Late-night TV comics take aim at Trump

By David Bauder

AP Television Writer

NEW YORK

There’s one area where Donald Trump is guaranteed to beat Hillary Clinton this fall: He’ll be the butt of the most jokes by late-night comics.

That would be true even if Trump didn’t present such a unique target. In every election year since 1992, the Republican candidate was mocked more by comedians than the Democrat, according to a think tank that tallies punch lines.

Republicans maintained that status even though Bill Clinton was the most joked-about politician during the past 24 years, said Robert Lichter, director of the Center for Media and Public Affairs at George Mason University.

The center’s count didn’t surprise Comedy Central’s Trevor Noah, one of four late-night comics included in the study. The others are Jimmy Fallon, Jimmy Kimmel and Stephen Colbert.

“Comedians are generally progressive,” Noah said. “It is very rare that you will find it skewing the other way.”

Noah, from South Africa, dipped cautiously into American political humor upon replacing Jon Stewart last fall as host of Comedy Central’s “The Daily Show.” He’s since become much more comfortable expressing his point of view, and it’s decidedly liberal.

He said the phrase “conservative” alone implies a sense of comedic opportunity. Whether political, social or religious, conservatives “are the easiest people to poke fun at because they are essentially really steadfast in their ways, and even if their ways seem ridiculous, they’re going to stand by them.”

Not only are most comedians liberal, but comedy writing rooms are filled with them, said Michael Loftus, a conservative who hosts the syndicated satire show “The Flipside” and frequently writes for television.

“I always thought comedy works best when you’re the underdog,” Loftus said. “And man, oh man, I’m the underdog in all of this.”

While Trump is clearly “the gift that keeps on giving” for comedians and Bernie Sanders opens himself up to material, Loftus said Hillary Clinton is kind of a dull subject for jokes. Meanwhile, Noah found the Republican primary contenders, particularly Ted Cruz and Chris Christie, a font of material.