Trevor Noah started out Wednesday's Daily Show with a brief homage to Back to the Future Day, and it was a pretty clever in to his top story: Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), after shrugging off pleas, is now well on his way to being House speaker. What changed his mind? Ryan says he didn't want to explain to his kids why he didn't step up when needed. Noah laughed: "Do you really think this is what your kids are going to be asking you in the future?" he said. "And what's your reply? 'What can I say, kids? Back in 2015 I honestly thought the future hinged on who would be House speaker, not the fight against climate change. Now get on you scuba gear on and come down to dinner.'"
But Ryan's speakership comes with conditions. Ryan's real demands include House Republicans unifying behind him, getting rid of the parliamentary mechanism to fire a speaker, and not giving up weekends and family time. Noah was impressed — but correspondent Jessica Williams had a list of further (fake) demands from Paul, including a protein shake fountain and his own theme song, performed by the Beatles. It's a fine way to highlight Ryan's poker skills, but this is the GOP's mess — why drag John Lennon and George Harrison into it? Peter Weber
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