The Daily Show: Ears Edition - Oscar Nominated Actors Danielle Brooks & Da'Vine Joy Randolph
Episode Date: January 25, 2024Oscar Nominated Actor Danielle Brooks sits with Trevor Noah and describes how Broadway's "The Color Purple" inspired her to become an actress. Plus, Oscar nominated Actor Da'Vine Joy Randolph talks wi...th guest host Michelle Wolf about the movie "The Holdovers," including mastering a 1970s Boston accent, cooking real food in the film and picking up smoking to prepare for her role.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Survivor 47 is here, which means we're bringing you a brand new season of the only official survivor podcast on fire.
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You're listening to Comedy Central. My guest tonight is one of the stars of the
Broadway musical The Color Purple. Please welcome Danielle Brooks.
Please welcome Danielle Brooks. Thank you. What a lovely audience you have.
What a lovely audience you have.
Mmm.
This is, I mean, I'm so used to seeing you in prison over.
Mm-hmm. No.
This is, I mean, I'm so used to seeing you in prison overall.
No makeup, no hair.
You clean up well, girl.
Thank you, darling.
Thank you, I was just like, I'm so easy.
You look beautiful, you look beautiful.
Thank you so much to be here.
Thank you.
I spent weeks, I mean, when we started the show, I spent weeks just being like, I just want to get one joke into the show where I get to a tasty.
Hey!
Hey!
Yeah!
Thank you.
So I'm such a huge fan of yours.
Insane.
Obviously, Orange is the new black.
I got to see the color purple.
You are on an amazing trajectory right now. Thank you. Are you. Are you. Are you. Are. Are. you. you. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. to. th. to. to. to. to. to. th. to. to. to. to. to. to. to. to. to. to. to. to. to. to. to. to. to. to. to. to. to. to. to. to. to. to. to. to. to. to. to. to. to. to. to. to. to. to. to. to. to. to. to. to. to. to. to. to. to. to. to. to. to. to. to. the. the the the the the the the the the the the the t. the te. to. to. to. to. to. to. to. to. to. to. to. to am taking it all in. I feel so incredibly blessed
to have two major jobs. Three, Angry Birds included, I just feel so grateful
that I get to do it all. I know I'm an Angry Birds? Yeah. Am I bragging? Does it
sound bragging? That's impressive. That's really impressive. Because I mean it's, you see, you can see the roles
being formed, you know, in playing a powerful woman in prison fighting the odds
and playing a powerful woman fighting in segregation
and playing a powerful bird fighting eggs.
Still though, still, you can see that.
Yes, it's very diverse in the roles that I choose.
Yeah, which is, let's talk about the color purple for a second. I mean, honestly, one of the most amazing stories. Thank you. You are powerful on stage. I. I. I. I. th. th. th. th. th. th th th th th th. th th th th th. th thi thi the thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thing thing thi th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. thi thi thi thi thin, you thin, you you to the, you you you to you you thin, you you you thin, you thin, you the thin, you thi thi thi thi. talk about the color purple for a second. I mean, honestly, one of the most amazing stories.
Thank you.
You are powerful on stage.
I didn't know you could sing like that.
Thanks, yeah.
And you were inspired by the story when you went to watch it.
Was it 11 years ago?
Yes.
10 11 years ago, my father took me to see my first Broadway show. We had gotten a free ticket to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to be, to to to to the to be, the, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, their, thi, their, I, I thi, their, thi, thi, thi, thi, the thi, th. I th. I th. I th, I th, I th, I th, I th, I th, I th. I th. I th. I, I, I th. I, I th. I, I the the the the th. I, I, I the, I thi, I the thin. I thin, thin, thin, thin, thin, thin, thin, thin, thin, thin, thin, thin, thin, thin, thin, thean, thin, thin, th internship. And he was like, you want to come to a show?
I said, yes, and it was the color purple.
And so I remember sitting in the audience
just like this 15 years old, just crying.
And my dad was with me.
My dad's a big dude, and the seats at theaters are pretty small.
So he was like, not having it. This is not working th is not working th is not working th is not working th is not working th is not working th is not working thi is not working thiiia thi. thi, thi. thi. thi. the thi. thi. thi. thia. thia. thia. thi. the the the thi. thi. thoom, thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. I thi. I thi. I thi. I thi. I the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the thi. thi. I thi. I thi. tea. tean. tean. tod tea. tea. tea. tea. today. tea. today. me so he stood after intermission. Wait for the rest of the show? He stood for the rest
of the show and I was like whatever you go do you because I'm so immersed in
this story and it really has changed my life it it made me want to go
to go study for it so I went it up going to school in New York for theater and and then 10 years later here I am and so I th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. I th. I was th. I was th. I was th. I was th. I th. I th. I th. I th. I th. I'm the. I'm the. I'm theeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee. I'm the the the the the the the the the. I was to school in New York for theater. And then 10 years later, here I am.
But I made sure when my dad came to open a night
that I got him a seat on the edge so that he can stretch his feet out.
That is true.
Just so that he wouldn't have to squeeze in.
So he could be comfortable.
I've always been fascinated by the fact that you have a show
predominantly black in the audience,
which you don't see on Broadway.
But you also have people that are chiming in the entire time.
How do you keep your focus?
Because there are people in the audience.
You'll say something, you'd be like,
there's only one answer and it's Jesus.
It's just that's right, you turn to Jesus. How do you stop yourself from me? It's very hard to navigate.
It really is challenging.
Being on Broadway stage is in a very difficult thing.
Two and a half hours, you're just focused.
And it's really hard to stay focused when you have audience members,
like in the middle of hell no,
screaming, no, back, or on their phones.
But sometimes it's fueling. It's like, yeah, hell no, and it makes me really get into character even more because I know that people are supporting me and
They're right along with me on the story, but there is one there's one point where I thou's
There's one point where there's one point where there's one the audience would have joined in the mob beating up the man the man. We're fighting we're fighting. We're fighting we're fighting we're fighting we're fighting. We're fighting. We're fighting. We're fighting. We're fighting. We're fighting. We're fighting. We're fighting. We're fighting. We're fighting. We're fighting. We're fighting. We're fighting. We're fighting. We're fighting. We're fighting. We're fighting. We're fighting. We're fighting. We're fighting. We're fighting. We're fighting. We're fighting. We're fighting. We're fighting. We're fighting. We're fighting. We're fighting. We're fighting. We're fighting. We're fighting. We're fighting. We're fighting. We're fighting. We're fighting. We're fighting. We're fighting. We're fighting. We're fighting. We're fighting. We're fighting. We're fighting. We're fighting. We're fighting. We're fighting. We're fighting. We're going. We're going. We're going. We're going. We're going. We're going. We're going. We're going. We're going. We're going. We're going. We're going. We're going. We're going. We're going. We're going. We're going. We're going. We're going. We're going. We're going. We're going. We're going. We're going. We're going. We're going. We're going. We're going. We're going. We're going. We're going. We're going. We're going. We're going. We're goingthe new black you're still working on. Still working on it. It's still amazing. Thank you. June 17th it comes out, season 4.
It's gonna be waiting. Yeah. I really think it's your best season. Is it ever weird for you that people on Netflix and chilling to you? Do you ever think about that? Oh, that's so gross! No, I've never thought about that. Now you will. Thank you, Trevor. Now I've just th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th th. th th. th th th th th. th th th th th th th th. th th th th th th th th th th th th th th. thi. th th th the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. the thi. the thee the thu. thu. tea. thuu. thu. thu. thee the thee the the the the the've never thought about that. Now you will. Thank you, Trevor.
Put that in my head.
Yeah, the next time you're doing a scene you can think about that.
And Angry Birds, let's talk about Angry Birds.
Yes.
That is so amazing.
It's my first animated film that I'm doing.
That is so amazing.
Congratulations. Thanks. And you play? Crossing guard. But no, like my character actually has a lot more to the story.
I don't want to spoil it and I've been told not to spoil it, but she is pretty crucial
to the story, so it's been pretty fun.
Of the three major roles you've played, which one has been the most challenging for you?
Angry birds? By far. By far, I mean, to be so invested in every vocal range.
No, no.
I'm making that up.
That was me trying to make a joke.
You were going to, you were going to win a Tony for that.
I could see you.
This is a, you're like, no, no, I'll save it.
I'll save it for to have you. Thank you so much for joining us, Danielle Brooks. the colorproper currently on Broadway.
Genniel Brooks, everybody.
Hey, I'm Ben Mycelus. I'm Brett Mycelus. And I'm Jordi.
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Jordy, anything to add? Shout up to the Midas-My-M-M-M-M-M-M-M-M-M-M-M-M-M-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-i-i-is-i-is-is-is-is-is-is-is-is-is-is-is-is-is-is-is-is-is-is-is-is-is-is-is-is-is-is-is-is-is-is-is-is-is-is-is-is-is-is-is-is-is-is. So so so so so so so to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to-ii. to-s. to-s. to-s. to-s. to-s. to-s. to-moo-mo-mo-mo-mo-mo-a-mo-a-s. to-s. to-s. to-s. to-s. to-s. to-s is the Tony nominated after you stars in the new film The Holdovers.
Please welcome Devine Join Randolph.
This place, is it very true?
It's a place, it's very true.
You sit down.
Thank you.
Thank you so much for being here. It's okay. You sit down. Thank you.
I thank you so much for being here. It's wonderful to see you. Yes, we went to the same high
school. Same high school. Yeah. But we were from, I mean, Central Pennsylvania and you did,
this movie. We went to the same high school. Yeah. Was that hard to, I mean, I'm someone and you did this movie. You have to do a Boston accent in this movie.
Yeah.
Was that hard to, I mean, I'm someone who's terrible at accents.
Really?
I mean, awful.
I don't know if you heard the Trump one.
You just got the award.
Yeah.
But was it hard to get into the Boston accent?
Was it hard to get out of the Boston, so that helped. But it was hard because the accent that I'm doing
is like a 70s Boston, African-American dialect.
So I'm not sounding like Mark Wahlberg.
You know what I mean?
So everybody's walking around like Walburg.
And they're like, it's different.
It's different. So sometimes it would throw me a little bit.
And so I just would have like certain key words that would help me get it back
into it. Yeah, do you can share any of your key? No, I used to before they said
action I would be like, oh Mr. Hanum, Hanum, Hanum and just say his name and that were like,
kind of a name and I would like, to say his name and that were like kind of settled me back into it. Is there anything you specifically watched or listened to to get into that like particular dialect?
Donna Summer is from Boston and so I would watch a lot of her interviews and
stuff like that because it was more to the time period. Yeah. And yeah a lot of
YouTube clips and stuff like that and that kind of helped me constantly have that in my head. And that's great.
You got to listen to Donna Summers and says someone like,
it could be worse.
Yeah, right?
You could be listening to like Mark Walburton.
And you've done, I mean, you've done so many incredible things.
And you've done, I mean, you've done so many incredible things.
You've got to work with? I really want to work with Bradley Cooper.
I saw the trailer the other night of Maestro, and it looks amazing.
The way that he just, I like people that just want to dive fully in.
He resembles him in an interesting way.
And I think that's both with the magic of, you know, movies, but also his commitment to the role. That it's just, I was like, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, the to, the to, they. to, they. they. to, they. they. to, they. to, to, to, they, they, to, to, to, to, to, the, they. they, the, the, the, I, I, I, the, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, the, the, the, the, the, they........ And, they. And, they. And, they. And, they. And, they. And, they. And, they.. And, the they. And, they. And, the the, they. And, the, they. commitment to the role, that it's just, I
was like, oh, he's really, he's dedicated. So that was exciting for me that I was like,
I would love to work with him. Yeah, that's like, I imagine you want to work with like
other people at top of their game. Yeah. I saw, I saw Bradley Cooper in New York recently, and I like, it took me everything not to me everything th. to be everything th. th. th. to be everything th. th. th. to be everything th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. thi, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, th. th. th. th. th. that, that, that, I, I, I, I, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, like, like, like, like, like about other roles? Anything that like, I mean, you've done a mix of serious comedy?
Yeah, I think I want to start getting into biopix. I think that would be really fun. And that I started off of singing so I think that could be a really nice way to merge the two. Yeah, I think biopix. Start playing some real women. That'd be great. Yeah. Get this lady some real women. Yeah. And your character Mary in this, she's a cook. Do you, are you good to cooking?
I am good at cooking? I love cooking. And that was kind of like, not a deal breaker, but that was something that I said to the director,
Alexander Payne.
I was like, if I do this, I really need real food.
And so he was really cool about it.
He was like, okay, what is the Christmas menu?
And I was like, really? Yeah.
And so I cook in real life in real time.
I cook soup, oatmeal, a roasted chicken, and egg, like a breakfast because I'm hungover.
That sounds great.
I want to be in this movie to this.
Hey, you're going to get yummy food.
I don't, I don't, I like to think I can cook.
But I just don't do it because I don't like to clean up.
And I gotta get somebody to clean up for you.
I know, I need to make people to clean up for me.
Absolutely.
So that's the thing you just invite people and like, oh my god, I want to cook for you, clean up. That's a great. Yeah. That's a great. I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I that. I to to get. I to get. I to get. I to get. I to get. I to get. I got to get. I got to get. I got to get. I got to get to get to get to get to get to get to get to get. I got to get to get to get to get to get somebody. to get to get. to get. to get. to get. I got. I got. I got. I got. I got. I got. I got. I got. I got. I got. I got. I got. I got. I got. I got. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I'm. I'm. I'm. I'm. to get. to get to get to get some. to get some. to get some. to get to get to get to get some. I to get to get to had to pick up smoking for this role.
Did you have a hard time quitting it?
I love how you said it.
You had to pick up smoking.
You had to get yourself an addiction.
You had the joy of an addiction for this.
Yeah.
Was it, did you, did you get addicted?
No, no, no.
I was really nervous about it.
I was like, I feel like, I feel like, I feel like, I feel like, I feel, I feel, I feel, I feel, I feel, I feel, I feel, I feel, I feel, I feel, I feel, I feel, I feel oh I feel like I might have that addiction gene. What's going to go happen? And so I, they gave me, before we started shooting,
the director sent over two big boxes of like natural fake ones and it just wasn't
working for me. And like because the, it was fake and it looked fake while doing it.
And so I started using American spirits because they have like, you know there's different like, I call it looked fake while doing it. And so I started using American spirits
because they have like, you know, there's different like,
I call it gradients of addiction.
Right.
That nicotine gets like stronger and stronger.
So I had like the blue pack,
which I think is like the lighter of them.
And then like of how I wanted to hold it because she's an avid smoker.
And so they were just I get it they were like the cigarettes gonna tell on you like if you don't know what you're doing
they can tell by how you're holding they're like she's lying she never smoked
a day in her life so puff I was going I mean good for you thank you that is
commitment that is a joke in there I smoke in there I smoke my life away good it's a absolute pleasure to have th you th you th you th you th you th you th you th you th you th you th you th you th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th the the the the tho the tho the thi thi theat the tho the tho the the the the the the thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi to to thi to the to to to to to It's an absolute pleasure to have you on this show.
It's so good to see you.
I'm so happy to see all your success.
And I hope it keeps going.
Give this lady real lady to success.
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