New Satire Roundup: April 30th-May 3rd

Monday, April 30 – Good jokes on Nigeria’s president sidestepping the “shithole countries” thing and Trump blithely steering right into it.  I liked the story on the diplomatic meeting between North and South Korea; the security guards jogging alongside Kim Jong-un’s car was pretty funny, and I liked the ad the show made for a dictator-based online dating service called “OkCommander,” based on Kim’s meeting with President Moon.  Next, Trevor “chastised” Michelle Wolf for her White House Correspondents’ Dinner performance.  I loved the montage of Trump criticizing women’s appearances opposite the uproar over her jokes about Sarah Huckabee Sanders, as well as the montage of Trump’s people insisting we shouldn’t worry about what he said about XYZ because he was “just joking.”  Good interview with poet Kevin Young on writing about the Black experience and the importance of keeping history present.

Tuesday, May 1 – Some quick bits on Facebook’s plan to add dating features (loved the joke about Facebook selling your baby to Cambridge Analytica) and Trump’s medical records getting seized from the doctor who let slip that Trump uses Propecia.  The big story was Robert Mueller’s possible questions for Trump getting leaked.  Some good stuff here – I loved Trevor’s bafflement at the thought that someone in the administration leaked them to deter Trump from talking to Mueller, knowing he’d listen to the advice of Fox News over his own people.  Michael had a really fun field piece on the man responsible for the passage of the 27^th Amendment.  The guy just had such a fun energy about him, and he was so proud of having hectored ¾ of the states into ratifying it.  Dear White People’s Antoinette Robinson was the guest, talking colorism, misogynoir, and her character doing whatever she needs to get a shot.

Wednesday, May 2 – Lots of short stories to start:  Emmanuel Macron calling the Australian PM’s wife “delicious” (lost-in-translation situation,) Trump’s former doctor admitting Trump wrote the absurdly-glowing health report the doctor gave him (no duh,) Trump cutting another of his lawyers loose, and teachers striking in Arizona (I loved the protest sign reading “this crowd is almost as big as my class size.”)  More craziness from Kanye West, proclaiming that slavery was a “choice.”  I liked Trevor’s rebuttal that it was a choice – for white people.  This topic continued into the next story, looking at inappropriate treatment of slavery in education.  The “pros and cons of slavery” assignment was awful enough, but seeing slavery casually incorporated into word problems in math was really disturbing.  The guest, former CIA director Michael Hayden, discussed how Trump used a “post-fact” mentality to gain power.

Thursday, May 3 – First up was an armored car in Indiana accidentally showering the highway with money – I liked the joke about it being an argument against self-driving cars, since the car wouldn’t stop for you to pick up any of the money.  Next was Facebook’s rebranding efforts, neatly framing their role in fake news/Russian hacking/Cambridge Analytica as simply “something happened.”  Kind of a staggering story on the latest in the Stormy Daniels saga, with Trump’s new legal advisor Rudy Guliani belly-flopping into the notion that 1) Trump did in fact reimburse Michael Cohen for the hush-money payment and 2) Daniels was silenced due to the campaign, not for “personal reasons.”  Lewis did a Back in Black on the upcoming primaries, essentially on politicians on both sides leaning hard into whatever they think will score them points.  Guest David Blaine put an ice pick through his hand, thoroughly freaking Trevor out.