Danielle Brooks gets real about acting, motherhood and choosing stories that matter.
Danielle Brooks sat down with host and funny man Josh Johnson on The Daily Show to talk acting, motherhood and her new film If I Go Will They Miss Me — a project she stars in and executive produces.
Dig out Danielle sitting with Josh right below, because the conversation goes beyond the usual “tell us about your movie” circuit. Brooks talks about what it means to keep growing as an actor while also becoming more intentional about the stories she puts her name behind.
DANIELLE BROOKS
A new film, a new chapter and a very Danielle conversation
Catch the full Daily Show interview, then learn more about If I Go Will They Miss Me and the work behind it.
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The September 15 episode marked Season 31, Episode 100 of The Daily Show, with Josh Johnson hosting and Brooks joining as the featured guest. Paramount+ lists the episode as a 28-minute broadcast centered on Brooks promoting If I Go Will They Miss Me.
The film, written and directed by Walter Thompson-Hernandez, follows a 12-year-old boy in Watts trying to reconnect with his father after incarceration while surreal visions of airplanes and Greek gods begin folding into his everyday life. Brooks plays Lozita opposite J. Alphonse Nicholson and Bodhi Dell, while also serving as an executive producer.
That producer credit matters here. Brooks is not simply showing up for a role and disappearing after the premiere. She has been increasingly deliberate about helping shape projects from the inside, and this film gives her room to talk about both the work in front of the camera and the responsibility she feels behind it.
The conversation also opens up around motherhood and the way becoming a parent has changed Brooks’ relationship to time, ambition and what she wants her daughter to see her building. It is one of those interviews where the career talk lands harder because it is connected to the rest of her life instead of being separated from it.
Brooks has always had the kind of presence that can take over a room without forcing it. Here, she gets the space to be funny, reflective and specific about why this particular film mattered enough for her to step into both actor and producer mode.
Danielle Brooks Talks ‘If I Go Will They Miss Me’ on The Daily Show
Danielle Brooks joins Josh Johnson on the September 15, 2026 episode of The Daily Show to discuss acting, motherhood and her film If I Go Will They Miss Me.
Sources: The Daily Show / Paramount+; If I Go Will They Miss Me production credits.
