News Satire Roundup: January 8th-January 11th

Monday, January 8 – Quick review of the Golden Globes, with Natalie Portman throwing shade at the all-male directing nominees and Trevor fawning over Oprah’s speech.  Michael Wolff’s book was brought up again, this time as a springboard into the debate over Trump’s mental fitness.  I loved Trevor’s impression of Rex Tillerson saying he didn’t need to “question” it (“because he already knows the answer,”) and they of course got into Trump’s “stable genius” tweet.  Michael and Roy did a sports piece – is this a new recurring bit for them? – covering a small handful of stories.  The best, for me, was the first one on concussions, particularly Michael’s speculation that the real reason Cam Newton’s knees buckled on the field was that he got hit so hard he thought he heard the national anthem.  Model Ashley Graham was the guest.  She discussed her new book and her journey in embracing her size.

Tuesday, January 9 – Lots of quick snippets to start:  (hopefully) accidental racism from H & M, weed banned at Coachella, and Trump only appearing to know about half the words to the national anthem.  The first longer piece was on Trump’s seeming desire for absolute power over the Justice Department.  The show covered two recently-reopened investigations into Hillary Clinton, as well as Trump’s quote longing for his own Roy Cohn, holding the McCarthy croney up as an ideal attorney general.  Next was an international In Other News.  On the docket was Thailand’s PM sending out a cardboard cutout of himself for a press conference, Pakistan’s reaction to a reduction in US military aid, and Kim Jong-un’s birthday.  I really enjoyed the guest, actor Jason Mitchell.  He had a great story about auditioning for Straight Outta Compton and just generally gave really good interview.

Wednesday, January 10 – I laughed at Apple taking criticisms about kids getting obsessed with their phones and responding by blaming at the customers – Trevor’s depiction of that was fun.  The big story tonight was on immigration reform, focusing of course on the partially-recorded meeting between Trump and members of Congress.  I loved Trevor wondering if we could guess who “the one person in that room” who didn’t know what they were talking about was, as evidenced by a Congressman having to explain to Trump what a clean DACA act was and why he was against it.  The whole “bill of love” BS was also gross.  Lewis did a Back in Black on the current state of NYC, featuring fewer murders, segregated rats, and subways stations ten times more expensive than ones in Paris.  The guest was director Dee Rees, talking about Mudbound, the themes she finds in her work, and convincing Mary J. Blige to act without makeup.

Thursday, January 11 – We opened on Trump’s racist comments about immigrants of color, with Trevor speaking up on behalf of “South Shithole.”  I also liked Trevor’s comments on Norway, home of “the whitest people,” being Trump’s go-to example for desired immigrants.  Next was a piece on Trump opening up offshore drilling along both coasts – except in Florida.  Trevor’s plan to stop drilling by building a Trump hotel in every state was good.  Trump’s insistence that our libel laws need to be stronger led to a Hasan the Record on free speech.  Personally, I think counter-protesting white supremacist rallies is just free speech in action, but I liked the page he took from Germany’s “anti-Nazi Nazi march,” holding same-sex weddings at Confederate memorials and whatnot.  Kareem Abdul-Jabbar was the guest.  He talked about protests in sports and an insulting message he received from the president.