Citing his late-night political comedy bona fides as “another immigrant taking American jobs,” like Samantha Bee, John Oliver, and Trevor Noah, Australian comedian Jim Jefferies debuted his weekly, self-titled pre-Daily Show series last night. Like his colleagues, Jefferies engaged in the now-familiar, desk-centered talking head political satire (although Bee stands, because she’s a boss), with the cheeky and sometimes controversial Jefferies’ signature offhand delivery (he punctuates his takes with a decidedly slouchy posture) masking yet another comedic enterprise dedicated—in this benighted year of 2017—to dissecting just what appalling nonsense Donald Trump and his minions have spewed into the world over the course of the week.
As pointed as Jefferies proved his takes on Trump and company to be (the first episode started out with the the familiar “what the hell did Trump do now?” news rundown), the comic looks prepared to set his sights on mockable hypocrisy and awfulness from around the world as well. (The first field piece saw Jefferies sitting across from a Dutchman in blackface who defended the country’s “Black Pete” Christmas tradition.) But, as with anyone doing the late night satire gig these days, Jefferies—as he did when he profanely shut down Trump apologist Piers Morgan—focused his comic contempt on the “leader of the free world,” here mocking Trump’s baffling yet in-character admiration for other megalomaniacal would-be strongmen like Turkey’s Tayyip Erdogan, The Philippines’ Rodrigo Duterte, and, of course, best buddy Vladimir Putin. In what promises to be a recurring segment, “This F**king Guy” provided a perfect encapsulation of Jefferies’ signature comic style, as he took this first stab at becoming yet another comedian finding TV success by discovering new and profanely funny ways to examine how that fucking guy is making everyone miserable.