Conan O’Brien Warns Comedians Who Trade Being Funny For Angry “F Trump” Jokes: “You’re Being Co-Opted”

One of comedy’s all-time greats gives his thoughts on late night turning into a Trump bashing machine.

If you’ve tuned in to any late night program in the past decade or so, you’ve probably noticed that Donald Trump has been the popular punchline. Late night shows like Jimmy Kimmel Live! and The Late Show with Stephen Colbert basically morphed into political commentary shows during Trump’s tenure as president, and a former Tonight Show host sees that as an issue.

62 year old Conan O’Brien was in late night for over 30 years, spanning across his time with NBC and TBS (he moved to cable after the whole Conan O’Brien-Jay Leno Tonight Show fiasco in 2010). The legendary writer, comedian and now podcaster has years upon years of comedy experience, writing for both Saturday Night Live and The Simpsons between 1988 and 1993.

All that to say that Conan has a good grasp of what’s funny and what isn’t… and he’s not a fan of how political late night has become in the modern day.

In a recent conversation with the Oxford Union, O’Brien touched on how President Trump has really seemed to have a negative effect on late night programming. Conan believes some of that is because Trump himself does things as president that used to only exist in satire, and says that comedy needs “a straight line” to go off of.

And in his opinion, a number of late night hosts have fallen into an anger trap that limits their ability to be funny:

“We don’t have a straight line right now. We have a very bendy, rubbery line… Some comics go the route of I’m going to just say ‘F Trump’ all the time or that’s their comedy. And I think well now, a little bit, you’re being co-opted because you’re so angry. You’ve been lulled.

It’s like a siren leading you into the rocks. You’ve been lulled into just saying ‘F Trump. F Trump. F Trump. Screw this guy.’ And I think you’ve now put down your best weapon, which is being funny, and you’ve exchanged it for anger.”

Above everything else, Conan O’Brien thinks that comedians – and those who are trying to entertain and make people laugh – should always have the guiding light of “be funny.” To those that would defend themselves and say that “now is no time for comedy,” O’Brien disagrees.

The former late night host thinks that modern day hosts have to find a way to focus on funny, and implies that maybe the politics of it all should only fit into the picture if it does so organically:

“That person or any person like that would say, ‘Well, things are too serious now. I don’t need to be funny.’ And I think, well, if you’re a comedian, you always need to be funny. You just have to find a way.

And you just have to find a way to channel that anger into a way… because good art will always be a great weapon, will always be a perfect weapon against power. But if you’re just screaming and you’re just angry, you’ve lost your best tool in the toolbox.”

I’d have to agree with that.

You can view the entire conversation that Conan O’Brien had at the Oxford Union in the video below:

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