News Satire Roundup: January 18-21

Monday, January 18 – In a perfect world, the idea of anyone hosting an MLK Day “Fun Shoot” would exist only in satire, but unfortunately… Still, the new “You Couldn’t Find One Black Person to Run This By?” segment was great.  With Republican and Democratic debates last week, we got double the coverage.  The clips of Sanders’s epic side-eye were fantastic, and I liked the footage of both debates spliced together.  I always enjoy “What the Actual Fact,” and although I didn’t think the fact ratings were quite as funny tonight, Jessica did a great job in Desi’s stead.  I especially loved her comments on Trump’s trouble with severely overestimating numbers of Muslims.  The interview with Making a Murderer documentarians Moira Demos and Laura Ricciardi was pretty good.  Both seemed a bit shy in front of the camera, but Trevor did well balancing the two guests, and his obvious for Making a Murderer was fun.

Tuesday, January 19 – Some good Trump stuff tonight, especially the clips of him pandering to evangelicals at Liberty U – calling his own book “second” to the Bible was ridiculous, and his scripture reading was something else.  In the Parliament story, I like that they agreed it was silly to actually vote on banning Trump from the U.K. and decided to spend the session mocking him instead.  Roy’s field piece, on the idea of betting on presidential elections, was amusing.  The concept of getting fantasy football players to apply their sports-stats obsession to learning about political candidates reminded me of a bit from Trevor’s African American, where he compared Americans’ knowledge of sports to their knowledge of the economy.  I like that the show brings in occasional musical guests, although Jess Glynne wasn’t my favorite.  I’m not quite sure why; the song was definitely catchy, and her voice was good, but it didn’t really connect with me.

Wednesday, January 20 – Just a slam dunk show for me.  I loved everything about it.  The story about Sarah Palin’s speech endorsing Donald Trump was a thing of comic beauty.  The cold open skit was fun, and I loved Trevor’s utter bafflement and delight at the absurdity of the speech.  I particularly liked his observation that some of the presidential candidates know as little about U.S. politics as he, the “outsider,” does.  Hasan’s segment parodying frenetic, high-octane finance shows like Mad Money was hilarious – it hit just the right notes of that special brand of insanity, and the little touches, from the classic stockbroker outfit to the chart of rising Vicodin costs, were perfect.  The interview wasn’t especially heavyweight, but I’ve liked Gael García Bernal for a number of years, and he and Trevor were fun discussing Mozart in the Jungle (as well as, naturally, the sexiest orchestra sections.)

Thursday, January 21 –The segment on Iran felt a bit hodge-podge, especially since the situation with the captured sailors was resolved more than a week ago (that sounds callous; I just mean, why cover it now instead of then?), but there were some good bits here, and I’m all for Trevor calling out Ted Cruz’s trigger-happiness.  I enjoyed Jessica’s field piece on the campaign to change the racist town seal for Whitesboro, NY (loved her reaction to learning the town name.)  That seal was crazy, and it’s cool that the show’s initial dig into the story gave it some national coverage that helped spur change.  The interview with Marlon Wayans, promoting 50 Shades of Black, was fun.  I’ve never felt any sort of urge to see a Wayans Brothers movies and don’t plan to start, but he’s a natural showman who came armed with some pretty funny anecdotes.