On April 10, the Rockefeller Center and Programming Board hosted a conversation with comedian and The Daily Show co-host Jordan Klepper. The event was moderated by New York Times journalist and producer Zach Goldbaum, who has collaborated with Klepper on The Daily Show and his former talk show.
About 150 people attended the event in Cook Auditorium at the Irving Institute for Energy and Society, according to a Programming Board representative.
Goldbaum began by asking Klepper about how his comedic work has evolved, particularly as The Daily Show has undergone transitions in leadership.
According to Klepper, The Daily Show initially featured correspondents acting as “overconfident blowhards put in important positions” in order to “satirize the self-seriousness of the news.” However, former host Trevor Noah hired stand-ups with “their own comedic personas” during his tenure from 2015 to 2022, placing a greater emphasis on individual performances than on satirizing the news media itself.
Klepper also reflected on the influence of Donald Trump and the Make America Great Again movement on his work. As a Daily Show correspondent, Klepper gained fame by attending Trump rallies and conducting satirical interviews with rally attendees.He explained that his goal in speaking to rally attendees is to “use the skills of improv and a little bit of journalism skills to get people to reveal themselves.”
Klepper also noted the importance of long-form content in political humor and commentary, as opposed to shorter content on social media.
“[Social media satire] can connect, but it’s more a broadsword than a scalpel,” Klepper said. “So if you want something that is more of a scalpel to really dissect stuff, you need more long-form content.”
Klepper then described the transition from his own Comedy Central program to the docuseries “Klepper,” which allowed him to do more “in-depth” documentary work that covered “some really meaty, not funny issues” such as Dakota Access Pipeline Protests and the denial of college education to undocumented students.
The docuseries featured Klepper’s mugshot — which was taken when he was arrested during a protest over college education for undocumented students in Atlanta — in its promotional material.
“We’re making a show for TV, and I want to draw attention to this cause,” Klepper said. “That’s the purpose of the protest [and] the purpose of the arrest.”
While disagreeing politically with the MAGA movement, Klepper expressed the importance of forming friendships across the political aisle. For example, he has become friends with “MAGA Edward,” a Trump supporter who is typically one of the “first 50 people at a Trump rally.”
“There are some things I’ve seen in these events that are horrific and make me furious,” Klepper said. “It goes far-right, it goes anti-immigrant and it’s fear-based in ways that I think are really hateful and really disgust me, but there’s also people like Edward, who I like.”
Klepper added that he tries to make interviewees more honest about their thoughts by speaking to them as a friend in a bar rather than a reporter.
“My job is to have them reveal themselves in a compelling way, in a way that I can hopefully make funny and interesting but more so revealing,” said Klepper, “So what I do is I improvise, I say yes to them. I make them excited about the things that they want to share.”
Oliver Shapiro ’26, a self-described fan of Klepper’s, expressed fascination with Klepper’s reflection on his own role as a public figure and comedian.
“It was interesting to hear him position himself within the media space,” Shapiro said. “Balancing a personal motive to educate people with his comic motive was really interesting.
Grace McInerney ’25 said she was not previously a fan of Klepper’s but appreciated his approach to political discussion.
“I think it was valuable to have insight on how to approach issues for myself and maybe be more educated while keeping a more open mind, because it does feel like a really restrictive time right now for different points of view,” she said.
Albert Astrom ’27 expressed admiration for Klepper’s “man on the street” interview style.
“I definitely plan to go back and watch more of his stuff, especially from Trump rallies,” Astrom said.
Klepper ended by advising Dartmouth students to “build a community outside of political ideology.”
“Find your people,” he said. “That’s what life is about, and they’re gonna be in these clubs. They might have a different point of view than you, and if you find that friend who’s not politically aligned with you, that’s a true gift.”
