Satire Briefing Paper VII

Jenna DePellegrini and Christina McAlister

This week in satire provided Americans with quick and witty analyses of everything from Trump testing positive for COVID-19, Melania’s secretly recorded tapes, and what was said at the Vice Presidential Debate. Political comedians could not deny the true star of the debate, however. As Jimmy Fallon jokes, “Thank you fly that landed on Mike Pence’s head, enjoy your 15 minutes of fame, because it’s only a matter of time till everyone finds your creepy posts on Reddit.” Although the fly bit from comedians this week may have been overdone and an unnecessary aspect of the debate to focus on, it gave Americans a much needed lighthearted moment. Even Kate McKinnon, on Saturday Night Live, could not keep her composure on SNL’s Weekend Update due to the pressures felt from this unique political environment Americans are facing. McKinnon completely broke out of character and bluntly said, “I’m sorry you guys, it’s such a crazy time and this is something I started to do to cope. I have a lot of wigs and mustaches at my disposal and it’s a nice way to escape.”

However, probably the most significant and most-talked about story by both the news media and our satirists was the President’s diagnosis of COVID-19, his continued denial of its deadliness and severity, and how as a result, the White House has become a “hotbed of infection.” Seth Meyers said it best: “Usually at this point, reporters are asking the President questions about the election, but in Trump’s case, they’re asking him if he’s Typhoid Larry.” The President’s continued claims that he’s been completely cured and has beat the virus has been undermined by the increased number of White House officials and staffers who have been infected, as now, the number of people who have caught COVID after having been either near the President or been in contact with someone who has is now up to 24 in what our satirists have been calling the “White House Outbreak.” “And not only is the White House infested with COVID, it’s also infested with raccoons,” Meyers joked after playing a clip of a CNN journalist getting attacked by a raccoon for the second time while reporting in front of the White House.

Of course, one of the main highlights of satire and conversation was the Vice Presidential Debate, and the notorious fly that landed on Mike Pence’s head and stayed there for over two minutes. “Mike Pence’s fly just became the most popular Halloween costume of 2020,” Jimmy Kimmel joked during his Late Night Show; Stephen Colbert followed up by saying, “That fly stayed on Mike Pence’s head for over two minutes! That means that the fly has a longer attention span than the President of the United States!” Colbert concluded following his jokes that the fly distracted much of what was said during the debate, and that no one remembers what was really said, only that it was said while Mike Pence had a fly on his head. However, the fly was not the only focus of the debate, with many satirists focusing on how both Harris and Pence went over their allotted speaking time, and how Pence, similar to Trump, repeatedly interrupted his opponent and moderator Susan Page. “Really Susan,” Colbert said on his LIVE showing following the conclusion of the debate. “If you want to make Mike Pence shut up, you have to ask him to say Black Lives Matter!” Overall, the general consensus of our satirists was that the VP Debate was boring and, excluding the fly and some sassy comments from Senator Harris, uneventful when compared to the Presidential Debate. As Jimmy Kimmel said, “No one’s changing their mind tonight, almost none of the questions were answered... watching this after the Trump Biden debate was like falling asleep during a UFC fight and waking up to the Great British Baking Show.” However, as Colbert concluded, [the debate] was not exciting, but that is how politics SHOULD be!”

Our satirists rightly pointed out that as Trump is again at the center of every comedian’s punchline, other important news information has been quickly forgotten or not given the same amount of attention. This includes the secret audio recordings that were released, detailing how “Melania says she is feeling stronger, although, this year might be the year Christmas has to go fuck itself,” and the upcoming nomination hearings of Judge Amy Coney Barett, which creeped up so fast on Americans looking the other way at Trump that it gave us whiplash. But taking center stage this week was not the nomination hearings or the second set of secret audio tapes, but the President’s refusal to go through with a virtual debate this Thursday. “Thank you Trump and Biden cancelling the virtual debate. For living out every American’s dream of bailing out on a big Zoom meeting because you’re not in the mood,” joked Jimmy Fallon in his opening monologue; “[Trump] doesn’t want to participate because they would make him follow the rules,” concluded Colbert. So while Trump has once again become the center of media attention, his refusal to do a virtual debate in light of his positive COVID test might not project the strong, powerful images he’s trying to portray.

Once again, throughout this past week we watched comedians and print satire reveal the horrifying truth of this election through their dark humor. According to an article reported by the Christian Satire News source, The Babylon Bee, “Biden: 'I Won't Reveal Whether I Plan On Abolishing The Constitution And Establishing A Glorious Communist Utopia Until After I'm Elected.’” Despite the fact that many Democrats consider former Vice President Biden as a moderate, conservative satirists continue to push President Trump’s narrative of framing Biden as a trojan horse for extreme leftists through their humor. More specifically, during the last presidential debate, Biden’s avoidance of questions surrounding his plans on whether he will take a more moderate or socialist approach became the punchline of many conservatives. The Babylon Bee reported that, “Once again, Biden refused to answer the question, saying voters will find out whether he plans to seize the means of production and institute a one-party rule, U.S.S.R.-style.” This is clearly satire, but what is said in between the lines throughout this article speaks to many fears of Republican voters.

Another instance of extremely dark and conservative humor came from Adam Yenser on his show The Cancelled News when he joked about the nomination of Amy Coney Barrett. During Yenser’s bit on the COVID-19 outbreak at the White House, he went on a tangent about how “the outbreak of coronavirus at the White House has led some to label Amy Coney Barrett’s Rose Garden nomination a superspreader event, which means her nomination may kill a million lives due to the virus, but save a million lives from abortion.” To reiterate, conservatives are using their twisted sense of dark humor to further reinforce Trump and the GOP’s messaging. This joke also revealed how much support Amy Coney Barrett has from Republicans across the party and country. Barrett’s strong rooted faith indeed gives conservatives a slimmer of hope in their control over the judicial branch, as seen in these repeated punchlines from conservative satirists. In actuality, Yenser’s bit was the truth with a twist of humor, as we have discussed in previous weeks with our briefings.