June 6, 2016
Published by Thomas Cleveland Lane at June 6, 2016

Last Week Tonight Review: John Oliver’s Good Deed for the Day

John Oliver managed to close out what, for him, had been a slightly sub-par show with a noble gesture, which, as you might expect from the comedian, he loudly boasted, nearly doubled in magnitude the massive car giveaway that Oprah Winfrey provided her audience a few years back. Up to that point, it had been an OK show, but a little short of his best work.
Do you like it?
Read more
May 23, 2016
Published by Thomas Cleveland Lane at May 23, 2016

Last Week Tonight Episode Review: Watch Out for Flying Swine: Oliver Agrees with Trump

Please, for your own sake, while you are distracted with amusing thoughts of Satan shivering miserably under a blanket, retain enough alertness to prevent getting bopped in the head by a low-flying pig. Yes, in his May 22nd broadcast of Last Week Tonight, John Oliver actually agreed with something the Republican hair apparent said.
Do you like it?
Read more
May 2, 2016
Published by Thomas Cleveland Lane at May 2, 2016

Episode Review: United Shades of America Looks Inside San Quentin and Comes Up Interesting

As a rule, I do not look to CNN for side-splitting humor, and, in fact, have not yet found any. That said, the new series, United Shades of America, hosted by black comedian W. Kamau Bell, promises to be very amusing.
Do you like it?
Read more
April 27, 2016
Published by Thomas Cleveland Lane at April 27, 2016

Review: Samantha Bee is Right on the Money, but not Much Else

Okay, before I start in with my lukewarm review of the April 24th broadcast of Full Frontal on TBS, let me put out this qualifier I have used before and will probably have to use again: mediocre Samantha Bee is exponentially better than the best of all possible episodes of Big Brother or The Bachelor or the reality TV crowd’s all-time fave, Assholes Yelling at Idiots. That said, the most recent Full Frontal did not exactly light what would have been my Lucky if I still smoked.
Do you like it?
Read more
April 19, 2016
Published by Thomas Cleveland Lane at April 19, 2016

Samantha Bee: Even When She’s Wrong, She’s All Right

Taking all things into consideration, last night’s edition of Full Frontal was quite entertaining and worth every bit of the time I would have otherwise spent doing jumping jacks in the trash room of my condo. No, seriously, it was even better than that. All of that is not to say I was entirely happy with some of the points Samantha Bee made, but that’s OK. I am not one who sets rigid standards for political correctitude in everything I watch. And I have every confidence that you, my very sparse readership, feel the same way.
Do you like it?
Read more
April 18, 2016
Published by Thomas Cleveland Lane at April 18, 2016

Episode Review: John Oliver’s Latest: Water, Straight Up, Hold the Duck

At some point, during the darkest days of World War II, one of Winston Churchill’s colleagues found him alone in a screening room, watching a Donald Duck cartoon. The colleague pointed out that this did not seem to be a particularly enlightening way for the Prime Minister to be spending his time. Damn it, Churchill explained to the interloper, I am not here to be enlightened; I am here to be entertained. I don’t have the exact quote, but the story is true and certainly makes sense. Why not a Donald Duck cartoon, just to relieve a bit of the tension?
Do you like it?
Read more
April 12, 2016
Published by Thomas Cleveland Lane at April 12, 2016

Episode Review: Samantha Bee Gives Us All the Hot Poop

For an old fogey like your narrator, the word poop has always had a secondary slang definition of news or information. In that regard, the host of Full Frontal’s April 11th broadcast certainly did that, as she generally does, with a decidedly comedic slant.
Do you like it?
Read more
April 11, 2016
Published by Thomas Cleveland Lane at April 11, 2016

Episode Review: John Oliver Goes in for a Little Revenge

In his most recent broadcast of Last Week Tonight, Sunday, April 10th, John Oliver ignored the train-wreck you simply cannot take your eyes off of and switched from the destruction of the Republican Party to a deserving trio of entrepreneurs in the service industry, and that is using the word “service” in its broadest possible sense.
Do you like it?
Read more
April 1, 2016
Published by Thomas Cleveland Lane at April 1, 2016

A Review of Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt Season One, Just in Time for Season Two

April 15, 2016 marks the day that Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt arrives at the Netflix warehouse for a second season. Say what you will about Netflix, this is cause for celebration. Kimmy Schmidt is, without question or doubt, the best comedy in the Netflix inventory, and—keep in mind—they also have 30 Rock. In fact, it may be the best comedy on any sort of television today.
Do you like it?
Read more
March 22, 2016
Published by Thomas Cleveland Lane at March 22, 2016

Review: John Oliver Takes a Glorious, Serious Look at Trump’s Wall

All that said, Oliver gave us an outstanding effort this past Sunday to last us until April. The main segment featured—once again—Donald Trump. Yes, as I have pointed out before, that makes a lot of segments for just one person, but this one person provides more material than anyone else we can think of, in or out of politics.
Do you like it?
Read more
March 18, 2016
Published by Thomas Cleveland Lane at March 18, 2016

A Craig Ferguson Fan Explains Why Join or Die Doesn’t Connect For Him

Mind you, Craig Ferguson is a very funny fellow, as anyone who followed him on The Late, Late Show (or even Drew Carey’s show before that) can attest. In his most recent venture, a show called Join or Die on the History Channel, he is a good deal less so. Part of that may be because, as he himself probably realized when he left Late Late, he is running out of gas. Perhaps a bigger part may be that this show does not provide a particularly good format for him or any of his guests to generate laughs.
Do you like it?
Read more
March 15, 2016
Published by Thomas Cleveland Lane at March 15, 2016

Review: Samantha Bee and the Bluegrass Goober

What, you may well wonder, is this joker talking about? I am referring to a good portion of Samantha Bee’s most recent stint on Full Frontal, this past Monday night on TBS. She did a scathing segment on current Kentucky governor Matt Bevin
Do you like it?
Read more
March 15, 2016
Published by Thomas Cleveland Lane at March 15, 2016

Review: John Oliver Takes on Encryption and The FBI vs Apple

In past shows, there had been little such controversy. Is Donald Trump a buffoon? Is the bear Catholic? Are swindling televangelists the scum of the Earth? Does a pope shit in the woods? (Actually, yes. There were popes long before there was a Vatican). But when we come to the issue of encryption, the issue is not so clear in terms of good guys vs. bad guys. Of course, we are talking about the Department of Justice wanting to compel Apple to write code that would allow them access to the cell phone of the San Bernardino terrorist.
Do you like it?
Read more
March 9, 2016
Published by Thomas Cleveland Lane at March 9, 2016

Review: This Week on Full Frontal with Samantha Bee

I had known about Samantha Bee’s new show, Full Frontal, from the time of its debut, but it was only with the March 7th episode that I actually started to follow it. Part of the confusion was that Ms. Bee had been billed as the only female late night “talk show host.”
Do you like it?
Read more
March 7, 2016
Published by Thomas Cleveland Lane at March 7, 2016

This Week on Last Week: John Oliver Tackles Special Districts

Let it be said at the outset, your narrator hates, loathes and despises the word “infotainment,” but, if ever a show fell into that category, John Oliver’s latest addition of Last Week Tonight did just that. Of course, there was a good measure of Oliver’s brand of comedy throughout the broadcast, and more about that later. The more important aspect of it was that he brought up a subject many of us would have gone on blissfully ignoring to our everlasting detriment: Special Districts.
Do you like it?
Read more