TDS Time Machine | Arab American Heritage Month
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Toyota, let's go places. Every morning brings a fresh new energy. And no matter what the day holds, we come to the Today Show for all of it. We get the best start to the day because we started together. Watch the Today Show weekdays at 7 a.m. on NBC. You're listening to Comedy Central. Please welcome Basim Youssef. ♪♪ Hello! Oh, my God! Hey! Hey!

Wow, you've got live audience. Yes. Wow. Now, you don't have an audience. Yeah, that's why I use puppets. You use puppets because you don't have an audience. Yes. Are there any shows in Egypt that have an audience? No. Do they do live studio audience? No. We are actually trying to do that next year. We're going to be the first Arab historical political show with live audience, which is huge because we don't actually have this kind of industry. The television industry, the live audiences and things like that. Yes. How difficult is it

to do a show like you're doing, a comedy show, when the stability of the country is still in question? Because it's difficult for me, and we're pretty stable. But I still get the hate with the people. They don't like me. -Yeah. -What happens with you? Death threats.

Check. Check. We're not so different, you and I. Sometimes I get beaten. No, no, just kidding. It's actually, it's been quite a ride. And what we do is, has actually, we broke ground.

in the television programming, because now people say, "Wow, he actually says what we want to say." And we try to be funny. We fail most of the time, but we try. - Check. - Check. - Yes. - By the way, can I ask a question? Can I ask a question? - Yes, yes, yes. - Last week, did you have Catherine Zeta-Jones here? - Catherine Zeta-Jones was in your seat, sir. - In this seat. - Your very seat. - Wow! - Nice. Yeah.

Is that an aspirin? You know what? You take it back with you. Take it to Cairo. We don't care. Ooh. Nice, right? Yes. Yeah. She's been so... She very sweet? Yes. Yeah. That's nice. You're going to like TV. You're going to like it. Here's the thing that is very unusual to me. You are a very accomplished heart surgeon as well before you got into this. Now, obviously, Jews and Muslims, there is tension amongst the cultures at times, but

2,000 years. But one thing we probably share is that going to your mother as a heart surgeon and saying, yeah, I think I'm going to be a comedian, would be a problem. It was a problem until actually she showed that she saw the money. And she saw my new big TV and living room. So she was okay with that. So comedy, a little more lucrative than the heart surgery business. A lot.

I knew I was smart not to do that. And you don't get sued every five seconds. I think that's probably smart, too. How did this all begin? During the revolution, did you just decide this is the time to try and express this thought? This is the time to do something I've wanted to try for a while? Well, the 18 days of the revolution was incredible because you would go to Tahrir.

You see what's happening. You come back, you open the TV, and it's a totally different world. It's amazing. And you know what? It's happening again now. It's like all these rumors about, like, aliens coming down and trying. They are the people driving the revolution and the Freemasons. Is it really this type of conspiracy stuff? Because that's, we have a gentleman here. Does Glenn Beck have a show in Egypt or no? No.

It's his evil twin. Really? And there's a guy who's spreading sort of conspiracy stuff? He's a little bit kind of cloned everywhere. Oh, really? Yes. Even in sports programs. Imagine Glenn Beck actually doing a sports show and that's what you'll get. That was a foul because some Blu-ray came from...

the eyes of the... - So basically it's Freemason and the Americans and Israel have gathered together to hypnotize the Egyptian people to go to Tahrir Square to complain. - Yes. - Okay. - And Hamas. - Oh, really? And them too? - And Iran.

All these people. Can you imagine Israel, Hamas, Iran, Israel, and America are actually all unified. Working together. Yes, against Egypt. Wow. How do they decide what to eat at the meeting? That would be kosher. Got to be kosher. I would think. So are the people resentful that the powers that be don't believe that they would have the wherewithal to stand up on their own? The problem is that people want to believe.

They want to believe, but when you have the media kind of pounding on them with all these conspiracies, you will find people that will fall for that. I mean, for example, you have, what's his name, Kramer, like Mad Money? Yes, yes, yes. People still watch him. I mean, the guy kind of bankrupted the whole country. And since

people watch his show. It's the same. Well, it's very interesting that the medias in our country that are not, there's sort of an establishment media, and then there's what's going on in the street, and the twain don't really meet. Yes. And you try and occupy that space in the middle of that. Yes, because it has been extremely funny and hilarious to watch the media right now. I mean, back in Egypt, it's the same. We're not very much different. No. I think you look better in a suit, but other than that, I think we're the same. It's an Armani...

Look at you. Very sharp. I had to pay for it. He gets his for free. Give it 14 years, my friend. It'll come. It'll come. Bassem, I can't tell you. Here's the thing. I watched your program. I had it translated. I don't know a tremendous amount about Egyptian politics because, obviously, as an American, we prefer not to know that much about countries we meddle in. Yes. So...

But I do know a little something about the humor business. Your show is sharp. You're really good on it. It's smart. It's well executed. I just, I think the world of what you're doing down there. And I couldn't be more pleased that you're here. Can you stick around? We'll throw a little bit more up on the web and have a nice talk. Yes. Basim Yusuf, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome back to The Daily Social Distancing Show.

So earlier today, I spoke with actor and comedian Rami Youssef. His Hulu series, Rami, is the first Muslim American sitcom to receive an Emmy nomination. - It's 2020. They don't want a man like me anymore. Trump it up too much. He's too much a man, you know? The people are afraid. They want a man like you. A man who feels a little bit like a woman, but is still officially a man. Maybe transsexual, you know? This is good.

which is why I want you to join me and become a small little partner in this store. It's your future. Rami Youssef, welcome to The Daily Social Distancing Show. Good. It's too much distance, but I feel like we should have been closer. But it's... What are we gonna do? We... I-I'm actually... I think you're actually lucky that we're not closer, because I'm such a big fan of the show that I would have been one of those nauseating fans who would have been asking you too many questions. I would have been all on... all over you. 'Cause, like, I remember when Rami first came out...

first came out, a few people were talking about it here, but I-I just stumbled across the show, and I was like... I was running around preaching it to people. "You got to watch Rami. You got to watch Rami. You got to watch Rami." And now, I mean, it's widely accepted. Yeah, Rami is much... must-watch viewing. What has that journey been like for you from going, you know, creating a show about a Muslim millennial in New Jersey and the Muslim world as a comedy

You know, to now being a show that people just go like, "Yeah, yeah, this is normal." Because it-- let's be honest, it wasn't normal, like, a few years ago when you decided to do this.

No, and it still really shocks me. Like there are definitely moments where people are talking about the show a lot. It's getting a lot of recognition. People are excited about it. And I'm like, guys, this is a show about like an Arab Muslim dude that watches too much porn. Like I can't believe that this many people are looking at it. The thing that's probably most overwhelming is the international love. Because I think like here it's like,

you know, whatever we got publicists and all this. But for me, when my aunt calls me and she's like Egypt's watching the show and I'm like, have you seen it? And she's like, not yet. And I'm like, thank God. But she's like, I hear the kids are watching it. I'm like, good. It's just let them watch it. That's, that's really special.

I think what I found special about the show, and this is probably what connects to so many people, is it's not just the story of an Arab Muslim kid growing up in New Jersey. It's also the story of a community that for so long has been seen through one lens. Man, you take us into a world where we see human beings, we see the complexities of Islam, you know, we see the complexities of different generations and how they relate to the religion and then the cultures that come. Like, that's not an easy thing to do. Was there ever a part of you that was afraid

to either tell the story incorrectly to an outside audience or piss off the inside audience. - Yeah, I mean, that's kind of the tightrope walk that we're constantly walking with this show because we haven't really had any chance at seeing ourselves on screen in a story that doesn't involve explosives or national security. To your question about was I nervous, well, I'm really nervous because I know that

Muslims are such a vast group of people. There are many communities. People even say like, what does the Muslim community think about your show? And I'm like, it's not, it's

it's not a pop band. Like there are a lot of different Muslim communities. Like it's not just this one, this one thing. And so we, you know, kind of made the choice pretty early on that, like, we're not going to try and check all the boxes. You know, this isn't a census. This isn't a totality of something that can't be encompassed really. This is just the story of this family. And we're really going to kind of humanize them by watching them deal with their problems in the way that everyone does.

What makes the show successful for me is that it follows the golden rule of telling a story, and that is showing the human beings who exist within the story. What I loved was how, even in your story, you know, the Rami that you play, when he went to Egypt, he himself realized that he had stereotypes and connotations of his own family in Egypt in a way that he didn't even realize. To take it to Egypt,

and then have, like, an Egyptian family who are fans of Donald Trump, and all of America's going, "Donald Trump's the worst president," and here you have Arabs somewhere in the world saying, "This guy's the best guy, even though he wants to ban all Muslims." Why was that so important for you to do? I remember being in the back of a cab in Cairo in 2015 and this guy just being like, "He's a strong man.

And I was like, whoa, all right. I think we're just used to dictators and he just kind of matches the vibe. But he's not what we need. We know he's not. And I think most of us feel that on a certain, you know, with a certain clarity. And I think something that I really wanted to do in making a story about a family we hadn't seen before was,

I wanted to be clear that I'm not trying to make something that's some sort of like PR hit to make us look good and and make it seem like hey we deserve we deserve to be in this country give us a shot like look how cute we are on Rami on Hulu that's not that's not a real portrayal that's um that's like propaganda in and of itself you know for me it's how do I make something that is challenging my character that is putting him in situations where he's seeing his own biases he's seeing his flaws and and that

really gets highlighted when he goes to Cairo. Because I think the show is more about someone trying to fill the gap between who they wanna be and who they actually are, than it is a show about Muslims. - I would be remiss if I didn't mention some of the breakout stars of your shows, of the show. And one of those characters has to be Steve.

You know, we meet your best friend in the show who's in a wheelchair, and already, you know, from TV and movies we've watched, we think we have an idea of who this person should be, but he's like a full-fledged character in that, like, there's times when he's an asshole, there's times when we like him, times when we don't like him, times when we feel sorry for him, times when we forget that he has a disability. Tell me a little bit about how he came to be in the show and why you felt it was so important for him to get his own show.

Well, in terms of him getting his own show, that was just straight up him bullying me into it. He was like, you have the power to produce something now and this is going to be the first thing you do. And so that, that there's not really, there's no option there for me. But I, you know, I've known Steve since we were in third grade, you know, we grew up five minutes from each other. We went to school together. We actually learned how to make things together in high school. And,

And I think what was really exciting for us in the show is so many times in sitcoms you see an ethnic best friend. And in this show, we're predominantly with an Arab cast that's speaking Arabic. And we're like, all right, I guess we're going to have to have the white best friend. But it was really funny to kind of pitch him as the white best friend. And he also has muscular dystrophy. But really what he is, is he's the white.

He's the wife's best friend. And also in a show where the lead character believes in God, it's really interesting to have someone who doesn't and his reasoning is very rooted in something where he's like, well, why would I believe that if this is how I am? And then in making something for him, what's really cool is, again, flipping this idea where, okay, now we have in my show, I think he's a disservice. I love my show. And I'm also like, we don't do enough for him.

He's just the disabled best friend. I want to make a show where what would it look like where able-bodied people are the side characters. And now we get to flip this again and we get to see a totally wholly new perspective. And so we're putting together, we're developing the show with Apple. And so, yeah, it's a world that we're really excited to crack open.

Well, I'll say I've thoroughly enjoyed your journey, man, from being a comedian that some people spoke about, like in word of mouth, to being a Golden Globe winner and now stepping into it once again. Three-time Emmy nominee, best director, best acting, and then obviously with Mahershala Ali's makes it three for Rami. Congratulations on everything, and thank you so much for joining us on the show. Thanks, man. So good to see you. Introducing Instagram teen accounts.

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Welcome back to The Daily Show. My guest tonight is a comedian whose Netflix stand-up special is called The Vagabond. - My first name is Muhammad. Oh, quit playing, baby, no really. What's your first name? I'm like, that is my first name. She's like, aw, you ain't gonna get your citizenship, baby. Please hold. I was like, what the just happened to me?

This lady puts me on hold and the hold music was never gonna get it, never gonna get it, never gonna get it. And then she picked up the phone real quick and goes woo woo woo and hangs up and I was like oh shit. Please welcome Mo Amr! That's me.

Welcome to the show. Oh, thank you for having me. Uh, you know, a lot of the time they say that, uh, the best comedy comes from the biggest tragedies, and in many ways, your life could be considered by some as being a rolling series of tragedies that you've turned into comedy and you've turned into success. A little bit of your story would shock most people out there. You are...

someone who came to America as a refugee. Correct. From Kuwait, correct? I was born in Kuwait. I left Kuwait after the first Gulf War. Right. That's what I like to call the prequel. I went to a really nice private British English school in Kuwait, and then we migrated to Houston, Texas. That's a culture shock. It's a culture shock, and they put me in ESL class, which is English as a second language class, and I was the only guy that spoke English in the class. Ha!

I walk in, all the kids are like, "Hola, tu eres nuevo aqui?" I had a hint of a British accent. I'm like, "Sorry? What language are you speaking?" All of a sudden, this other dude just rolls up out of nowhere. He's like, "You're weird, dude. Why do you talk like that?" And that was my teacher. It was a very weird situation.

This is, like... Here's the thing. A lot of the time when, you know, when we have these conversations in America about, like, immigrant, refugee, et cetera, it's always, like, a sad story. It's always, like, you know, these people who need this place as refuge. But you really have an interesting story about how your mom was the driving force behind getting your family to the U.S. and starting up a new life. Just from your perspective, like...

How would you try to explain to somebody what it is like to be a refugee and how hard it is to come into the United States? Um, it's really difficult to explain or put into words the excruciating process of getting your citizenship. Right. It took me 20 years... Wow. ...to get my citizenship. I traveled all over the world doing stand-up comedy without a passport. Wait, how do you travel without a passport?

They give you a United States travel document that is only good for like a year, and then you have to, you know, most countries need more of a year validity on your passport to even enter the country. Right. It's incredibly complicated. In most cases, I'm not even allowed to go, but I just would go and see what would happen anyway.

I would get questioned in a lot of different countries. So let me understand this. You are a Palestinian, Kuwaiti, Muslim, traveling the world with no passport, and you were like, yeah, I want to try to do this in more countries. Yeah. Well, the thing is, I'm born in a Palestinian parent. How many times did you get... How many times did you get stopped? Like, how many times were you... Every time. No, it was every time. To the point to when I became a citizen and I was reentering America, and he was like, okay, go ahead. And I was like, no, are you sure? I think there's another...

There's something else that needs to happen here. I feel awkward. Can we just talk for a little while? I'm serious, it did. I was like, what's going on? I was like, no.

I was like, no, we need to chat a little bit. Like, Japan was my favorite interrogation I ever had. It was just an hour of them trying to figure out what I did for a living. The entire hour, for real, consisted of, so what is your occupation? I was like, oh, I'm a comedian. He's like, comedian? I'm like, yeah, yeah, I do stand-up comedy. Stand-up comedy! I'm like, yeah, I'm a...

I do comedy. Comedian? Yeah, I do. I'm a comedian. Comedian. I'm like, am I being roasted right now? What's happening? Finally, his buddy walks in, his partner. He's like, how do you sound? How do you sound? Comedian? And he goes, oh, yeah, he's like a Bill Cosby. And that's what got me off was Bill Cosby. I mean, not literally. Not literally. Okay, that's what I got. Sit down.

You have this really interesting journey growing up in America. It takes 20 years to become a resident. - A citizen. - A citizen, yeah, sorry, a citizen, right? And here's the thing that I've always wondered from your perspective.

You know, do you ever find yourself in a space where because you speak about things that are happening in the US, people are like, hey, you should just be grateful to be in the US. Don't talk about anything that might be going wrong in the US because the US has welcomed you in. - Yeah, nah. I mean, look, as an Arab American, Muslim, Palestinian on top of it, you know, someone who's fled war. I was nine years old, so I didn't really know much. It's not like, hey, mom, are you sure about Houston? You just had to go, you know what I mean?

And I'm a very proud Houstonian, and I grew up in Anglia, which is a really multicultural neighborhood. But the thing is, is that growing up that way, I was always, you know, told to not talk about politics. Not say anything, because they're going to send us back. Wow. That was the whole thing. Shh, don't say anything. They're going to send you back, you know? Make sure you don't talk about politics. I was like, you know, all this stuff that's been festering inside for so many years, that's why when I started stand-up comedy, it was the perfect outlet for me.

to allow me to express everything that was happening to me. And also, you know, releasing the special and seeing the reaction from so many different people that can relate to the same story that have refugee... that are refugees, that went through a similar process, that are, you know, dealing with the immigration system right now. They talk about extreme vetting. I mean, my God, it took us 20 years. How much more extreme can it be? Well, you'd want it to take forever. Yeah. Yeah.

That's the point. And so it's very, very frustrating. But at this point in time, I'm an American citizen. So in your face, bitch, I say whatever I want. You become really confident once you get that passport. Once I have the passport, like, what you gonna do now? They can take it away from you. Can they? Oh, shit.

That was one of the things that people were talking about with Trump. They said, oh, you never know what he's gonna do. You never know. Trump was floating ideas like, are citizenships real? Have people lied about things, et cetera, et cetera. And a lot of people who are refugees or maybe came to the US as immigrants had this connection with Trump where they were worried,

You had a different connection with Trump, which is one of the reasons you came into prominence. Really insane story where you found yourself on a plane seated next to Eric Trump. That's, yeah. You know, being a frequent flyer helps sometimes. I didn't know this was going to happen. Like, I was upgrading to first class, and I ended up sitting next to Eric Trump. I didn't even know I was going to get upgraded because I put my name on the list way too late. You know, comedians are...

You know, the best procrastinators in the business. Yep, yep, yep. And I didn't know I was going to get upgraded, much less sit next to Eric. But I do know one thing. The lady that upgraded me is probably a Clinton supporter. You know, let's be real. She was probably sitting there like, oh, Eric Trump is on my flight? Okay. Uh-huh, uh-huh, uh-huh. I don't know why she has a mustache, but okay. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Oh, there's an empty seat next to Eric. Let me take a look at this upgrade list, see who's standing by patiently here. Oh, Muhammad Mustafa!

Oh, dude. Can I tell you, man? I've seen your stand-up on the road. You were an amazing opening for Dave Chappelle. The special is truly phenomenal. I tell everyone to go out and watch it. Thanks so much for coming on the show. I hope to see you again. The Begabond is currently available on Netflix. Please go and watch it. Mo Amr, everybody. We'll be right back.

My guest tonight is a Grammy-nominated hip-hop artist whose new album is called Jungle Rules. Please welcome French Montana. Welcome to the show. How y'all doing tonight? We're doing good, man. We're doing real good.

-What's up, bro? -You're doing real good, but not as good as you are doing. Congratulations. You're single, unforgettable. Currently number five on the Billboard charts. -Thank you. -It's going up. -Thank you, thank you. -Congratulations on that. -Thank you. We just got that news today. -Yes. -You have...

You have a story that's more interesting than most, not just because of what you do and how successful you've become, but because of where you came from. You were born and raised in Morocco, right? You moved to the U.S. when you were 13 years old. Yes. And then got into hip-hop. Like, how? Like, is it just a universal language? No, honestly, I tell everybody this, you know. I feel like music is the only language that people speak in the world.

-in the whole world, you know? -Right. Not even knowing English before I came here. Just loving music. Loving the rush I get when I hear it. It's totally different from making it if I just knew English and knew, like, you know... I hear what you're saying. What were you listening to when you were a kid before you could speak English? I was listening to Shep Hesney.

and I was listening to Moroccan music. - Right. Was there any American hip hop you were listening to? 'Cause I know like my cousin, Francis. - Yeah, I was, of course. - Like my cousin was a huge Tupac fan, but he couldn't speak English. So then my cousin would walk around in one of the places in South Africa, a place called Zanin, right? And he was like, he was a gangster in his mind. And so we'd be like pushing a wheelbarrow going to the river. This is no joke.

So we'd be pushing a wheelbarrow to the river, and the whole way he'd be walking, he'd be like, ♪ Gnome my enemies ♪ ♪ And there's trees in the fen and bees ♪ ♪ On the gullet, deer on the body ♪ And then I would sit there and be like, "Wow, your English got really good, Norman." And he'd be like, "Eh, myrny, but myrny."

And it's the weirdest thing. Do you, like, was there, like, an American artist that you listened to even though you didn't understand? Tupac had a gift of speaking to Africans. He did, right? I swear, he spoke to everybody that was, like, that don't speak English.

Tupac had a gift of speaking to Africans. I don't think anyone has ever said that in the history of language. Let's talk about what you've been doing with this album. You know, we saw you performing at the BET Awards, and you had on stage with you a troupe, a dance troupe. Yeah, Triple K. Right. Yellow Kids, right? From Uganda. Right.

Yeah. Now, you went out to Uganda, but I still struggle to understand the full story. How on earth do you end up on stage performing with Ugandan kids in the United States? It goes back to African music. When I was like, you know, I usually just go and, like, listen, keep up to date. Right. I just saw this video of these kids, you know, and when I seen it, I just fell in love with it. I never seen nobody dance like that. You know, so when I'm watching, I'm like, why are these kids dancing like this? Then I found out they don't have no TVs.

That's amazing. So all they moves was original. Like they created they moves and they all live together. There's 20 of them. They all lost their parents. So let me tell you something.

I don't know why I did it, but I did it. And you went on to fall in love with Uganda. Like, you didn't just go there. It was the best decision I ever made in my career. Yeah, because I know many people will go to Africa and be like, oh, I loved it so much, and then it's done. But you have now stayed in touch with Uganda, with the people. You're involved in a project now with Mama Hope, I think it's called, right? Yeah, Mama Hope. Shout out to Mama Hope. Yeah, what is Mama Hope about? Non-private organization. Shout out to Global Citizen. These are people that help people around the world

you know, to make a better place for children and mothers, you know. I feel like every mother and every child should have, you know, the right care, you know. And ever since I've been involved with it, man, it feels really great. So when I got there, I saw a bunch of beautiful kids just standing outside smiling in that clinic. You know, so when I came out, I said, I got to come back here and just do something, you know. But honestly...

Me building that with, um... And shout-out to the... I-I can't take all the credit. Shout-out to The Weeknd. He helped. Oh, yeah, yeah, because this-this is... this is honestly...

This is honestly one of my favorite stories, because you said, I'm going to help build up this medical facility, get more people to be treated. I think it went up from treating... Having the capacity to treat 50s is now going to 250 and above. It's like 300,000. Like 300,000 mothers, yeah. And what I found amazing was you were like, I'm going to donate the money, and then The Weeknd was like, oh, I'm also going to drop 100 grand on this. And I was like, is this going to be like the new, like...

sing in hip-hop? Where it's like, guys are gonna be bragging. Instead of bottles in the club, I got a hospital in Africa. A hospital in Africa. I got a... You could make it a thing. You could make it a thing. Yeah, I hope so. I hope so. Yeah, definitely. Definitely shout out to The Weeknd. And ever since then, you know, we almost... It went from two rooms, now it's almost 50 rooms. Wow.

Wow. Thank you so much for what you're doing. Congratulations on the music. We wish you the best. Mama Hope, check it out. Jungle Rules is available now. And for more information about the Unforgettable Movement, go to mamahope.org. French Montana, everybody. We'll be right back. Introducing Instagram teen accounts.

A new way to keep your teen safer as they grow. Like making sure they always have their seatbelt on. Alright, sweetie pie, buckle up. Good job. Or ring the bell on their bike. Okay, kid, give it a try. Nice. Or remember their elbow pads. Knees too, okay? Yep. There you go. New Instagram teen accounts. Automatic protections for who can contact your teen and the content they can see.

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Vehicles projected resale value is specific to the 2025 model year. For more information, visit kellybluebookskbb.com. Kelly Blue Book is a registered trademark of Kelly Blue Book Co. Inc. Toyota, let's go places. Hello, darlings. Pack your suitcase for a new season of the Hulu original reality series, Band of Pump Villa. Let's do this. Ciao, it's Stassi. Of course, Lisa brought in her favorite to be resident chaperone of the castle. Hey!

Dossie is an icon. She's my eyes and ears. I love this. Get ready for the luxury and drama that awaits us in Italy. Cheers to all the toxic couples in the castle. Season 2 of Vanderpump Villa is now streaming on Hulu. My guest tonight, a scholar of religions and author. His latest book is the bestseller, Zealot, The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth. Please welcome back to the program, Reza Aslan. Thank you.

Reza, I just want to be clear. You're a Muslim.

Why would you write a book on the founder of Christianity? This is my secret Muslim plan to destroy Christianity. I was just reading that. Do you remember, I don't know if you remember this, you went on Fox and the lady was asking you those questions and I was just watching that like, oh my God! Press is gonna strangle this person! I did okay. You did wonderful. It was incredible. And the book is so good. Thank you. Yeah, the perfect Christmas gift for your Jewish friends.

Yes. There's nothing we like better around this time of year. Nice picture of him looking judgmentally at us. Yeah. Yeah, right, right. Yeah, nice menorah. Yeah. Hey, enjoy your patina latkes. Hi.

How are you doing otherwise? These are very exciting times for Iran. Absolutely. I mean, this nuclear deal has really changed the atmosphere in Iran. So much excitement over it. Frankly, a little too much excitement over it because it's not really that big of a deal insofar as sanctions relief or helping the economy. But whereas here in the United States, nobody talks about this deal as possibly laying the groundwork for some kind of

future normalization. That's all they talk about in Iran. In fact, it's created these two camps, like a reconciliation camp and an isolationist camp. And right now, the reconciliation camp has all the momentum. The isolationists, particularly in the military, are still there. They're a little bit muted. They're waiting for this thing to collapse so that they can attack the Rouhani administration. And listen, frankly, the Congress might give them that opportunity. How much

power does Rohani. You know, we saw the eight years of Ahmadinejad. We saw the Green Revolution where Mousavi appeared to have defeated Ahmadinejad electorally. It seemed like there was shenanigans. That's a Yiddish word for...

manipulated election. There were tremendous protests in the streets, tremendous violence. This movement is sort of driven underground. Rouhani is considered in that sort of Mousavi camp, yes? More of a reformist. Yeah, he's a bit of a moderate. He's got some reformist tendencies. But does he have any real power or does it all still rest with the supreme leader? And if Hamaneh says...

that he's in the isolationist camp. Are they in the isolationist camp? Yes. I mean, the simple answer is that all the power and the only voice that really matters is the supreme leader's voice. But it's much more complex than that. There's a very robust civic infrastructure in Iran, and the president has the opportunity to actually make some fundamental changes. What Rouhani has going for him... Mm-hmm.

is that so far, Khamenei, the supreme leader, is supporting this. I think that's why the reconciliation camp has, you know, this great momentum on its side and why the isolationists are keeping, for the most part, quiet. Because if you disagree with this deal, then you're disagreeing with the supreme leader. But really, the issue, again, and I hate to just bring this up, rests with the U.S. Congress. Oh, I thought you were going to... It's going to go to Jews again. I thought that...

I thought that's where we were going here and that I was going to have to again, once again say, we're actually quite pleasant when you get to know us. No, what I was going to say was this is the problem is that, you know, everybody in the U.S. keeps talking about how, well, can we trust Iran to hold up its end of the bargain? That's not the problem. Well, because in this country we have an isolationist camp and we have a camp. I mean, it's similar. You're playing to a very particular, much more rigid base here that won't

You know, you saw the kerfuffle that occurred when Obama just shook Raul Castro's hand, let alone trying to forge some kind of way forward with Iran. Look, far be it from me to suggest that Congress is full of petty children presiding over a cesspool of wasted space. So you do watch our show. Yeah. You do watch. But... Yes. Uh...

You can't help but feel that they are actively trying to scuttle this deal. I mean, the negotiation is pretty clear. In exchange for Iran freezing and rolling back its nuclear program, which they've done, we will release a little bit of their frozen assets and also promise not to engage in any new sanctions.

This bill that Congress is trying to pass to create new sanctions is a violation of the agreement. In fact, the foreign minister of Iran, a pretty Western-friendly, you know, moderate guy, has said, if this thing passes, that's the end of the deal. It's a deal-breaker. Right. And it just... You can't help but feel that...

This Congress is full of people who are less interested in sort of the good of the country than in their own political good. They want to go back to Missoula, Montana, and, you know, tell the 3,000 people who voted them into office that they were tough on Iran and a friend to Israel. And it might, you know, it's a good, it'll get them reelected for two more years of a fairly cushy job. I mean, you get paid to do nothing. Yes. You know, but.

But it's a danger to the country. No, and I think when you look at it, there are certain absolute boogeymen that are out there, the United Nations, Iran. And not for no reason. There are certain things that Iran is doing. They are bad actors in certain fields of play and all that. But if we don't engage these countries and try and build more productive relationships, I think we're beginning to learn that

pure sanctions driven consequences or invading them and trying to hold the territory until a government arises that likes us is not maybe the answer. No, and in fact, what cracks me up is that the entire purpose of these sanctions was to get Iran to the negotiating table. Well, guess what? It worked. They're at the negotiating table. So what are we doing now? Sanctioning them as a punishment for coming to the negotiating table?

And in any case, these sanctions work because they were international sanctions. Correct. They work because we got the Europeans and Russia and even China to go along with them. If this sanctions law passes in Congress, then it is as clear a message to our allies that this is all a joke for us, that we're not really serious about this, and the entire sanctions regime will fall apart.

And guess what? Iran will continue to enrich uranium to its heart's content. And they will erode it anyway. Yeah, absolutely. Unbelievable. Stick around for a little bit. Yeah, absolutely, yeah. We want to talk about a couple other things. Zealot is on the bookshelves now. Reza Aslan, ladies and gentlemen. Explore more shows from The Daily Show podcast universe by searching The Daily Show, wherever you get your podcasts. Watch The Daily Show weeknights at 11, 10 Central on Comedy Central, and stream full episodes anytime on Paramount+. Paramount Podcasts.

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