The Writers Guild of America strike ended last week, which was good news for some of us. I know that it’s almost required for conservatives to rail against “Hollywood,” but my perspective is a bit different. I’ve been in the entertainment industry almost my whole adult life and spent over two decades living in Los Angeles. There are a lot of people who work behind the cameras in “Hollywood” who are conservative. The strike affected both friends and family, so I was glad to see it end.
The only real downside to the strike being over is that the late-night talk show hosts have gone back to work.
The genre is still referred to as a “late-night comedy,” but anyone with a decent sense of humor knows that there is precious little humor to be found in what Stephen Colbert, Jimmy Fallon, and Jimmy Kimmel are doing. I’m not including Seth Meyers in this conversation because he’s the Margaret Cho of male comics and his success may be proof that Satan exists, walks among us, and is still making deals with people.
As a comedian who grew up watching Johnny Carson, it’s an understatement to say that late-night talk shows are lamentable. Compounding my sorrow at the loss of a golden era is the fact that I often close out my Morning Briefing with a Carson clip. I watch a lot of them on YouTube and am constantly reminded of just how far late-night comedy has fallen.
Of course, the Big Three aren’t really late-night comedians — they’re celebrity cheerleaders at a political rally for Democrats, especially Colbert and Kimmel. There’s nothing wrong with joking about American politics on an American television show, it’s just tedious when it’s all the time and it’s all one sided. Carson did topical political humor too; he didn’t do it in a “Rah-rah!” fashion though.
The laughs that these guys get are more like a “Hell yeah!” response. Leftist audiences have been conditioned (and are prompted by “Applause” signs) to laugh at anything that denigrates people who don’t agree with them. As I’ve written often, Joe Biden and Kamala Harris present the most target-rich environment for humor I’ve seen in the executive branch in my lifetime. However, it’s a sacrilege for Stevie and the two Jimmys to go after them.
It’s also lazy.
A quote from Kimmel shared in this Washington Post article sums up the focus of late-night “comedy” these days:
“One of our writers got this message from his mother this morning at 6:11 a.m. She wrote, ‘Please don’t make tonight’s monologue all about Trump.’ Well, sorry, Josh’s mom, that is a no-can-do. I am backed up like you would not believe,” Kimmel said.
Gosh, if only our president who shakes hands with ghosts and speaks in unintelligible tongues after sniffing underaged strangers had done something mockworthy while Kimmel was away.
Stay tuned for a Sarah Palin joke.
Let’s finish on a high note, dear readers. Here’s a clip from “The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson” that I’ve never shared on the Morning Briefing. Enjoy.
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