On Thursday, just a few days before the one year anniversary of President Trump almost being killed, Comedy Central’s Ronny Chieng and The Daily Show’s audience found great amusement in Iran’s recent threats to assassinate Trump, not so much because Chieng actually wants him dead, but because it gave them an opportunity to mock Trump’s physical appearance.
After discussing the latest news with Trump and Ukraine, Chieng declared, “Let’s move on from the war Trump is trying to stop to the one he’s trying to start. The one with Iran.”
If Trump was really looking to start a war with Iran, he would have kept bombing them after the initial strikes, but Chieng continued by teeing up a clip of Fox News anchor Carley Shimkus, “They’ve been real pissy at Trump just because he dropped the world’s biggest bomb on them. Okay, get over it. That was two weeks ago. And now some Iranians are suggesting that they could strike back in a very specific way.”
In the clip, Shimkus reported that, “A senior advisor to Iran’s supreme leader now issuing assassination threats against President Trump, reportedly telling local media, quote, ‘Trump has done something he can no longer sunbathe in Mar-a-Lago, as he lies there with his stomach to the sun, a small drone might hit him in the navel. It’s very simple.”
As the audience guffawed, Chieng responded, “Let me be clear. This isn’t just an attack on Trump. It’s an attack on all of America. Because now we all have to picture him with his bare belly glistening in the sun.”
Breaking out the Photoshop, Chieng added, “I’m just kidding, you don’t have to picture it. I’ll show you. It’s beautiful. I think I prefer this.”
Chieng also wondered, “Is this really a threat, though? What? You’re going to hit his navel with a small drone? Like, Iran went from building a nuclear bomb to ‘We’re going to turn his outie to an innie.’ Are they threatening to assassinate him or poke him like he’s the Pillsbury Doughboy?”
Of all the people in the world to choose from, Paramount chose Chieng to go to their fifth annual Truth Seekers Summit in August in order to, in the words of partner organizer Variety, “speak about his approach to crafting political humor for broad audiences.”
If The Daily Show wants to do humor for a broad audience, it can mock Iran’s threat, but using it to make fat jokes is unseemly and designed for a narrow audience.
Here is a transcript for the July 10 show:
Comedy Central The Daily Show
7/10/2025
11:04 PM ET
RONNY CHIENG: But let’s move on from the war Trump is trying to stop to the one he’s trying to start. The one with Iran. They’ve been real pissy at Trump just because he dropped the world’s biggest bomb on them. Okay, get over it. That was two weeks ago. And now some Iranians are suggesting that they could strike back in a very specific way.
CARLEY SHIMKUS: A senior advisor to Iran’s supreme leader now issuing assassination threats against President Trump, reportedly telling local media, quote, “Trump has done something he can no longer sunbathe in Mar-a-Lago, as he lies there with his stomach to the sun, a small drone might hit him in the navel. It’s very simple.”
CHIENG: Let me be clear. This isn’t just an attack on Trump. It’s an attack on all of America. Because now we all have to picture him with his bare belly glistening in the sun. I’m just kidding, you don’t have to picture it. I’ll show you. It’s beautiful. I think I prefer this. Is this really a threat, though? What? You’re going to hit his navel with a small drone? Like, Iran went from building a nuclear bomb to “We’re going to turn his outie to an innie.” Are they threatening to assassinate him or poke him like he’s the Pillsbury Doughboy? [Pillsbury Doughboy noises]
