Cindy Ord/Getty
PresidentDonald Trumphas not been a good thing for comedy, according to comedianConan O'Brien.
"Comedy needs a straight line to go off of. And we don't have a straight line right now," O'Brien said this week at theOxford Union. "We have a very bendy, rubbery line. We have a Slinky. We have a fire hose that's whipping around, spewing water at 100 miles an hour or something else. So, comedically, it's been very challenging."
Get your daily dose of entertainment news, celebrity updates, and what to watch with ourEW Dispatch newsletter.
The result of that, the former late-night host said, is that some people aren't focused on making people laugh.
"I think some comics go the route of 'I'm going to just say f Trump all the time,' or that's their comedy. And I think, well, now a little bit you're being co-opted because you're so angry," the five-time Emmy winner said. "You've been lulled. It's like a siren leading you into the rocks. You've been lulled into just saying, 'F Trump. F Trump. F Trump. Screw this guy.' And I think you've now put down your best weapon, which is being funny, and you've exchanged it for anger."
Nicole Combeau/Bloomberg via Getty
He doesn't accept it when he hears that now is not the time to be amused.
"And that person or any person like that would say, 'Well, things are too serious now. I don't need to be funny,'" O'Brien said. "And I think, well, if you're a comedian, you always need to be funny. You just have to find a way. And you you just have to find a way to channel that anger. Because good art will always be a great weapon, will always be a perfect weapon against power, but if you're just screaming and you're just angry, you've lost your best tool in the toolbox."
TheConan O'Brien Must Gohost gave an example from his days onThe Harvard Lampoonof exactly how comedy is more difficult these days.
"There was one magazine we could never do a parody of, which is theNational Enquirer," he said. He described the magazine as "the one that says 'Elvis found in Titanic lifeboat 105 years after sinking. He is now a woman, and he's married a giant peanut butter sandwich.' How do you parody that? You can't."
Parodies don't have the same effect in 2026.
"With Trump, we have a similar situation in comedy," O'Brien said, "which is people saying, 'We've got a great Trump sketch for you. In this one, he's kind of talking crazy...and he tears down half the White House to build a giant ballroom, and he says it's going to be the new Mar-a-Lago.' 'Yeah, no, that happened yesterday.'"
But O'Brien still believes comedians should speak out.
Hedid soin September, writing on social media that "Thesuspension of @jimmykimmeland the promise tosilence other Late Night hostsfor criticizing the administration should disturb everyone on the Right, Left, and Center. It's wrong and anyone with a conscience knows it's wrong."
Read the original article onEntertainment Weekly
