Jordan Klepper wants to make sense of the world
But he knows that’s probably a tall order
Jordan Klepper would like to caution that “Suffering Fools,” the 45-year-old comic's politically fueled stand-up show, is inherently doomed to fail.
When Klepper takes the stage on stops during the tour, he recounts tales from the road as a “Daily Show” regular with a knack for needling the right. He reflects on his surreal experience covering the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection. He weaves in threads of his own political origins growing up in Kalamazoo, Mich. And he does it all with an aim toward “making some sense out of this weird time.”
“I don't,” Klepper clarifies. “But I definitely attempt to.”
Speaking from New York during an early July video chat, Klepper opened up about picking apart MAGA logic, empathizing with the other side of the aisle, gauging the changing winds of political comedy and staying centered amid a dizzying news cycle.
(This conversation has been edited for length and clarity.)
Q: I want to start by thanking you for sharing your time — it's much appreciated.
A: I'm always happy to chat a little bit self-indulgently. And if a child runs in halfway through, don't be offended — it just means the episode of “Octonauts” has ended.
Q: I'm at the age where a lot of my friends have young kids, so I know how it goes. I'm actually going to a toddler's birthday party soon.
A: If you don't have kids, you don't need to go to that toddler's birthday party. Give yourself space. Live a life. Run free. Enjoy what there is to offer.
Q: I just might take you up on that advice. So now that you've been touring “Suffering Fools” for a few months, what do you hope to take away from doing this show in the nation's capital?
A: An audience will understand some of these stories that I'm telling and some of the questions that I'm asking. The second half of the show, I open it up to have a conversation, and that is always revelatory as well. Part of this is listening and hearing what people are concerned about — what questions they have or just points they want to make. At this time that we're in right now, where everybody has an opinion and a question, that becomes one of the most fun parts. I'm sure we'll have a lovely, well-informed conversation that won't go off the rails at all.
Q: What has stuck out to you about the conversations you've had in previous shows?
A : I'm always a bit surprised. In the old days, when a comedian would come to town and take questions, people would want to know things about the industry. In this day and age, when I open things up for questions, people need answers on how to fix their lives. So it gets much more personal and specific than I ever imagined. At one point, I thought, “I bet people will ask me what it's like to meet Paul McCartney at ‘The Daily Show.'” Rarely does that come up. It's usually, “How do we stop a fascist regime?”
Q: Follow-up question: How do we stop a fascist regime?
A: Oh, God, that's a good question. Vote, maybe? I'm going to work on that answer.
Q : The show touches on your reputation for engaging with Trump supporters, and attempting to decipher their logic and interrogate its contradictions. What is your approach to those interactions?
A: We prep a bunch back in New York. I'm trying to read up to see what the right side of the aisle's talking points are, and we prep a few things that we're curious about — perhaps ways in which we can poke at some of the arguments that haven't been poked at in the right-wing bubbles. But as soon as we land at a MAGA rally in the middle of the country, a lot of that goes out the window. I remember a few months ago, the right-wing bubble was all up in arms about Taylor Swift. We went out to a MAGA rally, and they loved Taylor Swift — that was not a sticking point. What you see on the news or social media doesn't necessarily reflect reality, so it makes it more important than ever for us to be prepared — and then forget it all and just listen.
Q: What have you learned about the way those supporters think?
A : It's not a monolithic group. There are bad actors within it, and there's some people who take away some of the more extreme ideas of the MAGA movement. You can't divorce the idea of race from it, class from it, and there are some really dark sides to it. But there's a big chunk of folks who, one, want to be a part of a community, and two, are lacking a sense of meaning in their lives. If you've never been to a MAGA rally, it's like when the parade comes through town. And guess what? It's fun to go to a parade.
Q; Where does the online discourse fit into that conversation?
A: You can't not have an opinion about politics. In fact, it's the price of admission for even communicating. Now, I think about the lady in Wisconsin who just likes to have a drink at Margaritaville and not think about politics. But if she wants to communicate to her friends who are also in their 60s, she has to log on to Facebook. And when she logs in to Facebook, you have to publish articles to get people to pay attention to you. So now Marge who likes to drink margaritas at Margaritaville is publishing articles on Facebook about how she sees the world, and suddenly she's a political pundit. Democracy should welcome people to be a part of the conversation, by all means, but I think it's necessitating everybody to be a part of it in a way that may not be helpful.
Q: Previously, you hosted your own shows, “The Opposition” and “Klepper,” and made specials like “Jordan Klepper Solves Guns.” What drives you to hone your comic voice outside of the flagship “Daily Show” program?
A: A constant desire for health insurance. Also, there's many different ways to skin that cat. I think “The Opposition” was a really fun invitation to play satire to the hilt. “Klepper” was trying to find comedy out of empathy. Coming back into “The Daily Show,” I've also seen an evolution of what audiences want from comedy. In the era of 20 years ago at “The Daily Show,” everything was so arch, and rightfully so — that was the big tool of comedy and satire. In the last eight years, archness has gone somewhat out of vogue. It's still a weapon in your back pocket, but people want more authenticity. They need to know who you are before they trust what you're making fun of.