If you’re looking to understand how Fox News hosts and guests might portray someone like Vice President Kamala Harris (or mispronounce her name), you could watch hours of the network—or, like over 11 million ‘The Daily Show’ YouTube subscribers, you could turn to ‘Desi Lydic Foxsplains’. In each installment of three minutes or less, Lydic delivers satirical takes on how Fox News shapes its narratives, all while creating laugh-out-loud, meme-worthy moments.
Desi Lydic is making waves in late-night television, earning an Emmy nod for Outstanding Actress in a Short Form Comedy for ‘Foxsplains’ and for Outstanding Talk Series for her collective work on ‘The Daily Show. Along with the correspondent role on ‘The Daily Show’ that she’s filled since 2015, Lydic has also stepped into a bigger role as occasional host, allowing her to blend character work with her personal perspective, offering a new take on the stories that resonate with her.
This year’s season of ‘The Daily Show’ has been marked by the return of Jon Stewart, who now hosts the show once a week, injecting fresh energy into this year’s ‘Indecision’ election coverage, a hallmark of Comedy Central since Stewart first hosted the show from 1999 to 2015. Lydic, who joined ‘The Daily Show’ during Trevor Noah’s era, finds herself in a dream scenario as she works alongside one of her comedy idols who inspired her to want to join the show in the first place.
“I love doing ‘Foxsplains’. I really do. They’re my favorite,” explains Lydic. “I think for such a long time, Fox News has provided a wealth of mis- and disinformation. We (at ‘The Daily Show’) had been looking for a way to embody that, satirize it, and play around with the mental gymnastics they go through. ‘Foxsplains’ felt like the perfect container for that, where we could go 200% and commit to it. I do love doing that.“
Lydic spoke with Awards Focus about what she’s learned so far working with Jon Stewart, the importance the writing crew places on making sure truth is the backbone of their brand of comedy and one of the sketches she’s most proud of.
AF: Congratulations on the Emmy Award nominations! What has your experience been like this year, with the opportunity to also host or co-host, on top of your normal correspondent duties? Is there a unique voice or identity you’re aiming to add to the show relative to the other hosts?
Desi Lydic: For me… I was never a stand-up. I didn’t come up as a stand-up, and I didn’t ever think that my trajectory would be hosting a late-night show. That wasn’t what I thought my path would be. I came from the improv world and have loved comedy, but I’ve always been much more comfortable in character in the past. Even as a correspondent, like you said, we’re using our names, but I’m definitely the character of the correspondent.
So, for me, jumping into this has been a really interesting and exciting challenge. I am trusting that this is all me, and it’s a vulnerable place to be as a comedian because you don’t have the armor of playing this arch character and saying, “Well, I told that joke in character, that wasn’t me.” No, this is my perspective, this is what I believe, and this is what I think is funny, and these are the guests that I want to have on, with the help of 200 brilliant staff members around me. But yeah, it’s definitely an exercise in vulnerability, and I’m finding it really liberating. So yeah, I’m not trying to do anything that separates me. I’m just trying to follow my gut and keep it within the world of my perspective and stay true to myself.
AF: You weren’t part of ‘The Daily Show’ during Jon Stewart’s run as host previously. What has the experience been like this year with him coming back to host once a week?
Desi: Well, they say never meet your heroes, and I say, meet your heroes and immediately get on their payroll. I think that’s the only way to go about this. You’re right. I started at the show with Trevor [Noah], which was such an exciting time almost ten years ago now. But the reason I wanted to be part of the show for so many years is because I watched ‘The Daily Show’ religiously in my 20s. I watched Jon, [Steve] Carrell, [Stephen] Colbert, Samantha Bee, and [rob] Corddry, and was a huge fan who desperately wanted to someday get to do what they do.
So now, having the gift of Jon coming back is great. It’s like, you know, dad went out for cigarettes, and he did come back. There’s no one like Jon. Watching him go through the process every Monday, not just host the show, but from the initial morning meeting with his ideas and perspectives about how the show could be laid out, then watching the rehearsal process and how he shapes the show between rehearsal and taping, is incredible. I couldn’t ask for a better masterclass.
AF: Do you now mirror a similar process on days that you’re hosting?
Desi: I think there’s a pretty good machine in place that Jen Flanz has been our fearless leader on. We’re a well-oiled machine because we have to be, since we’re doing four shows a week. And yeah, I think there’s no way to learn how to host the show without just diving in and trying it. You learn a little something new each week. We all feel incredibly supported by Jen and the team here, and at the beginning of the week, watching Jon host the show.
There are different aspects of shaping the show and the behind-the-scenes work that you pick up on each week and think, “Oh, I noticed how he was looking at it from this perspective. I might try to pick up on that next time and come at it from a different angle.” There are little pointers each time, and I try to store something new away and put it in my back pocket.
AF: And as the host, does the level of influence you have on the show increase? Do you get to choose, for instance, the topics for the evening, or the guests that you interview?
Yes, definitely. I would say even more so when we’re hosting. But this has always been. Even as a correspondent, we have a lot of leeway. One of the great things about this job is it’s not really a stand on your mark and say your lines kind of gig. Jen Flanz and all of our producers have always been incredibly supportive, wanting us to be part of the creative process. We’re always writing with the writers, and we have an opportunity to go sit in the edit with the directors. When we’re shooting a field piece, when we’re hosting, we get to choose the stories and have a say in what guests we have come on. It’s very much a collaborative process, but yeah, that’s a unique opportunity to get to weigh in behind the scenes and in your point of view.
AF: Since Trevor Noah left the show at the end of 2022, the show has been in a serial guest-host mode, including several of the correspondents like yourself getting the opportunity to occasionally host. With Jon only so far committed through the election, does it feel like things are in flux?
Desi: Yeah, it’s a great question. I think all of us here feel like we’re really clicked in, in a way that feels nice, especially for an election year. Every election season is ‘The Daily Show’s bread and butter. We live for covering these elections. There’s so much news to stay on top of and so much to react to, especially this election season, which is like no other I’ve seen.
It feels like we’ve got great momentum right now, and we’re in a rhythm. We all work really well as a team. This is such a collaborative place, both on camera and especially behind the scenes with the whole creative process. Many of us have worked together a long time, so it just feels like we’re really enjoying it. We’ll see what happens next, but we’re enjoying the hell out of it right now.
AF: With this being an election year and given how media trust has eroded, do you feel a greater responsibility in how you cover the news on the show? Considering that many news networks now present their own versions of events and the influence of social media, what’s the tone in the writers’ room when deciding how to approach the serious topics you often tackle?
Desi: Well, I think that watching Jon for so long and watching Trevor through the news cycle, the world changing, the pandemic, and the reaction after George Floyd—there were all these tragic events that required responding to. Not all of them need to be associated with a big punchline, right? Sometimes it feels like we need to talk about these things without making comedy out of it. We just want to have the conversation, and I think we still feel that way and want to make room for that.
One piece of advice that Jon gave us when he came back was important because we all felt a sense of responsibility with everything happening in this upcoming election. We also wanted to make our political dad proud. He told us to focus on making the funniest, smartest shows we can. He said that we should relieve ourselves of the pressure or burden because we are not the news; we are a comedy show, and while we have certain standards, the goal is to create the funniest, smartest shows every day.
It is a huge privilege to sit at that desk and do what we do, especially at a time like this. Every time I get the opportunity, I want to earn the privilege it is. I want to earn the right to earn the audience’s time because it’s not lost on us how many other programs they could be watching. When they tune in, we want to earn their time by making the best show we can.
I will also say there is a lot of misinformation and disinformation in the media, and our job is not just to talk about what’s happening in the political world, but also to satirize the media coverage of it. There’s a lot of fun that can be had with that. We try hard behind the scenes to ensure that when we talk about issues, we’re doing it from a factual place. We try our damnedest to tell the truth and also to make it funny, but telling the truth is part of the backbone of what we do.
AF: Your sketches have always been some of my favorite. In addition to “Foxsplains’, what content or contribution to the show are you most proud of?
One of my favorite pieces on the show, as a correspondent years ago, was attending the NRA convention in Louisville, Kentucky, where I’m from. The ironic thing was that we were not allowed to go into the convention armed with our cameras, but you could open carry. That was the baseline of the piece. We went, and I attended the NRA convention and talked to people outside, not being able to cover it from the inside. It was enlightening. I’m from Louisville, Kentucky. My dad was there, and he is a lifelong Republican with different beliefs when it comes to common sense gun reform. We ended up having a conversation together in the piece that was comedic but meaningful. At the end of the day, we wanted the same thing, just coming from different angles on it. I love that from the standpoint that when it comes down to it, most of us often want the same thing, just believing there are different ways of getting there. That one feels more timeless and a little more sentimental to me.
AF: When you’re at events like the NRA event you just referenced, do the people you interview know that they’re part of a bit and that they might be made fun of? Do they usually recognize you and understand what’s going on?
Desi: It’s a great question. Sometimes they often don’t know ‘The Daily Show’. Sometimes they do, and they still want to participate because people believe so ferociously in their perspective and their point of view, and they want to share their opinion. They’re not coming into it thinking that they should think any differently. They’re coming into it fully entrenched in their beliefs, and they want to share that. More people walk away feeling pretty satisfied, even if our audience finds it humorous. It’s all in the perspective.
The times that I’ve done pieces where subjects have walked away feeling a little insecure or unsure about their performance were people that we were actually in alignment with in beliefs. Because maybe as a correspondent, you might embody the other perspective ironically, and they’re confused by that, going, oh wait, I didn’t realize there was going to be tension here. Am I saying the right things? And then we have to say, oh no, no, we’re in character and we’re pointing out the hypocrisy here. No, I think most people walk away feeling pretty satisfied because they’re being honest about what they think and feel.
AF: It’s “Indecision 2024”! Can you give us a preview of what we can expect on election night from ‘The Daily Show’?
That’s a great question. I don’t know if I can say, but I would imagine there will be a live show. We are going live on the last night of the DNC (Democratic National Convention, August 19-22), and we usually try to go live on debate nights. TBD on if that September 10th date happens. That was not on us; we’re reacting. It’ll be wild. We will all be here together. There are so many twists and turns in this news cycle that I couldn’t even begin to predict what any of it will look like. But we will be all hands on deck, I’ll tell you that much.