News Satire Roundup: June 26th-June 30th

Sunday, June 26 – Naturally, the results of the Brexit vote opened the show.  An excellent piece, with real dismay on John’s part at what his country has just done.  I especially liked his retort to various UKIPers declaring Thursday’s the UK’s “Independence Day” that Britain was a) already independent and b) the place that many of the countries in the world declared their independence from.  Another great bit was a piece from Trump on the matter, in which he described the vote/results as “beautiful,” “peaceful,” “contentious,” “ugly,” and “amazing,” all in the space of a minute.  After that, the main story, on doping among Olympic athletics, felt a bit lacking in comparison.  My favorite part was probably the incredibly-ridiculous excuses offered up by athletes who test positive, along with the “literal glory hole” who to cheat the system in a Russian testing facility.

Monday, June 27 – Great show.  We opened with the Pope saying the Church should apologize to gay people – the “Sorry we oppressed you for centuries” card was great.  Next up was Brexit; I laughed at Trevor’s riff on the word “Brexit,” and I liked the commentary on nativists pushing foreigners out and then panicking over the loss of foreign money.  Trevor and Roy talked about criticism Justin Timberlake got for joining a conversation about appropriation, and while I think they mostly stayed on the surface of where/fit white people fit into discussions about race, the issue of colorism was handled excellently.  The piece went to some intentionally-uncomfortable places, and I liked what it said about colorism further dividing the Black community.  Cynthia Erivo was the guest, giving Trevor The Color Purple hat trick.  Being British, she had some great insight on Brexit and how many people will have their stories changed by it.

Tuesday, June 28 – Opening bit on England tanking at the Eurocup, featuring Iceland’s most rapturously-fervid commentator.  I liked the story on the recent Supreme Court decisions (with a dig to Congress about what actually doing things looks like.)  On the abortion decision, I liked how the absurd prohibitive rules Trevor made up were used to highlight how ridiculous the real rules were, and the final one – “no abortions for people who are women; everyone else is good” – brought it home.  Jordan had a field piece following up an old one he did on an Illinois couple who couldn’t get their lotto winnings because the state government couldn’t make a budget.  Shocking twist – partisan gridlock means that, months later, virtually nothing’s been done.  The guest, reporter Calvin Trillin, was subdued but fantastic.  He discussed his new book about his experiences reporting on race in America, going back to the Civil Rights Movement.

Wednesday, June 29 – Quick dig on Boris Johnson, with a Brexit speech of his posted on Pornhub as “Dumb British Blonde F*@& 15 Million People At Once.”  From there, we moved onto Clinton.  Trevor did a great job skewering the “news reports” that covered Elizabeth Warren joining Clinton on the campaign trail by harping on their “matching outfits,” and I enjoyed his glee at dressing down anyone who was surprised that the ninth investigation into Benghazi didn’t reveal anything new.  Desi did a What the Actual Fact on Trump’s speech about his economic plan.  From mathematical ridiculousness to flubbing of critical words to outright insanity, she touched on it all.  Glorious human being Laverne Cox was the guest, talking trans incarceration issues, visibility, and self-love.  In short interviews like this, it’s like she times herself down to the second, because she just has so much to say and is trying to fit it all in.  So much love.

Thursday, June 30 – Amusing bit breaking down the handshake fail between the North American leaders at a recent summit.  More on Brexit, with Boris Johnson taking himself out of the running for PM.  I liked Trevor’s analogy of Britain leaving their “husband” (the EU) for Johnson and then getting hung out to dry.  It was Jessica’s last night on the show, and she gave a terrific field piece on Sanders supporters who say they’ll support Trump over Clinton.  All of Jessica’s logical points of “but seriously, Trump?!” hit a total brick wall.  Their response of “It’s not a vote for Trump, it’s against Hillary,” really freaked me out – have they learned nothing from Brexit?  Afterwards, everyone gave Jessica a very sweet sendoff.  Guest Chuck Klosterman had an interesting conversation with Trevor about his new book, which looks toward the future and wonders what absolute certainties of ours will seem childishly naïve/wildly off-base to them.