President Biden came out and he signed
an executive order today.
Uh, a cryptocurrency executive order,
where he has ordered that the United States investigates
cryptocurrency and figure out if it should be regulated,
or if America should create its own cryptocurrency,
or, like, what a cryptocurrency is. Yeah.
And this is where you realize how crazy cryptocurrency is.
Normally, executive orders are like, "Ban all Muslims."
"Change the economy!" "Send money to people!"
And then with cryptocurrency it's like, "Eh, let's find out
what, like, this thing is. Yeah. Yeah. S-Should we do it?"
-♪ ♪ -ANNOUNCER: Coming to you from the heart of Times Square
in New York City, the only city in America,
it's The Daily Show.
Tonight: Kim Kardashian's career advice,
What's an Oligarch?
And Sandra Oh.
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 the one and only Desi Lydic!
-What's going on, Desi, how you doing? -Hey!
I'm great, I'm great. Hey, Happy International Women's Day.
-Right? -Right?
-I mean, y-yesterday? -Yeah, yeah.
I mean, technically it-it was a couple of days ago,
but I like to celebrate it the way I celebrate my birthday--
-all week long. -I like that.
-Yeah. -And you know what? You deserve it.
-Thank you. -Just-- As long as you want to celebrate it for.
Thank you. I'm going to ride it out.
I like that. Okay. I mean,
your birthday is only on one day, though. That's different.
Well, for you.
But I celebrate for the entire week, top to bottom.
-Okay. -You'll see in June.
-(chuckles) I-I hope not, but, yeah. -Oh, yeah.
-(chuckles) Happy birthday. -Thank you.
All right, let's jump straight into today's headlines.
♪ ♪
We kick things off with the Russian invasion of Ukraine,
Or, as Prince William, calls it,
"The brown thing happening to white people" war.
Today, Russia and Ukraine held their first high-level
peace talks, but please, do not get your hopes up.
Not only did Russia not agree to end the war,
It wouldn't even admit that it started a war.
Yeah, Russia's foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, was asked if
they planned to invade any other countries, and his answer was,
(reading):
Which is obviously a lie.
And it's also not reassuring for the rest of Europe.
(Russian accent): "Yeah, now we are not attacking Poland.
"Now we're not attacking Paris. Now we are not taking over the
world. What are you guys complaining about, huh?"
(regular accent): And by the way, just by the way,
if Lavrov is denying that Russia is attacking Ukraine,
then what's he attending peace talks for? Huh?
What, he wants Ukraine to stop blowing up Russian missiles
with their maternity wards? Get the (bleep) outta here, man.
So, for now, the war is, unfortunately, continuing.
And not only is the war continuing,
it's even spilling over into space.
ANCHOR: This morning, the International Space Station
in political crosshairs as Russia retaliates
against American sanctions.
The head of the Russian Space Agency, Dmitry Rogozin,
posting this video on social media,
threatening to abandon
American astronaut Mark Vande Hei at the station.
He's supposed to return home on a Russian ship
in just three weeks.
Rogozin also making an ominous threat
that without Russian help
to move the ISS away from space junk,
the ISS would crash into America or other countries.
Wow, this is wild.
Russia is so mad about sanctions
that it's threatening to abandon an American astronaut in space
and allow the International Space Station
to crash into Earth.
And, I mean, this is obviously a horrible threat to make,
but I will admit this. I do kind of see Russia's side.
I do. I'm not for Russia, but I see it.
I mean, flying someone home from space
is a huge favor to do, especially for an enemy.
You know? It's like picking them up
from the airport a million times over.
And, also, why didn't America get this astronaut down
before this war escalated? Huh?
They knew he was hitching a ride on a Russian thing.
This is like when you quit a job,
and then you storm out of the office cursing at everyone.
"Yeah, suck my (bleep)!"
And then you realize you left your phone behind.
(laughing): "Oh, man. Oh, shit.
"Yeah, I'm sorry about that, sir.
"I didn't realize it was still charging.
Yeah. But text me about sucking my (bleep)."
You know, people, this is exactly why America
needs to start some sort of military force to defend space.
Think about it. Right?
What they could do is have it up there
defending all of space on America's behalf.
What? What's that?
Oh. It did?
And I called it the military's version
of University of Phoenix?
Huh. That's funny,
but that doesn't sound like something I would say.
Yeah, no. That's not me.
Desi, would-would you fetch someone stranded in space?
No. No, never.
I won't pick anyone up at the airport.
Not even my husband.
My husband's been living at LaGuardia
for the last three and a half months.
Like that Tom Hanks movie?
Sometimes I'll Venmo him for a Cinnabon,
you know, just to keep the sparks alive.
-(laughs) -But no. No.
Also, this really proves my point
that you have to overpack for everything,
'cause you never know.
People are like, "Oh, don't overpack.
It costs had more money. It takes up more space."
No. Now you're stranded in space,
and you're gonna want those two extra books
and your DivaCup.
-I hear you there. -Not that my...
Not that my DivaCup takes up a lot of space.
It's a very normal, compact item.
It doesn't take up much space. You know.
No, I... Well, I don't know. I understand.
Do you think you can actually use a DivaCup in space?
Gravity is a tricky thing, huh?
"How does gravity work?"
"Work."
-I'll circle back around. -Okay. Okay, cool.
Okay. I have... I have limited experience in this field, so...
You got that.
All right, we're gonna be talking more
about Russia and Ukraine later on in the show,
but let's move on, because it turns out
there is another terrifying invasion
that's in the news right now.
Very soon, you may be seeing a massive new spider
right in your own backyard.
NEWSMAN: Now comes the Joro spider.
Native to Asia, it was first spotted in Georgia
nearly a decade ago.
They've since spread across the Southeast,
with some using their parachute-like silks
to travel in the wind.
A new study at the University of Georgia predicts
the Joro spiders will make their way up the East Coast
this spring.
It's unclear how far north they'll go,
but they'll be hard to miss,
growing up to three inches long.
End to end, that's as wide as your palm.
People are going to have to learn to appreciate spiders,
because this spider isn't going anywhere.
Okay, this guy has clearly never met humans.
All right? 'Cause when we're afraid of something,
we don't try and learn to appreciate it.
We try and destroy it at all costs.
That's what humans do.
This scientist's gonna sit there and tell us
we need to sit back and learn to appreciate spiders?
What kind of rational bullshit is that?
Pick up a broom and join the fight, you coward!
You know, sometimes I don't understand nature.
Why did it feel the need to create something like this?
Huh? Spiders that have parachutes and fly around?
You know, with some things, you get why they exist,
like how plants put oxygen into the atmosphere
and how birds evolve into chickens
so we can make delicious sandwiches.
But giant spiders?
Was Mother Nature like,
"People's nightmares have become too boring--
let's spice things up"?
You can't even kill that thing with a regular shoe.
Did you see the size?
You probably need, like, a Shaq-sized shoe.
Yeah, so thanks, spiders.
Now I've got to break into Shaq's house
and steal his shoes again.
(sighs)
And, by the way, if you think a giant spider is bad,
wait until we see the giant pig
the giant spider is gonna become best friends with.
This thing is a disaster.
All a disaster. I don't know why everyone isn't panicking.
I mean, it's probably because scientists say
that we actually shouldn't be worried.
That-That's what they say. Uh, these spiders
are actually completely harmless to people.
Yeah. They're not even bad for the ecosystem.
Which actually makes me feel a little bit better.
I'm not gonna lie.
-♪ ♪ -Yeah. Because, last night, I-I had a dream
that those spiders crawled into my ear
and they laid eggs in my brain.
And then now, every-every time I keep quiet,
I feel like I can hear something...
(squeaking)
Anyway, dreams are weird.
Desi, are you-- are you freaked out by spiders?
Nah. I'm not-- I'm-I'm not afraid of these spiders
coming to New York at all.
No, because nothing can be more devastating
than Spider-Man on Broadway.
Like, ruptured eardrums,
broken bones, bad reviews.
Terrible! Nothing can be worse than that.
Plus, I feel like the Manhattan cockroaches
have just kind of gotten complacent lately,
with the pandemic.
Like, they don't even scatter
when you turn the lights on anymore.
I come home and turn the lights on and they're like,
"Ah. Desi, you're home late."
Like, very confident.
So I'm excited about these spiders.
You have a-an interesting perspective on life.
-I like that. -Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, I do.
(chuckles) All right,
let's move away from spiders
to someone else who's got America ensnared in her web.
I'm talking about Kim Kardashian.
Influencer, business mogul,
and Instagram's final boss.
To promote the new Kardashian show that's launching on Hulu,
Kim and her sisters gave an interview to Variety
where they talked about their lives
and their business strategies, but one clip that's gone viral
has rubbed many people the wrong way.
Kim Kardashian has sparked outrage amongst some people
after offering women career advice during a recent interview
with Variety magazine. Here's what she said.
I have the best advice for women in business:
get your (bleep) ass up and work.
It seems like nobody wants to work these days.
-That's so true. -You have to s-- you have to
surround yourself with people that want to work.
No toxic work environments, and show up and do the work.
Okay. Okay.
Okay, I know-- I know a lot of people
are pissed off at Kim. I know.
But if I'm being perfectly honest,
I can see this thing from both sides. I honestly can.
Like, I can see it from Kim's side.
I can see it from Kim's side, you know? She's like,
"You guys think I just take a few pictures
"and I go to a few events, and then suddenly
"I'm rich and famous, and you think it's easy,
but it's not easy," and I understand that.
I understand that. Kim does a lot of work.
She grinds all the time. She's a shrewd businesswoman.
And she's a mom to Kanye and the kids.
But... but part of this idea that people have of Kim
is Kim's fault. I mean, think about it.
For decades, the thing that she's sold is "not work."
Yeah, in fact, she works really hard
to look like she's not working hard.
Every photo on Instagram, she's either on a beach
or in a pool or in a hot tub.
Basically, any relaxing body of water, she's there.
You know? So I get why people have the idea
that she doesn't work, because you don't see it.
You know? I mean-I mean, maybe Kim
should put that stuff on Instagram, you know?
Put up photos of late-night meetings,
constant calls on product design.
I mean, you can still do it in a bikini if you want,
but the point is, you know,
people should see more of the work. They'd understand.
Like, take the Rock. Here's an example.
Look at the Rock. Right? Because of his social media,
I know what it takes to become the Rock.
I know if I'm gonna try and become like him,
I've got to wake up at 4:00 a.m. every day,
lift every weight in the gym,
and try not to laugh
every time I have to work with Kevin Hart.
I mean, how can you not? He's, like, the...
He's a human, but he's the size of, like, a...
a little dog. Kevin, I got you. Oh, Kevin.
He's, like, he's in my pocket right now.
(laughs) "Damn!"
But here's the thing
that maybe Kim Kardashian doesn't understand:
it can come off as extremely condescending
to tell women that the reason they're not successful
is because they're too lazy
to get off their asses and actually work.
Because, yes, Kim Kardashian works hard,
but you know who else works hard?
Most women.
But what their asses don't have is Kim's luck
to be born into a rich family with a famous lawyer parent,
and an even more famous Olympian step-parent,
and all the access and the connections that
that brings you. Think about it.
If you're lucky... if you're lucky to have that,
then, yeah, there's a good chance
that your hard work is gonna make you successful.
But don't forget how much luck has to do with that success.
Anyone who says, "Just work hard, and things will work out,"
those people are forgetting a major component, known as luck.
A lot of people work hard, and they're still broke.
In fact, a lot of the time, the broker you are,
the harder you probably work. Yeah.
My grandmother worked ten times harder than me,
but I'm balling circles around that woman. Yeah.
You hear that, Gogo? You can't touch me! You can't touch me!
And by the way, happy birthday, Gogo.
She just turned 95. Yeah. Yeah, she did.
So, uh, just think about it.
I get it from everyone's point of view. You know, Desi, like,
as a failed Instagram influencer yourself,
like, what do you think about this?
Well, I'm not so much failed as blocked.
It's more of a legal issue.
But we're getting into semantics. I don't know.
I feel like for Kim, she didn't really have the time
to go into the fact that she was born into privilege
in such an expanded way.
-So I feel like this was her short answer, right? -Okay.
It's the... it's the "I drink a lot of water"
of the finance world.
Like, when you know celebrities spend 30 hours a week
looking as gorgeous as they do,
-and they're like, "I drink a lot of water." -Ah.
I feel like that's kind of what she was doing, right?
-Okay, okay. -But telling women to work hard isn't wrong.
I mean, that's not bad advice.
In fact, it's kind of inspiring to me. I mean, she's right.
I got to get off my ass, and stop doing nothing with my life.
I mean, literally, nothing. Look at... Look at me.
I'm doing nothing. What am I even doing? I got to...
Well, I don't think you're doing nothing, Desi. I...
I got to do something, you know?
No, no, Desi, you-you... you're working here. You...
-I got to do something. -Desi, you have a job.
I'm going to get a job. I'm going to get a...
I'm going to get a job.
Desi, you have a... you have a job.
No, I mean like a real job.
You can keep me on payroll, though.
Did she just say a "real job," like what we do here isn't...?
Wow. That... that hurts.
Good luck out there, Desi.
All right, I'm going to take a moment to process that pain.
And, uh, while I do that, don't go away,
because when we come back, we're going to be looking
at the Russian oligarchs who might be the key
to stopping Putin's war. You don't want to miss it.
Desi, you do have a job!
Welcome back to The Daily Show.
Ever since Russia invaded Ukraine,
America and Europe have been trying to find a balance between
helping Ukraine whilst also avoiding going to war
with Russia themselves, because nobody wants World War III.
I mean, other than defense contractors and
those people who sell merch in the trenches.
But one of the weapons the West has been using against
Russia is sanctions.
Yes, which comes from the Latin, sanctio, meaning,
"To mess with someone else's shit."
Yeah, whether it's military, diplomatic, or financial,
the ultimate goal of these sanctions is to turn up
the pressure on Russia so that it ends
Ukraine's conservatorship and finally lets sets it free.
And one of the most significant sanctions America and Europe
have imposed is going after oligarchs.
Tonight, the U.S. is moving to tighten the squeeze
on Vladimir Putin and the oligarchs,
the richest Russians who surround him.
ANCHOR 2: The administration, along with Britain and Europe,
introducing a raft of sanctions targeting oligarchs
and their families, even President Putin.
ANCHOR 3: These tough new measures are designed to hurt
those closest to Putin.
Figures who, until now, have seemed untouchable,
now clear targets.
Britain's threat to the Russian oligarchs,
seven of them sanctioned, including Roman Abramovich,
the owner of the Chelsea Football Club.
That club can no longer sell tickets,
it can't sign new contracts, and it cannot be sold.
Italy seized an oligarch's $70 million yacht.
ANCHOR: French officials seized the Amore Vero,
about 280 feet long, with multiple V.I.P. suites,
and a pool that turns into a helipad."
Damn, that guy has a boat that has a pool
that turns into a helipad? Whew!
Do you know how rich a person has to be to have a
mode of transportation that carries another mode
of transportation and it sits on a body of water
while it carries a body of water? That's money.
I mean, think about it: a pool that turns into a helipad.
Wow.
The only thing better than that
would be a pool that stays a pool.
Yeah, maybe it's just me, but one of my favorite things
about relaxing in a pool is not worrying
if a helicopter's gonna land on me.
It's part of the pleasure I get.
But yes, Europe and America are handling Putin
the way you handle any breakup:
by blocking him and all his friends.
And you might be wondering,
well, the oligarchs didn't start the war.
They're not ordering troops to bomb hospitals,
so why are they being targeted by the sanctions?
Well, let's find out why in another installment
of If You Don't Know, Now You Know.
♪ ♪
So, first things first.
Who are the oligarchs?
And I know "oligarch" sounds like a creature
chasing Frodo in Middle-earth,
but it's actually just a fancy term
for a group of superrich billionaires in Russia.
But it's how these billionaires got that way
that makes them interesting.
NEWSWOMAN: After almost 70 years of Russian Communism
where the state controlled everything,
the Russian people saw huge political and economic change
practically overnight.
For a select few businessmen known as oligarchs,
they managed to rise to the top.
MAN: Soviet Union, uh,
all land and all property was owned by the state.
In the 1990s, it was privatized,
and the most valuable companies were...
landed in the hands of these businesspeople.
Uh, mostly oil and gas and mineral companies.
Under the Putin era, he took some of the assets
from the oligarchs who had made their money in the 1990s,
uh, and gave them to his friends.
NEWSWOMAN 2: A lot of money that is his,
he has basically handed over to oligarchs for safekeeping.
NEWSMAN: They include Yuri Kovalchuk.
The billionaire chairman of Bank Rossiya
is also the bank's largest shareholder
and has been called one of Putin's cashiers.
Arkady Rotenberg.
He grew up alongside Putin in St. Petersburg
and, for a time, was Putin's judo sparring partner.
NEWSMAN 2: Yevgeniy Prigozhin,
a secretive oligarch dubbed Putin's chef
because his company oversees catering
for the Kremlin and other state agencies.
Putin's cashier.
Putin's chef.
Putin's dog walker.
They call him that
because he walks Putin's dogs.
But yeah, essentially, uh, when the Soviet Union fell
and Communism ended in Russia,
a bunch of lucky dudes were just handed the keys
to entire industries
that used to be owned by the government,
and they became superrich.
Yeah. Those are the oligarchs.
And when Putin came to power a decade later,
a new generation of his buddies became oligarchs, too.
So, clearly, it pays to be Putin's friend.
I mean, sure, you're the one
who always has to take those shirtless horse pics,
but, I mean, in the end, you get an oil company.
"Yeah, make sure you get entire horse.
-And take a lot so I have options." -(shutter clicking)
But, still,
why sanction Putin's friends
over the war in Ukraine?
Well, it's because they're Putin's friends.
And that means that if you maybe,
maybe make their lives shittier,
maybe they'll try to talk some sense into him.
And let's be honest, man-- that's-that's life.
Rich people complaining is how shit always gets done.
That's how colonization happened.
Rich people were like, "My food has no flavor!"
And two days later, the British took over India.
Now, of course, to sanction these oligarchs,
America and Europe need to access their wealth.
That's a question, right?
I mean, how can you get to all of this Russian money?
Well, because, it turns out,
none of the money is actually in Russia.
MAN: Oligarchs around the Putin regime use Western countries,
Western banks, and Western jurisdictions as havens
for the wealth that they're stealing
from the people of Russia.
Billions and billions of dollars stolen
and then laundered through Western banks,
like Deutsche Bank, laundered through real estate
in Europe and the United States.
Russian oligarchs have long used New York City
as a place to park their cash
in the form of large apartment buildings,
often that sit empty.
Russian oligarchs have about as much money
in financial wealth stashed in offshore accounts
as the entire Russian population has in Russia.
That is, i-in many ways,
Russia's Achille's heel in all of this.
Suddenly now, governments suddenly start seizing hotels,
football teams, yachts, homes.
It will certainly get the attention
o-of the most powerful people in Russia,
by hitting them where it hurts.
That's right!
The oligarchs own shit everywhere.
Real estate in New York-- oligarch money.
Sports teams in Britain-- oligarch money.
That couch you're sitting on right now.
Well, I mean, you bought that, but...
check between the cushions.
There's some rubles in there.
And, look, man, I get why.
I get why these guys want to buy football teams in London
or luxury apartments in New York
or park their yachts in Saint-Tropez,
because, I mean, let's be honest,
spending money in Russia?
That isn't as much fun.
I mean, the yacht experience is just not the same
if you have to wear a bathing suit over your fur coat.
And, look, for a long time, it didn't matter
that these borscht ballers kept all their wealth in the West.
But that changed real quick when these sanctions
started getting passed. And now
they're all well aware that their assets
are in bigger danger than Mike Pence at a Trump rally.
Russian oligarchs are scrambling to secure their assets
as the U.S. works to enforce sanctions against
the ultra-rich surrounding President Vladimir Putin.
Here at the Plaza Hotel,
a $50 million Russian-owned apartment
is reportedly up for sale before it can be seized.
NEWSWOMAN: Oligarchs scrambling commercial-sized aircraft
to safe havens they hope will be beyond the reach
of U.S. and international law enforcement.
NEWSMAN: They are also moving their yachts.
Tracking data showing many of their largest vessels sailing
toward the Maldives, where they will be harder to seize.
NEWSMAN 2: Now, as pressure grows on the ultra-wealthy,
some oligarchs are starting to call publicly
for an end to the war.
We've counted up to eight billionaires
who have spoken publicly, which is really unprecedented.
This has never happened before.
Yeah, because of these sanctions
and because they're afraid of losing stuff,
a bunch of these oligarchs
are already speaking out against Putin's war.
(Russian accent): "Please, we must think of this war's impact
"on innocent children.
"That is the name of my yacht: Innocent Children.
She does not deserve this. Please, look at her."
(regular accent): But you can see how spooked these oligarchs
are, right? They're moving their planes,
they're sailing out to sea,
they're swallowing condoms full of gold.
And, like, I know all of this stuff is complicated,
but it does seem a little counter-productive that
these guys had enough warning to take all of these measures,
don't you think? Yeah, it's like giving your teenage son
a heads-up that a week from now,
you're gonna look through his Internet history.
And by the time you get there, all you're gonna find
is a Google search for
"why isn't there a second Mother's Day?" Aw.
But the real question is will putting pressure
on these oligarchs be enough to end this war?
Well, to help answer that,
we go to our very own Roy Wood Jr.,
who is reporting live from international waters.
-Roy, what is your reporting telling you? -♪ ♪
You know, Trevor, I've been hearing all this noise
about how evil and corrupt these oligarchs are,
but I've been doing some personal investigating,
and it turns out these oligarchs
are very decent, kind people. They're just good people.
Oh, more caviar.
Thank you, Oksana. Pasiba.
-Right. -Roy, are you on a superyacht right now?
That's right. I needed to investigate firsthand.
That's why I searched up and down this yacht
for dirt on these oligarchs, Trevor.
I looked in the massage parlors, I looked in the cigar lounge,
I looked in the casino, then back to the massage parlors.
Then, I was on the deck checking out the sunrise yoga.
Then, back to the massage parlors again.
I keep forgetting what we was talking about, man.
Damn, this is a nice-ass yacht, man. I tell you this much, boy.
-Roy! -It's a nice one, man.
-Roy? -Huh? What's up?
Hang-hang on a second, man. Oh, breakfast champagne.
Thank you, Oksana. You're on the ball. I like this.
Okay, Roy, Roy, do you see what's happening?
Your journalistic ethics have clearly been compromised, Roy.
Whoever's yacht this is has bribed you.
Bribed? What did you say to me?
Boy, I ought to slap you with my new Gucci shoes.
But I don't want to damage the soles.
They're made of seal skin.
-There are only two. -Roy, this is what oligarchs do.
Do you not understand? They use their money
to corrupt everyone around them
so that they can get away with their evil deeds.
Oh, so now it's evil to build a fortune
-on the back of a murderous regime? -Yeah!
And I know the next thing I know, you're gonna tell me
it's evil for them to launder dirty money all over the world,
driving up real estate costs and avoiding taxes
that could be used to help the Russian people?!
-Yeah. -And if I accept their dirty money
and allow their personal assistant Oksana
to rub me head to toe in truffle oil
in return for favorable coverage,
you're saying that I'm somehow complicit in this evil?
Yes, Roy!
Damn, I was hoping you would say "no," man.
This is some heavy shit. It's a lot to think about.
I better think about this over some dodo bird wings.
Oh, yeah, that's dodo right there.
-That's some good dodo bird right here. -Did he say...?
Wait. Aren't dodo birds extinct?
They are now, but it was worth it.
-You know what? That's enough, Roy. -Yeah. Hit me, baby.
I'm suspending your reporter license.
Just get back to America. Get back to America, Roy.
All right, we're gonna take a quick break,
but when we come back, the great Sandra Oh
is gonna joining me on the show
to talk about Pixar's brand-new movie, so stay tuned.
Hit me one more time, baby. All right, that's good.
This guy... Roy? Roy!
Oh, my God. You never had dodo?
We got some woolly mammoth down there in the freezer.
Let it thaw out for you.
Welcome back to The Daily Show.
My guest tonight is Emmy-nominated actor Sandra Oh.
She's here to talk about starring in the new Disney-Pixar
film, Turning Red.
This isn't happening! This isn't happening!
(panicked breaths, whimpering)
(sniffs)
(retches)
(crying) Wake up, wake up, wake up!
-MING: Mei-Mei? -(gasps)
-MING: Is everything okay? -Don't come in here!
MING: Mei-Mei, what's going on, honey?
Are you sick? Is it a fever?
A stomachache? Chills?
-Constipation? -MEI: No...!
Wait. Is it...
-..."that"? Did... the... -(gulps)
-Did the red peony bloom? -MEI: No!
-MEI: Maybe...? -(gasps)
-(chuckling) -I love it.
-Sandra Oh, welcome to The Daily Show. -Oh, hi.
-Oh, it's good to be here. -It is so good to have you here,
and congratulations on being part of--
I think it's an instant classic. Immediately.
(gasps) I really, really hope so. I mean,
it's an amazing thing to be a part of, like the Pixar canon,
-it's, like, crazy. -Yeah.
You know what I mean? And then it really,
really unabashedly talks about, like, puberty.
And, like, that scene is kind of, like,
about the changing of a young woman's body,
about menstruation,
and then also about, like, "Mom,
-you got to give me some space." -(laughs)
So, you know, playing the mom, it was, uh...
it was a really great thing to kind of lend that voice,
-my little voice to that. -It's a fun...
You know, it-it's so interesting to me
how Pixar has found a way to tell stories
that people are almost afraid to tell in any other medium now.
-Mm. -You know, they... Pixar's talking about mental health.
-That's exactly... -Pixar's taking about life and death.
-Uh-huh. -Pixar's now talking here about puberty.
-Yeah. -And in, like, a very real way
where I think parents, kids...
It-It's almost like Pixar is taking over the role
of, you know, the conversations that people don't want to have.
-Oh, sure. -You know, if you have kids and you're like,
"Oh, puberty's coming. Let's go watch a Pixar movie.
-Let's go. Let's go have a Pixar moment." -(laughs)
But I think it's like... It's like... So, my friends
who have taken their kids, particularly, like, eight to 12
who are right before it,
uh, they've struck up a conversation.
My friend, she has a, you know, eight, nine-year-old kid,
and he was like, "What's a pad?"
-I love that. -Right? And then she's like, "Okay,
he's asking me a question about it. Let's talk about this."
These... "What are hormones?"
Oh, my gosh, someone was telling me
that they had a conversation with their 12-year-old,
uh, or ten-year-old about metaphor.
Do you know what I mean? So, like, the panda...
Like, so, basically, the main character, Meilin Lee,
she's, like, a 13-year-old Chinese Canadian girl, right?
When she, uh, gets overwhelmed...
Like, puberty, the...
She poofs into this giant red panda, right?
But the panda is, like, a metaphor for a lot of stuff.
So even just to have the discussion of what is metaphor?
-I mean, come on. It's great. Yeah. -I love that.
Is it true that somebody told you--
I think it was an agent--
-that you should just leave America? -Yeah.
-They were like, "Go home. There's no room for you." -Yeah.
And they weren't saying it to you like, "Get out of here."
They were saying, like, "Hey, I'll be honest with you."
-Yeah. -"An Asian actress, man,
-there's no space for you in this industry." -Yeah.
Yeah. Yeah, it's, like, crushing.
Do you know what I mean? Like, you're 21,
and you have, like, a certain amount of credits.
You know, uh, you know, having been born and raised in Canada,
-at that point, I had already done films. -Right.
-I'd already done, like, A-list theater. -You had won awards.
Yes, won awards.
And it just, like, didn't matter at that time.
So-- But we're talking about, you know, the mid-'90s.
-Wow. -Right? So it's like-- Again,
it's like some of the projects that I'm working with...
It's amazing to age,
because you get, like, perspective, right?
So, like, I'm doing, like, a press tour with Domee.
-She's a millennial. Our director, right? -Mm.
And these t-- All these young girls, right?
Rosalie Chiang. Sh-She's 16.
Maitreyi, um, Ramakrishnan.
She's, like, 20.
And it's like I feel, like, so great to go,
"Girls, you know, welcome"
and to kind of help 'em out a little bit.
-Right, right, right. -Because I'm not saying
that everything has changed and we can't stop
kind of working at, you know...
I-I hate kind of, like, the word, like,
"diverse storytelling," 'cause I feel it's,
like... marginalizing,
-you know, us, you know? -You know what it is sometimes?
Sometimes it feels like people use it as, like,
a tokenism thing. People use it as, like, a pandering--
I think of it as originality. That's how I think of it.
-That's exactly it. It's, like, you know... -You know?
-At some point, stories all become the same. Okay? -Yeah.
And then, the more you try and branch out
and find new stories to tell,
-you have to find new people to tell those stories with. -Yes.
-Yeah. -And I find that becomes more interesting.
-That-- You know, it... -Absolutely. I totally agree.
And the fact that it's also, like, uh...
So, Domee, right, the-- She-she did an--
her Oscar-winning short Bao
-and then-- So-- Right? So she was picked up... -I loved that.
...by, uh, Pixar, I want to say, like, out of Sheridan College.
So talented. And then, after that,
then she got her shot to do this.
Because they're smart.
I'm sorry, Pixar is smart.
-(laughs) -They were like-- They-they--
The way that they consciously make films,
-it's all about the filmmaker, right? -Yeah.
And that whole thing about originality, uniqueness.
It's like we want to grow the storytelling canon,
because I feel...
You know, I get this qu-- this question a lot,
which is, like, "Oh, you work with women a lot."
Like-- You know what I mean? "You work with women a lot."
And it's like, it's true, it's true,
because that's who hires me, by the way.
So, all throughout my career, the majority of people
who I've worked with regarding, like,
-writer-directors, right? -Interesting.
Women, women of color. Right?
So, what is it-- one, why do I work with them?
One, they hire me. But two, I think
now it's like... Oh, because, you know,
Shonda Rhimes is writing her characters from her perspective,
as a woman. Phoebe Waller-Bridge is writing her perspective
-Yes. -as a woman. Same with, obviously, Domee.
She and this other movie that I'm in, coming-coming out--
Umma, by Iris Shim-- it's, like,
a young woman's perspective.
So she wants... So that's-that's what's interesting,
-Yes. -because it's, like, coming from a point of view
that I'm interested in. They're interested in,
like, you know, me doing the work for them,
and so that... that's how it's worked out so far.
I think it... I think it's working out, uh, for the best.
I mean... No, really. As-as a... as a viewer,
as a consumer, I love it, I get to enjoy it.
I mean, I'm sad that Killing Eve is coming to an end.
-Yeah, yeah. -You know? That's, uh, that's-that's been
quite a journey, and you've left your imprint on that.
Um, what are you looking forward to?
You know, I've got to tell you, like, I'm sure,
like, many of us, this time during the pandemic,
it makes... it really...
-It really brought the thought inward. -Mm-hmm.
And, uh, also, at this deeply in the midlife part of my life,
um... I think the reas... the assessment
of what is important and what I choose
to put my time into is becoming more and more important.
That's why, like, an actor, it's just, like,
-you just want a job. -Mm-hmm.
You just want to work. So, one of the things
that I was able to practice after Grey's is,
I'm just gonna to sit.
I'm going to sit and be uncomfortable
because the usual desire to make a move
-or to try and get work or... -Mm-hmm.
Like, you know what I mean?
Which is eventually, hopefully, um,
-the stuff that you have to grow out of. -Right.
-It's hard. Yeah. -It's hard. Right?
So, I feel just kind of continuing that, taking...
It's not, like, a little break, but, like, uh, being discerning.
-I love that. -Mm-hmm.
-Discerning, enjoying the moment. -Yeah.
And, uh, yeah. At least we get to enjoy all the work
that you've been doing for the last few years
-'cause it's coming out now. -Yeah, it's coming out now.
-Yeah. -Thank you so much for joining me on the show.
-Aw, thank you. -And congratulations. Congratulations
on everything that you've done.
Aw. Thank you so much. What a pleasure.
Appreciate you so much. All right, people,
Turning Red will be available March 11 on Disney+.
You have no excuse not to watch it.
Disney+. You've got it. All right,
we're gonna take a break, but we'll be right back after this.
Well, that's our show for tonight, but before we go,
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All month long, Lolly Lolly mugs will be right here
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Until next time, stay safe out there,
get your vaccine, and if you see a giant spider, remember:
you're more afraid of them than they are of you.
Now, here it is-- Your Moment of Zen.
A moment of defiance through music.
The Kyiv Classic Orchestra playing an impromptu concert
for a small crowd,
even while Russian troops advance on their city.
(playing upbeat classical music)
♪ ♪
(song ends)
MAN: Bravo!