A Washington Guide To Late-Night Comedy

On any given day, some big-time, bold-faced Washington name is on the Delta Shuttle to New York en route to the set of Dave, Jon, Conan or Colbert. Those 47 minutes or so in flight are almost always used to memorize the suggested one-liners assembled by the politician's staff.

I would argue that going on those shows just to launch into prepared material is the kind of strategy that got Donald Rumsfeld fired. Instead, I wish to submit some advice assembled by a one-man, self-appointed Humor Study Group.


If you are a high-profile public figure, getting yourself booked on these shows is almost always a good idea -- provided you don't go on with the wrong idea in your head. The wrong idea is: I must be hysterically funny.

As with any important task, it is imperative to understand from the outset whose job it is to do what. Dave Letterman, Jon Stewart, Conan O'Brien and Stephen Colbert are paid to be funny. In fact, they are paid a lot more than you -- plus they have writers -- so if anyone should feel pressure to elicit laughs, it's them and not you. The reason you have been booked on their show is to facilitate the funny. So when they make a joke at your expense, try to look amused -- or at least bemused. When you make them look funny, you are doing your job -- and in all likelihood, doing yourself a favor.

A hypothetical case in point: Let's say Dick Cheney found the courage to go on Letterman. Dave's premise would surely be "Hey, Dick Cheney -- you sure are evil!" The biggest favor Dick Cheney could do for himself would be not to get defensive but to accept the comic premise and participate in the skit that has him sacrificing live chickens. After all, what could make the premise more laughable than that?

Why should any political power player -- Dick Cheney, no less! -- consent to such treatment? More and more, programs like "The Daily Show" and "The Colbert Report" are the alternate forums for the serious ideas of our day. Topical humor shows are the closest equivalent of the "no-spin zones" that other cable talk shows only pretend to construct.

Humor can be the true anti-spin. Here's why: Spin is: "I think you are just dumb enough to believe this" -- and the partisan talking points kick in from there. Humor is: "I think you are smart enough to understand what's really going on."

And when done correctly in this setting, a concession that would otherwise be a dangerous "gaffe" generates an approving laugh. And your short visit to "The Daily Show" can be the once-in-an-election-cycle opportunity to say with impunity what is otherwise unsaid and inoculate yourself from the easy jokes that others are eager to make at your expense.

The real opportunity comes from an understanding that these comedy couches are where message and messenger are truly one and the same. Which means you can actually make a serious point while you are there -- but only if you are first willing to concede other points. That is the price of admission, and it's a small price to pay. To cynical ears, conceding the obvious buys back likability and credibility.

That is why I would urge you to spend your time on the Shuttle thinking about candor and not about comedy. Trying too hard to be funny is both unseemly and dangerous. Politicians are there to show that they are in on the joke and that the joke cannot hurt them. By the time the segment is over, all that must be proven is that you (Clark Kent) can sit down with the host (Lex Luthor) and demonstrate that no joke in the world (kryptonite) can harm you.

That does not necessarily require you to launch a prewritten joke in hopes of getting laughs, only to demonstrate the same good-natured countenance of Superman as bullets bounce off his chest like so many spitballs.

All that being said, if the opportunity comes to pull out the pitch-perfect, self-directed joke from your back pocket, take it. In these high-stakes settings, laughter is a sound of approval and/or forgiveness. And as any seasoned power player should know, things are only as bad as the stuff you can't joke about.

Mark Katz (www.soundbiteinstitute.com) is the principal of the Soundbite Institute, a New York-based creative consultancy that specializes in applying humor sensibilities to strategic communications. From 1993 to 2000, he ran the Clinton White House's "Comedy War Room," assisting the president with his annual series of humor speeches to the Washington press corps.

See Also: When Presidents Are Funnier Than Comedians