News Satire Roundup: September 19th-September 22nd

New episodes start up next Sunday!  For now, props to John for the excellent format he established for his show.  Premiering in a TV landscape that already had multiple news satire shows airing throughout the week (not to mention all the late-night talk shows likely to deliver punchlines about the day’s top stories in their monologues,) it would have been impossible to air a half-hour show once a week that felt like it was “keeping up” with the news.  John’s approach is much savvier.  Just a few quick highlights (stories too big to miss or less-known snippets that other shows aren’t talking about) before turning it over to the main event.  Taking an in-depth, tremendously well-researched look at a single issue for 15 to 20 minutes is a just great tack to take.  It makes the show stand out from others of its kind, often turns a spotlight on topics I don’t necessarily understand as well I should, and always leaves me feeling much more well-informed.

Monday, September 19 – Plenty on the explosion in Chelsea.  I liked Trevor’s slightly-impressed reaction that so many New Yorkers were mainly just annoyed at roads being closed, subways not running normally, and being woken up with a mass-text alert about the suspected terrorist (complete with frustrated ISIS members realizing they could’ve just been mass-texting Americans all this time.)  Michelle had a nice piece on burkini bans in several French cities.  She covered the hypocrisy of dictating what women can wear on the grounds that their religion shouldn’t dictate what they wear, and she made a shrewd point that their “fighting terrorism” means they’d prefer that their “terror suspects” blend in more.  Guests Ben Schnetzer and Nick Jonas promoted their movie The Goat.  The film (a dark story about fraternity hazing) brought them to toxic masculinity and the damaged caused when young men feel like they can’t be vulnerable.

Tuesday, September 20 – Trump’s son’s horrible “Syrian refugees = poisoned Skittles” analogy provided the framework for the first segment.  After eviscerating Trump Jr.’s factually-devoid fearmongering, Trevor used his own Skittles analogies to “helpfully explain” Trump’s recent charity scandals and derisive “finish” of birtherism.  I loved Trevor’s comment that Trump was basically saying, “Let’s forget the racist thing I’ve been saying for the past five years so we can all focus on my new racist ideas!”  Jordan’s field piece asking Trump supporters for their conspiracy theories (Obama being a secret Muslim, Obama causing 9/11, Clinton having a secret double) was staggering; I know they’ve done plenty of these stories and pretty much proved that there’s no bottom with this stuff, but it still shocks me.  Jada Pinkett-Smith was the guest, talking Gotham and the possibilities now that she and her husband are both in the DC universe.

Wednesday, September 21 – Whoa, central Minnesota on The Daily Show!  And… surprise, it’s about Islamaphobia!  Much love for Trevor snarking on the restaurant owner defending his “Muslims Get Out” sign with such gems as, “I don’t mean my place of business, I mean America!”  Fantastic response from Trevor to the police shooting of Terence Crutcher.  I’m amazed at how he can keep doing these stories that bring new insights to the same old horror.  Here, he talked about what happens when police only interact with Black communities in the context of crime and called out the U.S. for the phrase “all-Black high school” not raising any eyebrows.  Adam talked about the Wells Fargo cross-selling scandal and all the audacity that went down there – decent piece.  Talk show host/media empress Wendy Williams was the guest, and I enjoyed watching Trevor’s fanboy tendencies coming out in full force.

Thursday, September 22 – Quick bit on Mark Zuckerberg’s plan to “cure all disease” – I laughed at Trevor’s admiration of his “billionaire T-shirt” – before the story shifted to Facebook as a news source.  The primary news source, in fact, for a very large percentage of people.  Trevor highlighted the problems with this, like the fact that nothing on Facebook needs verification and that its “suggested for you” algorithm creates an echo chamber that only gives people what they already want to hear.  He also shared some choice clips from Tomi Lahren, a far-right commentator whose videos get millions of views from likeminded Facebookers.  I enjoyed the interview with Lisa Ling discussing her CNN show This is Life.  She and Trevor talked about two episodes, one on mass incarceration and one on policing in Black communities, and both sounded fascinating.