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And it became a refuge for those who didnt find men calmly sitting behind a desk cathartic.
you’re free to read an excerpt from the transcript or listen to the full episode below.
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Everyones looking for an easy answer.
I get my news from you.
Why do you deny that this is true?
We all spent all of our days going, You didnt get your news from this show.
This is not fucking true.
Like, youthinkyou did.
And you heard the news differently because it resonated differently, because its delivered differently.
We cannot do it.
If we dont have all theFrontlineclips, we cant fucking make our show the way that we make it.
We are just taking from the real news and synthesizing it in a different way.
And thats part of the catharsis, so thats great.
But if you were watchingThe Daily Showand you were like, What is Iraq?
What is happening?, your experience of the show wouldve been bananas.
A producer on the show got pregnant.We were like,Holy shit.
I was like, Wait a minute, did we have a family-leave policy?
And then we realized that it didnt exist; we hadnt been called to create one.
Its just codified in Canada; you just come to expect that youll have that year with your child.
So, I was like,We have to make the best policy.
We just have to have the best policy.
We have to be a leader, not just compete against the other shows.
Lets win the competition.
What would be helpful?
I needed that time; I wasnt ready to go back.
But one of the things that wecoulddo was control our own happiness, like within the organization.
Our family-leave policy is 20 full paid weeks, which is five months.
The reason I challenged all the other shows is because they should have it too.
We work in television.
We should want to do this.
We did put it in place.
I dont know if other shows adopted that.
I really, really dont know.
And if they do, thats great.
I do think that I am different.
I am really quite involved in a different way.
I am involved in the creative part of the show, but Im also pretty spiritually connected too.
I am constantly tweaking our processes and constantly thinking about managing the staff.
Im very involved in that in one way that is really humbling.
And, yeah, its by choice.
No place Ive ever worked before has had that.
Im not sitting before you claiming to know everything about my workplace.
I will say that.
And that is by design.
I think its really important, because I just do.
I learn from it.
And not every decision is easy.
Its actually very, very challenging, and it really can be very painful.
Thats a bad, long answer, but it takes up a tremendous amount of time and energy.
And if you dont do it, I dont know, I guess you reap what you sow.
If you dont do it, youll be blindsided when theres big problems, like big interior structural problems.
I cant make the workplace delightful for everyone all the time.
Its still work, and you still have to hate somebody and not get along with your coworkers somewhat.
When you started, you would say your goal was to kick the barn door open.
Now, five years later, youre here.
Youre in the barn.
How does that feel?
Does that change how you approach things?Youre totally right.
Now we have a show.
That is bananas.But its true.
Articulating this is very therapeutic.
Wearein the barn, and I dont think that it has changed my approach to the show.
But I do maybe feel more comfortable in my own skin.
That transition from upstart show to establishment show takes a long time.
Its a mental thing, because you feel like youre always swimming upstream.
And so you carry that energy forward, and then suddenly you employ all these people.
And youre like, Hi, everyone.
I think were going to be just fine.
A lot of things that dont feel like upstart things.
You have to just fake it to make it, in a way.
But Im not like, Hey, man, I dont know whats happening here.
Im just like you.
Im struggling in here.
You do have a show with your name on it.
Like, thats pretty great.
you’re able to be grateful.
it’s possible for you to be thankful.
you could be a professional.
