{"id":739277,"date":"2026-06-16T02:52:08","date_gmt":"2026-06-16T02:52:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/739277\/"},"modified":"2026-06-16T02:52:08","modified_gmt":"2026-06-16T02:52:08","slug":"the-daily-shows-jordan-klepper-on-what-hes-learned-about-americans","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/739277\/","title":{"rendered":"The Daily Show’s Jordan Klepper on What He’s Learned About Americans"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tComedy Central\u2019s \u201cThe Daily Show<\/a>\u201d star Jordan Klepper<\/a> has now produced seven of his \u201cFingers the Pulse<\/a>\u201d specials, with another one on the way. And if there\u2019s anything he\u2019s learned from his time out in the field, it\u2019s that Americans love to talk to people with a camera.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cWhen you get out into the wild of America, you are constantly surprised by what people are actually talking about,\u201d says Klepper, who has been with \u201cThe Daily Show\u201d for more than 12 years. \u201cAmericans are a lot more creative than we give them credit for \u2014 as far as conspiracy theories go, logic for political beliefs. I don\u2019t know if we\u2019re evolving or devolving over the last 10 years of doing it, but I do get a pretty good sense of how the cultural norms have shifted pretty drastically since I began \u2018Fingers the Pulse.’\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tKlepper notes that before Donald Trump started spreading birtherism lies about President Obama, the idea was considered something racist that you wouldn\u2019t say to a person with a camera.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cAnd within months, when Donald Trump started talking about this birther conspiracy theory that Barack Obama was a secret Muslim, I found us going from 1 in 10 people wanting to talk about birtherism to suddenly 7 or 8 out of 10 people wanting to talk about birtherism. It really just articulated that in this time that we\u2019re living in, the cultural norms are dictated by the commander-in-chief. The person who gets all the attention. And people are taking their marching orders as what they can talk about, how they should talk about things and whether or not they want to fact check the reality of what they\u2019re saying. That has fallen by the wayside. And now the most important thing is to articulate an opinion that you saw online that you\u2019ve made a part of your identity \u2014 and feel no guilt or responsibility if that opinion is proved to be hypocritical or simply incorrect.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tKlepper won an Emmy last year for his previous \u201cFingers the Pulse\u201d special. For his most recent one, \u201cThe Daily Show Presents: Jordan Klepper Fingers the Pulse: Give the Man a Prize,\u201d the host explored Donald Trump\u2019s obsession with winning a Nobel Peace Prize. During the special, Klepper travels to a peaceful nude bike rally against ICE internment camps holding people without due process. The protest was met with violent response by authorities, who are seen tackling protesters in whimsical costumes. Later, Klepper traveled to Oslo, Norway, to meet with officials from the Nobel Peace Center.<\/p>\n

\n\tEarlier this month, Klepper traveled to New Orleans to interview people at Sail250 about the state of America and the Trump administration. His interactions with the average American \u2014 particularly at Trump rallies \u2014 has become one of his biggest calling cards on both \u201cThe Daily Show\u201d and \u201cFingers the Pulse.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tMeanwhile, \u201cThe Daily Show\u201d has seen ratings success with its current hosting setup: Jon Stewart on Mondays, with the rest of the show\u2019s news team, including Klepper,\u00a0Ronny Chieng,\u00a0Josh Johnson,\u00a0 Michael Kosta,\u00a0and\u00a0Desi Lydic\u00a0(with\u00a0Troy Iwata\u00a0and\u00a0Grace Kuhlenschmidt) splitting Tuesday-Thursday hosting duties each week.<\/p>\n

\n\tWith \u201cGive the Man a Prize\u201d up for an Emmy nom this year, Klepper recently spoke with Variety about the current \u201cThe Daily Show\u201d shared hosting duties, what it\u2019s like out on the field, and the unique ability of shows like \u201cThe Daily Show\u201d to mix comedy with solid reporting.<\/p>\n

\t\tHave you found when going to those rallies early on vs. now, is it easier to get people to talk?\t<\/p>\n

\n\tThere\u2019s some people who come up and they recognize me and that can go two ways. Sometimes they\u2019re like, \u201cScrew this guy. I\u2019m not going to talk to him.\u201d Fair. Or some people are like, \u201cThis guy has a camera. I know his point of view. I\u2019ve seen \u2018The Daily Show\u2019 and I want to engage. I want to interact.\u201d And they seek it out. It\u2019s not uncommon for me to do an interview with somebody and then go to another MAGA rally and that person comes up and says, \u201cI saw the interview. Do you want to keep talking?\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tAttention is the thing people are after. It\u2019s not necessarily for their thought to be validated. The validation is in the fact that they said it out loud \u2014 and more often than not, the thing that they said that might be seen as hypocritical to a traditional audience, I don\u2019t know if hypocrisy exists anymore. I think they\u2019re getting a totally different newsfeed than a lot of the other people who are perhaps watching this clip and that newsfeed is not telling them that their point of view is to be vilified or hypocritical. It\u2019s telling them that they are right.<\/p>\n

\t\tHow do you think your interview skills have evolved over time? You\u2019re very quick on your feet when someone says something.\t<\/p>\n

\n\tI think having been out there for 10-plus years, it\u2019s broken me and so I am dead inside and I think that can be used as an asset \u2014 in which that you can really go anywhere now. I came from improv. Improv is listening and trying to find context and making a scene work in the moment with your scene partner. I now do improv with people who don\u2019t know that they\u2019re in improv scenes. And so my job is to really to pay attention and to be curious. I think the most interesting moments are when people are thinking through their logic for the first time on camera. We are in these bubbles and our friend groups are not pushing the points of view that we are just adopting because we read it once.<\/p>\n

\n\tAnd so those moments where I get to confront somebody with something that they haven\u2019t thought through, they just heard Donald Trump say it and now it\u2019s their personality, but now they\u2019re thinking through, that to me is the most interesting, compelling thing. And what I\u2019ve learned is like my job is to create a space where they feel comfortable enough with me. They feel open enough about their points of view where they don\u2019t feel judged, so that they can reveal something compelling and interesting. And then the secondary jive I have as a comedian is to contextualize that with a joke or a comment so the audience at home can see that thing in context.<\/p>\n

\t\tIt all feels spontaneous but focused at the same time.\t<\/p>\n

\n\tWe think of it as debate prep. Before going out on a piece, I\u2019m meeting with writers and producers and we\u2019re just talking about the news that\u2019s happening. We\u2019re talking about some of the opinions that we think might exist out there, the lanes that we want to talk to people about, some of the things that feel hypocritical and ways in which to articulate that to our audience at home. So it\u2019s a structured form of spontaneity. If you\u2019re going out there just to say a joke that you thought of three days ago, it\u2019s not going to be as funny as if you go out there and you truly listen to what is there.<\/p>\n

\t\tIn the most recent special, you\u2019re in Portland. First off, let\u2019s talk about the naked bike ride. Because I know that was a challenge for your editors and the censors at Comedy Central.\t<\/p>\n

\n\tGive them all the Emmys. It was a rainy day in Portland, and so we thought there might be a dozen naked people showing up to protest against the ICE raids that were happening. And we found that people like to get naked in Portland. Hundreds and hundreds of people like to get naked immediately in Portland. And when you film that, you\u2019re like, \u201cWe\u2019ll figure it out in post.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tAnd then I would walk into the editing bays and I\u2019m watching editors zoom in very seriously and be like, \u201cIs that a dick? Is that a boob? That looks like a boob!\u201d Or \u201cIs that a shadow? It might be a testicle.\u201d They\u2019re getting network notes back that are like, \u201cAt 22:04 there is a testicle.\u201d And you\u2019re zooming in. I\u2019m like, \u201cI think that\u2019s a shadow. Is it a kneecap?\u201d Well, the knee would be here and the testicle would be here. We are constantly writing top-notch satire in one room and in the next room we are zooming in on testicles to see if it\u2019s a testicle or shadow. So this is the work of modern comedy.<\/p>\n

\t\tFeel like an interesting HR issue.\t<\/p>\n

\n\tIt is. I think yes, all those editors have been fired now for simply doing their jobs.<\/p>\n

\t\tSo that part of the day was fun, but then things turned very serious. What that was like for you? You\u2019ve gone into dangerous situations before, but this was unlike anything you\u2019ve probably done.\t<\/p>\n

\n\tIt was. I\u2019ve had a weird run of it in the last decade or so. I did a show for Comedy Central called \u201cKlepper\u201d where I got arrested, was a part of a protest and a part of a movement there and spent some time in jail because of it. I followed some time with pipeline protestors in the Bayou where a boat sank and police were following us around. Strange jobs for a person who trained as an improv comedian.<\/p>\n

\n\tI\u2019ve found myself in weird places. January 6 in and of itself as well. We knew that things could get hairy, but what was really interesting about this story was we were watching it at the time and it\u2019s happening again now. We\u2019re seeing images in New Jersey outside these ICE facilities with an administration that has not been honest or articulate with the populace and horrific stories about what\u2019s happening inside. People are frustrated and angry, but we\u2019re a comedy show and so how do we enter into this conversation and not just be angry but bring humor.<\/p>\n

\n\tOur tool is to find comedy in place as this place didn\u2019t necessarily have comedy in it. And I give it to the protestors in Portland too, they organically found a way. One, to be naked and to dress as frogs and chickens, but they also used the fact that the Trump administration was trying to paint this protest as nefarious and Antifa. To do that, they were going to bring comedy to this protest and show that they weren\u2019t wearing anything. I thought that was a great opportunity for us to both highlight how humor can be used to deescalate situations and to play with perspective, but secondarily as a way that we could use our comedy around that story. Those can be your intentions, but you had an administration whose entire, from what we could tell, interest was in creating a scene, a scene that scared people away and that was violent.<\/p>\n

\n\tAnd so when we arrived on the scene, the pepper balls were being sprayed into the audience indiscriminately. ICE agents were being aggressive with protestors. They were pushing people around. We saw an entire band dressed as bananas. They were playing brass instruments and getting plowed by ICE agents. It was chaotic and intimidating and frustrating and it made me very sad and angry to see that kind of thing happen. All of these people who simply were there because they saw cruelty happening and they\u2019re being met with cruelty. I was grateful that we were able to capture some of that story because that\u2019s sort of what this administration feels like at times, which is the complete absurd and the brutal reality of cruelty.<\/p>\n

\t\tAnd speaking of the absurdity, the fact that this president is demanding a Nobel Peace Prize while this is all also happening and being generated by this administration. And this special aired in December. Since then he\u2019s started an actual war!\t<\/p>\n

\n\tI think he would still argue that he wants that Nobel Peace Prize. I remember this is what we were seeing when we were putting this special together. As we put this thing into place, we\u2019re like, \u201cOh, this man just wants a prize. We should give this man a prize so we can move on to something else.\u201d As we were putting this together, the FIFA prize happened, which is what this man wanted, \u201clet\u2019s create a prize out of nothing and give it to him just to make him happy.\u201d And so for us, there was a lot of hypocrisy and comedy to be had and looking back at it now, we\u2019re still in this place.<\/p>\n

\t\tSo let\u2019s talk about all the different hats you get to wear on \u201cThe Daily Show.\u201d How much do you enjoy being behind the desk versus being in the field?\t<\/p>\n

\n\tI love being behind the desk. Let me tell you, the field is great, but when I\u2019m behind the desk, I walk into an air conditioned studio. I have a beautiful suit. They bring in 250 people who laugh at the jokes that I tell, that the writers have all crafted and put together, that the graphics artists have made really funny jokes over my shoulder. I am set up to succeed. When I\u2019m in the field, I\u2019m sent to the middle of Harrisburg, staying at a crappy La Quinta and I\u2019m barraged with conspiracy theories.<\/p>\n

\n\tSo, as somebody who is curious about the world, I love being on the road. But give me a beautiful suit and an audience that laughs at my jokes. But we love the fact that we get to do so many different things now. All of us hosts, I think of it as the best of both worlds. I get to indulge in a bunch of different types of storytelling. When I\u2019m hosting the show, we are responding to news of the day and we\u2019re crafting an eight-to-ten minute story in that first act that gives you an arc and a story of the day. When I do field pieces, I can create a four and a half minute piece about what\u2019s happening out in the world that somebody\u2019s getting on YouTube and can sort of be indulged in that story in that way. That thing can then be delivered at somebody who has no patience for watching an eight minute segment and yet there are still issues that deserve looking into for deeper dives.<\/p>\n

\n\tAnd then I can do a special and a special where I can focus on Hungarian politics. I can focus on what\u2019s happening in Norway and America\u2019s unrest at home, which I don\u2019t want to be a tweet. I don\u2019t want it to be just a little clip. I want it to be a 30 minute piece. And so that allows us to tell slightly deeper stories with bigger arcs. It\u2019s a lot, but I think it\u2019s a real benefit to what \u201cThe Daily Show\u201d has crafted over the last couple decades is, let\u2019s meet the people where they are. And if they\u2019re at home at their couch watching linear TV, we have a show for you that can tell you a beautiful arc. If you need a clip or a funny social media reaction to what\u2019s happening, we are connecting with you there. And if you want to sit in a topic for a longer period of time, we have specials that can do that too.<\/p>\n

\t\tHow does it work with you all these days in terms of scheduling? The idea of rotating hosts seemed like a stop gap measure at first, but it\u2019s working.\t<\/p>\n

\n\tWe love it. Hosting a late night show is exhausting. It burns you out. It\u2019s also the best job in the fricking world. I love being behind that desk. I also love Thursdays after a host week where I get to take a break for a little bit, but you\u2019re always on call. We are a team. I think we are the court jesters in all of this. We are a funny little traveling group of circus folk who get to put on fun shows every week and we help each other out in that way. And so we know a few weeks ahead of time who\u2019s going to host when, and we prep for those weeks. And then when you\u2019re not hosting, you\u2019re on call and you\u2019re helping out. I\u2019m in on Mondays to be there when Jon [Stewart] is crafting his Monday show to talk to other people to prep for my future weeks.<\/p>\n

\n\tI\u2019m then also on call to help if I need to do a piece with Desi [Lydic] that Tuesday because I would fit in it. I\u2019ll come and do a chat with Desi. If I\u2019m not on, then maybe I\u2019m prepping a field piece and out on the road trying to do a piece that might air later on. \u00a0I think we were all skeptical at the beginning of like, \u201chow is this going to work?\u201d But we sort of discovered in the weirdness of \u201cThe Daily Show\u201d and our ebbs and flows of a writer\u2019s strike, COVID, Trevor leaving, of an interim period where you have rotating hosts, that we\u2019ve got a unique skillset. How do we make the show as efficient as possible? How do we let other voices still be the voice of the larger show and how do we share the rock? And I think \u00a0we know how to do this now. This might be the best way to present \u201cThe Daily Show,\u201d with this many perspectives.<\/p>\n

\t\tThat\u2019s a good point about the diversity of perspectives and also interests.\t<\/p>\n

\n\tWe\u2019re going to get guests based on whatever our own host perspective is. \u00a0The host is in there in the morning choosing what you want to talk about from the angle that they want to talk about. And so Josh is going to have a different perspective that I\u2019m going to have. Costa\u2019s going to have a different perspective. Desi, Ronny, a different way of writing the jokes and performing it. And I think if you told me that four years ago, I\u2019d be like, \u201cBut is it still going to feel like the same unified show?\u201d And I think it does. I think it has different shades to it all, but we are a team, we like each other and the machine of \u201cThe Daily Show\u201d is bigger than all of that in a way that allows it to still have the same footprint.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Comedy Central\u2019s \u201cThe Daily Show\u201d star Jordan Klepper has now produced seven of his \u201cFingers the Pulse\u201d specials,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":739278,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[64,63,356874,134,356875,187203,14745,427],"class_list":["post-739277","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tv","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-comedy-central-in-conversation","tag-entertainment","tag-fingers-the-pulse","tag-jordan-klepper","tag-the-daily-show","tag-tv"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/739277","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=739277"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/739277\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/739278"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=739277"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=739277"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=739277"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}