Jordan Klepper Talks Social Issues, Mug Shots, & George Clooney

What's going on guys? Hanging with me right now. I have the Jordan Klepper.

Hey Nicole.

Whoa. Whoa. How are you, Jordan?

I'm doing good. How are you doing?

Good. Congratulations on everything.

Thank you. I'll take it. On everything, right? On your whole life. Even starting in high school, even though they told me, "You aren't as smart as the other kids," I'm still taking congratulations for it to this day.

Oh no. Well, jokes on them because you have your own show.

Exactly. I try to tell them. I'm going to send them the link. I mean, look at this, you know, bad guy done good.

Yeah. Okay, so what can you tell the Young Hollywood fans about your show who haven't seen it yet?

Yes. Well, it's called Klepper and what I did is I found a bunch of interesting stories out there in America and I got a chance to, before Klepper, do a bunch of political stories on The Daily Show and talk a lot about what else is happening in the middle of America. This was a chance for me to actually go there, go to the front lines of people actually doing stuff. And when you go to the front lines, what ends up happening is you end up getting body slammed by veterans, you end up sinking in a bayou and you end up getting arrested. So it's a show that's about a lot of important stories with a guy who tends to get hurt most of the time.

So what inspired you to do something so intense like that?

Well, in in doing other shows from New York, one of the things that I always loved to do was to be able to get out into the field and talk to people. And you don't often get to do that when you have your own show and you're behind a desk. And so this was a chance for us to like pick some stories that we care about. It's a it's a it's a strange time in this country right now and a lot of people are emotional. The good thing is there's a lot of people who are trying to take action and do something about it. So, when given the opportunity to make a show, it was like, I want to go to those people. I want to talk to them. I want to see how they're trying to enact change. If this is the spirit of resistance that we keep hearing about, what does that actually look like up close? And I will stay on La Quinta Inn and I will be there when it's happening.

Your show does cover a lot of really cool but very serious social issues. I want to know if you could maybe solve one. Like, is there one that's really near and dear to your heart that you could just solve right now?

One issue? I mean, I wish I I could if I could solve America's uh issues with race, I would do it just like that. Okay. Or our immigration issues. I did a I did an episode and this was one I got arrested with where we talked to students who are DACA students, they're undocumented students, and they just want to go to college. But because of the way in which we treat a lot of immigrants in this country, uh they don't have that opportunity. I wish I could just snap my fingers and bring empathy to this country so that we we took care of those people who wanted to to to do good. And so, I think if there's one issue you can snap your fingers for, it would be to empathize as much as you could. Let's activate empathy across this good old country.

How do you think you can do that? That's interesting. Activating empathy.

Well, I think if you could I think uh you have to open up what you start to see and understand. You know, we're lucky we get to tell stories. Entertainment is a way in which people can kind of dive into other people's lives for a little bit. I think the the more well-rounded you can tell those stories and show that people aren't just the one belief they have, they're complicated. Americans are complicated. And so, I don't know if it's going to happen just like that, but I do think if people engage with people beyond just like the one opinion they have or the one tweet they've they've said, like I think you start to understand and care about them a little bit more.

Speaking of the word tweet, you said DM me for mugshot tips.

I did. Yes.

So, I don't plan on getting arrested anytime soon. But if I was Give me some tips.

So, to mugshot tips, uh they're going to tell you you can't smile. So be aware of that right off the bat. There's going to be no smiles. You need to go in there, look fierce with your eyes. No you don't want to smile. You got to smile. Okay. It's a fine line though. You've been in there for hours. You don't want to look like you're uh you're fresh in there. You want to look like you've been through some hardship because you have. Right. You want to look serious, uh but not angry. And so, what you do is you look down the barrel. You know, you remember not to smile and you think you're in here for a good cause. And then you just pray you don't blink. And then you're going to be fine. And then you're going to be like eventually get a television show and they'll say, "What do we do? We need a billboard." And you'll say, "I don't know, the mugshot?" And there you go.

Well, I don't know much about mugshots, but it's just like a one and done, right? They kind of just like whatever you get, that's what you get.

It is. They're there's there's not any redos. Even in that moment. So there's a a decent amount of pressure there. In this era we're like, "I'll just delete it." You're like, "Oh no, you're going to get one shot. They're not going to give you two."

If you could have anyone guest star with you on your show and kind of go into the field and do all this stuff, who would it be and why?

I would say it'd be a doctor. I would try to find I would try to find the most uh educated, thoughtful doctor to go out into the field with me in case I had bad foot problems. I broke my foot standing in the past. Um if I could have somebody who was along with me and let's just say George Clooney because from my era watching ER and him, he is the doctor. Whether or not he had any skills, I do think he at least owns a tequila company. So, uh I I would at least get a drink with him if I if I became infirm.

I was going to say like tequila spilling on like an open wound, does that work? You see that in movies or is it vodka?

I don't. I think they would both. Maybe both would It's it's definitely a clear liquor. Do not pour whiskey on an open wound. But but Google whether it's vodka or tequila. Yes. Mezcal maybe. Mezcal's very in right now. With gunshot wounds, Mezcal is the new spirit of choice.

Oh no. Oh God. Okay.

Yeah. Hot tip.

Lastly, what are three things that you think the Young Hollywood fans need to have around them to binge your show?

To binge my show. Besides tequila. They should have tequila. Uh They should they should have uh 30 minutes of free time so make sure you put everything aside. Uh make sure you watch it when it airs with this right after The Daily Show. And I'm going to say watch The Daily Show. It's a it's a fun show and you can watch Trevor do his thing and then be inspired as I do it better. Take that Trevor. Take that. Trevor Noah. I'm sorry, Trevor. No, we love you. It's okay. Nothing but love here.

Well, thank you so much, Jordan. Congratulations on everything and honestly, high five for doing what you're doing. We're doing it. It's awesome.

Thank you so much. Thanks for having me.