You're listening to Comedy Central. I remember my first night on the show.
It was while I auditioned on I think a Friday, and they told me come back four days later with a suit.
Because they had no money to pay for the suits. And luckily I had.
One suit because I had gotten married a few months earlier. And I came back with a suit, and the day was bonkers. I arrived and oddly enough, it was the day Crimea was invaded.
And I know we.
Actually know where that place is now because I didn't that morning. And I showed up and I went to this morning meeting, which is an amazing thing at the Daily Show, so many funny, thoughtful people in a room, and I get thrown in there in such a welcoming place. And there's John Stewart, somebody I've watched since I.
Was very little.
He's very old and decrepit also very short, small man wise beyond his years.
But many years.
We were talking about crime and all of these things, and they're like, Jordan, you're gonna do a chat. You're gonna do that tonight. We're gonna talk about this. Let's go and your brainstorm storm ideas for the chat. I remember they bring me into John's office, like right after the meeting.
I'm very nervous. I don't know how this day works.
And we sit down and John starts talking about not only what happened, but essentially he's talking about the commentary that's been written in the morning, about what already happened in that room. And I'm sitting across from him with a few other people. Jen flans is over there right now, EP show runner, she's in that room as well.
He's the best.
And there's a reason these shows can still run like they do with a different host every week. It's because of the team that we have here at the Daily Show. And I remember John's He's talking about all these things with crime and I just keep thinking, I don't know where Crimea.
I don't know.
And then we usher off and we brainstorm jokes and bits around the Crimea invasion and it's fun.
It's a wild day. The chat comes up and you go into.
A rewrite right before you come on out there and you go one last time over it, and the process for a chat. Essentially, the idea of this chat was John is throwing to their first time correspondent who's in Crimea and he's overwhelmed by the experience. Truth in comedy, it's always the best way to go. And I remember in the rewrite, you're in this small room and you're throwing jokes out there, and John opened up, like, how would you react here?
And I said, I'd say like.
I don't want to disappoint you, dad, And it made him laugh because that's how.
I was feeling in the room in that moment. I don't want to disappoint you, dad. And it was like, that's good.
That was the first joke I got on the show. And he was like, all right, we ready to do this. And you don't waste time at the Daily Show when you like print the script. It's like, great, We're on in twenty minutes. And so he comes out.
I go back. My brain is spinning.
I've been doing comedy and entertainment for fifteen years but never had to break anyone near this. Been living in poverty up until this point. I'm like, holy shit, I'm on the Daily Show. I'm about to be on the Daily Show. I'm looking through the script, looking through the script. John comes out, I'm right back there and I'm looking through.
The script, looking through the script.
He says like, we have something special happening today. We have a new correspondent. We don't have that very often. I'm getting nervous and born to run. Starts to play, which was the song he always played before he came out, and then he's like, guys, ready for a good show. They say yes, He says, welcome to the Daily Show and he runs back and we just had this little one on one moment. He just says, don't fuck it up. And I remember like he came back out there and right back there, like tears.
Because it was so much this industry is.
It's hard, it's tough, and you're rarely in such supportive rooms like this, and for every break that you get, ten other people don't get it, who are worthy of that exact same break. And in that moment, I was like, there's so much emotion right now in this space and tears.
I'm like, you can't grow.
You're right ta me in three minutes, pulling it all together, coming on out and nervously doing my first chat from right over there. So to get a chance to be here on a day like today with you guys and share that it's real special.
Thank you. Any other questions.
Yep, during some of your field pieces, have you ever been friends or do you have security around this?
Sure?
Sure, great question.
Sure yes, threatened, Yeah, a bunch of times. I'm gonna scoot this way, but I'm gonna I'm gonna maintain eye contacts.
I got you, I got you, I got you, I got you. Getting topper. It's getting tougher to be off perfect. This is great. This, This is not gonna affect my ego whatsoever.
I mean, it is crazy. It's there's been an evolution. We'd go out and field pieces with no security. The Maga movement changed those things, and so I the last few big rallies I went to, I had three or four security guards. I think at January sixth had four security guards.
Which is bonkers. I mean, I was an improv teacher before I did this. You know, usually need security guards for those types of things.
I rarely see aggressive enough behavior like it wants to threaten me, and I need to fear for myself. Although when Trump lost the election, according.
To some there was a different energy out there.
I went to the million Maga march their numbers not mine, and there was there was such an energy of anger there that we at one point got chased down in Ali. Security guards had to like step in, and so we had to approach things very differently, where literally we have to be careful where we set up interviews and what
have you. And I don't want to say that that's always the case when we go out there, but the tone has shifted and people want to want to aggressively come up if engage with you in some way.
Have you ever been almost punched there just at home? Sure, Jesus Old?
I had, Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, we're going dark this show. Okay, there was one field piece that I did, h it was a Trump rally, but it was it was a long time ago, was right after he was elected, and I just remember someone coming up and trying to grab the mic out of my hand and going fake news, you're fake news, and they just saw the camera and I was like, yeah, we're the original fake news.
This is what we do.
And then I was like, I don't want to do anymore of these.
Let's send Jordan.
It was been your most memorable guests, like so far in conversation that you've had over the year, because you guys both of Mina for a really long time so kind of both of you gets.
The question as the most memorable guest.
Oh god, I right when I started the show, we had Gloria Steinem on and she was walking through the hallways and for whatever reason, she didn't know where to go.
I don't know.
She was just walking around by herself, and she popped into the edit that I was in and she goes, does anyone know where I'm supposed to go? And I was like, I do, and I just started the job, so I didn't know where to take her, and there were just the two of us aimlessly walking around back hallways. But it was just so it was such a cool moment to actually get to see her and meet her in person and.
Then hers well, I remember that moment. Then I, as a man, stepped in was like you ladies, look loved. Follow the dude, Gloria Steinem come over here, I would say.
One of the fun like it is it's such a.
Small little building that you see guests wandering around all the time. I remember Paul McCartney was here, and I know, have you heard him from the Eagles? Great great musician, love the Eagles, But he came on. He was one of the few guests where we were sort of told internally don't be in the hallways, because sometimes you can find yourself in the hallway bumping into people and be like, oh, hey, President Clinton, I don't want to say hi, And so McCartney,
they're like, stay in your edit base. And I remember hearing Paul McCartney walk through the hallways singing as he does, we get it, we get it, and nobody interrupted with him. He went out and he did his piece, and I was editing a piece in an edit bay and he came off the show and he kind of walked through and I saw the back of my on the corner of my eye, the door was open. I saw McCartney walk by,
and then he came into our edit bay. He turned around, walked into our edit bay, and he was like, so.
What's this? What are you guys playing with? What are you fucking around with him? What is this? What are you doing? What are you doing? Did he get notes?
Well?
I immediately we jumped into bits like I don't know this music, and here sucks. What do you want to do?
And he started playing the game of making fun of everything in there, and you realized. I realized in that boat it was like he just wanted to play. Like he shows up to places, this creative, fun guy and the world like shuts down around him. Not to bother Paul McCartney, but he was just like this this element of joy that walked through the space, that just wanted people to play with him. And so we told him to get the fuck out and that was it.
Yeah, I.
Does anyone have any questions?
Yes, how did you get started and make your way to the Daily Show?
Because that's like a.
Wow? Well it all.
I was born in nineteen eighty one. I'll start from the very beginning.
I grew up.
Well, actually, I'm sitting here looking at my uncle, who's right here. My uncle Jay nots it. It's his birthday to day too, thirty five years young. He actually, Uncle Jay was truly one of my hugest comedic role models. Uncle would make me laugh growing up until I completely pee my pants. I still do often, but that's more because I had a baby. But I loved I was obsessed with SNL. I watched a lot of Carol Burnett
growing up. My dad used to show me a lot of reruns of Carol and the Women on SNL and Tina and Amy, and there was something in me that really wanted to do comedy. But I grew up in Louisville, Kentucky, so that's not a sensible thing to do when you grow up there. But for some reason, I've got really great parents who are very supportive and supported this insane idea that at nineteen I would move to Los Angeles
and take classes. So I threw myself into improv scene study, and I started getting small roles one at a time, one line, and pilots that never went anywhere. But when I reached my twenties, I was obsessed with The Daily Show. I loved John Stewart, watched religiously. It was my dream to be on the show. I auditioned for the show three times over the years, and finally the third time
I got the call come out to New York. And this was right after they hired Trevor and I had just gotten married, and I spent my whole career trying to plan pick Okay, I can't go on vacation because I might get that Burger King call back, And I got to be there for the work. And I had just gotten married and we wanted to start a family, and I thought, you know what I could. I'm going to live my life and whatever happens happens. And when I got the call to come here, I was four
months pregnant living in Los Angeles. I thought, oh boy, do I tell them? Do I keep it to myself? And I would be starting the job six months pregnant. So I pulled Jen Flans, who's sitting right over here, our showrunner, executive producer all things. I pulled her aside after the audition, and she had this look on her face like, oh.
God, what are you gonna ask me? Like did you do a good job? What a needy actor?
And I said, I said, this is my dream job and I will move here tomorrow. But you should know I am pregnant, so i'd be starting the job pregnant. She goes, great, we can talk about her. We won't talk about it. Whatever you want, whatever you're comfortable with. And seven and a half years later, I'm here and my seven and a half year old is sitting upstairs, probably not watching this right now. He's eating snacks.
My peak, Oh man.
Usually how it works is they say you're gonna go do this on the street in Times Square. Man on the street piece at a Trump rally, Biden whisperer piece, and for me, usually I get mad immediately.
I get scared. This is going to be hard.
I don't know this is going to work. And at the end of every piece, I'm thankful I did it. I'm better for it. The piece was good. The editors at this show, holy shit. They can make you look so good. The editor is I will say this any chance I get, because the editors make you look really, really good. Sometimes I'll watch it and I'll go.
I don't even think I said that.
I went to Switzerland to cover Switzerland is gun crazy. They're nuts with guns. Everybody gets an assault rifle when they turn eighteen because they don't have.
They don't have a military.
They have more guns per capita than Americans, and they've had one mass shooting in one hundred years and they immediately changed the rules as soon as that happened. Somebody took a gun to their parliament and killed some people, and they immediately took ammunition away from gun owners. All ammunition in Switzerland is locked away in these fortresses. So that piece was It was pitched and directed by Stacy Angeles. That's a really powerful piece. It's on YouTube. It's gone
really viral and crazy. But the idea of that piece is you don't you can still love guns, you can still have it. It's gonna be very tough for us to change guns. It's in the second Amendment of the Constitution. It's the second thing we wrote. The first thing they wrote was you can say what you want, and then they were like, but you better get a gun if you want to do that.
It's gonna be tough to change that.
But let's learn from countries that have guns, love them, are embedded in their culture, and they don't kill each other. So that's one of my favorite pieces. And it's yeah, I love that people.
I just wanted to know what no, what if somebody actually what is the audition to the UH on the show? As a correspondent, let me see what happened with me was I was doing shitty open mics in Australia and then and then Trevor asked me to audition for it. So if you can find Trevor, I think he can help you. And I've got any questions, any questions. Anybody questions are not like job offers. Please in the back that yeah, well if you were a kitchen utensil.
Which one.
I'd rather you ask me for a job is, anyway, I don't know, potato peeler on anyway, what's what's the least most useful over there? Yeah?
Do you think that you coming to New York affected like your comedy and everything rather than going to l A.
Or oh yeah, yeah, hell yeah, hell yeah, definitely for sure New York. I Actually when I first got my visa, I was I went to LA. My agent told me to come to LA and do pilot season. And that's a that's an industry term for everyone. There's one guy in the industry laughing or yeah, my agents, I had
come to LA do a pilot season. Pilot season means you go into audition room with twenty Asian dudes who look like you, who all went to like Yale drama school, and they're auditioning for like, you know, sidekick two on whatever and I and I was. I was in that. I was in that for one. I did that one time and as in I was in that season one time, and I knew, like, man, I'm not going to out
act all these actual trained, talented people. The only thing I can do with my limited skill set is go to New York and be a huge asshole and so and it walked up about that, So new York definitely New York is Yeah, New York for life.
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