-Welcome to The Daily Show. -Thanks for having us.
-Thanks, thanks, thanks. -Let's start
with a few congratulations.
Uh, first of all, congratulations to see
-the show has been renewed for season two. -That's right.
-Yeah. -So congratulations on that. -(cheering and applause)
Thank you for watching the show.
And, uh, congratulations on having two successful shows
-on the air at the same time. -Thank you. -Oh, thanks.
-Yeah. -That's really amazing. Because you have South Side
and you also have Sherman's Showcase as well.
-That's right. -Yeah. -Right? Did you-- did you,
in your wildest dreams,
predict that that would happen in your lives?
I didn't even think I would be employed in 2019.
We always said we wanted to have our own baby.
We wanted to have our own show.
-We got blessed, man. We had twins, so... -Right.
-Yeah. -Good times. -The-the story of--
the story of how you put this together though
-is-is what makes it more impressive for me. -Yeah.
Because you became friends because you loved--
-what was it-- Coming to America. -Yeah.
-Yeah. -Coming to America was always a-a special show--
special movie to us because, like, you saw black people,
you know-- it-it was a black community
but there was diversity within the community.
-Some had money, some were broke. -Right, right, right.
-You know, uh, Sam Jackson is-- -You had-- Yeah.
Sam Jackson is robbing McDonald's with a shotgun.
You know? But then there were other people who were, like,
you know, very religious and some people,
-you know, put S-Curl in their hair. -Yeah.
Like, there were just all these different types of people.
And so we always felt like, when it came time
for us to do a show, we were gonna also show
all the different types of people
-there are in the community. -Yeah.
That's what South Side has-has really done.
I mean, people love the show.
Critics, viewers alike. They go,
"What's amazing about this show is that you don't see
-the South Side of Chicago like this." -No. Not at all.
It's-it's a neighborhood that's been, you know...
There are lot of demagogues who, like, completely convince you...
-Yeah. -that everything on the South Side of Chicago
-is just violence and decay. -NOAH: Right.
We don't even have to say some of the politicians
who have made it sort of like their industry
-to say these kind of things. -Mm-hmm. -NOAH: Uh-huh.
-But we wanted to show the actual South Side. -Yeah.
You know, being born and raised on the South Side of Chicago,
you know, what I saw was like, "Look, this is not my city."
-My city is a place of joy, it's a place of laughter. -Right.
I actually thought about this with regard to you
-because you're from South Africa. -Uh-huh.
And I know, what I hear from people, what I see in the news,
but I would love if there was a show about your city
-that came from your voice. -Right.
Because you're coming from the inside.
So, as we try to sort of reform
what people think about when they think about Chicago,
we said, "Well, let's let Chicagoans tell it
-in front of the camera, behind the camera." -Right.
People from Chicago, and the people really came out.
We had extras who showed up who were like,
"We can't believe we get to come to a show about Chicago,
and we don't have to play a corpse." You know?
-(laughter) -"We get to have fun today."
We're like, "Yeah, man, let's have fun."
You know, and a lot of the people
-on our show aren't even actors. -Right.
You know, they're just the funniest people we know.
-I got to... Yeah. -Sometimes they're the funniest people
-near where we were shooting. -Yeah.
-(laughter) -You know, like,
they would just come over, and they'd be like,
"And you know what's missing in this scene-- it's me."
And we'd be like, "All right, Mr. Bus Driver."
-All right. Here you go. -But true story.
We were shooting a scene on a bus,
and the bus driver was kind of funny,
-so we gave him a couple of lines. -He got a line.
We always... we always said that, like,
if you talk to people about who's the funniest person
-you've ever met... -That's right. -Yes.
...a lot times, it's not like some stand-up comedian.
It's like, "Oh, my auntie.
-She-She's hilarious." -"Oh, she's hilarious."
-Right, right, right. -And so we were...
-The auntie's on the show. -Yeah, Auntie on the show.
That's-that's... that's what I... that's what I love
about South Side is that like, it's the, um...
-the diversity of an idea... -Mm-hmm.
...that people don't willingly accept.
Because a lot of people want to put, you know,
-places and spaces... -In a box. yeah.
...about Chicago in one box.
-"Is South South dangerous, or is it only...?" -Mm.
-It's all those things. -But, it's, like, no, it can be
-both those things at the same time. -That's right.
-There can be joy despite the pain. -Exactly.
You know, there can be moments of celebration
-despite the moments of-of suffering. -Mm-hmm.
And that's what the show is really about,
but why... why did you specifically go with, like,
"We're gonna hire people from Chicago."
-Mm. -"We're gonna cast people from Chicago"?
That's, like, a specific decision to make.
You know, there's a great, um, comedy tradition
of people kind of looking inward,
-looking at their own family. -NOAH: Mm.
So many great comedic voices
-come from what happened around Mom's dinner table. -Yeah.
It goes all the way back to The Osmonds, I Love Lucy.
She worked with her husband.
You know, Diallo was on the show Marlon for a while.
Like, that was the Wayans family.
You know, it was their family's voice.
And so for us, we were like, "Well, Chicago...
"We really want to tell a story about Chicago
"that's authentic and real.
-Let's look inward, let's get..." -Something that you...
-My wife is on the show. -Yeah.
You know, shout out, Chandra. Hey, baby. That's...
All right.
And that's done.
-Um... -(laughter)
-Didn't want to forget that. -No, no. Had to remember that.
Uh, but also, I would just, you know...
you know, our friends, the twins, are on the show--
I went to high school with those guys--
my brother's the star of the show,
Diallo's on the show, so it's nice
when you get to make something, you look around the room,
you see people whose comedic voices helped inspire yours,
and you kind of come together and create something
that really feels specific and unique.
You know, just real quick, I just want to say,
one time I was getting into a Lyft after a shoot,
-Yeah. -and, uh, you know, the Lyft driver was like,
"Hey, I heard y'all making a comedy about the South Side."
And he said it kind of, like, weird.
I didn't know if he had an agenda,
I didn't know if it was gonna go bad,
and I was like, "Yeah, yeah, we are shooting a comedy
about the South Side," and he was like, "Thank you."
He was like, "It's been too long
since somebody told the other side of what it's like."
-Yeah. -'Cause people love the South Side.
-Right. -They love growing up in that community,
and it wouldn't be that way if every moment, you thought,
"Oh, sh... it's about to go down."
-Like, no, it's not like that. -Yeah. Yeah.
That's-that's a weird way for him to, like, change his tone.
Oh, yeah. He was nervous for a while.
Yeah. Yeah, 'cause when someone's talking,
"Yo, I heard you're making a big comedy on the South Side."
-Click, click. -"I like that show."
-(laughter) -Just like, "That was an emotional roller coaster
that you just took me on there, my friend."
You know what, I gave him five stars, for sure.
-You have to, off the bat. -Yeah, you got to do that.
-Um, what do we look forward... -"Good conversation," I think...
Good conversation and emotional roller coaster.
What do we look forward to in season two?
We're gonna do more of the same. The people that people loved
in season one are gonna come back.
We're also gonna expand what the city is.
You know, our show takes place
primarily in an economically challenged community,
but there's so many more parts to Chicago.
-I mean, the Obamas live on the South Side. -Hyde Park...
That's right, yeah, Hyde Park.
I want him to watch the show. Barack, please. Or Michelle.
I like how you said that... you looked in the camera
and you said that like Barack is also watching with your wife,
and you were like, like, "Barack,
if you want to pop in to the show..."
If Bo the dog wants to be on the show, we'd love to him.
I mean, like... No, it's... I mean it.
If we can get Bo that would be great.
But there's so many... you know, we want to do more.
You know, one of our goals was to create a space
where something really, really funny could happen.
We actually love the show, The Simpsons.
You could have episodes where, you know, Marge is the star
or Patty and Selma or Chief Wiggum,
and similarly, on South Side, we have 153 speaking parts.
I mean, comedy's coming from every direction,
so next season, more of the same,
more great Chicago stories, more great human stories.
Oh, if it's more of the same,
it's gonna get 100% on Rotten Tomatoes once again.
-Yeah. -Gentlemen, thank you for coming to the show.
Congratulations on the show. Big fan of what you do.
The two-episode season finale of South Side
will air September 18 at 10:00 p.m. on Comedy Central.
Bashir Salahuddin, everybody, and Diallo Riddle.