Dave Berg

I’ve noticed a disturbing trend among many new late-night hosts in this election cycle: They’re not funny. Instead of doing jokes about the two main presidential candidates, they are unapologetically functioning as Hillary Clinton surrogates to take out Donald Trump.

Jay Leno used to advise comedians to check their political activism at the door: “You start out as a comedian … then you become a commentator, then you’re out of show business.” Once the agenda takes priority over the punchline, the joke’s over.

Today’s late-night comedians would do well to heed Leno’s advice. Their role should not be to proselytize but to highlight the numerous foibles of the presidential candidates, both of whom are among the most disliked ever. Recently, Full Frontal host Samantha Bee attacked late-night colleague Jimmy Fallon for conducting a light-hearted interview with Trump during which the affable Tonight Show host messed up the billionaire’s hair.

While Tonight is by definition an entertainment program, Bee didn’t seem to get that. On her own so-called comedy show, Bee took a vicious and direct swipe at both Fallon and NBC for going easy on Trump, “who is playing footsie with fringe hate groups.”

Bee’s self-righteous diatribe is hardly the stuff of great comedy. It’s political spin, usually delivered by professional Democratic operatives whose job is to destroy their Republican opponent. I wish I could say her rant was unprecedented, but it wasn’t. She has company.

Jo Miller, an executive producer for Bee, doubled down on the host’s public shaming of Fallon: “If (Fallon) thinks that a race-baiting demagogue is OK, that gives permission to millions of Americans to also think that.”

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Seth Meyers, host of Late Night, doesn’t even try to hide his contempt for Trump, whom he trashed at the 2011 White House Correspondents’ Dinner. Meyers often launches into invectives against the GOP presidential hopeful without so much as a hint of a joke. Like many of his colleagues, Meyers downplays Clinton’s troubles, dismissing her email scandal as “boring.”

John Oliver’s Last Week Tonight recently won an Emmy, but I have no idea why. He openly favors Clinton and recently gave a lecture on his show as to why Trump’s scandals are far worse than Clinton’s, telling his viewers they should be “f---ing outraged.” Again, no jokes.

On his own Late Show, Stephen Colbert called Trump “a huge p---y” for not coming on the show. Colbert last interviewed Trump in September 2015 and asked him some tough questions about the “wall,” the “birther movement” and the GOP standard-bearer’s reluctance to apologize.

Colbert has made no such appeal to Clinton, who last appeared on the show in April. That prerecorded interview took place over lunch in a restaurant. Colbert’s questions included these: Is Bill a vegan? What’s the worst thing you’ve had to eat at an event? You’re a grandmother? Since Colbert did not make one serious query, that would make him either a “p---y” or yet another Clinton propagandist. I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt and say it’s the latter.

I would have some sympathy for the late-night Clinton peanut gallery if she were an admirable person, but she’s not. She’s as deplorable as Trump. The late New York Times columnist William Safire called her a “congenital liar” in 1996.

She hasn’t changed, as we know from emailgate and Clinton Foundation pay-for-play allegations. She calls herself a crusader for women, yet she fervently defended Bill against women who accused him of sexual abuses, calling Monica Lewinsky a “narcissistic loony toon” and Gennifer Flowers a “gold digger.”LINK

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Mainstream late-night comedy has always reflected the political views of the audience, not the hosts. And cable comedy programs, which had openly liberal hosts such as Jon Stewart, featured jokes, not sermons.

Like Fallon’s Tonight Show, Saturday Night Live, which recently launched its 42nd season, is carrying out this late-night tradition. With Alec Baldwin now playing Trump and Kate McKinnon returning in her Emmy-winning role as Clinton, SNL is skewering both candidates. As a result, both shows are ratings winners.

My favorite joke about this campaign comes from Trevor Noah. The Daily Show host said the election should be canceled because the two candidates are so bad: “How lucky the two nominees are because what's now clear is that both Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump are running against the only person who they could possibly beat.”

Now that’s funny.

Dave Berg, author ofBehind the Curtain: An Insider’s View of Jay Leno’s Tonight Show, co-produced the show for 18 years. Folllow him on Twitter @TonightShowDave.

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