On the heels of two Emmy(R) nominations for The Daily Show with Trevor Noah, Comedy Central today announced it is expanding the Daily Show podcast catalogue with an all-new original series, Beyond the Scenes, produced in partnership with iHeartMedia. Hosted by Daily Show correspondent Roy Wood Jr., the series gives listeners an inside look at how producers and writers of the Emmy-winning series use comedy to tackle a variety of complex topics, from racial injustice to sex robots. Correspondents Desi Lydic, Dulcé Sloan, Michael Kosta, Ronny Chieng, and Contributor Jordan Klepper, along with an array of special guests, will also be featured.
Beyond the Scenes is distributed by the iHeartPodcast Network and will be available starting on Tuesday, July 20 with the premiere episode, Therapy in the Black Community. In this episode, Roy is joined by Daily Show writers X Mayo and Ashton Womack for a wide-ranging and deeply personal discussion about mental health, Black church, the protests against racial injustice and police brutality of 2020, and more.
The Daily Show has successfully launched Roy’s Job Fair in March 2021; The Daily Show Podcast Universe, a five-episode miniseries parodying popular podcasts in 2019, and The Daily Show: Ears Edition in 2018. Collectively, they have garnered more than 323 million downloads, with The Daily Show as the #1 Late Night Comedy podcast.
Future episodes to be featured on Beyond the Scenes include:
“Copaganda” – How Cop Shows Lie to You
Are we being brainwashed by cop shows? Daily Show producer Madeleine Kuhns and writer Ashton Womack join Roy to look at the legacy and popularity of policing onscreen, and how it shapes our relationship to police in the real world.
Female Orgasms On Screen: A Brief Hist-HER-y
From the sex-shaming of early cinema legend Hedy Lamarr to trapping Jane Fonda in an exploding orgasm piano, Hollywood’s relationship to female sexuality is complicated, controlling, and sometimes just plain weird. Roy is joined by correspondent Desi Lydic and Daily Show writer Kat Radley for a stimulating discussion about the depiction of female pleasure onscreen.
Being Black in Corporate America
As Black Lives Matter protests sprung up across America in June 2020, Daily Show producer Chelsea Williamson posed a question on Instagram: “If you’re Black and my friend, can you tell me what racial things have happened to you at your job?” The responses led Chelsea to pitch a segment exploring what it’s like to be Black in overwhelmingly white workplaces. Chelsea and Daily Show writer Christiana Mbakwe-Medina join Roy to discuss the resulting piece and their personal experiences, from being called “too professional” to going from “pet to threat.”
Dul-Sayin’: How Female MC’s Helped Shape Hip Hop
Megan Thee Stallion. Queen Latifah. MC Lyte. In this episode, correspondent Dulcé Sloan and Daily Show producer Chelsea Williamson join Roy to discuss the women who found success in the misogynistic, male-dominated arena of rap music.
State of Black Shit
From Meghan Markle to police violence to the run on Popeye’s chicken sandwiches, The Daily Show’s annual “State of Black Shit Address” seeks to encapsulate the year in Black life. Writers X Mayo and Randall Otis talk to Roy about how they deal with dark subject matter comedically, what makes this particular segment unique and the eternal question, “where we is?”
How Racist is Boston?
In this episode, Roy and Daily Show producer CJ Hunt discuss their 2018 fieldpiece exploring Boston’s reputation as one of America’s most racist cities, and ask Boston’s NAACP President Tanisha Sullivan whether the city has made any progress in the wake of the 2020 racial reckoning.
Listen to the official Beyond The Scenes trailer now on iHeartRadio and everywhere podcasts are heard.
