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Late Night Comedy Has Become Hate Speech
Townhall.com ^ | November 6, 2017 | Rachel Alexander

Posted on 11/06/2017 5:01:27 AM PST by Kaslin

Late night comedy shows are no longer funny. They’ve turned into crude, Trump-bashing political attacks. There is nothing funny about watching a solid hour of the left spewing out hate speech against everything the right believes in. It’s like watching Rachel Maddow — when you’re expecting to see Johnny Carson or Jay Leno. If you want to watch a left-wing political show, you’d watch Maddow, not comedy. There are no conservative major late night comedy hosts.

People tune in to comedy shows in order to escape the endless political infighting. They want humor, not biting partisanship. Conservatives especially don’t want to be subjected to nonstop attacks. Hate speech is defined by the Merriam-Webster dictionary as “speech expressing hatred of a particular group of people.” Late night comedy has evolved into hatred toward conservatives.

Stephen Colbert is the most partisan of today’s big three late night comedians. He took over “The Late Show,” which was originally hosted by David Letterman from 1993 until 2015. Under Letterman, there was a semblance of balance between political jokes aimed at the right and the left, and much of the show wasn’t political. The replacement of Letterman with Colbert changed all of that. CBS gave him nearly full control over the show. With an annoying, smug demeanor, Colbert turned the show into incessant, savage attacks on the right. As a result, only 17 percent of his viewers identify as Republicans.

Colbert’s show isn’t just partisan but downright disgusting. In May, Colbert made a crude sexual joke about Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin, too indecent to reprint here. The remark was accused of being homophobic. The FCC investigated the incident but took no action against Colbert. In September, Colbert made a Nazi salute when comparing the loyalty of former Trump advisor Steve Bannon to the president. This is offensive to Jews who suffered from the real Holocaust.

Colbert says things that are flat out false. During a September show, he claimed that Trump “didn’t meet a single storm victim, see an inch of rain or get near a flooded street” while surveying Hurricane Harvey damage. In reality, plenty of Americans watched footage on TV of Trump meeting with victims in shelters and elsewhere. In fact, ironically, the left wrongly condemned Melania Trump for wearing heels while touring the damage (she actually changed into tennis shoes prior to touring).

Colbert is a hypocritical liberal. He has a staff of 19 that write his material for him. Only two are women and 17 are white men. Yet he is one of the first comedians who will attack Trump for being sexist or racist.

What happened is “The Late Show” basically became the left-leaning, partisan “The Daily Show” reincarnated as late night comedy. Colbert got his start on the latter as a regular guest when it was hosted by Jon Stewart. Meanwhile, “The Daily Show” continues on with a new lefty host, Trevor Noah. “The Daily Show” is very clever; it is a left-wing political show masquerading as comedy. Under Noah, it has become even more vicious against the right than under Stewart.

“Jimmy Kimmel Live!” debuted on ABC in 2003, becoming a second major late night comedy show. After Trump took office, Kimmel’s attacks on conservatives increased. While talking about his son’s health condition during a show, Kimmel went on a rant against opponents of Obamacare, cruelly implying that if they had their way, his son wouldn’t have been eligible for health insurance to cover his urgent heart operation.

A day after the Las Vegas massacre, Kimmel exploded in a rant on his show promoting gun control. He called for gun confiscation and made a vulgar comment about the NRA that is too crude to reprint here. He said Republicans “should be praying for God to forgive them for letting the gun lobby run this country, because it’s so crazy.”

As a result, Vulture.com asked Kimmel if the days of apolitical late night comedians are over. Kimmel responded, "Maybe we'll never go back. Maybe the days of fun are over" — brazenly admitting the comedic aspect of late night comedy (duh!) has been taken out. He criticized Trump, "Everything Donald Trump is doing and undoing is bad, bad, bad, bad, and it seems so obvious, and it's happening anyway."

Kimmel doesn’t care that he’s losing Republican viewers. During an interview with CBS last month, he said, “if they're so turned off by my opinion on health care and gun violence then I don't know, I probably wouldn't want to have a conversation with them anyway. Not good riddance, but riddance."

Jimmy Fallon, who replaced Jay Leno on “The Tonight Show,” has kept that show a little classier. When asked by NBC’s “Sunday Today” why he features less Trump bashing than the other two late night shows, he responded, “It’s just not what I do, I think it would be weird for me to start doing it now. …  A lot of [his] stuff is hard to make a joke about. It’s just too serious.”

There are other comedians with regular shows which run earlier in the day or on Netflix, and they are all about as partisan. Chelsea Handler has become so unapologetically aggressive in her attacks against Trump that some believe it contributed to the demise of her Netflix comedy show and decision to transfer into politics. With the exception of a handful of conservative comedians like Dennis Miller, the partisan bent has spread throughout the entire world of comedians. Turn on almost any stand-up comic today and you will be subject to a barrage of Trump bashing and attacks on conservative viewpoints.

Previous late night comedy hosts were never this partisan. Johnny Carson wisely told Barbara Walters in 1984, "I think one of the dangers if you are a comedian, which basically I am, is that if you start to take yourself too seriously and start to comment on social issues, your sense of humor suffers somewhere."

Today’s comedians are turning comedy into partisan talk shows. We don’t need anymore — especially on the left, where there is a glut of them due to the left-leaning slant of almost all news networks except Fox News. These new late night comedians aren't funny, they’re downright rude. Considering a large proportion of the population that watches late night comedy is on the right, they are making a big mistake.

The truth is the left has pulled off a clever stunt and sleight of hand when it comes to late night talk shows. Shame on NBC for being so greedy for viewers that they would even hire Colbert and pretend to carry on the traditions of the late night talk shows.



TOPICS: Culture/Society; Editorial
KEYWORDS: hypocrite; jimmykimmel; latenightcomedy; notfunnycomedy; steephencolbert
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To: Kaslin

Disconnect your TV.


41 posted on 11/06/2017 8:37:12 AM PST by Antoninus ("In Washington, swamp drain you.")
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To: Kaslin

All these shows get a “Thumbs Down” on my Tivo.


42 posted on 11/06/2017 8:37:56 AM PST by Ted Grant
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To: Kaslin; Impy; fieldmarshaldj; Liz; GOPJ; NFHale; Diogenesis; ColdOne
Late Night Comedy Has Become Hate Speech
It's not just TV. One guy I know at the public library told me what he said was a "joke." I don't remember the first part, but the "punch line" was that Trump had to get approval from Russia. Trust me, it didn't make any sense. He was just repeating what somebody else told him, and expected me to pretend to laugh, I guess.

If you want to watch a left-wing political show, you’d watch Maddow, not comedy.
But the haters' appetite for Trump bashing is insatiable. Drug addiction, sex addiction, and now T-hate addiction.

43 posted on 11/06/2017 10:12:44 AM PST by ding_dong_daddy_from_dumas (Mozart tells you what it's like to be human. Bach tells you what it's like to be the universe)
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To: Elsie
Rip Van Winkle?!?

I thought that was a statue of Uncle "Si."


44 posted on 11/06/2017 11:51:44 AM PST by Darth Republican
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To: Antoninus

Why should I? I don’t watch those shows and haven’t for ages.


45 posted on 11/06/2017 12:48:48 PM PST by Kaslin (Politicians are not born; they are excreted -Civilibus nati sunt; sunt excernitur. (Cicero)
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To: logi_cal869

You have some examples of communists “on the right”?


46 posted on 11/06/2017 4:39:09 PM PST by ROCKLOBSTER (RATs, RINOs...same thing)
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To: originalbuckeye
rude, crude and socially unacceptable

I got called that by a French man once, eons ago... I can't help but read that in a French accent.

47 posted on 11/06/2017 6:29:01 PM PST by exDemMom (Current visual of the hole the US continues to dig itself into: http://www.usdebtclock.org/)
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To: ROCKLOBSTER

I have a word for those who put proverbial words in my mouth, but I digress. I never wrote “communist.”
But unless you’re a lefty-lurker, surely you are familiar with the terms rhino & progressive...
I consider both more evil than far-lefties; at least the lefties have the balls to show their colors up front.


48 posted on 11/06/2017 9:39:33 PM PST by logi_cal869 (-cynicus-)
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To: logi_cal869
I never wrote “communist.”

You wrote "progressive" which equals communist. Same thing.

If neither Debbie Blabbermouth Schultz nor Hitlery herself can tell the difference between a democRAT and a socialist, I'm sure they also can't tell the difference between a communist and a progressive....can you?

unless you’re a lefty-lurker, surely you are familiar with the terms rhino...

I'm familiar enough to know that "rhino" refers to a large land animal, found in Africa, which has a huge horn protruding from its nose, and the proper term "RINO" refers to a fake Republican...or Republican In Name Only....that's how familiar I am.

And don't call me Shirley.

Now back to my question, an example of a communist "on the right"?

49 posted on 11/06/2017 10:11:49 PM PST by ROCKLOBSTER (RATs, RINOs...same thing)
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To: ROCKLOBSTER

ID ten T with too much time on his hands.

Go play with someone else.


50 posted on 11/07/2017 2:07:02 PM PST by logi_cal869 (-cynicus-)
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To: logi_cal869
Now back to my question, an example of a communist "on the right"?

Aaaaand.....ya can't. Can ya n00b.

51 posted on 11/07/2017 4:51:52 PM PST by ROCKLOBSTER (RATs, RINOs...same thing)
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To: ROCKLOBSTER

Self-gratification is the same tactic libs engage when they have nothing to contribute.

You need lotion. Lots of it.


52 posted on 11/08/2017 6:37:42 AM PST by logi_cal869 (-cynicus-)
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To: logi_cal869

Still no answer...eh?


53 posted on 11/08/2017 8:31:16 PM PST by ROCKLOBSTER (RATs, RINOs...same thing)
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To: ROCKLOBSTER

At first I thought it was ironic, given the title of the article and your humorous, pathetic style. But it’s no longer humorous. In fact, you move me. Truly.

Favor, please: Could I request your engagement at this same time every morning?

Fiber is a metaphor for so.much more; thank you, rockfiber.


54 posted on 11/09/2017 5:09:07 AM PST by logi_cal869 (-cynicus-)
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To: logi_cal869

Ya got nothing.


55 posted on 11/09/2017 5:16:12 AM PST by ROCKLOBSTER (RATs, RINOs...same thing)
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To: ROCKLOBSTER

Oh, yea, that did it.

Keep it coming.


56 posted on 11/09/2017 5:41:43 AM PST by logi_cal869 (-cynicus-)
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To: logi_cal869

Ya got nothing.


57 posted on 11/09/2017 7:58:52 PM PST by ROCKLOBSTER (RATs, RINOs...same thing)
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To: ROCKLOBSTER

Oh what sweet bliss.

Keep.it coming. Better than fiber.


58 posted on 11/10/2017 4:48:29 AM PST by logi_cal869 (-cynicus-)
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To: logi_cal869
let’s not forget about progressives on the right

???

Names?

59 posted on 11/10/2017 5:05:17 AM PST by ROCKLOBSTER (RATs, RINOs...same thing)
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To: ROCKLOBSTER

Too early; I’ll need you in about 12 hours.to get things moving...


60 posted on 11/10/2017 12:56:14 PM PST by logi_cal869 (-cynicus-)
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