"Better a fallen rocket than never a burst of light."
~ Tom Stoppard, The Invention of Love

Friday, November 4, 2016

News Satire Roundup: October 30th-November 3rd

Sunday, October 30 – John’s dismay at the FBI investigating more potential Clinton emails, which is virtually guaranteed not to be finished before the election, felt cathartic.  Like him, I’m ready for the whole mess to just be over.  I thought the main story was great.  It was on school segregation, which still occurs with depressing frequency.  John explained how segregated district lines from racist housing practices were specifically left out of federal desegregation mandates in the ‘60s and had horrible statistics to back up why this absolutely matters.  The montage of 21st-century white parents railing against the prospect of Black and Latin@ students from the next district being bussed in was so ugly – such open racism is just chilling.  The show wrapped with a “Why is This Still a Thing?” on Tuesday voting (turns out, it’s so farmers in the 1800s could travel to distant polling places without having to miss church on Sunday.)


Monday, October 31 – In lieu of a regular episode, we got a “pirate broadcast” in the abandoned wreck of the Daily Show studio after nearly four years of a hypothetical Trump presidency, the gimmick being that Trevor emerged from hiding to implore people to vote and prevent another four years of hell.  Overall, I’d say I appreciated the episode more than I enjoyed it – it wasn’t as funny or as sharp as usual, but I liked the concept and the ambition of it.  Some of the jokes about how society collapsed under Trump were pretty good.  I liked the clip of John Oliver being carted away by the police in the middle of a story, and Desi’s bit about women having to wear electronic bracelets that assigned them attractiveness ratings (and the rights granted for each – as an 8, Desi could vote and voice her opinions to men if she raised her hand) was excellent.

Tuesday, November 1 – After a goofy clip of Obama uncoolly dancing to “Thriller,” Trevor dove into the latest Clinton email mess.  Predictably, much was made of Anthony Weiner’s tie to the story – I laughed so hard at Trevor’s theory that this was the penis’s last-ditch effort to keep a vagina out of the White House.  Michelle had a pretty good one-on-one with Trevor on a couple of health stories.  I enjoyed her lambasting the men who dropped out of a male birth control trial because they couldn’t handle the side effects, even though, as she pointed out, “medical side effects” is the one area in which women earn more than men.  And her worries that an uptick in oral cancer among young males (with some research pointing to HPV) would make men stop going down on women felt fittingly incredulous.  Decent interview with security advisor Susan Rice; can’t go wrong with a photo of an ambassador playing catch with the president in the Oval!

Wednesday, November 2 – While hockey is more popular with Black folks than Trump (and, as Trevor pointed out, it’s the only sport with a “prison”/penalty box,) Trevor maintained that the reason Clinton does well with Black voters is that she’s basically “living the Black experience.”  As evidence, he cited a) multiple investigations against her despite no clear proof of wrongdoing, b) an inherent belief that she’s a criminal, and c) her Black preacher-esque wardrobe.  Desi had a so-so field piece trying to get to the bottom of Trump’s appeal.  She interviewed one of his “regular Joe” colossally-rich supporters, who insisted that Trump would make America as great as his exclusive country club (after assuring Desi that the club was “very diverse,” she struggled to name any PoC who weren’t on the payroll.)  Kal Penn was the guest; he talked about his time working in politics, the fake politics of Designated Survivor, and his thoughts on the election.

Thursday, November 4 – Roy showed up to celebrate the Cubs’ World Series win, clad in his lucky bathrobe still dripping with game 7 precipitation.  Good story on a handful of Senate races – Trevor looked at several battles that could potentially lose the Republicans their majority.  Some fantastic lines, including, “This awkward pause brought to you by racism!” and, “Shit’s about to get vague.”  I liked the concept of a behind-the-scenes look at Trump’s “speech writer,” a petulant child that Trump’s staff follows around to write down his every non-grammatical word.  The execution could have been better, since the kid didn’t quite sell it for me, but I laughed every time they cut to a clip of Trump delivering the same words (complete with the “bing bing bings.”)  Common was the guest, discussing his choice to get political in his latest album.  He also talked about contributing to Ava DuVernay’s documentary The 13th, which I really need to watch.

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