Can war be funny?
It’s a challenge, for sure. But presented with the inconsistencies and incoherence that marked the first three days of America’s and President Donald Trump’s latest military adventure, late-night television accepted the assignment Monday night. With enthusiasm.
For two of the hosts, Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert, the war unleashed Saturday against Iran rang a distant-but-familiar bell, an echo really, from a war just one country (and letter) over on the Mideast map—a war they pummeled with jokes and outrage two decades ago.
Stewart was ready with a familiar and only slightly inaccurate segment title, “Mess O’Potamia”—as in the land between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers in Iraq, not in Iran—augmented with the resonant subtitle, “America’s Top Muddle.”
Colbert referenced his own comedic sojourn through that now-infamous conflict with his title: “America at Whaaa?”
And all over late night, vintage and not-at-all vintage, clips of Trump flowed freely. It was a flood of promises, telling Americans he was not going to start any new wars, that he was going to do the opposite of what he accused Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton of (planning attacks on Iran), and how would instead establish a legacy as “peacemaker and unifier.”
As summed up by Jimmy Kimmel, “Well, you’re oh-for-two, I guess.”
Back in the Iraq war days, it took some time for the edgiest late-night comedy to hit that debacle with full force. The urge to congratulate the American military for their effectiveness and bravery held some early sway, until the whole “Weapons of Mass Destruction” rationale collapsed.
The rationales for this latest foray into that unsettled part of the world already are inviting skepticism and skewering. Colbert listed six rationales for launching the attacks offered by the Trump administration in just two days.
“Regime change” as a motivation came and went and came back again, Colbert said. Kimmel wondered why Trump might be pushing for that move in this case. “Usually, he only calls for the overthrow of a government when he loses an election.”
Killing off the Ayatollah was certainly a worthy-enough enterprise, hosts suggested, though maybe the massive bombing campaign was a true case of overkill for an 86-year-old.
Colbert suggested a slippery floor as something that could have done the trick a lot cheaper. Kimmel said: “I feel like they could have killed him by slamming a door really hard.”
Jimmy Fallon: “86? What’d you do? Throw him a surprise party?”
One especially choice target was the bro-tastic title the Trump crew christened the military operation: “Epic Fury.”
Stewart said it sounded like the name of a new energy drink; Fallon had the same idea: “A new Mountain Dew flavor.”
Colbert said it was an “anagram for ‘Forget Epstein,'” while Kimmel said it was changed from the original title, “Operation Epstein Distracto.”
Of course, some of the shows took somber note of the six Americans officially listed as killed so far in the conflict. Kimmel, the host with most experience in dealing with becoming a piñata for a certain FCC official over alleged insensitivity to deaths of consequence to Trump supporters, stated forthrightly that the loss of these soldiers was “terrible and tragic” and “I hope that we show their families how grateful we are for the sacrifice they made.”
But there were plenty of obvious absurdities to make serious points about—and fun of.
There was the jarringly casual way the war “major combat operation” was announced: Trump at 2 a.m., in a poorly lit room with a white “USA” baseball cap jammed onto his head. Stewart said it was reminiscent of FDR’s famed “Day of Infamy” speech, illustrated by a photo of Roosevelt addressing the nation with a fright wig and a visor embossed with the number 32 (his presidential number on the historical score card).
Even those who may feel that one thing war definitely isn’t good for, laughs, could hardly have repressed one at that visual.
Stewart augmented the bit by doctoring Trump’s visual so his white cap was on backwards, and suggesting Trump’s comment on launch of the war was “Whaazup?”
Beyond the frivolous costuming choice, the locale for the announcement was too rich a picture to be left unmocked.
A top-secret war room inside a country club protected only by some black curtains? “I had a more secure room when I was trying on jeans at Old Navy,” Seth Meyers observed, zooming in on a lookie-loo.
“You know people stay at Mar-a-Lago, guests who rent rooms…,” Kimmel said. “How does that work? ‘Don’t go to the cabana next to the pool house—they’re having World War III in there tonight.”
Another theme: no approval was sought or granted from Congress. Colbert compared a vote set for Thursday, on whether to sanction the war, to having sex and then putting on a condom.
Stewart provided a vivid simile for what elected lawmakers have become in the era of Trump. “Congress is like male nipples,” he said. “Why do you exist? What do you do? Nothing. You just sit there waiting for the angels to grab you when you die.”
What was obvious from the consistent tone across late night was that in almost any context, even amid war and destruction, Trump will provide ample opportunities for punchlines.
His bizarre shift from talking about the war plans to how he had designed the curtains over the door that will lead to his glorious, new, East Wing ballroom inspired Kimmel to a particularly stinging Epstein allusion:
“He’s a drapist.” Kimmel quickly clarified for any sensitive FCC listeners, “He’s an alleged drapist.”
The shows got laughs, plenty of them. That didn’t mean the mood was light. Stewart had a little coda to his monologue where he announced that for comfort, he is embracing a stuffed orangutan like the abandoned monkey Punch.
If the new war is anything like that old one, he may not be alone.
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These guys all believe they have sway with the American public when in fact many of us have tuned out and are laughing at their predictable Narcissistic “commentary .”
You think all they do is attack your Dear Toddler Drumpf, unfairly! Sorry to tell you this (no I’m not), but they’re on target nearly one hundred percent of the time, going after that fat fascist buffoon!
It’s not the late night hosts that are the problem. It’s you!!!