Political Jokes: Too Soon?
The answer from many quarters midweek was a resounding yes, days after an assassination attempt on former Republican President Donald Trump shook the nation due to political violence that has been brewing in the United States for decades.
Several late-night shows that thrive on political comedy changed plans immediately, with Comedy Central’s “The Daily Show” canceling its Monday show and its plan to broadcast from the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee this week. Its host, Jon Stewart, and his colleagues delivered dark monologues.
On Tuesday, comedy rock duo Tenacious D, made up of Jack Black and Kyle Gass, had canceled the rest of his world tour “and all future creative plans” after Gass declared his birthday wish on stage: “Don’t miss it next time.” Gass apologized.
Democratic President Joe Biden, no stranger to mocking Trump, called his wounded rival, halted his political ads and messages and called on the nation to “cool down” on the rhetoric.
So if comedy is tragedy plus time, when is play good again? And who gives a thumbs up, given that the shooter who targeted Trump also killed former fire chief Corey Compatore while protecting his family?
There is nothing funny about Saturday’s assassination attempt or any of the violence that devastates the United States since its earliest days. Trump was hit in the ear as he spoke to rally attendees in Pennsylvania. A Trump supporter and the shooter were killed and two bystanders were injured. The attack rose serious questions about security breaches. It was the latest episode of political violence in America, where attacks on politics date back to at least 1798, when two congressmen from opposing parties fought in the U.S. House.
History books are full of other examples, but this century’s list is shocking. Former Rep. Gabby Giffords, D-Ariz., was shot in the head in 2011. Republican Rep. Steve Scalise of Louisiana, now the House majority leader, was shot and seriously injured in 2017. A crowd of Trump supporters attacked the US Capitol on January 6, 2021 to prevent Congress from certifying Biden’s election. Paul Pelosi was beaten in his home in 2022 by a man hunting his wife, former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
Add this to the unyielding concerns about Biden’s fitness for office after him disastrous debate performance, Trump’s convictions on 34 criminal charges – and American politics in 2024 looks anything but fun.
But political humor is as old as politics and government.
It eliminates some of the democratic decisions in question and is a potent weapon for politicians seeking to alleviate concerns about themselves or raise some concerns about their rivals. And in recent years, Trump has been the butt of more jokes than others. A 2020 study by George Mason University’s Center for Media and Public Affairs found that 97% of jokes made by late-night hosts revolved around Trump.
“It’s never too early, unless it’s not funny,” said Alonzo Bodden, a stand-up comedian for 31 years, during a phone interview Wednesday. Not a fan of Trump, he said comedians “will always make everything funny no matter what. This is what we do. It’s how we communicate.”
“In this case, Donald Trump is a character and the fact that he wasn’t killed, the jokes started immediately,” Bodden said. “And I don’t think he cares. He’s one of those people that as long as you talk about him, it’s a win.”
Perhaps most effectively, political humor can make pretentious leaders seem more human, or at least self-aware.
To see “covfefe,” Trump’s mysterious middle-of-the-night tweet in 2017 that went viral and made Jimmy Kimmel lament that he would never write anything funnier. Or ” Make the pie higher,” a poem by the late Washington Post cartoonist Richard Thompson, composed entirely of distorted statements by President George W. Bush and published for his 2001 inauguration.
“What I was making there was a very complicated economic issue,” Bush explained with a wink at the Radio and Television Correspondents’ Dinner a few months later.
Biden tried to use humor to bring up the issue of age before the debate made it clear that the issue is more about his cognitive ability. “I know I’m 198 years old,” Biden said, to laughter and applause.
Humor is such a valuable campaign tool that candidates fill guest seats on late-night shows, which have grown in political influence. But after the murder, a pause came over everything, as evidenced by Stewart’s sobering monologue on Monday.
“None of us know what will happen next, except that there will be another tragedy in this country, self-inflicted by us on us, and then we will have that feeling again,” Stewart said.
“Stephen Colbert of The Late Show described his horror at the attack, relief that Trump survived and “sadness for my beautiful country.”
“Although I could easily start the program groaning on the floor,” he said, “because how many times do we need to learn the lesson that violence has no role in our politics?”
Social media was showing less restraint, as it shows. “I find it ironic that Trump almost died from a gun today because he was so right-wing,” said comedian Drew Lynch on YouTube. “Okay. That’s all I have. I think my neighbors might be within earshot.”
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Kellman reported from London. AP Media writer David Bauder contributed to this report.
