Josh Johnson, news and staying sane

May 16, 2026

There are a lot of people who are in the “I don’t watch the news” boat. I understand that. I am a person who watches the news, perhaps a little too much. That’s on me.

There are other folks who “don’t watch the news, it’s too depressing” and they wear their media ignorance like it’s a badge. I understand part of this: there are some really bad things happening right now. Not gonna name them because each of us has our own version of them. I do believe that “NEVER” dipping into what’s going on, it means that the folks in power who want to do harm to those who aren’t in power get a free pass. Frankl Zappa put it this way: it’s hard to get people to care about their rights going away if they don’t know what they are.

Then there are some folks kind of in the middle. These folks “don’t watch the news” but get a gist of what’s going on from various comedic outlets like Stephen Colbert, Jimmy Kimmel, Keith Olbermann (one of my favorites who has recently gone a health-related hiatus - I wish him well and hope I get to hear his takes in the future), The Daily Show, etc.

The Daily Show has spun out a few of these jester presenters of current events over the years. Colbert got his start there, and Jon Stewart is arguably one of the better folks we have out there telling us what’s going on.

Another Daily Show alum is Josh Johnson. He puts out a weekly standup routine that addresses current events in a tolerable way. This routine from a year ago and he talks about mice, drugs in candy, and whether Black people can be “racist” or not. I think it’s worth your time, and if you’re one of the folks who like to get your horrible news sugarcoated in comedy, he’s worth your time.

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