“The Daily Show’s” Emmy-Nominated Director David Paul Meyer on Jon Stewart’s Return
Last year’s Emmy winner for Best Talk Series, The Daily Show’s director David Paul Meyer snagged four nods this year, including directing the much-heralded episode, “Jon Stewart Returns to The Daily Show,” when Stewart returned to the show this February to cover this especially tumultuous Presidential election season. Starting his stint at the beginning of Trevor Noah’s reign as host in 2015, Meyer’s relationship with him goes back to 2008, a few years before he would produce and direct his USC thesis film, You Laugh But It’s True. The documentary about the South African comedian examined the emerging stand-up comedy scene in that country at the time. Since then, the duo has worked together on a slew of Noah’s comedy specials before they both landed at The Daily Show.
Ahead of this week’s Democratic National Convention coverage in Chicago, Meyer talked to us about what it’s like to pull together a live-to-tape show four times a week that hinges entirely on the frenetic pace of the 24/7 news cycle.
I was a fan of Trevor Noah years before he became the host on The Daily Show. One of my favorites is his “Attention All Passengers” segment in the Crazy Normal comedy special, which you also directed.
That’s awesome! That’s from way back.
Since I speak Mandarin, I was impressed with his intonation when he pretended to speak Mandarin. It was actually quite spot on!
He’s always been one to really study so that he can as authentic as possible.
It was a real delight when he landed the job as the host.
It was very exciting, and that must been cool for you as a fan.
How did you discover Trevor?
For my Master’s Degree thesis film at USC, I did the documentary on Trevor, You Laugh But It’s True. I met him in August 2008 when he was performing at comedy festivals. I only knew one person in South Africa who was in the comedy scene, and there wasn’t really any of Trevor’s material online. The idea was to do a documentary about the emerging stand-up comedy in South Africa. That was only 10-12 years after the fall of apartheid, so I was interested in telling that story. During my first week there, I met a bunch of comedians, and Trevor immediately stood out. He was performing at a jazz club. At the time, they didn’t have any comedy clubs. Music clubs on their off nights would loan their space to these comedians. When I saw Trevor perform, I thought he was very compelling and could be a great focus for the documentary.
Did you start on The Daily Show with Trevor in 2015?
Yes, he gave me the job. I actually started a few weeks earlier, during the last two or three weeks of Jon’s run.
Can you break down what your day is like, especially now with the news going on hyper speed almost every day?
We tape Monday through Thursday. In the morning, we talk about different stories in the news with most of the writers, producers, and staff; we watch clips, and people throw jokes out. I have an “upstairs and a downstairs” part of the job. I’m upstairs with the producers and writers as they discuss stories we want to cover and some of the comedic takes, and the producers also work on visual elements that will be on that day’s show. I collaborate with the producer who oversees graphics, Brittany [Radocha], and with [Senior Producer] Jeff Gussow, who manages the footage that we have or if we want to shoot a chat with a correspondent in-studio on a green screen. I’m always talking to our showrunner, Jen Flanz, about any visual elements we need. Sometimes, it’s a little more complex if we need a stunt coordinator for a comedic stunt on stage. So, that’s the pre-production planning phase with the producers and the writers.
Most of the show really comes together on the day?
Yes, for act one, where we’re going through the headlines at the desk. Depending on the day, we may have something they started writing earlier, but for the most part, that’s all done on that day. For today’s show, both acts one and two are in-studio. So, my day encompasses anything that’s in-studio.
What’s the rehearsal process like?
Around midday, when the crew comes, I brief them in the studio downstairs. We start rehearsing and blocking out the shot sequences, framing, lighting or audio effects, and rehearsing with just crew and stand-ins. We’ll run through the script with all the elements, graphics, roles, clips, etc. After the rehearsal, we’ll do notes, and the writers rewrite it with the host, which is actually happening right now as we speak [for tonight’s show]. An hour before the show, I’ll get the final script and mark it up one last time. Then, we tape, usually around 6 pm, with the audience as if we were live—sometimes, we really are live on the air. I’m calling the show live, even though it’s live-to-tape. Every graphic change, clip, whatever I’m calling, is all live on the fly. Ideally, we have close to something that could air live if needed. After taping, we’ll have a post-mortem with the showrunner, host, and head writers to discuss any changes. Once I sign off on any edits, the show is finished and fed out for broadcast.
What about the rest of the segments?
We usually do three or four acts per show. Another department does the pre-taped segments, where our correspondents go out and interview people for field reports. That’s where I started before becoming the director. Usually, these are for Act Two. Sometimes Act Two may be another in-studio segment, sometimes it’s pre-taped. Act Three is almost always a guest interview in the studio, and Act Four is Our Moment of Zen, where we toss to one last news clip for the day.
Congratulations on your Emmy nominations this year! The episode for which you are nominated for Outstanding Directing is where Jon returns as host for the first time since 2015. Only about two weeks were between the surprise announcement and the episode airing. How did you prepare for that?
It was a big surprise for us too—we found out maybe a little bit earlier on the same day as the rest of the world, which was very exciting. We had a couple of weeks to acclimate to the new format, with Jon on Mondays and the other correspondents hosting the rest of the week. That first episode back took a little more work because we wanted to feature Jon engaging with all of our correspondents. So, we had a multi-location report with all of them in-studio, on stage with a green screen. We had limited cameras and a limited green screen with six or seven correspondents in addition to Jon needing to move through the studio and everyone doing their lines. It was very much like theater, with all the traffic of multiple people on camera and multiple cameras.
Was it different writing that episode because it was Jon’s big comeback episode?
There was a little more work. We had meetings with Jon to discuss what he wanted to do.
How was it working closely with Jon for the first time?
It was really exciting. I have a long history with Trevor on the show, but that was my first time directing with Jon. It was a real thrill seeing how he performs and operates with the script. He has an inner commentary and connection to the audience in the studio and those at home. You can tell he’s managing all that. Seeing him go from performing the script to improvising something that he feels needs to be there in the moment was really exciting and fun. I’ve been learning his comedic rhythm and timing these past few months. With Trevor, it was day in and day out for seven years, so you get used to it. But now, it’s Jon on Mondays with a very specific performance style and rhythm, and then each correspondent with their own style. Learning that and being able to execute the show has been a fun challenge.
How about covering the Democratic National Convention in Chicago?
A lot of stuff is still up in the air. We’ll have our full news team out there. I think you’ll see the same as what we did for past conventions. We’ll be at Chicago’s Athenaeum Center for Thought and Culture, which is a great classic theater that seats 900 people. So, we’ll have a bigger audience. We’ve got an all-new set that we’re going to be debuting for that since we’ll be on the road in Chicago. It’s going to be very exciting and fun. We’ll have our news team coverage, some great guests, definitely worth tuning in for!
The 76th Primetime Emmy Awards will be broadcast on ABC on September 15th and available on streaming via Hulu the following day.
Featured image: L-r: Jon Stewart and David Paul Meyer on the set of “The Daily Show.” Photo by Matt Wilson. Courtesy Comedy Central.
