Humor in Politics, and the Military

In January of 2018, when President Donald Trump bragged that his State of the Union viewership—45.6 million—was “the highest number in history. But in fact, both Barack Obama and Bill Clinton had more viewers. So, on “Late Night,” Steven Colbert concluded, “Nielsen only counts American viewers, but we’re confident plenty of Russians were tuning in, too.” In his 2018 State of the Union speech, Donald Trump attempted to expand the term “Dreamers,” by saying that we’re all “dreamers.” On “The Daily Show,” Trevor Noah accused Trump of pulling an “All Lives Matter” on the DREAMers. After Trump’s State of the Union address, Seth Meyers said, “Congrats to Logan Paul for no longer being the worst thing on YouTube.” Jimmy Fallon remarked that Trump had read off a teleprompter during his entire address, even though he had earlier slammed Hillary Clinton for using teleprompters, and at one time had bragged that he didn’t use teleprompters. Fallon said that Trump was so untrained in using teleprompters that “his staff had a little Mickey Mouse head over the words like a singalong song.”

Jimmy Kimmel also zinged Trump for using a teleprompter, and then remarked that a number of Democrats had brought immigrants with them to Trump’s speech, but not just Democrats. The President had also brought an immigrant as a guest—his wife, Melania. Kimmel also said that at the State of the Union address, “there was more forced applause than at a Kim Jong-un birthday parade.” Commenting on the dour expressions on the faces of the black caucus, Kimmel noted that Trump’s taking credit for low unemplouyment among black people is like Ryan Seacrest taking credit for the new year.” Even James Corden had something to say about Trump’s State of the Union speech. Cordon mocked the fact that Trump’s team planned to broadcast the name of anyone who made donations to his re-election efforts, by saying, “I hope viewers at the livestream enjoyed my donation on behalf of Penis von Penisface.”

Referring to Betsy Devos, Trump’s pick for the Secretary of Education, Corden said, “If you donated $200 million, you could be Trump’s Secretary of Education.” More than once, Donald Trump has said that he is the least racist person the interviewer has ever met, so Bill Maher makes a list of all of the black people that Donald Trump has picked a fight with: Colin Kaepernick, LaVar Ball, Barack Obama, Eric Holder, the war widow from the failed raid in Niger, the war widow’s congresswoman, the Central Park Five, Steph Curry, the UCLA basketball players arrested in China, Whoopi Goldberg, April Ryan, the entire NFL, the cast of Hamilton, the cities of Atlanta and Chicago, Nigeria, Haiti, and the entire continent of Africa. On Saturday Night Live, Alec Baldwin is Donald Trump.

In December of 2017, Baldwin’s Saturday Night Live sketch was inspired by Charles Dickens’s “A Christmas Carol.” In this sketch, was visited by the ghost of Michael Flynn in chains, representing Jacob Marley (“the ghost of witness flipped”), and by the ghosts of Christmas past (Billy Bush, of Access Hollywood fame), present (Vladimir Putin) and future (Hillary Clinton). Melissa McCarthy’s impression of Sean Spicer may have been one of the reasons that he resigned. When interviewed, Spicer said that he could see some of the humor in McCarthy’s “Spicey” impression, but he felt it went overboard. It also made him uncomfortable that he was being portrayed by a woman. Most people thought that her portrayal of the press secretary was both hysterical and outrageously realistic. Melissa McCarthy and her aggressive podium not only attacked the Saturday Night Live crew, but was even taken onto the streets of New York to playfully attack New York drivers and pedestrians. After Spicer resigned as Trumps Press Secretary, Aidy Bryant began playing the role of the current spokesperson, Sarah Huckabee Sanders.

On October 1st, 1974, Craig Hosmer submitted to the Congressional Record the following distinctions between Democrats and Republicans. Some of these distinctions are still valid today. Please note that both Republicans and Democrats are targets of Hosmer’s joke. “Democrats buy most of the books that have been banned somewhere. Republicans form censorship committees and read them as a group. Democrats name their children after popular sports figures, politicians, and entertainers. Republican children are named after their parents or grandparents, according to where the money is. Republicans tend to keep their shades drawn, although there is seldom any reason why they should. Democrats ought to, but don’t. Republican boys date Democratic girls. They plan to marry Republican girls, but feel they’re entitled to a little fun first. Republicans sleep in twin beds—some even in separate rooms. That is why there are more Democrats.”

Mondale laughed at Reagan’s joke, but his heart was broken. He knew at that point he had lost the election.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LoPu1UIBkBc

International Society for Humor Studies: http://www.humorstudies.org/