Sunday, October 16 – It has to be
painful for these shows to keep ringing comedy out of this depressing election,
but bless them for trying. I appreciate
John’s weekly update on how far we are below rock bottom. This week, we were in a coffin and buried
alive as Trump went all scorched earth on his own party, the media, and the
women who say he sexually assaulted them.
In response to those who say neither Clinton nor Trump is worth voting
for, the main story was on third-party candidates Gary Johnson and Jill
Stein. John did a nice job showing the
problems with casting a “conscious vote” against both major candidates by
picking either Johnson or Stein misses their ill-thought-out policies and
problematic behavior, like Stein’s tendency to make nice with conspiracy
theorists by noncommittally fanning the flames.
We also got a couple montages of my favorite recurring bit, The Most
Patient Man on Earth listening to C-SPAN callers.
Monday, October 17 – A couple of quick
blurbs to start – redubbed Jurassic Park
footage reflecting the new scientific understanding that dinosaurs likely
quacked instead of roared, and likening the way the U.S. treats conflict with
Middle Eastern countries (Yemen, in this case) like casual dating. Next up was Trump’s continuing insistence
that the election is rigged. Trevor very
satisfying tore apart Trump’s coy “you
know what I’m talking about” re: the
idea that “certain parts” of Philadelphia will have to be watched to make sure
Black voters aren’t cheating. He also
looked at the similarities between Trump’s campaign and the strategies of many
polarizing-but-popular reality-show contestants. I had no idea that Russell Simmons was
working on a collaborative unity project between Jewish and Muslim communities,
so his interview was a nice surprise, talking about doing his part as an ally
to combat Islamaphobia.
Tuesday, October 18 – After a quick
montage of Black children recoiling as Trump tried to embrace them, it was onto
to Melania’s defense of her husband re: the Access Hollywood tape. Her extreme adherence to her talking points
didn’t bother me, but I thought it was ridiculous that she questioned whether
or not Trump knew the mic was on (so
not the point.) Trevor covered the irony
of her wanting to fight cyber-bullying if she becomes First Lady, and Desi was
spliced in with an escape plan for Melania.
Interesting story on WikiLeaks’s recent Clinton acquisitions. I laughed at the “emailing recipes = dick
pics for old folks” bit, and I appreciated the point about how the big secret
email reveals pale in comparison to things Trump says/does in public. Loved Uzo Aduba as the guest. She was promoting her new film American Pastoral, but Trevor had to get
some Orange is the New Black
questions in as well, and she was happy to oblige.
Wednesday, October 19 – Live post-debate episode. This might be my favorite live show of the
election cycle; the commentary felt pretty sharp, more put together than
initial reactions. I loved Trevor’s
remarks on a) Trump trying to pander to Latinos as he’s talking deportation, b) Clinton, despite her valid point
about the Russian hacks, using Putin to evade questions about the WikiLeaks
emails, and of course c) Trump refusing to state that he’ll accept the election
results – shudder. Roy had a piece on disillusionment among
young Black voters. Although it’s obviously
true, I hadn’t really thought about how people under 30 have never had only white presidential candidates to
choose from. The interview with
journalist Matt Taibbi was so-so. I
liked what he said about Trump’s reality TV campaign, but I can’t really buy
that this is what U.S. elections will be like from here on out.
Thursday, October 20 – Jordan filled in
for Trevor, who was out sick.
Personally, I’d have liked to see Hasan or Ronny take a crack at it, but
Jordan was fine. There were plenty of
jokes about it – comparing Trump’s issues with the peaceful transition of power
to Jordan “taking out” his fellow correspondents to get the job, admitting that
Africa jokes work better when Trevor says them re: discussing Kenya’s
post-election unrest – and overall, the commentary on the debate felt written
for Jordan instead of just him reading Trevor’s lines. Roy had a good field piece on the racist crap
that Black journalists have to put up with on camera, swallowing their disgust
so as not to be painted as “angry Black men/women.” Some of the comments were just
horrendous. I’d been looking forward to
the interview with Mike Colter, but I think it would’ve been way better with
Trevor. Jordan’s interview was pretty
surfacy and felt ill-informed.
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