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

Friday, February 8, 2019

News Satire Roundup: February 4th-February 7th

Monday, February 4 – Opening blurbs on the Super Bowl (so boring, even Adam Levine’s shirt walked away!), the Atlanta rapper 21 Savage secretly being British (featuring fun accents from Trevor,) and Cory Booker throwing his hat in the 2020 ring.  We also got the annual Groundhog Day story, which always makes me smile.  Really good piece on Ralph Northam’s blackface scandal.  Trevor was on fire:  pointing out that “I know I didn’t do blackface that time because distinctly remember doing blackface this other time!” isn’t a great strategy and noting that Northam’s wife totally prevented him from doing the moonwalk in the middle of his apology.  We covered the leak on Trump’s “executive time”; loved Trevor’s joke that Sarah Huckabee Sanders calling it a “more creative environment” for Trump made it sound like a Montessori preschool.  The guest, Colin Quinn, discussed the bipartisan appeal of his new comedy special.

Tuesday, February 5 – Live show for the State of the Union.  I liked the jokes about politicians trolling each other with their special guests and the speech going on so long that Nancy Pelosi started “consulting the menu” in the background.  Good coverage of the speech itself, especially Trump’s blood-soaked description of the southern border and his bizarre move of trying to claim credit for more women being elected to Congress as Democrats (loved the line comparing it to thanking smallpox for vaccines.)  As is tradition, Roy gave his “State of Black Shit” address celebrating the year’s successes and pointing out its continuing problems.  I loved Dulce repeatedly interrupting him in excitement as he described the Black community finally “muting” R. Kelly.  Journalist Frank Bruni was the guest, discussing the speech and whether the media will give Trump “presidential points” for spending most of the night in teleprompter mode.

Wednesday, February 6 – First up was Virginia political scandals (blackface, sexual assault allegations, more blackface,) which got a good callback with Elizabeth Warren’s “American Indian” stuff:  “Did no one want to be white in the ‘80s?”  More on the State of the Union.  Trevor analyzed Nancy Pelosi’s clapping to show how the angle changes the meaning, and we got mental whiplash from mainstream vs. conservative coverage of the speech.  Next was more potential 2020 candidates.  I liked Trevor’s point about the weirdness of people announcing they’re gonna make an announcement, insisting that Amy Klobuchar better be running if she’s dragging people outside in Minnesota in February!  Michael did a piece on e-sports.  Much the usual:  “How is this a sport?  But wait – it kind of is a sport…”  The guest was Danai Gurira; great comments on Black Panther and convincing people she won’t beat them up in real life.

Thursday, February 7 – More blackface in Virginia politics, along with a bizarrely-racist Gucci turtleneck (loved Trevor’s plan to force companies to pay Black people when they do something racist.)  There was also a bit on Delta’s creepy napkins encouraging people to pass notes to their “plane crush.”  Trevor advocated writing the notes to people with their bare feet out, people kicking his seat, etc., which sounds more satisfying.  Interesting story on proposed tax plans for the “super-rich.”  I liked the point that, with ¾ of Americans approving such bills, it really can’t be called a “fringe/socialist” idea.  Black History Month always has some good CP Times; today, Roy talked civil rights marches, covering the Million Man March, the Black Panthers, and Ida B. Wells.  Dorothy Butler Gilliam, the first Black woman to write for the Washington Post, was the guest.  Her book sounds fascinating, and she had a lot to say about attacks on the free press.

No comments:

Post a Comment