Sam Bee, Lewis Black use late-night comedy to try to persuade millennials to vote already
The overwhelming choice of millennial voters this election has been a 75-year-old democratic socialist from Vermont, so maybe Hillary Clinton sending out 68-year-old Al Gore — environmental activist and winner of the 2000 presidential popular vote — to help tackle her "millennial problem" isn't the craziest idea. In case millennials aren't swayed by subtle reminders of the 2000 election (Florida!) by the guy who made An Inconvenient Truth, comedians Samantha Bee and Lewis Black each made separate, and very different, go-vote appeals this week.
Bee, 46, brought up last week's Donald Trump-Alicia Machado feud on Wednesday's Full Frontal to remind everyone that Trump wants America to party like it's 1997. For people who did not live thorough 1997, she said, "here's a little taste of what that fun decade was like." Even if you were alive and attuned to the world in 1997, the CNN and CBS News clips she played, casually fat-shaming Machado, are pretty jarring. "And with that, a million college freshmen skipped watching Party of Five to go make themselves throw up," Bee said. "Weren't things great before PC culture?"
"That's what Trump wants to take us back to," Bee said, "so if your mom is irritatingly stoked about Hillary Clinton becoming president, it's maybe because she remembers when publicly humiliating women was lighthearted entertainment, and she does not want you to go through it."
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On Wednesday's Daily Show, Lewis Black, 68, was more blunt. Millennials say they won't vote because they don't like either candidate, he noted, or because it's too onerous to vote — "Boo-hoo!" Black said, imitating a millennial, or maybe a baby. "It's too hard! You want me to go somewhere and pull a lever? Why can't I vote the same way I date, by swiping right on the toilet?" — and even if they are excited to vote to legalize marijuana, some of them still won't vote for president. "Come on, millennials, I know we've f---ed things up for you, but we were counting on you to fix things, not finish the job!" he said. And if that sounded almost pleading, he ended with a slightly NSFW threat. Watch below. Peter Weber
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Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.
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