Tuesday’s “The Daily Show” examined the weird (and adorable) new trend of renting animals to liven things up during work-related virtual meetings, and then imagined how awkward things could get if you have inconsiderate coworkers.
For those who don’t know, animal rescue groups struggling to stay afloat during the national shutdown mandated by the coronavirus pandemic have figured out a novel way to raise money: Renting out animals to appear in virtual meetings hosted on Zoom, Google Meet and other teleconferencing services. So you can liven up a boring work call with some adorable animal pals.
“Little advice though,” Trevor Noah said after discussing the matter. “If you are going to Zoom with animals, please remember to be sensitive to your new coworkers, because otherwise things could get really awkward.”
The scene then switched to a fictional virtual meeting hosted by “The Daily Show” correspondent Roy Wood Jr., attended by three other humans and one cow. After praising the team for their recent work, Wood asked them to excuse him while he took “a quick bite” of his hamburger.
“Wow. Wow, really?” asked the cow (obviously voiced by a human).
“What?” asked Wood.
“You’re just gonna eat that burger right in front of me?” replied the cow.
Wood tried to apologize hastily, but the cow wasn’t having it. “That could be my uncle, man. How would you feel if I just started eating your granddad on a Zoom call?”
“I do not know what to say other than that I am sorry, I’m so sorry for that,” said Wood.
The cow then stayed silent for several, awkward seconds, only to reveal it was just a prank. “I’m just playing with you, it’s cool,” the cow said. “I eat a burger every now and then too.”
“You had me going there for a second I — wait, you what?” asked Wood, at which point the scene went back to Noah.
Watch the whole clip above.