In this podcast exclusive, Desi Lydic sits with one of the newest news team members, Troy Iwata to discuss how they met on set of the movie 'Space Cadet,' their Daily Show audition process, how they crafted their Daily Show persona, and the sense of responsibility they feel to viewers. Plus, they reveal which famous Daily Show correspondent created a ten point list for how to shoot a successful field piece.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
You're listening to Comedy Central.
Speaker 2 (00:03):
Yeah, for a look at the situation on the ground.
Let's go live to Moscow with some fresh exit polls
and Troy Iwana.
Speaker 3 (00:25):
Troy, what are you learning?
Speaker 1 (00:27):
Does it? We're learning a lot about why Russians are
so drawn to Vladimir Putin. Listen to these exit poll results. First,
ninety four percent of voters said they did not want
to accidentally fall out of a window and six percent
said they did not want to be poisoned. So those
are the top two issues. Third being Putin's age.
Speaker 3 (00:49):
Hey, here's edition listeners. It's Daisi Leidek and I'm sitting
here with one of the newest members of our news team,
Troy Iwaa.
Speaker 1 (01:00):
Hello, thank you so much for having me.
Speaker 3 (01:02):
Welcome, Welcome to the pod. Thank you, and welcome to
the news team.
Speaker 1 (01:05):
Thank you.
Speaker 3 (01:06):
Am I pronouncing your name correctly?
Speaker 1 (01:08):
It sounded good, Troy, Oh that part the first part, Yeah, No,
that's correct, Okay, good. Yeah. And then just so we're clear,
it's Desai.
Speaker 3 (01:18):
That's exactly right, It's German, okay, Leo dyuko swallow it?
Speaker 1 (01:24):
And what does that mean?
Speaker 3 (01:26):
It means child of God?
Speaker 1 (01:29):
And aren't we all aren't we all.
Speaker 3 (01:31):
Okay, so we you and I met on we were
friends before the Daily Show. Good friends, good friends. It
is Troy right, Yes, yes, we met on a little
movie called Space Cadet. Do you do you want to
give the the elevator pitch on Space Cadet?
Speaker 1 (01:49):
Well, I'll just say what everyone told me. It's like
legally blonde in space. It is.
Speaker 3 (01:56):
It kind of is. And you and I play as
CAN trainees.
Speaker 1 (02:01):
And if for those of you that don't know, an
ass can is not a can for your.
Speaker 3 (02:06):
Ass, No, it's we learned that on day one.
Speaker 1 (02:09):
Yeah, it's a space spatial student, Spatial Spatial Students, special
student student of Space.
Speaker 3 (02:15):
As you can tell, we are not actual NASA trainees.
We did no research for this film at all.
Speaker 1 (02:22):
Lines in this movie, so I.
Speaker 3 (02:24):
No, but I want to talk about that because so
most of the scenes that we were in were group
scenes with at least five plus characters, and so oftentimes
we would have like a line here, a line there.
But Troy, you stole every freaking scene in that movie.
(02:45):
If you had one line, you made the most of it.
You had all of us cracking up every take. You
were such a standout, truly, thank you. Why do you
look so surprised.
Speaker 1 (02:56):
I don't know. One of my lines was fire, Yeah,
but you not even with an excavation point or fire period.
Thank you. That's very very sweet, but no, but it's true.
Speaker 3 (03:07):
And I think like that is that is one of
your superpowers as a comedic actor, and I think it
comes in handy here as a as part of the
news team. Like in everything that you do here, you
you figure out a way of like putting your own
unique spin on it.
Speaker 1 (03:24):
Well, actually, like okay, so we met on the set
of this movie, yes, right, and we were in the
beautiful state of Alabama for.
Speaker 3 (03:32):
Three weeks, Huntsville, Alabama.
Speaker 1 (03:34):
Which actually was pretty lovely but I'm not gonna lie. Yeah,
And then towards the end of shooting, we were just
sitting in our in our actors chairs with our names
on them, because that's what we require because we're actors,
because we're actors, and uh, you turned to me and
you said.
Speaker 3 (03:52):
You said, how much do I have to pay you
to come to the Daily Show?
Speaker 1 (03:54):
I know you said, would you ever consider auditioning for
the Daily Show?
Speaker 3 (04:00):
Yeah? It's all I could think about when we were filming.
And then we spent well, we had time on set together,
but then we spent an afternoon getting coffee and hanging out. Yeah,
and that's when I was like, oh, we could use
your perspective here. I think you should audition for this show.
You're such a perfect fit for the show.
Speaker 1 (04:20):
Thank you, and I'm having a wonderful time good But yeah,
you asked me that question, and I of course said no, yeah,
gros that's disgusting. Why would you think that? And then
a couple of weeks later, I got an email with
a with a with a self tape. And for those
of you listeners don't know what a self tape is,
it's a videotape that you make by yourself at home.
Speaker 3 (04:45):
That's not porn.
Speaker 1 (04:46):
It's not porn unless you want it to be.
Speaker 3 (04:48):
It can be. It can get you the job.
Speaker 1 (04:50):
Sometimes we don't think shame here at the Daily Show.
Speaker 3 (04:52):
No we don't.
Speaker 1 (04:53):
I remember I was sent like a packet with some
previous sketches that the that The Daily Show done, and
they asked me to just pick one and do one,
and two of them were for women and one of
them was for a man. So I picked the man. One.
Speaker 3 (05:08):
I was gonna say, which one, did you shoore?
Speaker 1 (05:10):
One of them was like about it was like about
abortion rights or something, and I was like, I don't think, like.
Speaker 3 (05:13):
I don't care about women's rights. Get the sady.
Speaker 1 (05:15):
This doesn't speak to me. And so I did one
of them with like a reader, and then they and
then they also asked me to write a desk piece
for myself.
Speaker 3 (05:25):
And had you ever done that before?
Speaker 1 (05:27):
I'd written stuff for myself before, but not from the
perspective of like a news anchor sort of type thing.
And like, I was a little bit nervous because I
definitely consider myself like a funny person, but I don't
consider myself a writer, not necessarily a joke teller and
so far, but I can make something funny. If you
asked me to like make up a joke, I can
(05:47):
C plus, you know, but I don't.
Speaker 3 (05:49):
I'd give you a higher grade than that. But yes,
I know what you're saying.
Speaker 1 (05:52):
Yeah, yeah, a low B minus. And but I also
when when they sent me the tape, they said, you know,
pressure to be funny, we just want to hear how
you talk. And I was like, oh, well that's nice,
and then sent that in and then a couple weeks later,
I had a zoom meeting with a couple of the
producers and then they offered me the job. And coming
coming from a theater background, not to sound, I don't
(06:15):
know what the word is, but this was the fastest
and easiest process of getting a job that I've ever had.
Nice and I'm very grateful for that, and I'm having
a great time.
Speaker 3 (06:26):
All I did was walk away from set and then
I went to Gen flans Are awesome EP showrunner. Hi
Jen Boss, Hi Jen, thank you so much for listening.
Thank you for this opportunity. I went to Jen and
I said, I think we should ask if I worked
with this guy Troy on the movie, and I think
we should ask if he could submit a tape. And
(06:48):
she put in the request and then I had no
idea what you I had nothing to do with your
audition process. I had no idea what you picked or
what you wrote. And then I just heard back from
Jen that they loved you and that they were bringing
you in and gonna hire you. So it uh. And
then I did watch your audition tape afterwards when you
(07:09):
sent it to me, and it was really great.
Speaker 1 (07:12):
Thank you. Did they give you a cut of them
of the of the bribe money that I sent in
with the tape.
Speaker 3 (07:18):
I cannot speak of that, okay, because my lawyers might
be listening. I got it. Yeah, hi lawyers, Thank you
for lawyers, Thank you for this opportunity.
Speaker 1 (07:26):
Were you.
Speaker 3 (07:27):
Do you consider yourself a political person?
Speaker 1 (07:29):
I will say since getting this job, I've become more so. Yeah,
only just like I think a lot. I feel like
it's a pretty relatable thing to be exhausted by politics,
especially in this country. But working here has made it
more fun because I'm approaching because it forces you to
approach it more from like you see the ridiculousness of
(07:52):
it and you can laugh at it. That makes it
a lot more palatable than like just being overwhelmed.
Speaker 3 (07:58):
Yeah, exhausted by it. In a lot of ways, I
feel like the show has become my therapy because it
is overwhelming. It's especially overwhelming to feel like you have
to pay attention to every minute of the news cycle, right, that's.
Speaker 1 (08:16):
There's too much mounting. There's too much because also what
is news. News is gossip of what's happening in the world,
and anything can be a story, So it's you can't
know what's going on and also, we're not supposed to
know what's going on.
Speaker 3 (08:30):
It's healthy to take breaks every now and again. Yeah,
And I think you do have to do that when
we have little many hiatuses here and there. It's healthy
to kind of like unplug and take a step back.
I was also not a particularly political person going into this.
I did watch The Daily Show The John Years for
(08:51):
many years before starting here and desperately wanted to be
on the show and auditioned multiple ties.
Speaker 1 (08:58):
You audition multiple ties?
Speaker 3 (08:59):
I did.
Speaker 1 (09:00):
I did.
Speaker 3 (09:00):
I auditioned for the show three times.
Speaker 1 (09:02):
I didn't know that I did.
Speaker 3 (09:04):
Yeah, yeah, over the course of like eight years, maybe
six years. Yeah, the same process where you like, you
get sent a piece that had been done on the
show before and you choose that and then you write
a piece. And the third time that I was asked,
I was like, oh, I don't know if I can
do this again, because it's it's a pretty big homework assignment.
(09:27):
And I felt the same way that you did, like
I'm not I would write by necessity for myself, but
I didn't consider myself a writer, and I certainly wasn't
really comfortable doing that at the time. So it was
a lot it was like a big ask. And the
third time, I thought like, oh gosh, I don't know
if I wanted to put myself through this again. It
was so heartbreaking when I wanted it so badly last time,
(09:48):
and I think maybe if they wanted me, they would
have asked me by now, and I just don't know.
And my manager at the time was like, I really,
I really think you should do it one more time.
Just give it all you got and make a tape.
And I was like all right, and so I did
and I submitted and this was this is when John
(10:10):
was still hosting the show in his final year. And
I submitted the tape and I did not hear anything back,
and I thought, Okay, well that's that was my chance.
Speaker 1 (10:21):
That was it.
Speaker 3 (10:21):
That's it. I got to move on. And then, uh,
three months later, we got a call asking if I
was available for the show to come out or to
start and.
Speaker 1 (10:36):
Super thirty.
Speaker 3 (10:38):
It was like three months later, and of course I
was like, yes, I'll move there tomorrow, I'll drop everything,
I'll be there.
Speaker 1 (10:44):
At the time, I was in.
Speaker 3 (10:45):
LA and they were like, cool, your pits, we're not
ready right now. We're just sort of like feeling yeah,
it said in the subject line cool your pits and
the end. So we just said like, okay, well, just
so you know, we're ready anytime. And then shortly after that,
(11:06):
John announced that he was leaving, and so they did
not want to bring anyone on during that time. It
was like such a moment of transition. But they continued
to check in periodically, okay, And so then I think
John announced he was leaving, they started looking at who
the next who the next host was going to be.
(11:27):
They locked in Trevor and then they called me to
come back and read with Trevor and for a second audition.
Speaker 1 (11:35):
And how much longer down the line was that.
Speaker 3 (11:37):
So I submitted the tape in November and I got
the call in July the next year.
Speaker 1 (11:42):
Oh my god.
Speaker 3 (11:43):
And during this period of time's so thinful. It was.
It was a little stress It was a little stressful.
And during that period of time, my husband and I
had just gotten married and we wanted to start being
open to starting a family. And I got pregnant, okay,
and so get I get pregnant, I get knocked up. Yeah,
and then I'm like four months pregnant and I get
(12:06):
the call to come meet Trevor, and now I'm like,
oh my god, this is my dream job, this is
my opportunity. Do I tell them I'm pregnant? Will that
change anything? Should I keep it from them? What do
I do?
Speaker 1 (12:19):
So?
Speaker 3 (12:19):
I went to New York, I did the audition, I
met with Trevor, and then I waited in the waiting
room afterwards to talk to Jen Flans and the other
executive producers, just to give them a heads up because
I thought, like, I don't you know. Of course women
shouldn't have to think about this sort of thing, but
I didn't want to start the job off with the lie.
(12:42):
So I waited and then Jen was like. Jen came
out and she's like, yeah, yeah, you did great, And
I was like, oh no, no, I don't need feedback,
but thank you. I just want to let you know
that this is my dream job and I would be
here tomorrow if asked, But also I am pregnant and
i'd be starting the job four months pregnant or six
months pregnant. And she's like, without even batting an eye,
(13:05):
she's like, congratulations, that's amazing. We'll use it on the show,
or we won't use it on the show. Whatever you want,
so we've done it before, we'll do it again.
Speaker 1 (13:13):
And Jen's anything, she's a spinner into something marketable, which
is a skill.
Speaker 3 (13:21):
So real skilled producer right there, that is. But it
was pretty awesome to hear that in the world of
you know, television and you know, I mean, you know,
the entertainment industry. It's not always you. I came into
it pretty young and thinking like, oh, when you start
a family, your career is over and that's it. And
(13:42):
of course that's not the way that it should be,
but it often is. So that was incredibly reassuring and
I have refused to leave ever since.
Speaker 1 (13:58):
Okay, so does you auditioned for or The Daily Show? Thrice?
Thrice thrice? What did you in your audition process come
up with an idea for a character for your correspondent
that and has that played into your character now or
has it changed?
Speaker 3 (14:16):
Or I did, and that is I'm doing the exact
opposite of what I thought I would get to it.
So it clearly worked brilliantly at the time. I guess
it was twenty fourteen when I auditioned, and the piece
that I wrote for myself for the audition was definitely
(14:40):
inspired by Gretchen Carlson and Meghan Kelly, the kind of
like Fox News blonde type, Okay, Daisy Leidika karacspand on that.
Speaker 4 (14:51):
Well, I'm a Stanford graduate, I have multiple degrees. I
speak nine different languages, one fourteen different beauty pageants. I'm
a proficial puppeteer as Celiac survivor.
Speaker 3 (15:02):
No, no, I meant to expand on your view.
Speaker 4 (15:05):
Oh no, No, it's self evident.
Speaker 3 (15:08):
I kind of thought like, oh, there's maybe there's an
opening to do like a female version of Colbert's character,
and I would go hard into that Fox News lane.
So that was the piece that I wrote, and that
was the piece that I auditioned with. But then once
I started the job, when Trump came into the equation,
(15:29):
I think the entire landscape changed and it felt like, oh,
we have bigger fish to fry than Fox News. Fox
News is a huge part of it, but kind of
like ironically embodying that persona at that time, and the
political climate felt sort of unsavory and like we couldn't
(15:52):
we couldn't make that sustain itself for years on end,
And so I would dip in and out of that
character periodically when we needed it, but I wound up
playing much closer to like just a heightened sort of
like overly confident, underinformed correspondent. Yeah, news correspondent.
Speaker 1 (16:13):
I think that's a layer of what we all do.
Speaker 3 (16:16):
Yeah, yeah, so there was that, But then you know,
some depending on the piece, like I would kind of,
you end up you try to create a character that's
somewhat close to your persona but highly exaggerated, and then
you sort of fit into any situation with what it requires.
Like if we're doing a field piece and we're sitting
(16:36):
down with someone who is kind of a wacky, crazy character,
you want to play straight, right, Like you have to
play the role of straight because they are they are
the wacky character, and there's no sense in having two
crazy people. So so you figure out your dynamic. And
then if you're if you're sitting down with an expert
who's schooling you, you kind of become the overly confident,
(16:59):
underinformed and then you play a bit of a character.
So yeah, it definitely has evolved over time. And then
now in this stage that we're at right now, where
we're being correspondence but then also hosting, sometimes the hosting
role definitely requires you to be more of yourself, which
was an adjustment that I had to get more comfortable
(17:20):
with because I thought like, oh, I can be brave
saying all of these things in character because I'm playing
a character. But then once you take that armor away,
it becomes a really vulnerable experience when you have to
be more yourself.
Speaker 1 (17:32):
Yeah, because when you're hosting, you're not necessarily even a
heightened version of yourself. You're yourself.
Speaker 3 (17:37):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, pretty much.
Speaker 1 (17:39):
When they first approached you to say, hey, we're going
to have you host, how was what was your response?
Speaker 3 (17:51):
I said, I'll be there tomorrow. Yeah, I said, are
you sure this is what you want?
Speaker 1 (18:00):
You thought about wanting to host before? Was that even
on your radar? No?
Speaker 3 (18:04):
Okay, it never starting this job like I want. I
desperately wanted to be a correspondent. I watched for many
years the other correspondent Samby and Colbert and Correl and
like worshiped what they did and thought like, that's the
most fun job on the planet. And so when I
started this job, I thought like, this is what I'll
(18:27):
be doing. I never never thought that I'd get the
opportunity to sit at the desk and I also I
think having more of like an improv background and an
acting background. My goal was never set on being a
host of a show, like I just didn't think about that.
But then when things opened up and we got the opportunity,
(18:50):
I thought, well, I got to try it on, I
got to put my hat in the ring here somewhere,
and yeah, and it's it is totally different, but it's
kind of awesome. It's like such a great opportunity.
Speaker 1 (19:03):
And you've gotten to do it multiple times.
Speaker 3 (19:05):
I know, yeah, yeah, I've Yeah, it's still still very new,
still like a new muscle that needs to be worked.
Speaker 1 (19:15):
But yeah, when you are hosting, what what extra responsibilities
do you have? Because I know we have so many
writers here who are brilliant and come up with things
like that. But it's like when you're when you're hosting,
do you have more input on what direction you want
the show to go in that week?
Speaker 3 (19:35):
Yes? Yeah, And I think that we even as correspondence,
we are always brought into the conversation. It's very collaborative,
and I think the show always wants us to have
ownership over what we say. I would say, like when
you're hosting, I think there's a little added responsibility and
pressure that whatever happens in that show, you're sitting at
(19:57):
the desk, so you share some responsibility in it and
taking extra care and making sure like this is my perspective.
I believe in everything I'm saying. And again, it's very
much a collaborative process because we have such brilliant writers
here and we definitely rely on their expertise, but like,
(20:18):
it is your point of view at the end of
the day. So yeah, I think there's there's like, yeah,
a little added pressure.
Speaker 1 (20:25):
A little bit. Yeah, And I also feel like I
don't want to speak for you, but I will do it. Yeah, yeah, yeah, No,
But do you feel like when you are hosting or
honestly just being on the show, do you feel like
being a woman plays does you have to put it
through that filter? I'm just saying because I as like
I'm like half Japanese and I'm gay and all these things.
(20:47):
Every time I receive any kind of material, there is
always a filter of like I need to remember that
I am saying this, yeah, as an Asian person or
as a gay person. Yeah, so I need to know
how that is going to come across because it's me
saying it. Well, even if I think these jokes are hilarious,
they might not come across as funny because I'm saying them.
Speaker 3 (21:10):
Right, Or you feel an obligation to represent yeah, people
who you're speaking about, like you don't want to disappoint.
There was the ruling coming out of Alabama on the
on IVF and we kind of quickly wrote a very
funny mini headline on it, and we were working it
(21:33):
out in rehearsal, and as we're doing it, I'm kind
of like, oh, this is this is really funny. But
we're going to the jokes a little too quickly here.
I think we need to kind of like sit in
how messed up all of this is. And I had
to sit for a minute and go, Okay, I know,
you know five to ten people in my life who
have actually been through this. What are they going to
(21:54):
want to hear right now? And they're probably going to
want to laugh about it a little bit, but they
also are going to want to hear some acknowledgment about
how excruciating this process can be. And so sometimes like, yeah,
you do try to you I want to represent women. Well,
I think we all feel a sense of responsibility that
we don't want to let people down, and at the
(22:16):
end of the day, we just kind of have to
follow our instincts because there's no way we'll be able
to make everyone happy, right.
Speaker 1 (22:22):
And it's like, we're happy to represent the communities that
we come from, absolutely, but it can't be solely about that.
And I have no interest in being the face of
my community right in that sense, because I'm not equipped.
I'm not intellectually or anything like that. And it's like,
(22:43):
I remember my very first field piece that I shot
was the piece about professional cuddling. As one who goes
through life avoiding human contact, I wasn't thrilled about meeting
someone who made a living from touching other people. I
have to admit it does sound a bit scammy. Seems
like you're just ripping off people who've never heard of
the body pillow.
Speaker 2 (23:00):
It is not just about the physical act of cuddling.
Speaker 3 (23:04):
The body pillow cannot talk to.
Speaker 4 (23:05):
You, right.
Speaker 1 (23:06):
I would see the fact that my pillows can't talk
back to me as an asset. And I remember, you know,
they sent me the breakdown of it in the pitch,
and of course I was like, I'm very excited because
it's my first field piece. And but I wrote back,
I was nervous. I think I texted you about it
because I was nervous because the take was like our
correspondent thinks that this industry is actually just like a
(23:29):
front for like sex work, and thinks that professional cuddlers
are you know, are just sex workers, and it's it's just,
you know, a front for that. And I remember emailing
emailing the team back and being like, this is funny
the fact that this is my first impression on the show.
I don't know if I necessarily want my first impression,
(23:52):
as like the gay correspondent to be me showing up
being like, so we're all gonna have sex, right, yes?
Speaker 3 (23:59):
Yes? And that's what's so great about the show is
like day one, you can come in and be like, hey,
I had this thought, yeah, and this is a concern
for me, and how do we navigate around that or
how do we change the take so it feels more
in line with what I want to represent, what I
want to talk about. And what was that like when
(24:22):
you brought that up to the producer and you said, hey,
here's what I'm thinking. How did that go over?
Speaker 1 (24:26):
They're extremely receptive of it and said, you know, we'll
tweak it before we shoot, we'll tweak it while we shoot.
If you ever feel uncomfortable, we can stop. But they
were wonderful about it.
Speaker 3 (24:39):
And it just goes to show like how needed it
is to have a variety of diverse voices in the room,
on the writing team, in producing in front of the camera,
because that represents our audience.
Speaker 1 (24:51):
Yeah, and the material itself wasn't offensive in any way,
but again, it was just putting it through that filter
of I need to think about the fact that I
am a gay person saying these things right, and the
fact that I was, like, this is my first impression.
Speaker 3 (25:03):
On even just it was your first piece day one,
bringing something up it was you were met with a
very receptive response.
Speaker 1 (25:11):
Yeah, yeah, that was beautiful.
Speaker 3 (25:13):
That's good to hear.
Speaker 1 (25:14):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (25:21):
When you started here as part of the news team,
did you think about the character that you wanted to
play and how much of that should lean into your
own personality versus like what you wanted to create for
yourself on the show.
Speaker 1 (25:36):
I I kind of just knew that parts of myself
would just make it into the character. I didn't really
come in like method thinking this is who I'm going.
Speaker 3 (25:48):
To be how much backstory did you write over your character?
Speaker 1 (25:52):
I wrote pages, pages, and I learned that in college. No,
I sort of just knew that it would like creep in. Well,
first of all, actually you were very helpful to me
in the both the audition process and my starting process
because anytime, say more, well anytime. First of all, you
were always very available to me to answer any questions,
(26:14):
but you always back to them, and I don't know,
I think this is hilarious. You would always say, Troy,
you are overqualified for this job. So that's me multiple times.
Speaker 3 (26:26):
You're a very talented human being, You're an extremely talented
performer in so many different areas, and truly, yes, you
are extremely qualified for this.
Speaker 1 (26:36):
Well, that's a very kind thing for you to say.
I will say now, I'm still learning and there are
definitely things about this job that scare me but in
a good way and challenge me same. But yeah, yeah,
it was more of just trust the process. And I
was like, there's a lot of very talented people that
work here and they're gonna they're gonna, I'll trust that
they'll that will all help each other. And I remember
(26:57):
my first my first day actually shooting something doing a
chat live in studio. I remember I showed up and
everyone was so warm and welcoming to me. And even
when I was in the studio, they were like, there's
four cameras, they're always in the same spot. There's two
places for you to stand. That's not going to change.
Look there. Have you ever read a teleprompter before it?
And I was like, no, but I can read, you know.
(27:20):
And what's beautiful about here is the teleprompter is right
over the lens.
Speaker 3 (27:24):
Yes, isn't it great? So you don't have to look
like your crosside reading it above the camera. Yeah, it
looks like you're looking at the camera, but you're reading.
You're reading the whole time. Well, now the audience knows, well,
we can cut this out. We should edit. Let's edit this,
edit this out. And then also they were like and also, if.
Speaker 1 (27:43):
You fuck up that bad, it's not live. Yeah, we'll
do it again. And so I was like, this is great.
And also, I mean, I've been working in this industry
for ten years and every time I've done a job
that's sort of in my head been on like a
pedestal of like oh my god. Like when I did
my first Broadway show and my first TV show and
all that stuff like that. As soon as I got there,
it was It's not like the magic was like taken away,
(28:05):
but it was this beautiful experience of, oh, this is
this is what I used to I used to make
movies in my backyard and I did plays in high school.
This is the exact same thing. But we all have
money now. Yeah, but we're all it's all it's the
same people. It's the same kinds of people, the same dynamics.
It's just there's more people watching us, and there's a
(28:27):
little and there's more money involved.
Speaker 3 (28:28):
It's true.
Speaker 1 (28:29):
But other than that, it's like, yeah, it so in
a way that it it it's a very positive experience
of just like oh, we're still all like dumb, like
like theater theater, film buffs, you know, kids just running
around making stuff. It's super fun.
Speaker 3 (28:44):
Yeah, and there is that feeling. It's one of those
jobs where no one really sits you down to be like,
here are all the rules of what to do on
this show. In this role, you just are kind of
like thrown into it. Because we're a daily show. We
move so quickly, so you just kind of have to
learn as you go. But at the end of the day,
(29:04):
you are supported by what I think we have close
to like two hundred people on our staff and crew
that are all truly the very best in the business
at what they do, and they've got your back. So
even if you know nothing or have the worst instincts,
they will support you like you're you're gonna be good.
Speaker 1 (29:24):
Yeah. Yeah, I knew it was I knew it was
a good a good workplace when I the second I
came in here and started working, I was like, I've
never felt I never felt uncomfortable. It was always like,
not until this podcast podcast right now and all these
these these very deep important questions, never felt uncomfortable, always
(29:44):
felt welcomed, always felt supported. It's chaotic, but in a
fun no. But no one's freaking out. No, that's the
cool thing about this. It's like it's a calm chaos.
They're like, oh my god, we have to move so fast,
but it's like, but there's a there's a confidence that
it's all gonna work out.
Speaker 3 (29:57):
Yeah, you know why, because there's always a sh tomorrow.
Speaker 1 (30:00):
Yeah yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3 (30:02):
Yeah. The first piece that you did in studio on
the book Bands was so funny and it was so
much fun to watch you. Like, even from the rehearsal
that we did that day, it was like, oh, yeah,
you're just like such an obvious fit. It seemed like
such a natural fit for you.
Speaker 1 (30:23):
But do you really believe these books are gonna walk
kids minds? Actually, if I could get personal for a second,
I am a living example of how damaging these books
can be. When I was in school, I read a
Japanese manga book and look at me, now, I am
half Japanese.
Speaker 3 (30:47):
Wait wait the book turned you half Japanese? Why only half?
Speaker 1 (30:55):
Well I didn't. I didn't finish it. Oh, thank you.
And Costa and Ronnie were fantastic that day.
Speaker 3 (31:05):
So that's right. They were hosting.
Speaker 1 (31:06):
They were both hosting, and they're both so kind and
welcoming to me and very supportive. It was really it
was really cool.
Speaker 3 (31:11):
Yeah, it's a good it's a very good supportive group.
Did you receive the email from Colbert, the Colbert's Advice?
Speaker 1 (31:21):
Yes, not just for you listening. I didn't receive it
from Colbert himself.
Speaker 3 (31:26):
It was for he He is not interested in any
of our email addresses. There's there's no correspondence.
Speaker 1 (31:33):
Yeah, I did receive him. That was very I actually
received it from you, Ronnie and Roy.
Speaker 3 (31:39):
That tells you so sent it to me. So Colbert
at one point wrote down a list of advice, a
list of to do's for shooting, how to shoot a
successful field piece. And I believe that he wrote it
and handed it off to Rob Wriggle maybe, and Rob
(32:00):
passed it along to Al Madrigal, and then Al passed
it along to Jordan, who passed it to us, and
then we passed it to you. So it's like this weird,
very weird comedy fraternity.
Speaker 1 (32:15):
Yeah, and it's just like ten points, ten points. It's
very simplified.
Speaker 3 (32:19):
He makes it seem so easy, and yet he was
the master of doing those field pieces. It's not quite
that easy, but the really really great pointers, like know
the three things that you want to get from the
subject and don't leave until you get them.
Speaker 1 (32:32):
Yeah. I like that. Colbert was like, it's just ten
simple steps. Also, if you're Stephen Colbert, it's just gonna
work out.
Speaker 3 (32:38):
Yeah, it's just gonna be fun. You're just brilliant at
everything you do.
Speaker 1 (32:43):
We're like, hey, Steve, I tried these ten things that
didn't work out, and he was like, well, I'm very talented. Yeah,
we're like, oh, got it, Steve, got it? Thank you?
Speaker 3 (32:51):
Yes, that helps. What was the what was You've done
a lot of acting work before. Yeah, you've been on
lots of TV show so much.
Speaker 1 (33:01):
Well you know and you as well, you have we're
both very decorated actors here in the studio.
Speaker 3 (33:06):
You were in a very funny movie called Summoning Sylvia.
Speaker 1 (33:09):
Thank you.
Speaker 3 (33:10):
You're hilarious in it. Thank you so much for the listeners.
If you haven't seen the movie, it's hilarious and Troy
is brilliant in it, and it's on Stars.
Speaker 1 (33:20):
It's Summoning Sylvia now streaming on Stars.
Speaker 3 (33:24):
You can say that again. Is this the vocal? Is
this the vocal warm up you do before the show?
Speaker 1 (33:29):
It's what I do every morning and every night before
I go to bed Sylvia on Starck, I fall asleep.
Speaker 3 (33:40):
But how how does you also were on Dash and
Lily on Netflix.
Speaker 1 (33:46):
Uh, we crashed, Yeah, we crashed on Apple TV plus.
Speaker 3 (33:50):
TV plus ever heard of it?
Speaker 1 (33:52):
Ever heard of it?
Speaker 3 (33:53):
You've been on all the streamers. Yeah, how does how
does the preparation for like a more traditional narrative show
compared to preparing for the stuff we do on this show.
Speaker 1 (34:07):
I mean it's really just time, yeah, you know. But
also just filming, filming like a TV show or a movie,
there's a lot of waiting around here. It's fast, fast, fast,
which as an as a creative person, is more fun.
Speaker 3 (34:20):
It is. And then then you go onto a set,
like when we worked on the movie, it was like, wait,
why are we Why are we waiting?
Speaker 1 (34:27):
So we're waiting so long, But that's you know, and
you know, that's you. We go in knowing that we're
going to be sitting and waiting for a long time. Yeah,
but yeah, that's really just it. It's time again. I'm
not okay for all of you listening, I'm not the
actor you want to interview. If you want an actor
talking about act, tell.
Speaker 3 (34:47):
Me more about your process, like, for example, in that
tour divorce that we shot on TikTok last week, good doom, goodong.
Speaker 1 (34:58):
Yes, gay guys, we all know the boss got kicked
off of Twitter and he's making his own social media site.
So the question is what should the site be called?
You know, one name that we talked about was Xeon
Xeon or or zion in ing. Yeah, yeah, that's got
a nice pop to it.
Speaker 3 (35:16):
Hey, you guys see Trump's new zion and ing when
he called whoop goldburgerslutt.
Speaker 1 (35:20):
How do you spell zion? Oh you can't, It's impossible.
Speaker 2 (35:24):
Any other ideas.
Speaker 3 (35:25):
Oh, we also liked goadoon or goadong like we hits
at or goadoon goadong like you post a goadoon and
then get people to godong it.
Speaker 1 (35:34):
Like my gadoon got four hundred do dongs and oh wow,
don Junior go boying. It makes no sense.
Speaker 5 (35:39):
Amazing.
Speaker 3 (35:39):
We were also thinking that users can reboing a gaboying,
which is a gabond goadoon that has been gray dad also,
of course, and.
Speaker 1 (35:46):
For every ten gray daggles you get a de lung guy,
and ten de lung guys you get a galgado and
a gorded goog ay and the Google woos.
Speaker 5 (35:55):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (35:56):
Now, when you were preparing for your role as a
memo of the Trump team, did you have to kind
of get into that conspiracy theorist mindset? Did you do
a lot of back channeling? Yeah?
Speaker 1 (36:09):
Well, actually part of my actually I learned this in
my collegiate program, and part of my processes I like
to start from the bottom so I like to start
with what shoes do you think this person wears?
Speaker 3 (36:18):
Oh? I love that. What shoes did your character wear?
Speaker 1 (36:20):
They just happened to be the shoes that I was
wearing at the time. But you know, normally I like
to I like to buy the shoes. I like to
spend some time with the shoes, like to interview the shoes.
I like to dismember the shoes and put it back
together so I know exactly where I'm coming from and
where I'm going. It's important to hydrate, always have.
Speaker 3 (36:45):
To, always have to hydrate in character.
Speaker 1 (36:47):
It's important to your instruments looped, do your shoes?
Speaker 3 (36:51):
Do your shoes stay hydrated as well?
Speaker 1 (36:53):
Oh yes, I have a spritzer shoes, a shoe splitzer.
I buy it organic on Etsy.
Speaker 3 (37:01):
Now, the line Godoon Gadong gets a gal gado? What
kind of prep did you put into that particular line?
Because that's a real you have to do some real
mental gymnastics around that.
Speaker 1 (37:18):
There's a beautiful acting technique where you assign a sort
of active verb to your lines, whether it's pulling or
pushing or ringing or smashing.
Speaker 3 (37:29):
And I'm going to keep the drag at it I'm
going to keep the straight face go on mm hmm.
Speaker 1 (37:37):
And it actually it just helps lay a foundation and
puts a purpose behind each each line. So for gal Gado,
my word was force.
Speaker 3 (37:46):
Yes, yes, I see that.
Speaker 1 (37:47):
Did you see it? Did it come through? As if
it didn't, then I didn't do my job as an acto.
Speaker 3 (37:54):
Troy, you are an absolute delight.
Speaker 1 (37:57):
Thank you so much for having me Dizzy.
Speaker 3 (38:00):
Thank you for pronouncing my name correctly. Finally, Dozy, Troy,
thanks for being on the pod.
Speaker 1 (38:08):
Thanks for having me on the pod.
Speaker 3 (38:09):
And I'm so happy you're part of the team.
Speaker 1 (38:11):
I'm happy to be a part of it.
Speaker 3 (38:12):
Thank you, listeners, Thank you, thanks for listening. Bye bye.
Speaker 5 (38:17):
Explore more shows from the Daily Show podcast universe by
searching The Daily Show wherever you get your podcasts. Watch
The Daily Show week nights at eleven ten Central on
Comedy Central and stream full episodes anytime on Paramount Plus.
Speaker 1 (38:35):
This has been a Comedy Central podcast
You're listening to Comedy Central.
Speaker 2 (00:03):
Yeah, for a look at the situation on the ground.
Let's go live to Moscow with some fresh exit polls
and Troy Iwana.
Speaker 3 (00:25):
Troy, what are you learning?
Speaker 1 (00:27):
Does it? We're learning a lot about why Russians are
so drawn to Vladimir Putin. Listen to these exit poll results. First,
ninety four percent of voters said they did not want
to accidentally fall out of a window and six percent
said they did not want to be poisoned. So those
are the top two issues. Third being Putin's age.
Speaker 3 (00:49):
Hey, here's edition listeners. It's Daisi Leidek and I'm sitting
here with one of the newest members of our news team,
Troy Iwaa.
Speaker 1 (01:00):
Hello, thank you so much for having me.
Speaker 3 (01:02):
Welcome, Welcome to the pod. Thank you, and welcome to
the news team.
Speaker 1 (01:05):
Thank you.
Speaker 3 (01:06):
Am I pronouncing your name correctly?
Speaker 1 (01:08):
It sounded good, Troy, Oh that part the first part, Yeah, No,
that's correct, Okay, good. Yeah. And then just so we're clear,
it's Desai.
Speaker 3 (01:18):
That's exactly right, It's German, okay, Leo dyuko swallow it?
Speaker 1 (01:24):
And what does that mean?
Speaker 3 (01:26):
It means child of God?
Speaker 1 (01:29):
And aren't we all aren't we all.
Speaker 3 (01:31):
Okay, so we you and I met on we were
friends before the Daily Show. Good friends, good friends. It
is Troy right, Yes, yes, we met on a little
movie called Space Cadet. Do you do you want to
give the the elevator pitch on Space Cadet?
Speaker 1 (01:49):
Well, I'll just say what everyone told me. It's like
legally blonde in space. It is.
Speaker 3 (01:56):
It kind of is. And you and I play as
CAN trainees.
Speaker 1 (02:01):
And if for those of you that don't know, an
ass can is not a can for your.
Speaker 3 (02:06):
Ass, No, it's we learned that on day one.
Speaker 1 (02:09):
Yeah, it's a space spatial student, Spatial Spatial Students, special
student student of Space.
Speaker 3 (02:15):
As you can tell, we are not actual NASA trainees.
We did no research for this film at all.
Speaker 1 (02:22):
Lines in this movie, so I.
Speaker 3 (02:24):
No, but I want to talk about that because so
most of the scenes that we were in were group
scenes with at least five plus characters, and so oftentimes
we would have like a line here, a line there.
But Troy, you stole every freaking scene in that movie.
(02:45):
If you had one line, you made the most of it.
You had all of us cracking up every take. You
were such a standout, truly, thank you. Why do you
look so surprised.
Speaker 1 (02:56):
I don't know. One of my lines was fire, Yeah,
but you not even with an excavation point or fire period.
Thank you. That's very very sweet, but no, but it's true.
Speaker 3 (03:07):
And I think like that is that is one of
your superpowers as a comedic actor, and I think it
comes in handy here as a as part of the
news team. Like in everything that you do here, you
you figure out a way of like putting your own
unique spin on it.
Speaker 1 (03:24):
Well, actually, like okay, so we met on the set
of this movie, yes, right, and we were in the
beautiful state of Alabama for.
Speaker 3 (03:32):
Three weeks, Huntsville, Alabama.
Speaker 1 (03:34):
Which actually was pretty lovely but I'm not gonna lie. Yeah,
And then towards the end of shooting, we were just
sitting in our in our actors chairs with our names
on them, because that's what we require because we're actors,
because we're actors, and uh, you turned to me and
you said.
Speaker 3 (03:52):
You said, how much do I have to pay you
to come to the Daily Show?
Speaker 1 (03:54):
I know you said, would you ever consider auditioning for
the Daily Show?
Speaker 3 (04:00):
Yeah? It's all I could think about when we were filming.
And then we spent well, we had time on set together,
but then we spent an afternoon getting coffee and hanging out. Yeah,
and that's when I was like, oh, we could use
your perspective here. I think you should audition for this show.
You're such a perfect fit for the show.
Speaker 1 (04:20):
Thank you, and I'm having a wonderful time good But yeah,
you asked me that question, and I of course said no, yeah,
gros that's disgusting. Why would you think that? And then
a couple of weeks later, I got an email with
a with a with a self tape. And for those
of you listeners don't know what a self tape is,
it's a videotape that you make by yourself at home.
Speaker 3 (04:45):
That's not porn.
Speaker 1 (04:46):
It's not porn unless you want it to be.
Speaker 3 (04:48):
It can be. It can get you the job.
Speaker 1 (04:50):
Sometimes we don't think shame here at the Daily Show.
Speaker 3 (04:52):
No we don't.
Speaker 1 (04:53):
I remember I was sent like a packet with some
previous sketches that the that The Daily Show done, and
they asked me to just pick one and do one,
and two of them were for women and one of
them was for a man. So I picked the man. One.
Speaker 3 (05:08):
I was gonna say, which one, did you shoore?
Speaker 1 (05:10):
One of them was like about it was like about
abortion rights or something, and I was like, I don't think, like.
Speaker 3 (05:13):
I don't care about women's rights. Get the sady.
Speaker 1 (05:15):
This doesn't speak to me. And so I did one
of them with like a reader, and then they and
then they also asked me to write a desk piece
for myself.
Speaker 3 (05:25):
And had you ever done that before?
Speaker 1 (05:27):
I'd written stuff for myself before, but not from the
perspective of like a news anchor sort of type thing.
And like, I was a little bit nervous because I
definitely consider myself like a funny person, but I don't
consider myself a writer, not necessarily a joke teller and
so far, but I can make something funny. If you
asked me to like make up a joke, I can
(05:47):
C plus, you know, but I don't.
Speaker 3 (05:49):
I'd give you a higher grade than that. But yes,
I know what you're saying.
Speaker 1 (05:52):
Yeah, yeah, a low B minus. And but I also
when when they sent me the tape, they said, you know,
pressure to be funny, we just want to hear how
you talk. And I was like, oh, well that's nice,
and then sent that in and then a couple weeks later,
I had a zoom meeting with a couple of the
producers and then they offered me the job. And coming
coming from a theater background, not to sound, I don't
(06:15):
know what the word is, but this was the fastest
and easiest process of getting a job that I've ever had.
Nice and I'm very grateful for that, and I'm having
a great time.
Speaker 3 (06:26):
All I did was walk away from set and then
I went to Gen flans Are awesome EP showrunner. Hi
Jen Boss, Hi Jen, thank you so much for listening.
Thank you for this opportunity. I went to Jen and
I said, I think we should ask if I worked
with this guy Troy on the movie, and I think
we should ask if he could submit a tape. And
(06:48):
she put in the request and then I had no
idea what you I had nothing to do with your
audition process. I had no idea what you picked or
what you wrote. And then I just heard back from
Jen that they loved you and that they were bringing
you in and gonna hire you. So it uh. And
then I did watch your audition tape afterwards when you
(07:09):
sent it to me, and it was really great.
Speaker 1 (07:12):
Thank you. Did they give you a cut of them
of the of the bribe money that I sent in
with the tape.
Speaker 3 (07:18):
I cannot speak of that, okay, because my lawyers might
be listening. I got it. Yeah, hi lawyers, Thank you
for lawyers, Thank you for this opportunity.
Speaker 1 (07:26):
Were you.
Speaker 3 (07:27):
Do you consider yourself a political person?
Speaker 1 (07:29):
I will say since getting this job, I've become more so. Yeah,
only just like I think a lot. I feel like
it's a pretty relatable thing to be exhausted by politics,
especially in this country. But working here has made it
more fun because I'm approaching because it forces you to
approach it more from like you see the ridiculousness of
(07:52):
it and you can laugh at it. That makes it
a lot more palatable than like just being overwhelmed.
Speaker 3 (07:58):
Yeah, exhausted by it. In a lot of ways, I
feel like the show has become my therapy because it
is overwhelming. It's especially overwhelming to feel like you have
to pay attention to every minute of the news cycle, right, that's.
Speaker 1 (08:16):
There's too much mounting. There's too much because also what
is news. News is gossip of what's happening in the world,
and anything can be a story, So it's you can't
know what's going on and also, we're not supposed to
know what's going on.
Speaker 3 (08:30):
It's healthy to take breaks every now and again. Yeah,
And I think you do have to do that when
we have little many hiatuses here and there. It's healthy
to kind of like unplug and take a step back.
I was also not a particularly political person going into this.
I did watch The Daily Show The John Years for
(08:51):
many years before starting here and desperately wanted to be
on the show and auditioned multiple ties.
Speaker 1 (08:58):
You audition multiple ties?
Speaker 3 (08:59):
I did.
Speaker 1 (09:00):
I did.
Speaker 3 (09:00):
I auditioned for the show three times.
Speaker 1 (09:02):
I didn't know that I did.
Speaker 3 (09:04):
Yeah, yeah, over the course of like eight years, maybe
six years. Yeah, the same process where you like, you
get sent a piece that had been done on the
show before and you choose that and then you write
a piece. And the third time that I was asked,
I was like, oh, I don't know if I can
do this again, because it's it's a pretty big homework assignment.
(09:27):
And I felt the same way that you did, like
I'm not I would write by necessity for myself, but
I didn't consider myself a writer, and I certainly wasn't
really comfortable doing that at the time. So it was
a lot it was like a big ask. And the
third time, I thought like, oh gosh, I don't know
if I wanted to put myself through this again. It
was so heartbreaking when I wanted it so badly last time,
(09:48):
and I think maybe if they wanted me, they would
have asked me by now, and I just don't know.
And my manager at the time was like, I really,
I really think you should do it one more time.
Just give it all you got and make a tape.
And I was like all right, and so I did
and I submitted and this was this is when John
(10:10):
was still hosting the show in his final year. And
I submitted the tape and I did not hear anything back,
and I thought, Okay, well that's that was my chance.
Speaker 1 (10:21):
That was it.
Speaker 3 (10:21):
That's it. I got to move on. And then, uh,
three months later, we got a call asking if I
was available for the show to come out or to
start and.
Speaker 1 (10:36):
Super thirty.
Speaker 3 (10:38):
It was like three months later, and of course I
was like, yes, I'll move there tomorrow, I'll drop everything,
I'll be there.
Speaker 1 (10:44):
At the time, I was in.
Speaker 3 (10:45):
LA and they were like, cool, your pits, we're not
ready right now. We're just sort of like feeling yeah,
it said in the subject line cool your pits and
the end. So we just said like, okay, well, just
so you know, we're ready anytime. And then shortly after that,
(11:06):
John announced that he was leaving, and so they did
not want to bring anyone on during that time. It
was like such a moment of transition. But they continued
to check in periodically, okay, And so then I think
John announced he was leaving, they started looking at who
the next who the next host was going to be.
(11:27):
They locked in Trevor and then they called me to
come back and read with Trevor and for a second audition.
Speaker 1 (11:35):
And how much longer down the line was that.
Speaker 3 (11:37):
So I submitted the tape in November and I got
the call in July the next year.
Speaker 1 (11:42):
Oh my god.
Speaker 3 (11:43):
And during this period of time's so thinful. It was.
It was a little stress It was a little stressful.
And during that period of time, my husband and I
had just gotten married and we wanted to start being
open to starting a family. And I got pregnant, okay,
and so get I get pregnant, I get knocked up. Yeah,
and then I'm like four months pregnant and I get
(12:06):
the call to come meet Trevor, and now I'm like,
oh my god, this is my dream job, this is
my opportunity. Do I tell them I'm pregnant? Will that
change anything? Should I keep it from them? What do
I do?
Speaker 1 (12:19):
So?
Speaker 3 (12:19):
I went to New York, I did the audition, I
met with Trevor, and then I waited in the waiting
room afterwards to talk to Jen Flans and the other
executive producers, just to give them a heads up because
I thought, like, I don't you know. Of course women
shouldn't have to think about this sort of thing, but
I didn't want to start the job off with the lie.
(12:42):
So I waited and then Jen was like. Jen came
out and she's like, yeah, yeah, you did great, And
I was like, oh no, no, I don't need feedback,
but thank you. I just want to let you know
that this is my dream job and I would be
here tomorrow if asked, But also I am pregnant and
i'd be starting the job four months pregnant or six
months pregnant. And she's like, without even batting an eye,
(13:05):
she's like, congratulations, that's amazing. We'll use it on the show,
or we won't use it on the show. Whatever you want,
so we've done it before, we'll do it again.
Speaker 1 (13:13):
And Jen's anything, she's a spinner into something marketable, which
is a skill.
Speaker 3 (13:21):
So real skilled producer right there, that is. But it
was pretty awesome to hear that in the world of
you know, television and you know, I mean, you know,
the entertainment industry. It's not always you. I came into
it pretty young and thinking like, oh, when you start
a family, your career is over and that's it. And
(13:42):
of course that's not the way that it should be,
but it often is. So that was incredibly reassuring and
I have refused to leave ever since.
Speaker 1 (13:58):
Okay, so does you auditioned for or The Daily Show? Thrice?
Thrice thrice? What did you in your audition process come
up with an idea for a character for your correspondent
that and has that played into your character now or
has it changed?
Speaker 3 (14:16):
Or I did, and that is I'm doing the exact
opposite of what I thought I would get to it.
So it clearly worked brilliantly at the time. I guess
it was twenty fourteen when I auditioned, and the piece
that I wrote for myself for the audition was definitely
(14:40):
inspired by Gretchen Carlson and Meghan Kelly, the kind of
like Fox News blonde type, Okay, Daisy Leidika karacspand on that.
Speaker 4 (14:51):
Well, I'm a Stanford graduate, I have multiple degrees. I
speak nine different languages, one fourteen different beauty pageants. I'm
a proficial puppeteer as Celiac survivor.
Speaker 3 (15:02):
No, no, I meant to expand on your view.
Speaker 4 (15:05):
Oh no, No, it's self evident.
Speaker 3 (15:08):
I kind of thought like, oh, there's maybe there's an
opening to do like a female version of Colbert's character,
and I would go hard into that Fox News lane.
So that was the piece that I wrote, and that
was the piece that I auditioned with. But then once
I started the job, when Trump came into the equation,
(15:29):
I think the entire landscape changed and it felt like, oh,
we have bigger fish to fry than Fox News. Fox
News is a huge part of it, but kind of
like ironically embodying that persona at that time, and the
political climate felt sort of unsavory and like we couldn't
(15:52):
we couldn't make that sustain itself for years on end,
And so I would dip in and out of that
character periodically when we needed it, but I wound up
playing much closer to like just a heightened sort of
like overly confident, underinformed correspondent. Yeah, news correspondent.
Speaker 1 (16:13):
I think that's a layer of what we all do.
Speaker 3 (16:16):
Yeah, yeah, so there was that, But then you know,
some depending on the piece, like I would kind of,
you end up you try to create a character that's
somewhat close to your persona but highly exaggerated, and then
you sort of fit into any situation with what it requires.
Like if we're doing a field piece and we're sitting
(16:36):
down with someone who is kind of a wacky, crazy character,
you want to play straight, right, Like you have to
play the role of straight because they are they are
the wacky character, and there's no sense in having two
crazy people. So so you figure out your dynamic. And
then if you're if you're sitting down with an expert
who's schooling you, you kind of become the overly confident,
(16:59):
underinformed and then you play a bit of a character.
So yeah, it definitely has evolved over time. And then
now in this stage that we're at right now, where
we're being correspondence but then also hosting, sometimes the hosting
role definitely requires you to be more of yourself, which
was an adjustment that I had to get more comfortable
(17:20):
with because I thought like, oh, I can be brave
saying all of these things in character because I'm playing
a character. But then once you take that armor away,
it becomes a really vulnerable experience when you have to
be more yourself.
Speaker 1 (17:32):
Yeah, because when you're hosting, you're not necessarily even a
heightened version of yourself. You're yourself.
Speaker 3 (17:37):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, pretty much.
Speaker 1 (17:39):
When they first approached you to say, hey, we're going
to have you host, how was what was your response?
Speaker 3 (17:51):
I said, I'll be there tomorrow. Yeah, I said, are
you sure this is what you want?
Speaker 1 (18:00):
You thought about wanting to host before? Was that even
on your radar? No?
Speaker 3 (18:04):
Okay, it never starting this job like I want. I
desperately wanted to be a correspondent. I watched for many
years the other correspondent Samby and Colbert and Correl and
like worshiped what they did and thought like, that's the
most fun job on the planet. And so when I
started this job, I thought like, this is what I'll
(18:27):
be doing. I never never thought that I'd get the
opportunity to sit at the desk and I also I
think having more of like an improv background and an
acting background. My goal was never set on being a
host of a show, like I just didn't think about that.
But then when things opened up and we got the opportunity,
(18:50):
I thought, well, I got to try it on, I
got to put my hat in the ring here somewhere,
and yeah, and it's it is totally different, but it's
kind of awesome. It's like such a great opportunity.
Speaker 1 (19:03):
And you've gotten to do it multiple times.
Speaker 3 (19:05):
I know, yeah, yeah, I've Yeah, it's still still very new,
still like a new muscle that needs to be worked.
Speaker 1 (19:15):
But yeah, when you are hosting, what what extra responsibilities
do you have? Because I know we have so many
writers here who are brilliant and come up with things
like that. But it's like when you're when you're hosting,
do you have more input on what direction you want
the show to go in that week?
Speaker 3 (19:35):
Yes? Yeah, And I think that we even as correspondence,
we are always brought into the conversation. It's very collaborative,
and I think the show always wants us to have
ownership over what we say. I would say, like when
you're hosting, I think there's a little added responsibility and
pressure that whatever happens in that show, you're sitting at
(19:57):
the desk, so you share some responsibility in it and
taking extra care and making sure like this is my perspective.
I believe in everything I'm saying. And again, it's very
much a collaborative process because we have such brilliant writers
here and we definitely rely on their expertise, but like,
(20:18):
it is your point of view at the end of
the day. So yeah, I think there's there's like, yeah,
a little added pressure.
Speaker 1 (20:25):
A little bit. Yeah, And I also feel like I
don't want to speak for you, but I will do it. Yeah, yeah, yeah, No,
But do you feel like when you are hosting or
honestly just being on the show, do you feel like
being a woman plays does you have to put it
through that filter? I'm just saying because I as like
I'm like half Japanese and I'm gay and all these things.
(20:47):
Every time I receive any kind of material, there is
always a filter of like I need to remember that
I am saying this, yeah, as an Asian person or
as a gay person. Yeah, so I need to know
how that is going to come across because it's me
saying it. Well, even if I think these jokes are hilarious,
they might not come across as funny because I'm saying them.
Speaker 3 (21:10):
Right, Or you feel an obligation to represent yeah, people
who you're speaking about, like you don't want to disappoint.
There was the ruling coming out of Alabama on the
on IVF and we kind of quickly wrote a very
funny mini headline on it, and we were working it
(21:33):
out in rehearsal, and as we're doing it, I'm kind
of like, oh, this is this is really funny. But
we're going to the jokes a little too quickly here.
I think we need to kind of like sit in
how messed up all of this is. And I had
to sit for a minute and go, Okay, I know,
you know five to ten people in my life who
have actually been through this. What are they going to
(21:54):
want to hear right now? And they're probably going to
want to laugh about it a little bit, but they
also are going to want to hear some acknowledgment about
how excruciating this process can be. And so sometimes like, yeah,
you do try to you I want to represent women. Well,
I think we all feel a sense of responsibility that
we don't want to let people down, and at the
(22:16):
end of the day, we just kind of have to
follow our instincts because there's no way we'll be able
to make everyone happy, right.
Speaker 1 (22:22):
And it's like, we're happy to represent the communities that
we come from, absolutely, but it can't be solely about that.
And I have no interest in being the face of
my community right in that sense, because I'm not equipped.
I'm not intellectually or anything like that. And it's like,
(22:43):
I remember my very first field piece that I shot
was the piece about professional cuddling. As one who goes
through life avoiding human contact, I wasn't thrilled about meeting
someone who made a living from touching other people. I
have to admit it does sound a bit scammy. Seems
like you're just ripping off people who've never heard of
the body pillow.
Speaker 2 (23:00):
It is not just about the physical act of cuddling.
Speaker 3 (23:04):
The body pillow cannot talk to.
Speaker 4 (23:05):
You, right.
Speaker 1 (23:06):
I would see the fact that my pillows can't talk
back to me as an asset. And I remember, you know,
they sent me the breakdown of it in the pitch,
and of course I was like, I'm very excited because
it's my first field piece. And but I wrote back,
I was nervous. I think I texted you about it
because I was nervous because the take was like our
correspondent thinks that this industry is actually just like a
(23:29):
front for like sex work, and thinks that professional cuddlers
are you know, are just sex workers, and it's it's just,
you know, a front for that. And I remember emailing
emailing the team back and being like, this is funny
the fact that this is my first impression on the show.
I don't know if I necessarily want my first impression,
(23:52):
as like the gay correspondent to be me showing up
being like, so we're all gonna have sex, right, yes?
Speaker 3 (23:59):
Yes? And that's what's so great about the show is
like day one, you can come in and be like, hey,
I had this thought, yeah, and this is a concern
for me, and how do we navigate around that or
how do we change the take so it feels more
in line with what I want to represent, what I
want to talk about. And what was that like when
(24:22):
you brought that up to the producer and you said, hey,
here's what I'm thinking. How did that go over?
Speaker 1 (24:26):
They're extremely receptive of it and said, you know, we'll
tweak it before we shoot, we'll tweak it while we shoot.
If you ever feel uncomfortable, we can stop. But they
were wonderful about it.
Speaker 3 (24:39):
And it just goes to show like how needed it
is to have a variety of diverse voices in the room,
on the writing team, in producing in front of the camera,
because that represents our audience.
Speaker 1 (24:51):
Yeah, and the material itself wasn't offensive in any way,
but again, it was just putting it through that filter
of I need to think about the fact that I
am a gay person saying these things right, and the
fact that I was, like, this is my first impression.
Speaker 3 (25:03):
On even just it was your first piece day one,
bringing something up it was you were met with a
very receptive response.
Speaker 1 (25:11):
Yeah, yeah, that was beautiful.
Speaker 3 (25:13):
That's good to hear.
Speaker 1 (25:14):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (25:21):
When you started here as part of the news team,
did you think about the character that you wanted to
play and how much of that should lean into your
own personality versus like what you wanted to create for
yourself on the show.
Speaker 1 (25:36):
I I kind of just knew that parts of myself
would just make it into the character. I didn't really
come in like method thinking this is who I'm going.
Speaker 3 (25:48):
To be how much backstory did you write over your character?
Speaker 1 (25:52):
I wrote pages, pages, and I learned that in college. No,
I sort of just knew that it would like creep in. Well,
first of all, actually you were very helpful to me
in the both the audition process and my starting process
because anytime, say more, well anytime. First of all, you
were always very available to me to answer any questions,
(26:14):
but you always back to them, and I don't know,
I think this is hilarious. You would always say, Troy,
you are overqualified for this job. So that's me multiple times.
Speaker 3 (26:26):
You're a very talented human being, You're an extremely talented
performer in so many different areas, and truly, yes, you
are extremely qualified for this.
Speaker 1 (26:36):
Well, that's a very kind thing for you to say.
I will say now, I'm still learning and there are
definitely things about this job that scare me but in
a good way and challenge me same. But yeah, yeah,
it was more of just trust the process. And I
was like, there's a lot of very talented people that
work here and they're gonna they're gonna, I'll trust that
they'll that will all help each other. And I remember
(26:57):
my first my first day actually shooting something doing a
chat live in studio. I remember I showed up and
everyone was so warm and welcoming to me. And even
when I was in the studio, they were like, there's
four cameras, they're always in the same spot. There's two
places for you to stand. That's not going to change.
Look there. Have you ever read a teleprompter before it?
And I was like, no, but I can read, you know.
(27:20):
And what's beautiful about here is the teleprompter is right
over the lens.
Speaker 3 (27:24):
Yes, isn't it great? So you don't have to look
like your crosside reading it above the camera. Yeah, it
looks like you're looking at the camera, but you're reading.
You're reading the whole time. Well, now the audience knows, well,
we can cut this out. We should edit. Let's edit this,
edit this out. And then also they were like and also, if.
Speaker 1 (27:43):
You fuck up that bad, it's not live. Yeah, we'll
do it again. And so I was like, this is great.
And also, I mean, I've been working in this industry
for ten years and every time I've done a job
that's sort of in my head been on like a
pedestal of like oh my god. Like when I did
my first Broadway show and my first TV show and
all that stuff like that. As soon as I got there,
it was It's not like the magic was like taken away,
(28:05):
but it was this beautiful experience of, oh, this is
this is what I used to I used to make
movies in my backyard and I did plays in high school.
This is the exact same thing. But we all have
money now. Yeah, but we're all it's all it's the
same people. It's the same kinds of people, the same dynamics.
It's just there's more people watching us, and there's a
(28:27):
little and there's more money involved.
Speaker 3 (28:28):
It's true.
Speaker 1 (28:29):
But other than that, it's like, yeah, it so in
a way that it it it's a very positive experience
of just like oh, we're still all like dumb, like
like theater theater, film buffs, you know, kids just running
around making stuff. It's super fun.
Speaker 3 (28:44):
Yeah, and there is that feeling. It's one of those
jobs where no one really sits you down to be like,
here are all the rules of what to do on
this show. In this role, you just are kind of
like thrown into it. Because we're a daily show. We
move so quickly, so you just kind of have to
learn as you go. But at the end of the day,
(29:04):
you are supported by what I think we have close
to like two hundred people on our staff and crew
that are all truly the very best in the business
at what they do, and they've got your back. So
even if you know nothing or have the worst instincts,
they will support you like you're you're gonna be good.
Speaker 1 (29:24):
Yeah. Yeah, I knew it was I knew it was
a good a good workplace when I the second I
came in here and started working, I was like, I've
never felt I never felt uncomfortable. It was always like,
not until this podcast podcast right now and all these
these these very deep important questions, never felt uncomfortable, always
(29:44):
felt welcomed, always felt supported. It's chaotic, but in a
fun no. But no one's freaking out. No, that's the
cool thing about this. It's like it's a calm chaos.
They're like, oh my god, we have to move so fast,
but it's like, but there's a there's a confidence that
it's all gonna work out.
Speaker 3 (29:57):
Yeah, you know why, because there's always a sh tomorrow.
Speaker 1 (30:00):
Yeah yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3 (30:02):
Yeah. The first piece that you did in studio on
the book Bands was so funny and it was so
much fun to watch you. Like, even from the rehearsal
that we did that day, it was like, oh, yeah,
you're just like such an obvious fit. It seemed like
such a natural fit for you.
Speaker 1 (30:23):
But do you really believe these books are gonna walk
kids minds? Actually, if I could get personal for a second,
I am a living example of how damaging these books
can be. When I was in school, I read a
Japanese manga book and look at me, now, I am
half Japanese.
Speaker 3 (30:47):
Wait wait the book turned you half Japanese? Why only half?
Speaker 1 (30:55):
Well I didn't. I didn't finish it. Oh, thank you.
And Costa and Ronnie were fantastic that day.
Speaker 3 (31:05):
So that's right. They were hosting.
Speaker 1 (31:06):
They were both hosting, and they're both so kind and
welcoming to me and very supportive. It was really it
was really cool.
Speaker 3 (31:11):
Yeah, it's a good it's a very good supportive group.
Did you receive the email from Colbert, the Colbert's Advice?
Speaker 1 (31:21):
Yes, not just for you listening. I didn't receive it
from Colbert himself.
Speaker 3 (31:26):
It was for he He is not interested in any
of our email addresses. There's there's no correspondence.
Speaker 1 (31:33):
Yeah, I did receive him. That was very I actually
received it from you, Ronnie and Roy.
Speaker 3 (31:39):
That tells you so sent it to me. So Colbert
at one point wrote down a list of advice, a
list of to do's for shooting, how to shoot a
successful field piece. And I believe that he wrote it
and handed it off to Rob Wriggle maybe, and Rob
(32:00):
passed it along to Al Madrigal, and then Al passed
it along to Jordan, who passed it to us, and
then we passed it to you. So it's like this weird,
very weird comedy fraternity.
Speaker 1 (32:15):
Yeah, and it's just like ten points, ten points. It's
very simplified.
Speaker 3 (32:19):
He makes it seem so easy, and yet he was
the master of doing those field pieces. It's not quite
that easy, but the really really great pointers, like know
the three things that you want to get from the
subject and don't leave until you get them.
Speaker 1 (32:32):
Yeah. I like that. Colbert was like, it's just ten
simple steps. Also, if you're Stephen Colbert, it's just gonna
work out.
Speaker 3 (32:38):
Yeah, it's just gonna be fun. You're just brilliant at
everything you do.
Speaker 1 (32:43):
We're like, hey, Steve, I tried these ten things that
didn't work out, and he was like, well, I'm very talented. Yeah,
we're like, oh, got it, Steve, got it? Thank you?
Speaker 3 (32:51):
Yes, that helps. What was the what was You've done
a lot of acting work before. Yeah, you've been on
lots of TV show so much.
Speaker 1 (33:01):
Well you know and you as well, you have we're
both very decorated actors here in the studio.
Speaker 3 (33:06):
You were in a very funny movie called Summoning Sylvia.
Speaker 1 (33:09):
Thank you.
Speaker 3 (33:10):
You're hilarious in it. Thank you so much for the listeners.
If you haven't seen the movie, it's hilarious and Troy
is brilliant in it, and it's on Stars.
Speaker 1 (33:20):
It's Summoning Sylvia now streaming on Stars.
Speaker 3 (33:24):
You can say that again. Is this the vocal? Is
this the vocal warm up you do before the show?
Speaker 1 (33:29):
It's what I do every morning and every night before
I go to bed Sylvia on Starck, I fall asleep.
Speaker 3 (33:40):
But how how does you also were on Dash and
Lily on Netflix.
Speaker 1 (33:46):
Uh, we crashed, Yeah, we crashed on Apple TV plus.
Speaker 3 (33:50):
TV plus ever heard of it?
Speaker 1 (33:52):
Ever heard of it?
Speaker 3 (33:53):
You've been on all the streamers. Yeah, how does how
does the preparation for like a more traditional narrative show
compared to preparing for the stuff we do on this show.
Speaker 1 (34:07):
I mean it's really just time, yeah, you know. But
also just filming, filming like a TV show or a movie,
there's a lot of waiting around here. It's fast, fast, fast,
which as an as a creative person, is more fun.
Speaker 3 (34:20):
It is. And then then you go onto a set,
like when we worked on the movie, it was like, wait,
why are we Why are we waiting?
Speaker 1 (34:27):
So we're waiting so long, But that's you know, and
you know, that's you. We go in knowing that we're
going to be sitting and waiting for a long time. Yeah,
but yeah, that's really just it. It's time again. I'm
not okay for all of you listening, I'm not the
actor you want to interview. If you want an actor
talking about act, tell.
Speaker 3 (34:47):
Me more about your process, like, for example, in that
tour divorce that we shot on TikTok last week, good doom, goodong.
Speaker 1 (34:58):
Yes, gay guys, we all know the boss got kicked
off of Twitter and he's making his own social media site.
So the question is what should the site be called?
You know, one name that we talked about was Xeon
Xeon or or zion in ing. Yeah, yeah, that's got
a nice pop to it.
Speaker 3 (35:16):
Hey, you guys see Trump's new zion and ing when
he called whoop goldburgerslutt.
Speaker 1 (35:20):
How do you spell zion? Oh you can't, It's impossible.
Speaker 2 (35:24):
Any other ideas.
Speaker 3 (35:25):
Oh, we also liked goadoon or goadong like we hits
at or goadoon goadong like you post a goadoon and
then get people to godong it.
Speaker 1 (35:34):
Like my gadoon got four hundred do dongs and oh wow,
don Junior go boying. It makes no sense.
Speaker 5 (35:39):
Amazing.
Speaker 3 (35:39):
We were also thinking that users can reboing a gaboying,
which is a gabond goadoon that has been gray dad also,
of course, and.
Speaker 1 (35:46):
For every ten gray daggles you get a de lung guy,
and ten de lung guys you get a galgado and
a gorded goog ay and the Google woos.
Speaker 5 (35:55):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (35:56):
Now, when you were preparing for your role as a
memo of the Trump team, did you have to kind
of get into that conspiracy theorist mindset? Did you do
a lot of back channeling? Yeah?
Speaker 1 (36:09):
Well, actually part of my actually I learned this in
my collegiate program, and part of my processes I like
to start from the bottom so I like to start
with what shoes do you think this person wears?
Speaker 3 (36:18):
Oh? I love that. What shoes did your character wear?
Speaker 1 (36:20):
They just happened to be the shoes that I was
wearing at the time. But you know, normally I like
to I like to buy the shoes. I like to
spend some time with the shoes, like to interview the shoes.
I like to dismember the shoes and put it back
together so I know exactly where I'm coming from and
where I'm going. It's important to hydrate, always have.
Speaker 3 (36:45):
To, always have to hydrate in character.
Speaker 1 (36:47):
It's important to your instruments looped, do your shoes?
Speaker 3 (36:51):
Do your shoes stay hydrated as well?
Speaker 1 (36:53):
Oh yes, I have a spritzer shoes, a shoe splitzer.
I buy it organic on Etsy.
Speaker 3 (37:01):
Now, the line Godoon Gadong gets a gal gado? What
kind of prep did you put into that particular line?
Because that's a real you have to do some real
mental gymnastics around that.
Speaker 1 (37:18):
There's a beautiful acting technique where you assign a sort
of active verb to your lines, whether it's pulling or
pushing or ringing or smashing.
Speaker 3 (37:29):
And I'm going to keep the drag at it I'm
going to keep the straight face go on mm hmm.
Speaker 1 (37:37):
And it actually it just helps lay a foundation and
puts a purpose behind each each line. So for gal Gado,
my word was force.
Speaker 3 (37:46):
Yes, yes, I see that.
Speaker 1 (37:47):
Did you see it? Did it come through? As if
it didn't, then I didn't do my job as an acto.
Speaker 3 (37:54):
Troy, you are an absolute delight.
Speaker 1 (37:57):
Thank you so much for having me Dizzy.
Speaker 3 (38:00):
Thank you for pronouncing my name correctly. Finally, Dozy, Troy,
thanks for being on the pod.
Speaker 1 (38:08):
Thanks for having me on the pod.
Speaker 3 (38:09):
And I'm so happy you're part of the team.
Speaker 1 (38:11):
I'm happy to be a part of it.
Speaker 3 (38:12):
Thank you, listeners, Thank you, thanks for listening. Bye bye.
Speaker 5 (38:17):
Explore more shows from the Daily Show podcast universe by
searching The Daily Show wherever you get your podcasts. Watch
The Daily Show week nights at eleven ten Central on
Comedy Central and stream full episodes anytime on Paramount Plus.
Speaker 1 (38:35):
This has been a Comedy Central podcast
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