News Satire Roundup: July 15th-July 18th

Monday, July 15 – We returned with news of Black actress Lashana Lynch as the new 007 (not the new Bond, BTW.) Trevor had fun imagining the possibilities, like 007 being captured by the villain who then asks if he can touch her hair. Next was Trump’s “go back where you came from” tweets directed toward outspoken, progressive Congresswomen of color, 75% of whom were born in the U.S.; I loved what Trevor said about Trump’s inability to see “Black/brown” and “American” as anything but mutually exclusive. The show also touched on the upcoming Facebook “event” to storm Area 51. Strong piece on Jeffrey Epstein. I especially enjoyed the tangent about how Epstein lived across the road from Bill Cosby (Law & Order: East 71^st St., ha!.) Next up was the blackout in NYC, featuring New Yorkers helping out and Broadway actors performing on sidewalks. The guest, Dapper Dan, talked about his journey in fashion.

Tuesday, July 16 – Fun jokes on a submarine drug bust – I loved the fact that these submarines can’t actually submerge (the “low riders” of the sea!) We also got quick bits on the flyboard at Bastille Day (loved Trevor’s impression of early battles before the soldiers get a hang of the technology) and the Emmy nominations. Loved the story on responses to Trump’s “go back where you came from” tweets. Trevor’s commentary was great, especially the points that 1) President “If You Don’t Like It Here, Leave” spent much of his campaign saying America was going down the tubes and 2) Bernie Sanders speaks critically about many American systems, and Trump has never told him to “go back where he came from.” Michael had a field piece on efforts to protect environmental features (like Lake Erie) by granting them personhood rights. Rapper Nas was the guest, discussing how he put his new album of “lost tapes” together.

Wednesday, July 17 – We opened on FaceApp, El Chapo’s sentence (life plus 30 years, which means he’ll have to stay in jail if he reincarnates,) cocaine badly hidden under a toupee (loved the joke that the real criminal was the friend who told the guy he looked good,) and Elon Musk’s plans to “fuse” humans with AI. More on Trump’s racist tweets, focusing on congressional reactions. I loved Trevor’s remarks about the representative who acted like you have to explicitly name someone’s race to be racist, and it’s beyond bizarre that an actual rule prevents Congress from calling the president racist on the House floor. We checked in with the Jeffrey Epstein story, looking at old footage of him partying with Trump in the ‘90s (which, at minimum, refutes Trump’s claim that he barely knew him.) The guest was South African artist Nelson Makamo; I liked what he and Trevor discussed about the perception of African art by the western world.

Thursday, July 18 – First up was the heat wave (Trevor’s advice? Everything seems cooler in Celsius,) followed by Instagram hiding “like” stats and a couple wild viral videos of bears trying to get into people’s homes. A Trump rally in North Carolina gave us the latest on the “go back” tweets, with supporters chanting “send her back” re: Ilhan Omar. In response to Trump’s claim that he “stopped” the chanting by “very quickly” continuing his speech, the show synced up the footage with a video of an Olympic race to show that there was literally enough time for “Usain Bolt to win a gold medal” while they were chanting. Next was the protests in Puerto Rico – good jokes on how “Trump says that kind of shit and gets away with it” isn’t a reliable strategy for anyone else in government. The guest, journalist Isha Sesay, discussed her new book on the girls kidnapped by Boko Haram and the importance of keeping the girls present in people’s minds.