At the end of Tuesday’s NBC Today, co-hosts Savannah Guthrie and Matt Lauer brought on comedian and newly-named Comedy Central late-night host Jordan Klepper to promote his upcoming one-hour special on the cable channel. Based on Klepper’s work routinely mocking gun-owners as a Daily Show correspondent and the trailer for the satirical documentary, viewers can probably expect another typical left-wing screed against the Second Amendment.
Introducing Klepper, Guthrie declared: “We are now joined on the couch by a guy who believes he can fix America’s gun issues in one hour.” Lauer chimed in: “He has a one-hour special airing on Comedy Central this Sunday, it’s called, appropriately, Jordan Klepper Solves Guns. Take a look.”
The clip that followed set the tone of the special set to air on Sunday. Sitting in a news van wearing a helmet and bullet-proof vest as if he were about to enter a war zone, Klepper breathlessly proclaimed: “I’m going to embed in a country with over 300 million guns. A country where, in 2014, 33,000 people died due to gun violence. A country whose citizens are 25 times more likely to be murdered by a gun than any other civilized nation. Welcome to America.”
Lauer followed up by touting how the liberal fake journalist “spent time talking to people on both sides of the issue.” He wondered: “As we know, it’s an incredibly divisive issue. What surprised you?” Klepper replied by promising a program that would examine different points of view:
I was surprised by how much common ground there was. I think – I’ve gotten to do a bunch of pieces on The Daily Show about the gun issue. The people who are hyperbolic and on both sides make the best TV, but there’s so many people in the middle who have these more moderate takes on the gun issue. And so, I wanted to go back home – and for me that was in Michigan – to talk to those people who guns mean something different than what they mean to people sometimes on the coast.
However, while interviewing attendees of the National Rifle Association Convention for the special, Klepper slammed the event as the “Comic Con for death.”
The morning show anchors avoided pressing him on comments like that. Instead, Guthrie fawned: “I like what you said, too. That you really tried to listen.”
Wrapping up the segment, Klepper was treated to a round of congratulations for his new late-night show premiering in the fall, airing after The Daily Show. It seems Comedy Central plans to stick with its strategy of shoving little-know liberal comics in that time slot hoping that people watch.
Here is a full transcript of the June 6 segment:
8:54 AM ET
SAVANNAH GUTHRIE: We are now joined on the couch by a guy who believes he can fix America’s gun issues in one hour.
JORDAN KLEPPER: Just like that.
MATT LAUER: He’s comedian Jordan Klepper from The Daily Show. He has a one-hour special airing on Comedy Central this Sunday, it’s called, appropriately, Jordan Klepper Solves Guns. Take a look.
KLEPPER: I’m going to embed in a country with over 300 million guns. A country where, in 2014, 33,000 people died due to gun violence. A country whose citizens are 25 times more likely to be murdered by a gun than any other civilized nation. Welcome to America.
You overshot it. Back up. Back, back, back.
[LAUGHTER]
LAUER: Jordan, nice to see you.KLEPPER: Good to see you guys, thanks for having me.
LAUER: You spent time talking to people on both sides of the issue.KLEPPER: I did.
LAUER: As we know, it’s an incredibly divisive issue. What surprised you?
KLEPPER: I was surprised by how much common ground there was. I think – I’ve gotten to do a bunch of pieces on The Daily Show about the gun issue. The people who are hyperbolic and on both sides make the best TV, but there’s so many people in the middle who have these more moderate takes on the gun issue. And so, I wanted to go back home – and for me that was in Michigan – to talk to those people who guns mean something different than what they mean to people sometimes on the coast.
HODA KOTB: It must have been weird trying to weave humor into this. Because you did it obviously in the opening, then you do it throughout. How difficult was that, to strike that balance?
KLEPPER: I always think humor is a great way to satirically attack any kind of a topic. And so, for me, I can take the blind spots that I have about any argument, and I think that can show the blind spots that other people might have with guns. So people who want to make a change but don’t know how, and that allows other people that you’re talking to, to bring their expertise and their experience to it all.
GUTHRIE: I like what you said, too. That you really tried to listen. And you’ve got your own show coming up, too, right?
KOTB: Congratulations.
LAUER: Congratulations on that.
KLEPPER: Thank you, thank you. I won’t be listening during that show at all. Now that I’m a big star, I’m just going to trust my gut.
[LAUGHTER]
AL ROKER: Good for you.
LAUER: Let me remind people, this special airs on Comedy Central Sunday night, that’s 10:00 Eastern Time.
GUTHRIE: Jordan.
LAUER: Thanks, Jordan, appreciate it.
