A month before the election, is late-night comedy ready to laugh through the storm?
The biggest election of our lives is almost here.
Well, at least that's what you'll hear if you are following the the race between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump through the lens of traditional news coverage. It's also what you'll hear if you are following the election through the lens of late-night TV, where lately it's nearly all politics all the time, too.
Turn on NBC's "The Tonight Show" and Jimmy Fallon is breaking out his (bad) Donald Trump impression to talk about eating cats and dogs. On HBO, John Oliver is crying with barely contained fury about Project 2025 and the federal court system. And on NBC's "Saturday Night Live," a parade of comics joined the show in last week's premiere to portray the major players in the political circus: Maya Rudolph is back as Harris, Jim Gaffigan as Democratic VP candidate Tim Walz and Dana Carvey as lame-duck President Joe Biden.
Yes, even in our escapist entertainment it's impossible to get away from politics, especially now that we're in October of an election year. And while these series have always thrived on current events and political impressions, from Chevy Chase playing Gerald Ford on "SNL" in the 1970s to Jay Leno's constant jabs at Bill Clinton and Monica Lewinsky in the 1990s, the vibes have been different since oh, say, 2016. A little more desperation, a little less lightheartedness in the jokes since a certain candidate came on the national political scene. Trump casts a long shadow and has a way of making the absurd mundane. In addition to trying to make us laugh, most of these comedians also attempt to make sense of a farcical political reality.
This cycle's debates are (seemingly) done, but Trump and Harris are on a final sprint to woo voters. They're full of media appearances and speeches that provide fresh material to be mocked or praised or simply replayed by comedians after dark as they try to find the funny in a supremely consequential and serious national event. Is it really, in the end, all that funny? Or are these comedians tilting at the every-four-years windmills?
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This year, the late-night shows have been galvanized by the unpredictable nature of the race, from Biden's exit to Trump's continually nonsensical speeches. ABC's Jimmy Kimmel and NBC's Seth Meyers seem practically giddy as they list near-daily Trump gaffes and make fat jokes about him. CBS' Stephen Colbert is excitedly praising Harris and Walz. On Comedy Central's "Daily Show," Jon Stewart is taking the John Oliver approach, with deeper and riskier dives on nuanced subjects like Israel's attacks in Lebanon. Fallon remains on the surface of the surface level, far more at home making fun of Gen Z than tackling Trump and tariffs.
The return of "SNL" for its 50th season was eagerly anticipated by its fans. The show has dedicated significant time and effort in the last two decades to election-year cold opens about politics, often featuring major A-list stars as the candidates. In 2020, it was Alec Baldwin and Jim Carrey as Trump and Biden, the actual cast of the sketch show a mere post-intro afterthought. "SNL" is still tapping a well of guest stars to play the big-name political figures, but producer Lorne Michaels is smartly going for better crafted impressions rather than just "famous celebrity plays famous politician" stunt casting. So it was the midlevel of fame group of Gaffigan, Carvey and Andy Samberg (as Harris' husband and second gentleman Doug Emhoff) who joined on Saturday, along with reliable cast members James Austin Johnson and Bowen Yang as Trump and his running mate, JD Vance.
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The new ensemble worked well in a Harris-focused sketch Saturday (the first new "SNL" episode since Biden dropped out of the race). Carvey memorably played President George H.W. Bush in the 1990s and brought his knack for turning catchphrases back on their owners to his squinting Biden. Rudolph delivered all the "Mamala" jokes fans have been craving since Harris became the nominee. It was the normally dependable Yang who marked the one disappointment: His version of Vance didn't appear to say anything about the candidate other than calling him "weird," just as all the other jokesters have.
As for the late-night talk-show guys, they can mostly can elicit laughs (except for Fallon). Stewart and Oliver influence and educate their viewers. The monologues cover the news of the day. The jokes are funny but uninspired. It all feels almost typical now, so many "unprecedented" election cycles in. We're making light of the life-and-death issues at play, but we've been doing that since at least 2016. It's just par for the new American political discourse.
There are many shows left before Nov. 5, so get ready for a lot of grunting half-hearted Trump voices and Rudolph making a wide range of perplexed expressions. ("SNL" has four more episodes before Election Day.) If everyone stays in their lanes, it will probably be funny but also very predictable. Meyers will yell during "A Closer Look." Another "SNL" alum will show up as a Democrat or Republican making headlines. Stewart will make someone angry.
But in an election cycle as erratic as 2024 has been, there might be opportunities for comedy that is just a little more profound. That is, if any of these guys can step up to the challenge.
