Do me a favor though. Look at your lens
and not-- and not the screen, so it's--
No, the other-- Yeah, yeah, that's closer to it.
-Yeah, there, there, there. That's it. -That?
-Yeah, that's it. -But don't look at you?
No, don't look there, please.
(laughing)
Thank you, Trevor.
(laughing)
Oh, man. Jon Stewart,
welcome to The Daily Social Distancing Show.
I've been doing press now for-- it's got to be a week straight.
Junkets and everything fr-from the same space.
And this is how I've been doing it.
(laughing)
And for the first time since I've been doing this,
someone had the decency, the kindness to go,
"You might want to look at the camera."
Yeah. But this is like-- You know what it's like?
It's the common new--
It's, like, a thing people don't realize.
Because our screens and cameras, I feel like someone needs
to put them in line, because this is not how we talk
-to each other. So I... -This is...
-Yeah, you-you normally look at a person. -This--
I-I want to look at you. I want to do it
like they imagined it in the science fiction movies
in the '70s, where you would do the video call
-and your head and my head are talking. -No. No, no, no, no.
I've come to realize that, like, all the things
that we learned from science fiction in the movies,
it was very ambitious. But we've got, like, very--
You know, like-- you know, like, if you grew up
with poor parents, they would always bring you
a very, um, like, cheap version
of the cool thing you wanted as a kid.
That's the future we live in now.
That's-- So we were like, "Imagine if you could talk
to someone through a screen."
They're like, "Okay, you can't do that,
"but you can look off at them
"and seem like you don't know where they are
and communicate effectively."
That's basically what we do.
Where are you right-- Like, what is this?
What is this room behind you?
-I'm in my attic. -Yes.
This is the room, uh, when my children were younger,
uh, this was their playroom.
And so they did a lot of doodling--
or their cousins did-- 'cause this is where they would come up
with their cousins. And then they grew up
and decided, "You know what,
"I'm just gonna stay in my room, quarantine or no quarantine,
uh, and you're gonna go up into the attic."
-So that's what we've done. -It's funny, because,
like, it's-it's beautiful now that I know
it was your kids who did that,
but it almost looks like the same graffiti
that's on, like, the Confederate monuments around America.
It looks like you let people practice the graffiti
at your house before they go to the monuments,
so they can get it right.
Antifa has infiltrated my attic.
It's a big problem here.
Uh, I am doing the best I can, but they are rabble-rousers.
And, uh, as you can see,
uh, they have decided that, uh,
this wall must-- this is the Berlin Wall
and they are gonna take it down.
What do you-- what do you make of all that?
Like-like, honestly, because, you know, like--
I mean, this-- Just, like, the Confederate monuments,
like, every statue coming down.
I mean, it started with Confederate statues.
It started with, you know, like, racist people from history.
Then we started just seeing, you know, statues coming down
of, like, people who fought for the-the Union
and people who fought against slavery.
And, like, what do you make of it?
Are we just-- Should we just get rid of statues?
-What's going on? -What you'll find is,
if you don't allow regular order
to take down the statues
that represent, uh,
the insurrection that tried to destroy this country
and preserve the institution of slavery,
if you make that impossible to do
through pleading,
uh, peaceful entreaty and all that,
you're going to end up with a spasm.
Look, people shouldn't have 400--
The statues are not from the Confederate era.
They're from the Jim Crow era. They're from the era
when they built them to say,
"Just so you know, I know, uh,
"they let you go, but I just want to make sure
"everybody understands, like, we will still subjugate you.
"I hope that's, you know--
And-and bring fear into your lives."
So, you know, 'cause these statues are not--
People say, like, "You're erasing our history."
Which, by the way, I don't remember the conservatives
during the Iraq War,
when the Saddam Hussein statue fell in Baghdad,
I-I don't recall Republicans at the time going,
"Ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba! Big mistake!
"You don't want to erase your history!
That's your history! Leave it be!"
So, you know,
the-the plaque on the statue is not history.
It doesn't say, "This mother(bleep)er thought
"he should fight a war
"to ensure, you know, that he could have slaves
"on his plant-- that he could still benefit,
"and that-- and then we put it up
"to instill fear in the people that we kept as-as slaves
and-and their descendants."
So this should have been done in short order
by a normal functioning society years ago.
You know, you-you say-- you say something interesting
and that is "a normal functioning society."
It feels like "normal," "functioning," and "society"
are three words that are very quick-quickly slipping away.
All over the world, people are dealing with the same thing.
That is coronavirus.
But I honestly believe
that America might be the only country
where it's seen as a political issue
as opposed to a pandemic. Do you know what I mean?
It seems like something you can choose to believe in or not.
Or where you stand politically defines whether...
like, the legitimacy of the virus.
Whereas in other places, they argue about how to deal with it,
but the virus itself is not, like, a political issue.
And there are arguments. Listen, it's...
We're not the only country that's arguing about...
-how much to limit freedom of movement and... -Right.
You know, in Italy, you saw,
you know, big demonstrations and protests
against, uh, uh, you know,
trying to confine people to a certain extent.
But I think a reasonable view of it would be,
it's not being done for the sake of tyranny.
We are actually facing something
where tens of thousands of people are dying, and it's...
You know, if you think about it like...
It's like preparing for a hurricane.
You know, when a hurricane is coming,
there's always those people that are like,
"Government's full of shit.
I'm not gonna board up my windows. I..."
But this is hurricane that, if we prepare for it,
the hurricane weakens.
And that's... that doesn't happen normally.
But because in this country now,
we've set up parallel universes
in-in... in the multiverse
that, uh, the right lives in,
you know, this is an infringement.
It kind of blow...
The mask thing is what blows my mind,
because, you know,
surgeons wear them in operating rooms.
And they don't wear them
because, you know, they drive Volvos
and sip chai tea and listen to NPR.
Like, they wear them because...
Like, so I just want to say to people
on the mask thing, like, "Great.
"Next time you're having an operation,
"and the surgeon comes in with washed hands and a mask,
"just be like, 'Don't be a pussy.
"'Don't be some liberal puss.
"'You take off that mask, and you unwash your hands
and you stick your paws in my open gaping wound.'"
'Cause apparently,
sanitary conditions are a liberal myth.
I knew you. You know, obviously, I mean,
we knew each other when you were leaving The Daily Show.
You were like, "I'm getting into different things.
"I'm taking time with my family.
I'm gonna do a movie here or there."
It was interesting for me to see you do a political movie.
You know, I was like, "Jon, aren't you just
gonna get away from politics altogether?"
But then you made a movie that wasn't just about politics,
but it was almost about the game that is beneath politics.
I was shocked the first time
I went to New Hampshire for the primaries.
And.... and I was sitting with, you know,
like, the aides of these, um...
of these... of these politicians,
and even the reporters, and they were like,
"Oh, yeah, they hang out, they-they chat,
they go out for drinks afterwards, they..."
And I was like, "What do you mean?"
They hate each other on screen,
and then, we hate people on each other's behalf.
And I see it happening in the country,
but they are friends, and I didn't understand that concept.
And it seems like that's what you're showing people
in this movie is that we don't realize
that the WWE of politics is not as real as we think it is.
And we're willing to die for The Undertaker,
but The Undertaker is just a guy named Bill who goes home
with Triple H, and they carpool. You know what I mean?
Right. Let's not draw The Undertaker into this.
First of all, he is a marvelous wrestler,
and, uh, was undefeated,
uh, at, uh, uh, you know, WrestleMania.
So let's not... Until, obviously...
Listen. Listen. Listen.
I didn't want to make a movie about the political moment.
-Right. -I feel like that's The Daily Show,
and that's what you guys do so well, is you do the weather.
Every night, you come out,
and you talk about the political moment.
And you bring the funny and the insight
and the context to the political moment.
I really wanted to think about it as the climate
and the system, and that idea
that we have kind of created this complex
of... media
and moneyed interests and politicians,
and they all... work and enrich each other.
And there's very little accountability.
And it grows in...
You know, those types of...
symbiotic structures don't dismantle themselves.
Here is this system with its own inertia and energy
and self-interest and incentives to entrench itself
and to grow itself.
And it's really at odds with...
any relevant facts on the ground.
Our-our... the system we have in place to elect people
is almost working antithetically
to the system we have in place to try and govern people.
And we don't really have a robust governance system,
but we've got an incredibly
enriching and robust and corrupt
and corrosive system...
of elections, of-of campaigns and of influence.
So do you see a change?
Do you see an end where you go like, "Oh, no, it's...
Something is gonna happen that shuts this all down"?
Where I'm optimistic is,
there are such talented, committed,
energized people taking the reigns
of these really rotted out
husks of institutions.
And you get the sense that they're committed
to rebuilding them in a manner
that is going to create a sturdier foundation.
And, you know, so much of this country,
what you learn from this is, and the pandemic exacerbates it,
you know, what's essential.
Well, it turns out all the people in this country
who are essential
to its functioning are the lowest paid.
Hmm.
And how did we create...? How do we...?
You know, for many years,
we've sort of gone on this principle of,
if we just take care of the investor class,
we'll get a taste...
You know, and I don't say "we," because I'm-I'm now up there.
But...
the pendulum has swung away from valuing work.
And we have to figure out...
You know, and they always talk about...
The people that talk about "trickle down"
are always about freedom and liberty.
Well, what's more liberating
than not having to worry
about your health insurance being tied to your job?
Or working really hard, but still having to use food stamps?
Like, that's not freedom.
And we have to find a way to make those in this country
who are essential... to give them more liberty.
And more liberty comes from being able
to live a life
that is built on granite and not on quicksand.
I could talk to you forever, my friend.
Thank you so much for joining us again.
I hope everyone watches the movie.
I hope you're having fun. I hope you're staying healthy.
I hope you're loving your family and your kids
and enjoying yourself and...
And let me...
-May I have a moment? -Yeah, of course.
I'm so impressed by everything.
Oop. I'll say it up here.
I'm looking at your face, but I'll look into the camera.
I'm just so impressed
by everything that you guys are doing.
And the insights of the show and hilarity of the show and the...
It-It's just... It's-it's magnificent.
And I-I just wanted to tell you
that I know what goes into making it,
so I am impressed for the right reasons.
Because of how hard I know that it is,
and how beautifully you're doing it.
The only thing I would say is,
do you have to do it so handsomely?
That, the handsomeness,
if I may,
feels a little bit like a personal attack.
The other stuff, I-I love.
But if could you do the show
without dimples...
I'm just saying.
I will... I will pass these comments on
to management, and, uh, we'll see what we can do.
Jon Stewart. Thank you so much for joining us on the show.
I hope to see you again. Look after yourself.
Yeah, you lack after yourself, too. Take care of yourself.
-Thank you, buddy. -Bye-bye.
How do I...? Now I don't even know how to hang up, so, uh...