Conan O’Brien takes aim at modern political comedy: Pointing the finger at Trump and saying ‘does he suck’ is no joke

Veteran comedian Conan O’Brien joked that President Trump’s “greatest crime” inspired terrible political jokes about him that ruined the landscape in a podcast interview this week.

Best known for hosting NBC’s “Late Night” and “The Tonight Show” before joining TBS from 2010 to 2021, he made his mark on journalist Kara Swisher’s podcast. Rejecting modern political comedy, O’Brien noted that saying, “He doesn’t (Trump) suck” is not a joke. »

O’Brien didn’t name them specifically in his remarks, but other late-night hosts like Stephen Colbert, Jimmy Kimmel and Seth Meyers focus heavily on anti-Republican and anti-Trump talking points in their routines. Critics have called pandering political humor that panders to the audience’s point of view “slapstick” comedy, in the sense that it is more likely to inspire applause than actual laughter.

O’Brien said he disagreed with the common opinion that society is too politically correct for comedy to thrive.

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“I actually don’t agree with them. I think there’s still a lot of funny stuff and for me it’s kind of an excuse to say, ‘Yeah, I’m chained, I don’t can’t be funny anymore,'” he said. said.

“Well, if being funny just meant being incredibly insensitive, that’s probably not great,” he added.

Swisher then pointed out that O’Brien doesn’t usually do “political humor.” The comedian confirmed this observation, saying, “I’ve never been more comfortable with comedy where I needed to make a point.”

The podcast host turned to the former president, saying, “As if Trump gave people the opportunity to do that.” »

O’Brien admitted that he thinks the Trump era “has not served comedy well.”

“Actually, I think Trump has committed – whatever people say, all sorts of things, he’s committed all these horrible acts – but I think one of the worst is I think he’s bad for comedy,” O’Brien said.

Swisher asked why he thought that, to which the comedian provided an analogy suggesting that comedians parodying Trump was like trying to parody a famous tabloid magazine.

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Late night comedian Conan O’Brien claimed former President Trump’s “greatest crime” was harming comedy. (SUZANNE CORDEIRO/AFP via Getty Images)

“What you can never do is parody the National Enquirer because the National Enquirer can’t be parodied,” he said, adding: “If you buy a real National Enquirer, it says ‘ Elvis seen in a UFO; he has tentacles for weapons.’ The baby ghost turns into a vampire and attacks Michael Jackson’s ghost. There’s no way you can parody that. You can’t parody something that already has this crazy, irregular shape. It’s not possible.

Associating him with Trump, he continued: “So I always thought when Trump came along, what a lot of people have to turn to is, ‘Isn’t he bad? I hate that guy . He’s an asshole.’ .’ And these are not jokes.”

O’Brien joked that this was Trump’s “greatest crime,” even beyond the Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol.

“I’m really going out on a limb and saying that’s his greatest crime. I think he’s hurt political comedy by being so outlandish himself. I think the January 6 thing is a failure compared to how much it hurt comedy,” he said.

Swisher laughed and said, “I’m glad you went out there and said that.”

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