Sunday, April 24 – The show kicked off with a
pair of Obama’s foreign visits – Saudia Arabia (where the king dissed him at
the airport) and the UK (where he and Prince George went viral,) followed by a
piece on Norway’s less-than-sterling record with migrants, including an
apparent belief that Jesus’s call to help the less fortunate doesn’t apply to
Norway. The main story was on Puerto Rico’s debt crisis and the many
legal loopholes that contributed to its situation. It was appalling to
hear how the island has been treated like a tax haven for businessmen instead
of a US territory whose people are American citizens. Early in the story, John
showed Lin-Manuel Miranda speaking to Congress about the crisis and declared, “We
owe Puerto Rico for that man!” Miranda appeared on the show as
well, coming out at the end to deliver an amazing
rap urging Congress to step in and give Puerto Rico to chance to restructure
its debt repayments.
Monday, April 25 – I liked
the story on the frenzy of Beyoncé’s latest album drop, especially the remarks
on how everyone has latched onto the potential gossip instead of the artistry
or social commentary. There was a story
on Cruz and Kasich teaming up to keep Trump’s his delegate numbers below 1,237;
my favorite part was the montage of Trump whining about how badly he feels the
RNC treats him. Terrific field piece by
Hasan on Sikhs who’ve dealt with Islamaphobia despite not being Muslim. The piece was informative about Sikhism,
displayed the ignorance many have about it, and highlighted some great people
who refuse to deflect the Islamaphobia because they’re not going to throw
another religion under the bus. The
guest was Danielle Brooks, promoting The
Color Purple. She was great – no surprise
– and I loved her story about seeing the original Broadway cast as a teenager,
which spurred her to go in acting herself.
Tuesday, April 26 – Excellent story on Virginia’s
move to return voting rights to ex-felons. The show covered it all –
racial bias (the sharp increase in laws denying suffrage to ex-cons immediately
after abolition was so damning,) a vindictive need to keep punishing people who’ve
already served their time, and the unnecessary politicizing of an issue that
shouldn’t be about politics. Guests Keegan-Michael Key and Jordan Peele
joined in on the action playing a pair of ex-cons. Trevor talked with
Michelle about New York dropping its tampon tax. The story wasn’t quite
as good as I wanted it to be, but I liked the commentary on people euphemizing
and talking around menstruation, especially Michelle’s joke about putting
menstruation in witness protection. Key and Peele discussed their new
movie Keanu, demonstrated their power over the audience, and talked
code-switching. Do I have to bother
telling you that they rocked?
Wednesday, April 27 – More on the Cruz-Kasich
team-up, mainly how they’re not exactly following through and Trump isn’t feeling all that threatened. The show also discussed Trump’s latest classy move,
accusing Clinton of “playing the woman's card” and then doubling down on the
sexism when Clinton shot back. It’s so weird for him to fixate on her
shouting – at a political rally, the horror! – as if it’s some huge
offense, and the show’s dubbed version of Clinton’s whisper rally was great.
So-so “Back in Black” segment on the teeth-gnashing over Michael Strahan
leaving Live with Kelly and Michael. Mainly, it coasted on the
inherent absurdity of picturing Lewis as a huge Kelly Ripa fan. I enjoyed
the guest, Buzzfeed writer McKay Coppins. He discussed the election (of
course!) and dished with Trevor about his firsthand Trump experience.
Thursday, April 28 – Nice coverage of the unholy
union between Cruz and Fiorina, including the bizarreness of why Cruz did this
now and Fiorina’s super-creepy singing (why?!) I especially liked the
crack about Fiorina’s business acumen not knowing where jobs “come from,” only
where they “go.” After a quick demonstration
of what Trump thinks “being presidential” constitutes, we were treated to an
excellent piece riffing on the idea that a lot of Trump’s quotes sound like rap lyrics. Featuring Roy as Trump, we got a hilarious rap video full of
actual Trump quotes bragging about his wealth, airing his beefs with other
politicians, and being casually misogynistic. It was absolutely
perfect. I wasn’t really feeling the
interview with Ricky Gervais – too much nonsense comedy that veered too
frequently into awkwardness for it to work for me.
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