Conan O’Brien has never been big on political humor, but he definitely has some thoughts about Donald Trump‘s affect on late night comedy. Conan delivered his hot take during a new interview with Kara Swisher where he confessed that he just doesn’t have an interest in topical comedy. He much prefers the “visceral” humor in old school Warner Bros. cartoons.
“I was never as comfortable with comedy where I needed to make a point about something,” Conan told Swisher. When she noted that Trump served up an endless opportunity for jokes, Conan couldn’t have disagreed more.
“It didn’t serve comedy well,” Conan said. “I actually think Trump has been — people say all kinds of, you know, he’s committed all these different horrible acts. But I think one of the worst is I think he’s bad for comedy.”
Conan elaborated that Trump is already a parody of a politician, so there’s not a whole lot to work with. Via Mediaite:
“You can’t parody something that already has that crazy irregular shape. It’s not possible. So I always thought that when Trump came along, what a lot of people have to revert to is, ‘Doesn’t he suck? I hate that guy. He’s an asshole.’ And those aren’t jokes,” O’Brien said.
Of course, realizing the position that he’s arguing has an air of ridiculousness to it, Conan doubled down on his remarks, but this time with his tongue firmly in cheek.
“I’m really going out on a limb here saying — that’s his greatest crime,” Conan quipped before joking. “I think the January 6th thing is a blip compared to how much he’s hurt comedy.”
(Via Mediaite)