News Satire Roundup: March 15th, March 18th-March 20th

Sunday, March 15 – Because the situation is changing daily, what was supposed to be John’s first no-audience show turned out to be the last show of any kind of the foreseeable future. The lack of audience definitely made it feel different, as did the “blank void where cartoon characters go when they die” white set, but it also gave the episode a quasi fireside-chat feel as John spoke on the coronavirus. While I’ve already heard most of this, I still appreciated John’s take. He covered Trump’s misinformation and excuses (“to quote Harry S. Truman, ‘The buck stops… somewhere over there. Tony, did you stop that buck? Don’t ask me, I just work here.’”) He also offered safety advice from a TikTok hamster and stressed the importance of social distancing while recognizing that it can suck, allowing us all 30 seconds to be selfishly annoyed at the things we were looking forward to that got cancelled. Excellent episode!

Wednesday, March 18 – The Daily Show has joined some other late-night shows in producing stripped-down socially-distanced episodes for YouTube. They previously released a few shorter segments, but here’s a longer one. Trevor covered a range of topics, from the announcement that confirmed cases have surpassed 200,000, to testing issues, to Trump’s press conferences. I loved the line, “Only Trump could take a press conference about a pandemic and turn it into a fight about racism,” and I agreed with Trevor’s nostalgia for Obama’s addresses to the nation. Trevor and Roy commiserated on a video call – I appreciated Trevor discussing his own fears about the virus, and Roy had some good remarks on celebrities seeming to get preferential treatment amid limited testing (this is how to find out once and for all if you’re an A-list celebrity!)

Thursday, March 19 – I loved Trevor’s suggestion that Trump serve as the “hype man” at his press conferences, letting the doctors/experts speak while he concurs in the background. Case in point? Claiming that a treatment would be available “almost immediately,” only to have the FDA clarify that they’re talking about fast-tracking clinical trials. Sigh. (Side note: I love the recurring gag of Trevor making up different ‘J’ middle names for Trump. Today, it was “Donald Jehoshaphat Trump.”) He also looked at mortgage relief and the suspension of penalty fees for struggling New Yorkers, and we all raged at the footage of spring breakers in Florida. Trevor had the perfect response to a guy claiming he wouldn’t “let” coronavirus stop him from partying: “Coronavirus is like Harvey Weinstein – it doesn’t ask for consent!” Jaboukie called in, concerned about Trevor because he heard the recommendations to check on “old people.”

Friday, March 20 – We started with good news (2 days in a row with no new cases in China, studies on a possible treatment in France) and bad news (Italy’s death toll has surpassed China’s.) Trevor next looked at how the U.S. ignored warnings months ago – except, of course, for senators who conveniently sold off stocks following confidential briefings. I’m paraphrasing, but I loved that line, “I don’t like that they might have gotten rich off of coronavirus, but I really hate that they were still telling us to lick doorknobs until like yesterday!” Gross that the stimulus package will give less to low-income workers (who are the least likely to be able to work from home,) and our daily dose of Trump being terrible at a press briefing involved him berating a reporter asking for a message for frightened Americans. Roy video-interviewed an NYC doctor about the critical lack of masks in hospitals, urging anyone with a stockpile to donate them.