TDS 3.0: Season Two Talk

[angora]

I thought the whole episode was really great.  Obviously, it would be better for the world if Parliament puts the kibosh on Brexit, but there's definitely a kneejerk reaction in going, "Wait, but we're BOTH in this mess now; you can't just leave!"  The whole bit with the conversation between Britain and America was great, especially when face tattoos got involved.  "Oh, it turns out mine was removable!  I didn't know!"

It's amazing how fitting Trump's words + Joker makeup is.

I really liked Trevor's metaphor between the Styrofoam inauguration cake and the Trump administration:  looks "fancy," actually has no substance and only has enough real cake for Trump himself, terrible for the environment.  Strangely perfect.

You just knew Trevor was going to be beyond excited to interview Laurence Fishburne, but throw Nelson Mandela in there too?  Killed him dead.  Good interview all around - I especially liked Trevor urging him to tell us we were in the Matrix and Fisburne's comments about the importance of Madiba showing not just the man but the whole movement.  For extra fun, here's a "between the scenes" clip of Trevor reminiscing about when Laurence Fishburne came to South Africa back during the Matrix days.

[ganesh]

I didn't watch the interview, but the clips of it that they showed were just embarrassing. That dude you know, where everything is a Thing? "No no no, just listen! I'm just saying!" That's who is in charge of basically the planet. 

3 hours ago, angora said:

Obviously, it would be better for the world if Parliament puts the kibosh on Brexit,

I really am skeptical that Brexit will actually happen, and I'm really skeptical much of what Trump campaigned on will happen as well. On the show, Trevor pointed out that the UK PM didn't even vote for brexit in the first place, and that executive orders aren't automatically the law of the land. 

[Victor the Crab]

BWAH! Drumph IS the Joker, in his "I wanna see the world burn to the ground" mindset as president. Where's Mark Hamill as the Joker reading stupid, ignorant Tweets when we need him?

It's very difficult watching TDS, especially one week into the giant tire fire that is the Drumph presidency. Yeah, Drumph provides a treasure trove of material for the likes of Trevor to use and exploit. But, the thing is, when Drumph starts to normalize his batshit for the media to spread to its customers citizens, THAT'S when reality is lying in a tub filled with ice and discovering its kidney removed. America, and the world at large, is severely fucked beyond belief!

Edited January 28, 2017 by Victor the Crab

[nodorothyparker]

I'm really struggling to watch the show too.  Or Oliver or Bee or any of the comedy shows right now.  It has nothing to do with the quality of what they're putting out because what I have seen of Trevor and the TDS crew has been great but the reality that this is our reality now.  

[fastiller]

Now that I know "four five" is a South African slang for penis, that's what I will be calling DJT.

[stillshimpy]

Boy, I hope there's still a world left by the time John Oliver returns from hiatus.  In the meantime, Trevor has really hit his stride.  I remember a piece last fall that talked about how Trevor's Daily Show wasn't quite filling the TDS role of old in the election cycle because Trevor is a genial sort of fellow.  I agreed with that but only to an extent.  I used to think his outrage showed a few signs of strain and artifice because he doesn't have a volatile personality.  I loved Jon Stewart dearly but the man really was able to bring forth true outrage on occasion.  

Trevor Noah has not only caught up, I think he's leading the way in conveying that honestly freaked out "What is even happening now?  Holy carp and all the little fishes, this is seas-aflame-up-is-down-down-is-up madness" and I have no question about his emotional authenticity when it comes to being almost fully freaked out.  

Oh, what I wouldn't give for a boring news cycle and a resulting dud of a a show.  Bring on the duds for a bit, please.   

Also, Brexiters even if you bail now, the world you help push over a cliff is still pretty much falling over it anyway.  Brexit, don't Brexit, roast cocktails weenies over the flames of dying democracy.   I'm totally with Trevor on this one, "Oh no you don't!! Come back here and smolder with the rest of us!"  bloody hell.  

Superimposing the Joker's face over Trump's was so accurate it was impossible to laugh at.  It was a case, "Ha....wah!  Pass the tequila, someone, anyone.  Holy shit."  

[trow125]

When I do watch Trevor, I think he's doing a great job. But as someone who survived all eight years with George W. Bush in office and watched Jon Stewart every night, I just don't think I can put myself through it again on a nightly basis with Trevor. I feel like I already have Trump Fatigue and he's only been in office for a week.

[Temperance]

Sybrina Fulton and Tracy Martin were such a class act.   I was so impressed with their strength and dignity.  Amazing people!

[TheGreenKnight]

Did the airing of tonight's episode blip during the interview when Noah asked about the DHS refusing to let detainees go after the court order? Interesting....

[Lantern7]

So it wasn't just me. And @Midnight started a minute early. I'm DVRing the repeat to see if it repeats. Actually, I want to show my mother the fat bulldog puppy. So cute.

[scarynikki12]

Nope it was everyone. Even Trevor commented about it on Twitter just now. 

I love Hassan and thought his segment was really good. 

[possibilities]

I hope the cc website puts up the interview without glitches.

[MaryHedwig]

Quote

Nope it was everyone. Even Trevor commented about it on Twitter just now. 

Can someone please post Trevor twitter comment here? (If that is allowed.)

The blip wasn't due to censorship, was it?

[zxy556575]

His and my age and marital discrepancies aside, I TV-love Hasan.

Edited February 1, 2017 by Lord Donia

[fastiller]

I enjoyed the Neal Brennan bit on Monday's show.  I am happy (not quite the right word) that he's mentioning his depression and not being ashamed of it.  I like that he and other comedians are attempting to 'normalize' (again, not quite the right word) mental illness and to remove the stigma associated with it.  Maria Bamford is doing the same thing with bi-polar disorder.  Also - Brennan was funny with the political commentary.

[nodorothyparker]

Hassan's segment was so over the top hyperkinetic that it really didn't work for me.  Or maybe I'm just too old to be able to appreciate information conveyed that way.  It was disappointing because what he had to say Monday about his experience being a Muslim at the airport was really effective.

I honestly thought my cable had screwed up when the ACLU interview went to black.  

[peeayebee]

Glad to read comments about the program going black during the interview. Very strange.

I liked Hasan's segment. There was so much going on that was on-point as well as entertaining. Stupidly, I was doing something else at the time so didn't devote my full attention to it. I'll rewatch today.

[possibilities]

The repeat in the middle of the night aired the entire interview.

I liked Hasan's bit. I think it's helpful to mix up the format, because different people take in information in different ways, so the more ways they present things, the wider the range of people who it sticks with.

I feel weird using "bit" but it seemed equally weird saying liked his piece, segment, or thing. The language has been totally hijacked and degraded by the dickocracy.

[peeayebee]

Can you find an alternative word -- not to be confused with "alternative facts."

[ganesh]

I watched on hulu with no issues. 

What was interesting about the interview, was when the guy said he was in court on Saturday night, and the government lawyers couldn't answer basic information about the executive order. If the administration just doesn't know how government fundamentally works, then all the executive orders are going to face legal challenges, for one on their actual execution, on top of all the suits based on constitutionality. 

[fastiller]

54 minutes ago, ganesh said:

I watched on hulu with no issues. 

What was interesting about the interview, was when the guy said he was in court on Saturday night, and the government lawyers couldn't answer basic information about the executive order. If the administration just doesn't know how government fundamentally works, then all the executive orders are going to face legal challenges, for one on their actual execution, on top of all the suits based on constitutionality. 

I think that may be the point - at least from the administration's POV.  I think they want to govern through chaos.  I think there's going to be a whole lot of sleight of hand going on.  

[ganesh]

When Trevor was talking about how the four agencies weren't consulted for legal examination or informed about the order at all and the ACLU guy was saying that basic questions about the order couldn't be answered in court, then if it is the intent of the administration to govern through chaos, nothing is going to get done I mean, fine with me, but based on this one incident, the few people in the administration with reasonable sense must know any orders will be tied up in court. So I don't quite get the point of why they're doing it this way. 

[peeayebee]

Some have said that Bannon is creating chaos on purpose. He's said he wants to bring everything crashing down. It appears that Trump just does what Bannon says.

[dusang]

22 minutes ago, ganesh said:

When Trevor was talking about how the four agencies weren't consulted for legal examination or informed about the order at all and the ACLU guy was saying that basic questions about the order couldn't be answered in court, then if it is the intent of the administration to govern through chaos, nothing is going to get done I mean, fine with me, but based on this one incident, the few people in the administration with reasonable sense must know any orders will be tied up in court. So I don't quite get the point of why they're doing it this way. 

 

11 minutes ago, peeayebee said:

Some have said that Bannon is creating chaos on purpose. He's said he wants to bring everything crashing down. It appears that Trump just does what Bannon says.

There's also the theory that these big moves are just cover for smaller moves that are really doing damage.

https://medium.com/@jakefuentes/the-immigration-ban-is-a-headfake-and-were-falling-for-it-b8910e78f0c5#.imcmn44dp

[fastiller]

@peeayebee - I've seen those theories out there about Bannon and chaos.

 

6 minutes ago, dusang said:

There's also the theory that these big moves are just cover for smaller moves that are really doing damage.

That was what I was getting at with my 'sleight of hand' comment; you said it much more clearly than I.

[formerlyfreedom]

A reminder - this is the place to talk about what happens on the show, so discussing the interviews and the persons who are interviewed and their organizations is fine. But taking that as a jumping off point to discuss issues outside the episode is not okay. It's a fine line, and we ask your cooperation in thinking about a post before hitting "Submit reply." Is it truly about the show?

Posts may disappear if they are not primarily about what's covered in an episode. If it becomes a recurring issue, other sanctions may be taken. Thank you for your cooperation!

 

[Hanahope]

I like Hasan's message with the Muslim ban issue, but his delivery is making me start to think I'm getting old.  Stop that!!

[purist]

Trevor's bit with the skiing was hilarious. Not only can he do great accent work, but he's a good physical comedian as well! I also love his 'Who IS this man?!' exclamations about Drumpf. He's successfully treading the line between righteous horror and amused bewilderment, and I think it's working perfectly. My appreciation of Trevor grows with every show.

[ganesh]

Whomever the show is selecting for the interviews should be commended. Making jokes is therapeutic, but having people on who can give these ground-floor accounts is really effective.

[peeayebee]

I loved the bit where Trump, like a promo for a TV show, appears at the bottom of the screen. I f'ing hate those things, so this was hilarious.

America's Next Top Judge and Orange and a few Blacks were clever.

The thing about needing a white person sommelier was great.

Although the skiing bit was funny, I was uncomfortable with Trevor making fun Gorsuch tearing up when he hears of Scalia's death. That's almost as bad as Trump mocking Schumer for crying.

Was the "listening session" a new thing? Do Presidents, or others in power, do this? Man, I read Trump's Black History Month speech, and it was so bad. I think my 26-yr-old mentally challenge son has a bigger vocabulary than he does. Plus he unsurprisingly uses the time to brag about himself and complain about others.

[iMonrey]

Quote

Although the skiing bit was funny, I was uncomfortable with Trevor making fun Gorsuch tearing up when he hears of Scalia's death. That's almost as bad as Trump mocking Schumer for crying.

Well, I think his point was "skiing while crying" was about the whitest thing he'd ever heard of. Not just the crying itself. 

I can't remember the name of the guy he interviewed or his organization, but boy did he make a great point about the immigration order being the greatest gift ISIS could ever ask for.

I haven't been watching Trevor's show with any regularity until just recently. It's better than it was but unfortunately it still doesn't seem to be having the same impact that John Stewarts's show did, nor is it making the same kind of waves or becoming part of the national conversation. Which means no matter how good he gets I fear nobody is going to notice. It seems like John Oliver and Samantha Bee have really stolen the thunder from TDS and people have pretty much written it off.

[ganesh]

12 minutes ago, iMonrey said:

I can't remember the name of the guy he interviewed or his organization, but boy did he make a great point about the immigration order being the greatest gift ISIS could ever ask for.

It was rescue.org.

The interviewee on last night's show talked about how the not-ban is basically recruiting propaganda for IS: the fact that either the administration did not see this as a potential consequence is massively short sighted and does not portend well for the just the *second week oft his term*, or that they just didn't care, is flat out ignorant, since they've been hitting everyone over the head that this not-ban will make everyone safer, despite not defining what that means, nor even discussing how that affects Americans abroad, including the military. 

[angora]

I laughed so hard at Trevor's impression of Trump looking around asking Frederick Douglass to stand up.  "...No, I'm Dr. Ben Carson..."  The whole thing was so bizarre.

The skiing-while-crying was great, too, along with the white sommelier, and I liked Trevor's point about trying to raise your kids in a world where Republicans in Congress pout, throw their toys, and refuse to share, and then get everything they want.

Everything about Beyonce's twin announcement was great:  kicking off Black History Month, wearing a mosquito net to raise awareness about Zika, Jay-Z browsing paint samples for name ideas, carrying twins just as the Empire is taking control.

All the jokes about Obama's backwards hat were great.  I especially liked the one about turning the bill to face Mecca.

The show has had great coverage of the ban all week.  The guests have been terrific - it was so interesting to hear Anthony Romero talk about what it was like in the court room seeing how ill-prepared the government lawyers were to discuss the basic facts of the order they were defending - and I loved both of Hasan's pieces. 

[Victor the Crab]

Hasan was brilliant in pointing out the ban. And it was frightening to boot. It seems as if the Drumph/Bannon Reich is following the playbook to the hilt and will carry out their sick, twisted vision to the end, without any opposition.

[LADreamr]

Quote

I can't remember the name of the guy he interviewed or his organization, but boy did he make a great point about the immigration order being the greatest gift ISIS could ever ask for.

David Miliband. His brother Ed is the former Labour Party leader in the UK.  He has been a very vocal critic of Theresa May's support of Donald Trump. 

[purist]

7 hours ago, angora said:

it was so interesting to hear Anthony Romero talk about what it was like in the court room seeing how ill-prepared the government lawyers were to discuss the basic facts of the order they were defending

I wish that interview had been two segments. It was fascinating.

[peeayebee]

19 hours ago, iMonrey said:

I can't remember the name of the guy he interviewed or his organization, but boy did he make a great point about the immigration order being the greatest gift ISIS could ever ask for.

And the thing is, this has been pointed out for years. If we promote hate for Muslims or Islam, we would be playing right into the hands of ISIS. 

 

16 hours ago, angora said:

I laughed so hard at Trevor's impression of Trump looking around asking Frederick Douglass to stand up.  "...No, I'm Dr. Ben Carson..."  The whole thing was so bizarre.

It was great, and I absolutely love when Trevor does an impression. I also loved the bit about Groundhog Day, that if you were to tell an African about pulling an animal out of a hole to get the weather forecast, he would say, "But why not use satellite data?"

[dusang]

Sidebar: I've always found Groundhog Day bizarre -- it's a choice between "six more weeks of winter" or "an early spring".  Even where it originates in Pennsylvania, I have to believe that if winter ended six weeks later, in mid-March, that would be an early spring!!

[fastiller]

Sorry to continue the sidebar: Feb 2nd is a Catholic holy day: Candlemas (aka "Presentation of Jesus at the Temple").  There are poems associated with it that tie into the Groundhog Day theme:

Quote

 

If Candlemas Day is bright and clear,
There’ll be two winters in the year.
Scottish poem (Anon)

If Candlemas be fair and bright,
Winter has another flight.
If Candlemas brings clouds and rain,
Winter will not come again.
English poem (Anon)

 

[angora]

7 hours ago, peeayebee said:

I also loved the bit about Groundhog Day, that if you were to tell an African about pulling an animal out of a hole to get the weather forecast, he would say, "But why not use satellite data?"

I loved that it was the exact same bit he did on Groundhog Day last year - I think it was word-for-word, except last year he did it twice in a row.

[peeayebee]

I don't remember that. That's weird.

[Victor the Crab]

16 hours ago, peeayebee said:

I also loved the bit about Groundhog Day, that if you were to tell an African about pulling an animal out of a hole to get the weather forecast, he would say, "But why not use satellite data?"

I was waiting for Trevor to mention the Bill Murray movie where we're all living through Drumph's presidency again and again and again and again! :(

 

Someone please send Roy off to Wrigley Field.

[possibilities]

The interviews no longer feel like filler. I am so grateful. I really like what they are doing lately.

I did not remember the Groundhog Day bit from last year. If he really is just repeating it, I love that. I think it's awesome and I hope he makes it a tradition.

I wish more people were watching. I think it would be influential if people did watch. Why isn't some of this stuff going viral? Is it because he's not apoplectic enough? People do seem to like yelling and rage lately. Trevor manages to be affable even while outraged. I find it helpful, because my rage meter is often in danger of breaking, and I'm trying to watch my blood pressure. Trevor's way of being lucid, funny, and fully morally engaged without looking like he's going to stroke out is a welcome change of pace I am trying to emulate. I love the rage of Sam Bee and John Oliver, too. I just wish that people would also take Trevor seriously.

[peeayebee]

3 hours ago, possibilities said:

I did not remember the Groundhog Day bit from last year. If he really is just repeating it, I love that. I think it's awesome and I hope he makes it a tradition.

*slaps forehead* Doh! Now I get it! 

[needschocolate]

On 2/3/2017 at 6:43 AM, dusang said:

Sidebar: I've always found Groundhog Day bizarre -- it's a choice between "six more weeks of winter" or "an early spring".  Even where it originates in Pennsylvania, I have to believe that if winter ended six weeks later, in mid-March, that would be an early spring!!

This has always bugged me, too. Six weeks after Groundhog Day is March 18 (17 in a leap year).  Spring doesn't officially begin until March 20-22.  Six more weeks of winter should be a good thing to those who want winter to end.

[iMonrey]

I'm obsessed with Keith Ellison's glasses. Those weird yellow arms that don't seem to have ear rests - they are just sort of floating on his head. 

[Temperance]

5 hours ago, iMonrey said:

I'm obsessed with Keith Ellison's glasses. Those weird yellow arms that don't seem to have ear rests - they are just sort of floating on his head. 

Literally lol! Thinking the same thing all last night, and  now I'm laughing out loud.  And Keith is awesome! 

[ganesh]

I disagree with Trevor slightly on the under reporting. I don't think Trump has much of a thought beyond the next 5 seconds. The administration had to scramble and I think not including American terrorists was their idea. I don't think was a whole directed thing. 

I do think that Conway has only 4 moves, but everyone knows it and finally calling her out on it, so she's far less effective. It works when you run a campaign but not when you're actually in power. 

[nodorothyparker]

Michelle Wolf's breakdown of how Conway pivots between one lie and another or from one lie to a distracting unrelated truth, etc., was masterful.  She's playing verbal whack-a-mole so by the time listeners can parse out what was actually said and figure out what was true, they're so frustrated they lose sight of the bigger picture.   Trevor did a nice job playing off that. 

[ganesh]

The thing is, I find Conway transparent and predictable so you know what's coming next with her. I don't know why the media has given her so much slack. It seems recently everyone is fed up with her, but she still pops up.