The Daily Show is taking the month off, and man-on-the-street guy and occasional host Jordan Klepper spent some of his free time on Tuesday talking to NBC’s Jimmy Fallon on The Tonight Show. While it may seem obvious the goal of Klepper’s field trips is to make Trump voters look dumb, it was still revealing to hear Klepper basically admit it out loud.
Fallon set the table by praising Klepper’s work, “You do great stuff. You're known for a lot of your viral man-on-the-street stuff, where you interview Trump supporters at his numerous rallies.”
He then wondered, “Do you ever feel like you've ever changed anyone's mind?”
After bluntly saying “No,” Klepper elaborated, “No. I mean, it's a rarity to find that out there. I will say, like, it's not our intention when we go out there. Our intention is to find some comedy and some hypocrisy.”
By “comedy,” Klepper of course does not mean knock-knock jokes. He means picking out the people who conform to the stereotype of the dumb Trump voter. The problem with that is we know that hundreds, if not thousands, of people show up to these rallies, and so even if the people paraded in front of the camera are not the most sophisticated thinkers, that does not mean they are representative of the crowd as a whole or of the 77 million people that voted for Trump in 2024.
Klepper then got more serious and reflected on why people are reluctant to change their minds on politics:
I think so often, the people I talk to—and it happens on both sides. Like, this becomes beyond the things they believe, it becomes their identity, and the idea of changing your mind means changing who you are as a person. And I think that's part of the drama that we're in is these -- we can't debate politics out on the road, because we've made this, basically, a calling card for our own personality. And I think if you get away from the cameras, you talk to people about who they are, what they actually believe, some of their own uncertainties come out. And you actually find a little bit of that space where somebody can change their mind, but it rarely happens in front of the camera.
That sounds nice, but that would make Klepper part of the problem. The whole point of his camera, as he admitted earlier, is to make fun of people. When people then see people like them being made fun of on national TV, it reinforces the idea that their political identity is part of their personality that is being attacked by people like Klepper.
Here is a transcript for the August 5-taped show:
NBC The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon
8/6/2025
12:20 AM ET
JIMMY FALLON: You do great stuff. You're known for a lot of your viral man-on-the-street stuff, where you interview Trump supporters at his numerous rallies. Do you ever feel like you've ever changed anyone's mind?
KLEPPER: No.
FALLON: Okay. No.
KLEPPER: No. I mean, it's a rarity to find that out there.
FALLON: It is.
KLEPPER: I will say, like, it's not our intention when we go out there. Our intention is to find some comedy and some hypocrisy.
FALLON: Funny.
KLEPPER: To find the funny.
FALLON: Yeah.
KLEPPER: I will say, a few months back, I went out there and somebody was at January 6th. She was arrested, spent time in prison. And she changed her mind about the MAGA-sphere, and she was seeking out news outlets. And people were so excited to talk to her about that. But it shows you how rare it is to find somebody who is so open about changing their mind, so much so that like, anybody will talk to her, and she wants to talk to anybody about that experience.
FALLON: Wow.
KLEPPER: I think so often, the people I talk to — and it happens on both sides. Like, this becomes beyond the things they believe, it becomes their identity, and the idea of changing your mind means changing who you are as a person. And I think that's part of the drama that we're in is these — we can't debate politics out on the road, because we've made this, basically, a calling card for our own personality. And I think if you get away from the cameras, you talk to people about who they are, what they actually believe, some of their own uncertainties come out. And you actually find a little bit of that space where somebody can change their mind, but it rarely happens in front of the camera.
