One of the country’s most popular comedy shows introduced its audience to electronics-repair realities by way of broken McDonald’s ice cream machines, iPhones and medical equipment.
“The Daily Show,” which is broadcast on Comedy Central, recently ran a 10-minute segment on repair that has been viewed on YouTube 621,000 times over the past two weeks. In it, Trevor Noah, the show’s host, describes how manufacturers prevent third-party repair of their devices and gives space for the perspectives of right-to-repair advocates.
The segment included interview clips with prominent right-to-repair movement voices, including Gay Gordon-Byrne of The Repair Association, Louis Rossmann of Rossman Repair Group, Kit Walsh of the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) and Kyle Wiens of iFixit.
The segment begins by pointing to reports that the Federal Trade Commission is investigating the company that provides and services McDonald’s ice cream machines, which are often broken.
“The truth is McDonald’s ice cream machines are far from the only product that people are having trouble repairing these days,” Noah says in his intro. “In fact, this issue is so widespread that it has spurred an entire movement called right to repair.”
The segment also touches on President Biden’s July 2021 executive order asking federal agencies to take steps in support of independent repair.
