Things We Saw Today: Why Can’t This Fake John Oliver/James Van Der Beek Podcast About Iranian Politics Be Real?

John Oliver has found some interesting ways to get across complex information. Like the “Catheter Cowboy” commercials he buys airtime for in an attempt to get Donald Trump to listen to reason. In last night’s episode of Last Week Tonight, Oliver delved into the Iran Nuclear Deal, aka the next way Trump might try to murder us all. He laid out a very basic history of the relationship between Iran and the U.S., making it clear that this is a “ludicrously brief recap.” Given the depth of that history, that’s all he had time for. Of course, he also had time for a gag imagining a fake podcast about Iran, co-hosted by James Van Der Beek. And honestly, the time spent on this bit was beyond worth it, and now I’m very sad that this doesn’t actually exist.

As Oliver says, “If you didn’t think that James Van Der Beek was an expert in Iranian history, you need to expand your expectations of what people are capable of.”

Watch the clip of that unfortunately made-up podcast, “Talking’ Tehran” below. (And maybe stick around to learn a bit more about Iran/U.S. relations while you’re at it.)

• More of that Good Dwayne Johnson content: The Rock welcomed another pebble into the world! He posted an announcement of his third daughter’s birth to Instagram, and he included a very cool, feminist message. (via Hello Giggles)
• Marvel will be skipping the massive Hall H presentation at Comic-Con this year. (via Collider)
• The Sims quietly changed an important piece of language in the game: The “insane” trait is now labeled “erratic” because ableism and mental illness are serious issues. (via Kotaku)
• This is a great piece looking at I Feel Pretty and how it fits into the fraught trajectory of Amy Schumer’s career. (via Pajiba)
• Janelle Monáe dropped another video off of Dirty Computer!

• Getting impatient for season two of The Handmaid’s Tale starts this week? Check out this free e-book companion guide to Margaret Atwood’s novel. (via Portalist)

What did you all see out there on this (ugh) Monday?

(image: screencap)

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Vivian Kane

Vivian Kane (she/her) is the Senior News Editor at The Mary Sue, where she's been writing about politics and entertainment (and all the ways in which the two overlap) since the dark days of late 2016. Born in San Francisco and radicalized in Los Angeles, she now lives in Kansas City, Missouri, where she gets to put her MFA to use covering the local theatre scene. She is the co-owner of The Pitch, Kansas City’s alt news and culture magazine, alongside her husband, Brock Wilbur, with whom she also shares many cats.

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