Why Are Late Night Comedy Shows So Bad?

Hi,

I am politically conservative. I have become less so over time, I used to be a very hard line libertarian, now I'm more of a classical liberal.

So, I distinctly remember tuning into the Daily Show with Jon Stewart on a regular basis. I'd often find myself laughing myself silly, like uncontrollable laughter.

He was a funny guy. He had flaming conservatives on like Bill O'Reilly. I found myself agreeing with him over Bill because he took the high ground on free speech and the such. Jon was a liberal more than a progressive.

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Now I turn on John Oliver, Trevor Noah or any of the other cavalcade of political late night comedy these days and it's a cringe fest. I don't laugh at anything.

Some are so unfunny as to be unwatchable. Samantha Bee will surely run Hell when I eventually die.

So what's the cause of all this? Some possibilities:

1. I've become more conservative. I find this unlikely, because I haven't.

2. Comedy talk shows have given up on trying to get a larger share of the public, instead creating an ideological echo chamber to get more of the true believers.

3. The right has become far worse than Bill O'Reilly, necessitating resistence against the fascists, etc. But it's not the KKK that Sam Bee, John Oliver, etc go after. It's conservatives on par with O'Reilly who used to get the benefit of the doubt and reasoned debate.

Thoughts?

 

I think what's happening might be a combination of number two on your list and people just not having a sense of humor anymore.

If you ask me if you're not offending anybody your humor is not very funny there are exceptions to this rule such as Jerry Clower Red Skelton.

So so much of Comedy has been taken off the table especially with the people that went to be super inclusive and I think that's why Samantha Bee and Trevor Noah are so incredibly unbearable. I do find John Oliver funny I don't find myself agreeing with them but the man is funny.

 

I can't help but think of Jon Oliver as a budget Ben Elton lol.

Partisan politics is rarely funny, Bipartisan on the other hand can be hilarious.

 

I always liked Colbert and Stewart. I even liked Bill Mahr. The problem is the lefty ideology has killed their creativity. Comedy needs to be done for the sake of comedy. When you inject ideology into comedy it becomes so predictable you know the punch line before it is even delivered. These shows are horrible now.

 

Colbert I've never liked much. Maher is incredibly unfunny at standup, like, almost Samantha Bee level unfunny but without the smugness. But I like him on free speech most of the time and his show ain't half bad for the panels.

 

I agree with you on Mahr. His standup is unfunny. Samantha Bee makes me wonder how she even got a show, connections maybe? Mahr is more suited for a talk show type format.

 

Jon Stewart stood out because he dared to go where others would not. The late night comedians on ABC, CBS and NBC were all mainstream and stayed within the bounds. Jon broke the mold by speaking the truth to power in the same manner that jesters of old could do so with monarchs.

Calling out the crimes of those in power requires courage, skill and talent. Jon had all of those. Colbert took it a step further into parody by mocking the alt right and specifically O'Spinly on FauxNoise. I was curious as to how much of his edginess might be lost when he went mainstream and TBH he seems to have brought his audience along with him.

Trevor Noah is still finding his feet and anyone who had to fill Jon's shoes was going to have a hard time of it. That said I can see him growing into the position and making it his own in the future. It is different and that is something I like because otherwise they can all just sound the same.

In that regard John Oliver has taken a different tack in that he does a lot of in depth segments that are obviously well researched. More akin to the 60 Minutes style but with much better entertainment value.

Worth noting that both Colbert and Oliver come from Stewart's Daily Show and Noah is now running it.

All of them are liberal and they make no bones about it. Speaking for myself I have always wondered why there were so few comedians on the right. Perhaps it has something to do with the fundamental nature of a sense of humor requiring a certain level of intelligence to appreciate the absurdity of ourselves and our politics. Those who take themselves seriously seem to lack the ability to laugh at themselves in my experience.

 

It's odd. Jon was very unafraid to tell "the man" to go shove himself, but he was usually pretty fair and willing to have a discussion outside of his comfort zone.

Maybe thats the problem. The unwillingness of everyone to talk to each other in good faith. These days everyone is either Hitler or Stalin. We have lost faith in our common humanity.

Thanks for the post.

 

I can recall when Jon was invited onto CrossTalk and Tucker Carlson tried to distract him into saying something funny when Jon was trying to have a serious discussion. Jon verbally slapped down Tucker with the comment that "I won't be your performing monkey" or something to that effect.

Jon, like George Carlin, understands that the art of effective communication is a two way street and respecting the position of the other side, even when you disagree with it, is fundamental to achieving progress through compromise.

Yes, you are right that today there is not only an unwillingness to talk but a reluctance to admit to ever being wrong.

We are human, we make mistakes, and unless we admit them, we are incapable of learning from them. That is the voice of self experience talking because I am my own harshest critic when it comes to making mistakes. I have an aversion to repeating them because it means that I missed something that I should have learned the first time.

We do need to start a dialogue and it is actually possible even on this forum. We have a great deal more in common than the petty divisions that are blown out of proportion by those who seek to gain from them would want us to know.

What I think you are reaching for, and I might be mistaken, is a voice of sanity amongst the deafening bedlam that currently surrounds us. What we need is a CHORUS of sanity to drown out the cacophony of divisive rhetoric IMO.

 

Could it be because the majority of their audience don't have to worry about work in the morning?

 

Right of Center comedians tend to put too much ideology into their comedy routines, just like leftists do. The problem being that leftists operate in a closed shop environment in that if you include politics in your comedy routine then you HAVE got to be Left of Center or you are NOT going to get the well paying gigs or patronage or any of the variety of things necessary to move up the comedy ranks to a larger audience. Fox News is simply too limited a format for career success in comedy. So either you eliminate politics AND ideology in your humor if you are Right of Center or you settle for never rising above a certain standing or level of success. It's a closed shop system.

 

The reason is that they have given up on trying to be funny anymore.

They are simply tools to push the agenda of the left.

Nobody really wants to hear them preach about how much they hate the right.

That well is only so deep for them and when they are all doing it then it becomes boring and redundant.

"Oh look, another guy making fun of Trump, yawn".

 

I agree overall. I watched the Daily Show even before Jon Stewart took over in the 90s.

Stewart was gradually getting more ideologically indoctrinated over time though. But when I watched Stewart get "destroyed" during an interview with Wallace on Fox, he got very angry, his true self came out and I lost all respect for the man and never watched him again.

Steve

 

I disagree!

The AUDIENCE for rightwing POLITICAL comedy is the limiting factor IMO.

There are plenty of very successful funny comedians who hold rightwing views like Jeff Foxworthy, Tim Allen and Jeff Dunham. However they limit their comedy to NON-POLITICAL topics.

As Chris Rock put it when it comes to political comedy it is difficult to make jokes about those less fortunate than yourself when you are the ones who are in power. You can make fun of yourself, like St Reagan did, but you cannot do it at the expense of others. The audience that appreciates that sick kind of humor is extremely limited.

So it is not a "closed shop" at all. It is a matter of audience size that drives revenue.

 

The shows reflect the intellectual capacity of the target audience. The success of any form of entertainment depends on knowing who your audience is. If you don't play to it, you fail.

It's the tail wagging the dog.

 

Tim Allen is non-political in his shows?

WOW! You never watched Last Man Standing have you.

That show was likely cancelled because of it. It will get picked up again because of its popularity.

Steve

 

“Last Man Standing” returns to television on Sept. 28 after a lengthy hiatus, moving to Fox after widespread speculation that the Disney executives that control ABC axed the series over its politics — a rumor that ABC vehemently denies.

http://www.foxnews.com/entertainmen...nding-mocks-network-change-in-new-teaser.html

 

These days late night shows are staffed by hate filled radical left wing boobs. They are funny as a rubber crutch. They spew hatred of the President, conservatives, Christians, and ANYONE that doesnt agree with their radical left wing agenda.

 

Comedians are now faced with a difficult situation....how do you make a scary situation funny, often times you can't. On top of this they have the "Stewart rule" which was the ideal represented that late night comedy should have an underlying message. Thus has late night become an angry festival and Trump supplies daily fodder for their audiences.

 

Thank you for PROVING my point!

 

And what point is that? That the media is in control of the dem party?

“Last Man Standing” returns to television on Sept. 28 after a lengthy hiatus, moving to Fox after widespread speculation that the Disney executives that control ABC axed the series over its politics — a rumor that ABC vehemently denies.

http://www.foxnews.com/entertainmen...nding-mocks-network-change-in-new-teaser.html

Steve

 

That RW political comedy has a LIMITED AUDIENCE!

 

WRONG! Last Man Standing was one of the most popular shows on ABC at the time.

Fox is picking it up again BECAUSE it was popular. Reruns are still being played on local channels. It's hilarious IMO.

Steve

 

That does NOT refute my point about a LIMITED audience.