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

Saturday, December 22, 2018

News Satire Roundup: December 17th-December 20th


Monday, December 17 – Good opening blurbs:  Prada being accidentally racist (“If you’d had one Black person there…”), Putin wanting the state to control rap music, and Cardi B’s ex pulling a “take me back” grand gesture at her concert (I liked Trevor’s preoccupation with how Offset got a cake past security.)  Some of the latest on the Trump camp, with Mick Mulvaney now acting chief of staff – great joke about Trump deciding to promote the next person/Roomba to enter the Oval – the scandal-ridden Ryan Zinke bowing out, and Stephen Miller sporting spray-on hair on TV.  Roy did a new Christmas-themed CP Time.  I liked it; he looked at the origins of Black Christmas (slavery,) “Jingle Bells’s” debut as a minstrel song (he tags one-horse open sleighs in protest!), the history of Black Santas, and exclusion in toys.  The guest, author Eve Ewing, talked about her book on the indefensible education gap for poor children of color.

Tuesday, December 18 – I liked the joke about New York legalizing nunchucks before weed.  The new estimate on the gender pay gap disappearing in over 200 years was so depressing.  Like Trevor, I laughed at the idea of people chasing driverless cars (“I know you’re Bumblebee!!”), and the Trump family being banned from serving on the board of any New York charity for a decade, given how they swindled their own, was very satisfying.  Good story on Russia trying to suppress Black votes in the midterms; trying to encourage apathy and fear was bad enough, but actively providing false information about polls was even worse.  Desi did a piece on surviving family political arguments over the holidays.  Amusing, but I would’ve been interested to see a more sincere attempt to apply the techniques she was taught.  Rapper Pusha T was the guest.  I liked Trevor’s compliment that his music “is what hip-hop is meant to sound like.”

Wednesday, December 19 – The year-end show was moved up a day because Trevor needs surgery on his vocal cords.  He took time out from the usual “Trump is a danger to the world” stories to look back on just how weird our president is, from his bizarre speech/pronunciation to his habit of just dropping things on the floor when he’s done with them.  Desi and Jaboukie reminded us of stories we’d forgotten happened just this year, showing how much insanity has been packed into the last 12 months, and Dulce made a brief solicitation to the Permit Pattys of the world.  Roy and Ronny covered the year in outrage; Ronny, though, added to Roy’s outrage by ranting about “Yanny vs. Laurel” while Roy ranted about kids in cages.  Michael did a piece on the “Michaels” of 2018, from Cohen to Avenatti and beyond.  The guest was Charlamagne Tha God, talking about destigmatizing mental health discussions in the hip-hop community.

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