News Satire Roundup: August 14th-August 18th

Sunday, August 14 – I appreciate John’s apocalyptic names for the election, which get increasingly longer and darker.  He looked at Trump’s “founder of ISIS” comment, including Trump’s derisive tweet about being sarcastic after it made the news, followed by saying at a rally that he wasn’t “that sarcastic.”  In response to the American Petroleum Institute lobbying with an ad similar to the show’s opening titles, John cribbed another of their ads for a new credit sequence, featuring two peppy millennials sharing disturbing facts about API.  The main story on auto loans was as depressing as you’d expect.  Ads targeting people filing for bankruptcy, a car repossessed with a baby in the back (the driver was dropping her other kids off at daycare,) Wall Street buying bundles of subprime loans a la the housing crisis – thank goodness for a brutally-honest promo John did for his imaginary used car dealership, backed by Keegan-Michael Key.

Monday, August 15 – Trevor opened the show with his elation at South Africa’s first gold medal win before moving on to Trump’s “surrogates,” members of his campaign who appear on news shows on his behalf to explain whatever crazy thing he’s just said.  Trevor didn’t envy them their jobs, particularly with Trump’s “founder of ISIS” comments that he subsequently walked back on.  Ronny’s field piece was also Trump-related, digging into the claim that it’s Trump’s business acumen that makes him essential for the White House.  The usual stuff – outsourcing, bankruptcies, lawsuits, as well as comments about unjust working conditions from a woman who worked at one of his hotels.  The guest, Daniel Radcliffe, reassured Trevor that he doesn’t mind talking about Harry Potter, but they were soon busy discussing his new film Imperium, about an FBI agent who goes undercover in a white supremacist group.

Tuesday, August 16 – I thought this was the best Olympics intro so far, with Roy and Ronny talking about people tweeting at Gabby Douglas to “smile more” and He Zi’s boyfriend proposing after her silver medal win.  Trevor had a few quick jokes about Anthony Wiener’s new scandal before turning to Trump’s foreign policy speech.  After a bit of What the Actual Fact from Desi, Trevor scrutinized Trump’s plan for “extreme vetting” in immigration, ie, Go Over the Muslim with a Fine-Toothed Comb.  It was a two-guest night.  The first was author Yaa Gyasi, who discussed her book about two half-sisters, one in slavery, the other still in Africa; it sounds really good.  The second guest, Sharlto Copley, talked briefly about his film The Hollars, but he and Trevor spent most of their time discussing South Africa and what it was like for Copley as a white person growing up during such a significant cultural and political shift there.

Wednesday, August 17 – Opening blurb on Biden joining Clinton on the campaign trail, featuring the world’s most awkward hug.  Trevor then pivoted to Trump and his entreaty to Black voters, in which he suggested that police bias is a myth pushed on the Black community by Democrats.  Trevor’s reaction to this, naturally, was a little piece of perfection, and he used Trump’s speech as a jumping-off point for talking police bias.  He did a great job covering the DoJ report on the Baltimore police department’s blatant racial discrimination in both official policies and daily practices.  LeBron James was the guest, taking two segments to talk about the many things he gets up to besides basketball.  He discussed his charitable efforts focused on keeping kids in school, his new miniseries that gives prospective entrepreneurs in Cleveland the chance to start their own businesses, and the importance of giving back to his community and using the realization of his dreams to make others’ come true.

Thursday, August 18 – After a nice farewell to Larry Wilmore and The Nightly Show, the election was front and center.  Hasan, Desi, and Adam talked about alternatives to what a number of people feel are two disappointing candidate choices.  Some good jokes, especially Hasan’s crack about how voting for Gary Johnson would be as useful as him signing up for TSA PreCheck and Adam admitting he couldn’t remember the name of the third-party candidate he was touting.  Jordan had a great field piece testing out Trump’s “extreme vetting” for immigrants and refugees on his own supporters.  When one man cited “disrespect for women” as a reason Muslims shouldn’t be allowed in the U.S. and then proudly showed off his incredibly sexist anti-Clinton T-shirt, I marveled at the irony right along with Jordan.  Musical guest tonight, Emily King, who was pretty cool.  I liked her style, and I enjoyed the groove on her first song.