Top News Stories of 2016 (in comedy videos)
No two ways around it — 2016 was a big year. There were a lot of huge stories this year, including the refugee crisis, the Brussels bombings, the Zika virus, the Orlanda shooting, Black Lives Matter protests, a coup was attempted in Turkey but failed miserably, the Rio Olympics, Hurricane Matthew, the death of Thailand’s beloved king, and the ongoing destruction of Aleppo. And we haven’t even gotten to the worst news — “believe me.” But rather than reading depressing news that makes it even harder to get up in the morning, I decided to keep each story light and concise. So let’s look on the brighter side.
Most Hated Man to Ever Run For Office Becomes US President
This has to be the top story of the year — everyone is talking about it. In fact, I’m sure this is radically changing the content of not only political science textbooks, but journalism curricula and media studies as we speak. When I heard the news, I did not think it was funny, but I wasn’t depressed like many people who ended up crying on live TV. How did I feel about it? My opinion was pretty much completely summed up in a brilliant sketch on SNL, right after the election.
Britain Votes to Leave the EU, then Googles “What is the EU”?
If you thought electing Donald Trump was ill-informed, don’t forget about the shock that happened when the second most Googled thing in Britain was “What is the EU?” What’s even worse was the top search: “What is Brexit?” Jonathan Pie’s satirical take on it is refreshing and hilarious.
The DNC is Full of Dicks Making Fools of Themselves
Talking about all the ways the Democratic National Committee screwed up the election (e.g. by trying to get Hillary Clinton elected despite the fact that democratic voters actually wanted Bernie Sanders) could not possibly be summed up in one paragraph. Therefore, I would rather mention how Anthony’s wiener once again got someone in a lot of trouble. But in this case, it wasn’t just Weiner himself, but Hillary Clinton; because it made things worse in the so-called “email scandal.” Regardless, the funniest headline was the one that you can see in the image at the top of the post:
FBI pulls hard drive from Weiner, Reportedly felt 100 miles away…
But even better than that was Stephen Colbert’s take on the situation, earlier this month.
Pokèmon Go Catches Them All (or at least their attention)
You don’t get to a global phenomenon everyday. For months, people were walking to distant areas of their cities, and getting exposed to real-life sunlight. They were meeting people, talking to strangers, and aggregating in public spaces. Business establishments started to cash in by using lure to bring more customers inside. Dare I say, they made it “cool” to go somewhere and catch fake digital animals. Pokemon Go was temporarily the biggest video game in the world, and it wasn’t just for kids.
