News Satire Roundup: August 30th-September 3rd

 

Sunday, August 30

·       Main Story – The RNC & the Kenosha protests

o   John characterized the main theme of the RNC as “telling lies in front of flags,” and while he covered a variety of lies (such as Larry Kudlow’s bold choice to repeatedly use past-tense verbs in relation to the coronavirus,) he focused particularly on lies about racism in America.

o   Oh man, Nikki Haley’s story about Black and white people in South Carolina “peacefully coming together” to “decide to remove” the Confederate flag outside the state house – John of course noted that she left out the beginning of that story, which was a white supremacist murdering nine Black people in a church, and pointed out that her “peacefully coming together” description didn’t mention the activist who climbed the flag pole to remove the flag, which quickly went back up after the activist was arrested.

o   John observed that much of what the RNC said about race was “not so much to win over Black voters but more to reassure white people that they can vote Republican without being racist.”

o   I loved how John tore apart Mike Pence’s speech, which created a clear distinction between “we the American people” and “our African American neighbors.”

o   This was the point at which we moved on to Kenosha – John succinctly summed up Tucker Carlson’s take on the protests and Kyle Rittenhouse’s killing of two protesters as “property damage is violence” and “murder is order.”

o   The old footage (I say old, but it was from two years ago) of Kenosha’s sheriff advocating for “certain people” to be “warehoused” after “crossing a certain threshold” of crime was chilling – John thought his pitch would’ve made a good entry on “Shark Tank: Light Genocide Edition.”

o   We covered the NBA strike too, including the Doc Rivers and Jared Kushner clips that Trevor Noah shared last week – John’s, “Okay first, get fucked, Jared!” was immensely satisfying, and I appreciated, “If NBA payers are ‘too rich’ to make their voices heard, who exactly is in the right tax bracket to protest?”

o   John hit the nail on the head as why basketball players and other athletes have now advanced to strikes – “The problem with purely symbolic protest is that it’s far too easy to co-opt,” as demonstrated depressingly well with footage of Kenosha’s sheriff kneeling with protesters several months ago.

·       And Now This – Flubs during the RNC roll call

o   I laughed so hard at the delegate who called Trump “Donald John President.”

·       Finally – Danbury, Connecticut

o   After a harrowing main story, this was fun, an update on Danbury’s response to John’s random feud against them. I loved his delight at an 8-year-old boy’s satirical YouTube call-out (except for putting his name in air quotes – “This is my actual name. If I was gonna make something up, I wouldn’t pick a name that makes me sound like a Dickensian caricature.”)

o   Of course John was thrilled at the idea of Danbury renaming their sewer plant after him (the “John Oliver Memorial Sewer Plant,” in fact,) and was predictably crushed when they admitted that they weren’t really going to do it – in true John fashion, he’s pledged to donate $55,000 to local charities if they go through with it, even going so far as to make the sign for them.

 

It was announced recently that Netflix is canceling Patriot Act. I’m really going to miss the show. Even though it had elements of both The Daily Show and Last Week Tonight, it was also its own thing, and Hasan’s voice was an important one. I appreciated the wide range of subjects he chose to do deep dives on – some, like the effects of streaming on hip-hop, took topics I knew basically nothing about and broke them down in ways that were easy to follow.

I’ll miss how saturated Hasan’s show was in his brownness, his Indian-ness, his Muslim-ness. While it was a show that anyone with progressive sensibilities could watch and enjoy, it was also a great demonstration of how specificity resonates universally. I loved the asides and in-jokes he shared with Desis in the audience, how he referenced things like lotas in his comedy and did multiple stories on topics of particular relevance to Asian Americans or the Indian diaspora. His perspective meant seeing details and offering takes that a lot of other comedians wouldn’t pick up on. Without Hasan around, my New Satire Roundup shows are going to feature far less roasting of Dinesh D’Souza.

I liked the way the show interacted with the real world too. Almost right out of the gate, it became notorious when its second episode was banned in Saudi Arabia, and I loved that the show put its episode on rural broadband on DVD so people without reliable Internet could still access it. Oh, and the pop-up fast-fashion shop they erected to spread awareness about the environmental impact of the fast-fashion industry! That was awesome.

And then, there was just Hasan himself. I don’t know what his next plans are, but I’ll be excited to see him do it, because I am such a fan of his comedy and his voice. I liked the “are you kidding me with this shit?” incredulity in his voice as he dissected some topic, the swagger with which he broke down complex government/corporate minutiae with pop-culture references. I liked his honesty, whether that was admitting that he couldn’t stop himself from shopping at Amazon despite their abusive work practices or giving himself space to prevent compassion fatigue when there’s so much in the world demanding our attention.

Best of luck to Hasan and the rest of his team (including the designers for his graphics – they didn’t play around!) Even though I wish the show had been around much longer, I’m grateful for the episodes we got.