The chorus of concern voiced in the lead-up to the
Courser/Garmat ousters, the insistence that the two disgraced lawmakers were
hurting the reputation of the Michigan Legislature, has been proven wrong.

It’s worse than you think.

In his Sunday show on HBO, “This Week with John Oliver,”
the host eviscerated not only the two tea party legislators, especially Courser, but also
the entire Legislature – and the entire state of Michigan.

Oliver does all of this in just 4½ minutes, mocking in
his usual snarky manner with biting humor, but without taking any cheap shots
or engaging in nonsense. The story tells itself. And the studio audience was
laughing hysterically. At us.

The comedy, of course, was provided by the couple’s “false
flag” email suggesting all kinds of outrageous behavior by Courser – public sex
with a male prostitute, drug addiction, drunkenness. But Oliver went one step
further, telling his audience about the phony campaign flyers distributed in
the 82nd House District just before the 2014 election that Courser won.

Those ads, claiming that Courser is a child molester,
were allegedly written by Courser to gain sympathy votes by claiming a smear
campaign by his opponents. This aspect of the story generated intrigue within
the capital beltway and in political circles. But Oliver breaks it down in a
way that just makes us all look silly.

“… It’s not Todd Courser that I’m worried about, it’s the
Michigan voters who saw that ad and then thought, ‘Well, any man who’s been
falsely accused of child molesting can’t be all bad. He’s got my vote,’” Oliver
joked.

*****

Last night’s show marked the second time that the
Michigan sex scandal provided some hilarity on national TV for late-night
comedians. Last month, Jimmy Fallon of “The Tonight Show” took some whacks at
Courser/Gamrat, much to the delight of his audience, as he doubled over in
laughter trying to make it through that portion of the opening monologue.

Unintentionally caught up in the Oliver comedy bit – in the
brief video and sound clips that typically accompany each of his show segments –
were WDIV-TV, Kathy Gray of the Detroit Free Press, Courser aide Ben Graham
(unnamed by Oliver), WXYZ-TV and the West Michigan Politics blog.

It should also be noted that Oliver’s funniest comedy
routines, much like the best of Fallon, gain widespread attention and sharing on
Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.

So, hey Michigan, take a bow, we’re famous. Or should I
say infamous?

*****

You can watch the Oliver segment here.

The Fallon jokes are here at about the 2:35 mark.

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