News Satire Roundup: July 10th-July 13th

Last Week Tonight is off until the end of the month – as soon as one show comes back, the other leaves!  Last week’s spectacular Warren G. Hardin biopic trailer made me think of another reason to love the show:  their constant high-quality cameos from impressive stars (case in point, the trailer included the likes of Anna Kendrick, James Cromwell, and, in its own words, “Laura Fucking Linney.”)  From “here’s a celebrity to talk to you about this issue” PSA parodies to spot-on fake trailers, the show consistently pulls in big names to lend authenticity to the satire.  I image it’s equal parts a) enjoying the show themselves, b) wanting to be a part of something that’s so popular and apt to go viral, and c) getting a kick out of taking part in the sheer ridiculousness of it.  I think my favorite so far was the trailer for an “intense action drama” about infrastructure starring Edward Norton, Steve Buscemi, and Vincent D’Onofrio, among others.

Monday, July 10 – First up was the G20 summit, featuring conflicting reports of Trump’s meeting with Putin and the rest of the world pushing forward to combat climate change.  I loved Trevor’s riff on Angela Merkel’s lackluster interpreter, and the piece came together neatly at the end with the rest of the West banding together to stand with the rest of the world against climate change (while Trump pouted in the corner.)  Naturally, we also had to cover the latest in the Russia investigation, with news of Donald Trump Jr’s. meeting with a Kremlin-connected lawyer.  Trevor did a great job going through the descending stupidity of the administration’s excuses when it comes to Russia.  Excellent, funny interview with Kumail Nanjiani, promoting The Big Sick.  He talked about writing the movie with his wife and the film’s “radical” statement that Muslims are people, too.

Tuesday, July 11 – More on Donald Trump Jr., with the latest development of him releasing his emails about Russia.  Trevor’s comments on Trump Jr.’s contact were great, and I liked his summation of the issue as it stands:  we now know for sure that we’re definitely on fire, and while that’s a whole new problem, at least we know.  New correspondent Michael had a desk piece on America’s divide, positing that the extreme right and extreme left have more in common (as fringes rather than as conservatives/liberals) than people would think.  For a first piece, it wasn’t bad, but it was a little “meh” – I appreciate that he was actively trying to do something different than Jordan, though.  Former Dallas police chief David O. Brown was the guest.  As both a Black man and a police officer, he shared his perspective from both sides on the issue of police violence, including terrible experiences he’s had personally and professionally.

Wednesday, July 12 – Continuing with Russia, Trevor shared the results of the “Doncathalon,” the acrobatics Fox News performed in an attempt to downplay the situation with Donald Trump Jr.  From “what about Hillary?” to “where does it say collusion is a bad thing?”, all performed at their peak, and Trevor’s impression of Trump Jr. dismissively confessing was hilarious.  Neal Brennan made an appearance to praise the GOP as the true leaders of the resistance, what with their inability to pass a health care bill with control of both houses of Congress and the presidency – and of course, Trump himself, the best means of convincing people to join the cause.  I really enjoyed the interview with James Davis talking about his new show Hood-Adjacent.  I liked what he had to say about the show’s inception, and it sounds really creative and clever.

Thursday, July 13 – Trump’s assertions that Russia didn’t hack the election were straight-up ridiculous, and Trevor’s jokes about it were perfect.  Trump hitting on Prime Minister Macron’s wife led into a good piece from Desi on interpreting for Trump.  I love that the ASL interpreter was the most on-point, not holding back from showing Trump in all his crude, hateful glory.  The piece from Roy on happenings with drugs (from snortable chocolate to Jeff Sessions wanting to resurrect the war on drugs) was good, but the blurb that prefaced it was even better.  I could not stop laughing at Trump insisting that the border wall be transparent so Americans strolling by won’t be hit by bags of drugs being thrown over from the other side.  Thrilled to see Minnesota state representative Ilhan Omar as the guest.  I liked hearing about her attempts to reach out to the Trump to let him get to know a few of the people he’s sworn to represent.