âDaily Showâ guest Jason Isbell talks guns, Southern masculinity, Leonardo DiCaprio incident
“The Daily Show” is right in Jason Isbell’s TV talk-show wheelhouse.
The politically minded and naturally funny folk/rock star – — also a veteran of “The Tonight Show,” “The Late Show” and “Jimmy Kimmel Live! — returned to Comedy Central’s flagship news-satire program Thursday.
Isbell’s latest “Daily Show” appearance, which included an interview and solo acoustic performance, offered fascinating looks into Isbell’s ascendent career, roots of his political beliefs, and songwriting process.
The talented Desi Lydic hosted the episode. Since the return of classic-era host Jon Stewart on Mondays, “The Daily Show” correspondents have been rotating hosting duties on other weeknights.
Lydic opened Thursday’s ep with comedy segments about Joe Biden’s bite-prone dog and the fashion impact of Beyonce topping the country chart. As they do on “The Daily Show,” Lydic deftly mixed in political commentary, including Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley being viewed as a “moderate” candidate. She also joked about Biden’s “Ghost of Christmas Past” age.
Lydic then welcomed Isbell to join her at “The Daily Show” desk. After congratulating Isbell on his recent latest Grammys wins, Lydic shifted subjects to “Killers of the Flower Moon,” the Oscar-nominated 2023 Martin Scorsese western in which Isbell made his film acting debut.
Isbell, clad in Johnny Cash-style all black, joked the only reason he was hired for “Flower Moon” was to save money on a dialect coach, a self-effacing reference to Isbell’s north Alabama accent.
Lydic then asked Isbell about an incident that occurred on-set while filming an intense scene with star Leonardo DiCaprio, whose character Ernest Burkhart has an adversarial relationship with Isbell’s character, Bill Smith. Apparently, a “Flower Moon” crew member broke wind, causing Isbell but not DiCaprio to break character.
From there, the interview moved into a little more serious territory.
“Middle of the Morning,” a song on Isbell’s latest album “Weathervanes,” addresses the subject of strong, silent Southern men. Lydic asked Isbell, who resides in Nashville and who grew up in Green Hill and Muscle Shoals, if he thought Southern masculinity had evolved during his lifetime.
Isbell replied, “We’re trying to evolve that. But evidence sometimes shows the contrary to be true.”
He added, “In my experience, we’re not always the best at talking about how we feel, and that makes us not very good at dealing with our emotions. And things will come out in ways that we don’t intend them to, you know, when we’re not able to say, ‘I am scared,’ or ‘I am sad.’ And I don’t necessarily know that that’s a Southern thing. But it definitely happens a lot in the South, and that’s where I came from.”
Lydic followed up by asking Isbell, “Do you hope your music can kind of act as a salve for young men to grow up and see another way of being?”
Isbell, who at age 45 has a touch of gray but remains baby-faced, replied, “I would like that. It serves a purpose for me, initially. But I think if your intentions are honest and you’re really trying to communicate with people, then that will happen as a byproduct of what you’re doing. And I do. I see a lot of big dudes crying at the shows [Isbell performs in concert], and it makes me really happy.”
Next, Lydic noted Isbell’s outspokenness regarding gun laws. His lyrics on “Weathervanes” track “Save the World,” were penned after the deadly 2022 Uvalde, Texas school shooting, about the fear he has as the father of a young daughter.
After noting he had to rewrite “Save the World” lyrics after an initial attempt didn’t cut it, Isbell said, “When I’m writing about something that heavy, I find the best way to do it for me, is to go from my own personal perspective.
“I don’t have any experience in a mass shooting situation, so I’m not going to write a song about that. But what I will write about is being at the grocery store and hearing a balloon pop, and the first thing that comes into my mind is, ‘Oh my god, is somebody in here with a gun?’ And I know it is extremely frustrating for a whole lot of people in this country to deal with. It’s something that we shouldn’t have to worry about. I think it’s something that is a capitalist issue at heart.”
He added, “And having a child, it does make you think about these things more often. It [parenthood] won’t necessarily make a good person out of you. But if you start as one, it will make you worry a lot.”
Lydic, who’s also a parent, made a joke to lighten the mood and she and Isbell clinked “Daily Show” coffee mugs.
She then introduced Isbell’s solo acoustic performance of his Grammy-winning song “Cast Iron Skillet,” noting, “now, I’m from Kentucky, so I’m no stranger to Southern phrases like ‘don’t wash the cast iron skillet.’ That’s why I never do the dishes. But you have a way of using these simple Southern phrases [in lyrics] but there’s a much deeper meaning underneath.”
Replying to Lydic’s question about the inspiration behind this song, Isbell said, “When I start a song, I don’t necessarily know how it’s going to end. I just like to make characters that you can believe and that are honest and then see how they would behave.
“And sometimes that character is the narrator. Because this song has two separate stories. Both of them are true. Both of them happened to people I was close to when I was a child. The first story is about a couple of guys that I went to school with who went down a bad path and would up murdering somebody, and going to prison for the rest of their lives.
Isbell said the second part of his “Cast Iron Skillet” lyrics are about, “a relative I had who fell in love with a Black man, and her dad disowned her and never spoke to her again. These things really happened. And this was the ‘80s and ‘90s and they still happen today.”
Isbell said his song’s narrator is trying to give advice. “But,” he said, “It’s not really good advice. I mean, here’s the secret: You can wash the skillet. It’ll be fine. A lot of times, I’ll write a song that has some Southern ‘words of wisdom’ in it, and people will say, ‘Hey, man. That’s not exactly right.’ And I’m like, ‘You’re almost there. You’re almost understanding the song.”
Next, Isbell performed “Cast Iron Skillet” in front of an enthusiastic “Daily Show” live studio audience, many of whom were clearly there to see and hear him. Playing a Martin guitar and singing, Isbell, who recently celebrated 12 years of sobriety, sounded fantastic. Like the legendary singer/songwriter he’s becoming.
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