Speaker 1: You're listening to Comedy Central, coming to you from New
Speaker 1: York City to the only city in America. It's the
Speaker 1: Daily Show tonight. Let me term elections are upon us, Christian,
Speaker 1: I'm in poor Man, Tyler Perry. It's the Daily Show
Speaker 1: with Driver Nol. I don't know about Welcome to the
Speaker 1: Daily Show. I'm telling out. Thank you so much for
Speaker 1: turning in. Thank you for coming out of tank. Thank
Speaker 1: you so much, thank you so much, thank you so much.
Speaker 1: Thank you for being everyone. Thank you, thank thank you. See,
Speaker 1: let's tell us thing all right. We have got a
Speaker 1: great show for you tonight. Republicans are promising to cut jobs.
Speaker 1: Everything in the UK is on sale, and doth Veda
Speaker 1: has found a new voice. Plus, Tyler Perry is joining
Speaker 1: us on the show, and we're gonna be chatting to Christiane.
Speaker 1: I'm on about what's happening in Iran. So let's do
Speaker 1: these people that's come straight into today's headlines, all right.
Speaker 1: Before we get into the big stories, let's catch up
Speaker 1: on a few other things going on in the world.
Speaker 1: We kick things off with big news from the NFL,
Speaker 1: which has announced that this year's Super Bowl halftime show
Speaker 1: will be headlined by Rihanna, and we can all agree
Speaker 1: on what that means. Right. That means that this isn't
Speaker 1: the super Bowl anymore. This is a Rihanna concert with
Speaker 1: football around it, all right, that's what it is. In
Speaker 1: government news, the CIA has announced that it is launching
Speaker 1: a podcast. Yeah, which is great because I guess now
Speaker 1: for a change, we're gonna be listening to them. And
Speaker 1: I know, I know a lot of people are doubtful
Speaker 1: about this, they think it's weird. But I think it's
Speaker 1: gonna be a huge, huge hit, you know, Yeah, because
Speaker 1: the CIA said that they're going to use the same
Speaker 1: tactics they used when they launched Crack. So this podcast
Speaker 1: is gonna go everywhere. It's gonna be really good. Oh.
Speaker 1: In international news, Italy has elected its first female prime minister. Yeah. Who.
Speaker 1: It's also a right wing politician who loves Mussolini to late.
Speaker 1: You cheered, No, your cheer. You can't take your chairs back.
Speaker 1: You can't take your chairs back. You loved already. Yeah.
Speaker 1: This is a bitter sweet for Italian liberals because a
Speaker 1: woman broke the glass ceiling, but she did it by
Speaker 1: throwing an immigrant through it. All right, let's move on
Speaker 1: to the big stories of the day, starting with Star Wars,
Speaker 1: the sci fi movie that made incest cool. For almost
Speaker 1: fifty years, James Earl Jones has been the voice behind
Speaker 1: Darth Vader, the most famous villain in movie history and
Speaker 1: most famous asthmatic. But on Friday, Disney announced that the
Speaker 1: force is going to be moving on. James Earl Jones
Speaker 1: is reportedly retiring from voicing Darth Vader, but Star Wars
Speaker 1: fans may not even notice. Vanity Fair says the ninety
Speaker 1: one year old actor has signed off on a plan
Speaker 1: to use artificial intelligence to craft new dialogue from his
Speaker 1: old voice recordings. You see the little mommaid becomes black
Speaker 1: and they take a white gentile Jones, Hi, I told
Speaker 1: you that'd be backlash. I told you. I'm joking. I'm joking.
Speaker 1: I'm joking. The legendary actor has retired from doing the voice.
Speaker 1: That's all that happened. And what's interesting to me is
Speaker 1: that you hear what they said. Instead of trying to
Speaker 1: find someone else to voice the pot, Disney has said
Speaker 1: they're gonna use artificial intelligence to replicate Darth Vada's voice. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I don't know, people, this makes me a little nervous. Yeah,
Speaker 1: we think AI is going to take over the world,
Speaker 1: and now we're gonna teach it to use the dark
Speaker 1: side of the force. No one thinks this is a
Speaker 1: bad idea, But I get it. I get it. I
Speaker 1: mean that voice is iconic, you know, it belongs in
Speaker 1: Darth Vader's body or announcing CNN promos. But that's it,
Speaker 1: and that's the last thing we need. The last thing
Speaker 1: we need is them opening the roll up to like
Speaker 1: other famous people like they could you know when they
Speaker 1: do that with roles, and then it becomes weird. You know.
Speaker 1: Can you imagine Darth Vader being voiced by someone else? Luke,
Speaker 1: I am your father, but until your mama sells me,
Speaker 1: the paternity tays, you can just call me uncle Darth.
Speaker 1: And for our main story tonight, I am your father.
Speaker 1: That's right, Luke, I am your daddy. And yes, that
Speaker 1: upsets me as much as it upsets you. Luke. A
Speaker 1: lot of people are saying I'm your father. Look, they're
Speaker 1: saying they've never seen a better father, and they're right.
Speaker 1: I love all my children. It's you, It's Ivanka, and
Speaker 1: that's it. It would have never worked. All right, enough
Speaker 1: of that, let's move on from star wars to another
Speaker 1: ongoing battle, the mid term elections. In our latest installments
Speaker 1: of Vote Demmick, we're not just six weeks away from
Speaker 1: election day, which means each party is making their closing
Speaker 1: pitches to the voters. Democrats are promising that if they win,
Speaker 1: they will secure abortion rights and share Nancy Pelosi stock tips.
Speaker 1: And Friday, to counter that message, Republicans revealed their new
Speaker 1: policy idea. House Republicans are unveiling their plan to win
Speaker 1: back the majority in November. On Friday, House Minority Leader
Speaker 1: Kevin McCarthy, who is eyeing the Speaker's gabble, announced his
Speaker 1: new GOP agenda, called the Commitment to America. But on
Speaker 1: that very first day that we're sworn in, you'll see
Speaker 1: that it all changes because on our very first bill,
Speaker 1: we're gonna repeal eight seven thousand I R S Agents.
Speaker 1: Our job is to work for you, not go after you.
Speaker 1: God damn eight seven thousand I R S agents fired. Yeah,
Speaker 1: but I just streaked the flaws. Will streak them at
Speaker 1: home because your ass is gone. Hashtag Republicans also love
Speaker 1: the language they use when they're trying to be tactical,
Speaker 1: right when they complain about jobs going away, they'll be like,
Speaker 1: you're losing jobs, you're getting fired. When it's then they're like,
Speaker 1: we're gonna repeal these jobs. And if you're thinking that
Speaker 1: seve is a weirdly specific number, that's because it is
Speaker 1: the exact number of I R S employees hired by
Speaker 1: the Biden administration a couple of months ago. Yeah, And
Speaker 1: the idea behind this was that the government could get
Speaker 1: more money if the I R S was better able
Speaker 1: to crack down on all the text It's like billionaires
Speaker 1: and corporations, right, which makes sense, Which makes sense. Although
Speaker 1: another way to get more money in taxes would be
Speaker 1: to not make doing taxes feel like solving the formula
Speaker 1: for the time space continuum. They could make it easier. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it would have spent all weekend combining line C with
Speaker 1: linet B. I want if I wanted to be an accountant,
Speaker 1: I would have been an account and god damn it.
Speaker 1: But now the GOP is promising fewer I R S agents,
Speaker 1: which means you have less of a chance of getting audited,
Speaker 1: which means you don't have to worry as much about
Speaker 1: paying your taxes. And you know what it is. Yeah,
Speaker 1: Basically the GOP is that kid who ran for class
Speaker 1: present in ninth grade on a platform of making homework illegal.
Speaker 1: And you're like, this doesn't seem responsible or even possible,
Speaker 1: But yeah, he has my vote, Yeah he has my vote.
Speaker 1: But look, this IRS bill has a good chance of happening,
Speaker 1: because remember, the Republicans are still expected to take control
Speaker 1: of the House this year for and for many reasons. Yeah,
Speaker 1: Joe Biden's on popularity. The way congressional districts are drawn.
Speaker 1: People are hearing that Republicans are giving away free flights
Speaker 1: to mops vineyard. But remember it's not a sure thing.
Speaker 1: They might win, but it's not a sure thing. And
Speaker 1: part of the reason it's not as sure as it
Speaker 1: should be is because the Republicans keep putting up candidates
Speaker 1: like this. Republican House candidate JR. Majewski is struggling in
Speaker 1: his campaign in northwest Ohio. The forty two year old
Speaker 1: Republican first launched into fame by painting Donald Trump into
Speaker 1: his lawn and raised eyebrows last year with a rap
Speaker 1: video attacking Joe Biden. He's crap in his paint, our dreams,
Speaker 1: in our freedom, this is our last shame. Majuski is
Speaker 1: now in hot water again, facing accusations that he lied
Speaker 1: about being deployed to Afghanistan after nine eleven, when in
Speaker 1: fact he served away from combat. Majuski says, the documents
Speaker 1: proving that he saw combat our top secret. In fact,
Speaker 1: the orders and the military records that I've been able
Speaker 1: to obtain from my personal files shows that all of
Speaker 1: my deployments are listed as classified. Yeah, that's right, people,
Speaker 1: he cannot prove that he was in combat because all
Speaker 1: of the records are classified. And I believe him. Man,
Speaker 1: I I've been there. I've been there. I have when
Speaker 1: I was in middle school. My girlfriend was classified too,
Speaker 1: and it sucks. She was so hot, guys, I wish
Speaker 1: you could have seen her, but oh man, she was
Speaker 1: so classified. Well, if you if you weren't in active combat,
Speaker 1: you can't just say you were in active combat, especially
Speaker 1: if you get elected at a dinner party. We get it,
Speaker 1: you know, I killed bin Laden who. But lying about
Speaker 1: an active combat isn't just disrespectful told the truths who
Speaker 1: are actually in active combat, it's also extremely misleading to
Speaker 1: the voters. Right if you're gonna say you're doing top
Speaker 1: secret combat in Afghanistan and you can't show it to us.
Speaker 1: You should at least have to prove it, you know,
Speaker 1: you should have to do some S team six ships
Speaker 1: in front of us. Yeah, Like the guy standing next
Speaker 1: to you just snap his neck on stage. But then
Speaker 1: I'll believe You'll be like, oh, ship, did you say that?
Speaker 1: And then the guy I'm talking to his head slides
Speaker 1: off his body. I'm like, but it looks like this
Speaker 1: guy wasn't in active combat and he didn't kill anything
Speaker 1: other than that rap music video that was like rap
Speaker 1: did not survived that video. Rest in peace, hip hop
Speaker 1: or we will remember You. We will remember you. All right,
Speaker 1: But let's move on to some international news, because America
Speaker 1: isn't the only country in the world. You know, there's
Speaker 1: like ten of us. Three weeks ago, the UK was
Speaker 1: introduced to its new Prime Minister, Liz Truce, who announced
Speaker 1: that she was gonna get Britain back on track. She
Speaker 1: just didn't mention which way the track would be going.
Speaker 1: This morning, the British pound plunged nearly five percent to
Speaker 1: a record low against the US dollar, levels like that's
Speaker 1: not seen since the eighties. This amid growing fears of
Speaker 1: instability in the UK. Frida British officials announced the largest
Speaker 1: tax cuts in fifty years, while also boosting government borrowing
Speaker 1: and spending. Worries there this will be inflationary. This seems
Speaker 1: to be a vote of no, no support for the
Speaker 1: new government here, and it's a big ambitious plans announced
Speaker 1: late last week. Yeah, so here's what happened, lisztrups introduced
Speaker 1: a round of tax cuts for the wealthy, and in response,
Speaker 1: the British currency has collapsed, which is not what they wanted. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and at some point, can we admit that even lifelong
Speaker 1: politicians don't actually know what they're doing? Right? Can Can
Speaker 1: we admit that we were just assumed they have some
Speaker 1: idea of the way things work, but they just they
Speaker 1: just run things the way we used to play Mortal Kombat,
Speaker 1: you know, just just hit all the buttons and hope
Speaker 1: for fatality. Come on, Luke, can come on. I actually
Speaker 1: feel bad for listeners because this was the first bill
Speaker 1: that she proposed and it tanked the entire economy. Can
Speaker 1: you imagine being Prime minister and your first idea, your
Speaker 1: first idea was like, oh, you know what you tell
Speaker 1: all about money? It's worth this now? Thanks Liz. I'm kid,
Speaker 1: I'm kidding. Obviously, this the bull wasn't the first thing
Speaker 1: she did. The first first thing she did was killed
Speaker 1: the queen, right, this was the second thing. That's what
Speaker 1: it was. All Right. That's it for the headlines. That's
Speaker 1: it for the headlines. But before we go to a
Speaker 1: quick break, let's check it on the stock market without
Speaker 1: finance expert Michael Cost to everybody, Michael, what is happening
Speaker 1: in the markets today? I'm crushing the market, Trevor, consistent
Speaker 1: exponential growth. And I got a hot tip for you,
Speaker 1: hot tip for you, and a hot tip for you.
Speaker 1: Know you always say that you're crushing it, but like,
Speaker 1: how are you crying? Like what do you what are
Speaker 1: you invest in? Well, I'm glad you asked that, Trevor,
Speaker 1: and I would love to tell you, but it's classified. Okay,
Speaker 1: And look, it's hard to constantly be crushing it, especially
Speaker 1: right now. World markets are down. I mean, look at this.
Speaker 1: You know, in response, governments around the world are raising
Speaker 1: their rates. And here's what people don't realize. This is
Speaker 1: why I'm an expert. If you raise prices, things get
Speaker 1: more expensive. Okay, a lot of people don't know that,
Speaker 1: but but but look, look, you know you know who's
Speaker 1: not crushing it. The British. Okay, the British pound is
Speaker 1: way down. I mean, look at this chart. Okay, this
Speaker 1: looks bad. This looks like my face when I made
Speaker 1: my own face serum from TikTok. But but but by
Speaker 1: the way, doesn't it kind of piss you off that
Speaker 1: they added a last name to their money? You know,
Speaker 1: how far how far up your own ass are you
Speaker 1: when you give your money a last name? I mean, pound, sterling.
Speaker 1: The dollars should do that, right, dollar, first name, dollar,
Speaker 1: middle name, Bill's last name, y'all suffix right, Hello, lone pounds, Carolyne?
Speaker 1: What up? I'm Della Della Bills, y'all. Look now, let's
Speaker 1: let's dig into this. Let's look at the chart right here. Also,
Speaker 1: I think it's funny that they had to like make
Speaker 1: a little crown right there. You know, we gotta look.
Speaker 1: People are blaming the tax cuts, they're blaming Liz Truce.
Speaker 1: But no, here's what happened with the power the queen Okay,
Speaker 1: rest in power. Okay, she passed away. Now you can
Speaker 1: see right here, this moment, right here is where the
Speaker 1: Brits realize Charles is gonna be on their money. All right,
Speaker 1: Having a seventy year old man and your pants is
Speaker 1: never exciting. Okay, look at this, and it's definitely not
Speaker 1: going to stimulate your economy. Now, if you're an American tourist,
Speaker 1: this can be used to your advantage because now is
Speaker 1: the best time to buy British goods like sword stuck
Speaker 1: in stones, or or Scotland or extra used for random
Speaker 1: words like color or neighborhood, you know, British. Thanks now, Trevor.
Speaker 1: These governments they're trying to do too much, raising interest rates,
Speaker 1: conversion rates, inflation, monetization consideration. I have a solution, okay.
Speaker 1: In order to stimulate the economy. All we have to
Speaker 1: do is add hot people to our cash, not Charles. Okay,
Speaker 1: way more people are likely to take out money and
Speaker 1: spend it if there's pictures of sexy people on the money.
Speaker 1: Imagine pulling out a dollar and it's got Paul Rudd
Speaker 1: on it, or or Sophia Virgara or Paul Rudd, you know.
Speaker 1: Imagine taking out of twenty and you look and it's
Speaker 1: that guy from I Love You Man. But if it
Speaker 1: isn't Jason Siegel, yeah, Paul Rudd, right, Michael Uh, can
Speaker 1: you just give us a hot tip. I promise you
Speaker 1: hot to if we do get sexy people on the money,
Speaker 1: like like I'm suggesting, and you can rub them together.
Speaker 1: That's like two sexy people kissing. Okay, And and and
Speaker 1: you can again one bill you get like a hot
Speaker 1: leading lady and on the other bill you could get
Speaker 1: someone from that you know, the is forty or or
Speaker 1: aunt man, you know, like a Paul Rudd, right, and
Speaker 1: you could that's hot. Back to you, Trevor, thank you
Speaker 1: so much for that microloft. All right, when we come back,
Speaker 1: we're gonna be chatting to Christian. I'm on Paul about
Speaker 1: the fight for freedom in Iran. So don't go away.
Speaker 1: I'm thankful. Welcome back Sunday's show. Everyone has been talking
Speaker 1: about the situation in Iran, and if you haven't heard about,
Speaker 1: ten days ago, a young woman named Massa Amini was
Speaker 1: arrested by the Morality police for not properly covering her hair,
Speaker 1: and then she died in their custody. Ever since then,
Speaker 1: Iranians have been pouring into the streets demanding justice for
Speaker 1: her death and freedom for Iran's women. Now, so far,
Speaker 1: the government has answered the protesters with brutal violence and
Speaker 1: has shown no signs of reconsidering the law that requires
Speaker 1: women to cover their hair. In fact, last week, the
Speaker 1: president of Iran was scheduled to be interviewed by CNN's
Speaker 1: Christian Alman Paul in New York, and at the last minute,
Speaker 1: he demanded that she wear a head scarff for the interview,
Speaker 1: even though the interview was in New York, and when
Speaker 1: she refused, he straight up just canceled the interview and left,
Speaker 1: just left her looking like she was giving therapy to
Speaker 1: a ghost. So joining me now to talk about the
Speaker 1: interview and the situation in Iran is Christian Aman Paul. Christian,
Speaker 1: welcome to the game. Stops um, let's jump straight into it.
Speaker 1: You have interviewed many Iranian presidents. You have never been
Speaker 1: in a situation like this before where they where they
Speaker 1: demanded of you that you wear the head scarf, not
Speaker 1: in Iran. Walked me through the situation and also why
Speaker 1: you owes to not do what the what the president
Speaker 1: of irund requested. Well, very briefly, like you know, with
Speaker 1: my team, we wanted to do this interview and we
Speaker 1: were going to get the Iranian president's first an exclusive
Speaker 1: interview on American soil. And as you know, because New
Speaker 1: Yorkers know, it's gridlock at the u N. This is
Speaker 1: the u N Week and one of the things we
Speaker 1: like to do is get voices from all over the world,
Speaker 1: including the Iranian president. So I've done this now many years,
Speaker 1: and I've always had the first interview with the latest
Speaker 1: Iranian president and it's never been an issue. There is
Speaker 1: no law in the United States that requires a journalist
Speaker 1: to wear a scarf for any interview. Um and it
Speaker 1: was never an issue. And by the way, I find
Speaker 1: out that this guy, he had a breakfast, he had
Speaker 1: a press conference, and he didn't require anybody to wear
Speaker 1: a scarf. So, you know, come to the evening and
Speaker 1: it's now eight o'clock and then they say he's praying
Speaker 1: and he's resting, and you know, we're gonna do it
Speaker 1: a little bit later. And suddenly UM an aid came
Speaker 1: and said, um, we would like the president would like
Speaker 1: you to wear a scarf. I'm like, why, Um No,
Speaker 1: I don't have to wear a scarf anyway, cut to
Speaker 1: the chase, it is not law, and as a journalist,
Speaker 1: I made instantaneously a journalistic decision based on the principle
Speaker 1: that it wasn't law and be you don't get you know,
Speaker 1: strong armed by a foreign government or any government when
Speaker 1: you're trying to sit and conduct a previously arranged interview.
Speaker 1: It seems it seems like and I can't help thinking
Speaker 1: that this was most probably um, I guess, in some way,
Speaker 1: shape or form, motivated by the timing. You know, you
Speaker 1: are of Iranian descent. Do you think that there was
Speaker 1: an element of him not wanting to appear on camera
Speaker 1: with you for fear of a message it may center
Speaker 1: a country that's very quickly turning against this dictator. Well,
Speaker 1: I think you're you're right. I mean, I don't know
Speaker 1: that I'm as sure, but I do actually believe that
Speaker 1: he did not want to be seen with a woman
Speaker 1: who who whose head was uncovered right at the same
Speaker 1: time that in his own country there was an uprising
Speaker 1: on the streets, and in fact a woman had died,
Speaker 1: a young woman had died because of this um while
Speaker 1: in the custody of the morality police. And I would
Speaker 1: just say that this morality police has been around since,
Speaker 1: you know, forty plus years of the Islamic Revolution, but
Speaker 1: under some presidents it's less obvious and less strict, and
Speaker 1: under some it's much more strict. So this particular president
Speaker 1: is one of the very hardline variety, and he basically
Speaker 1: came to power by um making the crackdown on all
Speaker 1: sorts of social norms, including on women's dress and their activity.
Speaker 1: That was the central theme of his campaign. And you know,
Speaker 1: clearly it's all gone, as we say, pear shaped, because
Speaker 1: I don't think he expected that something like this would
Speaker 1: cause the worst uprising in Iran since two thousand nine.
Speaker 1: It's really interesting and and your you know, your audience
Speaker 1: should know in your viewers that some of the Iranian
Speaker 1: people are under the age of twenty one. Sixty of
Speaker 1: Iranian students and university graduates are women. Women have a
Speaker 1: lot of power and they want their full rights. I
Speaker 1: think they have every right to want that, and across
Speaker 1: the world that you know, I think there may be
Speaker 1: some misconception. Some see this as these women completely going
Speaker 1: up against Islam, when in fact it's not that. What
Speaker 1: they're saying is they have nothing against anybody practicing a
Speaker 1: religion or anyone, you know, dressing the way their religion requires.
Speaker 1: Their Their qualm seems to be about the government forcing
Speaker 1: people to do it, should they not wish to? Is
Speaker 1: that correct? Look, that is correct. The actual the matter
Speaker 1: is that it is uh the law, at least the
Speaker 1: social law. I don't know it's written in the you know,
Speaker 1: the legal the legal books, but it is the social
Speaker 1: and religious law, and it has been since the beginning
Speaker 1: of the revolution, which happened in nineteen nine. But interestingly, Trevor,
Speaker 1: you know, the women came out in the streets back
Speaker 1: then forty plus years ago to also call for a
Speaker 1: change of regime, but they were not wearing head scarves,
Speaker 1: and there was no question at that time where at
Speaker 1: the beginning of head scarves being compulsory. I know women
Speaker 1: who went into the streets at that time, including members
Speaker 1: of my own family, who wanted to get rid of
Speaker 1: one monarchy for what they thought was going to be democracy.
Speaker 1: Then very shortly thereafter Ilmeni said, oh no, actually, you
Speaker 1: women you need to be you know, veiled. And that
Speaker 1: has been a bubbling cauldron for the last many many years.
Speaker 1: I had a wonderful woman on my show tonight, married
Speaker 1: John Satrapi. If any of you know the graphic novel
Speaker 1: novel Persepolis, which she wrote about her a childhood. She
Speaker 1: basically said this, Look, the people of Iran wanted democracy.
Speaker 1: The minute you take off the veil, you know, their
Speaker 1: dictatorship will go. So the regime is not going to
Speaker 1: allow that. But she said, she put it this way,
Speaker 1: it's only to keep men's eyes off women. So if
Speaker 1: they're so corny, she said, and they're so unable to
Speaker 1: control themselves, well maybe they should take a cold shower
Speaker 1: or look somewhere else. And that's the bottom line. And I'm,
Speaker 1: you know, sorry to say it, but even in your country, Trevor,
Speaker 1: even in the United States, with this law that has
Speaker 1: you know, banned the ability for women to make their
Speaker 1: own choices about their own bodies, it's something incredibly important
Speaker 1: that we have to you know, keep an eye on
Speaker 1: and that in that moment, I was not, as a
Speaker 1: journalist or as a woman going to put a headscarf
Speaker 1: on and somehow bind myself in some kind of you know, well,
Speaker 1: I've always I appreciate you taking the time to join
Speaker 1: us on the show. Um, I appreciate you. You know,
Speaker 1: I've I've grown up watching you cover all of these stories,
Speaker 1: and as always I appreciate the work that you do
Speaker 1: out there. Thank you. So much for joining us on
Speaker 1: the Daily Show once again. Thank you. Be sure to
Speaker 1: watch Christians. I'm on Poor Show. It's is on CNN I,
Speaker 1: which is weekdays on PBS in the United States. We're
Speaker 1: gonna take a quick break, but we'll be right back
Speaker 1: after this. Welcome back to the Day Show. My guest
Speaker 1: tonight is a right time. He's a director, he's an actor,
Speaker 1: and he's a producer who has built an entertainment empire.
Speaker 1: He's here to talk about his latest film, at jazz
Speaker 1: Man's Blues, which is now streaming on Netflix. Please welcome,
Speaker 1: Timer Perry. How are you, Tyler Perry? How are you?
Speaker 1: I played that clip and then I said, please welcome
Speaker 1: Tyler Perry. And I know some people are watching that
Speaker 1: going wait, was was that Tyler Perry? So what what
Speaker 1: you said, Tyler Perry? What is happening here? This is
Speaker 1: a very different movie. People say, Tyler Perry, we think
Speaker 1: there'll be a type of movie that comes out and
Speaker 1: this is not tell me about the movie. Yeah, media
Speaker 1: is not in this. There's no It's set in the
Speaker 1: nineteen forties, and she does not pop out from behind
Speaker 1: a tree going hellero, it doesn't happen this uh. This.
Speaker 1: Actually wrote this movie twenty seven years ago, the first
Speaker 1: movie I ever wrote, and I've been holding onto it
Speaker 1: for a very long time because I had to be
Speaker 1: intentional about building my studio doing things that work, because
Speaker 1: I couldn't take a chance on doing a period piece,
Speaker 1: especially ten fifteen years ago. So I made everything work
Speaker 1: and and solidified myself. So now I can do the
Speaker 1: things that I've always wanted to do, and this is
Speaker 1: one of them. But let's so let's go back to
Speaker 1: the inception of this. Tyler Perry twenty six years ago, goes,
Speaker 1: I want to make a story that's about jazz, but
Speaker 1: more important, it's a period piece in the nine and
Speaker 1: it's about forbidden love. What what? What? What attracted you
Speaker 1: to that time period? Why? Why the story? What was
Speaker 1: it about this that made you want to make it?
Speaker 1: I couldn't afford to go to theater, so I would
Speaker 1: sneak in an intermission and there was a show at
Speaker 1: you know, people would come out to smoke, and then
Speaker 1: when they went back in, I would act like I
Speaker 1: bought a ticket and I walked out like that. And
Speaker 1: there was a there was August Wilson play in in
Speaker 1: Atlanta at the time called Our Two Trains Running and
Speaker 1: I got a chance to see it, and it blew
Speaker 1: me away. While the second half anyway, and there was
Speaker 1: a there was a afterwards, there was an after party,
Speaker 1: and I got a chance to talk to him. I said,
Speaker 1: you know, I'm doing this play. I wrote this play card.
Speaker 1: I know I have been changed. It's not working very well.
Speaker 1: You know, people say it's Chipland circuits, very low brown,
Speaker 1: and I was feeling low on myself and bad about it.
Speaker 1: And he was so encouraging. He said, let me tell
Speaker 1: you the power of the Chipland circuit and what it
Speaker 1: did for all of us as black people, but also
Speaker 1: let me encourage you to write whatever is on your heart.
Speaker 1: Don't be limited. And I went home and started writing
Speaker 1: jazz Man from aug Wilson. Yeah, you know, you're one
Speaker 1: of the most fascinating human beings and entertainment for me,
Speaker 1: because you occupy so many different zeitgeists. You know, people
Speaker 1: have ideas of you, people have ideas about what you create,
Speaker 1: and it seems like you exist not despite it, but
Speaker 1: in spite of it. Is it's almost like you know,
Speaker 1: you know, you even said to me, uh, you know,
Speaker 1: I won't make you watch him Ada movie, but I'll
Speaker 1: make you watch this one. I won't force you to
Speaker 1: watch him Ada movie, but I want you to watch
Speaker 1: this right. But but but but even in that, you know,
Speaker 1: what I find interesting about that is, how have you
Speaker 1: been able to operate or work in a world where
Speaker 1: so many people have an idea of what you create
Speaker 1: and why it should or shouldn't be created? And you
Speaker 1: haven't pigeonholed yourself. You've gone, I create whatever I would
Speaker 1: like to create. You know, in spite of what people
Speaker 1: say about what I create, Well, listen, I'm number one.
Speaker 1: I'm very familiar with my audience, the audience that I
Speaker 1: grew up with, the people that I know. I know
Speaker 1: what they love and like it. We are I am them,
Speaker 1: they are me. So when I'm telling those kind of
Speaker 1: stories again, it's it's intentionality, the media's of it all.
Speaker 1: Why did I get married? Those stories help me build
Speaker 1: a multibillion dollar brand in this huge studio. So I
Speaker 1: knew that that is the lane that I had to
Speaker 1: walk in, and I won't ever leave it because I
Speaker 1: love seeing it. I love that. Yeah, I won't ever
Speaker 1: leave it. But I also know that there are other
Speaker 1: sides of me. You know, while I was getting panned
Speaker 1: by critics for media, I always had Jasmine in my
Speaker 1: back pocket. So to be in this moment, it feels
Speaker 1: really good to see people understand that just because you
Speaker 1: come from one place or you do one thing, doesn't
Speaker 1: mean you have to stay there. I like that. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I like the love. I also love how I also
Speaker 1: love how you You You have this connection with not
Speaker 1: just Medea, but the idea of Medea. What what what
Speaker 1: the character has done for you, what the audience has
Speaker 1: done for you, what you've built with them? And I
Speaker 1: like that you say, I'm not just going to leave
Speaker 1: it now because this is the thought of myself I
Speaker 1: always wanted is maybe it's on a on a personal level,
Speaker 1: just seeing you as a human being. There was this
Speaker 1: moment where Tyler Perry blew up, is the best way
Speaker 1: to put it. You know, all of a sudden, all
Speaker 1: of films in Atlanta and they were people were coming
Speaker 1: to your studios now and now Marvel needed Tyler Perry's
Speaker 1: phone number, and and you became larger than life in
Speaker 1: the industry. You created a new level of respect for
Speaker 1: black creators and for black studio executives, etcetera. But but
Speaker 1: one thing I always wondered with you was it seemed
Speaker 1: like you you were super confidence as Medea, and it
Speaker 1: seemed like as Tyler Perry, you were like finding yourself
Speaker 1: in in this journey. I always wanted was I just
Speaker 1: seeing that or or was that? Was that something that
Speaker 1: I was just projecting onto you? You can't be more
Speaker 1: confident than media. I mean, she is what she is
Speaker 1: to be that size and have those breasts, you have
Speaker 1: super confident, right, But no, I but people don't know
Speaker 1: about me. I'm an introvert opposed as an extrovert, so
Speaker 1: so I'm always awkward in those situations. So that may
Speaker 1: be what it is, Okay, But yeah, but everything I mean,
Speaker 1: you know, people started seeing you online and you started
Speaker 1: working out, and all of a sudden there was Tyluperry
Speaker 1: with a six pack, and Tyler Perry started living this life.
Speaker 1: It's been amazing to watch. Genuinely, I'll tell you why.
Speaker 1: I'll tell you why. I'll tell you why because you know,
Speaker 1: it was something that Oprah funny Enough said to me
Speaker 1: about how you changed her life, which is a crazy
Speaker 1: sentence to say. By the way, can we just acknowledge
Speaker 1: you it was Oprah as a guest. But she said
Speaker 1: to me, she said, it was Tyler Perry who finally
Speaker 1: helped me realize that I had made it and I
Speaker 1: had made money, that I was rich. I was like,
Speaker 1: what do you mean, Oprah, your Oprah? And she says, yes,
Speaker 1: but I've grown up so poor and I struggled for
Speaker 1: so long that I never allowed myself the opportunity to
Speaker 1: enjoy the fruits of my labor. And it was Tyler
Speaker 1: Perry who called me one day and said, hey, Oprah, Oprah,
Speaker 1: your rich relaxed? Right? I want to know who called
Speaker 1: you or who instilled that in you? Because no, because
Speaker 1: you've also come up just I mean, I've seen the
Speaker 1: first idea of a studio you had. Who who to
Speaker 1: installed that in you? Nobody. I'm still waiting for no, no, no,
Speaker 1: But I would tell you, but to go back to
Speaker 1: this Opra thing. She left out a part of that
Speaker 1: because she she gets off her private jet and she
Speaker 1: has uh garbage bag mixed matched luggage and all this
Speaker 1: other stuff, and I call up, like, Oprah, what are
Speaker 1: you doing my luggage that matches? You get off a
Speaker 1: private plane. So so so that's the part she left
Speaker 1: out of the story. But honestly she was she had
Speaker 1: already been that for me, just just just the level
Speaker 1: of because even though she's a very wealthy woman and
Speaker 1: she has a lot, open is not a money I
Speaker 1: got money, money money, that's not who she is. With
Speaker 1: the genuineness of her shows through. And she also showed
Speaker 1: me how to be graceful inside of all of it.
Speaker 1: But also Sydney Portier just the man with the just
Speaker 1: the class and the grace and the way he held
Speaker 1: himself and carried himself. He was one of the first
Speaker 1: black men that I saw. I had that kind of
Speaker 1: present slow and I wanted to be like that, and
Speaker 1: I never heard him talk about money. Wow, that's really amazing. Um,
Speaker 1: you are a pioneer. You know, oftentimes in life they
Speaker 1: say it's easier to chase a goal that other people
Speaker 1: have said because you know where you're trying to get to,
Speaker 1: but then once you get there, becomes difficult because you
Speaker 1: don't know where else to go. You are at the place. Now,
Speaker 1: what is Tyler Perry dream off? I mean, when you
Speaker 1: when you have the studios that the movies are made,
Speaker 1: and you make the movies, you can write your own character.
Speaker 1: What do you dream about? At this point. You know.
Speaker 1: That's why when Jaz when I finished jas Man and
Speaker 1: shot it and got it out. Now it's coming out
Speaker 1: at you know, tomorrow or Netflix. The level of grief
Speaker 1: I felt was shocking to me because I've been holding
Speaker 1: onto it so long. It was like a kid going
Speaker 1: off to college and now you've got an empty nests
Speaker 1: so I'm like, well, what's next? What do I want
Speaker 1: to do next? Project? Was that important? Oh my god,
Speaker 1: it was that important. Yeah, And to hold it all
Speaker 1: of that time where you're hearing all of this other
Speaker 1: stuff about your work, it was really tough. But to
Speaker 1: now to let it go and be out there. I
Speaker 1: felt the sense of grief. But what I also understand
Speaker 1: is that the thing that is getting keeping me going
Speaker 1: right now. There's no other reason for me to do
Speaker 1: this other than to come to the studio every day
Speaker 1: and work alongside people who have never had a chance
Speaker 1: in this business. They they are listen, I've got I've
Speaker 1: got um people working in in gripp and Electric who
Speaker 1: before my prisoners, who had been in jail for seven
Speaker 1: twenty years, working side by side, And to have somebody
Speaker 1: come up with me say, Tyler, I just want to
Speaker 1: thank you so much because I just bought my mother house.
Speaker 1: That kind of things like how can I how can
Speaker 1: I stop? And what would have happened had I not
Speaker 1: done it? Like all of their dreams were tied into
Speaker 1: my destiny. So I have to keep going. So that's
Speaker 1: what I want to do. That's that's that's what keeps
Speaker 1: me going. It keeps you going, it keeps the people going.
Speaker 1: I appreciate you so much. Thank you for driving on.
Speaker 1: How did parr? Everybody? We're gonna take a quick break.
Speaker 1: Well we're right back top of the black means. Well,
Speaker 1: I thought so much to hide before we go, Before
Speaker 1: we go, please consider supporting World Central Kitchen. They're on
Speaker 1: the front lines providing meals in response to humanitarian climates
Speaker 1: and community crises, most most recently in Puerto Rico and
Speaker 1: the Dominican Republic following Hurricane Fiona. And they're also in
Speaker 1: Pakistan following the devastating floods over there. So this is
Speaker 1: an amazing organization that you can help if you have
Speaker 1: any means. Until next time, stay safe out there, and
Speaker 1: remember the pound is now worthless, So just send them
Speaker 1: to me and I'll figure out what to do with them.
Speaker 1: What's the Daily Show weeknights at eleven tent Central on
Speaker 1: Comedy Central. In stream full episodes anytime on Paramount Plus.
Speaker 1: This has been a Comedy Central podcast