Ed Helms Talks FBI Break-ins and Government Surveillance
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Welcome to the Cooper residence. Cooper McAllister. I'm surprised you put my name first. Come on in. From the brains behind the Big Bang Theory and Young Sheldon, CBS is excited to welcome back some beloved, familiar folks. I am so glad that you and Cece are here. And Georgie. Atta girl. It's a whole new chapter. Georgie and Mandy's first marriage premieres CBS Thursday, 8, 7 Central and streaming on Paramount+.

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If this crispiness is making you hungry, get to your closest grocery store for Deli Mac's crispy quesadillas in the frozen aisle. You're listening to Comedy Central. Hey, this is Roy Chang. The Daily Show is off this week, but don't worry. We put together some of our favorite moments from the show in case you missed them. We'll be back with brand new shows on September 10th. Until then, enjoy today's episode.

Welcome back to The Daily Show. My guest tonight is an actor, writer, producer who hosts a podcast about history's greatest screw-ups called Snafu. Please welcome back Ed Helms. All right. All right. I have to say, Jon Stewart, you look incredible. Thank you very much for that. I'll take it as a compliment. Yeah. Because I watched Jon Stewart my whole life.

And now I'm sitting in the chair that he sits on occasionally on Mondays. Yeah.

Let's talk about your podcast, and then we'll get into The Daily Show, because I've got to ask you about working here at The Daily Show. But your podcast, second season, is called Snafu. Yes. And it's about the break-in of the FBI offices. Yes. And the Washington reporter who reported on it. Yes. What the f*** are you doing, man? I thought you worked in comedy. I just say yes. Yes. That's all I do in interviews. Yes, so, okay. It is a podcast. Yes.

It's called Snafu. It's about history's greatest screw-ups. Season one, we talked about this incredible story about a NATO military exercise that almost, in 1983, that almost turned into a nuclear holocaust. No big deal. And it's really kind of actually darkly funny. Season two that's out now, we talk about these incredible activists in 1971 who

who felt like the FBI was getting a little out of hand and starting to harass people and surveil people. And they were right. But they didn't have any way to prove it. So they broke into an office, an FBI office. They just broke into the FBI. And it's as hard as it sounds. And they...

And they stole a bunch of documents, and then they started to leak them to a reporter at the Washington Post named Betty Medsker, who was very courageous and published them. And then years later...

By the way, this all led to lots of fallout, the church committee hearings, which then led to congressional oversight of the FBI and the CIA and the NSA and all these things. So it's a very, very big deal what these people did. It's largely forgotten, sadly. But Betty Medsker then wrote a book in 2014, and that's what that is, The Burglary. And it's an incredible story.

40% of the case files that the crew stole dealt with surveillance of legal political activity. Correct. 1% covered organized crime. Right. It's like, what? And by the way, I don't really know, but I feel like that could also pertain to today's date. Well, it's just, it's like, that was when J. Edgar Hoover... Can I read you another one, even though it's your podcast? Yes. My own document revealed that every black student at Swarthmore College was under FBI surveillance.

I mean, what the is going on? Yeah. Basically, if J. Edgar Hoover thought that you were like some hooligan, which was anyone who opposed the Vietnam War, anyone involved in the civil rights movement--

And anyone with long hair. Yeah. Or a tie-dye. That one I get. Sure, you get that. Yeah, of course. If J. Edgar Hoover thought you were, like, a problem for society, he was going to surveil and harass you, and the entire FBI apparatus was going to do that, too. And thankfully, these burglars...

proved that was happening and it was fixed for a little while. And then there was the Patriot Act and all kinds of the Cold War and lots of other complicating factors. But it is still, it's an important question to always be asking. Like, are we protecting our civil liberties enough?

Does law enforcement have enough power? Probably. What is the, where's the line? But Ed, but Ed, I don't do anything wrong. I don't, I don't care if they tap into my computer. Same here, man. What's the big deal? I put a piece of scotch tape over my webcam when I masturbate. It doesn't matter. Yeah. What does it matter? You masturbate? Oh my gosh. Let's talk about this. Uh,

I'm just doing... First of all, I want to go on the record and say I do not masturbate. And that was... No, but...

That is a kickback response I can envision someone saying. I don't have anything to hide. What's the big deal about surveillance? So what is the big deal about surveillance? And you're right. I think a lot of people ask that. When it comes up, when law enforcement power comes up, it's like, yeah, I'm not doing anything wrong. But the problem with surveillance when it's done on such a huge scale and you're surveilling people who are not doing anything wrong, it then becomes...

leverage over you that you have no control over. And so if for any reason the FBI or some institution wants to implicate you for any reason, they suddenly have the leverage to do so whether or not you've done something wrong. And that's very scary and it's not okay. Talk about, because this was fascinating to me, they burglarized the FBI office and they sent these copies of files out to a lot of different people.

But only one of them, this woman, was courageous enough to report. I mean, what was that like for her?

That's a great question. So Betty Metzger was was a very young reporter at The Washington Post. She receives this envelope. It's full of FBI files. She's like, what the hell do with this? Meanwhile, the the burglars also sent copies of the files, as you mentioned, to some senators and some other reporters. The senators immediately turned them over to the FBI.

The other reporters chickened out. Right. But Betty Medsker and the sort of brass at the Washington Post, which later, of course, you know, Woodward Bernstein, Watergate, and the Pentagon Papers, that all came after this. But they...

They were courageous enough to put this out here. And really, Betty Metzger is a force of nature. For sure. And she's in the podcast. She worked with us to tell this story. She's great in the podcast. She tells the story of after this got published, the article, not the book, she picked up the phone to call her friend, and the FBI is just on the line saying, what are you doing? Yeah. Yeah.

So that sucks. This is exactly what the burglars were trying to... This is why I put scotch tape on my computer. Is this why you masturbate? No, so they...

Yeah. So she put this article gets published in The New York Times. She picks up her phone like the next day. Yeah. And so there's a voice on her phone that says, who are you trying to call? Yeah. So messed up. What? Yeah. Yeah. It's great. It's a great listen. It's fun. You're somehow funny in it, even though it's a serious topic. Thank you. So good job. Speaking of funny, The Office, The Hangover, The Daily Show. I mean, yeah.

What does that evoke? What does that evoke, those images? Oh, my gosh. Do you remember that Los Angeles green screen? Well, sorry. I mean, on location. I was in a cocaine fever dream the whole time. I don't. No, I...

It's so fun to come back here. I just love... I have such fond memories. It's been like 18 years since I worked here. Holy shit. Which is incredible. But I have to say, I've watched the show ever since I left. I still love it. And you guys, this crop of correspondents, you guys are crushing it. Thank you very much. This is...

If you had to pick one, I'm just kidding. Oftentimes, when I'm out in the field doing something that is hard,

doing a piece on the desk, being here. I always wonder, is this helping me somehow? Is this going to help me later? Should I be focused in the present moment? Yes. Sure. But you come to me from the future. Yes. Right? And you've gone on to do all these great comedy things, and now there's season two of the podcast, Snafu. But what has helped you from The Daily Show as you moved on? Nothing. Nothing? Yeah, nothing. No. I will say...

I have a good answer to that answer. And it is the the Daily Show's might was my first like real comedy job that and it taught me really through through John's example like the discipline and the heart the focus and the hard work that it takes and some of the like the real like sweat that it takes to create good comedy or just good product like it's hard work and that I've carried that with me.

for years since then. And this is where I started. Here we are. That's great. That's awesome. Are there any field pieces you did that now would be considered an HR nightmare? Is there anything that comes to mind? Yes. An HR nightmare. I think...

Yeah, we actually have a different way. We actually have HR. OK, well, there you go. Yeah, exactly. Yeah, there were no HR nightmares 20 years ago because of you. Yeah. Yeah. Oh, is the reason that they have it now? But yeah, what comes to mind? Anything that's like, you know.

-Conventions. -Should I create a fresh HR nightmare by bringing them up? -No. -Is that -- No, I have -- Gosh, I have so many great memories. I really loved going to the conventions. -Okay. -Right? Are you guys headed to the -- -Yes, we are. Yep. We're going to Chicago. Yep. -So exciting. -Yeah. -And I had, like -- We had real press credentials. I remember this is --

This is really funny. We got to the Republican convention, which was at Madison Square Garden, just down the street. And we get to the security checkpoint.

and Rob Corddry forgot his driver's license. -Right. -And everyone had to have a picture ID. So we're like, "Oh, God." And then he looks up, and Rob goes, "Uh, does that count as a picture ID?" And Comedy Central had bought a giant billboard with all of our faces and our names... -Yeah. -...right next to Madison Square Garden. It was the indecision 2002 or '04 or whatever. And, uh...

And the security guard was like, yeah, I guess that's you. Different time. That's amazing. That's amazing that Comedy Central bought a billboard. Yes. Thank you for sitting down with us. You're one of my favorites. Congrats on Snafu. New episodes of Snafu Medberg air weekly on the iHeartRadio app and everywhere podcasts are heard. Ed Helms.

Explore more shows from the Daily Show Podcast universe by searching The Daily Show, wherever you get your podcasts. Watch The Daily Show weeknights at 11, 10 Central on Comedy Central, and stream full episodes anytime on Paramount+. Paramount Podcasts.

Welcome to the Cooper residence. Cooper McAllister. I'm surprised you put my name first. Come on in. From the brains behind the Big Bang Theory and Young Sheldon, CBS is excited to welcome back some beloved, familiar folks. I am so glad that you and Cece are here. And Georgie. Atta girl. It's a whole new chapter. Georgie and Mandy's first marriage premieres CBS Thursday, 8, 7 central and streaming on Paramount+.

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