After watching the WHCD tonight, one that the current cowardly occupant of the White House ducked out of for a shot in his arm at another campaign rally---I mean really Trump should have tracks on his arms for his addiction to this sort of thing---I found laughter and hope in the brilliance of those coming up, in the endless talent and verve this country is still capable of turning out.
Still, I thought to myself who IS THIS GUY who is supposed to make up for the president not being there? Who is this guy who was willing to take it on? There may be many here who may know him, but I did not.
Tonight I met him in my living room, a fire glowing in our fireplace, hubby and I settled in to watch not knowing what to expect, both agreeing it if wasn’t good, we’d switch to our latest series. Most of it was a total blah blah blah. I found most of the speakers noxious, including BOTH the famous Bernstein and Woodward. They literally bathed themselves in the glory of the free press, in an orgy of self congratulation that made me want to PUKE after how the media performed in 2016. And for that they got polite applause and lots of smug looks in the audience.
I would have stood up and cheered either of them if they had deigned to even make a passing mention that PERHAPS the press went off course in this last election. But, NO. It was ALL ABOUT the first amendment, and the glory of the press. And that they were not fake news. Well, truth is they WERE fake news thru alot of the election in terms of what mattered.
It was to hubby and I, an embarrassing self reverential thing. So we’re just about to give up when this guy, Hasan Minhaj, FINALLY takes the mic. And then, OMG, we were so freaking rewarded for our wait.
This guy just KILLED IT. He had me slapping my knee like an old fogy as I laughed. Hubby was snorting he was laughing so hard. This guy turns out to be freaking brilliant. I mean, he nails it over and over again, and if you missed it, sorry for you, and do watch it wherever it’s available.
This guy, who I’d never heard of before, walks out there and delivers a whirling dervish of comedic commentary on the press, of the likes you’ve not seen before, and with the kind of confidence and verve you wouldn’t expect from someone almost no one has heard of. Not to mention someone with a Muslim name.
And, it was a revelation to watch the audience, some of them covering their eyes at such outlandish truth, some of them laughing their asses off, some of them with expressions not unlike the severely shriveled tight lipped expression of any old puritanical aunt you’ve ever known.
He took equal aim at everyone, including MSNBC, and even Rachel Maddow. But his stuff on CNN was the best, and watching Wolf Blitzer in the audience, his expression suggesting he was suffering a severe bout of gastric pain, priceless. Tellingly imo, he didn’t even bother with FOX.
Unfortunately, because the current resident of the White House is a coward, and wasn’t there, this will not be covered like other WHCDs. And that’s hardly anything to get all bent out of shape over. There are much bigger fish to fry.
Still, I watched Hasan Minhaj tonight---and let’s face it, it’s going to take America forever to remember his name or how to pronounce it, as was once true of a guy named Barack Obama---and I just felt my heart lift. And lord knows, it needed a lift.
I felt it lift because even though the rest of the WHCD was to me an exercise in self aggrandizement, there was those brief shining moments of a very brave young comedian, who did not roast the president so much, as he roasted his audience. And I will give full credit to the WHCD for at least choosing him.