I follow American politics very closely, since a few years ago. Before that, I normally only knew what was reported in international media. It started with the discovery of The Daily Show, actually, and me falling in love with Jon Stewart’s tone of voice. I watched not only the shows as they came out, but also his old shows backwards using Comedy Central’s archive. I have therefore watched every show since around 2006, and some even older than that.

Today, I start every morning – I wake up very early – with a routine that keeps me up to date with both late night comedy and the news.

1. The very first step is always to type in news.google.com. I have set my browser to list U.S. news. If you don’t, they’ll use your location. So Google will list the highest read topics in the news. From there, I select articles that seem interesting. I usually read 2-3 every morning.
2. I then often go to New York Times, Washington Post, USA Today and The Hill. I used to subscribe to Wall Street Journal, but since I stopped, I don’t go there much, because most of their articles are locked.
3. After this, I go to msnbc.com, and then to Rachel Maddow and Morning Joe. I love Rachel, who almost always starts her shows with a history lesson, and then often digs into stories others have missed, tying today’s events back to the history lesson. I don’t love Joe Scarborough, who is a Republican, but I watch him to balance all the otherwise ”liberal media”, and because he has a good variety of guests which leads to interesting discussions. Other favourites that I don’t always have time for are Lawrence O’Donnel amd Chuck Todd.
4. Then it’s time for CNN. I take a look at the top stories, and then I check out Anderson Cooper and Jake Tapper.
5. ADDED after I published this:
   1. Don Lemon, CNN
   2. Brianna Keilar, CNN

I have one email subscription: Borowitz at The New Yorker. I read his satirical articles right away.

Now it’s time for late night comedy, which is not always updated in the Swedish morning, so often I need to go back and check when I get home from work.

I only watch political satire.

Three comedians have one show per week: John Oliver on Sunday nights, Sam Bee on Wednesdays and Bill Maher on Fridays. I subscribe to HBO Nordic to be able to watch Oliver and Maher, but they don’t always come out there fast enough, so I often have to use Youtube instead. So Mondays, Thursdays and Saturdays I busy myself with their shows.

John is my favourite, pretty much like Rachel is in the news sphere, because I learn from them and they talk about issues that others don’t. But Sam is so amazingly funny and to the point, and I love her feminist perspective. Then there’s Bill that sometimes crosses my line, but I don’t have to agree to appreciate.

Then there is of course SNL, which gets watched on Sundays. To watch it from Europe, you need a proxy to simulate being in the U.S.. We use VyprVPN.

Also, there are three daily shows that I watch. First, there’s literally The Daily Show, which is not as good as it used to be, but still pretty amazing. I love Trevor Noah. You need the proxy for this as well.

I also watch Stephen Colbert and Seth Meyers. Stephen is a comedian with a touch of seriousness, and Seth is the opposite.

What about Fallon, Conan and Corden? Well, they’re not political, so I get bored with them quite quickly. But I watch them sometimes.

Hope this can be used to inspire someone.

Want a taste? Here is a rising star:

Amy Hoggart from Full Frontal:

Photo of Rachel Maddow: Paul Schultz.