You watched the NBA opening thing,
didn't you? Yeah? Opening game?
The Los Angeles Lakers, the Golden State Warriors.
What an amazing game.
I love how the commentators talk about LeBron
like he's dead, though.
That's probably one of the strangest things that I watch,
especially in American sports.
They'll be like, "LeBron James with a...
"Wow! Oh, man! He...
I can't believe he's still doing that at that age."
He's 36.
They make it sound like-like an 80-year-old man
is running around on the court.
"LeBron! He's still got it, folks."
You know, why I get pissed off about that
is 'cause I'm the same age as LeBron, basically,
and then whenever they talk about him, the commentator
will be like, "Yo, you would assume that's he's...
I mean, he shouldn't be able to do these things at that age."
And I'm like, "Guys, I'm not... I'm not that old."
Like, I find...
I'm taking it personally on the couch.
(chuckles): I'm like, "I'm not that old."
"He's so old and..."
"I'm not that old, guys."
♪ ♪
ANNOUNCER: Coming to you from the heart of Times Square,
the most important place on Earth,
it's The Daily Show.
Tonight, shots for cops,
getting to know Vladimir Putin
and Nick Offerman.
This is The Daily Show with Trevor Noah.
Hey, what's going on, everybody?
Welcome to The Daily Show. I'm Trevor Noah,
and joining me for today's headlines
is our very own Dulcé Sloan. What's going on, Dulcé?
-What's happening, baby? Hey! -How you doing?
So good to see you here again hanging out. You know, cool.
Yeah, you're ready for the jokes, right?
Hey, man, every time I come, they give free clothes.
So, listen, I'm, um...
I'm just here, you know, looking at my...
Looking for a Halloween costume.
You know, just looking for clothes
on company time, as I do.
Wait, I'm-I'm sorry, what?
What?
We'll-we'll... Whatever, we ignore that.
So, what are you... what are you gonna go for as Halloween?
I don't know. You know, sometimes,
you just want to be, like, sexy random thing.
-Uh-huh, uh-huh. -So, what I really have been enjoying
is, like, sexy, like, pepper shaker.
-Okay, okay. -Condiment packet.
-Yes. -You know, sexy coin purse,
which could...
could be innuendo, which I'm hoping for.
-Okay, okay. -Uh, but... What are you...
Are you gonna go as anything? Do you celebrate Halloween?
-Is there a Halloween where you're from? -No,
you get burned if you celebrate Halloween where I'm from.
-Um, but-but I... -I-I support that.
But I do like... I do like going out and, like, just dressing...
I-I... I find it's just, like, a cool time to just...
I-I try and dress as a warm thing.
I find a lot of people go the opposite direction.
'Cause I-I find the time of year is...
-It's very cold. -It's October, yeah.
Yeah, and so I find... I try to make it...
Whatever I am, it's like warm Jason
or warm Freddy Krueger. Like, Freddy Krueger's great
'cause he's got, like, the sweater.
-Right, but m... -So, that's what I...
But male costumes are always warm.
-Yeah. -Trying to be, like, the pope or something like that?
Where you're just, like, full coverage?
-That's a pretty cool... You see? -Nobody needs that.
They want to see Trevor Noah, chest popping,
Clark Kent, Superman.
-Bam. -Eh. Eh.
-What? -Nobody's sexy when they're shivering.
(laughs)
That is not true,
'cause when you shake, you twerk a little bit.
I didn't think of that. I did not think
-of that. -That's what I'm here for, friend.
All right, well, let's kick things off
with some news about Facebook,
Instagram's weird aunt.
And I know it seems like we talk about Facebook
more than your mom talks about a nice girl you should meet,
but this story is different,
because Facebook is reportedly going to change its name.
Yeah, the website will still be Facebook,
but the company is going to have a new name.
And I don't know if this is a good idea.
I mean, Facebook is one of those iconic brands
like Hiroshima and Ted Bundy.
Do you really want to lose that name recognition?
But I am excited to find out what the new name is gonna be.
Like, you know, I don't know, maybe they'll go with Myspace.
I mean, they already took everything else from them!
Might as well finish the job!
Killed my friend Tom.
So, why is Facebook pulling a Ye
and shopping around for a new name?
Well, it turns out there are a couple of reasons.
NEWSWOMAN: The name will reflect the company's focus
on building the metaverse and its desire
to be known as more than social media.
The rebrand could also help Facebook separate itself
from intense scrutiny for how its social platform operates.
Okay. Okay, a few th-thoughts on this.
Um, um, first, I-I don't think the name
is really the problem that people have with Facebook.
Yeah, society's like
"Yo, you guys are destroying democracy."
And Facebook is like, "We hear you.
What if we went by Bookface?"
Second, if you want to change your image,
I don't think you should trust Mark Zuckerberg to do that.
I mean, have you seen this man's haircut?
It looks like he goes to the barber
and asks him to give him the colonial child.
You trust him with your makeover?
But, more importantly, I feel like we're focusing on the name
and that's distracting us from the fact
that they're building a metaverse.
What does that even mean? Do you hear that?
Are we supposed to just pretend that's not terrifying?
Facebook has got us arguing about names.
Meanwhile, they're getting ready to suck our brains
through the computer and put us into an online labor camp.
And don't kid yourself.
You know that the only reason
Mark Zuckerberg wants a metaverse
is because he can make it all so that our online versions
sound exactly like him.
"Hello, Mark. I'm Trevor. So nice to meet you."
"Finally, a world where everybody talks normally.
It's so good to be here."
Okay, okay. But fir-first, first,
first, can you never
ever be that Zuckerboyberg again?
That shit was-- I don't-- Mm!
"Is-is that-- is that weird, Dulcé?"
Hey, man, I'm-a throw something at you!
That shit is too creepy.
"Maybe I'll go as Mark Zuckerberg for Halloween."
-Stop! (laughs) -(laughs)
Listen, but, like, you know what that sounds like?
When white dudes do a white dude voice.
-Oh, that's so funny. (laughs) -Like, when white... (laughs)
Like, when white people do an impression of white people,
that's what he sounds like.
That he has just, like, leveled up so high on whiteness
that even white people know that white people
-don't talk like that. -(laughs)
All right, let's move on to our next story,
which is about organs.
You know, the fun gift you get
after a stranger dies in a car crash.
-Ow! -And for people who need an organ transplant,
there aren't a lot of options. Right?
Artificial organs don't work well,
and it is really hard to find a human organ donor.
People are really attached to those things.
But there might be a third option soon,
because, yesterday, right here in New York City,
doctors successfully transplanted a kidney
from a pig into a human.
Yeah, a pig.
Which is an amazing story.
I mean, not for the pig. But for the human,
it's an amazing story.
And according to some experts,
this could be the beginning of a whole new era.
NEWSMAN: This marks the first time a patient's immune system
did not immediately reject the organ.
If successful here, the option of using pig organs
could mitigate a shortage of transplant organs.
What we need is a sustainable,
renewable source of organs.
And that's what xenotransplantation
would provide.
I mean, tell me that's not incredible.
A future where you can easily replace your organs
with pig organs.
But for real though, if you get a pig organ,
I mean, you have to become a vegan then, yes?
Can we agree on that?
Because imagine if someone gave you his kidney
and then you ate his whole family.
That shit's disrespectful.
And there are three problems I can see with this whole thing.
The first is having pig organ sounds great
until your dog starts sniffing you all the time
and licking its lips.
And, second, knowing how bad American health care is,
most people won't even get the pig kidney.
They're just gonna have to settle for something less.
"Okay, unfortunately, your health insurance
"won't cover pig organ.
"But you're in luck.
We're having a sale on raccoons."
And here's the third problem
that I don't think people have thought about.
When you get an organ transplant, there is a chance--
a small chance but a chance nonetheless--
that you feel or adopt a part of the donor.
You hear people saying this all the time.
"Oh, I have their memories, I have their emotions.
I feel what they felt."
What happens if you get an organ from a pig?
Yeah? Like, what if Trevor gets a pig kidney
and, all of a sudden, I'm, like, walking around in the streets
and then, all of a sudden, I'm just like,
"Truffles? Truffles?"
(squealing)
"Truffles! Truffles!"
(squealing)
What rich neighborhood do you live in
where you can walk down the street smelling truffles?
I don't know why we're so impressed.
Didn't we do a baboon heart in the '80s?
-We did a baboon heart in the '80s? -Yeah!
Somebody got a baboon heart.
I didn't have the Internet back then. I don't know.
Nobody had the Internet back then, Negro. It was the '80s.
You had seven channels.
So, I know there's a lot of things that you can transplant.
Like, you can transplant all the organs.
The only thing that I'm thinking about... (laughs)
If someone has to have...
like, an intestines transplant from a pig,
then they're just gonna be full of chitlins.
-And that's all I can think about. -(laughing)
And then if you have to get a skin graft,
then you're just covered in bacon.
(laughing)
I'm not helping.
(laughing)
-All right, but let's move on from pigs... -(giggling)
...to pugs.
And especially a pug named Noodle,
who is now blowing up worldwide on TikTok
for an amazing account-- this is adorable--
that is like a daily horoscope
where he predicts whether it's gonna be a good day
or a bad day.
And the way he makes his prediction
is-is way more fun than that bullshit groundhog.
MAN: Good morning, everyone, and welcome back
to yet another round of "No Bones,"
the game where we find out
if my 13-year-old pug woke up with bones,
and, as a result, what kind of day we're gonna have.
Oh, my gosh! Oh, it's a bones day! Look at that!
Steady as the beating drum!
Okay, you know what that means. Treat yourself today.
Another round of "No Bones."
All right, so we found out
he does not have bones this morning.
We confirm, he does not have bones.
Um, I did try a second time to see if maybe
that was a fluke, but I can confirm
that it was not. His bones are gone.
Okay, guys, this is... this is... this is more adorable
than that time Joe and Jill Biden visited Munchkin Land.
But-but, I mean, it's obvious what's really happening, right?
I mean, it's cute, but it's not...
it's not about the future.
This is dog is waking up with a chronic morning erection,
so when he flops down, he's trying to hide it.
That's the real bones or no bones.
But still, I like how this has become the new astrology.
It actually makes more sense, you know?
I don't know what Mercury in retrograde means,
but I can understand that a "no bones" day is not the day
to sign a new lease. That's simple.
I do wonder what this dog tells the other dogs
at parties, though. You know, when dogs are hanging out,
and they're telling each other what they do.
And it's just like, "I sniff out drugs at the airport.
"That's what I do-- I sniff, sniff.
I sniff out drugs at the airport."
"I help blind people get around in the city.
That's my job."
"Yeah, I fall on my ass,
"and then millennials build a life around it.
I don't get it, either."
Y'all do too much with these dogs, okay?
Let the damn dog be a damn dog.
That dog is 13 years old.
That dog don't want to play this damn game with you.
Any time this dog is "no bones,"
it's "I don't want to be here anymore."
And yet again, you become an Internet sensation
'cause you need a job.
Leave these damn dogs alone. It ain't that important.
All we need is a goofy groundhog coming out here
and being like, "Six more weeks of winter,"
and then we be on about our lives.
All right, that's all the time we have for the headlines.
Let's jump straight into our main story.
It's about vaccines.
They're the thing keeping millions of Americans
from the Grandpa's inheritance money.
And now, the fight over who is required
to get the vaccine is crashing up against the thin blue line,
as we will see in another installment of
"Vaccination Nation."
♪ ♪
Vaccine mandates-- for the past few months,
it's become the biggest fight in the country.
I mean, aside from the Netflix CEO and everyone on Twitter.
And mandates have been effective at convincing people
to get the COVID vaccine, which is why everyone
from the federal government to airlines
to even Fox News is doing one.
Yeah, that's a real thing.
Fox News has a vaccine mandate.
Which is insane.
I mean, it's like seeing one of those Amish farm stands
that accepts Apple Pay.
Like, I'm happy, but I did not see that coming.
And now the former epicenter of the pandemic,
New York City, is saying
that all of its government workers need to get vaxxed,
and they mean everybody.
New this morning. New York City is now requiring
all city employees to be vaccinated against COVID-19,
no longer with any option for weekly testing instead.
The new mandate covers more than 160,000 workers,
including police officers and firefighters.
We're asking our public servants and our first responders
to do what they do best-- lead us forward.
Help us out of the COVID era.
If they choose not to, they go on unpaid leave.
NEWSMAN 2: So, we're less than two weeks
to that November 1 date.
Right now, the NYPD says
its vaccination rate is approximately 71%.
Fire department says around 60%
of their uniformed workforce have so far gotten the shot.
That's a long way to go.
That's right. Anyone who works for New York City
will have to be vaccinated soon.
Everyone from police and firefighters,
all the way to the guy who makes sure
that the taxis are clean.
And as of now, nearly a third of all cops aren't vaccinated.
And maybe, maybe they just don't know how to get vaccinated.
I mean, I know it seems easy, but some cops don't even know
how to turn on a body camera, so...
But this is still a little concerning,
because any police who don't get vaccinated can't go to work.
And if there's a shortage of police, I mean,
that could cause some big problems.
I mean, protestors can't kick the shit out of themselves.
Plus, who are the Karens going to call when they feel scared?
Hello, Geek Squad.
There's a Black man in the park, and...
What do you mean it's not your job?
I want to speak to your manager.
You get me the manager!
Now, New York's police union has already announced
that they'll be suing
to stop this mandate from going into effect.
Which is no surprise, because in every city
that's announced a mandate, there's been a fierce resistance
from cops and firefighters.
NEWSMAN: There has been a wave of resignations
and firings in fire and police departments
across the country.
Los Angeles Fire reports there have been
at least 241 separations from the department.
Baltimore's police department is down 279 officers.
In Massachusetts, the state police union president
is threatening that at least 150 state police will resign.
Late yesterday Seattle police officers and firefighters
walked up City Hall steps to turn in their boots.
Yeah, that's right, they're turning in their boots.
And I know what you're thinking right now,
because I'm thinking the same thing.
Wait, don't cops turn in their gun and badge?
'cause turning in your boots makes it sound
like the police departments have the same footwear policy
as a bowling alley,
MacDuffy! We got a robbery happening on 13th Street!
You're... What are you, size ten and a half?
All right, go get 'em, buddy.
I've got to say, out of all of the occupations
cops and firefighters are the last people
who I'd expect to see this from.
I mean, like, these are the same people who sign up
to swarm hostage situations or run into burning buildings.
But when it comes to the vaccine,
suddenly they're like, "I don't know, seems like a health risk."
Like firefighters, they have always had an image
of being brave and selfless, putting their life on the line
to help others-- that's the part that makes them so damn sexy.
You know, and I just hope that this vaccine controversy
doesn't ruin that image.
'Cause trust me, nobody wants to buy
a whiny firefighter calendar.
You know, actually, I'd still buy that one.
It's still pretty sexy, I'm not gonna lie.
But hey, at least those officers had the courage
of their convictions, right?
They didn't want to follow the rules, so they quit the job.
I can respect that.
What is a lot more concerning is how some other officers
have decided that they would rather keep their jobs
and not follow the rules.
In Los Angeles, the county sheriff said
he's simply not going to enforce the vaccine deadline
that was supposed to take effect today.
I don't want to be in a position to lose
five, ten percent of my workforce overnight.
In Chicago responding to that city's
October vaccine mandate,
the head of the police union said his members won't comply.
"This has literally lit a bomb
underneath the membership," he said.
"We're in America, G-damn it.
"We don't want to be forced to do anything. Period.
This ain't Nazy F-ing Germany."
Whoa, Nazi Germany?
That dude escalated things way too quick.
I mean, although he is a Chicago police officer,
so it makes sense, but come on, people, G-damn it.
And by the way, I didn't realize that the L.A. sheriff
could just decide not to comply with the vaccine mandate.
That's crazy. Like, is that something we are allowed to do?
'Cause, I mean, the next time I'm pulled over,
I'm just gonna say, "Sorry, Officer.
"I have decided not to comply with the speed limit.
What's that? I'm getting shot?"
(chuckling)
Here is what I find the most strange about this story.
For years police departments have been telling us
that nothing is more important than protecting
the lives of cops on the street, right?
It is why cities have been increasing their budgets
to buy military-grade armor.
And it's also why they can't take 30 seconds to determine
if someone really is a threat before shooting them.
But it turns out there is literally nothing more dangerous
to police officers right now than COVID-19.
COVID right now, as we speak, is the leading cause of death
for law enforcement.
In fact, since the start of the pandemic,
it has killed more than five times the number of police
that were killed by guns.
So it turns out that if you do believe that blue lives matter,
one of the best ways to show your support
is by getting the vaccine.
All right, when we come back, we'll take a look
at America's former president, Vladimir Putin.
And Nick Offerman is joining me on the show.
Don't go away.
Welcome back to The Daily Show.
A couple of weeks ago, the people of Russia
went to the polls and, by a large margin,
elected legislators loyal to President Vladimir Putin,
further cementing his hold on the country.
But how did Putin become the man we all know today?
Well, let's find out
in our latest Daily Showography.
-♪ ♪ -(applause)
(man speaking foreign language)
(cheering)
LYDIC: Can a leader be too perfect?
MAN: He's a superhero.
He's some kind of Superman for us.
LYDIC: Can his flawless intellect
and unmatched strength make him somehow more than a man?
(chanting): Russia!
LYDIC: At what point does a mortal ruler
become a living god?
(translated): Will I be sitting here till I'm 100 years old?
♪ ♪
LYDIC: This is The Daily Showography
of Vladimir Putin,
democracy super czar.
Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin
grew up with everything a Soviet child could ever want.
Communal housing
and that's it.
We lived in a small room, all three of us,
in a communal apartment in Leningrad
with no private facilities.
We didn't even have our own bath or shower.
LYDIC: It was all the fun of a college dorm
but with way more drinking.
From birth, greatness was in his blood.
His father was a party member,
and his grandfather was a cook for Joseph Stalin,
giving Vladimir access
to all the flavors of Soviet Russia,
from bland to cold to gray.
It was a movie that set Putin on his life's path.
The Shield and the Sword,
about a dashing Soviet spy, inspired him to join the KGB.
He'd be the Russian James Bond,
meaning the guy trying to kill James Bond.
By 1985, Putin was a lieutenant colonel in the KGB
stationed in glamorous East Germany.
But in 1989, tragedy struck.
(chanting in foreign language)
A crowd of Germans driven mad
by the decadent Western influences
of Coca-Cola and blue jeans
descended upon the Berlin Wall.
They smashed it to bits,
and then, looking for more souvenirs
they could later sell to history nerds,
they gathered around Putin's station.
(shouting in foreign language)
The Berlin Wall might have fallen,
but a great man does not crumble so easily.
Putin ran to the basement
and set all the KGB's documents on fire.
Then he went outside and told the crowd they would be shot
if they didn't leave.
What an honor for those Germans to be there
for the future leader's first death threat.
♪ ♪
Through his heroic actions that day,
Putin survived.
But, sadly, the Soviet Union did not.
(translated): When I say that the fall of the USSR
was one of the greatest catastrophes
of the 20th century,
I'm talking about a humanitarian catastrophe above all.
After the dissolution of the USSR,
25 million Russians suddenly found themselves
in a foreign country.
LYDIC: That's right. Millions of Russians
had to order whole new address labels.
Was the downfall of communism really worth that?
But Russia and Putin persevered.
Under the steady leadership
of the incredibly competent Boris Yeltsin,
Putin rose through the political ranks,
eventually becoming prime minister.
The Russian public wanted to know,
who was this young and objectively perfect man?
To answer that,
Putin commissioned a documentary about his life.
Just like Beyoncé.
And Putin's film was even cooler.
NEWSMAN: He commissioned this rarely seen documentary
about himself.
"Presenting Vladimir Putin,"
the credits read, "in Power."
♪ ♪
Weirdly, the soundtrack is from the Broadway show Cats.
("Memory" playing)
LYDIC: It was, without question, the second most disturbing movie
-ever to feature songs from Cats. -(hissing)
In 1999, Boris Yeltsin abruptly resigned from the presidency
to spend more time with his drinking problem.
-♪ ♪ -(applause)
And Putin became the second elected
and first permanent president of Russia.
He proved himself not just a formidable head of state
but a man of many talents.
♪ ♪
-(horse neighs) -A beast master.
-(growl) -(squeak) -(clicking)
-(roar) -(bellow)
An adventurer.
(engines revving)
(bubbling)
A sportsman.
(gasping, applause)
And a born entertainer.
♪ The moon stood still ♪
♪ On Blueberry Hill ♪
Vladimir Putin is truly a quadruple threat.
-(gun cocks) -Quintuple if one of the threats
is making actual threats.
But, most of all, President Putin
is the protector of Russia's fragile democracy.
-(woman singing in Russian) -(shouting)
A role he takes so seriously
that, every election, he does whatever is necessary
to stop inferior candidates from winning.
For this devotion, his citizens have rewarded him
with the presidency again and again,
by literally unbelievable margins.
Vladimir Putin will lead Russia for another six years.
He cruised to an expected victory
in yesterday's presidential election,
winning nearly 77 percent of the vote.
NEWSMAN: Check this.
Brazen ballot-stuffing caught on camera.
NEWSMAN 2: In these videos, verified by the AP,
voters seem to insert multiple ballots.
One election official appears to stroll over to a box,
stuff it, while no one in the room seems to mind.
LYDIC: Yes, Putin respects people's right
to vote so much that he lets them vote
two, three or 78 times in the same election.
It wasn't all smooth sailing, though.
One time, Putin briefly had to let
a friend be president for him until he could run again.
And then, he had to make a tiny change
to the constitution so he could run again, again.
And again.
As Russia has thrived, so has the man who embodies it.
For his steadfast commitment to fighting corruption,
Russian oligarchs and energy executives have gifted Putin
with tens of billions of dollars.
LUKE HARDING: My personal suspicion is
that certainly Mr. Putin is the richest man in Europe,
and possibly on the planet.
♪ Money, money... ♪
LYDIC: And that money would come in handy
when unexpected expenses cropped up, like
secretly buying a luxury apartment in Monaco
for a totally random woman.
And, yes, one media outlet claimed
that the woman was Putin's mistress,
but that's ridiculous.
Putin was happily married at the time.
And also, that media outlet has since been outlawed.
Besides, these rumors are completely unfair
to the woman's daughter,
whose unknown father must be very proud of her,
and her face that looks absolutely nothing
like Vladimir Putin.
(chanting in Russian)
LYDIC: Of course, even a perfect country has
some malcontents, but whenever those seeking
to undermine Putin's streak of uncorrupt democracy
begin to circle him like bloodthirsty sharks,
somehow, some way, fate always intervenes on his behalf.
There seems, for some reason,
to be an extremely high mortality rate
among independent journalists
and political opponents of Mr. Putin.
NEWSMAN 2: President Putin dismissed accusations
that the Russian state was
behind the attack on Mr. Navalny.
"If our agents had wanted to kill him," he said,
"they'd have finished the job."
LYDIC: Yeah, why doesn't anyone ever ask Putin
about his agriculture programs?
Like these new bananas he is working on
that grow with the poison already inside them.
Sure, it is true that some of Putin's critics
met untimely ends, but on the other hand, let's move on.
We should be talking about agriculture.
Naturally, a true champion of democracy doesn't just want it
for his own country, he wants it for all people.
Which is why Putin began tirelessly assisting
with elections around the world,
sending his digital democracy helpers
to gently nudge voters in the right direction.
Putin was so amazing at democracy
that in 2016 even the world's so-called "greatest democracy"
was asking for his help.
Russia, if you're listening...
LYDIC: And like the great man he is, Putin answered the call.
NEWSMAN: Tonight Russian president Vladimir Putin
trolling the United States,
joking about meddling in the presidential election
and saying he will do it again.
TRANSLATOR: I will tell you a secret.
Yes, of course we'll do it.
To finally make you happier.
-(applause) -Just don't tell anyone.
-♪ ♪ -LYDIC: You know what they say:
it takes a big man to joke about himself
and an even bigger, scarier man
to joke about destroying your country.
(Rachmaninoff piano concerto playing)
-Da! -(cheering)
LYDIC: That is why in all the world,
there is no bigger man than Vladimir Putin.
(crowd chanting "Putin!")
How grateful we are for his 21-year reign,
his guaranteed 16-year future reign
and, if we should be so fortunate...
his 100-year reign after that.
All right, when we come back,
Nick Offerman will try to convince me to go camping.
Good luck with that.
Welcome back to The Daily Show.
My guest tonight is actor, humorist
and best-selling author Nick Offerman.
He's here to talk about his brand-new book
that celebrates the beauty of America's great outdoors.
Nick, welcome to the show.
Thank you, sir. It's so great to see you.
I feel like this is, like, the perfect space
-for you and your voice. That's what I feel. -(laughs)
Normally, when I see you, there's...
there are either too many people,
you know, and then your voice doesn't seem
like it's matching the energy.
-It's true. -This-this feels right.
This feels like the kind of space
where Nick would say something and people would go like,
"That was the space it was meant to be said in."
I take that as a compliment.
What you just said reminds me of my dad, who's really funny.
But when you're...
whenever you are in a crowd, he always...
He'll gesture to you and then step away
and say something under his breath
-like, uh, "I hope you didn't have the trout." -(laughing)
(clears throat)
"And I'm sorry for the atmosphere
that you might be experiencing."
Oh, wow. Um...
I feel like you got the funny, man. That's what you got.
Well, that's, uh, that's big talk coming from you.
-No, no, no. I mean... I mean that for real. -(laughs)
Like, like, you know, some people know you,
obviously, from Parks and Rec,
and then... and then some people will know you
from the podcast that you... that you host with your wife,
which is, I would argue, the most intimate podcast.
You know, partly because you host it from an actual bed.
-Yeah. -And partly just because it feels
like we, like, know you as a... as a couple.
Um, and then some people may know you from writing books.
Where the Deer and the Antelope Play.
There are few books I read
that make me feel truly the essence of the person.
I feel like I went to the places that you went to in this book.
Did you set out to do this for the book
or did the book come from doing the journey?
Uh... That's a great question.
Um, I mean, it all kind...
it all kind of happened serendipitously,
simultaneously,
"synchronous-itously,"
if that's-- I think that's p-- a-an actual word.
-Um... -If you say it confidently enough,
people believe it.
-"Synchr-Synchronous-itously." Um... -Yeah.
(stammers) I, uh...
I had the idea for this book for several years.
I knew that it would involve
trying to regurgitate, sort of, my interpretation and feelings
about our relationship with nature
-for my readership. -Mm-hmm.
And I was talking about the book with Jeff Tweedy of Wilco,
who's in the book, and, uh,
we-we have this three-way bromance
with him and George Saunders, the great fiction writer.
And it was Jeff's idea. He said,
"Why don't we go somewhere and walk and--
"somewhere beautiful, and you can use
our conversations for your book?"
And I said, uh,
"Yes, Jeff Tweedy, my philosopher poet hero,
that sounds fine to me." Uh...
So I-I booked that trip.
And, I mean-- So I kind of knew
I wanted to go meet James Rebanks and his family
in England, uh,
a-and their-their shepherding operation for myself.
But I-- There's always in the back of my head, I'm like,
"Oh, this actually might work its way into the book."
Uh, and then I was writing the first two parts of the book
when Megan and I ended up deciding
to take this airstream trip.
So eventually, the penny drops where I'm like,
"Oh, this also fits into the book."
So, while I'm finishing up the first two thirds,
I'm living the last third, and then it all...
So, it kind of comes organically.
The stories that you tell in the book
aren't just stories of travel.
They're stories of history, they're stories of life.
They're stories of, I think, you connecting with the humanity
of not just yourself but, like, the land that you live on.
I think a lot of people will be surprised
when they read this book, because they'll go like,
"Man, Nick, it gets a little deep in some parts here."
Like, one minute, you're in a... you're in a forest,
and the next thing, you're talking about the people
who were removed from this land,
or what this land actually means.
I mean, I think one of the things I talk about in the book
is trying to bring nuance back to our human conversations.
Clearly, you don't use Facebook.
I don't, actually, I've never been on Facebook. Um...
-This explains a lot about you. -(laughs)
But, uh, when I... when I'm, for example,
hiking in a national park, I can...
You know, the first simple reaction is, "Holy cow.
-"This beautiful, pristine land..." -Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
"...untouched by human... Wait a second.
"Uh, it was touched by...
People used to live here, and we killed them."
Or we removed them. You know, we...
Right, right, right.
We-we shat on them one way or another.
And by "we," I mean the Europeans.
The conquering people.
And that, then it just musingly makes me think,
we were always kind of brought up to believe
that to conquer something was positive.
-Yes. -Like, we're the victors, that makes us heroes.
But as I looked at it in this context,
I was like, wait a second, I mean, all that really means is
we killed them better than they were able to kill us.
We don't want to acknowledge where things came from
or how things came.
We don't want to consider the possibility
that we are enjoying ill-gotten gains at any point.
-You're right. I know. -So...
Which is also very understandable human behavior.
I always open, when I tour as a humorist or I write a book,
I always try and open-- that is why it says
-I'm ignorant on the cover of the book. -Right.
'Cause what I am saying is, we are all ignorant.
We all will never understand all the information.
-No, we won't. -We are clumsy,
farthing mammals that are building skyscrapers,
and so we're never going to do that perfectly.
We're never going to be like, well, there is our civilization,
everybody is happy.
And so knowing that we always have these deficits somewhere,
let's maintain the attitude of a student and say, "Okay,
"what did we get right, and what are we getting wrong,
and how can we shift towards getting more right?"
You're an amazing person to know.
I think you write some of the most fantastic books.
I appreciate having you on the show,
and next time you go on a road trip,
please tell me-- I will decline,
but I would just like you to tell me so that I could feel
like I could come along.
Well, thank you. I will do that.
And maybe... maybe I will FaceTime you
-from the top of a mountain. -I would love that,
Just so I can feel like, I'll be like,
"Oh, yeah, oh, man, that looks great, I wish I was there."
I don't actually wish I was there.
But I would like to feel like I wish I was there.
I would... sometimes I'm scared on the top of a mountain,
and I think it would be comforting
to see your face just for a minute.
I appreciate that, Nick. Thank you.
Thanks for having me.
All right, people, don't forget, Nick's book,
Where the Deer and the Antelope Play, is available right now.
And Colin in Black and White, the brand-new show
that is going to premiere on Netflix October 29--
this man over there, he's gonna be playing
Colin Kaepernick's father. Yeah, that's what I said.
All right, we're going to take a quick break,
but we'll be right back after this.
Until tomorrow, stay safe out there,
get your vaccine, and remember, be nice to pigs.
The next one you see could be your kidney donor.
Or your breakfast bacon. Either way, be nice.
Now here it is, Your Moment of Zen.
♪ ♪
Hey, you see what Rudy Giuliani posted on Twitter last night?
Virginia, vote against the man who dishonored our past
by selling my bedroom!
-Oh! -Oh! -Oh! -Oh!
Who does this [bleep] guy think he is!
Can I have my hat back, please?
It's a dumb hat anyway.