News Satire Roundup: January 11-14

New feature, a weekly catchall for The Daily Show and Last Week Tonight.  Well, eventually – John Oliver’s new season doesn’t start until February, so for now, it’s strictly Trevor Noah.  (Since this will be a regular feature, let’s move to first names for the hosts and correspondents.)

 Monday, January 11 – Kind of a potpourri show – lots of here’s-what-happened-this-weekend snippets.  The excerpt from Sean Penn’s interview with El Chapo was so insane, I could scarcely believe the show didn’t make it up themselves.  I liked Trevor’s reaction to the Maine governor’s racist remarks about out-of-state drug dealers, especially the image of them kicking themselves at forgetting to “impregnate a young white girl” before leaving Maine.  Roy’s correspondent piece gearing up for the State of the Union was okay.  My favorite part was the notion that the speech would be more exciting because Obama has “zero fucks left to give,” including the epic actual pre-address photo Obama posted of himself.  Not much to say about Colin Quinn’s interview, but I liked him comparing standup notes with Trevor.  Best part of the show, surprisingly, was the Moment of Zen, a really lovely clip of David Bowie from an old interview.

Tuesday, January 12 – The Powerball story was fun, especially Trevor making it rain with his tickets.  I loved the segment on Bernie Sanders and the idea that his current rise in the poll may be because he balances out Donald Trump so well.  The clip of Sanders singing “This Land is Your Land” was the absolute best; I needed that in my life, big-time.  Al’s field piece (can't get the clip to work,) about a planned drilling project on sacred Apache land, fell flat for me.  Although I liked the central hook – religious freedom is a sacred right if you belong to a “white” religion – but he needed someone on the pro-drilling side to play off of.  The interview with Greg Gutfeld of Fox News was absurd.  He came across as an ignorant blowhard, particularly when he 1) dismissively decided that Trevor “didn’t know ‘Freebird’” and picked a different song for an analogy, and 2) told the incredibly-well-traveled immigrant that America was the “Disneyland” of planet Earth.

Wednesday, January 13 – I liked the State of the Union story, particularly the imagined Senator Kid sitcom based off a smartly-dressed child in the audience.  The best part, though, was Trevor’s momentary concern when Obama started discussing the future, suspecting his “inner African president” was rooting for a power grab.  I was apprehensive about having two guests, but overall, I think it worked out.  The “Singles Night” GOP debate with Rand Paul was an amusing idea, although I don’t think the segment really got cooking until the extended clip that was released online.  The topics there (drugs and gun control) were more interesting to me, and Trevor seemed better prepared to challenge Paul’s claims.  The more traditional interview with second guest Tavis Smiley was pretty good.  His book, about the “top ten issues” important to Black Americans and how the government has failed to address them, sounds really interesting.

Thursday, January 14 – This was my knockout night.  Every segment was on fire.  The first story, on environment/health hazards brought about by insufficient regulation (particularly Flint, Michigan’s lead-filled water,) offered strong satire on a horrible topic.  I especially liked Trevor’s drinking water litmus test – “If the water is browner than I am…” – and his plea for Africa to save an American village for just $100 a day.  The back-and-forth between Trevor and Roy in the Oscar segment was great.  I’d hoped for coverage on round 2 of #OscarsSoWhite, and the show didn’t disappoint.  Roy’s exasperation at the only white people in Creed and Straight Outta Compton getting nominated was perfect, and I was in danger of dying laughing at the more academy-friendly “slavery-sprinkled” versions of both movies.  The interview with Ice Cube was laidback and fun, nice rapport and a few good anecdotes.