The Problem With Jon Stewart - The Problem With Jon: According to Our Listeners

Episode Date: December 9, 2021

We finally checked our voicemail and hereby present our first ever mailbag episode. Jon is joined by Chelsea, Jay, and Robby to engage with your questions, comments, and criticism about the show and Jon’s increasingly fragile appearance.Want to be featured in our next mailbag episode? Call in to ask a question or just bully Jon. The number is 1-212-634-7222.CREDITSHosted by: Jon StewartFeaturing, in order of appearance: Chelsea Devantez, Robby Slowik, Jay JurdenExecutive Produced by Jon Stewart, Brinda Adhikari, James Dixon, Chris McShane, and Richard PleplerLead Producer: Sophie EricksonProducers: Caity Gray, Robby SlowikAssoc. Producer: Andrea Betanzos, Zach Silberberg Sound Designer & Audio Engineer: Miguel Carrascal Senior Digital Producer: Kwame OpamDigital Coordinator: Norma HernandezSupervising Producer: Lorrie Baranek Head Writer: Chelsea DevantezElements: Kenneth Hull, Daniella Philipson Talent: Brittany Mehmedovic, Haley Denzak Research: Susan Helvenston, Andy Crystal Theme Music by: Gary Clark Jr.The Problem With Jon Stewart podcast is an Apple TV+ podcast produced by Busboy Productions.https://apple.co/-JonStewart 

How many are gonna we go over today? This is this is our man back. We don't have a song for this. Do we like? Let's get one. Oh, we're listening to people's comments and feedback Oh, sorry, I gotta wrap up. Sorry. Yeah, we're getting reprimanded by our producer Oh Okay, everybody so today's episode is a very special episode of the podcast. This is our most anticipated Podcast at least around the office. It's gonna be mailbag time. We're gonna get audience feedback Coming at us. It's called come at me, bro. And that's gonna be so we're here with John That's me Jay here

Robbie yep, Chelsea. Hi. We set up a hotline some of our audience members called in and left their opinions their thoughts their their dreams Their anger their cursing they left it on there. We then answer them. It's it's feedback Chelsea and I have not heard this. Jay. Have you heard these? I have not heard flying in blind So Jay Chelsea and I are flying in blind Robbie on the other hand has did you curate these or you did you have to sift through them? Yes, so our coordinator norma and then caroline. She's one of the pa's they sifted through like hundreds. Yeah, how many did we get? Uh, three 400 we got 400 to the way smell too, right? Like it did cap it

Like so there might have been more than 400, but we said no there was a day where they said stop Stop call. Yeah. Is that what the kids mean by no cap? No, that is not it. No, all right I didn't big cap on that meaning no cap big cap. No cap. Robbie has someone who has has Seen the continuum of this. Yes. I assume it runs the gamut generally because this is what happens to me in my regular life from overly praising To the death penalty

so This was I will say you're unbelievably annoying because we were like this section is called come at me, bro Come at me, bro. What's your problem with the problem? Let John do you have it? Yeah, that's exactly And what we got was like 300 voice messages. It was like, thank you so much For all that you do We are and it's like I can't play these it would be the kim jong-un radio hour If we played these from that's hilarious So

Caroline one of the pa's took it on herself to try to drum some of this stuff up So she went to reddit stirred the pot a little bit stirred the pot went from the water exactly Yes, so she went to reddit the like septic tank of the internet And she went to these conservative subreddits and she's like that corporate shield john stewart's back again Wait a second. She found my account. Yeah Oh my god. He's this is awesome pitching his liberal trash all around He's never been by the way it really spewed out of her like it came very natural Really? That's exciting. She's like she dropped the hotline number. So yes, and she's like I found I dug around

I found a number you can call to let him know how you She went project veritas on that shit and then That thread got like dozens and dozens of comments. That's like I watched the first episode and I was so touched Black clansman on this Yeah, exactly And then all of the responses were like john is a treasure. How dare we couldn't even drum it up You couldn't even get subreddits No, even the subreddit of like very conservative people that outwardly hate you. Well, I'm excited. This is the largest build-up

This is The pa to get this Sorry that we He's working on the great gut feel coming there. Uh, well, let's kick it off. All right, let's do it man. Let's do it Here we go. So let's set it up Robbie. All right. We're gonna deejay. I'm deejaying it So there was some criticism where there was some it was unfortunately Constructive and thoughtful, which is annoying, but let's get let's get into it We'll kick it off with chase from Iowa who has a question that I think is on a lot of people's minds. All right chase

Hey, john big fan. I'm just wondering one thing How much do you weigh? I just am genuinely curious. Are you are are you a solid human? Uh, or are you frail like the queen of england? It's just I did there's there's gonna be no in between in my personal opinion first of all, uh It's a question that's on more minds than just chases because I I hear that a lot and I can I can tell chase is from Iowa, which is you know, it's the heartland corn fed chase. It's america's

Food basket. I mean, it's so so I can see where their concern would come from I think what I would say to chase is I'm far closer to the queen of england than I am comfortable with That there was a time in my life where if you were to suggest That I was in any way physically resembling the queen of england. I would scoff Uh now when you suggest that I'm like, yeah, I don't think I could even put in on that crown tree Whereas I'd be like that'd be a lot That'd be a lot for my head muscles. You know, I love about this white smile It's just so nice to see a man on tv get bullied for his weight. You know, it's usually

I just love to see the equality happening right here. Can I tell you what the bullying is? It's not about the amount. I think what he's suggesting is are your bones hollow like a seagull Like I think he's I think he's almost bullying me for lack of weight Yeah, oh, yeah, and maybe even concerned that with climate change and the increased Uh food insecurity volatility of the weather patterns not so much food insecurity. I think he's worried about wind. Oh Yeah, we're gonna go we're gonna be down here a couple of days and just be flying a John kite I gotta tell you though It's a great one to start off with because now we've sort of set the parameter for the thing which is some of the audience

thinks I might be dying But john so they're gonna go easy john pivot pivot You know what actually lose more weight become the timothy chalamet of gen x. That's who you could be That could be like look at this. Look at the sexy something. I've always admired your ability to see The good side yes to see the positive in this For me to suggest that I'm gonna become the timothy chalamet of the aarp Almost a contradiction in terms. Yes, but I'm I'm delighted to give it my best shot And by the way, uh around 160. Oh, okay. Yeah around 160 by the way stone

Just like the queen of england. That's right. That's what birds swallow to stay heavy everything in stone All right. All right. We have uh next up. We have michael who I can only assume is from chicago wait michael short All right, let's hear. Hey john in the cast of the problem was while you're doing a lot of amazing work John did famously shoot on chicago style pizza. Oh boy. Well, I understand he's a little jealous being from new jersey and all Sure, uh, you guys have tomato pie, which is to chicago style pizza. What pierce morgan is the journalism So, uh, thanks everyone that's part of the problem with but uh, fuck you john steward Let me tell you something

It began in the most midwestern way possible So nice with but also saluting you with the proper. I'd like to address the problem with John and the staff of the protocol and I like that he made sure to he was like everyone else great job It was just you. Yeah, it's Very few times in life to somebody start off with something that's so adheres to protocol So beautifully that ends with and fuck you Yes, yes, yes, yes, it's it's unusual, you know, I gotta say though I lived in chicago for seven years and

I'm I'm with him man deep dishes where it's at chicago style is what's up and fuck you john steward No one has ever disputed that it is food And I've never In in any of this to you know, this is not an arby's situation where you've Challenged your bowels to war. Yes The deep dish pizza the thing that always surprised me at deep dish pizza I'm not gonna get into the taste or or whether it's pizza, which it isn't

It's more when they make it and they come to your table and they make you stare at the cheese pull As that's the exotica. That's the best part. That's the that's the foreplay of the pizza eating I've been in chicago. There's actual porn there. You don't have to I was gonna say like I've been to vegas and seen magicians make less of a fucking deal Of making a tiger disappear Then a waiter at a deep dish pizza place for the fact that cheese when heated has elasticity Wow, yeah, I was just coming at big cheese. Yeah Like when he pulled it up there, I was like, you know what motherfucker stay there for 30 seconds and watch what happens

Because guess what you won't be able to move John and his 160 pounds, you know, I think you maybe need the deep dish. I think these two voicemails go together You need the deep dish of that. I'm gonna confess something pro deep dish pro deep dish anti deep dish Anti deep dish have written about it. I don't think yeah, I don't think Like a dissertation. No, it was a casserole. It's a casserole And I love a good casserole, which is what the midwest does best, but it's very casserole I just know when I was in chicago, everyone's like, you got to check out lumenades, which sounds like a lumenade

I was like the anti-semitism That's when they pull down and there's just one eye in a triangle that comes out of the pie Here's what's interesting when we did the bit on the show Shitting on deep dish pizzas a casserole is a above ground Swimming pool for rats like You know, did the whole gamut Really ran through the whole fucking thing and at the end of the bit sang the praises of maybe 12

five burro pizza joints from brooklynostat and not from daninos to totonos. You know what I'm saying? The only people that sent us pizza were from chicago We got sent Just dozens and dozens and dozens of deep dish pizzas and like new yorkers are like, yeah, it's fucking good But don't think you're getting a discount Like meanwhile the chicago people are like, you know, you really shit all over this Here's 20 pounds of cheese for free That's right

And then lumenade He actually came on the show and I had to taste it in front of them and because he was there and i'm not crazy about conflict I was just like, hmm. I'm sorry. Did you just say you're not crazy about conflict? He was like a backtrack john. You are an amazing actor. Thank you. I appreciate that And so I just realized now we really have a midwestern theme because our next caller Is from indiana and this is zachery and he's got a very legitimately thoughtful question You know what our show might be the high uh, fructose corn syrup

Of television. It's only appealing to uh, americas subsidized in the midwest. Yeah, that's exactly right Hi, my name is zachery from indiana My concern has to do with your first episode the issue of burn pits Left behind by the united states Um, I feel like the issue was covered more on the domestic side returning veterans, uh, not getting veteran Yeah, uh VA benefits. I know While that is a concern of mine

I also feel that the show overlooked the afghan issue No, uh, no burn pits. Oh, you're not on the phone. I'm not on the phone. He's a pretend man. Yeah, he's gonna keep coming The afghans have to live with that. Yes, and I think that the show failed to cover the environmental problems On the people that we fight Yeah, uh, so you know what? Yeah, that's it. Oh, thank you so much that you're very welcome The only thing that was missing is and I feel like this should be the sign off for every call and fuck you jump Uh again like incredibly thoughtful. Well that uh, he's dead on right now We did have if I may throw in the word bonus content, but if you remember so we had two big panels one was

Uh, the the veterans themselves who had been experiencing the health effects of this sort of thing And the second panel was where we were going to have a larger discussion about the thing in that panel discussion the exact point that he made We made every time you export Something that is corrosive To your own culture like deep dish like deep dish think of what it does To a culture that doesn't have the infrastructure or benefits that even we have so if you look at something and you say to yourself This is a tragedy in a

industrialized wealthy country Think about what that tragedy is in a less industrialized poorer country that is left with this to deal. He's he's absolutely right It should have been done more forthrightly and not in bonus content And fuck you john stewrey And you know, uh, we covered this on our newsletter our first issue there's a lot of really great articles you can read and I this also calls back to uh, Agent orange and the similarities with that like the vietnamese people are still

I'm mutagenic. Yeah, it's mutagenic. I mean that that's carried through generations Yeah, they're still currently dealing with it and our veterans are still not getting care for that one No, no question and it really speaks to you know, I'm trying to figure out if it's Recklessness or malevolence or some combination of both because you do feel like boy. Are we malevolent or are we just fucking reckless? Yeah, and we just walk away After you know, are we the bull in the china shop that just walks out of there like hey, I found that receipt And like the whole fucking place is trash I feel like you can only do the same thing over and over and over again and still get away with reckless

There's a certain point. It just it is malevolence. All right. Yeah, okay. I was trying to be gentle there But now who was that that said that that was Zachary Zachary had mailbag moment of the it's not a mailbag though I guess if it's voice messages. It's a voicemail bag Oh, wow. We share an office. We have a bargain hunter with an update for you. Beautiful. Let's bring it. Hey, john your friend Chrissy from Texas. I noticed your your book America citizens got to democracy is currently selling on ebay for two dollars and ninety Congratulations. Thank you so much Wait, that's it

Just have an update for you. Why not just title that hey, what's up you bargain baseman mother fucker Hey listen, you can be a Zachary can be Chrissy You can be concerned about what we've done over in afghanistan or you can be tracking your book on ebay And by the way would have been so much. I think we should do this again like you would do the uh, uh fortune cookie You always have to add at the end of whatever you say. Fuck you john It's it's got to be the in bed You know what I think we should do I think just play the clip of the first voicemail just at the end of each of these Just like a little tag like a tag. Yeah, then we would be doing morning radio

You hit that tag and just everything like Let me ask you a question if you're on ebay does that come up Like does is ebay algorithmed in the way that other social media is like for instance if you express an interest in Political satire Will your page be populated then in other words could this have come across his radar naturally naturally I think if you're on ebay, then your dollop connection has to get started Right taking shots doesn't you don't you have to go to the

Jay do you shop online? Yes. Yes. You can buy you can buy things on instagram now I I'm gonna say something really fucked up instagram You know is watching and reading your phone and listening to you and whatever and to that I say Thank you because man, they send me the ads. They send me exactly what i'm looking for instagram. Oh, yeah, I'll be like I'm kind of looking for some Advertise oh I bought this sweater on instagram

What it reads you it knows what you're it knows what I know, but it's not a store. It's just pictures No, it's just like a data It serves it serves you up the exact right ads from third parties It knows everything about you and everything it offers you as an ad you're like I want this even from a google search standpoint Oh, yeah, it takes your cookies from all over the and and this is what I just want that I want you to say that to me again, but I want you to stare in my eyes when you say it John it takes your cookies John look at me look at me in the face when I take these cookies from

Okay, these are my cookies now boy But I I have to say the reason why I don't like shabby online. So for those of you don't know Nina is a wonderful woman who has helped me with wardrobe for many years If it were ever heard John would just wear burlap. That's it. Just a burlap So Nina found me a t-shirt that I like very much So I was like, oh, what's the name of this company? I'm gonna go I'm gonna go buy some more of these So I go home and I go online to it and I find the t-shirt But there's eight different kinds of that t-shirt. So it's that t-shirt and then they're like, do you want the slim

Cut of the Egyptian cotton or do you want the poly slim or do you want the short man's cut or do you want and I was just like I don't fucking know The queen of england You didn't get the seagull fit. Okay. Now we're just doing a hurtful call Now now it just feels like but you understand what I'm saying like yeah, who knew that there was any of those I'm accustomed to you go to a store This t-shirt is there. You feel it

Maybe you go into the dressing room and put it on and if maybe you take a couple pictures in that dressing room And you send them out and then someone says jay don't gotta put all this on the internet all the time And you go I thought it looked good and you go, don't you buy on a shirt and I say, yeah Eventually I'm gonna put the shirt on but there was a full-length mirror and then you know Chelsea says jay We gotta talk about what you put on twitter and then you could do a cool segment with john jay is not kidding I've seen his instagram. You know what? So exactly what jay said. That's what I All right, all right, we're gonna keep this thing. All right. Keep it going. Let me go. This is actually again a thoughtful nuance She's question. Why do people have to get smart? All right

Hey, john really enjoyed your interview with Janet Yellen. Thanks, but throughout the interview you were rightfully so lambasting exploitative and evasive shadowy tactics that companies use in order to Basically avoid paying for the taxes and infrastructure that they utilize. Yes, you cited walmart for example Yes, I guess it's hard for me to do You doing that with working for apple and I guess I was just wondering how you

Come to terms with that first of all super easy to come to terms with it Super easy to come to terms and agreements with it. You just click a box. You just click a box He's what he has found Is the dilemma of all dilemmas Which is where do you draw the line of principled? action and criticism while still living Uh, the exploitative life that we all live to some point now. Chelsea and I used to have this conversation

Do you remember when we used to have this conversation? Oh, yeah, and you know, I'm ready to fight it out again Wait, what about what it was about? So I had friends that had voted for trump and the people that I Like that are you know, they're I'm from Mississippi. I know a lot of people like that. Okay. So so, you know like that I don't disqualify them from Being around them and being friendly with them based on

certain things and Your point was I said they're all racist. Oh, well, that's right. She said you were like, they're not all racist And I was like every one of them every one of them. It wasn't as nuanced the conversation as we might And also I didn't say that I was new to the job. It's I said something much lighter I felt then and now that A vote for trump was a racist vote and And you felt I was putting myself on a moral high ground like everything I like I don't have any sort of

Isms or whatever to me and you were like you have a phone right made in china By children, how do you live with yourself? Maybe you're Come at me, bro. Finally. Yeah, come at me, bro. That is a zero-sum game So if we want to discuss how phones are made and how I'm a consumer and what type of crimes I report by having an iPhone That is all valid But none of that takes away from the argument or fact that voting for trump was a racist decision I don't think it was about a racist. It was that you don't care enough about race

to Make that Choice to distance yourself from them. I don't think that's racism. Oh, oh, I see what you're saying I'm saying like by not caring or thinking it didn't matter or thinking it was okay Is actually a reason then in that what role does grace play in our society? because if you if if none of us and I don't want to like He who is without sin cast the first stone because you're right. You have to be able to make commentary But at the baseline of that

Doesn't there have to be an appreciation that we all participate in exploitative processes? um, I Yes, yes, but yes I will give you that I will give you that and uh, yeah, I will give you that but I I still don't think it detracts from what that decision Uh meant and did and what that vote did and listen the fact that I'm saying this on a podcast where all the callers are Men my life is going to be over in the comments. No, it's going to be over. But I do comments blocked Yeah, if you attack chelsea, please make it about something else

I think grace does play a big part in it But doesn't that seem definitive? I guess my point is like because we all participate in those things Isn't it hard to make blanket definitive statements? Like if you voted for trump, you are by necessity racist No, I and I would still say that now, but I will say this I participate in racism We all this is a racist society. It isn't an equal society. If everything is racist. Nothing is racist. No, it's not true Everything is racist That is the base level of ours everything built in our society has racism within it and and and to vote for trump Was to take it up a notch. I think it's also how we

Look at the word racist because I think especially white people. It's like that's racist They're like, but I don't want to kill all black people and you're like, yeah, that's not what racism means Racism simply means not saying something when someone says something offensive 20 feet away towards black person Like racism is passive. Couldn't that be shyness? It could be but but it's how about this a vote for trump is a vote for shyness You want a meek candidate? I just think I think I think racism is very passive action that Most people take in life and I think when you vote that's a very active action

And you're choosing one that will be worse for people of color. You can't pretend it won't you can say other things matter to me more And that's fine And and it doesn't mean like you can't hang out with them You can it's just but it is a fact that it was so you're saying every decision that we make Is in in in essence racist I think I think we live in a racist society. Right. Is it also sexist yes and

And classist class it it's classism gets overlooked Probably the most right but what we do it's like you have to actively work against it to not be those things Which is all to say that like I don't think I'm like without sin, right? I just Did think when you do make a vote like that you can't pretend it's not affecting a certain group of people more than it's going to affect you If you are a way person, right And then I and if you buy a phone you can't pretend that it's not affecting a certain group of people Exactly, that's not you and I think both are true, but they're not one doesn't cancel the other out I would like to all your friends houses and I like lit shit bag your shit on fire

No What But doesn't it cancel it out if if you pointing out Somebody's sin, right? And then they point out your sin like so we're even No, no because you can't I can point out your sin and we need to talk about how you vote and what that vote's gonna do Then you can point out my sin and I can be clear though. I did not vote I just want to make it clear

We want everyone to know John does not vote. No one here votes I've never even looked at it. It wasn't about that the vote was racist. It was that my proximity to someone who voted that way was deemed Uh as because I was still had proximity to them. That was Racist. Oh, I didn't even know that's what I was insinuating. Can you believe the balls I had on me as your staff writer? That but that's not what I remember singing in that moment girl. I like the cut of your jib No, no, of course, I mean, I mean like I've I have family members like, you know, I mean, no, no, uh, uh, this is it I I very strongly felt like the vote was racist

But I didn't feel like I was arguing what's a proximity to a person who voted for trumpet I mean, what is what is the responsibility? Okay. Maybe this gets it to a different conversation, right? What is the responsibility that we all have? When faced with participating in exploitative systems So if If I am friendly with someone who voted for trump and that's a racist vote, what's my responsibility in that? So Putting it into like a more maybe productive place. What is our responsibility in participating in those systems? Like how how should I have handled that? I

My personally is that and it's not a correct answer. It's just that you try So I know postmates is fucking over delivery drivers constantly What what what is my try? I try to tip a bunch or tip and cash. Is that fixing it? No, but I try For people but if I argue with my friends, which I do. Yeah, is that considered trying? Oh 100% I think that's that's the best thing you can do be their friend and talk to them. Yes No, I argue with them give them shit about it constantly and go yeah The best part about anyone who voted for trump was that every now and then if you were a person who didn't You got to say man. Look at your boy

Your boy is fucking What is he doing now and they go, I mean, you know, you know, he's actually he's figuring stuff out Yeah, I guess I guess all I'm saying is that like everything sucks and is really painful Yeah, all you can do is try wait. Wait. So they haven't watched the show. That's the premise of the show Everything sucks and it's really painful and it's really painful. But we got somewhere. We did that That was come at me, bro. Yeah, we didn't fix it. But you know, we got to We got to an understanding like because you felt the tension rise When we didn't quite understand each other

We didn't feel each other and then all of a sudden we kind of felt each other and the misunderstanding kind of cleared And we kind of got each other And man, and I learned that you think I called you a racist And I still have a job. That's nice. The question was, uh, how do you justify working for apple and we solved racism guys? So feel good about it Feel good about it and also check out the new mac book, bro This is a caller another unnamed caller with some advice for young comedy upstart. John steward bring it bring it

Hey, I know you guys are starting out and trying hard but Uh, you're laughing at your own jokes and It's kind of stupid, you know, but I know who's starting out I'd like you been there. See you I'd like you've been there, John. I'd like you've been there hurts more than fuck you I wonder if the laughing at your own stuff because it is a performative tick to some extent like friends If you go out and do comedy, right when you guys are out and you're doing comedy You're performing pretty much the same thing that you've performed, you know, hopefully

A few hundred times before because you've honed it, but you would smile or laugh or talk about it is performative and I think what he's saying to us is hey You're okay It's not your fault. What a sweet spin I feel like you can still be yes, it's not your fault. Wait a second. Jay It's not don't don't do this man. Don't do it. John He gave you the same advice that sportscasters give someone when they celebrate a touchdown too much. Come on Young man, act like you've been there. Yeah, he sounds like every high school football coach slash history teacher

That's just like come on act like you've been here before Act like you've been here before. Come on. We don't celebrate first down Classic sports talk radio. He was he was a laid back. He was not a fire and brimstone coach. That was very much like fellas Come on now. Come on now. You got to act like you've been here before fellas Hey, coach, Sam, that's what I'm thinking of and you know what I would say to him when you're using a voice machine act like you use a voice machine Yeah, act like you use a voice machine. Come at me, bro. A voice machine. Come at me All right, let's keep this going. All right. Hey, uh another unnamed caller who I'm going to dub Bon Jovi fan 73

She wants to talk jersey with you. Oh, that's probably that's one of my favorite topics Hey, John, um What's your favorite thing about New Jersey that you can't find anywhere else in the world? And also, what's your least favorite thing about New Jersey? Anyway, thanks. Love you. Bye Hmm. She loves you. I like she called us from the bath It felt like listening to Lila on the radio This one's going out to a John Stewart This is a long-distance dedication. I mean

Least favorite thing about New Jersey. I mean, I think most people would agree. It's the carcinogens It's it's it's hard not to point to environmental hazard As as the thing if you forget you take one bridge out of New York and you go, oh, that's a factory factory That's that's one of those things where you're like, what does that thing make? I think it makes odor I think that's an odor factor. What's it make kids sick? My favorite thing about New Jersey is I happen to like a good caprese salad And in New Jersey, you can get one and this is zoning. This is legal This is the way it has to be in New Jersey every 12 feet. You have to have

A caprese salad. You have to be able to buy one. You have to know how to make one You can be pulled over and asked spot checked to make a caprese salad Are you a purist? Are you a purist because there are some salad purists that go This is what's in a caprese salad. This is what's in a wall dwarf. Don't you dare deviate? So here's the thing a caprese salad. It just merely has to be mozzarella What do you got about mozzarella in there? You can put it in there with anything If it's mozzarella and let's say playing cards Caprese salad. It's the deep dish. That's the deep dish. That's what it sounds like. It's the deep dish of salads

It's not really a salad caprese salad and carcinogens The state flag in New Jersey if that's not on our license plates by Thursday Okay, next up we have a caller Pete from Staten Island. Oh, Jesus. This is gonna get bad Hello, John. It's Pete. Hey, Davidson unless you know other pete's that sound like 1940s chain smoker. Oh my god Congrats on your show. I'm thinking of you. I like when we go to the nick games and I pretend you're my dad Love you pal You know, it's funny when we go to the games because it really does like so I bring my son usually

So it looks like I'm both of their dads because my kid sort of resembles like if you had two sons And one of them had like a growing problem Like that would so they sort of resemble each other but in different sizes It's also like one of them is really into tattoos. Like one of your sons really But also because of like height these culture they're dressed the same That's exactly right, but it really does look like He's in between the two of us. So it could be that pete and I are Nate's dad

Oh my god on the flow chart of like the evolution of man. Is he like Nate pete john By the way, like Such a lovely guy. Like so sweet Such a good hearted guy like love hanging out. We do have a ball I just opened for my friend special that pete was directing. It's the first thing pete's ever directed. Oh, really? Yeah, so we're sitting in the back in the green room and another comic is in there and he turns to pete He's like, where can I go smoke a cigarette and pete's like, I just been smoking him in the green room And he's like, I'm not famous

But that's what I love about because he's also unexpected like when we did that benefit, you know, and you know the reputation pete has is like Oh, he's fucked up. He's got the tattoos and he gets high and all that shit He's like a producer. Yeah, he's like, here's how the show's gonna go So i'm gonna bring it out. They're gonna do like three minutes. I've created some vignettes The vignettes will roll as we go and i'm just like, holy shit This guy's i think he's a producer people think that people can like accidentally get super successful in show business It's just like not the way it works. Well Okay caller that i'm guessing doesn't bank with jpmc who has a pretty thoughtful question about your conversation with ceo

Jamie diamond bring it come at me, bro Hi, I just want to leave a message regarding the interview with jayme diamond so, um, I noticed that he used inner cities and inner city youth quite frequently when he was talking about society and the issues with society and problems and um, I feel like that's a very Coated way of saying brown and black people. Um, it felt very On the border of races to me and I was surprised that john steward didn't call that out Because it's not just inner cities that are having issues with education, right? There's also issues with the rural areas too. Thank you

That was the most pleasant castigation of my lack of Fortitude in that conversation, you know, sometimes in those conversations. I can't you want to say something I was like, I'm pretty sure I always say like Yeah, it's not just poverty and things not just in the cities isn't rural and people think but I may not have said it to him But you're right. We generally we and we're saying and now if jayme diamond said inner city He was trying to dangerous minds his way out of being a bad person

He was like, oh, yeah, these kids with the corn rolls and you get in the military and get a haircut No, it's like, what are you talking about? Also, she said that there are dumb places Everywhere in the country in the rural in the in the midwest now I want to take a moment to say the midwest is so dumb. They think deep dishes pizza. So we have But now again, that gets us though. Let's get to a productive point What do you do in that conversation? Do you say like, well, you say inner city's like poverty is a problem everywhere Education is a problem everywhere. Yeah, but I think I was blowing past it to get to another point

You know what it is? Here's what it speaks to the problem with being present It's so hard to remain present sometimes Especially in conversations where you have an intention Because if you have an intention, it's one of the things that I think is the hardest thing to do in interviewing people is You know, you know, I get ahead of steam up when we're talking about the economy We get all these other things. So I've got intention when I'm talking to jamie diamond And he might throw in a ton of shit into that that I'm not recognizing because my intention Has got me myopic. Yeah, I put blinders on this happened to me with rumsfeld

I had such an intention with him. I was gonna prosecute this and he was gonna walk out and say sir Thank you, sir I have learned And like right at the beginning of the conversation I go. So when you guys were selling the war, well, we sell it We presented a case. Well, you presented all the positive cases and that's the sales job No, I didn't really it's uh presented the case But I had such an intention that I was like, uh, fuck that. Let's just move on And that night I realized oh

That was the essence of the entire conversation if I hadn't had blinders on I would have realized the entirety of the conversation should have lived in the difference between Selling and presenting and that should have been everything but I was so fucking Intent on like on page two 21 You suggest that the inspector hawn's blicks like I was so up my own ass That I missed the whole thing that was right in front. I was so mad at myself and I I I think that's a super interesting point and I don't think that's a one-to-one with the jamey diamond

I think there was a whole second conversation available in the fact that you were talking about the economy And he sees the economy as a poor black and brown people and rich white people Yes, so every time he's talking about poor people he is talking but didn't I say I thought I said to him But you're you're blaming education for intractable poverty You said that and I want to also say that escalation is a rhetoric tactic But also dismissal is so if you would have fallen for the inner city trap There is a chance that you wouldn't be able to talk economics with the person you brought the talk economics with And that's the toughest part when someone even throws not necessarily bait out there

But just someone falls in a trap you go we could talk about this or we could keep talking about what I actually want to talk to you about Right, right or we can talk about how fucking racist you are, right? But there is a way I think of to her point Making clear that you see the ruse while not Deviating from your intention and that's the part sometimes I can struggle with where if you have your intention And somebody throws that out there you have to be deft enough to be able to say Well that I think is not necessarily the case and certainly there's poverty and all these other Pockets but getting back to that's where the real art of it is And sometimes I just that I just think he's possibly uh like you would have to say what do you mean?

You say inner city a lot What do you what types of people are you talking about when you say inner city and make him confront what he But don't you think wouldn't that then I'd be passive aggressive because I know yeah, it's if I do that then I feel like I'm being Not honest. I'm so sick of these college trying to make us better people I liked it when they were just telling us we stop here's something about better people I remember after that rumsfeld interview Like losing I think I lost more sleep over that interview than he lost over the entire war Oh

That's how fucking I don't think he lost a minute of sleep over that And can I say something right now? I think he's sleeping pretty good right now He's sleeping very well. You know what he did to me after the interview that was fucking brilliant He sent me a note because he knew I mean he knew What I was about and he knew what I was trying to do And he sends me a note afterwards Loved the conversation Sorry, we never knew each other when we were younger. I bet we'd have been friends

And I was like, oh wow that dude just on his way out. Yeah turned around Smiled at me and kicked me in the fucking John that's like if you've ever seen someone bomb and someone goes grace it man That's what he just did. No, what he did is uh, yeah fun up there. Yeah. Is that nice? Is that good? Hey, how's the audience? Yeah Seem a little quiet Are they done seating yet? Yeah. All right. But that's very interesting stuff. Yeah, and it's funny because there's There's again, like there's people that can bring that point up and you shut them out

And then there's people that bring that point up and you're like, you know what I should think about that. That's that's interesting Yes, thank you. What was her name? Unknown she didn't give an thank you unknown lady. Yes. So just a couple very short sweet ones This one come at me, bro. No, we've actually got some positivity for you here. Here we go. All right John I don't care what other people say or think I think you look great Silver hair makes you look very distinguished

and listen Fuck anyone who says otherwise. I'm gonna make that my ringtone It is the most underrated compliment. It's that's like your mom being like Wow, you look so great this year because and you know, you struggled you struggled for a while, but wow But chelsea, here's the thing I'm not blind Like he's not telling me anything out of it's not one of those things right to turn to you guys go guys

Am I am I wait? I got a bunch of text that you're you're certified silver fox Certified show baby smoke show slam piece silver fox daddy. I'm gonna explain those words. Here's the thing about the The smoke show it is what a fire gives off as it's being put out. We have one more voicemail. I think we should just get Let's get to it. Let's get to it. There we go. Hey, john. Hey same guy guys before Listen man, uh I just saw a recent picture of you and Actually, I would like to take back what it says before

You do look like shit That I want to hire that like that Is fucking where it's at. Yeah, you know what? Here's what I want to say about that. You came at me bro And you won

like that Brilliant What an enjoyable way to spend a podcast. I say we do this more frequently. I truly appreciate Uh, uh, robbie j chelsea. Uh, we are taking a short break for the holidays During that time Is our answering machine on I think as long as you have a good therapist. We go forward. Yeah, I love that you're on a trap never been in therapy John ever we gather here in this podcast never self-medicated for some time

Yeah, yeah, never I never Chelsea never Never make sure to use promo code the problem for better help Oh Never I'll meet you in your office. Well, we're gonna talk about this a lot of people hold on to a conversation with donald rumsfeld for 16 years Yeah, is there a is there a couch in your office at least? Oh, I've slept on couches

Don't get me wrong. I have been on couches just not talking to anybody and how did that make you feel? Let's get a therapist to call in Podcast over. Yeah. All right. Uh, you can use this time The time that we are taking a break to catch up on any of the episodes of our television program Which you have not seen yet. The link is in the episode description. You can re-listen to the podcast Uh, your last resort. You can also spend time with your families Uh, in terms of the holidays and that type of thing. We will be back with new episodes of podcast Of the tv show of the newsletter hot plug newsletter the problem.com

Can I tell you something a newsletter is for those of you who don't know it's like a podcast in your own head That your eyes make so we appreciate you guys. Thank you so much for joining us for any of our episodes or podcasts Or any of these types of things and we will see you all soon I was about to say happy holidays, but I remembered that there was a war on christmas So I should probably sing merry christmas. No, I like it. Prep us for those voicemails. There's a war on christmas Say say say happy say happy hanukah and say nothing else. Say happy holidays. Just go happy hanukah. Go happy hanukah Wow, even my own children would disown me All right, we'll see you guys soon

The problem with john stewart podcast is an apple tv plus podcast and a joint busboy production. Fuck you john stewart