Speaker 1: You're listening to Comedy Central.
Speaker 2: Yeah, for a look at the situation on the ground.
Speaker 2: Let's go live to Moscow with some fresh exit polls
Speaker 2: and Troy Iwana.
Speaker 3: Troy, what are you learning?
Speaker 1: Does it? We're learning a lot about why Russians are
Speaker 1: so drawn to Vladimir Putin. Listen to these exit poll results. First,
Speaker 1: ninety four percent of voters said they did not want
Speaker 1: to accidentally fall out of a window and six percent
Speaker 1: said they did not want to be poisoned. So those
Speaker 1: are the top two issues. Third being Putin's age.
Speaker 3: Hey, here's edition listeners. It's Daisi Leidek and I'm sitting
Speaker 3: here with one of the newest members of our news team,
Speaker 3: Troy Iwaa.
Speaker 1: Hello, thank you so much for having me.
Speaker 3: Welcome, Welcome to the pod. Thank you, and welcome to
Speaker 3: the news team.
Speaker 1: Thank you.
Speaker 3: Am I pronouncing your name correctly?
Speaker 1: It sounded good, Troy, Oh that part the first part, Yeah, No,
Speaker 1: that's correct, Okay, good. Yeah. And then just so we're clear,
Speaker 1: it's Desai.
Speaker 3: That's exactly right, It's German, okay, Leo dyuko swallow it?
Speaker 1: And what does that mean?
Speaker 3: It means child of God?
Speaker 1: And aren't we all aren't we all.
Speaker 3: Okay, so we you and I met on we were
Speaker 3: friends before the Daily Show. Good friends, good friends. It
Speaker 3: is Troy right, Yes, yes, we met on a little
Speaker 3: movie called Space Cadet. Do you do you want to
Speaker 3: give the the elevator pitch on Space Cadet?
Speaker 1: Well, I'll just say what everyone told me. It's like
Speaker 1: legally blonde in space. It is.
Speaker 3: It kind of is. And you and I play as
Speaker 3: CAN trainees.
Speaker 1: And if for those of you that don't know, an
Speaker 1: ass can is not a can for your.
Speaker 3: Ass, No, it's we learned that on day one.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's a space spatial student, Spatial Spatial Students, special
Speaker 1: student student of Space.
Speaker 3: As you can tell, we are not actual NASA trainees.
Speaker 3: We did no research for this film at all.
Speaker 1: Lines in this movie, so I.
Speaker 3: No, but I want to talk about that because so
Speaker 3: most of the scenes that we were in were group
Speaker 3: scenes with at least five plus characters, and so oftentimes
Speaker 3: we would have like a line here, a line there.
Speaker 3: But Troy, you stole every freaking scene in that movie.
Speaker 3: If you had one line, you made the most of it.
Speaker 3: You had all of us cracking up every take. You
Speaker 3: were such a standout, truly, thank you. Why do you
Speaker 3: look so surprised.
Speaker 1: I don't know. One of my lines was fire, Yeah,
Speaker 1: but you not even with an excavation point or fire period.
Speaker 1: Thank you. That's very very sweet, but no, but it's true.
Speaker 3: And I think like that is that is one of
Speaker 3: your superpowers as a comedic actor, and I think it
Speaker 3: comes in handy here as a as part of the
Speaker 3: news team. Like in everything that you do here, you
Speaker 3: you figure out a way of like putting your own
Speaker 3: unique spin on it.
Speaker 1: Well, actually, like okay, so we met on the set
Speaker 1: of this movie, yes, right, and we were in the
Speaker 1: beautiful state of Alabama for.
Speaker 3: Three weeks, Huntsville, Alabama.
Speaker 1: Which actually was pretty lovely but I'm not gonna lie. Yeah,
Speaker 1: And then towards the end of shooting, we were just
Speaker 1: sitting in our in our actors chairs with our names
Speaker 1: on them, because that's what we require because we're actors,
Speaker 1: because we're actors, and uh, you turned to me and
Speaker 1: you said.
Speaker 3: You said, how much do I have to pay you
Speaker 3: to come to the Daily Show?
Speaker 1: I know you said, would you ever consider auditioning for
Speaker 1: the Daily Show?
Speaker 3: Yeah? It's all I could think about when we were filming.
Speaker 3: And then we spent well, we had time on set together,
Speaker 3: but then we spent an afternoon getting coffee and hanging out. Yeah,
Speaker 3: and that's when I was like, oh, we could use
Speaker 3: your perspective here. I think you should audition for this show.
Speaker 3: You're such a perfect fit for the show.
Speaker 1: Thank you, and I'm having a wonderful time good But yeah,
Speaker 1: you asked me that question, and I of course said no, yeah,
Speaker 1: gros that's disgusting. Why would you think that? And then
Speaker 1: a couple of weeks later, I got an email with
Speaker 1: a with a with a self tape. And for those
Speaker 1: of you listeners don't know what a self tape is,
Speaker 1: it's a videotape that you make by yourself at home.
Speaker 3: That's not porn.
Speaker 1: It's not porn unless you want it to be.
Speaker 3: It can be. It can get you the job.
Speaker 1: Sometimes we don't think shame here at the Daily Show.
Speaker 3: No we don't.
Speaker 1: I remember I was sent like a packet with some
Speaker 1: previous sketches that the that The Daily Show done, and
Speaker 1: they asked me to just pick one and do one,
Speaker 1: and two of them were for women and one of
Speaker 1: them was for a man. So I picked the man. One.
Speaker 3: I was gonna say, which one, did you shoore?
Speaker 1: One of them was like about it was like about
Speaker 1: abortion rights or something, and I was like, I don't think, like.
Speaker 3: I don't care about women's rights. Get the sady.
Speaker 1: This doesn't speak to me. And so I did one
Speaker 1: of them with like a reader, and then they and
Speaker 1: then they also asked me to write a desk piece
Speaker 1: for myself.
Speaker 3: And had you ever done that before?
Speaker 1: I'd written stuff for myself before, but not from the
Speaker 1: perspective of like a news anchor sort of type thing.
Speaker 1: And like, I was a little bit nervous because I
Speaker 1: definitely consider myself like a funny person, but I don't
Speaker 1: consider myself a writer, not necessarily a joke teller and
Speaker 1: so far, but I can make something funny. If you
Speaker 1: asked me to like make up a joke, I can
Speaker 1: C plus, you know, but I don't.
Speaker 3: I'd give you a higher grade than that. But yes,
Speaker 3: I know what you're saying.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, a low B minus. And but I also
Speaker 1: when when they sent me the tape, they said, you know,
Speaker 1: pressure to be funny, we just want to hear how
Speaker 1: you talk. And I was like, oh, well that's nice,
Speaker 1: and then sent that in and then a couple weeks later,
Speaker 1: I had a zoom meeting with a couple of the
Speaker 1: producers and then they offered me the job. And coming
Speaker 1: coming from a theater background, not to sound, I don't
Speaker 1: know what the word is, but this was the fastest
Speaker 1: and easiest process of getting a job that I've ever had.
Speaker 1: Nice and I'm very grateful for that, and I'm having
Speaker 1: a great time.
Speaker 3: All I did was walk away from set and then
Speaker 3: I went to Gen flans Are awesome EP showrunner. Hi
Speaker 3: Jen Boss, Hi Jen, thank you so much for listening.
Speaker 3: Thank you for this opportunity. I went to Jen and
Speaker 3: I said, I think we should ask if I worked
Speaker 3: with this guy Troy on the movie, and I think
Speaker 3: we should ask if he could submit a tape. And
Speaker 3: she put in the request and then I had no
Speaker 3: idea what you I had nothing to do with your
Speaker 3: audition process. I had no idea what you picked or
Speaker 3: what you wrote. And then I just heard back from
Speaker 3: Jen that they loved you and that they were bringing
Speaker 3: you in and gonna hire you. So it uh. And
Speaker 3: then I did watch your audition tape afterwards when you
Speaker 3: sent it to me, and it was really great.
Speaker 1: Thank you. Did they give you a cut of them
Speaker 1: of the of the bribe money that I sent in
Speaker 1: with the tape.
Speaker 3: I cannot speak of that, okay, because my lawyers might
Speaker 3: be listening. I got it. Yeah, hi lawyers, Thank you
Speaker 3: for lawyers, Thank you for this opportunity.
Speaker 1: Were you.
Speaker 3: Do you consider yourself a political person?
Speaker 1: I will say since getting this job, I've become more so. Yeah,
Speaker 1: only just like I think a lot. I feel like
Speaker 1: it's a pretty relatable thing to be exhausted by politics,
Speaker 1: especially in this country. But working here has made it
Speaker 1: more fun because I'm approaching because it forces you to
Speaker 1: approach it more from like you see the ridiculousness of
Speaker 1: it and you can laugh at it. That makes it
Speaker 1: a lot more palatable than like just being overwhelmed.
Speaker 3: Yeah, exhausted by it. In a lot of ways, I
Speaker 3: feel like the show has become my therapy because it
Speaker 3: is overwhelming. It's especially overwhelming to feel like you have
Speaker 3: to pay attention to every minute of the news cycle, right, that's.
Speaker 1: There's too much mounting. There's too much because also what
Speaker 1: is news. News is gossip of what's happening in the world,
Speaker 1: and anything can be a story, So it's you can't
Speaker 1: know what's going on and also, we're not supposed to
Speaker 1: know what's going on.
Speaker 3: It's healthy to take breaks every now and again. Yeah,
Speaker 3: And I think you do have to do that when
Speaker 3: we have little many hiatuses here and there. It's healthy
Speaker 3: to kind of like unplug and take a step back.
Speaker 3: I was also not a particularly political person going into this.
Speaker 3: I did watch The Daily Show The John Years for
Speaker 3: many years before starting here and desperately wanted to be
Speaker 3: on the show and auditioned multiple ties.
Speaker 1: You audition multiple ties?
Speaker 3: I did.
Speaker 1: I did.
Speaker 3: I auditioned for the show three times.
Speaker 1: I didn't know that I did.
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, over the course of like eight years, maybe
Speaker 3: six years. Yeah, the same process where you like, you
Speaker 3: get sent a piece that had been done on the
Speaker 3: show before and you choose that and then you write
Speaker 3: a piece. And the third time that I was asked,
Speaker 3: I was like, oh, I don't know if I can
Speaker 3: do this again, because it's it's a pretty big homework assignment.
Speaker 3: And I felt the same way that you did, like
Speaker 3: I'm not I would write by necessity for myself, but
Speaker 3: I didn't consider myself a writer, and I certainly wasn't
Speaker 3: really comfortable doing that at the time. So it was
Speaker 3: a lot it was like a big ask. And the
Speaker 3: third time, I thought like, oh gosh, I don't know
Speaker 3: if I wanted to put myself through this again. It
Speaker 3: was so heartbreaking when I wanted it so badly last time,
Speaker 3: and I think maybe if they wanted me, they would
Speaker 3: have asked me by now, and I just don't know.
Speaker 3: And my manager at the time was like, I really,
Speaker 3: I really think you should do it one more time.
Speaker 3: Just give it all you got and make a tape.
Speaker 3: And I was like all right, and so I did
Speaker 3: and I submitted and this was this is when John
Speaker 3: was still hosting the show in his final year. And
Speaker 3: I submitted the tape and I did not hear anything back,
Speaker 3: and I thought, Okay, well that's that was my chance.
Speaker 1: That was it.
Speaker 3: That's it. I got to move on. And then, uh,
Speaker 3: three months later, we got a call asking if I
Speaker 3: was available for the show to come out or to
Speaker 3: start and.
Speaker 1: Super thirty.
Speaker 3: It was like three months later, and of course I
Speaker 3: was like, yes, I'll move there tomorrow, I'll drop everything,
Speaker 3: I'll be there.
Speaker 1: At the time, I was in.
Speaker 3: LA and they were like, cool, your pits, we're not
Speaker 3: ready right now. We're just sort of like feeling yeah,
Speaker 3: it said in the subject line cool your pits and
Speaker 3: the end. So we just said like, okay, well, just
Speaker 3: so you know, we're ready anytime. And then shortly after that,
Speaker 3: John announced that he was leaving, and so they did
Speaker 3: not want to bring anyone on during that time. It
Speaker 3: was like such a moment of transition. But they continued
Speaker 3: to check in periodically, okay, And so then I think
Speaker 3: John announced he was leaving, they started looking at who
Speaker 3: the next who the next host was going to be.
Speaker 3: They locked in Trevor and then they called me to
Speaker 3: come back and read with Trevor and for a second audition.
Speaker 1: And how much longer down the line was that.
Speaker 3: So I submitted the tape in November and I got
Speaker 3: the call in July the next year.
Speaker 1: Oh my god.
Speaker 3: And during this period of time's so thinful. It was.
Speaker 3: It was a little stress It was a little stressful.
Speaker 3: And during that period of time, my husband and I
Speaker 3: had just gotten married and we wanted to start being
Speaker 3: open to starting a family. And I got pregnant, okay,
Speaker 3: and so get I get pregnant, I get knocked up. Yeah,
Speaker 3: and then I'm like four months pregnant and I get
Speaker 3: the call to come meet Trevor, and now I'm like,
Speaker 3: oh my god, this is my dream job, this is
Speaker 3: my opportunity. Do I tell them I'm pregnant? Will that
Speaker 3: change anything? Should I keep it from them? What do
Speaker 3: I do?
Speaker 1: So?
Speaker 3: I went to New York, I did the audition, I
Speaker 3: met with Trevor, and then I waited in the waiting
Speaker 3: room afterwards to talk to Jen Flans and the other
Speaker 3: executive producers, just to give them a heads up because
Speaker 3: I thought, like, I don't you know. Of course women
Speaker 3: shouldn't have to think about this sort of thing, but
Speaker 3: I didn't want to start the job off with the lie.
Speaker 3: So I waited and then Jen was like. Jen came
Speaker 3: out and she's like, yeah, yeah, you did great, And
Speaker 3: I was like, oh no, no, I don't need feedback,
Speaker 3: but thank you. I just want to let you know
Speaker 3: that this is my dream job and I would be
Speaker 3: here tomorrow if asked, But also I am pregnant and
Speaker 3: i'd be starting the job four months pregnant or six
Speaker 3: months pregnant. And she's like, without even batting an eye,
Speaker 3: she's like, congratulations, that's amazing. We'll use it on the show,
Speaker 3: or we won't use it on the show. Whatever you want,
Speaker 3: so we've done it before, we'll do it again.
Speaker 1: And Jen's anything, she's a spinner into something marketable, which
Speaker 1: is a skill.
Speaker 3: So real skilled producer right there, that is. But it
Speaker 3: was pretty awesome to hear that in the world of
Speaker 3: you know, television and you know, I mean, you know,
Speaker 3: the entertainment industry. It's not always you. I came into
Speaker 3: it pretty young and thinking like, oh, when you start
Speaker 3: a family, your career is over and that's it. And
Speaker 3: of course that's not the way that it should be,
Speaker 3: but it often is. So that was incredibly reassuring and
Speaker 3: I have refused to leave ever since.
Speaker 1: Okay, so does you auditioned for or The Daily Show? Thrice?
Speaker 1: Thrice thrice? What did you in your audition process come
Speaker 1: up with an idea for a character for your correspondent
Speaker 1: that and has that played into your character now or
Speaker 1: has it changed?
Speaker 3: Or I did, and that is I'm doing the exact
Speaker 3: opposite of what I thought I would get to it.
Speaker 3: So it clearly worked brilliantly at the time. I guess
Speaker 3: it was twenty fourteen when I auditioned, and the piece
Speaker 3: that I wrote for myself for the audition was definitely
Speaker 3: inspired by Gretchen Carlson and Meghan Kelly, the kind of
Speaker 3: like Fox News blonde type, Okay, Daisy Leidika karacspand on that.
Speaker 4: Well, I'm a Stanford graduate, I have multiple degrees. I
Speaker 4: speak nine different languages, one fourteen different beauty pageants. I'm
Speaker 4: a proficial puppeteer as Celiac survivor.
Speaker 3: No, no, I meant to expand on your view.
Speaker 4: Oh no, No, it's self evident.
Speaker 3: I kind of thought like, oh, there's maybe there's an
Speaker 3: opening to do like a female version of Colbert's character,
Speaker 3: and I would go hard into that Fox News lane.
Speaker 3: So that was the piece that I wrote, and that
Speaker 3: was the piece that I auditioned with. But then once
Speaker 3: I started the job, when Trump came into the equation,
Speaker 3: I think the entire landscape changed and it felt like, oh,
Speaker 3: we have bigger fish to fry than Fox News. Fox
Speaker 3: News is a huge part of it, but kind of
Speaker 3: like ironically embodying that persona at that time, and the
Speaker 3: political climate felt sort of unsavory and like we couldn't
Speaker 3: we couldn't make that sustain itself for years on end,
Speaker 3: And so I would dip in and out of that
Speaker 3: character periodically when we needed it, but I wound up
Speaker 3: playing much closer to like just a heightened sort of
Speaker 3: like overly confident, underinformed correspondent. Yeah, news correspondent.
Speaker 1: I think that's a layer of what we all do.
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, so there was that, But then you know,
Speaker 3: some depending on the piece, like I would kind of,
Speaker 3: you end up you try to create a character that's
Speaker 3: somewhat close to your persona but highly exaggerated, and then
Speaker 3: you sort of fit into any situation with what it requires.
Speaker 3: Like if we're doing a field piece and we're sitting
Speaker 3: down with someone who is kind of a wacky, crazy character,
Speaker 3: you want to play straight, right, Like you have to
Speaker 3: play the role of straight because they are they are
Speaker 3: the wacky character, and there's no sense in having two
Speaker 3: crazy people. So so you figure out your dynamic. And
Speaker 3: then if you're if you're sitting down with an expert
Speaker 3: who's schooling you, you kind of become the overly confident,
Speaker 3: underinformed and then you play a bit of a character.
Speaker 3: So yeah, it definitely has evolved over time. And then
Speaker 3: now in this stage that we're at right now, where
Speaker 3: we're being correspondence but then also hosting, sometimes the hosting
Speaker 3: role definitely requires you to be more of yourself, which
Speaker 3: was an adjustment that I had to get more comfortable
Speaker 3: with because I thought like, oh, I can be brave
Speaker 3: saying all of these things in character because I'm playing
Speaker 3: a character. But then once you take that armor away,
Speaker 3: it becomes a really vulnerable experience when you have to
Speaker 3: be more yourself.
Speaker 1: Yeah, because when you're hosting, you're not necessarily even a
Speaker 1: heightened version of yourself. You're yourself.
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, yeah, pretty much.
Speaker 1: When they first approached you to say, hey, we're going
Speaker 1: to have you host, how was what was your response?
Speaker 3: I said, I'll be there tomorrow. Yeah, I said, are
Speaker 3: you sure this is what you want?
Speaker 1: You thought about wanting to host before? Was that even
Speaker 1: on your radar? No?
Speaker 3: Okay, it never starting this job like I want. I
Speaker 3: desperately wanted to be a correspondent. I watched for many
Speaker 3: years the other correspondent Samby and Colbert and Correl and
Speaker 3: like worshiped what they did and thought like, that's the
Speaker 3: most fun job on the planet. And so when I
Speaker 3: started this job, I thought like, this is what I'll
Speaker 3: be doing. I never never thought that I'd get the
Speaker 3: opportunity to sit at the desk and I also I
Speaker 3: think having more of like an improv background and an
Speaker 3: acting background. My goal was never set on being a
Speaker 3: host of a show, like I just didn't think about that.
Speaker 3: But then when things opened up and we got the opportunity,
Speaker 3: I thought, well, I got to try it on, I
Speaker 3: got to put my hat in the ring here somewhere,
Speaker 3: and yeah, and it's it is totally different, but it's
Speaker 3: kind of awesome. It's like such a great opportunity.
Speaker 1: And you've gotten to do it multiple times.
Speaker 3: I know, yeah, yeah, I've Yeah, it's still still very new,
Speaker 3: still like a new muscle that needs to be worked.
Speaker 1: But yeah, when you are hosting, what what extra responsibilities
Speaker 1: do you have? Because I know we have so many
Speaker 1: writers here who are brilliant and come up with things
Speaker 1: like that. But it's like when you're when you're hosting,
Speaker 1: do you have more input on what direction you want
Speaker 1: the show to go in that week?
Speaker 3: Yes? Yeah, And I think that we even as correspondence,
Speaker 3: we are always brought into the conversation. It's very collaborative,
Speaker 3: and I think the show always wants us to have
Speaker 3: ownership over what we say. I would say, like when
Speaker 3: you're hosting, I think there's a little added responsibility and
Speaker 3: pressure that whatever happens in that show, you're sitting at
Speaker 3: the desk, so you share some responsibility in it and
Speaker 3: taking extra care and making sure like this is my perspective.
Speaker 3: I believe in everything I'm saying. And again, it's very
Speaker 3: much a collaborative process because we have such brilliant writers
Speaker 3: here and we definitely rely on their expertise, but like,
Speaker 3: it is your point of view at the end of
Speaker 3: the day. So yeah, I think there's there's like, yeah,
Speaker 3: a little added pressure.
Speaker 1: A little bit. Yeah, And I also feel like I
Speaker 1: don't want to speak for you, but I will do it. Yeah, yeah, yeah, No,
Speaker 1: But do you feel like when you are hosting or
Speaker 1: honestly just being on the show, do you feel like
Speaker 1: being a woman plays does you have to put it
Speaker 1: through that filter? I'm just saying because I as like
Speaker 1: I'm like half Japanese and I'm gay and all these things.
Speaker 1: Every time I receive any kind of material, there is
Speaker 1: always a filter of like I need to remember that
Speaker 1: I am saying this, yeah, as an Asian person or
Speaker 1: as a gay person. Yeah, so I need to know
Speaker 1: how that is going to come across because it's me
Speaker 1: saying it. Well, even if I think these jokes are hilarious,
Speaker 1: they might not come across as funny because I'm saying them.
Speaker 3: Right, Or you feel an obligation to represent yeah, people
Speaker 3: who you're speaking about, like you don't want to disappoint.
Speaker 3: There was the ruling coming out of Alabama on the
Speaker 3: on IVF and we kind of quickly wrote a very
Speaker 3: funny mini headline on it, and we were working it
Speaker 3: out in rehearsal, and as we're doing it, I'm kind
Speaker 3: of like, oh, this is this is really funny. But
Speaker 3: we're going to the jokes a little too quickly here.
Speaker 3: I think we need to kind of like sit in
Speaker 3: how messed up all of this is. And I had
Speaker 3: to sit for a minute and go, Okay, I know,
Speaker 3: you know five to ten people in my life who
Speaker 3: have actually been through this. What are they going to
Speaker 3: want to hear right now? And they're probably going to
Speaker 3: want to laugh about it a little bit, but they
Speaker 3: also are going to want to hear some acknowledgment about
Speaker 3: how excruciating this process can be. And so sometimes like, yeah,
Speaker 3: you do try to you I want to represent women. Well,
Speaker 3: I think we all feel a sense of responsibility that
Speaker 3: we don't want to let people down, and at the
Speaker 3: end of the day, we just kind of have to
Speaker 3: follow our instincts because there's no way we'll be able
Speaker 3: to make everyone happy, right.
Speaker 1: And it's like, we're happy to represent the communities that
Speaker 1: we come from, absolutely, but it can't be solely about that.
Speaker 1: And I have no interest in being the face of
Speaker 1: my community right in that sense, because I'm not equipped.
Speaker 1: I'm not intellectually or anything like that. And it's like,
Speaker 1: I remember my very first field piece that I shot
Speaker 1: was the piece about professional cuddling. As one who goes
Speaker 1: through life avoiding human contact, I wasn't thrilled about meeting
Speaker 1: someone who made a living from touching other people. I
Speaker 1: have to admit it does sound a bit scammy. Seems
Speaker 1: like you're just ripping off people who've never heard of
Speaker 1: the body pillow.
Speaker 2: It is not just about the physical act of cuddling.
Speaker 3: The body pillow cannot talk to.
Speaker 4: You, right.
Speaker 1: I would see the fact that my pillows can't talk
Speaker 1: back to me as an asset. And I remember, you know,
Speaker 1: they sent me the breakdown of it in the pitch,
Speaker 1: and of course I was like, I'm very excited because
Speaker 1: it's my first field piece. And but I wrote back,
Speaker 1: I was nervous. I think I texted you about it
Speaker 1: because I was nervous because the take was like our
Speaker 1: correspondent thinks that this industry is actually just like a
Speaker 1: front for like sex work, and thinks that professional cuddlers
Speaker 1: are you know, are just sex workers, and it's it's just,
Speaker 1: you know, a front for that. And I remember emailing
Speaker 1: emailing the team back and being like, this is funny
Speaker 1: the fact that this is my first impression on the show.
Speaker 1: I don't know if I necessarily want my first impression,
Speaker 1: as like the gay correspondent to be me showing up
Speaker 1: being like, so we're all gonna have sex, right, yes?
Speaker 3: Yes? And that's what's so great about the show is
Speaker 3: like day one, you can come in and be like, hey,
Speaker 3: I had this thought, yeah, and this is a concern
Speaker 3: for me, and how do we navigate around that or
Speaker 3: how do we change the take so it feels more
Speaker 3: in line with what I want to represent, what I
Speaker 3: want to talk about. And what was that like when
Speaker 3: you brought that up to the producer and you said, hey,
Speaker 3: here's what I'm thinking. How did that go over?
Speaker 1: They're extremely receptive of it and said, you know, we'll
Speaker 1: tweak it before we shoot, we'll tweak it while we shoot.
Speaker 1: If you ever feel uncomfortable, we can stop. But they
Speaker 1: were wonderful about it.
Speaker 3: And it just goes to show like how needed it
Speaker 3: is to have a variety of diverse voices in the room,
Speaker 3: on the writing team, in producing in front of the camera,
Speaker 3: because that represents our audience.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and the material itself wasn't offensive in any way,
Speaker 1: but again, it was just putting it through that filter
Speaker 1: of I need to think about the fact that I
Speaker 1: am a gay person saying these things right, and the
Speaker 1: fact that I was, like, this is my first impression.
Speaker 3: On even just it was your first piece day one,
Speaker 3: bringing something up it was you were met with a
Speaker 3: very receptive response.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, that was beautiful.
Speaker 3: That's good to hear.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 3: When you started here as part of the news team,
Speaker 3: did you think about the character that you wanted to
Speaker 3: play and how much of that should lean into your
Speaker 3: own personality versus like what you wanted to create for
Speaker 3: yourself on the show.
Speaker 1: I I kind of just knew that parts of myself
Speaker 1: would just make it into the character. I didn't really
Speaker 1: come in like method thinking this is who I'm going.
Speaker 3: To be how much backstory did you write over your character?
Speaker 1: I wrote pages, pages, and I learned that in college. No,
Speaker 1: I sort of just knew that it would like creep in. Well,
Speaker 1: first of all, actually you were very helpful to me
Speaker 1: in the both the audition process and my starting process
Speaker 1: because anytime, say more, well anytime. First of all, you
Speaker 1: were always very available to me to answer any questions,
Speaker 1: but you always back to them, and I don't know,
Speaker 1: I think this is hilarious. You would always say, Troy,
Speaker 1: you are overqualified for this job. So that's me multiple times.
Speaker 3: You're a very talented human being, You're an extremely talented
Speaker 3: performer in so many different areas, and truly, yes, you
Speaker 3: are extremely qualified for this.
Speaker 1: Well, that's a very kind thing for you to say.
Speaker 1: I will say now, I'm still learning and there are
Speaker 1: definitely things about this job that scare me but in
Speaker 1: a good way and challenge me same. But yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: it was more of just trust the process. And I
Speaker 1: was like, there's a lot of very talented people that
Speaker 1: work here and they're gonna they're gonna, I'll trust that
Speaker 1: they'll that will all help each other. And I remember
Speaker 1: my first my first day actually shooting something doing a
Speaker 1: chat live in studio. I remember I showed up and
Speaker 1: everyone was so warm and welcoming to me. And even
Speaker 1: when I was in the studio, they were like, there's
Speaker 1: four cameras, they're always in the same spot. There's two
Speaker 1: places for you to stand. That's not going to change.
Speaker 1: Look there. Have you ever read a teleprompter before it?
Speaker 1: And I was like, no, but I can read, you know.
Speaker 1: And what's beautiful about here is the teleprompter is right
Speaker 1: over the lens.
Speaker 3: Yes, isn't it great? So you don't have to look
Speaker 3: like your crosside reading it above the camera. Yeah, it
Speaker 3: looks like you're looking at the camera, but you're reading.
Speaker 3: You're reading the whole time. Well, now the audience knows, well,
Speaker 3: we can cut this out. We should edit. Let's edit this,
Speaker 3: edit this out. And then also they were like and also, if.
Speaker 1: You fuck up that bad, it's not live. Yeah, we'll
Speaker 1: do it again. And so I was like, this is great.
Speaker 1: And also, I mean, I've been working in this industry
Speaker 1: for ten years and every time I've done a job
Speaker 1: that's sort of in my head been on like a
Speaker 1: pedestal of like oh my god. Like when I did
Speaker 1: my first Broadway show and my first TV show and
Speaker 1: all that stuff like that. As soon as I got there,
Speaker 1: it was It's not like the magic was like taken away,
Speaker 1: but it was this beautiful experience of, oh, this is
Speaker 1: this is what I used to I used to make
Speaker 1: movies in my backyard and I did plays in high school.
Speaker 1: This is the exact same thing. But we all have
Speaker 1: money now. Yeah, but we're all it's all it's the
Speaker 1: same people. It's the same kinds of people, the same dynamics.
Speaker 1: It's just there's more people watching us, and there's a
Speaker 1: little and there's more money involved.
Speaker 3: It's true.
Speaker 1: But other than that, it's like, yeah, it so in
Speaker 1: a way that it it it's a very positive experience
Speaker 1: of just like oh, we're still all like dumb, like
Speaker 1: like theater theater, film buffs, you know, kids just running
Speaker 1: around making stuff. It's super fun.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and there is that feeling. It's one of those
Speaker 3: jobs where no one really sits you down to be like,
Speaker 3: here are all the rules of what to do on
Speaker 3: this show. In this role, you just are kind of
Speaker 3: like thrown into it. Because we're a daily show. We
Speaker 3: move so quickly, so you just kind of have to
Speaker 3: learn as you go. But at the end of the day,
Speaker 3: you are supported by what I think we have close
Speaker 3: to like two hundred people on our staff and crew
Speaker 3: that are all truly the very best in the business
Speaker 3: at what they do, and they've got your back. So
Speaker 3: even if you know nothing or have the worst instincts,
Speaker 3: they will support you like you're you're gonna be good.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Yeah, I knew it was I knew it was
Speaker 1: a good a good workplace when I the second I
Speaker 1: came in here and started working, I was like, I've
Speaker 1: never felt I never felt uncomfortable. It was always like,
Speaker 1: not until this podcast podcast right now and all these
Speaker 1: these these very deep important questions, never felt uncomfortable, always
Speaker 1: felt welcomed, always felt supported. It's chaotic, but in a
Speaker 1: fun no. But no one's freaking out. No, that's the
Speaker 1: cool thing about this. It's like it's a calm chaos.
Speaker 1: They're like, oh my god, we have to move so fast,
Speaker 1: but it's like, but there's a there's a confidence that
Speaker 1: it's all gonna work out.
Speaker 3: Yeah, you know why, because there's always a sh tomorrow.
Speaker 1: Yeah yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3: Yeah. The first piece that you did in studio on
Speaker 3: the book Bands was so funny and it was so
Speaker 3: much fun to watch you. Like, even from the rehearsal
Speaker 3: that we did that day, it was like, oh, yeah,
Speaker 3: you're just like such an obvious fit. It seemed like
Speaker 3: such a natural fit for you.
Speaker 1: But do you really believe these books are gonna walk
Speaker 1: kids minds? Actually, if I could get personal for a second,
Speaker 1: I am a living example of how damaging these books
Speaker 1: can be. When I was in school, I read a
Speaker 1: Japanese manga book and look at me, now, I am
Speaker 1: half Japanese.
Speaker 3: Wait wait the book turned you half Japanese? Why only half?
Speaker 1: Well I didn't. I didn't finish it. Oh, thank you.
Speaker 1: And Costa and Ronnie were fantastic that day.
Speaker 3: So that's right. They were hosting.
Speaker 1: They were both hosting, and they're both so kind and
Speaker 1: welcoming to me and very supportive. It was really it
Speaker 1: was really cool.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's a good it's a very good supportive group.
Speaker 3: Did you receive the email from Colbert, the Colbert's Advice?
Speaker 1: Yes, not just for you listening. I didn't receive it
Speaker 1: from Colbert himself.
Speaker 3: It was for he He is not interested in any
Speaker 3: of our email addresses. There's there's no correspondence.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I did receive him. That was very I actually
Speaker 1: received it from you, Ronnie and Roy.
Speaker 3: That tells you so sent it to me. So Colbert
Speaker 3: at one point wrote down a list of advice, a
Speaker 3: list of to do's for shooting, how to shoot a
Speaker 3: successful field piece. And I believe that he wrote it
Speaker 3: and handed it off to Rob Wriggle maybe, and Rob
Speaker 3: passed it along to Al Madrigal, and then Al passed
Speaker 3: it along to Jordan, who passed it to us, and
Speaker 3: then we passed it to you. So it's like this weird,
Speaker 3: very weird comedy fraternity.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and it's just like ten points, ten points. It's
Speaker 1: very simplified.
Speaker 3: He makes it seem so easy, and yet he was
Speaker 3: the master of doing those field pieces. It's not quite
Speaker 3: that easy, but the really really great pointers, like know
Speaker 3: the three things that you want to get from the
Speaker 3: subject and don't leave until you get them.
Speaker 1: Yeah. I like that. Colbert was like, it's just ten
Speaker 1: simple steps. Also, if you're Stephen Colbert, it's just gonna
Speaker 1: work out.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's just gonna be fun. You're just brilliant at
Speaker 3: everything you do.
Speaker 1: We're like, hey, Steve, I tried these ten things that
Speaker 1: didn't work out, and he was like, well, I'm very talented. Yeah,
Speaker 1: we're like, oh, got it, Steve, got it? Thank you?
Speaker 3: Yes, that helps. What was the what was You've done
Speaker 3: a lot of acting work before. Yeah, you've been on
Speaker 3: lots of TV show so much.
Speaker 1: Well you know and you as well, you have we're
Speaker 1: both very decorated actors here in the studio.
Speaker 3: You were in a very funny movie called Summoning Sylvia.
Speaker 1: Thank you.
Speaker 3: You're hilarious in it. Thank you so much for the listeners.
Speaker 3: If you haven't seen the movie, it's hilarious and Troy
Speaker 3: is brilliant in it, and it's on Stars.
Speaker 1: It's Summoning Sylvia now streaming on Stars.
Speaker 3: You can say that again. Is this the vocal? Is
Speaker 3: this the vocal warm up you do before the show?
Speaker 1: It's what I do every morning and every night before
Speaker 1: I go to bed Sylvia on Starck, I fall asleep.
Speaker 3: But how how does you also were on Dash and
Speaker 3: Lily on Netflix.
Speaker 1: Uh, we crashed, Yeah, we crashed on Apple TV plus.
Speaker 3: TV plus ever heard of it?
Speaker 1: Ever heard of it?
Speaker 3: You've been on all the streamers. Yeah, how does how
Speaker 3: does the preparation for like a more traditional narrative show
Speaker 3: compared to preparing for the stuff we do on this show.
Speaker 1: I mean it's really just time, yeah, you know. But
Speaker 1: also just filming, filming like a TV show or a movie,
Speaker 1: there's a lot of waiting around here. It's fast, fast, fast,
Speaker 1: which as an as a creative person, is more fun.
Speaker 3: It is. And then then you go onto a set,
Speaker 3: like when we worked on the movie, it was like, wait,
Speaker 3: why are we Why are we waiting?
Speaker 1: So we're waiting so long, But that's you know, and
Speaker 1: you know, that's you. We go in knowing that we're
Speaker 1: going to be sitting and waiting for a long time. Yeah,
Speaker 1: but yeah, that's really just it. It's time again. I'm
Speaker 1: not okay for all of you listening, I'm not the
Speaker 1: actor you want to interview. If you want an actor
Speaker 1: talking about act, tell.
Speaker 3: Me more about your process, like, for example, in that
Speaker 3: tour divorce that we shot on TikTok last week, good doom, goodong.
Speaker 1: Yes, gay guys, we all know the boss got kicked
Speaker 1: off of Twitter and he's making his own social media site.
Speaker 1: So the question is what should the site be called?
Speaker 1: You know, one name that we talked about was Xeon
Speaker 1: Xeon or or zion in ing. Yeah, yeah, that's got
Speaker 1: a nice pop to it.
Speaker 3: Hey, you guys see Trump's new zion and ing when
Speaker 3: he called whoop goldburgerslutt.
Speaker 1: How do you spell zion? Oh you can't, It's impossible.
Speaker 2: Any other ideas.
Speaker 3: Oh, we also liked goadoon or goadong like we hits
Speaker 3: at or goadoon goadong like you post a goadoon and
Speaker 3: then get people to godong it.
Speaker 1: Like my gadoon got four hundred do dongs and oh wow,
Speaker 1: don Junior go boying. It makes no sense.
Speaker 5: Amazing.
Speaker 3: We were also thinking that users can reboing a gaboying,
Speaker 3: which is a gabond goadoon that has been gray dad also,
Speaker 3: of course, and.
Speaker 1: For every ten gray daggles you get a de lung guy,
Speaker 1: and ten de lung guys you get a galgado and
Speaker 1: a gorded goog ay and the Google woos.
Speaker 5: Yeah.
Speaker 3: Now, when you were preparing for your role as a
Speaker 3: memo of the Trump team, did you have to kind
Speaker 3: of get into that conspiracy theorist mindset? Did you do
Speaker 3: a lot of back channeling? Yeah?
Speaker 1: Well, actually part of my actually I learned this in
Speaker 1: my collegiate program, and part of my processes I like
Speaker 1: to start from the bottom so I like to start
Speaker 1: with what shoes do you think this person wears?
Speaker 3: Oh? I love that. What shoes did your character wear?
Speaker 1: They just happened to be the shoes that I was
Speaker 1: wearing at the time. But you know, normally I like
Speaker 1: to I like to buy the shoes. I like to
Speaker 1: spend some time with the shoes, like to interview the shoes.
Speaker 1: I like to dismember the shoes and put it back
Speaker 1: together so I know exactly where I'm coming from and
Speaker 1: where I'm going. It's important to hydrate, always have.
Speaker 3: To, always have to hydrate in character.
Speaker 1: It's important to your instruments looped, do your shoes?
Speaker 3: Do your shoes stay hydrated as well?
Speaker 1: Oh yes, I have a spritzer shoes, a shoe splitzer.
Speaker 1: I buy it organic on Etsy.
Speaker 3: Now, the line Godoon Gadong gets a gal gado? What
Speaker 3: kind of prep did you put into that particular line?
Speaker 3: Because that's a real you have to do some real
Speaker 3: mental gymnastics around that.
Speaker 1: There's a beautiful acting technique where you assign a sort
Speaker 1: of active verb to your lines, whether it's pulling or
Speaker 1: pushing or ringing or smashing.
Speaker 3: And I'm going to keep the drag at it I'm
Speaker 3: going to keep the straight face go on mm hmm.
Speaker 1: And it actually it just helps lay a foundation and
Speaker 1: puts a purpose behind each each line. So for gal Gado,
Speaker 1: my word was force.
Speaker 3: Yes, yes, I see that.
Speaker 1: Did you see it? Did it come through? As if
Speaker 1: it didn't, then I didn't do my job as an acto.
Speaker 3: Troy, you are an absolute delight.
Speaker 1: Thank you so much for having me Dizzy.
Speaker 3: Thank you for pronouncing my name correctly. Finally, Dozy, Troy,
Speaker 3: thanks for being on the pod.
Speaker 1: Thanks for having me on the pod.
Speaker 3: And I'm so happy you're part of the team.
Speaker 1: I'm happy to be a part of it.
Speaker 3: Thank you, listeners, Thank you, thanks for listening. Bye bye.
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Speaker 5: searching The Daily Show wherever you get your podcasts. Watch
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Speaker 1: This has been a Comedy Central podcast