I'm a few years older 
Posted on 12/26/2016 8:37:55 AM PST by raccoonradio
Didja hear the one about Trump?
Yeah, me neither.
The campaign season that was a gold mine for late-night hosts and “Saturday Night Live” has morphed into a post-election land mine for local stand-up comics, who say jokes about the president-elect go over like a gold-plated balloon.
“This election was the most polarizing election in the history of our country,” said Jody Sloane, a Boston-based comic. “To even lightly joke about Trump leads Trump supporters to assume you are a Hillary supporter and the hatred ensues. You run the risk of losing half of your audience — actually, less than half, based on popular vote — but it’s just not worth it and, furthermore, it’s too damn easy.”
“When I was performing leading up to the election, if you mentioned Hillary’s name, you alienated half your audience, if you mentioned Trump’s name, you alienated half your audience,” agreed comedian Jimmy Tingle. “When you mention people’s names or political party, that’s when people fall into their camps.”
“You can’t win” when you get political, says Boston-based comedian Will Noonan, whose 26,000 Twitter followers have hassled him for being too harsh on Trump, too harsh on Hillary, and not harsh enough on either.
It’s a shame, Noonan said, because he personally finds Trump prime fodder.
“He talks about his dead parents the way I talk about my snow plow guy. ‘Fantastic people! Did a great job!’ ”
But it’s hard to craft stand-up material when audiences can react to it so divisively.
Even in the mostly blue Bay State, comedian Wanda Sykes was booed down during an anti-Trump screed at TD Garden last month.
Conversely, Noonan likens one post-election stand-up gig in liberal-skewing Cambridge to “a eulogy.”
“I was in New York on 9/11. I saw people take that better than this election,” Noonan said.
“People are kind of on edge,” agreed stand-up comedian and Boston Herald Radio host Steve Sweeney. “There’s a lot of anger in the emotional climate. We were all looking forward to a sense of relief when this thing was over. But it’s not.”
“Especially in Massachusetts, you have people who are still in mourning,” said comedian Chris Zito, co-host of the “Zito and Kera” radio show on Springfield’s Mix 93.1, who occasionally gives in to the temptation to impersonate Trump’s distinctive phrases.
“He says ‘believe me,’ like a salesman, after every sentence,” Zito said. “The last guy I believe is the guy who keeps saying ‘believe me.’ ”
There are ways to tell Trump jokes, even to sensitive audiences, experts say.
Local comedy producer John Tobin said good comics can navigate a Trump joke with a soft hand.
“The good ones are the ones that tell the jokes, and you can’t really tell which side of the aisle they’re on,” he said. “If it’s an overly one-sided rant one way or the other, then I think the crowd can turn on you.”
“I think Donald Trump is going to be writing our act for us, I think every week is going to be a new sitcom,” said Boston comedian and Dirty Water TV co-host Dave Russo. “As a comedian, no one is off limits.”
But not every comedian finds the new president funny.
“I’m an old, fat white guy. On paper, it looks like I won this,” said local stand-up legend Tony V. “I’ve lived through the Cuban missile crisis, the Bay of Pigs, the Cold War, Vietnam, the Kennedy assassination, Martin Luther King, Bobby Kennedy and both Iraq wars. And this is the most frightened I’ve ever been.”
LOL
the real comedians..
********
Dangerfield , Skelton , Flip Wilson...
Yep. Back when there were actual fumy comedians. Went to a show in Vegas that had as their showpiece a so-called funny man. Left in five minutes!
Garrison Keillor, now retired or soon to be from Prairie Home Companion on public radio will refuse to call Trump President.Hey bob a roo bon rhubarb pie.
“I’m happier than I’ve been in years!
Go trump Go!”
Same here! Remember that scene from the movie `Midnight Express’ where Billy has just escaped from the Turkish prison and is walking down the road?
It’s a lot like that .... https://youtu.be/P3d1HrBH5DM?t=3
Give us comedy instead of vicious, nasty partisan attacks on non-liberals.
Once comedians change from liberal lemmings into people who can think for themselves, they will stop being “frightened”.
The war in Europe ended before I was born, Japan surrender was after I was born.
How old am I?
71 years, and 6 months?
“Comics shy away from Donald Trump jokes”
Because Obama was the joke.
I'm a few years older
I’ll be 72 on June 29. Right on the money.
“I’ll be 72 on June 29. Right on the money.”
Wow ! They let kids like you on FR? :-)
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I was born roughly 3 months before the Iranian hostage crisis started. How old am I?
Liberals and their causes, PC, etc. ARE the joke. The show Portlandia seems to recognize this and is often pretty funny.
If you think he’s a kid, look at my question at post 72.
The Carol Burnett Comedy Hour is long gone. It’s all Wanda Sykes and Margaret Cho and Amy Slutmer now. Filth and degradation and leftist propaganda.
“If you think he’s a kid, look at my question at post 72.”
I did,and you’re much younger than all of my kids.
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Absolutely false. The foreign born socialist muslim racist in the white shack has been the most singularly destructive polarizing force this country has ever seen. And conservatives have seen, first hand, what 28 years of globalist, treasonous presidents have done to America.
We merely responded to an already polarizing, divisive force.
The past 28 years and our decline into darkness is what happens when we allow liberals to dominate our culture.
Well said! You've put into words what I've been thinking, but for some reason hadn't been able to say. It's not this election that was "divisive" - it was the years of leftist, anti-American indoctrination and radicalism that came before. We (and Trump) are just responding to the conditions created by the left and the globalists.
They see things differently because they have almost completely departed from reality. Trump has disagreed with existing policy positions on relations with Mexico, our response to Muslim terrorism, and our own government's policies on immigration. This doesn't make him a racist or a hater.
there was no punch line.
Outside of SNL, they’re fine. Inside, not so much.
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