[theme music]
ANNOUNCER: Coming to you from New
York City, the only city in America, it's The Daily Show.
Tonight, debate season is in full swing,
where Halloween came from, and Elizabeth Banks.
This is The Daily Show with Trevor Noah.
[cheering]
What's going on, everybody? Welcome to The Daily Show.
I'm Trevor Noah.
Thank you so much for tuning in.
Thank you for coming out in person.
Thank you so much.
Thank you.
Thank you so much.
Take a seat.
Let's do this.
We have got a great show for you tonight.
We'll tell you how rats will save your life.
We tiptoe around the Senate debate
that everyone is talking about.
And we discovered the truth about Halloween.
Plus my guest tonight is the one and only
Elizabeth Banks, everybody!
[cheering]
So let's do this, people.
Let's just straight into today's headlines.
[music playing]
[cheering]
All right.
Before we get into the big stories,
let's catch up on a few other things going on in the world,
starting with health news.
A new study sponsored by the National Institutes of Health
has found that kids who play video games for at least
three hours a day have better memory and impulse
control than nongamers.
Yeah.
And I'm not the kind of person who
would say I told you so to my mom
because she could still whip my ass.
But I told you so.
Yeah.
[applause]
OK, just making sure--
just making sure she's not behind me.
But, yeah, it turns out gamers have great impulse control.
So the next time a teenager calls you
the N-word and a game of Call of Duty,
he really thought it through.
[laughter]
In travel news, Virgin Australia
has announced that for the next six months,
anyone who selects a middle seat
will be automatically entered into a lottery
with more than $230,000 worth of prizes up for grabs.
Yeah.
And here's my first question.
Is one of the prizes an aisle seat?
[laughter]
Because, I mean, that's the only way I'm ever selecting
a middle seat on a plane.
Plus, winning the lottery makes it worse.
Now I'm in the middle seat, and the aisle and window seats
are looking to rob my ass.
It's like, well, well, if it isn't Mr. Jackpot.
Ugh, leave me alone!
Oh, here's one of the strangest human interest
stories I've ever heard.
A hermit known as the world's dirtiest man--
actually known as that-- has died at the age of 94.
But get this-- just a few months after bathing
for the first time in 60 years, which
is a real lesson here, guys.
Don't try anything new because it will kill you.
It will.
Oh, and, more importantly, congratulations
to the new world's dirtiest man, Steve Bannon.
Well done.
All right.
Let's move on to some of the biggest stories of the day,
starting, once again, with the midterms,
you know, that time of the year when
your baby is at the highest risk
of being kissed by Ted Cruz.
There was a major debate last night
that could change everything.
And we'll tell you all about it in our ongoing coverage
of Votedemic 2022.
[music playing]
[applause]
The big question leading up to election day right now
is, who will control the Senate when the dust settles?
And with so many close races around the country,
it could still go either way.
But a pivotal moment may have occurred last night
at a debate in Pennsylvania.
On one side of this neck-and-neck race,
you have Democrat John Fetterman,
Lieutenant Governor and bouncer on the set of Jerry Springer.
And on the Republican side, you have Dr. Oz,
not to be confused with the Wizard of Oz,
who also lived in a mansion that wasn't in Pennsylvania.
Now, after securing the Republican nomination,
Dr. Oz has been trying to distance himself from the MAGA
side of the force and reposition himself
as a bipartisan voice of reason to try
and scoop up all the centrist voters on election day.
You know, he's basically doing that TikTok thing where you
flip your hair down, and then when you come up,
you act like you suddenly didn't
want to hang Mike Pence. You know that thing?
[laughter]
But here's the thing.
Here's the thing.
Being pro-Trump and proreasonable
is a lot harder than people think,
which was apparent when Dr. Oz had to explain
his position on abortion.
Should abortion be banned in America?
60 seconds.
There should not be involvement
from the federal government in how states decide
their abortion decisions.
As a physician, I've been in the room
when there's some difficult conversations happening.
I don't want the federal government
involved with that at all.
I want women, doctors, local political leaders
letting the democracy that's always
allowed our nation to thrive to put the best ideas forward.
So states can decide for themselves.
Oh, yeah, that's right.
Dr. Oz said abortion rights should be decided by women
and their doctors and local political leaders,
which is pretty slick, right?
I like how he did it because he started that sentence like
he was on the side of women.
And then he snuck in the politicians
at the end like a teenager buying
condoms at a gas station.
[laughter]
He was like, oh, let me get those Cheetos
and the root beer, and can I get the Trojan condoms?
[muttering]
[laughter]
You want to get them, sir, near the back.
[applause]
Because, I mean, let's be honest,
if you're pro-choice what Dr. Oz is suggesting
is bullshit, Right?
I think we can all agree, there is only one politician who
should have a say in your abortion,
and that's Herschel Walker because it's his.
It's his.
It's probably his.
Ladies, check.
They're all his.
[laughter]
Now, unfortunately, the Democrats couldn't exactly
take a victory lap after Dr. Oz's performance at the debate
because it was their own guy who was
getting most of the attention.
REPORTER: Lieutenant Governor John Fetterman started off
the hour-long debate assuring voters he's still
capable of doing the job of Senator
five months after having a stroke.
Let's also talk about the elephant in the room.
I had a stroke.
He's never let me forget that.
I might miss some words during this debate,
mush two words together.
But it knocked me down, and I'm going to keep coming back up.
REPORTER: Fetterman's use of a closed-captioning device
during the debate where he read questions
in real time on a screen above the moderators
sparked debate on social media, with some observers seeing
a strong performance amid recovery, while others
cast him as unsteady.
REPORTER: Fetterman especially lost his footing
on the subject of fracking when questioned about a 2018
interview where he said he would never support
the industry, versus his current position,
supporting fracking.
I-- I do support fracking, and I don't--
I don't-- I support fracking, and I stand--
and I do support fracking.
You know what's interesting to see
is how people have reacted to this clip, you know?
Because on the one hand, obviously, that
was a part of the debate that tripped him up because he has
had a shaky record on whether he's
for or against the fracking.
But also, beyond that, people are
wondering about the stroke.
And it was interesting to see.
If people support him, they're seeing a guy who's overcoming
a temporary disability.
But then the people who are against him
see a guy who's not mentally fit to be Senator.
And I guess because of polarization, it's like that
with everything these days.
Everyone's seeing the world from two different sides.
Like, if you're a diehard Christmas lover,
you hate the Grinch.
But if you don't like Christmas,
then, yeah, he's extremely [bleep]-ab
Everything is subjective-- everything.
Look at that mouth.
[laughter]
And I personally feel bad for John Fetterman, though,
because he had a stroke.
And on top of that, after the debate,
Dr. Oz tried to sell him a supplement
that would cure him for 59.99.
[laughter]
You know, if you ask me, I don't know why Fetterman ever
admitted to having a stroke.
This is American politics.
He could have just done whatever he wanted, right?
He's running for the Senator of Pennsylvania.
He could have just showed up to the debate
and be like, sorry for my words, everyone.
I'm drunk off my ass.
The entire state would have been like,
hell yeah, man, same here.
Go Phillies, yeah!
I love this guy.
Woo!
[applause]
But the truth is Fetterman's limitations right now are just
something voters will have to consider
when they make their choice.
Like, maybe they don't care whether Fetterman
is capable of debating.
Maybe voters prefer his policies.
Or maybe they just want a Senator who
can block the door the next time it's getting
stormed by rioters.
That could be very useful.
It's all up to them.
Anyway, let's move on and talk about natural disasters.
Because no matter where you live,
they could happen to you.
One minute, you're buying groceries.
Then an earthquake hits, and boom!
You're buried alive.
Or you're hiking.
Suddenly, an avalanche hits.
Boom!
You're buried alive.
Or you're at home watching TV.
A tornado hits, picks you up, rips off all your clothes,
then throws you through your neighbor's window
into the bedroom with his wife right
as your neighbor walks in.
He knocks you out with a shovel, and boom!
Buries you alive.
Happens all the time.
All the time.
Rest in peace, uncle.
[applause]
But here's some good news.
If you've been buried alive by a natural disaster,
there's a new first responder who
might be coming to your aid.
An unlikely hero is being trained
to help search and rescue teams during natural disasters.
We're talking about rats.
The rodents are fitted with tiny, high-tech backpacks
carrying video cameras.
The project created by Belgian nonprofit trains
the rats to help first responders
search for survivors among rubble and disaster zones.
Once they locate the target, they
pull a switch on their little vest
that triggers a beep before heading back to the trainers
to get a treat.
And the leader of the project says
rats are perfect for the job since they're small, curious,
and prone to explore.
Oh!
Oh my god, that's so adorable.
Did you see the little backpack and the tiny camera?
I want to be rescued by one of them!
Aw.
Oh, lock the doors.
Let's blow the building up.
You're going to thank me when there's a bunch
of cute rats saving all of us.
[laughter]
No, but for real, though, this is incredible.
This is incredible.
Just take a moment to think of some of the things
that rats can do, huh?
They can sniff out landmines, right?
They can detect tuberculosis.
In New York City restaurants, they taste
our food before we eat it.
[laughter]
And yet do we appreciate them?
No!
We're terrible to them.
We're terrible to rats.
We don't treat them with any respect.
In fact, we've got to pray that if we are ever trapped
under the rubble, we've really got
to hope that the rat that comes to rescue us
doesn't hold a grudge.
[laughter]
Well, well, well, if it isn't the guy
who tested that toxic makeup on my cousin.
Oh, look, you can't move your arms.
Oh, they worked fine when you were
putting out all those traps, though, didn't they, huh?
Bet you wish you hadn't appropriated
my culture for your Chuck E. Cheese now, huh?
Yeah, why don't you rescue yourself, you little bitch?
I'm going to go poop in a Cheerios box.
Bye!
[applause]
OK.
I just realized, at some point, my mom's going to be like,
what do you do at your job?
I'm like, don't-- don't worry.
[laughter]
All right, finally, here's a really fun story from
the world of higher education.
You know, universities are always doing the utmost
to try and stop students from cheating and for good reason--
for good reason.
You don't want students to cheat, right?
Because you don't want someone cheating their way
through engineering, and then one day building a
bridge, right?
Or what if someone cheats their way through 14th century
Italian poetry?
I don't even need to tell you the chaos
that that would unleash on society.
But one professor in the Philippines
is going viral for how she decided
to stop cheating in her class.
REPORTER: The Washington Post says a Philippines college
professor asked her students to wear
anticheating hats for a midterm exam, and they went all out.
The students showed up for their mechanical engineering
test this month wearing all sorts
of designs on their heads.
Photos of the students in their headgear
went viral, though, on local news.
All right, I don't know who this professor is,
but that's genius, right?
I love that.
No, no, because instead of just telling kids not to cheat,
obstruct their field of vision.
Because most of the time, teachers can't actually
stop anyone from cheating.
The best they can do is walk up and down
the aisles like a pigeon looking for pieces of bread,
you know?
They just do that thing.
Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey.
I like this system.
It helps the students focus, and it removes the temptation.
Because let's be honest.
That's what-- it's temptation.
Most of the time, cheating is a spur
of the moment thing, right?
You don't go into the test intending to cheat.
What happens is you realize you know none of the answers.
[laughter]
And then you notice out of the corner of your eye
that Angie is flying.
And now, if you know that you're probably wrong,
why would you just stick with your wrong answers, right?
In a real-world situation, we want
to encourage people to go with whoever has the best ideas.
It's not cheating.
It's called having an open mind, people.
You've got to explore your opportunities.
[applause]
That's why my uncle was in his neighbor's bedroom's
wife with--
[laughter]
All right, that's it for the headlines.
But before we go to a quick break,
let's check in on the stock market
with our very own finance expert,
Michael Kosta, everybody!
[cheering]
Michael, crazy time, man.
Crazy, crazy time in the markets right now.
What's happening?
I am crushing it.
I mean, you might need to call a rescue rat
because my crushing has caused a lot of people
to be trapped under rubble.
So--
Well, it sounds like your financial advice
has buried people in debt.
Well, and if you want to get out of that debt,
I got a hot tip for you.
So stay tuned, OK?
TREVOR NOAH: All right, let's do it.
All right, let's do it.
So this week multiple corporations
had their third quarter earnings reports,
which included Google and Microsoft, both of whom
had disappointing numbers, OK?
But before we get into that, the-- the rescue rats.
Yeah.
Right?
I found this story so useful, OK?
When my landlord came by to evict
me because of a rat infestation, I told him,
hey, you're wrong.
I'm actually training an elite group
of search and rescue rats.
It bought me 24 hours.
But you're right, Trevor.
Animals are amazing.
I mean, pigs can hunt truffles.
Dolphins are helping the Navy with their sonar.
My dog-- he'll lick peanut butter off my body
wherever I put it. OK, look--
TREVOR NOAH: Oh.
Look, look, that's not a sex thing.
I just eat peanut butter sloppily, OK?
And I heard, Trevor, that in Africa
that you can hang wet laundry on a rhinoceros's horn.
No, Michael, that--
that is not true. That is so dumb.
It's not true.
Oh, because you don't have laundry.
I-- I'm sorry.
No, I'm sorry. Honestly, I'm--
This guy.
You know, can you just get to the--
Oh, well, here's a thought.
Anybody ask what cats do, you know?
How do they contribute to society?
To me, it seems like cats have nine lives,
and they're wasting every single one of them.
If you were trapped under your building,
and your cat saw you, it would yawn and go back to sleep.
Or, even worse, it would kill a rat, the one thing that's
trying to save your ass.
[laughter]
Trevor is right.
Rats need more respect.
That's why it's called "ratspect," OK?
Think about it.
They're basically firemen.
OK?
And that's why it wasn't weird that I
made a sexy rat calendar.
TREVOR NOAH: What does this even--
Michael, can you just get to the markets?
- Let's do the markets. - OK.
OK, let's-- no more rats.
Now I'm thinking of sexy rats.
Can you just--
Let's do the markets.
All right, so Alphabet, OK, which
is Google's parent company--
I Binged it, all right-- and Microsoft
both had their quarterly earnings calls,
which were so bad, it led the stock to a dramatic fall.
Look at that, which makes me say to all the company owners,
if you know your earnings calls are going to be so bad, why
are you making that call, OK?
If you have bad news, don't call people.
I didn't call my landlord when I
found 93 rats in my apartment.
I put little bells and backpacks on them,
and now I gave them names.
I'm helping society.
So, look, this is Google and Microsoft.
Everything's going fine, right?
There was a little dip here in October 24,
but that's not a big deal.
The guy that draws the lines actually just sneezed.
Sometimes that happens.
[laughter]
But what the hell is going on here?
Well, turns out Microsoft's cloud company
didn't generate as much revenue as they thought.
Well, obviously, clouds just disappear, right?
But the bigger drop came from Google.
Ad revenue's down on YouTube because advertisers don't want
to advertise to us, knowing the economy is struggling,
and we don't want to buy anything.
Well-- well, you don't.
I'm crushing it, OK.
But here's some advice to YouTube.
If your ad revenue is down, and it's affecting your stock,
why are you letting us skip ads?
Of course, I'm going to skip your ad for Rogaine.
My toupee is perfect, OK?
No other company has a skip revenue button.
CVS doesn't have a skip payment button.
They do have those self checkout things, though,
and those are pretty much the same thing.
You know what-- [laughs]
Hey, hot tip-- hot tip to media companies--
force your viewers to watch profitable ads.
Trevor, throw to commercial.
No, Kosta, don't tell me what to do, all right?
OK, all right, sorry.
Yeah, you're right. No, you're right.
Sorry.
Yeah, I'm going to do whatever I want.
All right, we're going to go to a commercial break right now.
Michael Kosta, everybody.
Stay tuned because when we come back,
Desi Lydic is going to scare the shit out of you.
You don't want to miss it.
[cheering]
Welcome back to The Daily Show.
Next Monday is Halloween.
It's the reason we've been mutilating pumpkins all month.
But where did Halloween come from?
Well, Desi Lydic has the answer.
[music playing]
Hello, my dearies.
Halloween is right around the corner, which reminds me,
I need to get a costume.
Now, according to my local CVS, Halloween
is a two-month festival beginning
September 1, which celebrates the worst candy of all time.
But, actually, Halloween is an ancient holiday with
a rich and spooky history.
And by spooky, I mean interesting.
[shriek]
[laughs]
It all started in ancient Ireland,
where they celebrated the earliest version of Halloween,
the festival of Samhain.
That's right.
The Irish gave us not one but two holidays
where people get wasted and have
sex behind a Dunkin' Donuts.
Hey, Ireland, thank you.
They believe that on the night of October 31,
the veil between the world and the afterlife was lifted,
and that spirits returned for one night like a divorced dad
on your birthday.
So to win favor with the spirits,
they lit bonfires and offered gifts to them.
But most importantly, they disguised
themselves in costumes so the dead wouldn't recognize them.
Because-- trust me-- no one wants
to get stuck in a conversation with a ghost.
They're always like, avenge me, avenge me.
It's like, OK, weirdo, I just met you.
Costumes during Samhain consisted
of animal heads and skins.
Ew, but in their defense, it was ancient times.
Those were the only costumes Party City had back then.
For thousands of years, Samhain was celebrated
in Ireland by the Celtics--
sorry, "Keltics"-- until Ireland
got a very special delivery on its doorstep, Catholicism.
And the Catholics gave the festival
a holy makeover, naming November 1 All Saints'
Day, a.k.a.
All Hallows, making the night before Hallows' Eve.
Eventually, this evolved into Halloween.
Like many other scary things, you have
the Catholic Church to thank.
After this transition, the earliest version
of trick-or-treating began.
Medieval beggars would pray for people's dead relatives
in exchange for food.
And that's pretty depressing, outsourcing your praying
to the less fortunate.
I mean, how lazy are you?
[phone alert]
Oh, my Postmates with a single bottle of water is here.
Bring it in.
But there was fun trick-or-treating too.
Kids dressed up in costumes and offered
to sing or recite a poem in exchange
for food or money or wine.
And I know what you're thinking, kids drinking wine.
But don't worry.
It's Irish wine, so it's basically
just rancid grape juice.
In the 18th and 19th centuries, Halloween
started getting popular around the world,
especially in America, after a Halloween poem by Robert Burns
became popular.
And I know it might seem weird that something became
mainstream due to poetry.
But if you think about it, it's the same way
we all learned about sizzurp.
At the turn of the century, the influx of Irish immigrants
made Halloween even bigger in the US.
And it actually started to get a little rowdy.
Kids used the day as an excuse for vandalism
and general assholery, a tradition
that continues to this day.
Ugh.
[kids laughing]
Mother-[bleep].
I will kick your ass at soccer practice, Timmy!
It was so bad.
Some politicians wanted to cancel Halloween altogether.
Luckily, the solution was already
built in, trick-or-treating.
Everyone figured out that if they gave kids treats
in exchange for not acting like little dickheads,
they'd be chill.
Trick-or-treating exploded by the 1950s
with the mass production of candy.
Although back then, candy was weird.
They had all these suggestive names like Zagnuts and
Sugar Daddies.
If you like candy, kids, you'll love
Uncle Jimmy's Pole Smokers.
[old-timey music]
Mm, pole.
By the 1970s, Halloween wasn't just for kids anymore.
Adults started to get into it too.
They threw parties.
They wore costumes, some sexy and some really sexy.
Oh, yeah, Dick Nix, hi, where you at?
These days, Halloween has taken on a new meaning,
celebrating the macabre and having
a safe space to explore our identities
with our friends and family.
I'm just [bleep] with you.
It's about making as much money as possible.
It's the most expensive holiday after Christmas.
And we don't even get a PlayStation out of it,
just some highly regrettable photos
and a mouthful of cavities.
Ah, lost another one.
So now you know how Halloween got to be so spooktacular.
I hope everyone out there has a safe and fun time this year.
Enjoy it because the next holiday
is Thanksgiving, when you have to spend the whole day
with your entire family.
[shriek]
[laughs]
[cheering]
Thank you so much for that, Desi.
All right, stay tuned because when we come back
Elizabeth Banks will be joining me on the show.
So don't go away.
[cheering]
Welcome back to The Daily Show.
My guest tonight is an actor and a director
you know from Mrs. America, The Hunger
Games, and Pitch Perfect.
She's here to talk about starring in the new film
Call Jane, which will be in theaters October 28.
I didn't even know I could get pregnant like that.
I mean, we were standing up.
I just don't really know how everything works down there.
Joy, you must have explained this to your daughter.
You want to take a stab?
Oh, uh, [laughs] well, uh, [clears throat]
[murmurs] Izzie, uh, you--
you have (WHISPERING) a vagina.
OK, just hold it.
Please, welcome Elizabeth Banks.
[cheering]
[music playing]
Hi!
You have such a nice audience.
Elizabeth, they're a wonderful audience.
- Yeah. - Welcome to The Daily Show.
Thank you. Thanks for having me.
And congratulations on creating what I think everyone
is going to enjoy as not just a heartfelt film, but a film
that, in more ways than most, feels completely
apt for these times.
My character, Joy, seeks out an abortion
when her life is in danger.
And it's life or death for her.
And this is a woman who never thought
she'd seek out abortion care.
TREVOR NOAH: Right.
And when she gets there, it's 1968 Chicago.
Abortion is illegal.
This is pre Roe versus Wade.
And she meets a collective of women called the Janes.
These are real-life women, so the story
is based on a real-life group, the Jane Collective
of Chicago, who provided abortion care, abortion health
care, to nearly 11,000 women in the late '60s before abortion
was legal in Illinois in Chicago.
TREVOR NOAH: It's a story about bravery
in the face of everything that stands against you.
Because in the story we meet a woman who's living
like a cookie-cutter life. - Yes.
You know, your character's just like--
she's living her life.
She comes from a conservative family,
but we don't really talk about that.
And it's almost not about the politics per se.
But it's about how society was oppressing women at this time.
Yeah.
And what feels, again, pertinent to this moment
is seeing her not just fight for herself,
but for every other woman who needs to have an abortion
and can't afford it.
Yeah, that's exactly right.
You know, I'm pro-abortion, and I
like to tell people who aren't pro-abortion that I'm fighting
for them to have that abortion that they
don't know they need yet. TREVOR NOAH: Wow.
[laughs] TREVOR NOAH: Yeah.
[cheering]
Right?
Don't worry.
I'll fight for you.
I'll fight for your daughter and your wife and your mom.
Don't worry.
It really is a powerful story, though,
because, you know, it--
this is what gets me about the film is you think--
first of all, you would think this film was made now.
That's the first thing.
Well--
You started planning this, and you filmed this how
long ago?
I first read the script nearly three years ago.
TREVOR NOAH: Right.
And we had the pandemic, and we finally got to make it--
get Sigourney Weaver in to be this amazing activist
in the film.
TREVOR NOAH: She's really strong, yeah.
[cheering]
And I think, at the time, we knew that there were what we
call abortion deserts in America,
which are areas where abortion was so inaccessible
that basically people were living in a time that
was like pre Roe.
And this film really presents the dangerous, often desperate
situations that pregnant people found themselves in when they
didn't want to be pregnant.
And, you know, we all know that abortion bans don't ban--
they don't solve abortion.
Because as long as there have been pregnant people,
there will be people that don't want to be pregnant.
And this film reminds us that their safety matters, right,
that we can recenter women and the health care that they need
and make sure that it's safe for them.
And safety relies on legality, frankly.
And that's sort of the time that we are now talking about.
It was 1968 in the movie, but it's today in 14 states.
It also showed a side of the conversation
that is necessary but painful at the same time.
The film isn't flippant when it comes
to talking about abortion.
Yeah.
There's the scene, for instance,
where we're in the room.
We're seeing a lot of what the procedure is.
We're seeing the pain.
We're seeing what the woman goes through.
And I wanted to know why you felt
it was so important to have that in the story.
Some would gloss over it.
Some would say, oh, no, no, we don't
want to put that in because it makes it complicated.
But it felt like it was kept in for that reason.
You know, one in four women--
American women-- have an abortion.
So it's a pretty common practice.
And there's this mythology--
there's this lie, frankly, that anti-abortion activists will
say, which is that abortion can kill you.
And that is simply not true.
Abortion is very, very-- it's safer than getting
your wisdom teeth out.
It's safer than a colonoscopy.
So the Janes didn't lose a single life.
They performed 11,000 abortions,
didn't lose a single life.
And so I think partly why we wanted to put the procedure
in was just to normalize it, just to destigmatize
the entire process, and to show you that she was fine after
and went and had spaghetti.
[laughs] Yeah.
[applause]
TREVOR NOAH: It's a procedure that somebody
is having to have autonomy over their lives.
Yeah.
You also choose to have many funny moments
in the film, which somebody wouldn't think at first.
If I said to you, oh, there's this film,
and it's about abortion.
It's about-- people go like, oh, wow, this is going
to be a very serious film.
And it is serious, but there are so
many moments where you find yourself, like,
laughing out loud as well-- - Thank you.
--like, really, really laughing
out loud in a human way.
That also feels very intentional.
Why not just have it be very drab and dull?
I think we all felt like the way
to depoliticize this whole thing, which
has become so politicized, is to remind people
about the stories, right?
These are real people's lives that these politicians
are messing with.
These are real women, who have hopes and dreams
or already have kids, for whatever reason,
are making the decision to seek out abortion health care.
TREVOR NOAH: Right.
And regular, real women, they have fun too.
They laugh too. Like--
I love that. They're human.
Is that what you're saying? - Right?
Like we're all human.
You know, I also--
my rule about this character was I just said,
I don't want to cry after.
Because she's so relieved after her abortion,
she chooses her life.
That's interesting.
It's a very life-affirming decision for her.
She's not particularly tortured over it.
She's already a mom, and her pregnancy
is threatening her life.
And she wants to stay alive to be a mom to her daughter
and because she suddenly realizes when she's
faced with life or death, wow, I have
so much more life to live.
I have so many things to do.
Shit, I got a--
[laughs] I got a list I got to get through, you know?
And she really has a real awakening,
a political awakening, an emotional awakening.
And I love that for the character.
I mean, total right turn in her life.
TREVOR NOAH: Right, right, right.
It's a change in direction because it's a moment where--
we don't want to spoil it for everyone,
but it's just that key moment where somebody realizes
their life is at risk.
They need to have this procedure.
And then they have to fight to basically save their own life.
It's a powerful one.
I feel like you're one of the more perfect people
to tell this story--
no, because of what you represent, you know?
You've been a champion of women in all fields,
whether it's business, whether it's film.
People have come up to you and they've gone, like, you are--
you create some of the funniest films for women to act in.
You're funny behind the camera.
You're funny when it comes to the writing.
And what I loved is something that you said recently, which
was, everyone will say to you-- or many people will say,
oh, it's powerful that you're doing
this because you're doing this to show that women can do it.
And you make films for the women.
You said something to the effect of,
well, I make films because I like making films,
and I am a woman, and I'm having fun.
Yeah.
What do you think people miss sometimes
about a woman doing any type of job that they just want to do?
[laughter]
You know, well, do we have three hours?
I mean, that's, like, a deep question.
[laughs]
[applause]
You know, I think there's a lot--
we live-- Roe for me--
I'll speak to it in terms of the film
right now, which was when Dobbs-- the Dobbs decision is
a decision that overturned Roe v. Wade
that came down this summer.
When it happened, I felt foundationally
like less of a free person than I did the day before.
And so when you live in a society
where your human rights can be taken away from you,
you're kind of a second-class citizen.
And when you're considered a second-class citizen,
everybody thinks, well, how does
a second-class citizen get to direct a Hollywood movie?
TREVOR NOAH: Wow.
Like, it's that deep.
Do you know what I mean?
TREVOR NOAH: Right.
It's like it's the way--
TREVOR NOAH: It permeates society, yeah.
There are people that are entitled to do things.
And then there are women who have to fight to do things.
Right. It's almost you're lucky.
It's like, how did you do it? - You're lucky to get to do it.
Well, you're not lucky.
You're amazing.
You're truly one of the funniest people I know.
And the film is amazing.
Thank you so much for joining me again.
- Thank you again. - I appreciate you.
Thank you so much for being here.
Elizabeth Banks, everybody.
Make sure to check out the film.
It's going to be in theaters everywhere you watch movies.
We're going to take a quick break.
We'll be right back after this.
Thank you very much.
[cheering]
[applause]
Well, that's our show for tonight.
But before we go, before we go, I
wanted to remind you that peaceful protesters in Iran
are risking their lives to be heard right now.
The Center for Human Rights in Iran
is helping to bring their voices
to the international stage, and it
provides legal aid for political prisoners
and victims of violence.
So if you want to help them in this work,
then please follow the link below.
Until next time, stay safe out there.
And remember, if you're trapped in a collapsed building,
stay calm.
All the rats are coming.
Now here it is, your moment of zen.
[evil laughter]
[screams]
Here in Village of Screams, and I
don't want to turn the corner.
I am shaking.
[scream]
Whoa!
All right, no one's jumping out at me, so that's a,
now there is somebody jumping out at me!
Oh, my goodness.
From the spray paint that goes on the faces.
I don't like that.
Do you think they want it back?
Yeah.
[scream]
This is a, this is a good one.
[inaudible] time!
Get in there!
No, thank you, no thank you.