Did stand-up comedians help reelect
Not a joke, as outgoing
Trump has been the butt of countless late-night monologues and 鈥淪aturday Night Live鈥� sketches for the better part of a decade, as much of Hollywood tracked the highs and lows of his political career with revulsion and ridicule.
But in the weeks leading up to Election Day, he sat for who occupy an increasingly popular space where political discourse is mediated through roast-style insults, right-leaning conspiracy theories and mockery of the left.
鈥淭hey鈥檙e all sort of simultaneously entertainers and influencers and pundits and 鈥� I鈥檝e argued, propagandists 鈥� who have massive, loyal fanbases,鈥� said Seth Simons, a journalist who writes .
The Trump era has coincided with the rise of the hourlong Netflix special and comedy podcast. And while the world of stand-up is as diverse as the nation itself, some of its hottest acts have punched left.
Dave Chappelle has repeatedly courted controversy by . Bill Burr has roasted feminists with relish, most recently in (鈥淎ll right, ladies, you鈥檙e 0-2 against this guy鈥�). Even Michelle Wolf, who at the 2018 White House Correspondents Dinner, has an extended riff in her 2022 special critiquing #MeToo, calling it 鈥渢he worst-run movement I鈥檝e ever seen.鈥�
None of these comics publicly supported Trump, but nonetheless trained their fire on the so-called woke left, a bogeyman of Trump鈥檚 campaign.
Trump got a warm welcome 鈥� but not everyone was amused
That鈥檚 what seems to have brought Trump, a veteran TV entertainer himself, into the studios of Joe Rogan, , and other comedians.
He discussed addiction and the opioid crisis with Theo Von, who told the past and future president that 鈥渃ocaine will turn you into a damn owl, homie.鈥� On another podcast, Andrew Schulz and Akaash Singh laughed out loud as Trump went through his nicknames for political rivals 鈥� like 鈥淐omrade Kamala鈥� Harris 鈥� and recounted his near-assassination.
Politicians have long sought to reach voters on alternative platforms. Former President Barack Obama slow jammed the news with Jimmy Fallon, who ruffled Trump's hair in 2016. Both Obama and 鈥淏etween Two Ferns." Harris appeared on 鈥淪NL鈥� days before the election and , with less evident success.
For Trump, the podcasts were part of 鈥� a tactic he says his son Barron, 18, suggested. More than half of male voters ages 18-44 supported Trump, and 45% supported Harris, although Biden won this group in 2020, according to , a survey of more than 120,000 voters.
While politicians' late-night appearances tend to be carefully scripted affairs, Rogan interviewed Trump for a whopping three hours in a conversation that veered from false claims about the 2020 election to speculation about UFOs and John F. Kennedy's assassination. Rogan, who supported Bernie Sanders in 2020, subsequently endorsed Trump this cycle.
Trump's interviewers aren't political comedians; they're just as likely to chat about internet curiosities, mixed martial arts or weightlifting. Their views seem primarily rooted in suspicion of the establishment, devotion to free speech and about things like vaccines and immigration.
That may have led them to see Trump as a kindred spirit.
鈥淭he rebels are Republicans now. You want to be a rebel, you want to be punk rock, you want to like buck the system, you鈥檙e a conservative now,鈥� Rogan said during the interview, which has nearly 50 million views on YouTube.
Simons says Rogan and his acolytes, consciously or not, have shifted what's acceptable in comedy rightward.
鈥淭he relationship that people have with these roast comics, these comics who tell racist jokes or sexist jokes, is that they don鈥檛 mean what they say, it鈥檚 just funny,鈥� Simons said.
whose podcast 鈥淲TF鈥� helped birth the genre, called out his fellow comics in a blog post after the Rogan interview.
鈥淭he anti-woke flank of the new fascism is being driven almost exclusively by comics, my peers,鈥� Maron wrote. 鈥淲hen comedians with podcasts have shameless, self-proclaimed white supremacists and fascists on their show to joke around like they are just entertainers or even just politicians, all it does is humanize and normalize fascism.鈥�
A fractured media landscape
It wasn鈥檛 always like this.
Johnny Carson, the king of late night for three decades until his 1992 retirement, steered clear of political controversies to cultivate a mass audience. This was also when most Americans got their news from the "Big Three" television networks.
Fast forward to today: across many channels deliver nightly polemics interspersed with news clips. To their critics, comedians like Jon Stewart, Stephen Colbert and John Oliver are indistinguishable from MSNBC commentators.
Comedian Wayne Federman, the author of a history of stand-up, says these hosts can only draw a fraction of Carson鈥檚 viewers, removing the economic incentive to appeal widely.
鈥淎s most late-night hosts seemed openly aligned with (the Democratic National Committee), a market niche opened in the podcast space. Enter Joe Rogan,鈥� he said.
Rogan's show, for which he landed an estimated has become a springboard for up-and-coming comics.
鈥淔or a lot of comedians right now, following in Joe Rogan鈥檚 footsteps and trying to be in his world and emulate him is a smart career move,鈥� Simons said. 鈥淚 think that鈥檚 partly why there are so many Andrew Schulzes and Theo Vons."
Presidential candidate or insult comic?
Beyond his podcast appearances, Trump may have benefited more subtly from stand-up's proliferation.
Much was made of Trump鈥檚 extemporaneous speaking style 鈥� what 鈥� in which his hourlong speeches meandered through stories, digressions, movie references and obscenities.
As political speech, it was unconventional, but it bore many of stand-up's hallmarks: deliberate provocations, trademark punchlines and callbacks eventually wrapping it all together.
鈥淏ecause some of the things he says seem like they鈥檙e so off-center, people take it as a joke,鈥� said Shilpa Dav茅, a University of Virginia professor of media studies. 鈥淭he kind of comedy that he鈥檚 doing doesn't come off as threatening, it comes off as acceptable.鈥�
It also posed problems for journalists covering his speeches: When he said he would be , or inveighed against or promised to round up and deport millions of immigrants in the U.S. without authorization, was he laying out policies or joking around?
鈥淵ou can first denounce what journalists do by having called everything they say 鈥榝ake news,鈥� and then you can denounce what they expose by saying they just don鈥檛 get it 鈥� the stand-up comedy defense,鈥� said Robert Thompson, a professor of television and popular culture at Syracuse University.
There were times when the jokes didn't land 鈥� but they weren't his. Trump faced outrage after Tony Hinchcliffe, , referred to Puerto Rico as a 鈥渇loating island of garbage鈥� and made other racist jokes at a rally. The campaign distanced itself from Hinchcliffe as and commentators wondered if it would turn off Latino voters.
鈥淚magine bombing so hard you save america from fascism,鈥� posted on X.
But barely a week later, it was Trump who .
Joseph Krauss, The Associated Press
