The Daily Show: Ears Edition - The Fed Cuts Interest Rates and Trump Goes Crypto | Daniel Dae Kim

Episode Date: September 19, 2024

Ronny Chieng covers a big day for economic news, including the Federal Reserve slashing interest rates and Donald Trump launching a new cryptocurrency business with his semi-adult sons. Josh Johnson hits the gym, to ask manly men what celebrity endorsement would speak the most to them, and what "masculine" ideals they want to see from a presidential candidate. Plus, actor Daniel Dae Kim sits down with Ronny to discuss his role in the new Broadway play “Yellow Face.” See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This season, we're upping the gameplay in Survivor, and it's one of the most challenging thrill rides on television. Survivor's new every Wednesday at 8, 7c on CBS, and you can watch it anytime on Paramount Plus. You're listening to Comedy Central. From the most trusted journalists at Comedy Central, it's America's only source for news This is the Daily Show with your host Ronnie Chieng Hey, welcome to The Daily Show. I'm your host, Roy Chang.

We've got so much to talk about tonight. The Federal Reserve is flexing, Donald Trump has a new side hustle, and celebrities are telling me who to vote for. Why don't you shut up, Big Bird? Let's get into the headlines. Let's talk the big news. If there's one issue that voters say is the most important to them in this election, it's the economy.

It's the top of the list. Right above crime, healthcare, and Haitian immigrants are eating my grandmother. Oh wait, sorry, she's just outside gardening. My bad, my bad. But today, the Federal Reserve told all the people bitching about the economy to shut the f*** up. This is CNN breaking news. We do have breaking news just into CNN. The Federal Reserve making its announcement

on interest rate cuts. The Fed just delivered its first interest rate cut since COVID, and it is a big one. Half a percentage point. Oh my God, that's huge. I assume from the way he said it, I mean, I guess this is a big deal. A lowest interest rates mean lower car payments,

credit card payments, and of course cheaper home loans. So you know that house you couldn't afford? Well, a half point decrease means that now you can afford a bus ticket to drive past it. American dream alive. But who cares about a federal reserve? What about those of us outside the system? Us rebels who don't keep our money in social constructs

like banks so we don't have to pay taxes. Well, you're in luck my friend, because the last real American has just announced the new investment opportunity that's gonna make your wallet blow up like a Hezbollah pager. In the crypto space, Donald Trump has officially rolled out World Liberty Financial, a crypto venture that will sell tokens to wealthy investors.

All this just one day, after an apparent assassination attempt on his life. this just one day after an apparent assassination attempt on his life. Yes, having a near-death experience has made Trump focus on what truly matters in life, selling crypto. And this is great news. Donald Trump, the world's most trustworthy businessman, is now in crypto, the world's most trustworthy business. And what could make this deal better than Trump?

How about more Trumps? Also involved in the crypto venture are Donald Trump's sons, Donald Trump Jr., Eric Trump, and even 18 year old Barron Trump, whose official title is D5 visionary. Holy shit, they got four Trumps now. I mean, forget Nepal, babies. That's the whole Nepal nursery.

Look, I'm 100% in this, okay? Shut up and take my money. I just have a few questions, like, how does this work and what is it? So this new Trump-backed business called World Liberty Financial yet released key details about its finances or exact purpose.

Its website, though, prominently features photos of Trump and touts a digital currency, kind of like Bitcoin, but the value of that currency would be pegged to the U.S. dollar. World Liberty Financial announced it will sell tokens to accredited investors. Those won't be transferable or earn a yield, but they will allow holders to vote on the company's future. Users can transact directly with each other without the middleman of a bank. And everything is going to occur on the company's future. Users can transact directly with each other without the middleman of a bank. And everything is going to occur on the blockchain. And that's essentially a public digital ledger.

I'm in. I'm just not sure what I'm in. It's a little confusing. So maybe we could, I don't know, do that thing from the big short and have Margot Robbie explain this Trump business to us in a bathtub? It's a scam. Oh, right.

Yeah, yeah. I see it now. But still, I mean, that's just one person's opinion. Is there anyone else who's an expert on scams, who's had some thoughts a few years ago on crypto? Bitcoin, it just seems like a scam. Quote, I am not a fan of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, which are not money, and whose value is highly volatile

and based on thin air. Okay, pretty persuasive, but uh, I'm going to need to see him say that in a bathtub naked. There you go. There you go. Now I know it's a scam and I'm turned on. I'm sorry guys, I really thought this was a sure thing. But of course Donald Trump doesn't know anything about crypto. Now, if he had some actual financial experts who are running the company for him, that would be a different story.

One of the dealmakers behind World Liberty Financial is Chase Hero, who previously sold colon cleansers online after serving time in prison for dealing marijuana. What? online after serving time in prison for dealing marijuana. Wow, Trump's partner in this is a weed dealer turned prisoner turned colon cleanse marketer. I mean, clearly he understands the concepts of diversifying your portfolio. I mean, maybe I can trust this thing.

But is there anything Chase Hero said that makes it clear he understands how the crypto business works? You can literally sell sh** in a can, wrapped in piss, covered in human skin for a billion dollars if the story's right. Because people will buy it and that is what is going on in the crypto space. And like I said in my other video, I'm not going to question the right and wrong of all that.

All I'm saying is, as a human being, you have the ability to make a f**king ton of money right now. So the guy running Trump's crypto company says crypto is basically, and I quote, a can of shit wrapped in piss that you can sell to idiots. I mean, that is crazy.

I did not know you could rap something in piss. That's, it's a liquid. This guy's a genius. I can't wait to give him my money. I just wish there was just one more guy who could lend his credibility to this company. World Liberty Financial also has Chase Hero's longtime partner, Zachary Folkman, a former

pickup artist who under the name Zach Bauer founded a company called Date Hotter Girls. How many guys came here to learn how, what if Jesus had herpes? So to sum it up, I could not be more excited to trust my kids' insulin money with these three guys. Donald Trump, a shit-in-a-can salesman, and Tmoo Russell Brand. But the question is, is this investment right for you? Only you can answer that. But I must say, I found their new ad very persuasive.

Attention Donald Trump fans, introducing World Liberty Financial, the president's latest venture. How does it work? Well, using the blockchain, we mint a crypto coin, or we exchange other crypto coins, or maybe we platform the DeFi blah, blah, blah. Look, we don't know what this is yet, but you know the deal.

Trump's name is on it, so you buy it, okay? Crypto is a complex intersection of finance and technology, and we don't know shit about it either, but what we do know is, you like Trump. Trump like money. You give Trump money. Don't act like you need to do your due diligence here.

Oh, let me read the prospectus and make sure this is a sound financial decision. F*** you. Pay us. Oh, you want a chart? Fine, here's a chart. This is you giving money to Trump. You comprehending all this warm, Buffett? I'm sorry, but we have less than 50 days

to the election to cram in all the cash grabs we can, so we don't have time for a bunch of questions like, are we insured by the FDIC? Are you kidding me? The only FDIC here is you, the f***ing dummies, investing cash. Give us your money. If you don't have money, then get it.

Take out a loan, steal it from your daughter's wallet, rob a bank, rob a blood bank and sell the blood on the black market. Don't get Trump involved unless it works. Then he wants a cut. But hold on, hold on. I have a financial disclosure we legally have to read. This is a grift. You are the mark. Ignore that or don't. You're going to fall for it. World Liberty Financial. Trump crypto blockchain blah blah blah. Money please. When we come back, we find out a celebrity endorsement

that will decide the election, so don't go away. As a kid growing up in Chicago, there was one horror movie I was too scared to watch. It was called Candyman. The scary cult classic was set in the Chicago housing project. It was about this supernatural killer who would attack his victims if they said his name five times into a bathroom mirror. Now we all know chanting a name won't make a killer magically appear. But did you know that the movie Candyman was partly inspired by an actual murder? I was struck by both how spooky it was, but also how outrageous it was.

We're going to talk to the people who were there, and we're also going to uncover the larger story. My architect was shocked when he saw how this was created. Literally shocked. And we'll look at what the story tells us about injustice in America. If you really believed in tough on crime, then you wouldn't make it easy to crawl into medicine cabinets

and kill our women. Listen to Candyman, the true story behind the bathroom mirror murder, starting October 3rd, wherever you get your podcasts. Billie Eilish is now Team Kamala. I can't wait to see, yeah. Yeah. I can't wait to see how Trump spells Billie Eilish when he tweets about how much he hates her. And if you're saying, hey, what's with all the pop girlies? Where are all the endorsements for us dudes?

Well, Josh Johnson was wondering that too. Taylor Swift's endorsement of Kamala Harris was a boon for her campaign with women. But a lot of people say she still needs to do bear with men. So I'm here outside one of the bastions of masculinity, a gym, to talk to real men about which celebrity endorsement would move the needle for them. Hopefully I don't get mistaken for Terry Crews. What celebrity endorsement carries the weight for you that like a Taylor Swift would carry for women? Um, do I have to be alive or?

Alive would help. Alive is probably one of the most important things that they could be. Because the first thing I said was Prince. If Prince came back from the dead and was like, my man, you gotta vote for Kamala. Would that move the needle for you? Absolutely.

Okay. You wanna know why? Why, because you just saw a Ghost? What about some non- paranormal endorsements? Is there a male celebrity that would make you vote for Kamala Harris? Kendrick Lamar. Maybe LeBron. He's a big guy. I feel like LeBron can move the needle a little bit. Okay. Probably Travis Scott. Travis Scott? Those celebs were so 2024. How about some throwbacks? I would say Peyton Manning. Peyton Manning.

Dion Sanders. Dion Sanders. Yeah, Dion Sanders. And Celine Dion? That's my girl, you know what I mean? Celine Dion? Yes. So everyone that you've mentioned.

Yes. And Celine Dion? Yes. And it doesn't matter to you that she's Canadian? No, it doesn't matter. So what male celebrity endorsement would move the needle for you? I'll leave Michael Jai White. Michael Jai White, okay.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. All right, and why is that? He works out, I work out, you know. I don't have to sit down and like really think for myself. Look at the issues, look at the candidates, and then maybe if Michael Jai White. Maybe, we gotta sit down together and chit chat. Yeah, all right. I feel like you just tried to of Michael Jai White. Maybe. We gotta sit down together and chit chat. Yeah. All right.

I feel like you just tried to meet Michael Jai White now. No, no, no, no, no, no. Sure, he's tough. He's talented. He got killed by the Joker. I get it. But maybe I could prove to these swole voters that they could look to me for political guidance. There we go. Men.

So, when it comes to bench press, right now, I'm hitting like a clean 125. That's pretty good, right? Fantastic. Really? Yeah. Oh, okay. That's good news for me.

Are there any male celebrities, right? And we don't have to talk about A-List. They could be in front of you right now in this moment whose opinion means something to you. Um... By a long pause. Clearly he was intimidated by meeting such a famous and yoked celebrity, IRL. So I decided to change the subject to the candidates.

What do you think Kamala Harris would have to do to appeal to more men? Uh... If she agreed to a boxing match with Logan Paul, what do you think Kamala Harris would have to do to appeal to more men? Uh... If she agreed to a boxing match with Logan Paul, what do you think that would do? Would that move the needle for her? I think if she knocks him out, no doubt. Wow, okay. Knock him out cold, drag him out the ring.

Alright. President. Round after round, he kept coming back to the same question about masculinity. Like, is Trump like a man's man to you? No, he's not. Not really? He's not an honest person.

Gotcha. And that's a big part of being a man to me is being vulnerable, admitting your mistakes. So if I'm vulnerable with you right now, that's manly? Yeah. Okay. I may have fibbed earlier with the 125,

it's really 115. It's okay, I knew. You knew? Yeah. Now does Trump seem manly to you? When you think about like a man's man? I'm being honest. The reason why I respect what he says sometimes, because he speaks his mind.

So for you, it's speaking your mind that's like the manly thing that you like. Yeah, because you tell you straight up. Yeah. So you like that Trump lets you know from far away, hey, I'm crazy. At the end of the day, it seemed like the only way to get some men to vote for Kamala might be to trick them into it. What if they put a 45-pound kettlebell on the lever to vote for Kamala Harris? Do you think more guys would do it?

What would do it? Put a sign that says like, like try and try and pull this, you know what I mean? Oh, don't even tell them the way, just be like I bet you can't. There you go. Yeah. Bet you can't. Okay. Yeah. Bet you can't. That's, that should be the slogan. Kamala, bet you can't. I bet you can't. I mean it might, if you don't understand the context, look pretty bad, just say Kamala Harris, bet you can't. That's, that, that, that may backfire. Yeah.

Thank you Josh. When we come back, my good friend Daniel A. Kim will be joining me on the show, so don't go away. As a kid growing up in Chicago, there was one horror movie I was too scared to watch. It was called Candyman. The scary cult classic was set in the Chicago housing project. It was about this supernatural killer who would attack his victims if they said his name five times into a bathroom mirror. Candyman. Candyman? Now we all know chanting a name won't make a killer magically appear.

But did you know that the movie Candyman was partly inspired by an actual murder? I was struck by both how spooky it was, but also how outrageous it was. We're gonna talk to the people who were there, and we're also going to uncover the larger story. My architect was shocked when he saw how this was created. Literally shocked. And we'll look at what the story tells us about injustice in America. If you really believed in tough on crime,

then you wouldn't make it easy to crawl into medicine cabinets and kill our women. Listen to Candyman, the true story behind the bathroom mirror murder, early and ad-free free starting September 26th with a 48 hours plus subscription on Apple podcasts. Welcome back to The Daily Show. My guest tonight is an actor who starts

in the new Broadway play Yellowface. Please welcome my good friend, Daniel Day-King! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Thank you, man.

Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah!

Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Wow, what a warm house. Yeah, it is. Yeah, it is.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, everybody loves you man. You're the man. Well, everyone loves Ronnie. Who doesn't love Ronnie Chang? I don't know about that. They're forcing it. They're forcing it. So yeah, you, more of those guys who's become so rich and famous, you have to do Broadway

now to get your kicks. Yeah, that's it. I'm slumming it in theater. Because you came from theater. I did, yeah. Actually, I came from theater. So, Rich and Famous, you have to do Broadway now to get your kicks. Yeah, that's it. I'm slumming it in theater. Because you came from theater.

I did, yeah. I started my training here in New York and went to drama school here at NYU. And that's where... Oh, yeah, NYU. NYU Drama School. Look at that. And so, yeah, I did theater for a number of years

before heading out to L.A. Right, and so was that your, that was where you learned your craft and you were running around town just being a theater kid in New York City? Yeah, whatever little I know, I learned here. Okay, well, man, we all, yeah, I don't know about little, but definitely,

I wish we all could learn as little as you learned in terms of acting. And what is this play about? So it's a semi-autobiographical play. I don't know if you know the playwright David Henry Wong. Yeah, the legend. Legendary David Henry Wong. That's right. Yeah. He wrote a play called M. Butterfly

that ended up winning a Tony. And at the time, in the late 80s, there was a play called Miss Saigon that came to the U.S. And that play was famous because it was a white actor playing an Asian role with taped-up eyelids and all that kind of stuff. -"As They Should." -"That's right."

-"As They Should." -"And that's what the play is about." -"No." -"That kind of is what it's about." -"It kind of is." So he ended up protesting that. -"David Henry Hwang ended up with." -"David Henry H kind of is. So he ended up protesting that. David Henry Hwang ended up protesting. David Henry Hwang, yeah. So he ended up protesting that. And then ended up, this play is about him writing a play where he actually, for his next play,

it's a little bit meta, he ends up mistakenly hiring a white actor to play an Asian lead in his own play. And so that's what this show is about. I play David Henry Wong. Sure. And that actually is based on a true story, right? Yeah. So, so much of this play is actually based on true events, the Miss Saigon stuff. And, you know, he actually wrote a play called

Face Value right after that, which was based on Miss Saigon. And that play, the story of the casting of that play is in this play. He actually wrote a play called Face Value right after that, which was based on Miss Saigon. And that play, the story of the casting of that play, is in this play. So a lot of different layers. OK, so this is like Inception. It's play Inception, and I guess you just get attracted to extremely convoluted plot lines.

I lost, and never like this. That's right. And the idea, one of the main themes of the play is the idea of whether or not people of different races can play other races as actors. So if we go to the source of the inception, the genesis of it was Jonathan Price playing a half-Asian man in Miss Saigon.

And that's what caused the initial... And David Henry Hwang, being an Asian-American activist, kind of spoke out about it. And then he accidentally cast a white guy to play him. Because I guess what is your stance on that as an actor, a respected actor in the theater community? Well, I think it requires a lot of thought, whatever you decide to do. And I think part of the reason there was so much controversy

around it then and now is because it was just assumed that people of color would not be able to play themselves and that it was okay for people who were not African-Americans, say, to put on blackface and then, you know, pretend to be African-American. And it's the same thing with Asian-Americans. But, you know, we're in a situation now where there's so many great Asian American performers, you being among them.

You know? I don't know about that. Right? And so... There's absolutely no reason why Asian performers should not be playing Asian characters. Now, you know, I think the thing that gets a little bit more nuanced now is whether we should be national playing Asian characters. Now, you know, I think the thing that gets a little bit

more nuanced now is whether we should be nationality-specific among Asian Americans. And that is an interesting question, too. Like, should people of Japanese descent only be able to play characters who are Japanese? Or even more nuanced, should they be able to play Japanese-American characters who have no connection to being Japanese nationals?

So these are really interesting questions, and one's worth exploring. Yeah. And as president of all actors... What is the answer? Can we play it or not? Well, honestly, like, I have an opinion about it, and it's kind of a hot take, but... Go for it. That's how we get our clicks. Let's go. Zoom in. Zoom in right here.

Here's what I think. No. I think that we shouldn't be limited to playing people of our own nationality because, you know, I always think about the 8-year-old who's watching TV. Can an 8-year-old or a 10-year-old watching TV tell that I'm not Japanese or you're not Chinese or, you know, if they cannot?

And there are a couple criteria that I actually think about. Is this character historically based? Is there cultural significance to a particular country in the character that's being played? Or is there a language requirement that requires a level of authenticity? Or is it based on a real character that is of that ethnicity?

If those things are in place, I do think it's really important that the actor be of that same nationality, of that same specific ethnic origin. But if not, and we're talking especially about Asian Americans, then I think it's perfectly fine of that same specific ethnic origin. But if not, and we're talking especially about Asian Americans, then I think it's perfectly fine for someone who's not, say, Korean,

to play a Korean American. Because if we're just playing Americans, that's the emphasis, right? Because, you know, we're not talking about people of specific countries and those specific things. So, for example, someone who looks like me, why can't I play an extremely good looking person? Well...

You know? Why should I be limited? That's a different conversation. Yeah. Yeah. So, you know, you've been in show business for like almost 85 years now. So like, what, based on your, you know, I hate to ask the generic questions, but like, you actually have the authority and perspective to talk about this.

So what, how have you felt the industry has changed since when you first started, when you were running around Hell's Kitchen? Oh, back in the old days. Back in the, running around with Charlie Chaplin. No, that's right. So, when movies just started getting sound. Right. Yeah.

We've made a lot of progress. We really have. When I first started in this industry, there was a common misunderstanding that Asians were not funny. Back in the 90s, people thought, oh, Asian people are not funny. But there are no Asian comedians out there. And it took people like Margaret Cho, Ken Jeong, and you,

and Jimmy Oh Yang, and so many others, just to show that, yeah, we've always been out there. We just haven't been seen that way. So, you know, so we had that misperception. You know, there have been a lot of stereotypes that we've worked under for a long time. But we're breaking through them. The fact that you're here right now hosting worked under for a long time, but we're breaking through them.

The fact that you're here right now hosting this show is a big breakthrough, you know? It's true. Thank you, my man. True, yeah. Yeah, that's true. Yeah. What can I say?

I'm making history with every dick joke. That's what I'm doing. And Bowen Yang on SNL, for instance. Like, first Asian-American cast member. Well, yeah, that's the context in which I know you. You've always been very supportive. I first met you at the Comedy Cellar. You're always very cool to the new guys.

And so I really appreciate you being a mentor and showing us the ropes and looking out for us and all that. So thank you to yourself and the OGs. Congratulations. And, you know, this one play was actually, Yellowface was already, it's been mounted before in 2007, right, so this is like a remounting of the play. So do you feel like it's, is it just as,

do you feel the context of it is different now? Like it was first put on in 2007, and now in 2024 now. Yeah, and I actually think it's as relevant, if not more so, because the stuff David was talking about and trying to address in 2007 wasn't really topical then. He was actually ahead of the curve in talking about things like, you know,

ethnic authentic casting. People now kind of see like, well, of course, that's what we should be doing. But back then, they didn't think that. So now in the wake of George Floyd and BLM and Stop Asian Hate, there is more of an awareness of what's appropriate culturally and what we should be trying to aspire to.

And so what's crazy about this show is that there are a lot of real-life figures, very prominent people like Dick Cavett and Frank Rich. Oh, who appear in the S characters. Yeah, and during the time when David was protesting, they were on the other side of the issue. They were supporting yellow-faced casting. Right.

But, you know, now they've all changed their minds and said, you know what, we've evolved on the subject and they're a direct barometer of how far we've come. It's a great testament to all of them that they're willing to be in this play and say, yeah, we made the wrong call on that one. And anything you want to say to Jonathan Price, whatever his name, for putting tape on his eyes

or you want to call him out? Here's your platform. This is a direct quote from the play, Jonathan. Mr. Price is an excellent actor. OK, wait, what? Enough to play Asian. A white guy, straight up British white guy playing Asian. But I feel bad for him, too, because he

was doing what he thought was right at the time. I bet if you- Which is put tape on your eyes and play it Asian. I think if you were to ask him to... Who amongst us hasn't tried to do that? I'm doing it right now. Yeah. Um...

Um... Uh... All right. Well, it's... Well, yeah. Thanks so much. You know, I could talk to you for hours, but you got the play to actually do.

We're taping this before the play. Mr. Daniel Dae Kim, very gracious, one of the greatest actors of our generation. The sharpest cheekbones on television. We appreciate it. The Broadway production of Yellowface is currently in previews and will open October 1st at the Card Hinge Theater. Daniel Dae Kim, everybody!

We're gonna take a quick break, and we'll be right back after this. Okay, we're good. As a kid growing up in Chicago, there was one horror movie I was too scared to watch. It was called Candyman. The scary cult classic was set in the Chicago housing project. It was about this supernatural killer who would attack his victims if they said his

name five times into a bathroom mirror. Candyman. Candyman? Now we all know chanting a name won't make a killer magically appear, but did you know that the movie Candyman was partly inspired by an actual murder? I was struck by both how spooky it was, but also how outrageous it was. We're going to talk to the people who were there, and we're also going to uncover the larger story.

My architect was shocked when he saw how this was created. Literally shocked. And we'll look at what the story tells us about injustice in America. If you really believed in tough on crime, then you wouldn't make it easy to crawl into medicine cabinets and kill our women. Listen to Candyman, the true story behind the bathroom mirror murder, starting October 3rd, wherever you get your podcasts.

Hey, that's our show for tonight. Now here it is, your moment of zen. So, Americans have had enough of Kamala Harris' tongue twisters, their pocketbooks see straight through all of her crooked lies. So she's claiming to be a friend to small business, but prices are, let's see if it works. Oh, well gosh, okay, spinning out of control, all right? I tried, I really tried. Explore more shows from The Daily Show Podcast Universe by searching The Daily Show, wherever you get your podcasts.

Watch The Daily Show weeknights at 11, 10 Central on Comedy Central and stream full episodes anytime on Paramount Plus. any time on Paramount Plus. I danced for peace and then I heard the first bullet. Perishing first-person stories of survival. I thought to tell my friends to leave but it was already too late. From the Nova Music Festival in Israel. Every single person that I lost on that day would have made the hell out of this life. We Will Dance Again, new documentary now streaming on Paramount+.