teeth whitening?

Speaker 15 Yes, Jordan. Women who whiten teeth can wax anuses at the same time, too, you sexist.

Speaker 15 And for the record, Jordan, this is technically work because we're putting all of this on the daily show credit card.

Speaker 9 No, no, you can't put your spa services on the show's credit card.

Speaker 8 That's embezzlement, Michael. That's a felony.

Speaker 15 It's not a felony. We're working.
When it comes to my job, I am the utmost professional.

Speaker 15 And hey, if it is a felony, then I just make a trip to Mar-a-Lago and I tell the gracious Donald Trump to pardon me with his enormous penis.

Speaker 35 Hey, yeah, me too. I would like some penis mercy, Mr.
President.

Speaker 20 Yay, penis mercy.

Speaker 3 You know what?

Speaker 5 Grace, Troy, and Michael, everyone. That's totally useful.

Speaker 19 We'll come back.

Speaker 9 We'll decide who won the Super Bowl. Stick around.

Speaker 9 Welcome back to the Daily Show.

Speaker 6 I think I speak for everyone when I say politics, drools, and sports rules.

Speaker 4 For a full recap of the biggest stories in the world of jocks and straps, we turn to Sports War. Get ready for battle.
It's time for Sports War.

Speaker 4 Brought to you by Gambler.

Speaker 6 I am Ronnie Chen. I'm Jordan Clepper.

Speaker 4 This is Sports War, the show where we are legally not allowed to agree with each other.

Speaker 4 So if I say the Super Bowl should have fuel commercials, then I say all the players should be dressed like Flo from Progressive.

Speaker 39 Oh, come on, no one wants to see Travis Kelsey in an apron.

Speaker 33 Yeah, tell that to my porn-up search history, Ronnie.

Speaker 43 Now, Sunday officially marked the end of the football season.

Speaker 4 We laughed, we cried, Ronnie tried to kiss me after every touchdown, and we crowned the Philadelphia Eagles our new champions.

Speaker 45 Other domination.

Speaker 33 There is no other way to describe what the Eagles did to the Chiefs.

Speaker 13 Talk about a blowout.

Speaker 3 Woof.

Speaker 3 Is there a mercy rule here? The most boring game you could expect.

Speaker 15 I mean, some people might have gone to bed because they turned it.

Speaker 3 It was an old school clunker.

Speaker 4 Oh, that was the worst Super Bowl in history. The Eagles dominated the entire evening.
And just like Ronnie, after eating dairy, the Chiefs shit the bed.

Speaker 45 You know what?

Speaker 6 I think I speak for everyone when I say no more Super Bowls.

Speaker 12 NFL, you had a good run.

Speaker 4 You ended racism, cured breast cancer, and found a woman under 30 who wants to see Bill Belichick naked.

Speaker 42 Jordan, have you been doing ayahuasca of Aaron Rodgers again? Okay, we can't cancel the Super Bowl. It's the only thing keeping Gronk from going through all garbage at night.
Plus,

Speaker 17 I don't know about you, but this was the best Super Bowl of my life.

Speaker 39 I mean, yeah, it had touchdowns, Tom Brady's new face, SEO as a SEO, and Jordan losing an ass ton of money, betting on the Chiefs.

Speaker 3 I mean, what happened, Mahomes?

Speaker 5 You look like Ronnie Ronnie out there completely lost with a terrible haircut.

Speaker 4 The Chiefs were my ticket out of this hellhole and now I owe a lot of money to a very very bad man.

Speaker 39 Which brings us to my Jordan owes me a lot of money better than nights. Which big Italian man will I send to Jordan's house tonight as always brought to you by gambling.

Speaker 39 Gambling, you have two kidneys for a reason.

Speaker 3 Now

Speaker 11 while Philly dominated the big game, it's important to remember the Chiefs weren't the only ones getting dragged all over the field on Sunday.

Speaker 45 For 13 minutes, Kendrick Lamar provided the world with a halftime show that stayed true to himself.

Speaker 45 Just as we thought it might not happen, Kendrick took the elephant in the room for a walk around the Superdome. King Kendrick went hard, leading the stadium in his accusatory taunt.

Speaker 15 Ain't you tired?

Speaker 28 Trying to strike a corner and it's probably a minor.

Speaker 1 The knockout blow and his public battle with Drake.

Speaker 29 I've had it with these motherfucking Drake's on this motherfucking plane

Speaker 4 Hey, Kendrick, the world's on fire, the president's in the stands, and you're using the biggest stage on the planet to go after Drake again.

Speaker 17 We get it. You don't like him.

Speaker 9 Save your petty beef for the group chat.

Speaker 33 Like Ronnie's fake accent, you're overdoing it.

Speaker 42 All right, well, I disagree with you, Jordan, because unlike you, I love black people.

Speaker 39 And I thought Kendrick's performance was incredible I mean he proved what I've been saying for decades the halftime show should always be about petty grievances I mean next year I want to see Blake Lifely and Justin Baldoni jousting to the death presented by gambling of course gambling unlike Drake you can come back from this

Speaker 24 And finally, let's not forget about a huge update rocking the world of gambling.

Speaker 47 The former interpreter of Dodgers star Shohei Otani was sentenced today to nearly five years in prison in a sports betting case that made world headlines.

Speaker 47 Ipe Mizuhara pled guilty last year after impersonating Otani in a bid to steal millions to cover his gambling bets and debts.

Speaker 43 Asian representation!

Speaker 43 We shouldn't be sending Shohei's interpreter to jail.

Speaker 39 We should be giving him a medal.

Speaker 43 I mean you think Shohei has talent?

Speaker 39 It takes real skill to steal money from someone you work with, okay? Especially when you have to guess their mother's maiden name.

Speaker 39 What is it again, Jordan? A Pukowski? Is that with a K?

Speaker 9 It's with a C, you dip shit.

Speaker 21 And you keep my mother's maiden name out of your mouth.

Speaker 32 See, this is my point.

Speaker 4 Gambling shouldn't be about hurting the people closest to you. Whatever happened to doing it the old-fashioned way?

Speaker 33 Making dogs fight each other.

Speaker 43 As someone who had their identity stolen by a certain Japanese co-worker, this is a disgrace.

Speaker 39 Well, I know you can't be talking about me because I'm Malaysian.

Speaker 42 Oh.

Speaker 9 Stop making up new types of Asians.

Speaker 7 It's offensive.

Speaker 43 Which brings us to my Jordan's big dinger, Better the Night.

Speaker 4 Which Malaysian celebrity will go to jail next for Otani's gambling?

Speaker 5 As always brought to you by Gambling. Gambling.
You got Pete Rose into heaven. Why not you?

Speaker 4 Well, that's all the time we have for Sports War. Join us next week when we debate whether the NFL should expand to a 52-game season.

Speaker 16 52?

Speaker 6 It should be at least 104.

Speaker 39 That way they have no time to get injured in between games.

Speaker 9 52 makes the most sense. Yes, that's what you need.

Speaker 39 You need more games.

Speaker 39 Welcome back to The Daily Show.

Speaker 4 My guest tonight is an Academy Award-nominated actor who wrote, directed, and stars in the Oscar-nominated film A Real Pain.

Speaker 7 Please welcome Jesse Eisenberg.

Speaker 34 Beloved, Jesse.

Speaker 13 This is what my life is like now.

Speaker 3 It is, man. No, no, no, no.

Speaker 4 Do you just walk down the streets of New York and people just erupt in cheers?

Speaker 13 Well, they're standing already when we pass on the street. That's.
Yeah.

Speaker 13 But they will start clapping.

Speaker 27 That's respect right there, right?

Speaker 11 That's what a career in the arts gets you in America.

Speaker 13 Almost no one sits down when I pass them on the street. God bless you.

Speaker 34 God bless you.

Speaker 4 The movie is great.

Speaker 38 Thank you.

Speaker 19 Were you thinking like, oh,

Speaker 8 were you thinking, oh, I'm going to do a Holocaust film, but with humor?

Speaker 34 Were you like, oh, that trope again?

Speaker 13 Yeah, yeah, exactly. Another hysterical Holocaust film.

Speaker 3 So Here we go.

Speaker 13 No I was I was thinking the exact, I mean I was thinking like really like if I'm gonna do a movie about like this theme and it's something that's on my mind all the time as you know third generation American Jew from Poland

Speaker 13 you know I wanted to just make something that felt like something I had not seen before something like not sanctimonious or academic.

Speaker 13 There are a lot of you know Holocaust movies that give you the sense that like

Speaker 13 like they're punishing you for being in the audience and not being brave enough to be in this film. Right.
You know, so I didn't want to do that.

Speaker 9 Well, this film really dissects grief and how we deal with grief,

Speaker 29 how we internalize it.

Speaker 10 But it also places grief next to historical grief.

Speaker 22 Exactly. Is that something that you were grappling with early on in the writing process?

Speaker 12 Is that sort of the nugget you wanted to unpack?

Speaker 13 This is the nugget I've been trying to unpack for like 20 years. Like once I learned about my family's history, I just became so aware of like my own good fortune,

Speaker 13 but also my own misery compared to their horrible fortune and the way they appreciate the world and like I just couldn't reconcile like why am I miserable when my life is so like fundamentally safe and fine and why did they seem happier than me when they suffered and I still can't figure it out but I suppose it comes from like a some lack of meaning in my life and so that's kind of what the script came out of.

Speaker 9 And so after going through this process, you still have that lack of meaning and clarity?

Speaker 13 For some reason, the lack has gone deeper.

Speaker 3 Wow, yeah, right.

Speaker 6 Yes.

Speaker 33 Just like a worthless pursuit.

Speaker 13 It's even worse because now, I mean, and I thank you so much for like clapping and everything, but like because I'm like...

Speaker 17 But a waste of time, but a total waste of time.

Speaker 3 No, no, no, no, no.

Speaker 13 No, but like, but like being like celebrated for something where I was trying to like find like meaning in my good life, and now my life got like, let's say, three or four percent better because of the movie, people like it.

Speaker 13 And now I don't even know what to do. Yes.

Speaker 11 So are you happier?

Speaker 13 No, that's what I'm saying.

Speaker 4 Just not even 3% happier?

Speaker 13 No, no, because the abyss got bigger. And so now I'm just, I think, more confused.
Yes.

Speaker 22 Is that what your next film would be about?

Speaker 44 Like ambition and the emptiness there and the confusion you have?

Speaker 13 Exactly, exactly, exactly. It's called The Abyss.

Speaker 19 The Abyss. Yeah.

Speaker 17 Oh, I got bad news for you. That movie might exist.

Speaker 13 Does it really?

Speaker 3 Yeah.

Speaker 13 Then I'm not going to make it. I'll make something else.

Speaker 7 Yeah, we get something completely different.

Speaker 9 I love this movie. I want to talk about a scene.

Speaker 11 I don't think it's a spoiler.

Speaker 44 There's a scene in this movie where Kieran Culkin

Speaker 44 is a complicated, difficult person.

Speaker 34 And he says goodbye to the tour guide after some time with this tour guide.

Speaker 22 And there's this beautiful scene where the tour guide sort of explains to him how meaningful he was, even though he was so difficult.

Speaker 38 And then he says goodbye to you in a heartbeat and walks away.

Speaker 21 And we left. I was at the theater, everybody laughs.

Speaker 30 It's a very funny moment.

Speaker 34 And I talked with my wife about this afterwards.

Speaker 23 I was like, who do I want to be in this moment?

Speaker 9 I'm curious.

Speaker 22 There is this character who is complicated but consequential

Speaker 23 and in a lot of pain.

Speaker 22 And this other character who lacks consequence in other people's lives,

Speaker 22 but in some ways less pain. It's stable.
It's somewhat stable. Yeah, exactly.

Speaker 38 When you are writing that and working through that, like, where do you project yourself in?

Speaker 27 Who should I be in that situation?

Speaker 13 Yeah, that's my big question. I mean, like,

Speaker 13 my character, and also me, Jesse, I'm so envious and jealous of people like Kieran's character, who kind of walks in late to a room, but somehow everybody loves him, and I get there early, and I'm help setting up the chairs, and everybody's kind of annoyed that I'm like, you know,

Speaker 13 and like, and for just some reason, the world loves that person and doesn't like me. And a lot of that just has to do with that that person seems like real.

Speaker 13 You know,

Speaker 13 and so I think about people all the time like that. And I think like, I'm so envious.
I wish I could light up a room like that.

Speaker 13 But then I get home to my relatively stable life and I wonder like what those people are doing now. Like what happens when the music turns off and what are they left with when they're alone?

Speaker 13 And it makes my envy turn into something like sympathy.

Speaker 13 And that's kind of what this movie is.

Speaker 13 Like you're kind of annoyed by this character that Kieran plays, but by the end, hopefully, kind of like brokenhearted about who this person is and what they have to deal with when they're alone.

Speaker 12 Yeah, no, I mean, when you originally were conceiving this, you imagined yourself playing the other character.

Speaker 19 Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 22 Yeah, and so you find yourself flipped and playing this character.

Speaker 34 How would this movie be different if you had flipped?

Speaker 13 Would you be happier? Whatever money it...

Speaker 13 Yeah. Yes.
You know, it's so funny. Yes.
I'm delusional.

Speaker 13 I just did this movie, Now You See Me 3, okay? And it's like a big...

Speaker 34 That's right.

Speaker 13 And

Speaker 13 no, but like, so the movie's like like a big Hollywood movie and everything, but I play this very confident, like, magician, and I'm incredibly confident performer in the movie, and I end every day on those sets going, I did great.

Speaker 13 And I never, I never have that feeling on sets ever, but because my character's so confident, I'm standing in a different way, my face is doing different things that are tricking my brain into thinking it's really happy, and it's like the most amazing thing.

Speaker 13 So, in this movie, yeah, I kind of felt like diminished at the end of every day because Kieran's character is like diminishing me.

Speaker 24 Yeah, yeah, but you're also wearing, you're a director, writer, and actor there.

Speaker 46 Yes, You feel like somebody who's thinking through every moment there.

Speaker 13 I am.

Speaker 13 But, you know, Kieran, I was like technically his boss, but because the nature of our characters in the movie, where he's like constantly condescending to me and making fun of me, he would do that in between takes.

Speaker 3 Yeah.

Speaker 13 And so I did not have one feeling on the set one day of feeling like in control.

Speaker 13 Or like we was constantly just like, so he'd be kind of mean to me in a take, and then we'd call cut, and then he'd say, what stupid shot are you going to do now?

Speaker 13 And so like, I had no experience of of feeling, you know, I guess, good.

Speaker 44 Then do you see that as like part of his genius, or is he just sort of being a dick to you and unprofessional?

Speaker 13 I truthfully don't know.

Speaker 13 He came to the set a day before shooting. He was like gave this unbelievable performance.
I don't know if he read the script before he got to Poland, like before shooting.

Speaker 13 He sleeps like two hours a night. He was walking around Poland all night.
I don't know. We got a call that his mattress was on the floor.

Speaker 2 Like he's so unusual and so brilliant.

Speaker 13 And so it was so great. I just didn't want to tell him, like, hey, could you be nice?

Speaker 3 Because he was so great in the movie.

Speaker 7 Yeah.

Speaker 13 He's nice, he's nice, he's a lovely, lovely person, but this dynamic we had was so all-encompassing that I didn't know how to separate out what was like the character and what was him or what was I doing.

Speaker 13 Maybe I was also being self-deprecating in a punishing way because I was playing my role.

Speaker 9 I don't know. Are you open?

Speaker 22 Is there improv in a process like this?

Speaker 46 Does it start with open space to like find and discover as somebody who wrote this and sat with us for quite some time?

Speaker 13 No, I mean, I don't like improv, you know, I'm not going to come up with something like funny, you know, um, on the set, you know, so um, I mean, maybe, but it's like, you know, it's always like last-minute jokes that people improvise about spaghetti, you know, something stupid, but like, um.

Speaker 9 As somebody who spent 30 years of my life doing improv, I want to tell you that is spot on.

Speaker 13 No, but I just, you weren't doing a Holocaust movie.

Speaker 3 You know what I mean?

Speaker 16 Well, we got some, you know, we got some pretty risque suggestions back in the day.

Speaker 3 Right, yes.

Speaker 21 Give us a location.

Speaker 3 Okay, well, maybe a new location. Yeah, exactly.
Okay.

Speaker 13 Well, no, so but this.

Speaker 22 It feels like Kieran Kieran is a, if not an improviser, is loose in his performance style.

Speaker 13 He's loose, but like he, you know,

Speaker 13 you know, he wouldn't stand on a mark I gave him.

Speaker 13 So I had spent like, you know, three months in Poland with my amazing Polish cinematographer, you know, blocking out the shots and shot listing, and you have an idea of, you know, all of the, you know, this character's standing here because the tree is on their left, which represents the, you know, lack of roots and their life, whatever.

Speaker 13 And, you know, and Kieran's like, I'm not going to stand anywhere near there. And I'm like, where are you going to stand? And he was like, I don't know, let's shoot it, see what happens.

Speaker 2 So like, but he was so good. He's so brilliant.

Speaker 13 You just said, okay, yeah, let's just follow him. And I can't make this great rootless metaphor anymore.

Speaker 22 You film at a concentration camp in Poland.

Speaker 34 What is that process like?

Speaker 13 It took a long time to get access.

Speaker 13 Like, these concentration camps are museums and cemeteries, you know, so they don't want movie shooting there because most movies want to turn them into like, you know, 1942 war movies where they have extras and Nazi uniforms.

Speaker 13 But what, you know, what we did is it's a modern-day Holocaust story. That's what the movie is.

Speaker 13 And so it took a long time to try to explain to them what we were doing and show that we actually had the same mission. Their mission is to show modern tourists what these places are.

Speaker 13 And my mission in a roundabout way is to show modern movie audiences what these places are. So once we figured that we had a meeting of the minds, it turned into this amazing...

Speaker 13 beautiful relationship. And I also have to say like the people who run these concentration camps like they're not Jewish.

Speaker 13 They're like young academics who could do like any job that they want in Poland. They're like brilliant, highly educated people.

Speaker 13 And these are the people that choose to spend their lives like driving every day to a concentration camp and eat lunch at a concentration camp because they believe that they're doing good work, which they are.

Speaker 13 And I just felt like as an American Jew who like never thinks to memorialize my family history, I just had such indebtedness to these people who are doing it for no other reason than the good of their hearts.

Speaker 9 This film is very thoughtful, a lot of very deliberate choices.

Speaker 22 One choice I was curious about.

Speaker 30 You, throughout the film, are wearing a shirt that you button one button.

Speaker 36 That's right.

Speaker 22 Not of the top, but the second button.

Speaker 12 And none of the bottom buttons beyond that. That's right.

Speaker 11 What is that choice all about?

Speaker 13 Listen, Jordan, if that's not obvious.

Speaker 3 No.

Speaker 13 Well, my character talks about like OCD in the movie. And

Speaker 13 it's like, you know, I know what that is.

Speaker 13 And,

Speaker 13 you know, sometimes like, you know, that is more of a fixation rather than like a fashion choice.

Speaker 13 So my character is not like a fashionable kind of person, but this is like a fixation kind of thing from his OCD. Yeah, yeah, so that's why

Speaker 12 I should have known it.

Speaker 10 I should have known it.

Speaker 13 You know, pretty much everybody else who saw the movie like that.

Speaker 21 I know, I know, I need to watch these things closer.

Speaker 8 You've sat in this movie, you've created this film, it's now out in the world.

Speaker 46 Yeah, people really enjoy it, so much so that you have Academy Award nominations.

Speaker 31 Thank you so much.

Speaker 46 With that comes promotion for Academy Award nominations.

Speaker 22 So you're on shows like this, you're doing all of this publicity tour.

Speaker 12 How does that sit with someone like you?

Speaker 46 Do you like doing publicity for a movie like this?

Speaker 13 Well, I've been wanting to do this show for 20-something years. I mean, yeah.
So this is amazing.

Speaker 7 And does

Speaker 44 being here with me make you just a little bit happier?

Speaker 13 This is amazing. Like, stuff like this is totally surreal.
It really is. And like,

Speaker 13 yeah, that's been, I was on like Terry Gross last week, and I didn't, I thought.

Speaker 7 Stick on this, stick on this one, stick on this.

Speaker 38 Yeah,

Speaker 13 no, but and I was telling her this is terrible compared to the daily show with Torney Clember. And she said, I get it.

Speaker 34 She gets it, right?

Speaker 13 She gets it, and she said, I might actually quit. So I didn't want to announce that here, but she's quitting because of the show.

Speaker 3 Yes, hang it up, Terry. It's about time.

Speaker 4 It's a truly remarkable film.

Speaker 30 And it feels like an adult film about grief that has so many entrance points for people who who are sitting with these these conversations in their own heads so thank you for for for making that thank you so much what an honor to be here a real pain is in theater extremely loud on holding iceberg we're gonna take a quick break right back after that thank you so much

Speaker 30 that's our show for tonight now here it is your moment at zen

Speaker 1 I've been told I I have 30 seconds, so I am going to tell you that we do have to.

Speaker 1 I don't swear in public very well, but we have to f Trump.

Speaker 25 Explore more shows from the Daily Show podcast universe by searching The Daily Show, wherever you get your podcasts.

Speaker 25 Watch the Daily Show weeknights at 11, 10 Central on Comedy Central, and stream full episodes anytime on Fairmount Plus.

Speaker 35 Paramount Podcasts.

Speaker 1 This is an iHeart Podcast.