News Satire Roundup: July 18th-July 22nd

New Last Week Tonight coming up on Sunday – yes!  In the meantime, another favorite recurring comic bit on the show is John’s habit of directly addressing the fake people in his stock photos there to illustrate whatever point he’s presently making.  Every time he turns to the empty space over his shoulder where they superimpose his graphics, gives them names, and lays into them heartily, I crack up so hard.  It’s too much fun when he insults them and calls them the worst, but my favorite is when he throws in extra backstory, like the lesbian couple trying to get a bank loan for “Brenda’s stupid ‘cupcakes for dogs’” business venture, or Gerald, whose new gym membership is destined to be “learning Korean all over again.”  At times, he just talks to them frankly about their life choices, while at others, he takes on the part of someone else in the stock photo and inserts himself into the imaginary conversation – either way, it’s always good.

Monday, July 18 – Pretty wasted episode here.  With the show gearing up for its three-day convention special filmed in Cleveland, having a new episode on Monday evidently wasn’t in the cards.  Instead, we got “The Road to the Road,” a clip show covering the lowlights of the GOP race this election season; the only new bits were a few introductory snippets from Trevor, allegedly shot in the gold-encrusted Trump mansion.  Now, while this election cycle had plenty of craziness worth remembering and the show gave a number of excellent stories on it, I didn’t really need to see them played again piecemeal.  If there’s an old segment I want to watch again, I’ll watch the whole story on the website, not a 20-second clip interspersed with a bunch of other 20-second clips.  I get why they didn’t have a new episode tonight, but for me, there wasn’t much point to this one. 

Tuesday, July 19 –The correspondents kicked things off with their fears stirred up by thoughts of the future, the combative atmosphere, the Islamophobia, and the xenophobic rhetoric.  Trevor discussed the Melania-Michelle speech situation, bringing us the “truth” with an assist from Kim Kardashian.  Fine story on the first night’s theme, “Make America Safe Again,” which translated to fearmongering, mainly against foreigners, and I loved Trevor’s response to the Black speakers brought in to make “All Lives Matter” statements.  From bringing up the systemic racism and cyclical poverty their speeches ignored to wondering why Black people are “so susceptible to dying” at the hands of police if no one is guilty of killing them, he was perfect.  Former RNC Chairman Michael Steele was the guest.  He and Trevor discussed the convention, how a Black Republican can vote for Trump, and whether Republicans can admit Clinton’s merits.

Wednesday, July 20 – After an amusing clip of Ted Cruz being upstaged by Trump’s plane, Trevor launched into Tuesday’s convention highlights.  Looking for actual support for Trump in Paul Ryan’s speech made for a disappointing drinking game, and with Chris Christie’s speech, Trevor wondered how the day’s theme of economic policy became a farcical “trial” of Clinton.  I really liked Trevor’s comments about the mob mentality atmosphere and how easy it is to get people on your side by chanting slogans instead of making measured arguments.  Great field piece from Jordan on evangelicals who support Trump despite his less-than-Christian behavior – his interview with a pastor, whose claims of Trump’s devoutness Jordan roundly challenged, was the highlight.  I liked guest Christiane Amanpour, especially her remarks about how journalists can conflate neutrality with creating false equivalences that aren’t there.

Thursday, July 21 – Live show tonight, so Trevor could react to Trump’s speech, mainly apocalyptic fear based on untrue “facts.”  For being live, I thought the piece was decent, if a little rushed.  Trevor’s glee at Cruz’s non-endorsement from Wednesday, though, was great.  I loved the Daenerys comparisons to Cruz walking into the establishment and burning the place down.  A parody “Who is Donald Trump?” video was fun, featuring Trump’s numerous bankruptcies and businessman-to-politician strategy of turning his flaws into selling points.  (They had to cut to commercial the first time because the video froze – Trevor’s, “They’re telling me to go to an ad break, but I could rule the world right now!” cracked me up.)  Really enjoyed the guest, Alex Wagner from The Atlantic.  She and Trevor talked about the convention’s coliseum feel, Mike Pence’s apparent buyer’s remorse, and who will do the actual duties of president if Trump wins.

Friday, July 22 – Rather than spend the whole night on Trump, Trevor opened on Charles Kinsey, non-fatally shot by police while lying on the sidewalk with his hands up helping an autistic man.  No words for that craziness, but Trevor’s commentary was great.  The guy correspondents played fearmongering telephone, in which each was so stirred up up by Trump’s speech that they needed to arm themselves, a desire that only increased when they heard how the others were arming themselves.  Desi fact-checked both Trump and other speakers from the convention; I liked that she mentioned Trump’s vow to protect LGBTQ people from “a hateful foreign ideology” but not domestic violence/oppression.  Hasan had an excellent field piece asking convention-goers about Trump’s proposed Muslim ban.  It was bizarre how many simply dismissed it, or expressed acceptance of Muslims and then endorsed Trump in the same breath.