Sorry to Bother You’s Boots Riley on Hollywood: ‘People Aren’t Used to Thinking and Laughing at the Same Time’

The Daily Show‘s Trevor Noah revealed on Thursday night’s show that he hasn’t left the movies “not knowing what I thought about the world” since The Matrix — that is, until he saw this summer’s dystopian hallucinatory fever dream of a film, Sorry to Bother You.

In an interview with the movie’s writer-director, Boots Riley, Noah asked Riley why he thought that the film — which addresses racism, code-switching, and capitalism — has been a hit with audiences.

“It’s a funny movie and people aren’t used to thinking and laughing at the same time, the way the movies are right now,” Riley offered as a possible explanation. “I think people are seeing something new that should have been in cinema already.”

Riley later shared that the film was inspired by his real-life experiences as a telemarketer and elaborated on the “mythical idea of the white voice,” a voice where “there are no problems, where you got your bills paid, you never get fired, you just get laid off — that is almost the opposite of the racist black tropes.”

Watch the full interview below.