Monday, February 14
· Interview – Musician India.Arie
o We opened with an explanation from Trevor that they’d planned a regular episode for that but ultimately decided to just air his complete conversation with India.Arie, on the shit storm surrounding her speaking out about Spotify and Joe Rogan.
o India.Arie opening by acknowledging that she was nervous to be there, which showed a refreshing level of honesty that carried through the whole conversation – “I’m good at singing about these things, but talking about them, for me, is new.”
o Before they got into the Joe Rogan of it all, they spent some time discussing Spotify, and music streaming in general, paying artists next to nothing for their music – “First of all, Spotify is not only the biggest player, but they’re also the lowest payer.”
o When asked whether she would call Joe Rogan “a racist,” giving him that specific label, she began by recognizing the complexity of racism – “I think there are two things we consider when we talk about racism, and one is conscious racism and the other is unconscious racism. And so, I have learned in my life to make room and forgiveness for people who are unconsciously racist, because our whole society is built on racist concepts. So if you’re born into it, if you’re not actively working to not be racist, then you have some of it in you.”
o However, she considered conscious racism to be an entirely different animal, and she didn’t buy some of the excuses/evasions in Rogan’s apology video about saying the N-word – “I don’t believe that. I think he knew there was no context. I think that’s why he was saying it, because it got a rise out of people. That’s why he would say it. He knew that it was inappropriate. And I think the fact that he did it repeatedly and was conscious and knew, I think that is… being racist.”
o It is so weird that it’s at all “controversial” to say this – “If you have even a consciousness where you can call Black people apes, there’s something there.”
o The whole episode really felt more like a conversation than an interview, with India.Arie and Trevor both sharing their views with each other, not always agreeing or coming to a consensus but understanding where the other was coming from – In talking about some of his own experience, Trevor said, “I’ve found generally, not just as a comedian, but as a person, oftentimes, it is easy for us to engage in risqué or risky topics or conversations when the danger is not in proximity to us.”
o Trevor posed this question to India.Arie – “That’s, I think, a conversation society is having as a whole is: What is the path to redemption for anyone? We all want to forgive, we all want people to get better, we all want to see the change, but what is that path to redemption?”
o India.Arie pointed out that, regardless of Rogan’s personal beliefs/intentions/whatever, his platform creates a far bigger problem beyond his individual words – “You have racist thoughts that you can institute with power, and that’s racism. And so if you’re Joe Rogan and you have this huge listening audience, by you doing that, you embolden them to do that, and now we’re in trouble as a society.”
o She wholeheartedly agreed with Trevor that anyone should be allowed a path to redemption, but she stipulated that redemption has to mean doing the work first – “I don’t think we’ve yet seen changed enough behavior from Joe Rogan to say, ‘Okay. Okay, we’re good now.’ ‘Cause I don’t think he fully understands what he did there. And so, I want to tell you, my DMs and my comments are wild right now. Of people just…. All kinds of racial slurs. And misogynistic ones, too. All kinds. And so that says to me that these people who want to defend Joe Rogan think that this is the right language to do it. So Joe Rogan needs to do more than go, ‘Oh, yeah, I’m sorry.’ He needs to…. If you want to really lead your listeners down a new path, then lead them to the point where they don’t feel that it’s the right language to come into my DMs and call me an N-word in defense of him.”
o Despite all that toxic blowback, India.Arie didn’t regret speaking out – “This hasn’t blown up my life, I would say. I would say it’s given me an opportunity to further investigate how honest I can be and how… and the best that I can be.”
Tuesday, February 15
· Headlines – Russia-Ukraine tensions, Russian figure skater skates despite failed doping test
o Trevor was trying to figure out why there would be Americans who haven’t left Ukraine yet. He decided they were probably like people in horror movies – “Honey, there’s an evil clown at the door selling knives! I’m gonna let him in. See what happens.”
o I enjoyed Trevor’s reaction to footage of a 79-year-old woman training on an assault rifle in anticipation of an invasion – “Actually, if you ask me, I think this is a brilliant deterrent to have grannies on the front lines. No, think about it. Think about it. Right? If you’re part of the elite Russian invasion squad, there’s no way in hell you want to get taken down by a 79-year-old woman. I mean, if that happens, they’re probably gonna have to make something up to tell your family!”
· Main Story – Book bans
o This was such a succinct description of “culture wars” – “You see, every few months, especially before elections, politicians in this country-- they have to find a reason to rile people up so that they can drum up support and distract voters from the fact that they haven’t solved any of their real problems. ‘Yeah, I know the bridges keep collapsing, and I know you don’t have jobs, but we got to focus on the real threat. People are using the wrong bathrooms! Vote for me.’”
o This cracked me up – “I’ll be honest. If I was a kid in school right now, I would jump in and use this outrage to my advantage. Yeah, the parents would all be there like: ‘We have to get these books off the shelves!’ ‘Yeah! And don’t forget the trigonometry textbooks! And the yearbook where I had that weird rash on my face! Burn them all!’”
o Trevor thought a ban on a Michelle Obama biography “[gave] away the game” as a political move rather than any good-faith effort to “protect” kids – “There’s no book about a first lady that’s controversial, you know? Unless, maybe, it’s like, Martha Jefferson’s book, 101 Tips for Owning Slave Children Who Kinda Look Like My Husband.”
o Valid – “I also can’t believe that they’re gonna ban Ruby Bridges. Do you understand how crazy that is? You’re gonna ban a book about Ruby Bridges. So, that poor girl needed the National Guard to get her into school, now they’re gonna have the National Guard escort her out.”
o We looked at a news clip talking about school librarians being physically threatened by parents over “divisive” books, and the clip included a librarian being interviewed with her face hidden for her own protection – “Wow, people, are you… are you seeing this? You seeing this? Like, this is the interview an insider gives when they’re ratting out El Chapo. Not when they’ve exposed the magical friendship between a pig and a spider.”
o LeVar Burton filmed a great Read Banned Books video for the segment. I loved his reaction to finding out he couldn’t talk about And Tango Makes Three – “Well, I’m told that that book is also banned because of sexual perversion, which is weird because there’s no sex in the book at all. Y’all, they adopted the baby. What do you guys want? A mommy and a daddy penguin so the kids can make sure that the penguins are knocking boots?”
· CP Time (Roy) – Black Winter Olympians
o Tofiri Kibuuka was the first Black athlete to compete at the Winter Paralympics – “1976. That’s not too long ago. George Jefferson was already in a deluxe apartment in the sky, Kool had already met The Gang, and Bernie Sanders was a young 97.”
o I loved this tangent in response to learning that Devon Harris, one of the members of the 1988 Jamaican bobsled team, was also in the Jamaican army – “Now I’ll be honest in telling you I did not even know that Jamaica had an army. Who the hell is mad at Jamaica? Friendly people, if you’re mad at Jamaicans, the problem is you.”
· Interview – Comedian Hasan Minhaj
o Minhaj was a little uncomfortable with the new interview desk, noting that it felt like Red Table Talk – “You gonna tell me my wife is sleeping with an R&B singer?”
o This was a lovely compliment from Trevor – “It’s so much fun to watch good people get good things in life.”
o Minhaj was there to talk about his new standup tour, which leans into the same visual graphics presentation that he used on Homecoming King and won multiple awards for with Patriot Act – “I’ve always liked it. The lighting design, stage design, graphics—I just feel like my brain already works that way, visually. And so I always loved shows that were like that.”
o It’s always enjoyable when the guest is someone that Trevor is just friends with – they reminisced about their time at The Daily Show together, and Minhaj shared a fun story about the time he was Trevor’s date to the Met Gala.
Wednesday, February 16
· Headlines – 70th anniversary of Elizabeth II’s reign, Prince Andrew settles sexual abuse lawsuit, Tinder introduces “Blind Date” feature, Nelson Mandela’s former home becomes a luxury hotel, Catholic priest resigns over baptism mistake
o It was announced that, when Charles is crowned king after Queen Elizabeth dies, Camilla will be named queen – “I also think it’s the right move, because can you imagine how awkward it was gonna be otherwise, if every time Charles and Camilla walked into the room, and the royal announcer would be like, ‘Presenting the king of England and presenting, uh, his sidepiece?’”
o Trevor figured that Prince Andrew’s sexual abuse scandal had his mother longing for the days when she could be “chopping heads off” – “The queen didn’t get into the royal business to do stuff like this. Right? She got into it to steal spices from India. It’s about that life.”
o This cracked me up – “I also have to mention that this blind dating scheme that Tinder’s running, this is discriminatory towards hot, dumb, boring people. You realize you’re taking away their greatest asset. People with good personalities—they’re gonna do fine in this situation. They can meet people in person. They can charm them. All some people have is a six-pack.”
o I loved this description of South Africa – “It’s not the most creatively-named country, but you always know where to find us.”
o Also fantastic? Trevor’s imitation of Nelson Mandela’s “famous speech” proving why it’s not disrespectful to turn his home into a luxury hotel – “Do not judge me by the color of my skin, but rather judge me by the thread count of these Egyptian cotton sheets. Balling out of control.”
o The Mandela hotel story also had a good bit about guests futilely trying to get minibar charges removed from their bill – “Madame, let me tell you about unfair charges.”
o The priest’s resignation was over a wildly small thing, unfortunate repeated over years – “I cannot believe that the Vatican is gonna say all of these baptisms—all of them, like, what, 2,000, are invalid—just because the priest said ‘we’ instead of ‘I.’ Like, don’t get me wrong, I’m glad to hear that the Catholic Church cares about people’s pronouns, but this seems like a minor mistake to me.”
o “God” (aka Roy) made a quick appearance, but he didn’t have an opinion on the baptism scandal because, as he explained, he was enjoying himself too much in Heaven – “We got Prince, Whitney Houston, George Michael. Every day up here is a Super Bowl halftime show!”
· Interview – Former NHL player Willie O’Ree
o O’Ree was the first Black professional hockey player, joining the Boston Bruins in 1958.
o On top of that already-major accomplishment, O’Ree revealed that he was partially blinded during a playing injury before he ever went pro – “The doctor told me I’d never play hockey again. But I kept it a secret and turned pro in 1956 and was able to play 21 years with one eye.”
o O’Ree shared the advice his brother gave him on dealing with hatred he met on and off the rink – “He told me, ‘Willie, if they can’t accept you for the individual that you are, because you have the skills and ability to play in the league at this particular time,’ he said, ‘Forget about everything else.’ He said, ‘Just go out, stay focused on your goal, and work hard.’ And basically, that’s what I did.”
o Nowadays, O’Ree has a number of organizations around the country provided hockey clinics to kids from underserved communities, helping them get the gear they need if they want to join the sport.
· Interview – Director Jessica Kingdon
o Kingdon was promoting her Oscar-nominated documentary Ascension – When Trevor asked how she was even able to film a documentary in China, she explained, “Because the film itself is not politically… overtly political, and we’re not filming in any ‘sensitive areas.’ So we were able to be extremely straightforward about what we were doing, and a lot of it was just simply asking these locations. ‘Hey, we’re an independent American documentary film crew coming to make a film about China’s economic rise. Can we come and film in your factory? Can we come and film in your manner school?’”
o Trevor was especially interested in the way the documentary resists commentary, simply presenting people’s lives on camera and allowing the viewers to draw their own conclusions instead of “telling them what it means” – Kingdon admitted, “I don’t think I could even say what it means, to be honest with you. I mean. I think there are so many meanings that are… can be found within that one clip even.”
o I liked this quote – “I think a lot of this type of filmmaking is about the patience to sort of sit with these sort of moments and allow them to emerge, instead of trying to go and, you know, prove a certain point.”
o Kingdon also talked about the similarities between the traditional American dream and the emerging Chinese dream – “There’s so many different parallels that we wouldn’t necessarily see on the surface, but if you kind of look closer, you see a lot of it’s echoed with one another.”
Thursday, February 17
· Headlines – Russia-Ukraine tensions, Disney announces planned Disney-themed communities
o Relatable – “Let’s kick things off with the Russian invasion of Ukraine, which by the time you watch this, has either started already, is about to start any minute, or was never going to start at all.”
o – This made me laugh – “I’m not gonna lie, guys. It wouldn’t be a surprise if Russia is being sneaky. I mean, this is the same country that hides dolls inside bigger dolls.”
o Trevor wasn’t all that confused about Russia’s claims that it was reducing the number of troops at the Ukraine border when they were really just shifting them around while also adding more troops – “As erratic as the Russians’ actions might seem, you understand what they’re doing right now, right? They’re playing chess. This is literally what chess is all about. Oh, I’m moving forward. Oh, I’m moving backwards. Oh, I’m attacking. No, I’m not. The horse is going this way. Then it turns!”
o Disney’s new planned communities are touted as being like living in a Disney park all the time, “which I guess means you’ll have to wait in line for three hours to use your own bathroom.”
o You’ve got to admit, he has a point – “‘Communities infused with Disney placemaking.’ Am I the only one who thinks that sounds like a cult?”
o This was a good joke, in response to the realization that Disney has tried to build a living community once before – “So what does Disney think? They think they can just rehash the same idea with a modern spin and then people will throw money at it?”
· Main Story – Drill rap
o NYC’s mayor, in trying to get social media to do more to stop the spread of drill rap songs, pointed out how Trump was banned from Twitter – “It is not fair to compare President Trump to rappers. All right? Rappers are all about dissing their haters and banging porn stars and bragging about how rich they are even when they’re secretly broke. Does that sound like Donald Trump to you?”
o Trevor noted why drill rap is receiving particular attention from those who say it’s provoking gang violence: its diss tracks toward people in rival gangs who’ve already been murdered, which has led to rivals committing further violence in retaliation – “Why you gotta make songs dissing a dead person? It’s not like God’s up in Heaven like, ‘We were gonna let you in, but Lil Tre bodied you so hard on that track, you got to go to Hell. No bustas allowed through the pearly gates. Ho, ho, they roasted you, kid.’”
o While Trevor understood why a number of people, including politicians, police, and activists, are concerned about drill rap, he also argued that simply banning the music won’t stop the violence – “See, from [the rappers’] perspective, people who are upset about the violence in rap music are focusing on the symptom instead of the root cause. Because you want to ban drill rap, but you don’t want to ban income inequality. You want to ban drill rap, but you don’t want to ban mass incarceration. You want to ban drill rap, but you don’t want to ban failing schools. You want to ban drill rap, but you don’t want to ban the things that lead to drill rap.”
o This was such a savage line – “Attacking the symptom instead of the cause is as American as arming teachers.”
· Correspondent Piece (Jordan) – Canadian trucker protests
o Jordan took his routine up north! When he asked one woman to explain what the protests were about, this exchange amused me – “This is about our freedoms.” “Could you be any more generic?”
o It was interesting to see some of the truckers use right-wing slogans from the U.S. while simultaneously balking at the Trump comparisons – “Make North America Great Again. And I don’t mean to use that guy’s word, but it’s true!”
o I loved Jordan’s response to one trucker telling him about a secret government conspiracy to control reproduction by sterilizing most of the population – “So Margaret Atwood audiobooks are apparently a thing with Canadian truckers.”
· Interview – Writer/director Janicza Bravo
o Given that Bravo’s new film Zola is about a viral Twitter thread from 2015, it was interesting that she pointed out that she doesn’t have Twitter herself – Trevor said, “If you want to hate yourself, you should join,” and she awesomely replied, “I actually don’t need Twitter to do that. I have my own brain.”
o Bravo clearly had a lot of respect for Aziah King, who wrote the original thread, admiring both her openness in sharing her story and her wit – “I read it the day it came out, and it was just unlike anything. I mean, every line, if it isn’t…. If there isn’t a deep, incredible joke embedded inside of it, there is also just the way she strung text and words together. It was visual, and…. And I already said it was stressful, and that’s kind of my area. I would say my umbrella is stressful comedy.”
o Bravo expressed her gratitude that King found some closure on her story in the process of the movie being made – “That’s all I wanted. I wanted to be able to protect her, but I also wanted to be able to potentially offer some kind of solace for some other woman out there that might find themselves in this situation.”
o Trevor’s description of the film was very interesting – “This is like ‘real life’ of what The Hangover was sort of trying to do.”
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