Sunday, July 24 – John opened on Tim
Kaine, Clinton’s lackluster VP choice with “all the excitement of a rice
cooker.” Next was the UK’s new foreign
secretary, Brexiter Boris Johson; John decided Johnson’s habit of barreling
into other countries, insulting their culture, and refusing to apologize is
actually the perfect symbol of Britain’s colonial history. The main story, predictably, was the RNC. More than any individual lie or scare tactic, John
focused on the prevailing attitude that feelings are more important than
facts. If, for example, Americans don’t feel safer, then lower crime rates don’t
matter – it’s very “We’ve always been at war with Eastasia.” Last was a piece on politicians coopting
licensed songs. The closing video was
great, but I especially liked Trump’s ironic song choices, ending the RNC with
“You Can’t Always Get What You Want” and opening a rally with “It’s the End of
the World as We Know It.”
Monday, July 25 – Another clip show,
for the Democratic campaigns leading up to the convention this time. Since I’d figured it was coming, I didn’t
mind it quite as much as last week, although I still don’t think it’s all that
necessary. Especially since we’ll be
getting an extra episode on Friday, it’s not like we’ll be short for the
week. This time around, the gimmick in
the linking intro bits was that Clinton was going to “appear” on the show, but
whenever there was a break in the clips, Trevor would inform us that we’d “just
missed her,” because she’d stepped out for some reason or another. Like the stuff with Trevor in the “Trump
mansion” last week, kind of cheesy. Some
of the clips were fun to see again, especially Trevor’s jokes about the
non-Clinton and Sanders “also-rans” and how long they remained in the race with
the media barely acknowledging their existence.
Tuesday, July 26 – With the historic
moment of the first woman being the official nominee of a major party, it seemed
fitting that Trevor focused on Michelle Obama’s speech, with her remarks on
history, change, and her daughters coming of age in a new America. The DNC email scandal got lots of play. Hasan and Jordan tried to save Democrats from
themselves by “destroying” their phones, and Jordan, Roy, and Michelle looked
at the bad, good, and ugly sides of the issue (some good lines there – I liked
Roy celebrating because none of the leaked emails contained the N-word and
Jordan being angry with Russia because interfering with foreign elections is our thing.) The show also covered the “Bernie or Bust”
set even boo Sanders himself when the subject of voting for Clinton comes
up. John Podesta, who heads Clinton’s
campaign, was the guest. So-so interview
– to me, he seemed a little too beholden to his talking points.
Wednesday, July 27 – Amazing show;
every segment was on fire. They opened
on Clinton’s official nomination, with Desi reporting from the convention floor
about the important milestone and how long it took the U.S. to get to this
point. Trevor compared Clinton and Trump
with the overall thesis of, “Seriously, people, it’s no comparison!” The
description of Trump as America’s prospective “racist landlord” is weirdly
apt. More Trump with his treasonous remarks to Russia, with Trevor’s anger and dumbfoundedness coming in equal parts. I appreciate that the show keeps drawing the
(frighteningly easy) lines between Trump and prominent dictators, because it’s
long since become scary and I don’t understand how we got here. New York senator Kirsten Gillibrand was the
guest, talking about how Clinton helped bring her to politics and the
importance of bipartisan cooperation on passing family leave legislation.
Thursday, July 28 – Another live show,
to cover Clinton’s speech. Like the
Trump speech stuff last week, it felt a bit hurried but had some good
lines. I liked the quick recap of
Wednesday’s speakers, featuring Obama’s edge-of-sanity nervous laughter at the idea
of a Trump presidency, Tim Kaine being a Black person’s impression of a white
person, and Michael Bloomberg’s billionaire roast of Trump. Next was a parody of Clinton’s bio video, set
up like an iPhone ad. I found some of it
uncomfortable, framing Clinton as a preferable alternative to Trump but not
really acknowledging her qualities. The
best part was the bit about her have a port instead of a cable and the shots of
phones, tablets, and computers with their ports blurred out. Mark Leibovich from the New York Times was
the guest. I liked his comments about
the wild-card aspect of having a less partisan election, with both candidates
polarizing in their own way.
Friday, July 29 – There’s something
lovely about the idea of “balloon strikes” on enemy targets. Thanks for that image, Trevor! We recapped Michael Bloomberg’s Trump roast
so we could see Trump’s thin-skinned response, proving once again that he
shouldn’t have nuclear codes. What the Actual Fact was a bit weak, I thought, mostly going for light targets; my
favorite part was Desi arguing that Chelsea Clinton’s baby is not the cutest on earth. Jordan, Hasan, and Adam gave a convention
breakdown, deciding which Rocky movie
best matches Clinton’s journey (yep, totally Rocky IV.) A couple quick field pieces, one from Roy on last call being extended in Philly for delegates,
and one from Ronny trying out water ice (the audience loved this piece.) Senator
Cory Booker was the show’s first repeat guest.
He talked about the convention and had some moving remarks on the
importance of criminal justice reform.
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