Why Only McCain Jokes On Late Night Shows?
There’s Nothing Funny About Obama?
Why no Obama jokes, “it is not because Barack is half white, it is because Obama is half black and the majority of host’s are white.”
Jay Leno, David Letterman, Conan O’Brien and others have delivered a nightly stream of jokes about the Republican running for president” each one a variant on the same theme: John McCain is old.
There has been little humor about Mr. Obama: about his age, his speaking ability, his intelligence, his family, his physique. The late-night landscape is dominated by white hosts, white writers, and overwhelmingly white audiences, there has been almost none about his race, white or black.
There is no doubt, several representatives of the late-night shows said, that so far their audiences (and at least some of the shows writers) seem to be favorably disposed toward Mr. Obama, to a degree that perhaps leaves them more resistant to jokes about him than those about most previous candidates.
Things might be somewhat different if even one late-night host was black. Black comics are not having any trouble joking about Mr. Obama, said David Alan Grier, a comedian who, starting in October, will have a satirical news magazine show on Comedy Central, “Chocolate News.”
“I tell jokes on stage about him,” Mr. Grier said, reciting a few that would not ever get onto a network late-night show (nor into this newspaper).
But he said of the late-night hosts, “Those guys really can’t go there. It’s just like the gay comic can do gay material. It comes with the territory.” Still, he said, he has no sympathy for the hosts. “No way. They’ve had 200 years of presidential jokes. It’s our time.”
Mike Sweeney, the head writer for Mr. O’Brien on “Late Night.”
“A lot of people are excited about his candidacy,” Mr. Sweeney said. It’s almost like: Hey, don’t go after this guy. He’s a fresh face; cut him some slack.
Jimmy Kimmel states the reason and then reverses himself saying, Obama has no flaws to poke fun at.
Jimmy Kimmel, the host of the ABC late-night talk show “Jimmy Kimmel Live,” said of Mr. Obama, “There’s a weird reverse racism going on. You can’t joke about him because he’s half-white. It’s silly. I think it’s more a problem because he’s so polished, he doesn’t seem to have any flaws.”
“His ears should be the focus of the jokes.”
Rob Burnett, an executive producer for Mr. Letterman
“Anything that has even a whiff of being racist, no one is going to laugh, the audience is not going to allow anyone to do that.”
“We’re hoping he picks an idiot as vice president.”
Being sensitive to Mr. Obama was in no way interfering with his commentary, though on HBO he has more freedom about content than other comedians. “There’s been this question about whether he’s black enough,” Mr. Maher said. “I have this joke: What does he have to do? Dunk? He bowled a 37″ to me, that’s black enough.”
But Not The Guy Below