News Satire Roundup: July 5th-July 7th

Last Week Tonight is off for three weeks, ouch.  Comedy-wise, one running gag I love about the show is John’s descriptions of countries as he leads into stories about them.  Some of my favorites include Mexico (“spicy Canada,”) Greece (“the most recent Greek tragedy,”) Denmark (“wrong Norway,” “different Sweden,” and “that’s actually not Finland,”) Ireland (“Europe’s Boston,”) Ukraine (“currently Russia’s fastest-growing import,”) United Kingdom (“America’s deadbeat dad,”) Russia (“Earth’s Death Star,”) North Korea (“alphabetically speaking, the world’s foremost Korea,”) and Australia (“not just the place where Russell Crowe lives, but very much the Russell Crowe of countries.”)

Tuesday, July 5^th – Laughing at a NASA scientist who bumps his microphone while talking about the extreme precision of the Juno probe is an easy joke, but it still cracked me up.  A few good lines in the blurb about a national hot dog-eating contest; I especially liked the difference in competitive eating between 1980 and 2016.  I was a bit mixed on the latest about Clinton’s emails.  There were some interesting points, and everything about Bill Clinton running across the tarmac to talk to Loretta Lynch was funny, but I dunno.  I feel like the story didn’t quite have a solid theme.  Trump’s latest tweeting scandal, though, was really well-covered.  Sharp jokes, fine commentary, and plenty of “seriously, how did we get here?” exasperation (also, Corey Lewandowski on CNN – really?!)  I was meh on the guest, Jim Gaffigan.  Complaining about how people aren’t watching his new show didn’t really make me want to watch it.

Wednesday, July 6^th – Update on Rio.  I loved Trevor’s line about how just living there is an Olympic sport, and the pivot from Rio to the election was spot-on.  More on Clinton’s emails, which is increasingly depressing.  The bit about sullying the Clinton name (and the honesty and integrity it “implies”) was my favorite.  And from there, we got to Trump.  Really, a presidential candidate shouldn’t need to be told not to praise dictators (Saddam, Putin, Gaddafi, Kim Jong-un, etc.) – that is so insane.  The other Trump story, on his prospective cabinet, was good, too.  Trump bragging about his “very good brain” is always funny, and the cabinet full of Trumps repeating his many contradictory stances was a clever idea.  Guest Terry McMillan discussed her latest novel and representation in literature.  I thought she had some interesting things to say, but the dynamic felt a little off to me, like she and Trevor were on different wavelengths.

Thursday, July 7^th – Excellent, heartfelt reaction to the police shootings of Alton Sterling and Philando Castile.  In the midst of sadness and frustration, Trevor hit on some very salient points, like a) being pro-Black doesn’t mean you have to be anti-police and vice versa, b) just because it disproportionately affects Black men doesn’t make it solely a “Black” problem, and c) it feels disingenuous that police dismiss the reliability of video only when it shows evidence of their wrongdoing.  I also liked the story on the sexual harassment allegations made by Gretchen Carlson, formerly of Fox News.  The long montage of objectification/misogyny featured in Fox News shows was especially gross.  Julia Stiles was the guest, addressing the recent police shootings before discussing the new Jason Bourne movie and the real “action scene” she experienced while shooting it in London.