News Satire Roundup: October 28th-November 1st

Sunday, October 28 – John touched very briefly on the week’s attacks, especially Fox News’s insinuation that the package bombs were a “false flag operation,” before returning to Saudi Arabia.  He examined their constantly-changing story on Jamal Khashoggi and the WWE’s continued association with the kingdom – I liked the fake ad that uncomfortably tried to revel in violence against the backdrop of Khashoggi’s disappearance.  Leading up to the midterms, the main story was on state attorneysgeneral.  John focused on the increasingly-partisan stance of many state AGs; I appreciated how he started with a number of AGs who repeatedly sued the Obama administration, moved to some who’ve done the same for Trump, and highlighted our differing comfort levels with the two situations.  Along the way, we picked up fun tidbits, like which state AG moonlights as an Elvis impersonator and which one is a pen thief.

Sunday, October 28 – By all accounts, there’ve have been other news satire shows that I’m sure I’d probably enjoy, but I can only watch so many, so, most of the time, I stick with Last Week Tonight and The Daily Show.  I had to check out Patriot Act, though, as Hasan Minhaj was my favorite Daily Show correspondent.  The first two episodes dropped this week, and I really like it.  It’s reminiscent of Last Week Tonight in that it mainly focuses on a single topic, and it has stylistic similarities with Hasan’s Homecoming King, with the charts and “TED Talk comedy” feel of it.  The first episode was on affirmative action.  Hasan was incisive and funny as he examined the lawsuit against Harvard, Asian-parent expectations (“1310 on your SATs?  You’re a moron!”), and how members of the Asian-American community sometimes play a role in propping up anti-Blackness.  Full of hard facts and in-jokes, it was a great intro to the show.

Sunday, October 28 – While the affirmative action story was definitely the right one to open on, episode 2 is no slouch, either.  Most of the episode was spent on Saudi Arabia, the way its crown prince MBS uses the country’s wealth to get other nations to go easy on their human rights violations, and Hasan’s feelings about the issue as a Muslim.  I loved that he described Saudi Arabia as “the boy band manager for 9/11 – they didn’t write the songs, but they brought the group together,” and his comments about praying toward Mecca when MBS is oppressing his people were really thought-provoking.  The episode ended with a brief diversion to answer those who suggest that Hasan “downplay his Muslimness” and “play up his Indianness” with a short piece on Indian-Americans who’ve done awful things.  The final sketch of a bunch of Indian kids dreaming of being badass crooks and white-collar criminals made me laugh.

Monday, October 29 – The show was in Miami all week; the audience clearly had a blast from the moment Trevor hit the stage.  After admiring the bilingualism of the city, he started in on the grim news of last week, looking at the suspected mail bomber who was caught in Florida.  I loved his points about Trump’s rhetoric and how, even if it wasn’t your intention for a supporter to send bombs to an entity you called “the enemy of the people,” you should probably stop using that phrase after that happens.  Roy did a CP Time on prominent Black Floridians, an obvious crowd-pleaser that hit on big names as well as lesser-known choices.  While gubernatorial candidate Andrew Gillum didn’t come to the show, Trevor’s interview with him was pretaped.  He had some great things to say about the way he engages with opponent Ron DeSantis and whether or not he feels Florida is “really” for a Black governor.

Tuesday, October 30 – Tonight’s “Miami is great!” opener was on its party atmosphere; Trevor’s description of attending a church service with its own DJ was awesome.  The big story was on the Central American caravan making its way toward the US, or more specifically, Trump and GOP fear-mongering about it.  I especially liked Trevor pointing out the inconsistencies in the descriptions of why we should be so afraid of the caravan – “These are the strongest lepers you’ve ever seen!!”  Roy and Michael tag-teamed a field piece on environmental issues in Florida, tackling several varieties of toxic algae and the havoc it wreaks on Florida’s waters and beaches.  Derek Jeter was the guest; after Trevor reveled in sharing a stage with someone so deeply loved by Floridians, Jeter discussed taking on more of an ownership role in baseball and why he feels it’s so important to foster bilingual connections on his team.

Wednesday, October 31 – First up was Halloween, with Trevor riffing that, since “sexy” is Miami’s normal MO, their Halloweens should involve dressing up as “unsexy” versions of things (the stripper dressed in Puritan garb was my favorite.)  Next up was Trump’s claim that he can end birthright citizenship with an executive order.  I appreciated the parade of GOP lawmakers and pundits stating the obvious, that he can’t do that; hopefully, they won’t start changing their tunes if he tries it.  Desi reported on "Florida Man," guys who wind up in the news for doing crazy things like carrying an alligator into a liquor store (Darius on Atlanta was funnier, though.)  The guest, conservative commentator Ana Navarro, described why she felt Trump was inconsistent with the Republican Party and how disappointed she is to see so many GOP members falling in line behind the president.

Thursday, November 1 – We opened on Trump coming to Florida for a rally, being awful and spouting nonsense (you know, his M.O.)  Trevor spent a little time looking at Florida’s ballots, highlighting Andrew Gillum in the governor race and puzzling over bizarre questions combining multiple unrelated proposed amendments into single votes.  He placed special focus on the amendment to reenfranchise felons at the end of their sentence – I loved his bit about the argument that loss of suffrage is a “deterrent” against committing crimes.  Ronny had a fun field report on lionfish and different attempts to deal with the invasive species, from a “good guy with a gun” to a guy who built an electrocuting fish-trapping robot.  The guest was NBA player Dwayne Wade.  I really liked his comments about the opportunities that basketball opened up for him, allowing him to discover interests and talents he otherwise never would’ve known he had.