The Daily Show discovers what keeps Austin weird: Republicans

(Image credit: The Daily Show)

last updated 8 January 2015

For its last show in Austin, The Daily Show took a stab at just what makes the blue capital of red Texas so "weird," as the city's unofficial motto proclaims. Samantha Bee found an unexpected culprit: Among all the lefty counterculture, silly couture, and trendy food trucks, five out of the six congressmen who represent Austin in the U.S. Congress are solidly conservative Republicans.

Pretending to be progressive while voting Republican? "You guys are so counterculture," Bee tells one Austin liberal. "I can't even keep up." The real reason is gerrymandering, of course — as explained with unexpected clarity from a man painted lizard green — so until at least the next redistricting session in eight more years, "Austinites are f--ked, with representation that doesn't represent them." Weird. --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.