Desi Lydic Offers a New Political Discourse in Kentucky

When she was asked to host The Daily Show back in April 2023, Desi Lydic knew she wanted to tell a story about Kentucky. She’d returned a handful of times before as a correspondent, but this segment was different. After a slew of far-right, extreme bills had been presented in the Kentucky Legislature, Lydic aimed to find out what people in the state actually felt about these issues.

From sharing bourbon with journalist Perry Bacon Jr., talking to people on Bardstown Road in Louisville, and then sharing more bourbon with restaurateur and LEE Initiative founder Edward Lee, she managed to paint a fuller picture of the ways Kentucky’s politics don’t necessarily align with its values.

This same motivation to debunk stereotypes and offer unexpected perspectives has been consistent in her work as a correspondent. It was because of this commitment – and her success as a comedian – that she was asked to host last Spring. “It was really a total dream come true to even get that opportunity to do it for even a brief moment,” she told Kentucky to the World in an exclusive interview. But after nine years at The Daily Show, it feels like she’s just getting started.

Illustration by Kentucky to the World artist August Northcut

From Louisville to Los Angeles

Growing up in Louisville, Desi Lydic gravitated toward acting. “I'd done some summer acting camps a few years in a row at the Youth Performing Arts School,” she said. “I didn't go there for high school, but I did their summer program. And it really gave me the bug.”

From these early experiences, she committed to a career in acting. At the same time, she also understood that she’d have to move away: “There's a ton of incredible theater in Louisville, and there's a great arts community,” she told us. “But in terms of being a professional actor, it didn’t seem like a possibility when I grew up in Louisville to pursue something like that.”

After she graduated from Eastern High School, she attended the University of Louisville for two semesters before deciding to make the biggest move of her life to that point. When she told her parents about her plans to move to Los Angeles, she wasn’t sure what to expect. “I think they saw this creative side in me growing up,” she said. “I'm so fortunate because a lot of people don't have families that would've supported them in making such a huge decision like that. But not only did they give me their blessing, my mom and dad packed up a U-Haul and drove us out all the way across the country.”

Even though she felt motivated and empowered in her decision to move, the transition proved difficult. “I went to work right away,” she said. “I got a job waiting tables. I was doing extra work so I could join the union. It was a grind for a good 10 years before I had a steady gig where I felt like, ‘Okay, I don't need the secondary job now.’” Still, she never wavered in her commitment to her career in part because of her support system back in Kentucky. “It was a grind, but knowing that I had people like my family that would have my back – all of that was essential.”

“I loved growing up in Kentucky. I wouldn’t have had it any other way.”

Catching Her Break on The Daily Show

The grind would pay off. With acting credits that include Not Another Teen Movie, We Bought a Zoo, Two and a Half Men, and Raising Hope, Lydic managed to find consistent film and television work. She hit her break in 2015, when she became a correspondent on Comedy Central’s The Daily Show. Over the course of the nine years she’s been on the show, she’s covered stories across the political spectrum all over the world.

In 2019, she created and hosted “Desi Lydic: Abroad,” an hour-long special that explored how gender inequality in the United States compares to other places in the world. When she spoke to Variety about her role in navigating topics like this on the show, she made sure to highlight how she “considers herself a comedic actor first and foremost” while also recognizing the “journalistic responsibility” behind her coverage.

A New Take on Kentucky’s Politics

It’s with this ethos that she’s explored political and social topics across the world. And when she returned to Kentucky for her story in 2023, she knew that she wanted her approach to be more nuanced.

“There's something politically disappointing happening in Kentucky in general,” she told us. “And of course, our job at The Daily Show is to call things out, to call BS when we see it or call out hypocrisies when we see it – all unapologetically. But when I came into my hosting week back in April, I wanted to do a piece about Louisville in particular, and the political state and how things can feel very divided right now.” 

By talking to random passersby outside of Carmichael’s Bookstore and interviewing Washington Post columnist Perry Bacon Jr., she aimed to contribute to a conversation about a changing Kentucky. “I wanted to show a different side of it,” she said, “because in the national news, we can sometimes hear those horror stories. But Louisville is so diverse, and there are so many different perspectives there. And my experience has been so wonderful that I felt like I wanted to do a piece that showed many sides to what Louisville – and Kentucky – is about.”

This approach can be difficult a lot of the time, though. “We produce four shows a week,” she offered, “and it all happens very fast. Sometimes we're writing jokes right up until the last minute and pulling stories and adding stories until moments before. So it can all happen very quickly. Sometimes there's room for the thoughtful nuance. Sometimes there really isn't. And you just have to make a quick choice.”

That decision was easy when it came to outlining the state of Kentucky politics. “It's important to me because it's where I grew up. It's where my family lives,” she told us. Her work on stories like this carries a greater responsibility because of the increasingly divisive nature of political discourse.

Trevor Noah and Desi Lydic, courtesy of The Hollywood Reporter

“I know everything feels so polarized right now,” she told us. “I'm certainly progressive and left-leaning, and The Daily Show tends to be a progressive show. But I grew up in a pretty Republican, pretty conservative family, and I have loved ones who do consider themselves Republicans.

“And even though I disagree with them on certain policies,” she continued, “as people, we love each other very much. And we have very interesting conversations at Thanksgiving. I can't help but to think that if we had a little more of that – leading with empathy and trying to have more nuanced conversations – or if we made just a little more room for that in our political discourse, we might be in a better place.”

“It feels like home. It will always feel like home to me.”

While Desi Lydic will always think about Kentucky as home, her son “was born in New York and he certainly considers himself a New Yorker,” she told us. Still, she continued, “he would consider himself a bit of a Kentuckian because he loves it so much.” After spending a lot of time in Kentucky during the pandemic, her son has a new affinity – and name – for the place she calls home.

“He calls it Garage Land because he's never seen garages at every single home like that,” she said. “Growing up in New York, there are parking garages that you don't really know are parking garages. So he calls Kentucky Garage Land.”