TV TATTLE

In 2017, Donald Trump proved to be bad for comedy

Posted Friday 12/22/17 at 11:25PM EST

Vulture

The problem is mocking Trump is “both incredibly easy and incredibly challenging,” says Jesse David Fox. From sitcoms to late-night, there was a “tremendous amount of comedy focused on Trump” in 2017 — and much of it was bad, says Fox. “It’s not that all comedy made about Trump this year has been bad, but that his administration has resulted in comedians making worse comedy than they would have otherwise,” he adds. “That’s because Trump is a bad subject for comedy: He’s shallow and played out, and already what people expect from the comedy about him is bad.” To make matters worse, Fox says, “Trump does something mockable at an unprecedented clip, but it’s mostly rooted in the same toxic psychology he’s always had.” Fox also notes that “Trump and the culture around him have created a terrible atmosphere for risk-taking,” so you end up getting the same old jokes. And if you try to avoid Trump altogether, like the South Park guys did, you are still criticized for dodging real-life. Fox does credit Anthony Atamanuik of Comedy Central’s The President Show for being the lone refreshing take on Trump, who “goes down a rabbit hotel of his psyche, revealing a hidden-in-plain-sight existential despair.”
ALSO:
TOPICS: Comedy Central, The President Show, South Park, Anthony Atamanuik, Donald Trump, Late Night, Standup Comedy, Trump Presidency