New Last Week Tonight coming up on Sunday –
yes! In the meantime, another favorite
recurring comic bit on the show is John’s habit of directly addressing the fake
people in his stock photos there to illustrate whatever point he’s presently
making. Every time he turns to the empty
space over his shoulder where they superimpose his graphics, gives them names,
and lays into them heartily, I crack up so hard. It’s too much fun when he insults them and
calls them the worst, but my favorite is when he throws in extra backstory,
like the lesbian couple trying to get a bank loan for “Brenda’s stupid
‘cupcakes for dogs’” business venture, or Gerald, whose new gym membership is
destined to be “learning Korean all over again.” At times, he just talks to them frankly about
their life choices, while at others, he takes on the part of someone else in
the stock photo and inserts himself into the imaginary conversation – either
way, it’s always good.
Monday, July 18 – Pretty wasted episode
here. With the show gearing up for its
three-day convention special filmed in Cleveland, having a new episode on
Monday evidently wasn’t in the cards.
Instead, we got “The Road to the Road,” a clip show covering the
lowlights of the GOP race this election season; the only new bits were a few
introductory snippets from Trevor, allegedly shot in the gold-encrusted Trump
mansion. Now, while this election cycle
had plenty of craziness worth remembering and the show gave a number of
excellent stories on it, I didn’t really need to see them played again
piecemeal. If there’s an old segment I
want to watch again, I’ll watch the whole story on the website, not a 20-second
clip interspersed with a bunch of other 20-second clips. I get why they didn’t have a new episode
tonight, but for me, there wasn’t much point to this one.
Tuesday, July 19 –The correspondents
kicked things off with their fears stirred up by thoughts of the future, the
combative atmosphere, the Islamophobia, and the xenophobic rhetoric. Trevor discussed the Melania-Michelle speech situation, bringing us the “truth” with an assist from Kim Kardashian. Fine story on the first night’s theme, “Make America Safe Again,” which translated to fearmongering, mainly against
foreigners, and I loved Trevor’s response to the Black speakers brought in to
make “All Lives Matter” statements. From
bringing up the systemic racism and cyclical poverty their speeches ignored to
wondering why Black people are “so susceptible to dying” at the hands of police
if no one is guilty of killing them, he was perfect. Former RNC Chairman Michael Steele was the
guest. He and Trevor discussed the
convention, how a Black Republican can vote for Trump, and whether Republicans
can admit Clinton’s merits.
Wednesday, July 20 – After an amusing
clip of Ted Cruz being upstaged by Trump’s plane, Trevor launched into
Tuesday’s convention highlights. Looking
for actual support for Trump in Paul Ryan’s speech made for a disappointing
drinking game, and with Chris Christie’s speech, Trevor wondered how the day’s
theme of economic policy became a farcical “trial” of Clinton. I really liked Trevor’s comments about the
mob mentality atmosphere and how easy it is to get people on your side by
chanting slogans instead of making measured arguments. Great field piece from Jordan on evangelicals who support Trump despite his less-than-Christian behavior – his interview with
a pastor, whose claims of Trump’s devoutness Jordan roundly challenged, was the
highlight. I liked guest Christiane Amanpour, especially her remarks about how journalists can conflate neutrality
with creating false equivalences that aren’t there.
Thursday, July 21 – Live show tonight,
so Trevor could react to Trump’s speech, mainly apocalyptic fear based on untrue
“facts.” For being live, I thought the piece
was decent, if a little rushed. Trevor’s
glee at Cruz’s non-endorsement from Wednesday, though, was great. I loved the Daenerys comparisons to Cruz walking
into the establishment and burning the place down. A parody “Who is Donald Trump?” video was fun,
featuring Trump’s numerous bankruptcies and businessman-to-politician strategy
of turning his flaws into selling points.
(They had to cut to commercial the first time because the video froze –
Trevor’s, “They’re telling me to go to an ad break, but I could rule the world
right now!” cracked me up.) Really
enjoyed the guest, Alex Wagner from The
Atlantic. She and Trevor talked
about the convention’s coliseum feel, Mike Pence’s apparent buyer’s remorse,
and who will do the actual duties of president if Trump wins.
Friday, July 22 – Rather than spend
the whole night on Trump, Trevor opened on Charles Kinsey, non-fatally shot by
police while lying on the sidewalk with his hands up helping an autistic
man. No words for that craziness, but
Trevor’s commentary was great. The guy
correspondents played fearmongering telephone, in which each was so stirred up
up by Trump’s speech that they needed to arm themselves, a desire that only
increased when they heard how the others were arming themselves. Desi fact-checked both Trump and other
speakers from the convention; I liked that she mentioned Trump’s vow to protect
LGBTQ people from “a hateful foreign ideology” but not domestic
violence/oppression. Hasan had an
excellent field piece asking convention-goers about Trump’s proposed Muslim ban. It was bizarre how many simply dismissed
it, or expressed acceptance of Muslims and then endorsed Trump in the same
breath.
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