Speaker 1: Hi, I'm Kristin Davis, and I want to know, are
Speaker 1: you a Charlotte? You guys us of Mandvi's here. I
Speaker 1: should have said that right away. It's very exciting. We're
Speaker 1: totally there's no action, no action.
Speaker 2: It's weird, right, it is weird.
Speaker 1: Yeah, you just start, you're just rolling and no one
Speaker 1: says anything. I'm here, he's here, and you guys, he's
Speaker 1: here because he's on my motherboard myself, which probably you
Speaker 1: all know. And we're going to discuss it. But also
Speaker 1: we have some other things that we have to catch
Speaker 1: up because number one, he went to Cynthia's birthday party,
Speaker 1: which I miss, which I'm really sad about. So we
Speaker 1: were catching up about that, but then I was hearing
Speaker 1: about the fact that number one, you're on Broadway, which
Speaker 1: is insane. And tell me again about it, because it's incredible.
Speaker 1: Your cast is incredible.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's uh, well, we're doing Fallen Angels and it's
Speaker 2: on Broadway. We just opened Amazing and it's Kelly O'Hara,
Speaker 2: Rose Bern. They're hilarious together, Tracy Chimo, Christo Fitzgerald, Mark Consuela, Amazing.
Speaker 2: It's such a brilliant, wonderful cast. That I get to
Speaker 2: work with, and uh, and it's no coward and so
Speaker 2: it's all the British farce, so super fun and it's
Speaker 2: all like hell, and I never get to do that.
Speaker 2: You know. I grew up in England and so I
Speaker 2: know that. Yeah, I grew up in England, So I
Speaker 2: grew up watching all of those British sitcoms and those
Speaker 2: sort of like Hello Vica and all that kind of thing,
Speaker 2: and uh, but I never get to yeah, exactly, at
Speaker 2: least like that was the you know, the original downto Abe, right,
Speaker 2: you know, and so I never get to play those
Speaker 2: parts like like that upper class British satirized that war.
Speaker 2: So it's really fun.
Speaker 1: And we were also saying that you should really be
Speaker 1: on Gilded Age.
Speaker 2: I should be if they listen to this podcast, I
Speaker 2: want to know, right, hopefully someone will.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I also would die to be on Gilded Age,
Speaker 1: but I don't think I'm going to get to be
Speaker 1: because Cynthia is there and once one of us.
Speaker 2: Is there, right, Yeah, it's weird if you both that
Speaker 2: and then if you have scenes together, that's really weird.
Speaker 1: It's totally strange. But sometimes in my mind because of
Speaker 1: the wigs in the costume maybe maybebeyeh, but then probably no.
Speaker 1: So I just like watch it with such envy, you know,
Speaker 1: such envy, and like there was a time that her
Speaker 1: character had this King Kevlar Charles dog, which I used
Speaker 1: to have in the show. Like this is killing me
Speaker 1: in so many ways because also Cynthia is not really
Speaker 1: a dog person, right, and she had to have one
Speaker 1: whole episode was about if her dog ran across the
Speaker 1: street and she had to take to the fainting cari,
Speaker 1: which is like, this is so surreal and bizarre.
Speaker 2: But whatever.
Speaker 1: I think the dog survived, but we haven't seen it lately,
Speaker 1: which is interesting.
Speaker 2: That's interesting what you say, which is that like if
Speaker 2: you're on a hit show with a group of actors
Speaker 2: like like you guys were, then you can never be
Speaker 2: on another show with any of them ever again.
Speaker 1: Well see that's why we keep coming back. Yeah, because
Speaker 1: we want to work together, but we can't do it
Speaker 1: in any other way.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's it's crazy.
Speaker 1: Yeah, exactly, exactly exactly. But what about you and the
Speaker 1: Daily Show people?
Speaker 2: Oh we yeah, we don't. We don't like each other anyway,
Speaker 2: so it doesn't really we don't want to work together,
Speaker 2: and it's like the last thing I want to do
Speaker 2: with those guys. No, No, I mean we would, I would,
Speaker 2: you know, it's not I think I think that has
Speaker 2: been Uh it might be weird. I don't know. I'm
Speaker 2: trying to think like if I, well, they also they
Speaker 2: come like John Oliver and and and Sam. I just
Speaker 2: did Sam's podcast actually, and that was great because we
Speaker 2: had like a reunion thing, you know. Yeah, but I
Speaker 2: don't know if like if I was to do a show,
Speaker 2: maybe it might be fine. I don't know, like something
Speaker 2: like Jason or something like that.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that'd be so good.
Speaker 2: Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker 1: The thing that I love about your career is that
Speaker 1: for me, that's how I.
Speaker 2: Came to know you because tell me because I.
Speaker 1: Couldn't tell you because also you're on so many things
Speaker 1: now because we didn't talk about the show yet or
Speaker 1: the next thing you're about to tell me that I
Speaker 1: said to wait. But like I knew you originally as
Speaker 1: a personality or whatever you would call it, all right,
Speaker 1: but now I feel like you've really fully transitioned into
Speaker 1: like a fantastic acting career.
Speaker 2: Yeah. Well, what's weird about my career in a way
Speaker 2: is that I always started as an actor. Like, I
Speaker 2: never was a comedian or stand up in that way.
Speaker 2: I never So me getting on the Daily Show was
Speaker 2: a bit of an anomaly in my career because I
Speaker 2: was doing like I went to school, drama school and
Speaker 2: got it and was doing theater Broadway, and I was
Speaker 2: doing all you know every actor in New York does,
Speaker 2: Like I was doing like Law and Order, and I
Speaker 2: did Sex in the City and you know, all those
Speaker 2: little things. And so I was always just like a
Speaker 2: working sort of jobbing actor, right, and then I got
Speaker 2: this just an audition for the day.
Speaker 1: Just a regular audition.
Speaker 2: Yeah, they just call and say, come down, an audition
Speaker 2: for the Daily Show. And it was originally a one off.
Speaker 3: Wow.
Speaker 2: And so I went in and did this and I
Speaker 2: just literally just walked an audition with John Stewart and
Speaker 2: got the job that day to be on the show
Speaker 2: that night. Right, And anyway, so I do the show. Well,
Speaker 2: I watched the show, and you know, I was a fan.
Speaker 2: I was like, oh, this is great. I didn't know
Speaker 2: what I was doing. I just came down. I was like,
Speaker 2: I was a little snooty about it. I've told this
Speaker 2: story before, Like I was a little like because John
Speaker 2: said to me when I walked in for the audition,
Speaker 2: He said, have you ever performed in front of a
Speaker 2: live audience before? Because you know, the show tapes in
Speaker 2: front of a live audience. And I was like, I've
Speaker 2: been on Broadway and he was like, oh, okay, So anyway,
Speaker 2: so I do the thing. It's on that night and
Speaker 2: I was the first non Caucasian correspondent on the Daily Show.
Speaker 2: They so there was a whole It was twenty six,
Speaker 2: got it, And there was a whole article in the
Speaker 2: La Times the next day about how there was this
Speaker 2: brown guy on the Daily Show and it was like
Speaker 2: and they had me like reporting from the Middle East,
Speaker 2: and you know, sadly that that story could apply today,
Speaker 2: you know, and so but anyway, but the point is that,
Speaker 2: like I did it, it was a one off, and
Speaker 2: then John just liked me, and so he said, do
Speaker 2: you want to come back? And so my we sort
Speaker 2: of auditioned trial process was that he just kept calling
Speaker 2: me back and doing one offs for about three or
Speaker 2: four months. And I was shooting a TV show in
Speaker 2: La at the time called Jericho with Skeet Ulrich and
Speaker 2: a whole bunch of wonderful actors on that, and and
Speaker 2: so I was going back and forth and and it
Speaker 2: was like I was living the dream at the time
Speaker 2: because I was like, I got to I'm doing this show.
Speaker 2: And then they called me in for the Daily Show
Speaker 2: every now, every couple of weeks wherever. They're just coming
Speaker 2: to do us a bit on the show. And then
Speaker 2: after about three or four months of that, John said,
Speaker 2: we want to offer you a contract amazing to be
Speaker 2: a regular correspondent.
Speaker 1: Did it hurt your acting career Daily Show?
Speaker 2: Yeah, no, it helps amazing.
Speaker 1: No.
Speaker 2: You know how this works if you are in a show,
Speaker 2: on a show that is part of the zeitgeist. Yeah.
Speaker 2: And what I've realized about this business is that, sadly,
Speaker 2: it doesn't matter how many people watch your show. It
Speaker 2: matters who watches your show. And The Daily Show did
Speaker 2: not have a huge audience, but in terms of like yeah,
Speaker 2: like it wasn't like getting like American Idol.
Speaker 1: Numbers, but it had a huge impact.
Speaker 2: But it was being watched by all the people in
Speaker 2: Hollywood and New York, all the urban center. Yeah. Yeah,
Speaker 2: and so it actually helped me amazing.
Speaker 1: That's great. Yeah, you know, so let's talk about the
Speaker 1: Miniature Wife because I just saw a big I love it.
Speaker 1: Elizabeth Banks, Yeah, she's in great. Okay, you confused For
Speaker 1: a second, I was like, is this the race?
Speaker 2: No, No, that's I gave you a blank stare, which
Speaker 2: made you go, am I.
Speaker 1: Right, because I saw a big billboard. I'm a little
Speaker 1: behind it, so hard to keep up right with the things.
Speaker 1: But I was very excited because on my Instagram I
Speaker 1: saw that it is I think the most watched show
Speaker 1: of like last week maybe.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, it was number one on Peacock. Wow.
Speaker 1: And it's on Peacock, which is amazing. Okay, great, and
Speaker 1: what is it?
Speaker 2: What is it?
Speaker 1: Super confused?
Speaker 2: So it's literally about a guy who miniaturizes his wife.
Speaker 2: It's not a metaphor. It's about Matthew McFadden. People know
Speaker 2: the amazing accession and incredible lots of other things. Incredible
Speaker 2: mister Darcy, you know and all that. And so he
Speaker 2: plays a scientist who has come up with a formula
Speaker 2: or a way to miniaturize crops so that they can
Speaker 2: miniaturize them to combat climate change. And so you can
Speaker 2: grow a whole field of corn on a tabletop. Wow, right, amazing.
Speaker 1: All but can you eat the corn?
Speaker 2: The point is what he hasn't quite figured out yet
Speaker 2: yet is how to reanimate the corn so it's back
Speaker 2: to normal size. Okay. Okay, so he hasn't figured out
Speaker 2: the B side of the equation, okay. And anyway, he
Speaker 2: and his wife, Elizabeth Banks have a very very dysfunctional,
Speaker 2: uh an unfulfilling marriage, which is they're very volatile together.
Speaker 1: Let's say, Okay, anyway, her helps. Does it help that
Speaker 1: she gets miniaturized? Well, it helps narratively, okay, gives this
Speaker 1: story believer, So.
Speaker 2: It doesn't help their marriage at all. So she accidentally
Speaker 2: gets they get into a big argument. She doesn't know
Speaker 2: what he's doing because he's being very secretive about it, and.
Speaker 1: She get on purpose.
Speaker 2: No, she it's accidentally on purpose kind of thing. And
Speaker 2: so that's a big sort of like question like does
Speaker 2: is it an accident? You know, I mean fascinating Its
Speaker 2: interesting in the it's not completely clear, like maybe both
Speaker 2: Maybe it's a bit of an accident and sort of
Speaker 2: kind of almost accidentally on purpose.
Speaker 1: So I feel like Matthew mcfadd is very good at
Speaker 1: things like that.
Speaker 2: Yeah. Yeah, so it's like he he's like anyway, she
Speaker 2: basically not to give it all away because I want
Speaker 2: people to watch it. But she gets miniaturized and now
Speaker 2: she's living in the dollhouse. He's trying to take care
Speaker 2: of her. He hasn't told her what on earth that,
Speaker 2: but he miniaturizes everything so it looks like she's living
Speaker 2: in their house. So she feels she has her laptop
Speaker 2: and she has her like you know, it's crazy. And
Speaker 2: Elizabeth spent the whole time like working with giant, like
Speaker 2: you know her, she's kisses and.
Speaker 1: It was by herself, well by herself.
Speaker 2: And then Matthew was is giant, so it's like it's
Speaker 2: like he's a huge. And so he's talking on the
Speaker 2: green when they shot it, he was talking. She's not
Speaker 2: there obviously because she's miniaturized. So they were in separate rooms,
Speaker 2: I guess, you know, because he's talking to a cardboard
Speaker 2: cutout against the green screen.
Speaker 1: Are you your full size?
Speaker 2: I'm my full size? And actually, weirdly when we got there,
Speaker 2: the rest of the cat there was one day we
Speaker 2: got there because Matthew had spent the first like month
Speaker 2: just just working by himself on a green screen, and
Speaker 2: then we got there and it was so funny because
Speaker 2: he was he was so funny because he was like,
Speaker 2: oh my god, this is so great. I get to
Speaker 2: work with actual actors and this feels like a real show. Now,
Speaker 2: he was like, I really was just sitting in a
Speaker 2: room in a green screen for like a month, just
Speaker 2: talking to a cardboard cutout of Elizabeth Banks and so,
Speaker 2: and then she was doing her own version of that.
Speaker 2: Oh my god and so. But it's really it's a
Speaker 2: very clever, fun story that goes where you don't expect
Speaker 2: it to go. Okay, it does. It does have like
Speaker 2: a lot of twists and turns.
Speaker 1: Well, now I'm very excited to see it's kind of fun.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm really I when you know, when you're making
Speaker 2: something and you're like, oh, this is going to be
Speaker 2: this is fun, Like this is just like I would
Speaker 2: watch this show. Cool.
Speaker 1: So let's use that as a segue to sex and
Speaker 1: the See. So I did not realized that you did
Speaker 1: this before The Daily Show because in my mind, time
Speaker 1: does not really exist. Yeah, right, you're what I'm saying,
Speaker 1: like like they everything is right condensed whatever. Yeah, So
Speaker 1: you're an actor. You're in New York. Yeah, you're doing
Speaker 1: Broadway and auditioning and Jenal Order and whatnot, and you
Speaker 1: come in you audition for us.
Speaker 2: I think it was an audition. It must have been. Yeah.
Speaker 2: I wasn't getting offers back, okay, okay, so I was
Speaker 2: probably it.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I came in an audition, like what was yours?
Speaker 2: I was like, Oh, it's Sex and the City. I mean,
Speaker 2: I was aware of the show. I didn't watch it
Speaker 2: all the time, but I watched it, and uh, you
Speaker 2: know this was what it was. It It was like,
Speaker 2: I think it's season four.
Speaker 1: Yeah, so it's like two thousand and.
Speaker 2: One, two thousand and one.
Speaker 1: Yeah, wow for nine to eleven.
Speaker 2: Yeah, before nine to eleven. And so you guys in.
Speaker 1: July fifteenth, two thousand and one.
Speaker 2: Oh wow, So you guys were giant at that point.
Speaker 1: No.
Speaker 2: I mean I mean, like I'll I'll tell you what
Speaker 2: I mean. Like like it was. It was a giant show.
Speaker 2: It was a big show. And I come in, I
Speaker 2: auditioned for it. We shoot it. It's great. We do
Speaker 2: it at this place called Texa. The real doesn't exist anymore,
Speaker 2: you know.
Speaker 1: We we we had the writers on yesterday and we
Speaker 1: all had a moment of silence for Texter. So you
Speaker 1: were really there.
Speaker 2: Yes, you had the writers on.
Speaker 1: We had Julian Juli, Yeah.
Speaker 2: And yeah. So the weird thing is that like when
Speaker 2: I did it my take, I hadn't never been to
Speaker 2: textav That was the first time. There was the beginning
Speaker 2: of the thing. Now you just go to the Apple
Speaker 2: Store to the Genius Bar. Right back then it was
Speaker 2: like if you had a Mac, this is where you went,
Speaker 2: right and and it's so funny, like I just watched
Speaker 2: the show the other night and it's like he's got
Speaker 2: the old Mac. You know, it's like that old like
Speaker 2: the price.
Speaker 1: I didn't even think that young young.
Speaker 2: People will be like, yeah, what is that?
Speaker 1: But he's so proud yea.
Speaker 2: And so anyways, so that was that was TEXTA. So
Speaker 2: I played it and we shot it at the real
Speaker 2: text Amazing and the real people that work there were there,
Speaker 2: so like the people in the background and the extras
Speaker 2: and stuff that you see are really the people that
Speaker 2: work a TEXTA. And so when I was shooting it,
Speaker 2: I played it because comedically him being very dismissive and
Speaker 2: sort of like a little bit snooty with her like
Speaker 2: did you back up your work? Like you know that
Speaker 2: kind of like it was funnier yeah than if I
Speaker 2: was like really nice and very helpful.
Speaker 1: Also, I thought it was very accurate.
Speaker 2: Well, the thing was that the people who work at
Speaker 2: Texts have got really mad at they were like watching
Speaker 2: us and they were like, why is he doing it
Speaker 2: like that? Like we're because they were like, this is
Speaker 2: we are very nice and we're very helpful and we
Speaker 2: helped people were not jerks and this guy's pretending like
Speaker 2: we're all acting like we're all jerks. And of course
Speaker 2: comedically for the show it was better. Yes, So they
Speaker 2: were not happy with the portrayal. Who knew of how
Speaker 2: they were portrayed. And then afterwards I heard that when
Speaker 2: you got so when you went to Texas, you went
Speaker 2: up in the elevator and you got off and there
Speaker 2: was a little lobby area and then you went in.
Speaker 2: So in the lobby area there was a after the
Speaker 2: show aired, there was a picture of my face and
Speaker 2: a huge circle and an X through my face and
Speaker 2: it said, we are not this guy. Fine, so when
Speaker 2: you got out the elevator to go to Texas, you
Speaker 2: just saw a picture of me from Sex and City
Speaker 2: and was like, we are not this guy.
Speaker 1: Crazy. Now, obviously much time has passed since this Texerve
Speaker 1: doesn't exist anymore. Which is kind of said, but like
Speaker 1: to me, I thought you were kind of nice compared
Speaker 1: to some experiences I've had.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean I think yeah. I mean, look, who
Speaker 2: knows how realistic their impression of themselves because in the.
Speaker 1: Beginning we were all very very clueless. I mean I'm
Speaker 1: still very very clueless, right, but like you know, they
Speaker 1: are literally like, what do you mean you didn't back
Speaker 1: it up?
Speaker 2: Like you know, I mean, yeah, well, now it's funny
Speaker 2: because like now everything's on the cloud, and even the
Speaker 2: idea backing up is now like now, I mean, now
Speaker 2: you just put it on it. I mean yes, hopefully,
Speaker 2: but you put it on the cloud and it's all
Speaker 2: just kind of there. And and now if your computer crashes,
Speaker 2: you know, you can pretty much retrieve everything.
Speaker 1: Like so much anxiety about it. I know. I just
Speaker 1: recently had to go to the Apple store. I made
Speaker 1: an appointment. It's such a long story that I won't
Speaker 1: get into all the details. I took my daughter. It
Speaker 1: was relating to my daughter's first laptop that she got
Speaker 1: during COVID died. You know when it dies and like
Speaker 1: the screen goes halfway there's that thing, right, But I mean,
Speaker 1: I have the cloud and she's signed into it. But
Speaker 1: that's it. There's no backing up. She's fourteen years old, right,
Speaker 1: So we go down there. I have an appointment and everything.
Speaker 1: We go down there and there's this lady who's like
Speaker 1: the wrangler, like at the door, right, and I'm like,
Speaker 1: we have an appointment. No, no, She goes, well, what's
Speaker 1: the problem and I said, oh, look the you know,
Speaker 1: her laptop. She was like, no, no, you need to
Speaker 1: go home that this is on the cloud. You're you're
Speaker 1: going to deal with it at home. I'm like, no, no, no,
Speaker 1: I have an appointment. She was like, no, no, you're
Speaker 1: gonna You're going to go home. You're going to call
Speaker 1: Apple Sport.
Speaker 2: I'm like, but.
Speaker 1: What what I'm here? Like, what what do you mean?
Speaker 2: It was you apport? So she sent us away.
Speaker 1: It was devastating. My daughter was devastated, right because she
Speaker 1: is the thing.
Speaker 2: Right.
Speaker 1: So then it's our nearby mall, right or nearby Apple store.
Speaker 1: So then I was like, dem we're going to try again.
Speaker 1: We're going to try again. We're going to go back.
Speaker 1: So I go back and I'm like, please, it's a
Speaker 1: different person. I'm like, hopefully that lady won't be there
Speaker 1: and it ends up being this. Really, I make an appointment, right,
Speaker 1: I make an appointment. I'm like, please, we can't figure
Speaker 1: it out at home. They send us away. We tried everything.
Speaker 1: Please let us please let us say. They were like,
Speaker 1: what do you mean they sent you away?
Speaker 2: Oh?
Speaker 1: No, I know, and they were like you're Charlotte, and
Speaker 1: I'm like I am. Sometimes it's super.
Speaker 2: You know.
Speaker 1: I was like, thank god, people like Charlotte. Yeah yeah,
Speaker 1: yahk you thank you God. So they helped us and
Speaker 1: we got it done. But I mean, it's a totally
Speaker 1: different world.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, I'm getting anxiety just listening to you
Speaker 2: right now. I'm like, I need to go home and
Speaker 2: make sure everything is on the cloud, I know, because
Speaker 2: because if it's not, then you.
Speaker 1: I did also, and then we're going to move on.
Speaker 1: But I did also just recently see something on Instagram.
Speaker 1: I don't know if it was because we've been watching
Speaker 1: my motherboard myself, right, because you know your phone hears you.
Speaker 1: This lady said, I thought everything was backed up on
Speaker 1: the cloud, and so I thought I would clean out
Speaker 1: my photos. So I did, and it erased all the
Speaker 1: photos because your cloud is synced to your phone.
Speaker 2: Wait, she erased her photos on her.
Speaker 1: Phone and it went away from her cloud. This is
Speaker 1: what the lady on Instagram said.
Speaker 2: That's so crazy.
Speaker 1: Isn't that upsetting? Maybe someone professional could help us on
Speaker 1: the inst.
Speaker 2: I'm going to have a word with chat GPT about
Speaker 2: this and find out if this is I'm.
Speaker 1: Afraid of GPTC. You do that and let me know
Speaker 1: what it says, okay, because I'm scared and I don't
Speaker 1: want it on my phone. I'm scared.
Speaker 2: I know, I know I should that. It's not the
Speaker 2: politics of it is not good, but I do. I
Speaker 2: have used it and I do use it. Sometimes it helpful.
Speaker 2: It does give you information okay that you need sometimes
Speaker 2: to like not have to be on hold on some
Speaker 2: you know, yes, yes, you know what I found. It's
Speaker 2: really helpful. Is like sometimes when you're like, if you
Speaker 2: need like medical advice, like ins like you can just
Speaker 2: ask and then it'll say like these are the questions
Speaker 2: that you should ask you doctor. I like that. I
Speaker 2: like that. I like that because sometimes you don't need
Speaker 2: to do that. You can like that. I like that.
Speaker 1: I'm very neurotic. Medical might be helpful.
Speaker 2: And my doctor and I was like, I'm like, look
Speaker 2: what about this, And my doctor's like, you've been on
Speaker 2: that's funny.
Speaker 1: The thing that scares me is when people are like
Speaker 1: I told GPT my dreams in life and asked it
Speaker 1: what I should do in the next five years, and
Speaker 1: I was like, are you insane?
Speaker 2: Like yeah, yeah, coming to like we don't want you
Speaker 2: can't go to it as a therapist.
Speaker 1: Nice.
Speaker 2: Yeah, although people, I'm sure people.
Speaker 1: There definitely, I mean in depth, I'm scared. I'm so scared.
Speaker 1: I'm so scared, and I just don't want it to
Speaker 1: take our jobs. Obviously. Yes, very scary. Okay, so take
Speaker 1: us back again. I want. I love to hear people's
Speaker 1: feelings and thoughts. So you're on the show, you're at
Speaker 1: the real text. Ser if they're upset with you, they
Speaker 1: put this picture, which is super mortifying. You're with Sarah
Speaker 1: and John Corbett's there. You guys shoot? Did you shoot
Speaker 1: all night? Was it cuckoo crazy?
Speaker 2: Not all night? It was like it was I assumed
Speaker 2: to remember it was. It was actually I think it
Speaker 2: was in the daytime, like okay, and we shot it
Speaker 2: and it was great. I mean, they were really nice.
Speaker 2: I'd never met either of them before and they were
Speaker 2: you know, really sweet and really and what I was
Speaker 2: going to say is that it was it was so
Speaker 2: interesting because at that time I watched Sex and the
Speaker 2: City occasionally whatever, like, but it was it was obviously
Speaker 2: like a huge show among women, and women watched it
Speaker 2: all the time. I mean they were following you guys,
Speaker 2: you know, and yes, and the day after it aired,
Speaker 2: I walked down the street and females, women were literally like,
Speaker 2: oh my god, it's well it was great because it
Speaker 2: never happened to me my whole life. Women never turned
Speaker 2: their heads that way, you know when I walked down
Speaker 2: the street. So you know, I'm not you know, John Corn,
Speaker 2: so you.
Speaker 1: Know what I mean.
Speaker 2: Like, so no, but it was you know what I mean.
Speaker 2: So it was like it was like and I wasn't
Speaker 2: even I wasn't even like famous or anything, you know
Speaker 2: what I mean. So I was just like a guy
Speaker 2: who like did a couple of scenes on the Stagia.
Speaker 2: And it was so weird because that was my first
Speaker 2: moment of like, oh, this show is like because I'd
Speaker 2: done Law and Order and all that stuff, you know,
Speaker 2: and all the all the New York shows, but there
Speaker 2: was something about Sex and the City at that point yeah, yeah, yeah,
Speaker 2: and you must you know, but like for me, it
Speaker 2: was like I was just like this actor who was
Speaker 2: like on the show. And then literally the next day,
Speaker 2: I remember walking down the street on the Upper West
Speaker 2: Side and people and and and women were just like,
Speaker 2: people would stop, that's the guy.
Speaker 1: And it was just because it was it was great.
Speaker 2: I mean, you know, look as an actor, I'm like,
Speaker 2: oh my god, I'm famous.
Speaker 1: Now that's the joy you know of having a success
Speaker 1: that you get to share it, you know, and bring
Speaker 1: people on.
Speaker 2: Yeah, so it was it was great, and you know,
Speaker 2: and so like it was a little taste of that.
Speaker 2: And then and then when I got on The Daily Show,
Speaker 2: there was a whole other level.
Speaker 1: And also you were yourself on the Daily Show theoretically technically.
Speaker 2: Yes, yes, yeah, I mean it was like it was
Speaker 2: a character who you know, the guy on the Daily
Speaker 2: Show is much smarter than me and has a lot
Speaker 2: of really funny writers that you know, write for him.
Speaker 2: But but it was it was essentially a version of me.
Speaker 2: And what was interesting about that was that people and
Speaker 2: you know, maybe we all experienced this in some ways
Speaker 2: as actors, where people think you're the character. Yes, So
Speaker 2: like when I would go to things. People would want
Speaker 2: me to be the snarky guy on the Daily Show,
Speaker 2: you know, like they'd be like, well aren't you Oh.
Speaker 2: They would say things to me to provoke a snarky
Speaker 2: reaction because they were like wanting to engage. It was
Speaker 2: like a there were fans, but they kind of wanted
Speaker 2: to Well it's it's funny because I so different things,
Speaker 2: you know, Like like like one one night, I was
Speaker 2: coming home from a party and it was very late,
Speaker 2: it was like two in the morning or whatever, and uh,
Speaker 2: I went into this is not this is I'm not
Speaker 2: proud of this, but I went into like a deli
Speaker 2: and got like you know that sushi stuff that you
Speaker 2: get it's like in the deli.
Speaker 1: Like it's not that's questionable.
Speaker 2: Yeah, probably not a great idea. But it was late
Speaker 2: at night, I was I was starving, and I like
Speaker 2: got and I got and I'm standing in line at
Speaker 2: this like deli to get the sushi, like and the
Speaker 2: woman in front of me turns around and she's like,
Speaker 2: probably not a great idea to get that right now,
Speaker 2: you know, And I was so taken aback because I
Speaker 2: was like, I was like, you don't know my life
Speaker 2: like but then I realized, like, oh, she recognized me
Speaker 2: from the show. I didn't realize that because I was
Speaker 2: just like and she being she's trying to engage with me.
Speaker 2: So people didn't do that or like I went to
Speaker 2: a party of the Republican National Convention once and there
Speaker 2: was a woman there at the party and she was
Speaker 2: just like talking to me and then she's like say
Speaker 2: something snarky, like you know what I mean, like, and
Speaker 2: it was like, like we So there was a little
Speaker 2: bit of that where yeah, people fought I was that
Speaker 2: guy and I was going to have all these quips
Speaker 2: and things.
Speaker 1: And understandably because the way the Daily Show presented you guys,
Speaker 1: you had your names, you weren't obviously playing a character.
Speaker 1: Yet there was a.
Speaker 2: Heightened Yeah, there was a heightened yeah. Yeah.
Speaker 1: Did that dissipate.
Speaker 2: After the show?
Speaker 1: Yeah yeah, yeah, Okay, that's good. I mean that seems
Speaker 1: like some pressure to me.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, no, it was. It was, you know, like
Speaker 2: when I was on the show, it was very prevalent
Speaker 2: because it was because also like we were on the show,
Speaker 2: like that time when I was on with Jason and
Speaker 2: Sam and Wyatt and John Oliver and all those guys. Uh,
Speaker 2: we were. It was every night people watched it. It
Speaker 2: wasn't like watch it every night, right, It wasn't like
Speaker 2: now where people sort of just watch it on YouTube
Speaker 2: or whatever every time. Yeah, but it was it was
Speaker 2: you know, people eleven thirty every every day it was on.
Speaker 1: And yeah, I mean, as we do now, I know.
Speaker 2: And so what happened was that people really like it
Speaker 2: was it was like, oh, you're you're the guy, you
Speaker 2: know the Yeah, we're watching it in real time and
Speaker 2: we were. We were. So there was that feeling of
Speaker 2: like we were there in people's lives and talking about
Speaker 2: stuff that they wanted to talk about, you know. And
Speaker 2: I think for me, especially like being like I said,
Speaker 2: like the first non Caucasian correspondent, the first Muslim correspondent,
Speaker 2: the brown correspond I did not realize there was this
Speaker 2: huge sense of like from within my own community, like
Speaker 2: people going like, oh my god, like like nobody has
Speaker 2: been on TV talking about that important thing. But from
Speaker 2: the position of I always thought of that like as
Speaker 2: like I had this unique position on the show, which
Speaker 2: was like I was an insider and an outsider at
Speaker 2: the same time, so I could stand on the fence
Speaker 2: and be and talk about America as an American but
Speaker 2: also as an immigrant and as somebody who like like
Speaker 2: lived in both of those worlds. And it was really like,
Speaker 2: you know, especially when we talked about like the Middle
Speaker 2: East or like foreign stuff or whatever world politics, people
Speaker 2: would come up to me like and they'd be like,
Speaker 2: nobody is talking, like like, it's amazing that you have
Speaker 2: that you're on talking about, And it wasn't. It wasn't me,
Speaker 2: it was it was the position that I was representing people,
Speaker 2: you know, and so that was really satisfying. It was
Speaker 2: really satisfying to think that, like, oh, there was a
Speaker 2: person who looked like me talk about the things that
Speaker 2: so many people out there wanted us to talk about
Speaker 2: and to satirize and to criticize. You know. It was
Speaker 2: like two thousand and six I started on the other show,
Speaker 2: so we were in Iraq at that time. America was
Speaker 2: and the Bush administration. It was all of that stuff
Speaker 2: going on, so it was a lot of it was
Speaker 2: very tense, you know what I mean. It was that
Speaker 2: post nine to eleven decade, which which which was really fraught.
Speaker 1: I remember, yeah, I remember, I mean, it's it's I'm
Speaker 1: not going to go into now very much. But it's
Speaker 1: interesting because when we look at now that seemed kind
Speaker 1: of tame, I know, which is so crazy, But did
Speaker 1: it feel for you to be in that position? It's
Speaker 1: great that people would would say to you, like it's
Speaker 1: amazing that you're there, But did it also feel scary
Speaker 1: and like pressure if you were out in the world,
Speaker 1: if people would people disagree with you and want to
Speaker 1: engage in that way?
Speaker 2: I mean, noth I I don't think it's so funny
Speaker 2: how people loved the show even when they didn't agree
Speaker 2: with it. It was weird, like when we went. One
Speaker 2: of the most like eye opening things for me was
Speaker 2: when we went to the because we would go to
Speaker 2: the conventions and so we go to the Democratic National
Speaker 2: Convention and we were like the Beatles. It was like
Speaker 2: it was like, I mean, when we went to the
Speaker 2: DNC in two thousand and eight, the year that Obama
Speaker 2: was on the ticket, it was the nominee, it was
Speaker 2: you know, it was literally like we could not walk.
Speaker 2: We were it was the fan because that was our base,
Speaker 2: that was our those were our fans. DC Democrats, Wow,
Speaker 2: you know, idea and it was like all those people
Speaker 2: in journalism, all the journalists, all the Washington folks. They
Speaker 2: were watching The Daily Show, of course all the time.
Speaker 2: Then we went to the Publican national convention and it
Speaker 2: was all very different.
Speaker 1: You know.
Speaker 2: The Democrats was the Democrat Ask convention was like a
Speaker 2: keg party, you know, and everyone was just like yeah,
Speaker 2: you know, like like I'm drinking out of the keg
Speaker 2: and half aways over here, and you know, it's like
Speaker 2: and it was like and then you go to the
Speaker 2: Republican convention. It was like ice sculptures and everyone was
Speaker 2: like and it was like a you know, a debutante
Speaker 2: ball and uh. But we went to the parties. I remember,
Speaker 2: like people were still fans. It was the show. They
Speaker 2: were like, we watch you guys all the time, but
Speaker 2: I know we don't agree with you, but we watch you,
Speaker 2: you know. And so it was like kind of crazy.
Speaker 1: All right, let's talk about the show for a minute.
Speaker 1: Because since you are a straight guy, okay, I want
Speaker 1: to ask you a question. I don't know how you're
Speaker 1: going to.
Speaker 2: Make you assumptions, but all right, I mean.
Speaker 1: You mentioned your Wife's the only reason I'm saying that, right.
Speaker 1: I would never make it a full assumption without clues.
Speaker 1: I don't have that many straight guys on and.
Speaker 2: I love interesting.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean if there are actors from the show
Speaker 1: and I can convince them to be on, like right now,
Speaker 1: I can't convince Corbett's beyond and I can't convince I
Speaker 1: can work to be on. So if you run into them,
Speaker 1: please put in word. Okay, I've tried really hard. They
Speaker 1: have their issues. Whatever I can work, doesn't want to
Speaker 1: watch his work or talk about it. Corbett's a complicated being,
Speaker 1: but whatever, I'm still trying to get them. I am
Speaker 1: so curious, Like when you watch this show as someone
Speaker 1: who's happily married, I'm just going to make that assumption.
Speaker 1: What do you think about Aiden and Carrie, because I'd
Speaker 1: love to hear straight men's perspectives.
Speaker 2: Oh that's so interesting. You know, give me a second here,
Speaker 2: because I thought about this before, but you know, I
Speaker 2: found that So when when the show was on, and
Speaker 2: and and and and my female friends were watching it,
Speaker 2: they all loved Aiden. They all loved Aiden got it
Speaker 2: not big, but they understood why she was like attracted
Speaker 2: too big, and you know that is kind of Aiden was,
Speaker 2: you know, the guy who was dependable and reliable and
Speaker 2: all that stuff. And there were so many times in
Speaker 2: my life, like I've you know, over the years, all
Speaker 2: through my single years, Like the conversation that I would
Speaker 2: have was funny because the conversation I had a lot
Speaker 2: of fem I've always had a lot of female friends,
Speaker 2: and and the conversations I would have with them when
Speaker 2: they were going through relationships were always like kind of
Speaker 2: like that, like there was a guy who was just
Speaker 2: reliable and stable and blah blah blah, and then there
Speaker 2: was this other person who like was on a motorcycle
Speaker 2: and I do and they would like end up like
Speaker 2: sabotaging the you know. I mean, I have a friend
Speaker 2: who was always she was always like I can't find
Speaker 2: a guy in LA, Like there's no you know, like
Speaker 2: like that guy. And I was like, no, you need
Speaker 2: you know what, you need to go to Kansas. You
Speaker 2: need to go to like Oklahoma, right because the guy
Speaker 2: that you want is not in.
Speaker 1: Because only certain people go to LA just like certain
Speaker 1: people come to New York, right.
Speaker 2: Right, you know, like you need to go and find
Speaker 2: a guy who like, you know, is working a real
Speaker 2: regular job and like has the thing. And it's just no,
Speaker 2: she didn't, but she actually ended up she actually ended
Speaker 2: up finding a really great guy, but it was all
Speaker 2: it all worked, but that conversation. So I think Aiden
Speaker 2: was always represented that guy who was like the salt
Speaker 2: of the earth, like just good guy, always trying to
Speaker 2: do but but sometimes a little clueless, like in a
Speaker 2: guy way.
Speaker 1: You know, like he doesn't understand that she doesn't want
Speaker 1: a brand new laptop right.
Speaker 2: Right, yes, like exactly right. And we've all been there
Speaker 2: all like even you know, every guy has been there
Speaker 2: where it's like I don't what is it that you want?
Speaker 2: Like because I'm trying to give you the thing that
Speaker 2: you want, but it seems like I can't. Everything I'm
Speaker 2: doing is disappointing you. So what is it that that
Speaker 2: I need to do? And And that conversation also I've
Speaker 2: had with a lot of my male friends, which is
Speaker 2: like I'm I'm I don't know, I'm trying, like I
Speaker 2: feel like i'm but somehow like she's just not happy
Speaker 2: with and and and I think it's like, you know,
Speaker 2: it comes down to like sort of we operate differently
Speaker 2: in terms of what we what we need sometimes, you know,
Speaker 2: like like the traditional sort of model of it is
Speaker 2: that men are always trying to fix the problem and
Speaker 2: women want us to just listen, and you know, and
Speaker 2: and that and that, and those traditional sort of male
Speaker 2: female roles are talked about a lot. But but I'm
Speaker 2: but we also flip. We we're not We're not all
Speaker 2: just in one category. You know. There are times when
Speaker 2: my wife and I where you know, my wife is
Speaker 2: a very sort of accomplished person who like has done
Speaker 2: a lot of things and run organizations and and has
Speaker 2: been like you know, and she's a she went to
Speaker 2: law school and you know, I mean all that stuff,
Speaker 2: so so, and I'm like a creative person, right and
Speaker 2: so sometimes like I will just circle the drain in
Speaker 2: terms of my pross. It depends because some of it
Speaker 2: has to do with just who you are. And if
Speaker 2: one partner is like I just need to process through
Speaker 2: this thing and like I'm having these feelings about all
Speaker 2: this stuff, and the other one is like, well, let
Speaker 2: me let me give you the answer, and you're like,
Speaker 2: I don't want the answer. I want to be able to, like,
Speaker 2: have you listen to me process it. And sometimes that
Speaker 2: takes skill on both sides because we're speaking different languages sometimes,
Speaker 2: you know, or sometimes she wants me to just listen
Speaker 2: to her and not and not try to solve it
Speaker 2: or judge it or you know what I mean, Like
Speaker 2: she just wants me to be like this thing and
Speaker 2: she's you know, kind of just talking out loud and
Speaker 2: we yeah, you know, so I don't know. Relationships. The
Speaker 2: relationships are not easy. They're not easy. They take work
Speaker 2: every single day. I found it too much easy you're
Speaker 2: to be a dad than it is to be a husband.
Speaker 1: Wow, that's amazing. Yeah, that's so interesting.
Speaker 2: Because when you're a dad, it's like you know exactly
Speaker 2: what you have to do. You just have to like
Speaker 2: take care of this person. I mean, I'm not saying
Speaker 2: it's easy, like it's a it's a cake walk. I'm
Speaker 2: just saying it's clear. It's more clear. It's more clear.
Speaker 2: My kid is young right now, maybe it'll.
Speaker 1: Get it is going to complicated.
Speaker 2: How old he's six got it's and I and I
Speaker 2: recognize that right now is like the best dad time.
Speaker 2: It's awesome.
Speaker 3: My my objectives are very clear, like I just keep
Speaker 3: him from walking into traffic, you know what I mean,
Speaker 3: Like like I do whatever activities I got, you know, like,
Speaker 3: and his needs are very clear.
Speaker 2: And as he gets older, that's going to.
Speaker 1: The team is the you know, there's a pretty big
Speaker 1: shift over My son.
Speaker 2: Who's six, has already discovered the whatever. He's already doing that,
Speaker 2: and it's so I'm like, I can't imagine what he's
Speaker 2: going to do. Get ready, He's already like whatever, dad, whatever.
Speaker 1: People tell me. I have a fourteen year old girl
Speaker 1: and an eight year old boy, and people keep telling
Speaker 1: me that it's harder with girls in teen and that
Speaker 1: the boys are going to be easy in teen, and
Speaker 1: I'm like, I pray to God that that is true,
Speaker 1: because my daughter's doing great.
Speaker 2: Right.
Speaker 1: I mean, there's a big shift and you have to
Speaker 1: you know, like adjust in your mind right that like, Okay,
Speaker 1: this is that thing where they need space and get
Speaker 1: back off and kind of what you were talking about
Speaker 1: before too, because I do want to fix the things,
Speaker 1: you know what I'm saying, But you're getting to the
Speaker 1: point where they have to navigate the friendships and the
Speaker 1: things themselves.
Speaker 2: Right.
Speaker 1: You can't just I want to be like I'm going
Speaker 1: to call that person's mom. Yeah, I know, I know,
Speaker 1: I'm the instinct is there right, right, But you have
Speaker 1: to be like, no, I'm going to listen. You want
Speaker 1: to be like Okay, how did you feel, you know,
Speaker 1: like that right, like like calm, I'm super calm. I'm
Speaker 1: not going to get like emotionally involved, do you do you?
Speaker 2: Because I know like like my son, you know, like
Speaker 2: now that he's in kindergarten, it's like he's going through
Speaker 2: like like they're all sort of the social things and
Speaker 2: kids are.
Speaker 1: Being me yes or yes, we hear about this.
Speaker 2: Yes, some teasing going on, even a little bit of
Speaker 2: bullying happening.
Speaker 1: Let me ask you a question because my eight year
Speaker 1: old boy also talks about bullying. And I'm like, tell
Speaker 1: me what happened, and then he tells me what happened.
Speaker 1: In my head, I'm like, see that is not bullying,
Speaker 1: like we know, real bullying.
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah yeah no. I mean
Speaker 2: but you know, like there is the kind of way
Speaker 2: in which you start to realize that like clicks form
Speaker 2: and yeah, you know what I mean, and and like
Speaker 2: some kids and and and and my son is is
Speaker 2: I think he's like a sensitive, creative kid like I was,
Speaker 2: you know, and and and so he's hyper reactive and
Speaker 2: like what happens is that like the you know, the
Speaker 2: kids you know, and so, but you get I think
Speaker 2: the difference is that because it's your child, you get
Speaker 2: like emotionally invested in a way where you're like, I'm
Speaker 2: going to call their parents and you can't do it,
Speaker 2: or I'm going to tell that kid, you know, like
Speaker 2: like I see the kid at school and I'm just
Speaker 2: like that little kid.
Speaker 1: I know there's still kids I'm mad at from when
Speaker 1: Gemma was six, do you know what I mean? And
Speaker 1: I know their parents and I have to just go
Speaker 1: I'm gonna I'm going to hold it in. I'm not
Speaker 1: going to say anything about something that happened on the
Speaker 1: playground ten years ago.
Speaker 2: It's hard, and sometimes it's like their parents are really nice,
Speaker 2: their parents are so sweet, yes, and their kid is
Speaker 2: a nightmare, and you're just like You're like, like, your
Speaker 2: kid is like making my kid's life miserable.
Speaker 1: So it's so difficult. It's so difficult. I know, you guys,
Speaker 1: this is so much fun that we're going to have
Speaker 1: to have a part two, so join us later in
Speaker 1: the week on are You a Charlotte