i will show you a brief clip from my favorite episode of what i think is one of the most important movies of my lifetime. "ghostbusters." [laughter] and when you remember it? great story of entrepreneurship. there is a quiz at the end. who was the villain? the epa. the epa. the government agency. the epa regulator keeps harassing them and forces them to shut down the machine where they have been storing ghosts and causing all kinds of chaos reigned supreme. brings on the marshmallow man. only a big regulator could cause a problem that big. and it features great lines about being small business owners. he says, you don't know what it is like out there.

they expect results. [laughter] great story about entrepreneurship. here is kind of how the host of the show interjects himself in a little bit of that episode and movie. [video clip] >> good evening. listen, we are in a lot of trouble with the epa. if you stick around, we have to fill out a lot of interdimensional commerce forms. if you could relocate to new jersey or maybe canada, you would be doing us a solid. >> thanks. >> are you a god? >> half on my mother's side. we're not very religious about it.

go once or twice a year on holidays. >> then -- [screams] >> that is the opening bit they do. they discuss the aims of the show -- themes of the show. it is a great entry-level way without saying i would love to talk to about economic and they are falling asleep. another great humor is satire. we supported a film -- make a film based on the writings of a socialist. kurt donovan wrote a disturbing tale -- or as liberals call it, and magical dream -- it takes place in the year when government has made everyone equal things to the work of a

general. beautiful people wear mask. strong people wear weights. smart people were devices in their ears to distract them. it is a wonderful story poking fun at the government egalitarianism. wouldn't you know it, it is in 17,000 classrooms. normally if you told public school teachers, i have got a great start making fun of big government, would you like to show it to your kids? what do they say? call the cops. get this guy out of here. if you do it in storytelling and basin off of a story that they use in classrooms anyway and if you don't make the politics too obvious, you can have a lot of success. you could reach kids from watching the short film in their classrooms. i'll show you the trailer for this one. [video clip] ♪

>> i think that was a pretty dance she just did. that dance, i bet it was nice. you must be tired. why don't you rest your handicaps on the pillows? you are always so worn out. ♪

>> i'm a fugitive. i'm an abomination. i'm an exception. ♪ >> they hope to destroy any trace any extraordinary that is out of their reach.

>> what was it this time? >> loud. same as last time. >> that film is being viewed by 17,000 kids -- i'm sorry, classrooms every year. the class size, that is about 17,000 kids with the statistics. no, something like 1.5 million. you may be wondering. all of these online videos -- >> [inaudible] >> good question. >> [inaudible] >> i'm subjecting it to michael moore and then that.

i will never be invited back. a film we did called "the cartel" was more for elected officials than a general audience. it was about the waste, fraud, and abuse in the new jersey system. as you saw in that promo video, had a great impact. >> it helps mold for me the final outlines of what i wanted to do if ever lucky enough before i became governor. the movie lays out what is going on in the new jersey education system. it does not only informative and has helped me, but is brilliant entertaining on top of it. >> that is exactly it. we live in a world where elected officials film policy papers. every them after.

-- read them after. they have the analyst read it. you could get people with stories. stories dramatically change how we frame the debate. frame the debate, when the battle. if instead as we discussed until the source of poor kid to want a better education come it becomes students versus union thugs. that is a battle we could win, similar with fracking. it is viewed as evil energy companies versus government lists have no political agenda and only care about the plants and the trees and the animals. but if you tell the stories of farmers in new york who are being taxed off the property is a crazy property taxes, but there's a moratorium on fracking versus governmental radicals who do not care about the environment, but want to advance their politics, that is a debate we could win.

everyone into great heroes into her talking points. intotegrate heroes talking points. do not just lead with statistics and facts and put people to sleep. tell them about the public policy you know of. mpi, we love to partner with organizations to do q&a and screen films. if are looking for examples of people to use, maybe think tanks, op-ed's. these are the stories that are there. they need to be told. it is up to us to tell them. that is exactly the point i want to make clear. the facts are important. lead with the story.

lead with emotion. supplement it with fax. -- facts. thank you for having me. [applause] >> excellent job. i forgot to mention this is being videotaped by c-span. we will give you more information on tv. >> any questions? i have two more fun clips. questions are interesting, i'm sure. >> got a couple of ushers walking around with index cards. right down your questions. the ushers will bring them over. right legibly if you can. that will increase the odds. >> good idea. i have got two other clips. this is a film that is still in production that tells the story of americans have been impacted

by bad government policy. america lost the to profiles americans in alligator mississippi that is a real town. it does not just policy wonks. it is what happens to everyday americans. here is the trailer. [video clip] >> i hate to say it. the neighborhood i grew up in which was once readable is a ghetto now. weeds are growing over everything. the house is in decay. businesses are closing all the time. seems like poverty is like a mean disease. it slowly creeps and consumes. it spreads. one of the main stronghold ac is -- we see is finance.

drug addictions. there's a strong depression in the city. >> over the course of the last 50 years, we have developed classes that are different from anything we have had before. it is a cultural divide much more important than economic divide. once the tipping point has been passed, all things collapse. >> in every great empire, there is a rise, ap, and a fall -- a peak, and a fall. we are falling because we not taken the necessary steps. >> the cure is not another social program. what our society needs to work is for us to be more human and more deeply engaged with one another. we become the architects of our

communities. architects of our future. >> change starts with us. if you could affect a person, the community, the city, the world. ♪ >> that is the first film we are doing a social action campaign for. questions? >> what could we do to support mpi? >> and the vice president. i'm legally required to say we are a nonprofit organization. if you care about advancing your beliefs, i'm -- there's a massive imbalance in this arena related to any other political class. you talk about policy

organizations. the left has got think tanks. the right has think tanks. think of michael moore and steven spielberg. then there is us. a big imbalance. if you know talented filmmakers, our goal is to support and cultivate an army of freedom oriented filmmakers at all levels. we take kids in college who share our beliefs and have talent and place them on major production companies to jump start their career. we find people and help them start a production company. they could do this kind of thing for a living.

we want to find them and work with them. for your individual selves, using storytelling to advance your beliefs on a personal level is the way to do it. mpi.org. we would love any support. thank you. >> next question -- do you have any projects in the past to counter -- >> we'll have anything immediately in the pipeline. we don't have anything at the moment. one education reform we have got in the pipeline that i'm really excited about is a narrated film called "virginia." a poor african-american woman in d.c. she wanted better schools for her kids. she became political.

she became a crusader appears she launched a massive campaign to enact under george w. bush a scholarship program. we're trying to get clean latifah to play it. -- queen latifah to play in. it is not a documentary. they could see what it is like for these kids in inner cities. who is on the right side of helping these kids and who is on the side of making union thugs wealthier. obviously we are against it. just so we're clear on that. [laughter] >> are you working on any projects dealing with islam? >> no pit we stick to fiscal oriented stuff. entrepreneurship -- no. we stick to fiscal oriented stuff. entrepreneurship.

nothing on islam currently. >> any thoughts on why so many wealthy entrepreneurs are liberal? >> well, i don't know. in silicon valley, the kind of art. in which places, -- it seems like many businessmen become cronies a government. ec people make the thomas edison turn where they enter as on spinners and become political onto a nurse and close the door -- you see people where they do that thomas edison turn would enter as on spinners and become political on spinners -- entrepreneurs. uber is starting out to cut deals with local government where they will make regulations. uber's main competitors -- lyft and sidecar.

they may start with one political belief, but they are in it for their business first and foremost. i don't like the idea of using government for your business. we are building a little advisory panel. these are people we are seeing first hand. lyfts and bnbs -- i think it is an interesting time. we could appeal to these people. they are on the wrong side. you might be scared of x candidate, but if you want to advance your business, we are the once want to create the environment in which your business could be advanced. >> where would i go to find and watch your movies? >> thempi.org.

it is so simple. after you click on each film, it says click here to get it on amazon or stream it on netflix or itunes or youtube. very straightforward. thempi.org. if you know some interested in filmmaking, he have all of our programs listed. >> a question related to the business of movies. what does it take to get a movie into multiple theaters? >> this is an involved question. it depends on the film. some good self distributional rights. they will sell it in theaters

and get it in certain theaters. other tense you see something where you will make a deal with the theaters individually or on a train where you will pay in rent out the theater to screen your film. that is necessary for one your film to be eligible for an academy award. the guarantees your film gets reviewed. that is great. more people probably read about you and me and saw it was playing in manhattan. the press coverage of your film to be bigger than the film itself. press coverage is a great strategy. if you pay the theater to show it and ran out that theater, a lot of the times if they sell the tickets, the theater will carry it over and keep it without you paying for it. they see there is an audience for it.

most of the stuff you do not need to put in theaters. we do some stuff in theaters. if michael isn't to make money, get ideas in front of people, deal got to get out other homes, go to the theaters, part, find a seat -- park, find a seat -- but if you could get the clicks and go viral online -- we are doing more online content. >> how do you go about finding the stories you want to tell and finding the film makers we want to tell those stories? >> sure. it is word of mouth. we are at the point where film makers are inspiring more filmmakers. one of our guys were really talented guy.

he is that good and he is working for mtv and nickelodeon. his real passion is to make videos about economics. we helped him out and start his own production company. he makes brilliant videos. one of the viewers of his videos got inspired. she decided she wanted to make -- be a film maker as well. she started making films. she makes pop music video for teenagers about economics. it is a common theme to do these days. [laughter] she'll was reading it so frequent me her friends were teasing her she was in love with him. she goes. that's it. i'm going to make a love song. her follow-up video is a pop music video about the dangers of an inflationary monetary policy. it is called fast cash.

we're getting to the point where filmmakers and where word-of-mouth -- >> are you working with any authors who have created children's books? >> sure. we love doing things for classrooms. we have done -- we had these animators who worked for disney and were passionate about the american revolution. we supported them on an animated retelling of the boston tea party. it sounds adorable. she said that if you teach kids characters and themes and relatable ways, it would help them understand it later. with that in mind, these kindergartners encountered characters in a very clever and effective way. we are adapting a book right now for classroom use with a series of cgi short films.

all these things. we love passion stuff. we love great ideas for passion projects. >> this question wants to do role-playing. she says i am talking to my neighbor but even go immigration and he tells me a story about a 22-year-old quietly living her life, working at a grocery store, and this person is illegal. now what? what story are you going to tell him? >> immigration is not one of the issues that gets me as fired up as other ones. i would not be the best person to convey a response on that. surely you could pull up the negative ramifications of immigration. the most immigration we get his cubans turning a roof into a boat and floating over. now what? what story are you going to tell him? >> immigration is not one of the issues that gets me as fired up as other ones.

i would not be the best person to convey a response on that. surely you could pull up the negative ramifications of immigration. the most immigration we get his cubans turning a roof into a boat and floating over. i would use whatever characters or personal stories you could tell to show that illegal immigration has had negative ramifications on your life. that is something closer to home for you guys. >> have you written a book? if not, why not? >> illiteracy. [laughter] with some tutoring -- i think i could.

i am not a creative type. i do development work, outreach work, media stuff. the only thing i have ever been approached for is -- we have a big event in manhattan, and every time our fermenters come up to me they want me to work with them. the same thing every time. you would be great for voiceover work. [laughter] that is the greatest backhanded compliment you could get. i did some voiceover work for an animated short. they called me. now i'm getting typecast. that is the closest i have got to anything creative. i did a radio pilot. >> what kind of budget do your projects typically have?

>> all over the place. we have videos the causes little as $6,000. obviously, narrative films are more expensive than documentaries. feature-length is more expensive than short films. america lost will probably cost for production somewhere between $500,000 and $1 million. your marketing budget has to be as big if not bigger than the production budget. the marketing is key. as crazy as that sounds. if somebody sees an ad for america lost, it could be just

as effective as a political ad. but it's not just something that is forgotten as soon as the election is over. i view the advertising as a much more worthwhile investment when it's done for social action campaigns. >> speaking of candidates, can you think of any good examples of candidates or political figures or leaders using humor and storytelling effectively? >> californians, can any of you point to a great politician? ronald reagan. that is the best example. governor reagan, you are accusing mr. carter of those mistakes.

have you ever made a mistake? yes, i was once a democrat. [laughter] moral outrage is the most powerful political tool. -- humor is the most most powerful political tool. reagan also employed -- there you go. controlled anger is the most powerful political tool, but humor is the second most powerful political tool. >> the breakdown of black families is the results of government policies. any thoughts on how you might change that? >> in stockton, california -- when all government institutions disappeared. it can wreck families lives. it is crazy. the troy today, they don't even offer police services in some

areas. just like you see in other countries when they enact socials health care systems, initially it starts out as the greatest health care ever. then they can afford it. it's incredible. you will see that in virginia. >> is anyone else making films that celebrate freedom? >> a lot of individual filmmakers out there do great films. not everybody works with us on every project. our goal is to build a movement, not an empire.

we partner with an organization called free to choose. a district a lot of our content and classrooms. there is another organization in california that do a lot of free workshops for filmmakers. we are the only organization doing what we do. creating content online, theatrically release content -- and we partner with a lot of institutes as well. we have been fortunate enough to partner with a lot of great organizations out there. >> did you have anything to do with the film the last man standing? >> no. what was that? remind me. >> [indiscernible] >> should i be watching it?

ok. i'll put it my netflix or tivo queue. we celebrate films that promote liberty. one year, we also did the liberty tv wards. -- awards. we could not do it every year because there is not that many tv shows. how many times can you talk about shark tank? last man standing, tim allen -- is that on abc? >> [indiscernible] >> i'll tivo it. i'm there. >> i haven't heard of it either. i will look for it. we talked about children's books -- this is a question about a specific book. any interest in working with rush limbaugh? >> no.

i'm so lame and old that i would record and listen to rush limbaugh when i came home from school. nerdy. if there were young people here today, they would be really confused because they don't know what tape-recording is. [laughter] people always ask us, why don't you work with glenn beck. that would lower cover. he is selling red meat to tea party members. >> you said you had one more clip. let me do one more question. then we will wrap it up. are you familiar with the movie, unfair, exposing the irs? any thoughts? >> i have never heard of it. similarly, if anybody knows of great filmmakers or people who share our beliefs and want to be

more active in filmmaking, i would love to talk to you. this last clip is not one of the ones we did. the guy i mentioned to worked at nickelodeon and mtv did this one. he wanted to make it so funny that the liberals could not ignore it. salon said that they hate every bit of this video. it is a parody of 1980's action figures called cronies. [video clip] ♪

>> get ready for the all new kronies. >> they are stealing our customers with superior products. >> meet the extreme shape shifter. >> you can't stop me. >> here come parts and labor. >> we are under competitive attack. >> raise the trade barriers. >> this wall street are stacks the deck and rigs the game. >> take to the skies.

>> she is wasteful. >> every team needs a leader. the ultimate source of kronie power. >> get connected to the geforce. >> we are connected. >> find out more. collect them all. do not attempt to be a real kronie without political influence. [applause]

>> thank you so much for having me. i love coming to a place where against all odds, against all adversity, there are still people who are passionate about liberty. it is a true thrill and inspiration to come out here to meet people fighting for our belief against such incredible odds. thank you for having me. i appreciate it. [applause] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2014] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org]

>> this week on q&a, hypocrisy of liberals on the war on women rhetoric. >> what is your problem back to creedon number four? ted kennedy? >> i go back to where the idea for this book came from was a convention when they were showing distribute video. he had passed away. or trying him as a women's rights champion when he left a young woman to drown in his car. for nine gone back hours. type to save his own behind. she probably would have survived. you cannot do an entire video and a convention claiming to be preaching and fighting about the while not including

that part of his life in a video about his women's rights record. >> sunday night at 8 p.m. eastern i we are airing one program from each year at 7 p.m. eastern on c-span. address, weekly president obama discusses jobs and the economy and his administration's legislative accomplishments. mike kelly of pennsylvania talks about energy policy. >> hi, everybody. as 2014 comes to an end, we can enter the new year with new confidence that america is making significant strides where it counts. the steps we took nearly six years ago to rescue our economy and rebuild it on a new foundation helped make 2014 the strongest year for job growth since the 1990s. over the past 57 months, our businesses have created nearly 11 million new jobs.

and in a hopeful sign for middle-class families, wages are on the rise again. our investments in american manufacturing have helped fuel its best stretch of job growth since the '90s. america is now the number one producer of oil and gas, saving drivers about 70 cents a gallon at the pump over last christmas. the auto industry we rescued is on track for its strongest year since 2005. thanks to the affordable care act, about 10 million americans have gained health insurance in the past year alone. and since i took office, we have cut our deficits by about two-thirds. meanwhile, around the world, america is leading. we're leading the coalition to degrade and ultimately destroy isil. we're leading the global fight to combat the ebola outbreak in west africa. we're leading global efforts to address climate change, including last month's joint announcement with china. we're turning a new page in our relationship with the cuban

people. and in less than two weeks, after more than 13 years, our combat mission in afghanistan will be over, and our war there will come to a responsible end. today, more of our troops are home for the holidays than at any time in over a decade. still, many of our men and women in uniform will spend this christmas in harm's way. and as commander-in-chief, i want our troops to know -- your country is united in our support and gratitude for you and your families. the six years since the financial crisis have demanded hard work and sacrifice on everyone's part. but as a country, we have every right to be proud of what we've got to show for it. more jobs. more insured. a growing economy. shrinking deficits. bustling industry. booming energy. pick any metric you want -- america's resurgence is real. and we now have the chance to reverse the decades-long erosion of middle-class jobs and incomes. we just have to invest in the things that we know will secure

even faster growth in higher-paying jobs for more americans. we have to make sure our economy, our justice system, and our government work not only for a few, but for all of us. and i look forward to working together with the new congress next year on these priorities. sure, we'll disagree on some things. we'll have to compromise on others. i'll act on my own when it's necessary. but i will never stop trying to make life better for people like you. because thanks to your efforts, a new foundation is laid. a new future is ready to be written. we have set the stage for a new american moment, and i'm going to spend every minute of my last two years making sure we seize it. on behalf of the obama family, i wish all of you a very merry christmas. thanks, and have a wonderful holiday season. >> good morning, i'm mike kelly, and i have the tremendous privilege of representing pennsylvania's third congressional district. today i'm offering president

obama a lump of coal for christmas. not because he's been bad this year -- though i'll get to that. no, i'm offering the president a lump of coal because this product right here holds the potential for a 21st-century economic revival. you see, coal is our most abundant and valuable resource. it lights our homes, it keeps our electric bills low, and puts food on the table for countless families. more than 40,000 jobs in my state alone are tied to coal. but this isn't just about coal country -- no, it's about our whole country. because no other nation in the world has been blessed with such abundant, affordable, and accessible resources. and with all god has given us, we shouldn't be just trying to keep up with the pack -- my goodness, we should be leading the world. if only we had a president willing to seize this opportunity. he tells us he's for "all of the above" but then he leaves out

everything that's below. the president said he would bankrupt the coal industry, and he's spent his presidency trying to do just that. federal regulations have already forced two coal-fired power plants in my district to close over the past two years. and hundreds more are set to shut down around our country. he's put up so many roadblocks to american energy that all our production is coming from state and private lands. even when the president's own party stopped him from imposing his cap-and-trade tax, he said it was "just one way of skinning the cat," and then he directed the epa to do his bidding for him. instead of forcing our workers to live with less, the president should let us use our god-given resources and talents to help americans get back to work and make our nation the energy superpower it can be -- and quite frankly, that it needs to be. so, whether it's stopping these regulations, expediting infrastructure, or expanding production, there's so much more we can do to encourage the

development of all forms of american energy. these just aren't republican solutions -- these are common-sense, american ideas that have support in both parties. you're going to see them again in the new congress, starting with a vote to approve the keystone xl pipeline. because manufacturing things, making things -- and doing it better than anyone else in the world -- that's what america has always been about. that's how we've built such a robust and dynamic economy. if we pull together, we can make 2015 the year we restore our nation of builders. but that's next year. right now, we are getting ready to celebrate christmas. as we do, i hope you'll set aside a moment to remember all those who gave their lives this year for the cause of freedom, and pray for those spending this holiday season away from their families and loved ones. merry christmas, everyone, and may god continue to bless the united states of america.

rogen talks about political humor in movies. and i will parliament -- politics and bipartisanship. and a speech on the senate floor. >> on the next "washington tankersley examines what has gone wrong with the middle class and what the country must do to get the economy working for everyone. and an author talks about his book "the end of greatness." we will take your calls and you can join the conversation on race book and twitter. "washington journal" at 7 a.m. eastern on c-span. was a look at some programs you will find christmas day on

the c-span network. holiday festivities at 10 a.m. eastern with the lighting of the white house christmas decorations with first lady shall obama and the lighting of the capital dismissed trip. celebrity activist talk about their -- of the capitol christmas tree. celebrity activists. c-spanan numeral two -- pinker. and searching the secret history of wonder woman. and talking about reading habits. , the falln history tv of the berlin wall with c-span footage of president george bush and bob dole with speeches from president john kennedy and ronald reagan. at noon, fashion experts on first ladies fashion choices and

how they represented the styles of the times in which they lived. histom brokaw are on reporting world events. that is on christmas day. for a complete schedule, go to c-span.org. and lizz winstead appearedcs in team this is before the canceling of the release "the interview." it's part of a broad discussion on how comedians and filmmakers use comedy to address political issues in the harvard institute of politics hosted this event. this program contains language that some may find offensive. this is about an hour and 10 minutes. [applause]

>> hello, everyone. i am maggie williams. welcome to the john f. kennedy junior forum in the institute of politics. our mission is to inspire students towards careers in politics and public service, but we have some laughs along the way. over the years, this form has hosted chevy chase, john stewart, stephen colbert, al franken, and i hope you will enjoy this discussion as much as you have enjoyed the others. leading our conversation tonight is a young woman who knows a thing or two about humor, named this past january as the first african-american woman president of our 138-year-old harvard lampoon. [applause]

she started her writing career at age seven when she began her memoir entitled, i am the only one who knows about anything. [laughter] she is a senior and studies economics, which is a writing comedy. she was a directors in turn in -- intern in the state of wisconsin. please welcome alexis wilkinson. [applause] >> thank you so much, maggie. i can die now. [laughter] great job. basically we are here tonight to discuss the role of politics and humor, and i think what is

becoming increasingly apparent about the role of humor and politics. from tina fey -- some people would argue that influence the entire country -- to the daily show and the colbert report. politics and humor armor bound together than ever. with that in mind, our guests tonight are liz winstead, the cocreator of the daily show. she has campaigned tirelessly and hilariously for contraceptive access and abortion rights. founding the movement lady parts justice. she has appeared on comedy central, hbo, cnn, msnbc. she also wrote a book on her life and career. please welcome liz winstead.

[applause] seth rogen is an actor, emmy nominated writer, comedian, filmmaker. he has appeared in a number of block busters. he is also a canadian. "pineapple express." seth has been an ardent supporter of marijuana legalization, gay rights, and alzheimer's awareness, testifying to congress about the importance of research. please give it up for seth rogen. [applause] ok, i'm going to ask them a couple of open-ended questions

and we will watch a couple of video clips and then we will move on to q&a. i will start with liz. you started as a standup comedian and then went on to write. and perform. some 80% of millennials watch the daily show. that is a crazy percentage. can you describe how you came to create the show and what your original vision was for the show? >> oh, boy. the short of it was i thought i would be a standup forever. i was on the road and making a living doing standup. i was fine about it. i was kind of a hack.

dopey jokes like great dane should have to wear underwear in public. [laughter] >> great. >> yeah. really, it is so embarrassing to say, but it is true. i had this moment --i was set up on this date. a blind date. it was before tinder. human.ine it was a >> i went on a date and the guy shows up and he is wearing a yankees hat and a yankees jacket and i'm already doubting because i'm from minnesota, i'm a twins fan, and i have a theory about

guys who wear double sports gear that they won't go down on you. a theory. born to play out. he said to me -- isn't dolce vita in black and white? that's a negative. i thought i should and do the -- end the date. but i continued. we went to the movie. he fell asleep in the movie. i hated him so much for falling asleep that i smeared my greasy popcorn hand on his yankees jacket. i felt horrible guilt. when he woke up, let's go have a drink. we get to the bar and it's the night of the first gulf war.

the tv is on. a lot of you weren't even born, but it was when there was just cnn. tv on. all of a sudden, cnn had graphics and a theme song and hot people talking about war. i thought to myself, are they reporting on a war are trying to war? trying to sell me a it felt really weird. when i felt like, -- i thought, we're screwed as a nation. [laughter] i started looking at the world through a different lens. i started reading more stuff in talking about the media. i did a couple of one-woman shows and comedy central said you want to create a show that's on everyday about the news? i said, i do, but the one thing that is key is that we make fun of the newsmakers, we actually

use the news as the character. we look at the way they do the news and make fun of that. the manipulation is part of it. >> ok. awesome. thank you. today, a lot of your work involves merging politics and humor. particularly on autonomy for women. let's go to a clip from your organization. [video clip] >> oh, there's a screen. ♪ >> fallopian tube. rs and all thegue myer uninvited guests in chamber. the state of our uterus is

strong. the end of last year left us unstable. when the government shutdown, there was panic. with no politician in place telling me what to do, our vaginas ran amok. that was then. tonight, i assure you that the government is back to work and that republicans and republicans alike are tirelessly fighting so that everyone will have the same rights as those of saudi arabia. [laughter] laws isage of abortion a pretty good start. [applause] >> lady parts justice is dealing with a contentious and divisive issue. legislation is now closing family planning clinics, leaving

women without options, so what made you want to be in this fight? why do think humor is the best way to communicate this message? >> i think leaving women without options is bad. also, i realize people were not aware of what was happening. planned parenthood is a strong brand. when you are busy, you don't understand what the assault is. i feel like -- when i hear people talk about this issue that are -- they talk about circumstances that are not true. one, that there is some age of abstinence we have to get back to. people have sex. they do mistakes happen. whatever. why not make sure all access is given and talk about it in ways that are fun and interesting and

also get men involved, because it turns out that women cannot get pregnant by themselves. >> what? >> yes. >> yes. it is true. i feel like if women can't control everything about their destiny, they will never be a part of the power structure. i would like to be more a part of the decision-making process. [applause] >> thank you. let's move on to seth. >> oh, man. >> you are most known for outrageous blockbuster comedies and smoking cannabis. i know you care deeply about alzheimer's research.

can you explain how you came to be involved in that conversation and what it was like to testify to congress about it? >> my mother-in-law was diagnosed with early alzheimer's when she was in her 50's. i had just started dating my wife around that time. i really knew nothing about it. i knew how was for trade in movies. i very quickly got a crash course in all things alzheimer's. one of the most interesting things and startling things was that there is literally no treatment at all. there is nothing you can do. then you start to look into how much funding it gets, and it is ridiculously overfunded in comparison the things that kill much less people and have many forms of treatment.

so no one is doing anything, and as far as diseases that are cool to talk about, it's polio, just not hip in any capacity. there is a lot of shame associated with it. there is aware of microphone thing happening. the whole thing is --. there was no competition. it was mine to take. [applause] as i got older, you realize, not everyone -- i'm a famous person and people pay attention to what i say and i generally say stupid

shit. maybe i can deflect that onto something they could use some elimination. -- illumination. i wonder how to do that. i'm not very educated. it was a struggle for a long time. very organically this thing came into my life where i could talk about it on a very personal way. i did not have to memorize facts or statistics or anything like that. i can speak from my own experiences. all of a sudden, i was raising awareness. they invited me to go to congress and talk about it. that is disheartening in a way, i guess. they have these panel set up so they can hear people's personal pleas on issues and no one shows up to them. that is like the norm. there are 17 people on this panel and two people were there.

when i started to wonder why there were only two people there, everyone was that's what happens. people do not show up to these things. what a great job. you're defended in your choice to not show up to it. in a way, that was disconcerting. at the same time, people hate the government, and that is why. it seems inefficient and people are getting paid to do shit they are not doing. for a brief moment, alzheimer's went viral, i guess. the speech got a lot of views on youtube, on c-span's second most-watched video after obama's inauguration. again, not a lot of competition. in a way, it showed that i can, even if for a brief moment, shed some light on something, and that's a microscopic step towards relevant change.

>> ok. thank you. the next thing i want to ask you about is your new movie, the interview. you and james franco are hired by the cia to kill north korea's leader. let's watch the trailer for that. [laughter] [video clip] >> who is this? >> our leader is interested in doing an interview with dave skylark. >> did you do say china? >> i will be traveling to north korea to interview north korea's president. ♪

>> i am agent lacy with central intelligence. you two are going to be in a room alone with north korea's president. we would love it if you could take him out. take him out. >> for coffee? >> dinner? >> take him out. >> you want us to kill the leader of north korea? >> what? >> hello, north korea! >> i watched every episode of your show. i especially enjoyed the miley cyrus camel toe episode. >> you are entering the most dangerous company on earth. >> i have a gift for you. >> this dog is killing me with his cuteness. ♪ >> i wish we had an escape plan.

>> i'm a good swimmer. >> it is really far. >> people have done it. >> that is not true. ♪ >> nice tank. is that real? >> it was a gift to my grandfather from stalin. >> in my country it is pronounced stallone. ♪ >> i never heard this before in my life. >> i love katy perry. >> i spend a lot of time with kim and i think he's not a bad guy. >> you are way too deep to pull it out. >> i'm pulling it out. >> you are way too deep, son.

>> all right. [applause] ok. unsurprisingly, the actual north korea has flipped. they called for merciless retaliation. how did this idea for the movie come about? how did you think north korea would respond? >> the idea came about from -- we -- it was anecdotal conversation. we were talking about mike wallace interviews osama bin laden. if you're in a position to be in a room with dangerous people, and i'm not saying they should kill them, but were they so inclined, they would be in a good position to do that.

that became -- we would just talk about, you know, and then meanwhile we were fascinated with the north korea, as a lot of people are. it is a bizarre place. the more you read about it, the more bizarre it is. the more mysterious it is. the deeper you dig, the deeper the mystery goes. eventually, we combine the ideas. we would make a movie about a journalistic is an interview with a leader and disaster kill him. as we get more and more looking into north korea, learning more about it, we started to see the crazy rhetoric is the name of the game. the opening scene of the movie makes fun of that idea. when they ultimately came out with this rhetoric, it was not that surprising.

it confirmed the theory of the movie to some degree. yeah. >> are you fearful that they will actually do something? >> not really. no. i would hope they have better things to do. don't take that as a challenge. again, i would hope they have better things to do. >> i don't think the movies being released there. i suspect low box office revenue there. >> ok. the next topic with you both is that there has been a lot of talk about gender dynamics and comedy, feminism, and that is people are looking at

pop-culture and humor and holding people accountable for things being said. the question i have for you -- you obviously have worked and comedy for a long time, late-night tv, political satire, and for that genre there is a real thirst for women. when stephen colbert is leaving -- the black part of me was happy, but the woman part of me was not happy. what you think can be done to correct that? >> well, since i have so much power. i think we have made great strides from where we were and where we are going. i think there was an old guard for a long time. the old guard is retiring. when you look at young show

runners taking over, they have come up the ranks with women and with people of color and those people are now along for the ride. i think the predisposition that women are not funny is not there. i feel good about that. you will now see tons of women and people of color. it is really cool. i think that -- it's always amazing to me. i look at late-night into different ways. i look at stephen colbert and john stewart and bill maher as different animals. generally, when i watch the daily show, i get many writing submissions from women. they did not have the chops to do that show at the time. that has changed. you know what kind of packet to write for it. if you think about it, if you're going into the world of tv writing or film writing or whatever, there are few jobs for

big, nerdy, funny political junkies who also have historical working knowledge of life, politics, and who can say that nixon said that, reagan said that, this is weird, fdr radio clip. those people existing work on the shows. you have to be a combination person. on top of having all that knowledge, you are examining the landscape of the media and politics. a lot of people just go, there's more sitcoms than shows like that. i think that it is hard -- if you look at the ratings of the daily show, they are different than modern families. i think that people interested in doing those things are not as great.

women doing those things are not as great. people doing them well is not as great as that. it gets hard. the pool gets smaller when you assess what you need to make your show great every single night. it has to just to do with the cool people. >> seth, you are known for these romantic comedies with a bunch of dudes. they get out of it by being pretty stupid. you took to twitter to defend the movie "neighbors." "the washington post" linked movies like that to the santa barbara murders. you tweeted, how dare you and

impolite -- many people pointed out that your character's wife -- she is actually in on all the action that is crucial to the plot. all that is just to say, do you think about the gender dynamics of filmmaking? how much of that should go into what stories you want to tell? >> as we got an older, we have thought about it more. when we were in our early 20's making "super bad," it was so -- it was removed from that perspective. the rules of the women in that movie was very clear what they should be. as we gotten older, yes, with neighbor specifically, we put a

lot of thought into how do we allow the character to be as important to the comedy, the story, and how to we not make the story about a couple who is in conflict, but make a comedy team out of a husband and wife who really get along with each other and like each other. the article she wrote had some good points, and i probably overshadow that with my rage because on that movie specifically, i was hurt that movie specifically is one that we put a lot of thought into not doing that. i think a lot of people responded very well to that and understood that was a key element of that movie. you know, being told that you are in in any way responsible

for a mass murder sucks. that is also where i is coming from from some degree. as we gotten older and smarter, i guess, we realized that -- it is the nature of how movies are structured themselves that lends itself towards sexism, honestly. the traditional structure of a movie that is romantic -- the structure that works for 100 years, which is why people keep doing it, is very much the structure that a lot of movies follow which do not paint women in the most independent plot driven light. once we were like, not do that, it is interesting how many conventions we had to unravel. a lot of the standard movie mechanics are trying to put this into a bad rule, and we had to fight against that.

we do it more and more. it is something that we are trying to be more aware of. >> the more you get women in writers rooms and women as creators and in life in general where they're making decisions, then the roles of those women will also be reflected in film. i think that is the problem. if you have a life where you don't have women all over it, then you don't create movies from the perspective of a woman. how many women are running studios? it's a fallacy that perpetuates still. people say, there are women comedies and there are men's comedies and movies like bridesmaids and stuff. they have started to break the mold. unless we stop having women in

these positions where we can write about experiential things, we will be stuck in that same formula. >> do you feel comedians should have license to push the boundaries? they have a social responsibility when it comes to joke telling? >> i think -- i mean, i think you have to know what you're talking about. i think you have to be able to defend your own material on an intellectual and moral level. i don't think -- i would never make a joke that i think would get a laugh that has a political

view that i don't personally believe in, because i might get asked about that one day and i don't want to look stupid. it's like -- i do think that a lot of people who try to be edgy or political who feel they're unfairly targeted by the political correctness crowd or forget that they have to be funny as well as edgy and political, and i think that if you really look at the people who complain about that and the people who don't, their view of the people who are complaining about it are hilarious and motives the people who are truly hilarious and incredibly edgy never complain about it at all. i think every time you make a joke that you know in your head is slightly controversial -- there's almost like a group of people that have to react negatively to the jokes in order for that joke to be valid. you know the group of people think this thing that you think

is not necessarily what they should be thinking, you know. and they will say their thing and sometimes they'll say something, though, that offends more than just those people by accident. i do see comedians apologizing sometimes. i've never done something that i felt like i had to apologize for. but i've seen people make jokes, i think, yeah, they should apologize. it's some admission maybe they went too far. we screen our movies a lot. there are jokes that go too far and that are probably in bad taste. by the time they reach mass consumption we filter those out. we may realize -- we didn't even realize it and somebody will say something and just the way it

will play in the room, we're like, oh, and we try to be sensitive to that personally. but i personally don't feel like, you know, i -- that -- like there's some political correct squad that is trying to prevent me from doing my job in the best way that i can. if anything, what i'm able to get away with, generally speaking. >> and i always adhere to it's -- you i would never tell anybody not to say anything. what i -- we were talk about this earlier and i say it often -- is you must understand, though, that when you say something, the second a second it passes your lips, everybody else gets to interpret it the way they interpret it. so with that, it's always mindful and not a bad idea to

think about what your intention is, be able to defend it, know that there's going to be haters no matter what, know there's going to be people who are going to misconstrue. i put a tweet out there about a year and a half ago that was like a horror show for me. and what it was during the time when the republicans were having those hearings about the i.r.s. and saying that obama had only targeted republicans in the i.r.s. scandal. right. it was also a time when the religious right had the habit of blaming storms on gays' and lesbians' behavior, right. >> there's no proof it doesn't. >> right. we can neither confirm or deny. >> san francisco's really rainy. [laughter] >> having that knowledge in my purview, the oak tornado was coming down the pike. it hadn't landed yet but i said

i wonder if the tornado is only going to target republicans. i go have a drink. i come back to my twitter feed and it is hit. there are children who have died and i have a tweet that's out there. people are -- you're a tornado person, we wish people are -- i got it. people don't know how many people actually do that storm comparison. it wasn't worth me to defend it, because it was just too much of a thing, so i took it down and i said "i tweeted this, let me have it, like i get where this thing exploded into another thing" and i moved on with my life and of course people don't let it go. i went and looked like it and i was like that is just -- up. so i took it out. there have been tweets where i've gotten an amount of anger

that i was totally, i will double down on that. i'm like, i'm sorry. every time someone's offended doesn't mean that i'm, a, thoroughly thrilled to offend them because i think they're wieners, or i just think it's right and made a larger point or whatever. so you just have to take it all in because you're putting it all out there and sometimes you never know where you're at unless you do hit a barrier and say, wow, that was we're. >> that was too much. >> yeah. i say you got to own it when people come down under a take lumps like everybody else and -- >> yeah. >> feel good about knowing you can defend it and take the hits if you can take the hits, i guess. >> all right. thank you. so before we go to audience questions, i have a few like non serious rapid fire questions,

so, you know, lightning rounds. whatever comes first to mind. so liz, do you think hillary clinton is more of a samantha or a charlotte? i can't decide. they're opposite characters. >> i think she's -- do i have to pick one of those? >> do you think of miranda? >> what? >> i mean, please, please. >> what if i said i didn't watch "sex in the city," so i'm stumped by your question. >> i think she's of mr. big. >> good answer. >> i'm going with that. >> tearing down gender walls. >> oh, my god. i'm wrecking your game. all right. that's ok. i know the viewers want to hear and -- yeah, yeah.

things that i wish my life was. >> so, seth, do you know public relations? >> no. i pledge allegiance to the flag of the united states of america and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under god. that's the controversial part, and then i don't know the rest. that's only for movies and -- >> awesome. [applause] >> ok. liz. >> i'll do better. >> you got this. obama, worse good president or best bad president? >> you know who he is. >> all the hair and the drinking was -- >> that's not a crack. >> worst best president, best worst?

i would say best black president. >> oh. >> with that logic, he's also the worst black president. >> i take that back. you know what? you know, i always feel like he's a president who has given us as much humor as he gave us -- he gave us health care, so he gets a pass for me. >> yeah. >> great. so, seth, if marijuana were legal in all 50 states, which do you think would have the best weed? >> that's a good question. fracking helps. i don't know. probably i would imagine where there's like a strong farming, botany community, like vermont or something like that. yeah. pastures, green pastures and stuff like that. vermont.

yeah. >> ok. awesome. >> ben and jerry ice cream. >> all about the food. ok. liz, this is a two-part question. is it better to have loved and lost than to never loved at all and which state do you think has the worst abortion laws? >> is it better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all? yes. because vibrators are expensive. [laughter] >> true. >> and the worst abortion laws? believe it or not, it's hard. oregon is the only state that has not curbed any abortion access since row v. wade. so i guess -- you'd think it might be texas.

but you'd be wrong. >> curve ball. >> because it might be louisiana and it might be north carolina. because just -- or it might be mississippi. i think any place with one clinic in which there are five states, there's only one clinic to have access, so i would say the southeast region and ohio could be thrown in there. i don't know. i'm confused. i'd like to stay right here. you have good ones here. >> you can't even read "dirty dancing" in texas. >> you can't sell sex toys in texas. >> what? >> i know, we wanted to go down there and do a vibrator buy-back program, and we said no questions asked, just put it in the bucket. >> ok. awesome.

>> thank you. >> so, seth, this is the last question. >> did you just thank me for that? >> i did, i did. good information from you. texas, who knew? so, seth. >> yes. >> pick options here. james franco still hits on underage girls on instagram or franco has now gone on to tumbler. >> i'll say tumbler. any evolution is a good one. >> all right, all right. ok. so now we're going to start the audience q & a. there are mikes one, two, three, and four. there are three rules to this. one you need to introduce yourself. evan is going to join us. >> a partner, wow! >> he co-wrote "the interview" together. rules are, you have to introduce yourself if you want to say your

affiliation with a college or otherwise, go ahead. you need to keep it short and it needs to end in a question mark. so no semicolon -- just keep it to -- let's start over here. >> hi. my name is alex. i'm the co-president of the business school of republicans. my question tonight is, are there any candidates that you ever want to win even if you disagree with them just because they'll provide you with good material? >> no. i'll always put social issues above my own personal comedic well-being, personally. >> i know. i do wince a little bit when they lose. >> i might have voted for arnold schwarzenegger just for a laugh. >> i've voted against people or when michelle bachman decided

she was resigning. i'm from minnesota and i was like, oh, i can't use this accent anymore. so i don't -- no. >> it's tempting, though. >> probably like rob ford's moving on. >> true. >> that was a wild thing to watch. >> it helped us get a movie made. we had a movie about a politician who's a crazy drug addict who went off the rails and then rob ford went nuts -- and then all of a sudden there was a movie about a politician that went off the rail. >> my name's ben. i'm harvard law. i was wondering what your thoughts were on dennis rodman on a diplomat for the united states. secondly, most importantly, if the leader of north korea were

to give you an invitation to screen your movie there with the agreement that you'd come back alive, would you go? >> there was some type of magical -- let's pretend magic exists? if there was some kind of magical spell they could put on us and say you'll be ok, yes, i would do that. i'm always curious to see how the movie plays. >> we did all that research and we'll never get to go. >> yeah, so it would be -- yeah. i would -- i would do that. again, if magic existed. and what was the first part? we wrote did movie before that happened. kim jung il was actually the star of the movie and we recast him. in the movie, as you see from

the trailer, it's about an idiot who goes to north korea and is seduced by their leader and they grow to like him. we thought, is that really far-fetched? and then it -- happens. in a way we were like -- at first it was a little irksome. it adds credibility to the whole thing. it made a far-fetched story actually seem very plausible. it kind of validated the whole thing and grounded it in reality even more than it was, yeah. >> all right. >> hi. >> hey. >> hi. i'm jacob, a sophomore at the college. i think satire tends to be critical as opposed to constructive and also sometimes silly. i don't think it's satire's role to be constructive nor is it suited to play that role.

but i wonder how in satire we learn to be the jerk in the project and shoots people down and shows how they won't work. how do we avoid that? >> i got to disagree with you on that. >> ok. >> i think satire is constructive. if it isn't, that person will not be seen adds satiric. if you're not going doing something, it's just cruel. you're trying to make -- "the daily show," every joke is a little different. >> although they're attacking things that are stupid, by doing that they're either directly or indirectly bolstering things that are not stupid and there is like -- it's an action-reaction reality. comedically, it's a lot harder -- it's easier to be critical of something. like, if you see comedy,

comedians complain about stuff. >> it's negative. the essence is negative. >> it's 100% rooted in negativity. that just is what comedy is. i think what you're saying is right, ultimately by rejecting a negative, you are, you know, bolstering a positive. with dr. strangelove, yes, there's no moment where they say nuclear bombs are bad or no, nuclear bombs are good. >> like louis c.k. is saying a lot of valuable stuff. i think my life is better for me listening to his comedy. he's complaining a lot about stuff in life but he's teaching me about what it's like to be a dad raising children. i like seeing the things he thinks are funny or wrong or right.

i think i learn a lot from satire. >> i do, too i feel like also being able to observe what you want to expose means that you do a lot of research on it and you get to a lot of nuance. the colbert character is a nuance. it's a thought process and i think that it gives people a little bit of insight into things. so, yeah, i'm sorry. we all disagree with you. >> but good question. >> that was my plan all along. >> may i say one thing? often when people ask a question like that, they have something specific they're thinking about. is there something specific you're thinking about when you ask that? a specific piece of comedy or satire when you asked that? >> not necessarily. i was especially thinking about "the daly show." there's satire when you're pointing out -- when john makes fun of a pet on the giant screen.

i think sometimes there's not an obvious alternative, when we're saying like that's a stupid idea and i don't have any specific example. >> i think, i think -- ok. so i'll close this out really quick. part of the reason that i have started this new medium and gone into this new medium is i agree with you. it is not satire's role to solve problems. it's the role to make fun of it. if you love satire and then you say, you know what? i want to be able to slow that -- out into the world and have some ways and places where people can quo and try to fix it themselves, that's what i want to do but that's not -- that wasn't the role of having a tv show and that. i'm happy that exists because it's like you can do it that way. so i guess i'm actually --

you can't go any further. i'll talk to you after. i'll talk to you after. >> ok. >> hi. my name is tess. i'm currently a freshman here at the college. i'm both a staff writer for the u.s. section of the harvard political review and i'm also a correspondent for harvard internet comedy group on harvard time. now, my question is, since now i'm going to be figuring out what my future career plans are, what do you recommend i go into, keeping in mind that my parents will be watching this online. >> comedy or politics? >> or a combination of the two. >> i mean, do you want to laugh or be serious all the time? >> it's really fun to work in comedy and you can do both. >> and also politics. >> and you can inject a lot of your political beliefs in that. >> or you can become the funniest politician ever. >> yeah. >> i think it's easier to inject

politics into comedy. i would suggest you become a comedian who is politically oriented rather than a politician who is comedically oriented. >> because oftentimes, they don't go there. >> you'll never compete with some of those guys. >> my name is william. mr. rogen mentioned that a lot of people aren't very funny. established funny people, even many of you have pointed out that you attract jokes because you think they've gone too far. my question is, how do you know when a joke's gone too far? >> when we're on set, we always say that we have to go too far on set in order to make sure that we went far enough and we can always tone it back. everyone on the set has to be mature about that. we've had jokes that we set on

said on set and we turn around and look at the crew and they're like nooo. >> but we also test the movies a lot with test audiences and we really listen. like the truth is, people won't laugh a lot if a joke is mean spirited or they feel morally wrong. it just -- you can just feel it in the room. you say something -- up, people will like, argh. >> we videotape the audience so we can play it back and see that. >> we sit in the theater and you can feel the energy sucked out of the room the seconds it happens. it's almost a physical sensation. >> there's been times we love the joke and we think it's hilarious, and the audience doesn't. >> we don't want to offend most people. some people no matter what are going to be offended. we have to be able to defend it. sometimes it takes testing of jokes to realize, oh, we might

have done something that would be hard to defend because people are saying in the focus group afterwards, that joke was -- up so don't do that. >> the line is changing. >> yeah. >> it depends who you're developing your material for, what that means, what does what that means. what does offend mean? do you know what i mean? so when we talk about something that's offensive, should we not talk about religion? should we not talk about abortion, should we not talk about executing a world leader. should we not be talking about whatever. there's going to be people that say that should be off limits for comedy. should you not ever talk about rape. so i think that everybody -- there is no line. there is only what you feel in your gut personally that you can't defend.

>> yeah. >> and you see -- and you don't want to put it out there in the universe, really. >> that's exactly right. we have to talk about our work a lot, so -- yeah, so we put a lot of thought into what can you defend, what can't you defend. but we make movies generally speaking that are designed to play in a theater full of people. and that is our litmus test is how does the theater full of people respond to it. and basically do they all laugh at it and afterwards in the focus group does anyone point out anything being to them something that's like specifically offensive. and obviously, like we made a -- this is the end of essentially, making fun of christianity itself. some people are like, yeah, this whole movie is offensive. those people aren't who the movie's for. you're listening to the people

who the movie is for, which is people who would go see that movie and pay. and if they are put off by something, then they're right. if it doesn't get a laugh, how do you defend that? it means it's not funny. >> i would just also add that how you feel you want to defend something and how you write things is also super crucial to who is in that room with you. do you have a diverse writing staff? >> yeah. >> what does that mean? all of a sudden if you actually have a writing staff that is reflective of the world you live in, then everybody does a different kind of check. that's why i think it's really important to have diverse writing staffs with women and people of color, because then you really do look at what does all that mean. you may all vote and say, you know what, we're all willing to take that same place, but what is your check-in at that point? it's brave to be in a full of

white people and you say all this stuff and you're like really? i think that's the important thing to talk about when talking about the creative process. >> for sure. >> thank you. >> hi there. my name is branson. i'm studying film and video production. my question is, haven't you worked on some pretty small to large projects, series, films, i'm curious how have you been able to preserve what you find to be your own creative and comedic voice in the production of this plethora of media and where are you willing to compromise? >> for us, with movies, i think there's a temptation to as you get more successful to try to acquire as much money for your budget as humanly possible.

that's kind of like, it's a sign of success on the surface, at least, in hollywood, if you make big expensive movies, that's kind of the upper echelon. the kind of unspoken implication is like you want to make bigger, more expensive movies. we were able to make a $150 million movie and so we did it what we very quickly found was that budget robbed us of everything that made us creatively valuable basically, and everything we enjoyed the most about the process itself, which is if we think of it, an idea, we can do it. if someone pitches a joke, they can just do it. what we learned is that money actually robs you of something very large, which is creative control and freedom.

and so in the past -- >> you kind of said mo money, mo problems. >> mo money, mo problems. that's the short of it. we make movies that are half the price of the movies we could be making and we're getting paid half the amount that we could be getting paid. but what we are getting in exchange for that is pretty much do whatever the -- we want, which is much more valuable than money on a day-to-day basis. >> and we'll cut our own budget down. >> yeah. >> we'll say to them. at 40 you're going to tell us a lot of stuff and 30 you're not. we'll do it at 30. >> yeah. we do the numbers that will allow us not to listen that much. >> i've been in the situation in that when we started "the daily show," cable was still really cheap. i've never worked on anything that i had a budget. what that means is, a small

staff also means lot of ownership, and that's what's really fun is that when the graphic person is the president and you have six writers and you're working your balls off or whatever. i don't have them anymore. you work so hard that everybody sees their joke on the air and sees that they're part of the process, it's really rewarding. the bottom line in this business is that there's no making it. there's only the path which you make your worth. if that path isn't fun and rewarding and full of cool people, you are going to wake up one day and be a rich person who doesn't have a lot of hang-on to cool experiences. i can't stress it enough. >> i think as we get older we realized our lives are spent actually making the movies, and that is the process that is like occupying our day-to-day existence, and so that has to be fun. like it can't all be like, well, it's -- miserable but at least it's good in the end.

it has to be a process that we enjoy and is inspiring to us creatively and makes us feel like we can think of new ideas and get excited about them and put them in the movie without having to call and check a million things. and that was like a big revelation where it was for us creatively. >> i am a physician from canada. my question is for liz. how successful has her comedy been in disarming and influencing policy with regards to the lunatics that hate women's sexuality? >> we launched in july. what had been a great part of the disarming thing, in an issue

that is as controversial as abortion rights and reproductive rights, someone has to be the fall guy, and i decided that i will do it. when someone says, how do you support killing babies? medical science does not say this is what this is. it is against the law, that is terrible. to break through the language that has been co-opted by really radical people who don't listen to science and don't listen to the medicine of this, they don't know what to do with me because i am relentless when they come at me and say, how do you advocate birth-control pills, women are pushing themselves with chemicals. i say well, i can't wait to help you.

when do we work together on this? or they will say why can't women just shut their legs, and i will say why should they? somebody needs to start saying those kinds of things because otherwise we just go with their narrative. they say sometimes people take birth control pills. it is mostly because they don't want to get pregnant, so can we please just talk about that in a real way? other people are tactful and awesome and say super appropriate things, i am not one of them. it gives people a sigh of relief to go -- i have been through this experience, one of three women have had an abortion in their lifetime, that means one of three women are holding onto

information that is personal, and they felt relief and guilt about that. to have comedy, sarah silverman has been a great champion with me, amy schumer, have come together and put it out there to say nothing should stop you, especially a medical choice that you made. that is where we are going, to bring it to a level where you go to the doctor and be the best person you can be. that is what we are striving for. [applause] >> can we get one more question so we don't end on abortion? >> please. >> in "knocked up," jonah hill makes a joke about abortion. can you give some background about that joke, to leave the

abortion unnamed, and, liz, what do you think about it? >> i think that was an improv that came up and it is commenting on people's discomfort with it and how silly it is. jonah's character in that movie is an idiot and so he is acting in a way an idiot would act, which is thinking that abortion is something that dare not be named. people forget that in our movies we are portraying morons. we are ourselves not that moronic, and i always think it is so funny how we are ascribed the personality trait of the people we are essentially mocking in our work. no one has this problem more than mcbride. he made up the character of redneck idiot but people think he is a redneck idiot. i think that happens a lot.

i wonder if people ask anthony hopkins if is ok to eat people's faces. i think that joke more than anything was making one of the type of people that it was making fun of. >> in somebody's comedy and art, they do what they need to do. but i think it is more important that the people who are actually making policies and providing the services around this issue are saying the word abortion. they are not legislating pro-choice, they are legislating abortion. it is whatever somebody chooses to do, but in the practical sense saying it is something we need to start doing. >> oh, no, abortion! >> i am excited for the holidays. anybody? i have a great gingerbread recipe.

>> that is all the time we have. i would like to thank evan goldberg, seth rogen. i would like to thank all of you guys for coming out. it was awesome and it was a pleasure. have a good night. [captions copl cable satellite corp. 2014] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org]

>> here is a look at some of the programs you will find christmas day on the c-span networks. start at 10ivities a.m. with the lighting of the national christmas tree, followed by white house christmas decorations, and the lighting of the capitol christmas tree. after 12:30 p.m., celebrity activist talk about their causes. at 8:00, supreme court justice samuel alito and former florida

governor jeb bush on the founding fathers and the bill of rights. and venture into the art of good writing. and see the feminist side of a superhero, looking at the secret history of wonder woman. and reading habits. theamerican history tv" fall of the berlin wall with c-span footage showed president george bush and bob dole, with speeches from presidents john kennedy and ronald reagan. and how fashion choices first ladies represented the styles of the times. at 10:00, former nbc news anchor tom brokaw on more than 50 years of reporting news events. that is christmas day on the c-span networks. for the complete schedule, go to c-span.org. iowa democratic senator tom

harkin is retiring at the end of his germ. of his term. he has served five terms in the senate. tooktly, charles grassley to the floor to pay tribute to senator harkin, who then joined him for a conversation about iowa politics. this is about 20 minutes. rise today to celebrate the 75th birthday of my friend and longtime colleague f >> i rise today to celebrate the 75th a few weeks. at the end of the 113th congress, senator harkin will then close a chapter on public service that spans more than a half-century, including four decades in congress. he also served 27 years in the united states navy and u.s.

naval reserves. ten years in the house of representatives and 30 years here in the united states senate. now, i think anybody looking at that would say that is a remarkable and distinguished record of public service. after 40 years of representing iowans in congress, my friend tom soon will leave behind the halls of the u.s. capitol. he also will leave behind a legacy of fiery floor speeches, passionately delivered on behalf of individuals with disabilities. also for iowa farmers. also for the elderly. also for child laborers, and for many causes that he championed, such as early childhood education, nutrition and wellness, conservation, renewable energy, and