Comedians Says Colbert Cancellation Will Mean More Trump Jokes, Not Less
The cancellation of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert was only the beginning, according to Donald Trump. “The word is, and it’s a strong word at that, Jimmy Kimmel is NEXT to go in the untalented Late Night Sweepstakes and, shortly thereafter, Fallon will be gone,” he posted on Truth Social. If the president's predictions come true, who will be left to make fun of Trump?Everybody, according to comedians.WBEZ, the NPR station in Chicago, somehow had enough funding to make the rounds at the city’s recent iO Fest, a huge gathering of local and national comedians. The consensus among the assembled funny people was that Colbert’s cancellation would mean more Trump jokes, not less. Part of the reason is the gene that appears to be part of every comic’s DNA: Telling comedians they can’t say something results in an uncontrollable compulsion to say it. “That’s the gig,” explained Mark Bazer, a Chicago-based late-night host. “My guess is there’s very few comedians or late-night talk show hosts who are going to bend the knee.”Colbert, who’s never been shy about challenging Trump or his policies, now has the added advantage of nothing to lose and can “take the gloves off,” Bazer added. Whether Colbert lasts until his announced May departure is another story, but until then, expect some brutal punchlines.The other late-night hosts will continue their assaults as well, Bazer predicted. “We’ve all seen late-night talk shows over the years,” he told the radio outlet. “It’s a tradition to make fun of whoever’s in power, like, that’s what the job entails.”Chicago comic James Dugan, who performs in a news-centric improv troupe that draws sketch premises from the day’s headlines, believes Trump gives comics few other choices. “If we grabbed the newspaper and took out every article that mentioned Trump, we would eliminate about 75 percent of the newspaper,” Dugan explained. “Up until a day or two ago, we at least knew we could do the sports section, but now he’s talking about sports also.” (In a recent rant that many say was a clumsy attempt at Epstein misdirection, Trump commanded Washington and Cleveland sports teams to return to their proud days of racial caricatures and slurs.) In the aftermath of Colbert’s firing, comedians around the country echoed the idea that Trump jokes won’t stop. Jon Stewart made the loudest, f-bomb-heavy noise, but a large chorus of others joined in. “Fuck you and all your Sheldons,” Kimmel told CBS, accompanied by a picture full of anti-Trump slogans like “We need a better president” and “Don’t bend the knee.” The notoriously play-it-safe Fallon fired back as well, crooning anti-Trump folk songs and delivering his most biting joke ever: “According to a new poll, just 17 percent of Americans approve of Trump’s handling of the Epstein files. Seventeen? Good lord, he can’t even get that number over 18.”The Colbert cancellation may have provoked South Park’s most savage treatment of Trump yet, depicting the president in bed with Satan and then employing an A.I. recreation of a nude Trump conversing with his googly-eyed microdick. Comic Pete Dominick summed up the comedy community’s response to Trump in an interview with CNN: “We’re not going to stop.”
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