Monday, December 12 – All Obama all the time. I thought Trevor did a nice job interviewing
Obama, considering he seemed so starstruck/humbled he was lucky he remembered
his own name. He gave Obama plenty of
space, asking open-ended questions about the Russian hacks prior to the
election, the upcoming transition of power, Obamacare, his plans for
post-president life, and his approach to talking about race. Obama has a gift for laying things out as
they are, but in a diplomatic way, like when he considered Congress’s job of
replacing Obamacare. Essentially, his
attitude was, “I hope they do improve
on it! Guys, if you had ideas, you
could’ve shared them with me five years ago, because I want this system to be the best it can!” No ego, no partisan game-playing, just, “Can
we get a little governance over here?”
The show also gets points pre-interview for bringing up the picture of
the little Black boy touching Obama’s hair.
Tuesday, December 13 – I loved Trevor
recapping his Obama interview, especially his worry over whether he’d get the “Black
handshake.” Crazy blurb on Kanye West meeting Trump – the clip of newscasters cutting away from the Middle East to
show the photo op at Trump Tower sums up US news media pretty well. Potential secretary of state Rex Tillerson
was the latest Trump nominee the show profiled, placing emphasis on his cozy
relationship with Russia (I continually feel trolled by this transition of
power.) Trevor’s impression of Putin learning
how to smile was my joke of the night – that killed me. Bit of goofy fluff about a NASA contest to
come up with improved poop-ready space suits, with Desi, Ronny, and Roy giving their
best pitches. Ta-Nehisi Coates was the
guest, talking about an article he wrote saying goodbye to the Obama
administration and his complicated experiences covering America’s first Black
president.
Wednesday, December 14 – More from Trump’s “thank you” tour with another appearance from “truth Trump,” telling it like it really is despite himself. Between his acknowledgement that “lock her up”
is a just a soundbite that “plays well” before
the election and his admission that he said “drain the swamp” for weeks before
he “started to believe it,” I almost feel sorry for his supporters. Forget all Americans – I’m not sure Trump
will end up being president to any
Americans. Michelle and Trevor talked
over Ohio’s recently-vetoed “heartbeat” abortion bill and the prospect of
reproductive health under the Trump administration. Desi got in on it too, with a field piece on
women who are anxious to get IUDs before inauguration day. Michael K. Williams was the guest, and he
obligingly let Trevor geek out for a while about Omar and The Wire before moving onto his new movie, Assassin’s Creed.
Thursday, December 15 – The whole news
team helped say goodbye (and good riddance?) to 2016. Trevor knew we were in for it when it started with Zika and only got
worse. Desi gave us the year’s biggest
breakups, including America and decency.
Hasan highlighted the year in fake news, predicting that we’ll spend the
next four years wishing the news was
fake. Roy looked at the intersection of
politics and sports, complimenting Colin Kaepernick on finding a form of
protest that requires no movement at all.
Ronny bemoaned the proliferation of online “viral” challenges (but that
Brazilian kid who did the water bottle challenge then dabbed while slip ‘n’
sliding was awesome.) Jordan showed a montage of his assorted
pieces interviewing folks at Trump rallies.
The guest, Rob Corddry, was nostalgic to be back at his old stomping
grounds and shared fun stories about working with Kate McKinnon on Office Christmas Party.
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