The title refers to the end of the show, but sticking around for the first 20 minutes is a trip.
While I really like John Oliver because he seems to get some things done and has a good style, he does not do good political satire. In fact, I don't think I have seen good political satire in the US, yet.
German TV is a little weird nowadays but their political satire is on another level. While we have shows that are on the level of John Oliver (or maybe a little worse) that are enjoyed by the masses like heute show, there are other shows that are much more informed, very sharp and go way beyond mocking a quote or a tweet.
Some examples are Neues aus der Anstalt, its continuation, Die Anstalt,
or a guy called Volker Pispers.
An example of what I mean is Volker Pisper's short history lesson of the US foreign affairs in the past century (here, with english subtitles).
Keep in mind that those shows are broadcasted on the national German channels.
Is there something similar in the US that I am missing?
Oliver and his show are a different flavor of what the Daily Show with Jon Stewart provided (a show the heute show's wiki even cites as adapting from). I think that's what you have yet to have seen. Here's a sketch Stewart did that's a bit tangential to your own example's sketch. If that's not to the tune of what you're thinking, either I picked a bad example or its necessary to bring up that not everyone likes to hear about how bad things are. Example: the Nightly Show with Larry Wilmore where race relations in America had a heavy emphasis if not the only subject. They didn't last long. Maybe his White house correspondence speech had something to do with the final jersey of the cord.... Anywho, Jon Stewart's mentee's are all across American media (Steve Carrell, Stephen Colbert, John Oliver, Rob Corddry, and some others at CBS) and seem to channel him from time to time as satirist, but it does fall short when the content in question is merely tweets.
Thanks for this.
The entire show is a trip... a trip that feels like we're navigating a dangerous minefield or riding on a leaky pleasure cruise through shark-infested water: terrifying.
I've been ambivalent lately about watching SNL or Colbert because as hilarious as it is to make fun of a dangerous administration, these shows might make people less outraged: it can't be that bad if we can laugh about it. Can it?
Political humor serves the essential purpose of demonstrating that the opposition is mockable. It drags them down from their lofty towers and shows their clay feet; if you can laugh at it, it can't be terrifying.
Vox had an okay take on SNL; their argument is we're currently compelled to give a shit about political comedy because our president certainly does. We're here discussing an HBO comedy show that is bargaining they'll get the President's attention by parodying diabeetus medical ads because that's all he's got the attention span for.
People talk about the system of checks and balances. To my eye, we're seeing what sort of radical balance is necessary when our very democracy has been put in check. Ignorance got us here and with political humor, you need to be at least moderately informed to get the joke. Therefore, the more people laughing, the fewer people can be snowed.
I just spoke with a prospective Forever Labs client in Canada. One of his questions was "what happens to my cells if Trump no longer allows packages to be shipped to Canada from the US?"
-I said, "I can't answer that question except to say that we will always take phenomenal care of your cells and we will mail them to wherever you need them, to the greatest of our abilities, but I cannot control for Donald Trump."
Dude remailing services are so simple and straightforward that maybe half of my eBay buyers use them. You are occupying a tiny space in a huge logistics chain and all of your problems have already been solved. Call him back and tell him his cells are always safe and you've got him covered this side of a North Korean prison camp.
To the end of this show, that's the nature of it from seasons past. So much so that while I love the humor and educational value, it's so dark when the comedic vehicle is stripped away that I stopped viewing the show. I figured the start of the season would be worth the watch given current events, ultimately... for better or worse.
Releasing emotion through laughter rather than burning outrage to take action is what I'm reading your hypothetical question as. To that end, I agree. I think that forms of thought is what led everyone to laugh off Trump until he was in office. On the other hand, it provides SOME release to the inevitable outrage and action that comes from, say, the first iteration of Trump's travel ban - which I've heard on NPR there's another iteration in the works due to the Court's decision. Point being, when poop hits the fan and your loved ones can't come back home, those affected won't be laughing. Further, while those not affected may laugh, there are plenty of non-comedic AND comedic sources pushing for action that simply laughing it off isn't always the end of it. For example, the show after the election, Oliver did his regular gig, but delineated exactly what causes to look out for and support in the coming years. His aim is education, however dark the theme on a moral spectrum; his vehicle is comedy.
I'm on my phone at the moment, so I cannot live link you directly to the time I want to. But, the time I am referencing is 18:50 through roughly 21 minutes: