The Amber Ruffin Show tackles hate crimes, filibuster, and more

Last night, The Amber Ruffin Show pulled out more of its flat-out funny sketches as well as informative segments that are still sure to make you laugh.

In last night’s episode, Ruffin starts the show with monologue jokes as usual. Alongside her sidekick Tarik Davis, Ruffin speaks on about a variety of news that occurred during the week from President Joe Biden announcing free community college, universal preschool and a national paid leave program, the health status of Prince Phillip, British citizens purchasing over 86,000 pounds worth of vinyl records, the introduction of two new Black Muppet characters, to Starbucks announcing that they plan to cut their water usage in half. In the background, you can hear laughter ruminating from what is assumed to be the crew of the show during the monologue.

Afterward, Ruffin asks Davis if he liked the monologue while Davis is shown eating a bowl of Cinnamon Toast Crunch. Ruffin then warns Davis not to continue eating the cereal by saying that you’re supposed to swim in it, referencing the news that a California man by the name of Jensen Karp found shrimp tails in his own box of cereal. Ruffin then uses a broom to knock the bowl out of Davis’ hands. Davis then starts to eat from a generic cereal called “Fruity-Os” before pulling out a large plastic lobster. By the way, this is all happening in slow motion. Davis then says he lost his appetite.

Ruffin then dives into a short skit in which she feels that it’s necessary to address the increase of hate crimes in the country. She, along with Davis and recurring performer James, act as detectives trying to find clues that will help them figure out if a crime that is being described is a hate crime. The trio finds out that all the crimes that are presented to them were, in fact, hate crimes. Thus, Ruffin essentially thought that this would be a longer process and admits that they blocked out three minutes for this and don’t know what to do for the end. James takes this opportunity to speak up and ask if anyone’s seen WandaVision to which Ruffin replies that she hasn’t with James admitting he hasn’t either. There are a few seconds of awkward silence and James scratching his detective hat before Ruffin closes out the first half of the episode.

Watch the full “Week in Review” below:

Amber Ruffin takes the time to explain what a filibuster is:

"The filibuster is keeping Black Americans from having full voting rights and it’s keeping all Americans from being safe from gun violence and, frankly, the word itself sounds very stupid."

In her recurring segment, “How Did We Get Here”, Amber Ruffin often addresses unfortunate incidents that happen in society. Last night, she addressed the mass shooting in Boulder, Colorado. Ruffin takes this opportunity to inform viewers that the majority of Americans want stricter gun laws. However, filibustering is prohibiting laws from being passed that could prevent future incidents.

Ruffin discusses other concepts related to the filibuster such as Rule 22, which was supposed to make the act of filibustering harder but has had the opposite effect. It can now require a minority of senators to block bills by voting down cloture motions. At the time this action was being introduced, South Carolina Senator John Calhoun disagreed with filibustering because he realized it could be used to protect minority rights. Ruffin goes even more in-depth about how filibustering actually has some surprisingly racist roots that are affecting the voting rights of minorities and more specifically, Black voters.

Watch the full “How Did We Get Here” segment below:

What would The Amber Ruffin Show be without a musical vaccination dream ballet? In this part of the show, Ruffin is asked by Davis if she’s gotten the vaccine. She receives a text message notification that is assumed to be her vaccination appointment. Ruffin then can be seen removing her blouse and blazer revealing a white leotard. A floral backdrop can be seen as James appears as a syringe marked as the vaccine and dances alongside Ruffin. James’ final move is sticking the end of his costume with Amber just as she regains consciousness. Davis asks Ruffin if she’s ok and if she got the vaccine. She gets a text message informing her that her “flowy praise dance dress has arrived”. Davis asks why she needs this and Ruffin replies that she just wants to be prepared in case she needs it as she winks to her previously seen performance.

Watch the full video down below:

In her final segment before the ending of the show, “Spring Cleaning”, Ruffin appears next to a large cabinet and starts pulling out items that she feels deserve to be thrown away. In the beginning, we see normal items such as a fedora, a mug, and a crop top that might be a little bit too small for her to wear now. She then goes on to say that it’s important to get rid of things that are no longer appropriate before revealing she has a handkerchief that says “Thinking Britney Spears is a bad mom or a funny punchline” and goofily says that it made her look like a huge douchebag but that “it’s never too late to admit a mistake”.

She also brings out Oakley sunglasses, a velour sweatsuit, and a bracelet with the word “lame”, “spirit animal”, “gypped”, “powwow” and other words that are culturally sensitive. She then pulls out a white tank top that says “calling White Tank Tops “wife beaters” and ends the segment by taking the crop top out of the trash can as a nod to the notion that women are expected and should dress more conservatively This was a very creative way to introduce and exercise the idea of being culturally aware of the language one might use daily that might be offensive to others.

To close out the episode, comedian and actor Lil’ Rel Howery makes an appearance and gives the audience a few “fun facts” about Ruffin: she’s 5’7″, from Nebraska, and owes him $20. Howery claims a fun fact about him is that he wants his money.

This episode of The Amber Ruffin Show definitely was a very interesting one and delivered amazing content filled with many opportunities to laugh at the silliness and of course, a fresh perspective on important issues that need to be addressed in our day to day lives.

You can watch The Amber Ruffin Show when episodes premiere on NBC’s Peacock website and app Fridays at 9:00 P.M. EST.