On Monday, the Duchess of Cambridge, aka Kate Middleton, gave birth to a son, third in line to the British throne. The British media went nuts — America wasn't far behind — and The Daily Show's John Oliver was right there with them. On Monday's show, Oliver opened by welcoming the future king — and jokes aside, he seemed genuinely giddy.
The as-yet-unnamed prince was announced after a long day of waiting, Oliver noted, "the royal lad seemingly prolonging labor, perhaps sensing that this would be the only kind of labor that he would ever be involved in." The Daily Show will cover the birth more on Tuesday's show, Oliver promised (threatened?), but he gave a taste of the tasteless way cable news handled the rare royal birth.
Exhibit A was CNN "royal commentator" Victoria Arbiter, who focused on the fact that Middleton has a son (the gender was a secret until the announcement). Birthing a male heir on her first try shows "how brilliant a royal Kate is," Arbiter gushed. "What would your response have been if it had been a girl?" Oliver mused, suggesting: "Damnation upon your cursed womb, Katherine. Burn the princess, for she has produced a baby of the weaker sex."
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After welcoming the royal baby, Oliver turned to sadder news: Detroit's bankruptcy. After criticizing the media for its jocular tone when reporting on Detroit's financial crisis and for relying on reporters in Chicago to cover the story, Oliver turned his disgust on Detroit's emergency city manager, Kevyn Orr, hired by Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder (R). Nothing that Orr is a top bankruptcy lawyer, Oliver quipped that the decision to hire him to save Detroit is like "picking a demolitions expert to re-shingle your roof."
Oliver closed out the monologue section by checking in on Edward Snowden, the NSA leaker currently stuck in the Moscow airport, asking for asylum from "actual cartoon villain" Vladimir Putin — and perhaps on the cusp of receiving it.
Last, Oliver interviewed comedian Louis C.K., who admitted he's baffled by America's fascination with the royal baby:
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