Name: RO KHANNA Talks Elon Musk, Bernie Sanders, Can We Fix This?
Uploaded: 2025-06-04T22:00:47.000Z
Description: Watch the stand-up comedy video 'RO KHANNA Talks Elon Musk, Bernie Sanders, Can We Fix This?' from The Adam Friedland Show on Comedy Buff. Published 2025-06-04. Transcript available.

Watch the stand-up comedy video 'RO KHANNA Talks Elon Musk, Bernie Sanders, Can We Fix This?' from The Adam Friedland Show on Comedy Buff. Published 2025-06-04. Transcript available.

RO KHANNA Talks Elon Musk, Bernie Sanders, Can We Fix This?

You know, a lot of being in Congress actually is just having a voice and
speaking out and so...
That sounds like a bullshit.
No, I mean...
What does it mean?
You're surrounded by some of these people, the dregs of humanity.
You see a guy walking down the hall, you're like, "Oh, that guy's been accused
of potentially
sleeping with a minor."
How do you function in a world of scoundrels?
I mean, the nation is a nation...
No, no, no.
Come on.
Hello and welcome back to the
Adam Friedland Show.
I'm Adam Friedland.
And guys, let me start off by saying thank you to you, the fans, for the outpouring
of enthusiasm
and acclaim that we've received since the beginning of our second season.
But let me remind all of you, we're just getting started.
And for this week's guest, I was joined by none other than California
Congressman Ro Khanna.
Now as the Democratic Party has struggled to redefine their message in the wake
of the last
election, Ro has emerged as a prominent voice from the progressive wing of the
party.
Now, as many of you know, this show is the new kid on the block.
We don't have corporate overlords or the funding of a nation state.
This is a grassroots organization.
So in the promotional run up to the show, we had to get a little crafty.
And in order to do so, we figured out a way for me to have my first ever
television appearance
as the host of The Adam Friedland Show.
So first, this.
New York City Hall.
For some, a hallowed ground of civic engagement.
But to me, another stage for one of my hilarious jokes.
I had a pretty good idea of what to expect and hoards of elderly citizens
lining up to complain
about ethnic restaurants and me, the sardonic jokester, lampooning the whole
process.
For the council members, a moment of biting satire.
For the concerned citizens, a comedy show from a celebrity free of charge.
And for me, a perfect opportunity to craft a viral moment in promotion of my
new show.
Sure.
Yes.
I am remembering the victims.
More than you.
I have been to more funerals than you.
I guarantee.
Don't do that.
I do not do that.
As it turned out, this was the worst possible day to come to City Hall for my
comedy show.
Do not talk to me.
But I will.
Don't talk to me like that.
And I'll talk to you like that.
I don't take lightly to NYPD continuously lying about their advocacy.
I sat and watched as tearful testimony was given about an incredibly sensitive
topic,
and I was terrified.
To suggest that we should be sharing.
No, I want to be clear.
I didn't suggest it.
No, no, no.
Maybe someone could make this funny, but it wasn't me.
I had already submitted my written speech and comedically doctored photo
evidence of my claim.
And if I stuck to this plan, there was a good chance that I would go to prison
for the rest of my life.
Adam Friedland.
So as my name was called, I took my seat in front of New York City's highest
body, and made a life or death audible.
Hello.
Hi.
My name's Adam.
I prepared a statement.
If you'll excuse me, I've never been to a committee session before.
I've never been to the city council.
And in light of what we've heard today, the gravity of the subject matter, I
just, I don't feel like it's, it feels trivial.
It was about something totally different.
I just want to let you guys know, I just want to let you guys know, I've, a lot
of people, myself included, we're, people have like kind of lost faith in our
institutions.
And I just want to let you guys know, I've, a lot of people, myself included,
we're, people have like kind of lost faith in our institutions.
And, um, seeing, uh, people standing up for children, uh, today.
And, uh, I'm, I'm inspired by the work of the chairman and, uh, and Mr. Uh, and,
uh, Jumani and, uh, uh, Councilperson Cabin and Stevens.
I, uh, you guys are awesome.
I mean, this is awesome.
So, uh, I support, I didn't even know about this, but, uh, I, I support it.
I've just been watching, and give it up for yourselves.
You guys are awesome.
Give it up for yourself.
This is, uh, really cool.
This actually matters.
Most, most everything is bullshit.
This, this actually matters.
And, uh, I won't waste any more of your time.
I'm, I'm just inspired by all of, uh, you great people here today.
And, uh, if, if by any chance the person that did the graffiti by my house that,
uh, if by any chance he's watching it, uh, you know, I'll just, uh, I don't
know if he likes the city council, but, uh, hopefully he's watching it and we,
we could, you know, hang out or something.
We could talk about it and, uh, it hurt, it, you know, it hurt my feelings, but
you're probably, but who am I to call out a fellow citizen, especially in light
of everything we've heard today.
So keep kicking ass, everyone.
Give it up for yourselves.
This is, oh, it's okay.
Thank you a lot, everyone.
All right.
All right.
Thank you.
Hello, my name is Sharon Brown.
And, uh, before I start, remember the hostages released, the hostages let Yahweh's
people go defend Israel.
Well, lesson learned.
Nowadays, it might seem like everything's gone dark, but if you look close
enough, the candle of democracy first lit by our forefathers still flickers.
It's up to us to feed that food.
This is Adam Friedland, signing off.
Democratic congressman from California, Ro Khanna.
Everyone.
Normally I do the introduction, but, yeah.
That's a new thing.
That's our Andy Rickser over there.
That's our Jimmy Parda.
Congressman, thanks for coming.
Great to be on.
We talked briefly on Zoom.
We talked, and I, I followed you during, like, the whole Bernie thing.
I mean, you were a, you were a Bernie.
The whole, what do you mean the whole, since 2016?
The Bernie campaign.
The Bernie 2020 campaign.
That's when I was a coach here.
2020, I know.
And you were very...
And you followed me?
I mean, I followed that you were a very, a big advocate for him.
There weren't, there weren't a lot of people in the media.
I mean, you were an independent media who were supporting him.
That's how I came to know who you were.
Is that right?
That's really true.
You're, politicians are such good liars.
I was on a podcast called Come Town at the time.
You were, you were, you were active.
I mean, yeah.
It was a, I, I, I was a big supporter of, I was at, I was at the Queens rally.
What do you think of here?
I mean, you, just cause you're a comedian?
No, cause you're, you're a progressive.
You saw me in the, I don't want to brag, the VIP section of the Queens rally.
Yeah?
Yeah.
Which I had to lie my way into.
I wasn't at the Queens rally.
That was the one with AOC, right?
That was, that I was stood right next to her.
Yeah.
I didn't say anything, but she, I think she probably knew who I was too.
I met, I met Michael Moore though, on the other hand.
He's very good.
He's the man.
Yeah.
I mean, he's, he kind of like was Trump before Trump in terms of understanding
what was going
on.
I agree.
He was the only guy that was like, Trump's going to win.
And he was the only guy who understood the two basic things, which was people's
jobs
were being snatched from them, shipped offshore by greedy corporations.
Yeah.
And we're going in all these dumb wars.
And those were the two, I mean, Trump had a lot of other BS, but there, those
are the
two central things that Trump ran on.
Yeah.
In 16.
Well, and also throwing Hillary in a dungeon.
Oh, there was that part too.
Yeah.
Yeah.
That was a big winner for him, I think.
And, and he didn't follow through.
And that's the thing about Trump.
He doesn't follow through on his promises to throw the former first lady
Hillary Clinton
in a dungeon.
Yeah.
That's probably a good thing.
Um, actually for me, it was Michael Moore.
And then every single one of my, uh, black comedian friends were like, uh, were
like, yeah,
there's no way Hillary Clinton's winning it.
Like, I don't know.
I was like, Jim L. If you look at the 538 poll of polls, there's absolutely no
chance this
is going to happen.
And he's like, no, I'm telling you, they're not going to give it to a lady
after a black
guy.
Like, but Nate Silva, if you either he's doing, he's crunching the numbers.
And he still, he still gets us all to do it every cycle, even though he's
always wrong.
How?
I mean, he does it every time.
And I fall for it too.
And we're all like watching the 538 thing.
And he turns out to be spectacularly wrong.
And we all forget two years later, four years later.
It's crazy how some people and campaigns and elections people, I used to live
in DC.
Yeah.
And campaigns and elections people, you're not going to, I'm going to say some
things that
you're not going to be able to agree with, but you can just wink at me or pull
an earlobe.
Yeah.
But like they were perhaps the worst people I met in DC.
I think to some extent I had more respect for lobbyists because at least they
were having
a nice time.
Yeah.
But campaigns and election people, you could literally-
Especially the media.
They literally lose every single time and somehow get a promotion every new
election cycle.
Yeah.
Well, you get these consultants and they're like, I just love your vision, Roe.
I love that you're for Medicare for all, for free college.
We're going to change the world together.
And then three days later, how about doing a $25,000 video on this?
And I commission, you know, it's sort of, it's a very, very like, how do we
make money?
How?
Okay.
I didn't want to get into this until later, but it, how the fuck?
Can I curse in Congress?
You can curse.
Can you cuss in Congress?
I can curse.
Yeah, of course I can curse.
Who cusses the, who's the number one cusser in Congress?
Who's it?
Marjorie Taylor?
On our side?
Who's it?
Jimmy Gomez curses a lot.
Name names.
Bowman.
Jamal Bowman used to curse.
Jamal Bowman.
Bowman.
Yeah.
Rashida.
Rashida Tlaib.
Oh, really?
She's a big cusser.
Name names.
Anyway, how in 100 days did they manage to spend $2 billion?
Yeah, that's crazy.
Well, they had concerts.
Well, they had concerts.
And then end up in debt.
What?
They had concerts.
Well, they entertained America.
Well, no, but they didn't have enough money for Beyonce to sing.
No.
That was, she came and she gave the statement, you know, that was just like,
you know, it's
like if you have a, if people go to the Super Bowl and the players don't play,
they just
like make some statement.
I mean, it's a, you know, I think we, we, we don't realize that.
Oprah got paid and she's a billionaire.
Yeah.
She claims it was for the production.
Do you have a million dollar production here?
I don't know how much is the production here.
Well, you're certainly not getting paid for this.
I'm just saying that.
I owe a lot of money around town.
Okay.
Yeah.
No.
Well, we'd have to pay you.
It's the other way around.
How much?
What are we talking about?
What are we talking about?
I think we kind of just watched an election cycle.
Yeah.
Where you had one guy with his weird family around him as an inner circle and
then kind
of Bannon and then kind of Elon Musk, which you can't really discredit because
he owns
a massive like social media platform.
Right.
But like you had like this, like you have 12 guys on one side and then you had
to have
had like thousands and thousands of algorithm experts, PR consultants, like the
amount of
people that were just grifting.
Algorithm experts.
I didn't even know that was a thing.
Maybe there is.
I'm sure there is.
I thought you were a tech.
I thought you were a tech.
I haven't.
But I'm sure they are.
I'm sure.
Two billion dollars is insane amount of money.
It is.
It wasn't granny's writing checks, right?
No.
I mean, look, there were some of the grassroots folks, but there were a lot of
billionaires.
There were more billionaires who funded our side than billionaires that funded
their
side.
Right.
And what we talked about, you know, I get super PAC money out, get PAC money
out, lobbyist
money out.
I mean, we relied on a lot of these billionaires.
That's why it's not fully credible.
And what what like what interests like primarily did they align with?
It was the status quo.
