How Trump’s Exit Could be a Disaster For Late Night Talk Shows

Is this the end of the golden age of news comedy?

Fallon’s fall from grace

On September 15th, 2016, something big changed on late-night television. It was a little less than 2 months away from the general election, and Jimmy Fallon invited then Presidential candidate Donald Trump to be a guest on The Tonight Show.

Fallon had been leading the pack in the ratings war amongst talk shows. He was the golden boy of late-night television. Not only did he have a thriving talk show, but many of his video clips were also going viral on YouTube.

On that evening, however, his fortunes took a turn for the worse. He was accused by many in the media of pitching softballs to the controversial candidate, and he was lambasted for playfully tussling Trump’s hair in one segment.

His crime? Fallon had made Trump look human.

Where late-night talk shows had previously been places that politicians from both sides of the political aisle could visit in the hopes of increasing their likeability, the audience of 2016 all of a sudden demanded more from them in the case of Donald Trump.

A politician unlike any other

The Tonight Show was never really a political show. Sure, Johnny Carson and Jay Leno told political jokes in their monologues over the years, but those jokes were never edgy to any degree. They were light-hearted jabs at the political leaders of the day.

So it shouldn’t have been a surprise when Fallon carried on in the tradition of his forerunners. Did anyone really expect Fallon to ask Trump any tough questions?

Probably not. Maybe they wanted him to deny Trump the visit altogether.

After that appearance, Fallon’s ratings tumbled. He lost his hold on first place amongst late-night television shows, and he never recovered. His losses can be directly traced back to that fateful night with Donald Trump.

Liberal-leaning late-night TV audiences were now clearly looking for a place to hear arguments against this divisive character and they obviously weren’t going to find it on The Tonight Show.

A new king of late-night

Until 2015, the bulk of the biting political commentary on the late-night landscape had been left to Jon Stewart of the Daily Show. From January 11th of 1999, Stewart’s hot takes had been a nightly tradition over on the smaller Comedy Central network. So, when he announced his departure from the show in February of 2015, there was a natural curiosity from many in the media about who would fill the void.

Less than a month later, the TV world got its answer. It was announced that a 31-year old comedian from South Africa by the name of Trevor Noah would be Stewart’s successor. Noah, however, didn’t begin his tenure until September of that year.

He was roundly praised for his debut performance, but by that time, other contenders had decided to challenge for the throne.

In particular, comedian Stephen Colbert entered into the battle for late-night supremacy. Colbert had succeeded talk show legend David Letterman in 2015 when he retired from the Late Show after more than 2 decades. Colbert’s humor had always been political. He had actually worked on the Daily Show previously and even hosted a similar but less popular show of his own on the same Comedy Central network.

While both shows continued to do well, Colbert had the added advantage of being on CBS, a major network. It wasn’t long before he was battling Fallon’s Tonight Show for the lead in late-night ratings.

A few months after Fallon’s perceived fumble with Trump, Colbert took over the lead by staying political.

Everyone gets in on the game

After Trump was elected into office in late 2016, the need for dissenting voices seemed to increase. Of course, as a President unlike any other in modern history, Trump’s administration has provided enough content to fill unlimited talk shows, and the audience has been eating it up.

By October of 2020, there are no less than 11 late-night talk shows in the mix that are now outwardly vocal against Donald Trump:

1. The Daily Show with Trevor Noah
2. Last Week Tonight with Jon Oliver
3. Late Night with Seth Meyers
4. The Jimmy Kimmel Live! Show
5. Full Frontal with Samantha Bee
6. The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon
7. Real-Time with Bill Maher
8. The Late Show with Stephen Colbert
9. Saturday Night Live
10. The Late Late Show with James Corden
11. Conan with Conan O’Brien

That leaves newcomer Lilly Singh as the only voice who maintains the older standard of lighter political jokes in the tradition of Letterman and Leno. This is a golden age of news comedy that has come as a result of the most alienating political figure in American history.

But what happens if that political figure is no longer in power?

A November massacre?

Republican Presidents have always been easier targets for comedians. Think back to Dana Carvey’s hilarious impression of George H.W. Bush. If you’re old enough, you will remember Phil Hartman’s performance as Ronald Reagan. It’s hard to forget Wil Ferrell’s serious eyes as George Bush Junior.

It’s not as easy to remember the name of the guy who played Barack Obama though, is it? On Saturday Night Live, it was Jay Pharoah. He did a masterful job of mimicking Obama’s voice, but there wasn’t as much content available to make him a household name. Nowadays, Alec Baldwin is on screen almost every week portraying the current President.

With election polls showing Democratic candidate Joe Biden holding a sizeable lead over Trump in most states, there is a good chance that there will be a new leader after the election on November 3rd. Conservatives have mocked Biden for appearing to have gone through some sort of cognitive decline over the last few years. Other than that, however, there doesn’t appear to be a lot of material for comedians to poke fun at.

There certainly won’t be the outrage and conspiracy theories that have flooded the evening airwaves for the last four years. Biden himself has touted ‘a return to normal’ as part of his marketing strategy for this election. That may be great news for some, but for talk show hosts this could spell disaster.

Think about the fact that there are 11 politically focused talk shows that won’t have as much political content to rely on. While Donald Trump may have been a curse to many folks in the country, for late-night talk show hosts, he was a blessing from the heavens.

That blessing seems to be coming to an end. Biden’s presidency promises boredom. As a result, you can count on seeing a mass number of cancellations at some point after November.

If Biden is the next President, late-night talk shows will have to change. Politics will not be a daily obsession if Trump goes. You will see fluffier, lighter fare on your TV screens, and politics will be pushed to the side.

Remember, David Letterman became famous for his ‘Stupid Pet Tricks’ and for his Top 10 Lists, not for his political humor. We will see late-night shows trending towards this type of content again. This may work well for people like Jimmy Fallon and Lilly Singh.

For hosts like Stephen Colbert and Jimmy Kimmel, it will mean they will need to adapt to the changing times. If they don’t, they won’t last much longer.

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