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SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
"The Daily Show" has been making fun of the news for 30 years. It's long been a favorite for Emmy Awards, and this time, besides outstanding variety series, two of the co-hosts are nominated for their own segments and specials. NPR's Mandalit del Barco reports.
MANDALIT DEL BARCO, BYLINE: "The Daily Show" continues to roast Donald Trump, often by reacting to news clips. Here's co-host Jon Stewart aghast when the president's jokes bombed at the White House Correspondents' Dinner.
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PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: And they're fighting for a big piece of cheesecake. Big fat piece of cheesecake. Who the hell wrote that line?
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DEL BARCO: All Stewart has to do is wait for the live audience laughter to die down.
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JON STEWART: (Impersonating Donald Trump) Who the hell wrote that line?
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STEWART: It sounds like you.
JEN FLANZ: You're getting your news with jokes, and who doesn't want to laugh about what's going on in the world?
DEL BARCO: Jen Flanz is the showrunner of 'The Daily Show," who started out as a production assistant 28 years ago. Host Jon Stewart calls her the show's secret sauce, the keeper of the flame.
FLANZ: The keeper of the flame. I think it makes me sound like a cave person. I mean, he's my mentor, and if I am keeping a flame, it is one that he lit, right?
DEL BARCO: Flanz says 30 years ago, the country wasn't as polarized as it is today, but the show remains political, including the segments by the two co-hosts nominated for Emmys this year. But she says, so far, they've managed to avoid the kind of backlash faced by other late-night talk shows, namely Stephen Colbert, once a regular on "The Daily Show," whose own show was canceled this year by CBS.
FLANZ: I don't know if just not enough people watch or the people that might get us in trouble or whatever don't watch. But, listen, we're on cable, so it's a different set of rules than the network guys. We have yet to get in trouble, and I think if you watch the show, you can see that we haven't censored ourselves.
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DEL BARCO: I paid a visit to the place where the news satire is made, in Manhattan's Hell's Kitchen neighborhood, to meet up with co-host and correspondent Desi Lydic.
DESI LYDIC: How does it feel to be at the beautiful "Daily Show" studio right next to the horse stables?
DEL BARCO: Jordan told me that there's, like, a stripper club or something. We've got...
LYDIC: Oh, yes. Hustlers. Some nice, exotic dancers just around the corner. What more could you ask for?
DEL BARCO: Lydic started her career doing improv in Los Angeles. She puts those comedic acting skills to use on a show segment called Desi Lydic Foxsplains (ph) the News.
LYDIC: The premise was, what would happen if Desi sat down and watched an inhumane amount of Fox News? - 732 hours of Fox News. How would she explain today's news, right? And now it's kind of expanded. It's not just Fox News. It's Newsmax. It's OAN. It's really kind of commentary on internet culture and this idea of having to have a hot take right away and share it with the world.
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UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #1: The ballroom obviously needs to be built.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #2: The ballroom is really necessary at this moment.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #3: A ballroom is imperative.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #4: That is why we need the ballroom.
LYDIC: Donald Trump needs a beautiful new building to hold his magnificent balls. So why is the lunatic left trying to castrate this totally free taxpayer-funded project? Well, I've been watching Fox News for 250 hours straight, and I'm ready to Foxsplain why America's No. 1 priority is Donald Trump's golden palace of dance. Five, six, seven, eight.
DEL BARCO: Lydic says it's tougher now to binge-watch the incessant news cycle than when she started on the show 11 years ago. Here she is reacting to a social media post from HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., showing him with glowing red eyes.
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LYDIC: Looks like a terminator who went back in time to stop Sarah Connor from getting vaccinated.
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LYDIC: Why does he have those laser eyes? Is that how he hunts roadkill?
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LYDIC: Oh, my God. Somebody hide Jimothy.
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DEL BARCO: For the past two seasons, Lydic, Jordan Klepper, Josh Johnson, Ronny Chieng and Michael Kosta have shared hosting duties with Jon Stewart.
LYDIC: We all love him. Although, I have to say, very lazy man. He will only work on Mondays. Fortunately, that works out for the rest of us 'cause we get to pick up his shifts for the rest of the week.
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DEL BARCO: Jordan Klepper also started out doing improv theater, though his training was at Second City in Chicago. He began his stint at "The Daily Show" when Trevor Noah was host, and he started doing man-on-the-street interviews.
JORDAN KLEPPER: They were looking for people to go out and cover this MAGA movement. You know, Trevor was very clear. He was like, let the white guy go out there and do it. They'll talk to him. And he was 100% right. I have a big, dumb Midwest face, so they like sharing their opinions, and hopefully I can listen hard enough to find out what's funny about it.
DEL BARCO: In his specials called Jordan Klepper Fingers the Pulse, he sets off into MAGA world.
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KLEPPER: Excuse me. Is the sedition happening over here? Is the sedition...
DEL BARCO: Klepper was on the scene in 2021, when the president's supporters stormed the Capitol on January 6.
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KLEPPER: Can I ask why you're carrying a pitchfork?
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #5: Well, a pitchfork is a iconic representation of what people over time have done in this country.
KLEPPER: It feels more like a weapon, to be quite honest.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #5: No. It's not. It's farm equipment, and it's legal in this city.
KLEPPER: Yeah. Are you farming today?
DEL BARCO: Klepper says it's easy to spot the good talkers.
KLEPPER: You show up at a Trump rally and somebody's wearing a cape and horns, waving a giant flag and a bullhorn, you're like, I bet that guy wants to share his opinions.
DEL BARCO: And recently, Klepper went to a Turning Point rally in Phoenix to ask how the president is doing.
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UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #6: He goes and gets done what he says he's going to do, and he does what he says.
KLEPPER: Promises made. Promises kept.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #6: Absolutely.
KLEPPER: No new wars.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #6: Yes. Yeah. That - nobody wants to go to war.
KLEPPER: Nobody does. Yeah, of course.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #6: Yeah, yeah.
KLEPPER: What do you think about the war with Iran?
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #6: I don't pay attention to it. So...
KLEPPER: Yeah, yeah. Yeah. So still, no new wars.
DEL BARCO: Klepper says he gets to do what journalists cannot. That is, make fun of the people they interview.
KLEPPER: Yes. I'm living out your dream, is what you're saying.
DEL BARCO: (Laughter).
KLEPPER: When I'm talking to somebody, what I get to do is push them. I get to continue to go down a path. I get to say yes to their bad ideas to try to get them to open up and reveal to me something that they might say to their friend.
DEL BARCO: Klepper says he meets people now who are not embarrassed by hypocrisy.
KLEPPER: When I first was on in early Trump era, you would assume the person who committed that hypocrisy would all slam their hand on their head, like, oh, my Lord, what lunacy. And suddenly Donald Trump comes in here and allows you to live in your own world. And even though they said that thing that seems crazy or horrendous or even cruel to their friend base who are mainlining propaganda from one very specific source or podcaster, that is a vindication of a point of view, and they found a microphone to get in front of, and therefore, they're victorious and looking to get that fix again.
DEL BARCO: Fans can soon get their fix when the co-hosts star as characters in a satirical "Daily Show" microdrama coming soon.
Mandalit del Barco, NPR News.
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