News Satire Roundup: December 18th-December 21st

Monday, December 18 – Like the past couple of years, the show did a year-end special looking back on 2017.  This time, though, it was expanded to a full hour and moved to a more standup-type venue.  I enjoyed Trevor’s pieces, but honestly, I’d heard most of that material before, either on the show or in the live performance I caught of his last month.  He revisited the GOP’s political rebranding (from “Obamacare” to “gun control,”) his experience interviewing Obama, Trump being both terrifying and hilarious (like a “penis-shaped asteroid,”) and Trump not wanting to “do” president.  While there were new jokes here and there in each bit, there were a ton of repeats.  The main bit that I’m pretty sure was entirely new was a great riff on how Trump and Melania throw shade at each other through their public statements, i.e., Melania crusading against cyberbullying followed by Trump speaking out against immigrants.  The special offered plenty of new material from the correspondents, though.  Desi and Dulcé headed up a song about the highs and lows for women in 2017 (with an unwanted cameo by Michael as DJ Mansplain,) Hasan gave a terrific recap of the year in cable news, Ronny had an entertaining new tech piece, Roy argued with Michael over injecting their lighthearted sports piece with commentary on systemic racism, and Lewis capped off the night with grim predictions about 2018.  I also loved the periodic “In Memoriam” segments of people who, while still living, are now dead to us.  The Trump administration firings were good (I liked the touch of including the length of their tenure, and Sean Spicer’s incompetence doesn’t get old,) but the farewells to Hollywood sexual predators were even better – the clips of each ousted creep ranged from repulsive to darkly ironic, and each was chosen perfectly.

Tuesday, December 19 – Looks like the rest of the week is clip shows again.  The theme of this one was firings in the Trump administration.  It was of course entertaining to revisit these pieces and jokes again, like Steve Bannon’s bizarre Charlie Rose interview (which has since become even more uncomfortable in light of revelations about Rose) and Reince Priebus’s undignified ousting.  I was struck by the firings that I barely remembered, like Sally Yates or Preet Bharara, or those who barely had time to be there in the first place, like Anthony Scaramucci (less than two weeks in the White House!)  And seeing the James Comey story again was yet another reminder of all the times it’s seemed like the writing is on the wall and there’s no way Trump can come back from what he’s just done.  But that was more than seven months ago, and look where we are now.

Wednesday, December 20 – Tonight’s theme was “It’s the End of the Year as We Know It,” talking about some of the biggest disasters of 2017.  Here, each segment focused on a single topic, including clips from multiple pieces on the given subject.  First up was hurricanes – I liked Trevor’s speculation about having to resort to natural disasters to get Congress to accomplish anything, and I’d totally forgotten about Trump dedicating a golf trophy to Puerto Rico.  Next was mass shootings and gun laws in the U.S., repeating Trevor’s strong words after the Las Vegas shooting (wherein pundits would rather talk hotel security reform than gun legislation) and Neil Brennan’s plan to overcome the GOP’s defense of guns by using their fear of Black people.  The show also looked at North Korea and the threat of nuclear war, featuring Trump’s disturbing remarks at the UN general assembly and his pathetic feud with Kim Jong-un.

Thursday, December 21 – The final clip show looked at field reports.  I enjoyed Desi’s piece on translating Trump (and am again proud of the ASL interpreter for being the only one to really convey him as he is,) and Ronny’s Breaking Bad-esque piece on Australian high schoolers who synthesized Daraprim to stick it to Martin Shkreli was fun.  Hasan’s story on the Appalachian Regional Commission was a fresh reminder of how Trump doesn’t even look out for the people he claims to want to help, followed by Dulcé “joining” Congress’s investigations into Internet and social media giants for Russian meddling in the election.  They reaired Roy’s story from Chicago week on Ceasefire, which helps counteract violence in the Southside, along with a sad note that one of the piece’s interviewees was later killed.  Last was Michael giving an NYC tour of “problematic statues,” quizzing tourists on which they think should be taken down.