British comedian pokes fun at US Supreme Court ban on TV cameras by recreating proceedings using dogs

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By Thomas Connelly on

This is so good that perhaps the televised UK Supreme Court could incorporate an animal option into its YouTube channel

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The UK Supreme Court YouTube channel isn’t, admittedly, the most thrilling internet TV network. But at least it exists.

Across the pond, the broadcasting of footage from within the US Supreme Court is banned, with the public limited to audio footage that is typically played over a backdrop of fusty court artist sketches.

For US-based British comedian and TV presenter John Oliver — who Legal Cheek assumes nurses his homesickness by watching Lord Neuberger and pals on UK Supreme Court TV — the anachronistic American camera ban is a perfect target for parody. And what a parody the Last Week Tonight host has created…

Featuring nine dressed-up dogs who each play a US Supreme Court justice, Oliver’s video is a replacement of the traditional court artist sketches for the viral animal video generation.

News networks are invited to embrace the footage (embedded below) — which was unveiled on Oliver’s show on Sunday and quickly went viral — and dub audio from hearings over the animal court scenes.

Alongside the judge-dogs, there are two further lawyer-dogs plus a paralegal duck.

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And what court scene would be complete without a stenographer chicken?

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As the UK Supreme Court YouTube channel producers scramble to create a British equivalent, Legal Cheek has done its bit to help by matching up our own Supreme Court judges and their dog doubles…

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