The Daily Show’s Jordan Klepper Strips Down for Naked ICE Protest in New Special: ‘Gives Me Hope’ 

Jordan Klepper is one of the rare late-night hosts with an Emmy-winning series built around a deliberately cheeky, innuendo-laced title — and Trevor Noah, his former Daily Show colleague, has always loved that about him.

Klepper was still a correspondent on The Daily Show when his man-on-the-street segments first coalesced into what became his ongoing umbrella series, Fingers the Pulse. The bits took shape during Donald Trump’s first term, while Klepper was working alongside then–host Trevor Noah, 41. Klepper recalls that Noah immediately recognized the power of the name and urged him to stick with it as a brand.

He listened. In September, Klepper, 46, picked up an Emmy for writing his most recent special, The Daily Show Presents: Jordan Klepper Fingers the Pulse: MAGA: The Next Generation. When the title was read aloud onstage, he couldn’t help but laugh at the thought of dignified award presenters having to say it with a straight face. He says Noah texted him afterward to celebrate both the win and his unwavering commitment to the bit. For Klepper, delightfully juvenile wordplay is simply part of the job description.

Of course, that’s only one side of what he does. Klepper now also serves as one of the rotating hosts of The Daily Show. While sharing the desk over the last two years with others — including Jon Stewart — he has continued to crisscross the country, often plunging into solidly MAGA territory as he searches for revealing conversations for his Fingers the Pulse specials.

The latest installment, The Daily Show Presents: Jordan Klepper Fingers the Pulse: Give the Man a Prize, sends him after several seemingly disconnected storylines: the president’s failed quest for a Nobel Peace Prize, protests outside ICE facilities across the U.S. (with a particular focus on Portland, Ore.), and a coalition of nude cyclists demonstrating against Trump-era policies. Klepper insists the threads do, in fact, tie together.

In keeping with his commitment to immersion, Klepper eventually strips down himself, joining the bikers as he “follows the dongs” in order to better follow the people. Beneath the absurdity, he stresses, the special isn’t afraid to go to bleak places: there are painful stories, disturbing images and scenes of real-world violence. Yet amid that darkness, the residents of Portland essentially hand him a comedic setup on a platter — albeit one balanced on a G-string.

He says that hearing directly from people on the ground is one of the most important parts of his work. Over the better part of a decade, that has meant confronting hypocrisy and wildly conspiratorial or “out there” beliefs from Trump supporters. In Portland, though, he encountered a different kind of pushback: activists willing to make themselves look utterly ridiculous in the name of dissent.

By literally baring their bodies, he notes, those protesters tried to make it visually obvious that they were unarmed and nonthreatening in what had become a carefully stage-managed media backdrop for the Trump administration. Klepper says those images of ordinary people refusing to be silenced still give him hope. He believes the U.S. is in a fragile moment and warns against sliding into apathy just because the stakes feel overwhelming.

When he’s back behind the desk, the pace doesn’t exactly slow down. The year 2025 marked Klepper’s first stretch hosting The Daily Show with Trump, 79, once again in the White House. This term has already seen the president taking direct aim at late-night figures like Jimmy Kimmel and Seth Meyers, but Klepper recognizes that his slot on Comedy Central comes with unusual freedom.

Anchoring the show, he says, feels like an all-out sprint. The moment the inauguration happened, he was reminded of how rapidly Trump can dominate attention and drive events, often faster than traditional media can track. For Klepper and his team, that means staying agile, ready to pivot as the news whiplashes from one crisis to the next.

The new special even carries him overseas, to places like Norway, to track how American democracy and global peace are being stress-tested both at home (in cities such as Portland) and abroad. Klepper admits this administration has made life especially challenging for late-night writers, but he also feels fortunate to have multiple formats — from the studio desk to field pieces — to tackle the chaos from different angles.

He and his colleagues, he adds, feel creatively energized working alongside Stewart, 63, who recently returned to the show. Klepper has been a fan since the Craig Kilborn era and notes that The Daily Show will celebrate its 30th anniversary in 2026.

Even so, he wouldn’t trade the current moment for an easier one. He remembers the early Stewart years just before the Trump era as a time when, on slower news days, the staff could sit with stories, refine ideas over multiple days and build segments with a little more breathing room. Once Trump arrived on the scene, though, the show shifted into permanent reaction mode, always racing to keep up.

For Klepper, that urgency underscores why the work matters. Commenting on the news now feels more central to everyday life and culture than at any point he can remember. And despite the breakneck pace, he’s grateful to be doing it from the seat he has now.

The Daily Show Presents: Jordan Klepper Fingers the Pulse: Give the Man a Prize premieres Monday, Dec. 8, at 11:30 p.m. ET/PT, immediately following The Daily Show on Comedy Central.