TDS 3.0 Season Five Talk

[possibilities]

I like that he's doing such serious interviews. The economist he had on tonight was talking about something everyone is wondering about but so far no one else I've heard has really addressed it. I also really like how consistently he's talking about how to help, where to donate money, what other people are doing to help.

The comedy has been thin, the "correspondent" pieces have been mostly really unbearably bad, but I really appreciate that Trevor is continuing to use his guests to actually show us things that aren't the same as what is happening on other shows, it's not all fluff just to fill the time, it's real talk about what people are actually feeling.

[angora]

The line from the other night, "It turns out racism is also an essential industry," was so sad, and I appreciated Trevor not having any time for Trump being all, "It seems to affect African-American communities very strongly, but no one can possibly imagine why?!" I'll admit to not having realized the added danger of Black people wearing masks until I started reading/hearing about it recently, but of course it makes sense (especially since people are simultaneously being urged NOT to wear official-looking surgical or N95 masks, so we can save those for healthcare workers.) That guy taking the video of the cop following him around after being told he couldn't be in the store with a mask on? The whole thing made my blood boil.

The "to wear or not to wear a mask" dilemma faces Asian Americans too right now. People have talked about feeling damned either way - both wearing a mask AND not wearing a mask draws attention to them in this climate of anti-Asian racism and harassment. This article, which talks about it, ends with this quote from one of the people interviewed: 

Quote

“What’s scary is you wear a mask, you get targeted. You don’t wear a mask, you get targeted. It doesn’t fucking matter,” she said. “I’ve literally been like, How can I make myself look less Asian when I go out?”

 

[Dewey Decimate]

I've been generally enjoying the correspondent pieces - they're not all winners, but that was true before corona too. I often find Dulce kinda loud and too frequently not that funny (I need more than "Idris Elba's my boo" at this point), but her commentary on reporters' homes was hilarious. "Look out, it's Pennywise!!" (Speaking of which, Jordan Klepper has an amazingly curated apartment. I also really like Trevor's and Jon Batiste's homes.) As predictable as it was, I laughed at Jaboukie's mask instructions to Trevor. Is poor Ronny actually still stuck in a hotel room down under? And UO, but I enjoy Michael Costa, especially now that he's less in blindly arrogant mode and more in hapless doofus mode.

[ABay]

IMO, Trevor has been less successful then Seth or Stephen in making the new situation work. He tends to fall back on obvious. kind of clumsy, humor that relies on mugging, with close ups to emphasize the punch line. I would also like the editor to calm the fuck down.

[topanga]

Take your pants off every night, Trevor. Damn.

But seriously, China blaming Africans for the spread of coronavirus? Senseless. 

Edited April 14, 2020 by topanga

[possibilities]

I like his interviews a lot, though.

[peeayebee]

I knew it was coming, but the Lego mask cracked me up.

Michael Kosta's dog is adorable. 

[Ailianna]

I prefer Trevor's more serious interviews than the normal celebrity interviews that the others are doing, with a lot of goofing off.  Trevor's interviews are generally more about actual advice and help for people watching.  And I love that every show he reminds us that even in this pandemic, there are those less fortunate than we are. His headlines are also more interesting, and cover a wider swath of news than just mocking Trump, which seems to be all the others are doing.  Not that Trevor isn't hitting the stationary target that is Trump, but he has things like rampaging monkeys, China blaming Africa, and more that are beyond just the White House response.  Plus, I loved his George R.R. Martin slam.

[topanga]

20 minutes ago, Ailianna said:

Plus, I loved his George R.R. Martin slam.

Wait, I missed that. What did he say?

[Ailianna]

He was talking about all the things Trump has promised to produce, like a list of what he did in  February, a legal memo why he has total authority, his tax returns...  Then he noted that it was as much as a Game of Thrones book, and asked Martin where the book was, since he is now stuck indoors with nothing to do but finish the book.

[Victor the Crab]

I really quite like the editing and graphics of Trevor's opening segments on The Daily Social Distancing Show. Without a reaction from an audience, it helps to make the show more interesting than just someone talking straight into a camera.

[angora]

To me, the little cutaways and stuff also feel reflective of Trevor going a bit stir-crazy in quarantine. While a lot of late-night hosts are social distancing with their families (I know both Fallon and Kimmel have included their kids on various bits,) Trevor is on his own. Some of the cornier jokes and bits on the show lately feel representative of that to me, leaning into the idea that, "Yes, this is the sort of thing you think is funny when it's been ____ days since you were in the same room as another human."

[Ailianna]

You may be right.  Seth Myers and Stephen Colbert (and John Oliver) have all referenced having their families around, and Seth and Stephen have had family on their shows too.  I'm alone in quarantine, and I'm a lot less social and outgoing than Trevor is, and it gets to me too.  It really emphasizes that we are truly social animals.

(The face full of tape thing--hasn't everyone done that at some point in their lives?)

Edited April 18, 2020 by Ailianna

[StatisticalOutlier]

On 4/17/2020 at 5:09 AM, Victor the Crab said:

I really quite like the editing and graphics of Trevor's opening segments on The Daily Social Distancing Show. Without a reaction from an audience, it helps to make the show more interesting than just someone talking straight into a camera.

I swung by here just to see if I was the only one who thinks the show is doing an excellent job with the editing and graphics.  Very happy to see I'm not. 

 

[topanga]

On 4/17/2020 at 9:23 PM, angora said:

To me, the little cutaways and stuff also feel reflective of Trevor going a bit stir-crazy in quarantine. While a lot of late-night hosts are social distancing with their families (I know both Fallon and Kimmel have included their kids on various bits,) Trevor is on his own. Some of the cornier jokes and bits on the show lately feel representative of that to me, leaning into the idea that, "Yes, this is the sort of thing you think is funny when it's been ____ days since you were in the same room as another human."

Yes, I've noticed that. Like last night when he fashioned his own coronavirus swab out of a Qtip and something else. 

But I'm enjoying the show overall. His bits are still funny and informative. 

[possibilities]

This is going to sound weird, but I kind of like how tired he seems. It's like he's embodying how wearying the whole situation is, emotionally.

I get tired from some of the relentless attempts to put a happy face on what is going on. We're all in it together! No the fuck we aren't! Sometimes it just psucks! A little less forced cheer is actually relaxing, in a way.

I don't want to see a full on mental breakdown, and I hope he's not actually depressed. But I don't mind a little less rah rah around the edges, at the moment.

[Ailianna]

As someone else who is quarantining alone, I appreciate that there's a lot of hours to fill in a day, and that he is motivating and trying to keep things up, but also trying to keep a more serious tone.  I'm watching a couple other shows for their news bits, but then they go to regular celebrity fluff interviews like there's not a serious crisis, and I skip those parts.  Even the fluff bits Trevor has done have been related to trying to get through this, so I'm ok with them.  Just the tonal shift from listing the number who have died and making pitches for donations to aid agencies for children without food, first responders without PPE, and then to go to what's on this famous person's bookcase--I can't.  So I appreciate Trevor all the more.

[Arcadiasw]

Shake Shack CEO justifying the company's actions on applying for the small business loan was so eye rolling. 🙄🙄 I wonder how many actually bought that excuse.

[paigow]

46 minutes ago, Arcadiasw said:

Shake Shack CEO justifying the company's actions on applying for the small business loan was so eye rolling. 🙄🙄 I wonder how many actually bought that excuse.

Now that the $10M was returned, maybe some good will result..

[Ailianna]

The real problem wasn't companies looking out for themselves (that's what companies--and people--normally do).  The problem was the way the law was written.  It also covered a number of Trump properties, because as long as it was under 500 employees at a specific location versus employed by the company as a whole, a LOT of big companies qualified. 

The second problem is that individual banks were responsible for administering the money and deciding who got it.  So big companies with small specific locations were able to walk in and get some money from their banker who already has a relationship with the company, and believes that they will be repaid pretty easily . But the actual small businesses, who may not even have a checking account with Chase or Bank of America, not only had no staff to read through everything and make sure they were first in line (since it was first come, first served), and had to wait for the process to trickle down to them.  No wonder the big boys got it all--it was almost designed to allow big companies to pillage all the money without giving actual small businesses a chance.

So while Shake Shack and Harvard and other big money entities were properly shamed, and returned money, the real problem is the lawmakers who wrote the law so badly and so easily misdirected.

[StatisticalOutlier]

On 5/2/2020 at 6:42 AM, Ailianna said:

The real problem wasn't companies looking out for themselves (that's what companies--and people--normally do). 

...

So while Shake Shack and Harvard and other big money entities were properly shamed, and returned money, the real problem is the lawmakers who wrote the law so badly and so easily misdirected.

I'm not sure they should have been shamed.  Not only is looking out for themselves what companies normally do, in the case of a publicly traded company, looking out for shareholders is their mandate.  And how would shareholders react if Shake Shack didn't take free money it was entitled to?  Shake Shack could say, "We think this money is actually intended for very small businesses, not behemoths like us, so we're not going to take it." 

Sure, some shareholders would applaud doing the "right" thing, but not all.  Not everyone owns Shake Shack stock because they like their fries; plenty of them just want to make money.

So what was Shake Shack to do?  And should they be shamed for picking a legal and legitimate option that would benefit their shareholders?

Of course, there could be enough public ire that the stock price suffers because of it, which just points even more to the impossibility of making a good decision in this situation.

I like Danny Meyer.  I love that he's trying to eliminate tipping, which is a ridiculous practice that is highly inequitable, so I don't get the impression he's just a rapacious businessman who will fight and claw no matter what it does to others.  But he's not in business to be a mind reader, and turn down money based on an impression that the law is written poorly to achieve the goals he thinks it probably meant to have. 

Congress is definitely at fault, although writing laws is much harder than anybody who doesn't do it ever imagines, and doing it in the middle of a crisis doesn't help.  And who knows how much of it was intentional.  It's basically a clusterfuck, which is pretty much what someone should expect in a situation like this. 

But speaking of making decisions, here's an interesting one:  Trevor Noah is, out of his own pocket, paying the salaries of 25 of his staff who are furloughed because they can't contribute to the current show.

https://variety.com/2020/tv/news/trevor-noah-pay-salaries-for-25-furloughed-daily-show-crew-members-exclusive-1234594447

I suppose we can criticize Viacom for furloughing them, but they're in business to make money, not to pay camera operators not to work.  Another impossible situation, and good for Trevor for doing this, never mind that, as a commenter notes, he stands to gain by being able to reassemble his entire staff once they start doing regular shows again.  Everything is so complicated.

[Robert Lynch]

People not wearing mask......we are going to be in this for a long time.

[peeayebee]

Welcome to Georgia – We're Done Giving a Shit

Yeah, I don't really get the statement of not-wearing-a-mask. I mean, I kinda get it. "Freedom!" But really, guys. It's simply about protecting yourself and others. See?

 

[paigow]

1 hour ago, peeayebee said:

Welcome to Georgia – We're Done Giving a Shit

Yeah, I don't really get the statement of not-wearing-a-mask. I mean, I kinda get it. "Freedom!" But really, guys. It's simply about protecting yourself and others. See?

 

Unfortunately, nobody can tell if someone else is using a mask correctly. That is, reusing disposable masks or never washing a reusable one. 

[CountryGirl]

10 hours ago, peeayebee said:

Welcome to Georgia – We're Done Giving a Shit

Yeah, I don't really get the statement of not-wearing-a-mask. I mean, I kinda get it. "Freedom!" But really, guys. It's simply about protecting yourself and others. See?

 

This meme really spells it out.

[Ailianna]

I have really appreciated how Trevor is talking with officials in other countries, and getting their ideas and explanations for how they are addressing the crisis.  I also liked Chef Andres, whom I haven't seen before.  Seeing someone like that, who is actually making a positive difference, is really inspiring.

[izabella]

On 5/3/2020 at 11:22 AM, StatisticalOutlier said:

Congress is definitely at fault, although writing laws is much harder than anybody who doesn't do it ever imagines, and doing it in the middle of a crisis doesn't help.  And who knows how much of it was intentional.  It's basically a clusterfuck, which is pretty much what someone should expect in a situation like this. 

The way the law was written was very intentional.  McDonald's lobbied hard, directly, and personally all the way at the top, for the SMALL AND MEDIUM BUSINESS forgivable loan program law to be written as-is so as to cover enormous businesses like theirs.

[StatisticalOutlier]

1 hour ago, izabella said:

The way the law was written was very intentional.  McDonald's lobbied hard, directly, and personally all the way at the top, for the SMALL AND MEDIUM BUSINESS forgivable loan program law to be written as-is so as to cover enormous businesses like theirs.

I can't find any information on who was lobbying, and it would be interesting to know.  Do you have a source?

[izabella]

Wall Street Journal has some information:  https://www.wsj.com/articles/big-restaurant-hotel-chains-won-exemption-to-get-small-business-loans-11586167200

As does Bloomberg, though they say it's a mystery who lobbied, but named the National Restaurant Association:  https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-04-22/-shake-shack-loophole-stays-open-spawns-a-washington-whodunit

Quote

The group, which represents thousands of restaurant owners and chains including McDonald’s Corp. and Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc., was “pushing this message with anyone who would listen” in the Treasury Department, at the White House and in Congress, Kennedy said. They first made the case for restaurant-specific aid in a March 18 letter, but Kennedy said they didn’t come up with the legislative language around locations.

 

[StatisticalOutlier]

2 hours ago, izabella said:

Wall Street Journal has some information:  https://www.wsj.com/articles/big-restaurant-hotel-chains-won-exemption-to-get-small-business-loans-11586167200

It's behind a paywall.  Did they specify that McDonald's in particular "lobbied hard, directly, and personally all the way at the top"?  In addition to what the National Restaurant Association was doing?

 

2 hours ago, izabella said:

As does Bloomberg, though they say it's a mystery who lobbied, but named the National Restaurant Association:  https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-04-22/-shake-shack-loophole-stays-open-spawns-a-washington-whodunit

I think it would be unfair to say, based on this story, that McDonald's lobbied hard, directly, and personally. 

[deirdra]

Couldn't they have found a better interview of Jerry Stiller to show so we didn't have to see the disgusting Jian Ghomeshi?

[Lantern7]

Lesson learned: the president can just say Obama's name, put a "gate" after it, and openly allege there's a scandal that we all know about. If this was someone else -- anyone else -- I'd be impressed by the chutzpah.

And I can see why some would think Desi's "interview" with "distant relative" Jeannine Pirro was stupid and/or extraneous . . . but come on, Pirro brings it all on herself. Honestly, you could kidnap her and replace her on the show with SNL's Cecily Strong, and few people would know the difference.

[peeayebee]

I rarely like Desi's pieces, but I enjoyed this. Pirro is always a fun target to lampoon, though I realize she's really not laughing matter. And I adore Cecily's impression of her, so any reminder of that makes me happy.

I think this line was from an earlier ep: "If it's yellow, let it mellow; if you're on a call with Ruth Bader, flush it later."

[angora]

Wow, Trump "explaining" Obamagate was so Emperor's New Clothes - only the "truly discerning" heard him actually name a crime in that paragraph. (Also, I don't know that I've ever heard someone speak so long without using any direct objects.)

I liked Trevor comparing reopening too soon to playing on a sports injury before it's healed. As he said, how many more ways does Dr. Fauci have to come up with to say, "Stay inside or you might die"?

[peeayebee]

Great lines:

With a Russian accent, "Let's all pretend to be ants. We bring sugar to queen, and we not vote for Joe Biden."

In Trump's voice re the coronavirus piñatas, "And I saw some people using sticks to destroy the coronavirus. Maybe we can put sticks inside people. Maybe we shrink down the sticks and beat the coronavirus inside the bodies. Can we take that up? Is that something we can do?"

Loved the callback to the mannequins, calling Jared Kushner a mannequin eating in a fancy restaurant.

[angora]

9 hours ago, peeayebee said:

In Trump's voice re the coronavirus piñatas, "And I saw some people using sticks to destroy the coronavirus. Maybe we can put sticks inside people. Maybe we shrink down the sticks and beat the coronavirus inside the bodies. Can we take that up? Is that something we can do?"

I loved that too.

I also liked Trevor's response to Mitch McConnell's remarks about Obama, especially, "Is it just me, or did he pronounce 'classless' with a hard R?"

That story on the drug trade was really interesting. I wouldn't have thought of it, but of course that's an "industry" that would be heavily impacted (supply chains breaking down, more conspicuous on the street, can't launder money with non-essential businesses shut down, etc.) It was neat to see gangs in some places using their skill sets for good, and I realized that, someday, I would watch the hell out of a movie about a drug cartel that can't operate during the pandemic and then pivots to distributing aid.

[peeayebee]

56 minutes ago, angora said:

I also liked Trevor's response to Mitch McConnell's remarks about Obama, especially, "Is it just me, or did he pronounce 'classless' with a hard R?"

I have to admit that I don't get that.

[SoMuchTV]

2 minutes ago, peeayebee said:

I have to admit that I don't get that.

Right? I feel like I’m missing something very obvious. 

[angora]

With the N-word, people distinguish between pronouncing it with an A (n***a) or a hard R (n****r), with the former being more colloquial use within the Black community and the latter being a slur. Between the "classless" and "should have kept his mouth shut" remarks, I took that line as Trevor suggesting that what McConnell was really implying was "don't talk back, n****r."

[possibilities]

I liked the conversation with the farmer. I was thrilled when he said we need to break up monopolies and go back to smaller farms.

[peeayebee]

13 hours ago, angora said:

With the N-word, people distinguish between pronouncing it with an A (n***a) or a hard R (n****r), with the former being more colloquial use within the Black community and the latter being a slur. Between the "classless" and "should have kept his mouth shut" remarks, I took that line as Trevor suggesting that what McConnell was really implying was "don't talk back, n****r."

Thank you. I was trying to say "crassless". 😄 

I really liked the conversation with the farmer, too. It was very informative. I didn't realize how concentrated meat processing facilities are. By concentrated, I mean how few facilities there are in the country. I hope the anti-trust laws will be applied here.

Edited May 15, 2020 by peeayebee

[paigow]

7 hours ago, peeayebee said:

 😄 By concentrated, I mean how few facilities there are in the country. I hope the anti-trust laws will be applied here.

One benefit of fewer slaughterhouses and processors is easier back tracing  of salmonella and listeria.

[Hooper]

I really loved that interview with Mr Blubaugh.  I hate to sound like I'm whining about the "liberal elite" but so often the news and the late night tv folks seem to view middle America like a bunch of homogeneously dumb hicks.  It was great to hear a reasoned voice articulating the problems, and at least broadly outlining what needs to change.  Good for Trevor and whoever books his interviews for giving this voice a national exposure.  

And I get paigow's point about fewer plants making it easier to trace salmonella outbreaks (guys! remember when we would freak out about salmonella outbreaks?!).  But the flip side of that is that when you only have a few centralized sources, then when an outbreak is traced to a particular plant, it has nationwide repercussions.  So, good news, bad news.

[peeayebee]

9 hours ago, Hooper said:

... (guys! remember when we would freak out about salmonella outbreaks?!)....

Ahhh, the good ol' days.

[possibilities]

In the old days (2 months ago)....

I think I like the show better now than before the pandemic, and I don't know why. But I really miss it on the weekends.

[Ailianna]

On 5/17/2020 at 2:44 AM, possibilities said:

In the old days (2 months ago)....

I think I like the show better now than before the pandemic, and I don't know why. But I really miss it on the weekends.

I do too.  And I am trying not to think I'm weird for being obsessed with Trevor's hoodies.  How many does he have?  The one Thursday had buttons instead of drawstrings.  Is that the only thing he wears when he's at home?  So many questions.  I like the hoodies, but I spend way too much time thinking about them.

[possibilities]

I liked the lavender one.

The weather is getting a little too hot for hoodies, though, IMO.

[topanga]

On 5/24/2020 at 9:40 AM, Ailianna said:

I do too.  And I am trying not to think I'm weird for being obsessed with Trevor's hoodies.  How many does he have?  The one Thursday had buttons instead of drawstrings.  Is that the only thing he wears when he's at home?  So many questions.  I like the hoodies, but I spend way too much time thinking about them.

I was thinking the same thing about the hoodies. 

[paigow]

4 hours ago, possibilities said:

The weather is getting a little too hot for hoodies, though, IMO.

Charity auction bait...

[angora]

Wasn't sure whether to put this in the season 5 thread or the Trevor thread, but Trevor posted a long video about the events of the past week on the show's YouTube channel. He ties together the "dominoes" falling into place between the pandemic, the Amy Cooper video, Ahmaud Arbery's murder, and of course, George Floyd's murder and the protests in Minneapolis. I especially love what he has to say about the looting that's been going on.