The Daily Show has been going strong since 1996—and even has its most esteemed host back at the helm part-time. But that doesn’t mean the show hasn’t evolved.
According to Jordan Klepper, the idea of what people want out of comedy has evolved over the run of The Daily Show and other political satire shows that have come out of it. The Daily Show contributor reflected on the changes in an interview with The Washington Post ahead of his two standup performances at The Kennedy Center on Saturday, August 3.
Klepper’s standup tackles the same topics he’s become known for covering on Comedy Central—first as a Daily Show correspondent (2014-2017), then as the host of two of his own shows (The Opposition and Klepper), and now back as a recurring contributor and host of The Daily Show. This full-circle journey has allowed Klepper the chance to analyze what’s changed in political comedy since he first began.
“Coming back into The Daily Show, I’ve also seen an evolution of what audiences want from comedy,” he told the Post. “In the era of 20 years ago at The Daily Show, everything was so arch, and rightfully so—that was the big tool of comedy and satire.
“In the last eight years, archness has gone somewhat out of vogue,” he added. “It’s still a weapon in your back pocket, but people want more authenticity. They need to know who you are before they trust what you’re making fun of.”
Klepper has certainly experimented with different methods of conveying his perspective over the years. In The Opposition, the comedian hosted the nightly program in character as a far-right, Alex Jones-type host (similar to how Stephen Colbert channeled the right-wing anchors of his era on The Colbert Report). “I think The Opposition was a really fun invitation to play satire to the hilt,” Klepper said.
In contrast, Klepper was a weekly docuseries that put the host in the field as himself, covering a different topic each episode. That show “was trying to find comedy out of empathy,” he said.
Regardless of the technique, it seems the goal has remained the same for Klepper—and it’s the same one he says his live performances attempt to address: “Making some sense out of this weird time.”
“I don’t,” Klepper noted to the Post. “But I definitely attempt to.”
