Late Night Sucks
This week in Get Todd: Late Night Sucks, New Cartoons, Video on the White House Correspondents' Dinner, and a Right Mind Show episode featuring a comedian and a cop turned political candidate!
There was a time when a person could turn on the television at 11:30 at night and encounter something called comedy. This meant jokes. Not statements. Not lectures. Not carefully phrased sighs. Jokes. They were short, surprising, and had the unusual side effect of making people laugh without first checking their political alignment.
This system worked exceptionally well for Johnny Carson, who could dismantle a politician with a raised eyebrow and then move on before anyone filed a complaint.
In those days, the audience was not divided into teams. It was just people. They laughed at the same joke for the same reason, which was that it was funny. Nobody paused mid-laugh to confirm whether the punchline aligned with their worldview. They simply laughed and continued living their lives, which historians now refer to as “the golden age of sanity.”
Today, however, late night has undergone a remarkable transformation. It is no longer a place where jokes happen. It is a place where one side of the political spectrum is gently applauded and the other is repeatedly hit with what are technically insults but are advertised as humor.
This modern approach is led by Stephen Colbert, Jimmy Fallon, and Jimmy Kimmel, who have bravely stepped forward to ensure that no conservative viewpoint goes unscolded, unmocked, or, most importantly, unaccompanied by applause.
To watch one of these programs is to witness a kind of nightly ceremony. A Donald Trump situation is introduced. The host reacts with a look that suggests America has personally disappointed him. Then comes a line that resembles a joke in the same way a dog resembles an elephant. The audience, understanding its brainwashed role in the room, applauds enthusiastically.
Not laughs. Applauds.
This is a critical distinction. Laughter is spontaneous. It erupts. It surprises. Applause, on the other hand, is thoughtful. It is measured. It says, “I agree with that statement and would like to reward it with noise.”
The modern late-night show has chosen noise.
What’s particularly fascinating is how consistently the “jokes” are aimed. Night after night, the target remains the same. Trump. Conservatives. Republicans. Anyone to the right of a moderately confused houseplant. The Left, meanwhile, is treated with the kind of gentle handling usually reserved for antique glassware.
This creates a curious environment in which half the audience is expected to laugh at itself, while the other half is congratulated for having reached the correct conclusions. It is less a comedy show and more a highly polished mob rally with better lighting and a band.
And look, nobody is asking for conservatives to be spared. That was never the deal. The deal was that everybody gets it. That’s what made it work. That’s what made it funny. When the jokes come from all directions, the audience doesn’t feel attacked. It feels included in the grand, ridiculous human experience.
When the jokes only come from one direction, it stops being comedy and starts being messaging.
And messaging, while very useful in politics, has a terrible track record as a source of laughter.
According to the current state of things, viewers have begun to notice this slight absence of humor and have responded by quietly leaving . They have gone to streaming platforms, podcasts, social media, and anywhere else jokes are still allowed to exist without prior approval. It turns out people prefer to laugh voluntarily rather than participate in a nightly purging exercise.
The older hosts understood the assignment. Johnny Carson did not need to tell you what to think. Jay Leno did not need to explain the joke after telling it. David Letterman did not need to pick a side because the joke was the side. Conan O’Brien proved that being funny was, in itself, enough.
They didn’t need approval. They had timing.
Mark Twain once suggested that laughter is the great equalizer, capable of humbling kings and commoners alike. One suspects he would be mildly confused to learn that we have improved upon this system by replacing laughter with applause and equality with targeting.
At present, late-night television resembles a place where comedy once lived but has since moved out, leaving behind a note that reads, “Gone to find jokes. Back never.”
It would be refreshing, at some point, to turn on a late-night show and encounter something unexpected. A joke that lands. A punchline that surprises. A moment where everyone laughs, not because they agree, but because it’s funny.
That used to be the whole point.
Now it feels like a controversial idea.
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Video Episode 7 - Why Does The Left Kill People?!
After the failed Donald Trump assassination attempt at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner, allow me to explain why the Left has to try to kill people!
Weekly Cartoons!
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The Right Mind Show
This week’s guests on The Right Mind Show!
• Chrissie Mayr— Comedian and Death Threat Recipient!
• Gary Wiegert — 35-year police officer veteran turned political candidate!
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If you’d like a deeper dive into the cartoons and the story behind them, a couple of my books are available as well.
“The Biden Years” is a collection of political cartoons chronicling the most bizarre presidency in history.
“I’m Offended!” is my memoir about cartooning, comedy, and surviving in a culture that increasingly prefers outrage to humor.
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Todd
©Todd Schowalter Productions • 2026
