You're listening to Comedy Central. Hello there, you're about to watch an episode of the Daily Show. That means there's some news and some jokes on the way. So if you like laughing and news, you're in the right place. Honey, coming to you from New York City, people me city in America. It's the Daily shown at the races. My tax day is weird, and you're now money. He's the Daily Show with Trevor Day Show on TV. Thank your show, what for tuning in, Thank you for coming out and packing.
Good to see get to see a Francis pop your faces. All right, take a seat, everybody, We've got a fun show for you today. Ronnie Chang is gonna be telling you why you're doing your taxes all wrong. So it's gonna be just like the I R S but funny. Plus the amazing Janelle Monet is joining us on the show, and this time not from music or a new book. No, she just released a book of short stories, yeah, which is amazing. Right. Yeah, And in case you're confused, it's
not stories about short things, but rather short stories about things. Right. The things can be long, but the stories are always short. Anyway, I've said enough let's jump straight into today's headlines. Okay, people, let's kick things off with the big education news. By now, you've all heard about how school systems across the US are banning critical race theory RED and if you're still not sure what critical race theory is, don't worry. Neither
other people banning it now. The States of Florida has announced that it's officially begun its purge of all things CRT, but some of the targets have taken people by surprise. The Florida Department of Education is making ways after rejecting forty one percent of submitted math that textbooks because of touching and prohibited subjects. The state says more than fifty of those books include references to critical race theory among other things like common core, and therefore are prohibited under
the new standards CRT teachings. They were banned from Florida's classrooms last year. Orange County Classroom Teachers Association President Wendy Dormal says she's baffled. I can't imagine what is in a math textbook that would indoctrinate a child. I really love to see some of these rejected books and see what they highlighted. Yeah, so would I, because I mean this makes Alorida is banning math textbooks because the States says that they teach critical race theory. And I'll be honest,
I don't even understand how that works. I don't like, I get finding critical race theory in history books or social studies, but math, how how well? Think about it, Trevor, Algebra is just a bunch of numbers that rejected their slave names and now go by X. How yeah, Trevor. Also, numbers can be very triggering for white people. Think about it. Whenever a black man dunks on a white man watch on his shirt. That's right, numbers. And don't get me
started on the violence inherent in math. I'll never forget the Day nine scarred me for life. I'll be honest, but I don't know what Florida is trying to do here. But any sane person can't agree. This is getting out of control. I mean, it was bad before, but this is getting out of control all because now it just feels like the States sees critical race theory everywhere in everything. You know, it was like a like a hypochondria. It's
like this milkshake is critical race theory. What. Yeah, Look, it's trying to tell us that the white part is keeping the brown man down. Or maybe the chocolate just stationed to work harder. Maybe you need to relax, my man. Also think about this. Let's let's let's play with the logic. If they were trying to sneak CRT into the schools, why would they do it with math? Math textbooks would be the worst place to do it, because who remembers anything they learned in math? Huh? Do you remember how
to use the High Parton News? Do you if I said, nobody leaves the studio, no one until you show me how hip Parton used works. We're dying here, people well dead, they're gonna find corpses. Nobody remembers math from school. Nobody even Liam Neeson, his particular set of skills, did nothing High Parton News. Yeah, he was like, I will find you and I will kill you. They're like, well, first you have to solve a mouth problem. Uh, it's fine, and I'll find another daughter. You know, I actually wish,
I actually wish there was CRT and math textbooks. I actually do yeah, because then we could have solved racism by now, just by cheating and going to the back of the book with all the answers in it, you know, just be at the back of me, like, what is a black batman? Oh? My god? Why didn't I think of that? All right, but let's move on from that madness in Florida to something that's affecting all of us inflation. Thanks to inflation, practically every company is raising their prices
right now. For instance, here in New York, a lot of dollar pizza places are now charging a dollar Yeah, no, no, you you you think it's mina, but it's actually a nightmare because now you either have to carry around an extra quarter with you or you gotta give the guy two dollars. And now you're carrying around three quarters old day. What am I supposed to do with that? Huh? Do you see slot machines out of the streets in New York?
You're killing me. But everyone's raising prices, everyone, even Amazon. They just announced that they're charging an extra five inflation fee to its merchants, who will presumably pass that extra cost onto the customers, which I'm sorry, people, is bullshit, right because Amazon made thirty three billion dollars in profit last year. If there's any company that can do just
a little too absorb the cost of inflation. It's them, you know, Amazon, If you're trying to save money, Next time I buy a toothbrush, maybe don't package it in a cardboard box the size of a minivan. Maybe something you could say something you see the size of the boxing. It's gonna get a giant box or anything. Now I'm gonna take time off to fold it put in my recycling, and I'm sad because I've got someone brought me a car. Now.
Now get this, According to a new report, and this is really sinister, man, some companies aren't just raising prices to keep up with inflation. No, these slick assholes are using inflation as an excuse to gouge their customers and make even more profits than before, because you see, they know they can get away with it. Right now, think about it a year ago, if you saw that the price of something shot up out of noware you getting
mad at the company? But now, when you're paying a hundred dollars for detergent, you just think it's inflation and you curse Joe Biden. It's brilliant. It's brilliant. And here's how you know. Here's how you know that companies don't have to raise their prices. They don't have to because one company is refusing to and they're still getting rich. You go to the supermarket you hooked us around, and you know that nearly all products are getting more expensive
except Arizona ice tape. The beverage is staying a bottle regardless of the rising inflation costs. The company's founder and chairman says he is not budging on price on principle the company is privately owned. The owner is absorbing the higher costs of everything, including the aluminum that they can, that the ice t is in, and they're making it's
in other areas. Don Baltaggio, Arizona, seventy year old founder and chairman, told the Los Angeles Times, quote, I don't want to do what the bread guys and the gas guys and everybody else are doing. Consumers don't need another price increase from a guy like me. Yeah. Yeah, that's exactly what I'm talking about. You see, you don't have to squeeze and every lost dollar out of your customers. This guy is keeping his products despite inflation, and he even puts it on the can so the store can
mark it up. Yeah, as opposed to Florida Iced Tea, which does not put its price on the can, because those numbers are critical race theory. And you know, like it's so rare to see a company that's just like, you know what, we make enough money, Yeah, we don't need our customers to suffer. I bet Snapple could do that too. I didn't waste so much money researching those dumb facts. I'm here to fill my body with a month's worth of sugar, not to learn put information on
the inside. I gotta sugar higher. And let me tell you something. If this Arizona Iced Tea company can do this, then a company like Amazon has no excuse. Yeah. In fact, you know what I think, You know what I think. I think we should all boycott Amazon. Yeah, and only order, only order like three things and they instead of five. Yeah, make that feel the pay And obviously if you need something, if you need something, you should still order it. I mean, no matter what, Like no, I mean there's no need
to run out of like bubble bubb bombs. That goes without saying. But aside from that total boycott of more than three things per day, yeah, I should put activists in my bio all right, And finally, this was a big weekend, a really big weekend for a lot of people all over the world, because you see, you had Easter, Passover, and Ramadan all at the same time. It was basically
the Coachella of religion. And if you celebrate Easter, you probably know that it marks the end of length Affords Day, period when many Christians give up a personal pleasure or a luxury as a form of spiritual devotion. And typically people who observe lent like they give up something like sweets or alcohol. But this year one church came up with a much more innovative form of sacrifice. Church in
Illinois fasting from whiteness to observe lent. Lent, of course, a Christian tradition that involves giving up something for forty days ahead of Easter, and First United Church of Oak Park chose to give up white music, meaning they aren't playing any music written by white people. The church released a statement saying that the goal was to lay aside usual frames of reference and open the Florida voices of
black people, indigenous people, and people of color. This has been a season of the best church that I can remember. You can see these feess like the best ever of that's right, reverend. Of course this was the best season. You guys were rocking out to black music this whole time. Of course it wasn't. Yo. What seems like a more fun church service this this? See? Do you feel the
spirit right now? You know they say they're doing this for lent, but you realize now that they have discovered this, they don't have to go back to boring songs, right, No, you don't have to. They said it was the best. The reverend said, this is the best service they could remember, So why change it? Make all your music black music? Yeah, I mean, just be careful, though, just be careful. Not every black song works in church. Gobbled Me, Swanno Me,
You're Gone, the side of Me, Wop wop wop wop school. See. And while we're talking about church music, there's a video you probably saw it that went viral this weekend. Right. It's of a youth pasta who's on a flight and he decided, with like I guess, his band members, to surprise everyone on the flight with an impromptu performance. This in flight video is getting a lot of attention on social media, with commenters wondering if other passengers were okay
with the performance. Watch this. A youth pastor shared this video of a group of people singing Christian songs earlier this month, obviously on a plane. Of course, everybody zeroed in on this one dude. Let man, oh man, that dude was not having a good time. Do you see his face. That's the look of someone thinking, where has been latting when you need him? Oh Man. He's not
the only one who felt that way. A lot of people online are saying that it is inappropriate for a group to randomly start playing music in the middle of a flight, and some people, some people were even more angry that it was religious music. They're saying, you can't do that, you can't just bring religion for everybody on the plane. But guys, honestly, in my opinion, I think the most logical place for religious songs is on a plane. Yeah. I don't care who you are. That's why you need God,
Because who the hell knows how to fly planes? Huh? Who even knows how planes work? There's only like two people on the entire plane who know how that thing works. I mean, really, no two people if they get that real. At the same time, we're all dead gone. Yeah. On the ground, you can believe whatever you want to believe. But in the sky we're all religious, all of I don't care who you. I've seen people checking as atheists. Oh they got all the swag at the checking hound
believe in God. Then in the end the right turbulence hits and then all of a sudden, it's like, oh Jesus, oh please Jesus, please Jesus please, I'll never masturbate ever again. Please please. You know who you are. All right, that's it for the headlines. But before we go to a break, let's check in on the stock market. Without very own Michael cost to everybody to seem like it's, uh, it's been crazy out there. What's going on with the markets? Dude? I am crushing the market. I mean and I am
crushing the market. I got a hot tip for you, and I got a head tip for all you as well. I don't usually share it, but I hot tipped for you. But first I want to talk to you. That music on the airplane, right, I mean, how did that guy even get a full guitar back there as his carry on? You know what I mean. I'm not even allowed to have a six ounds bottle of Desani water and he's got a whole gun to Maybe I should start putting my water in the guitar, you know? Is that what
coaches like back there? Okay, Look as a warning to everybody, we don't want what happens on the subway to start happening on the airplane. Right, People play music on the subway, We shouldn't have that on the airplane. People start breakdancing on the subway. We don't need that on the airplane. People hold the door open for their friend. You got an airplane, we're all gonna get sucked out of thirty feet. Look right. And here's the other thing about that Amazon story, Trevor, Okay,
we're gonna raise art prices. Here's an idea for Amazon. Why don't instead of delivering all our goods to each of us, put it all in one central location and then we'll all go to that central location. Okay, bring the whole family. Maybe put a movie theater there. You have different types of food and and and they would battle it out for our business. We would be like a food court, so to speak. I think that's a
male a mall. That's a great name. So because because it's got a mall right there, that's why you get to sit down. I got it, I got it. It's a good name. Just tell us what's happening in the market. Look look, I'm I'm crushing the market. Okay, all right? So um now, my high school cut a lot of its math programs and math books. So to me, this is just a lot of letters on a chart. But there is something I'm seeing. You see this right here? This SNP. Okay, that means salt and pepper. All right,
everyone's uses salt and pepper. Everyone's gonna continue to use salt and pepper. So I would buy SNP salt and pepper big time. There you go, chef, that's the hot tip. I'm not some money. You're welcome, Thank you, Michael. Welcome. Like I'm starting to wonder about the expertise. All right, when we come back, Ronnie Chang is gonna be talking about money. You don't want to miss its. Welcome back to the Daily Show. Income Tax it's the reason they
threw blade in jail. Today's tax day here in the United States and the I R S deadline has Ronnie Chang thinking about America's weird relationship with money in Love installments of America. WTF. I love America. It's the only country where you can get a burger and a Lipolos section at the same drive through. But that's all. Who's
also lived all around the world. I feel a responsibility to let America know that a lot of the things it does are super weird to the rest of us, and all of those things is how America does money. It's tax season, which right off the bat is a sign that something is wrong, okay, because taxes shouldn't have a whole season. Seasons are supposed to be for exciting stuff like baseball season, or wedding season or season two of Bridges and I can't wait to see which British
person is jeezing on who this time. But America decided that filing taxes should be as quick and painless as getting a root canal at the DMB. I mean, you got your ten n you got your Form ten forties, you got your scheduled sees, you got your R two D twos, you got your blink one twos. You spend days trying to figure out what you owe the government, and then the government tells you if you're right, because
apparently they knew the whole freaking time. It's like the world's most pointless game show, aside from the prices, right, obviously, because nobody should get a new car for knowing how much Ketchup costs. Look, I hate to break it to you, guys, but in a lot of other countries, the government does all that filing for you. Yeah, they do the math, they send your statement, and if it looks good, you're click okay, and then you're done. It's so easy a baby could do it. But they don't have to because
they're lazy freeloaders who don't pay taxes. It's not just your income taxes. All taxes in America are weird. In a lot of other countries, you see a price on something and that's how much it costs, because that's the whole point of a goddamn price. But no, not in America. When you pay for something in America, they hit you with the surprise sales tax. They're basically cat fishing you. I know that six hundred dollar TV looks good, but it's lying it's six fifty and it has a secret family.
But don't get me wrong, taxes are filed from America. Is only insane money issue. Okay, I know you guys are used to it, but I need you to realize that the way you tip in this country is not normal everywhere. A tip is a show of appreciation, not a go fund me for someone who doesn't earn a living wage, a way his ability to pay rent. It't depend on how generous Becky feels after three martinis. And
the real issue is how arbitrary you're tipping is. You tip the guy who dedlives your food, but not the guy who delivers your packages. And you tip the person who made your coffee but not the person who made your big mac. And don't even get me started on tip jaws. Okay, you don't have to put money in, but if you do, you gotta make a big show of it. I like to shoot my cash into the jaw like a basketball or shouting he tips, he scores. If you can get off the cashier, they usually notice.
But as weird as taxes and tipping are in America, let's not forget about the actual money itself. Because American physical currency sucks. I don't know if you know this, but in other countries, every denomination is a different size because it makes it easier to tell them a part, especially if you're blind. But apparently blind people don't need to use money in America because look at this ship, simonsac size all of it. You gotta look over each individual,
build a figure out which slave owner the handover. And while we're talking about your strange money, who decided a pyramid? For freaking I was a normal thing to put on the dollar? Hey, rule a thumb, America. If Nick Cage can make a movie about your money, you're doing it wrong. Not to mention the pennies, Like why did these still exist when everyone's just trying to get rid of them? Even convenience stores have that take a penny, leave a
penny dish. It's like an animal shelter for unwanted money. Did you know that America actually loses money making pennies. If you're gonna have a hobby that loses your money, get a gambling addiction like a normal person. Okay, listen, your whole financial system stupid and I hate it all right, the money, the tipping, the taxes. That's why I found a way to avoid dealing with it all together, all right. The secret is they can't tax you if they don't know you have it oh so much easier robbing a
bank in Europe. Thank you so much for that, Ronnie Chang. All right, when we come back, the one and only iconic Janelle Monae is hunning up on the show's so Yeah, Welcome back to the Day Show. My guest tonight is Grammy nominatord artist, actor and author Janelle Money. She's here to talk about her debut book, The Memory Librarian. Please welcome Janelle Monet. Welcome back to the Daily Show. Wow, That's what I said every time I see you. This
is huge, this is fun, this is fun. We're back you know the people, and I'm happy to have you here because, like when I talked to you over Zoom, I don't get like for those who don't know Jenelle, when I always looks like this, like just always know you are easily one of the most like glamorous, stylish people I have ever come across in my life. Like you looked like how we're just supposed to dress as a thing. You are so kind. I totally paid him to say, you know, we're in the pandemic. He was
trying to make some extra money. I was my side. Hustle was complimenting Genee Money. Welcome back to the show. How how is life? How's how's everything treating it? Because you are one of the few people I know who just seems to excel in everything you do. Music, you excel, and it's your own type of music, it's your own vibe. It's different. It's not easy. You know. In the movies you excel everything hidden figures. I mean, now you're gonna be in The New Knives out. It's just like your
life is a dream. And now a book that's already got start reviews, Well, tell it to my therapist because clearly, clearly there's a lot of things that I have to fix according to them. Um, I'm amazing. Yeah, I'm amazing, man, I'm gonna say that. And I would say this. I used to kind of just say that, you know, because is it how are you doing? What I'm doing? Great? How you do? But I am doing I am like in the most I don't have to prove anything space
that I've ever been in in my life. Um yeah, And it took me a while to get there because you know, as public people, we try to inspire people with our words. But I don't feel like I was really living what I was saying. Oh, I like that. I wasn't really believing in it myself. I was saying it it was hell other people. But I had to
do some deep healing during the pandemic. I was dealing with a lot of rejection and abandonment issues just from like my childhood, things that I had just kind of kept in me, and they were just coming to the service. And I think one of the things that the pandemic has done is forced us all to go in state. Yeah, And so I'm I'm at this place where like I'm ready to celebrate. If we're not talking about vacations, I don't want to talk. If we're not planning a vacation,
I don't It's just like, what are we doing. We are supposed to be living our best lives. I'm young, I'm creative, No, seriously, like we're supposed to be living our Earth's experience in the best possible way. And I think when I first started my career, I was really serious, like I have to prove a point. I have to prove that just because I looked like this, I could do this type of news music, I can, I can
say these things. I can talk about science fiction. I had a lot to prove um, but now man, I'm floating. We feel it. I love that. What's beautiful, you know what it's It's interesting because you start to feel that with artists when they hit that groove, you know, because I think everyone goes through a phase of you have to prove you know, because that definitely because because initially you're going will I keep the job? Do I belong here?
There's impostor syndrome. Over time you develop a trust yourself, the audience, your experience is. The book feels like the perfect representation of that for me because I knew that you liked science fiction, you know, I mean like you know, your your your albums for instance, your music videos. You You've never been afraid to say, like I I like science fiction. But now you wrote a book of short stories and I was like, oh no, Jennelman loves science fiction.
Could you co wrote with with some amazing authors. Let's let's start with that. How did you even begin this process of going, you know what, I want to write like a future book? So this um short story collection is from the soul oil of Dirty Computer, my album that came out and I released a film with that, and I knew I had more to say. Sat down the pandemic. Excuse me, look at me. Don't even know
how dates. I'm from the future. Sorry, I sat down in the pandemic and I finally said that there's more. And um, you know, I was on mushrooms and I just came up with all of these thought experiments, you know where I was like, what if there was this black woman, she was the memory keeper of the city. She knew all of the people's memories before they were cleaned, before their identities were wiped clean, and she wants to fall in love. What does that mean? When you want
to fall in love but you know everybody's secrets? That the one does that mean? So that's the first one is called the memory the first imagine that. First you already like first story, Yeah, and then and then what if you live in New York and there was a room that you could go into you didn't even know existed,
but when you went into this room, time stopped. So yeah, so you could it kind of speaks to time poverty, since you know, black and brown folks, we've been spending our life fighting right to be included all these things. What if you had an opportunity to steal time to get time back? Would you rest? Would you show the community this place? How? How would you if you could
get time back? How would you use it? I love how you've used the stories in the book to delve into topics that sometimes are too dense or to like, you know, they fraught with politics and they don't let us just think about them. For instance, the first story you talked about, it's in the future. This is woman, She's got all these memories. How does she trust people? How does she know people? Or I found myself thinking I was like, man, I feel like that's what social
media is slowly slipping us into. Is people have now lived the entire life online. Now in a generation where people have gone from my baby steps all the way through, I have existed online. So now do I have any anonymity? Can I? Can I write my own story without other people writing it from my posts? Yeah? I mean I think that. You know, social media is a virtual reality. It's a whole another world. Like people create and we curate the type of people that we are. I think
being human, in my opinion, is performative. I'm performing a version of what I think Janelle on a should be. I told you I'm from the future. So it gets deep, it gets deep. It's all feedback. We're getting feedback from how we should be, how what we've seen we didn't like. And it's like, ah, now i'm this person because of that information. But that's a whole another story. Um. I think you're right. I think that there is some gathering done there with our memories. And with this book, I'm
just challenging everybody to be their own memory librarian. Like I started to look at my life and I started to think about, man I was I didn't, I wasn't in the moment in so any ways, I was so in the future here for like the majority of my career, I was in the future. And so how can I create memories now? Like our memories are the things that determine the quality of our life. Without them, who are we?
You know, when you take away somebody's identity and who they are, it's just like that that was their life's experience, you know. Yeah, And I want to shout out Elijah
Don Johnson. I wrote The Memory Librarian with her, and I wrote this this entire collection, each short story I partnered with a writer that I friends who were writers, because I knew, like, okay, with there's a story called never Mind and there is uh an incredible writer by the name of Danny Lore and non binary, and they are just really really good when it comes to action, Like they're doing some stuff with this James H. Bond graphic novel and I was like, Okay, Danny would be
great for that. And then Eve l Ewing of the Time Box with um Shari Renee Thomas. I did Timebox Altered with Johanka Delgado. I did Save Changes. Imagine if you could go back and there was this device and you wanted to just like, I don't want to give too much away, but these stories are just incredible. And then, um, you know, I said, Alia down, John said, I just want to make sure I shout them out because this is a super innovative way of releasing a book. It
really is. You know, you know what I enjoyed about it is when you go from story to story, what you've done is there is the common thread of Janelle Money. I can feel the future you in all these stories and the way you think. But then it's infused with like different elements from all of the different writes, you know, if you if you know Eve's writing and her style, you can feel it in some of the dialogue and
some of the moments. If you know, the author becomes so it's almost like you've created the first book that has like features on it. Yeah, it's like a it's like a compilation, it's like a mixtape. It's phenomenal. So they feel so different from story to story, and yet they have a common thread. I can see why it's getting rave reviews. I can see like, now the question is are you going to turn this into I know it started with the album that's a movie, and then
now there's a book. But now this book seems like it's begging to be turned into a TV show. You think so? Do you think it could be a TV show? Every time I was reading this, I was like, Okay, guys, everybody watching, listen, I'm gonna do it. We need to make you look, let's make it. We're gonna make it happen. Thank you so much, you have to everybody. Copper We Live Hearing will be available April nineteen. We're gonna take a quick break, but we'll be right back after this.
We'll us our shot to Tike, Thank you so much for tuning in before we go. Millions of families in Ukraine have fled their homes in search of safety. Working with restaurant partners across Ukraine and in six countries, World Central Kitchen is providing hundreds of thousands of nourishing meals
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