Comedian Ronny Chieng on Political Satire, Trolling Algorithms and Cerebral Dick Jokes

On with Kara Swisher

New York Magazine

News Commentary, News, Society & Culture

4.2 • 2.2K Ratings

🗓️ 24 February 2025

⏱️ 52 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Emmy Award-winning comedian and actor Ronny Chieng is a self-described grumpy Malaysian who get to tell it like it is to Americans as aco-host and correspondent on Comedy Central’s The Daily Show. Kara talks to Ronny about creating political satire during Trump 2.0; how his law degree helps him write pithy cerebral jokes, including for his latest (third!) Netflix special, Love to Hate It; his latest acting role playing Fatty Choi in Hulu’s Interior Chinatown; and why people still think Jon Stewart is the only host of The Daily Show. Questions? Comments? Email us at [email protected] or find us on Instagram, TikTok and Bluesky @onwithkaraswisher Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	I'm doing comics all the time.
0:02.0	I have them every six weeks because this is a very...
0:04.2	Yeah.
0:04.5	Because everything else is about constitutional crises and tech leaders taking over things.
0:09.8	Yeah.
0:10.4	It gets very bleak.
0:11.3	Yeah, bleak.
0:11.9	Hi, everyone from New York Magazine and the Box Media Podcast Network. This is on with
0:27.2	Kara Swisher, and I'm Kara Swisher. My guest today is Emmy Award-winning comedian and actor Ronnie
0:32.8	Chang. If you've ever seen him, his shtick is kind of like being this grumpy, disdainful
0:37.1	foreigner who tells it to Americans like it is.
0:39.7	And he also wants you to do better, wants all of us to do better.
0:42.9	I love having comics on the show.
0:44.9	I want to have them on all the time in this really difficult time.
0:47.6	I also think that people like Ronnie are doing very pointed political comedy, too, even though they often just say they're making jokes.
0:54.9	He's a very smart thinker, and that's why I enjoy listening to him.
0:58.4	Ronnie's originally from Malaysia went to school in Singapore and launched his stand-up career
1:02.7	after finishing law school in Melbourne, Australia.
1:05.3	He's a globalist.
1:06.7	He's been a correspondent on the Daily Show for a decade and part of the rotating lineup of hosts on the show since last year.
1:13.1	I think it's a great way to do that show.
1:15.4	In January, he had the Herculean task of hosting during the first week of the new Trump administration
	...

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