Conan O’Brien recently took part in a nearly hour-long discussion with Oxford Union and criticised comedians whose material have become dominated with serious, anti-Trump commentary. The former late night host said Trump is not good for comedy at large because “comedy needs a straight line to go off of, and we don’t have a straight line right now. We have a very bendy, rubbery line” (via Mediaite).
“Some comics go the route of “I’m going to just say “F Trump” all the time’… that’s their comedy,” O’Brien said. “And I think well now, a little bit, you’re being co-opted because you’re so angry. You’ve been lulled. It’s like a siren leading you into the rocks. You’ve been lulled into just saying ‘F Trump. F Trump. F Trump. Screw this guy.’ And I think you’ve now put down your best weapon, which is being funny, and you’ve exchanged it for anger.”
O’Brien pushed back against the idea that because the state of world has gotten so serious it means comedians also need to be serious all the time.
That person or any person that would say, ‘Well, things are too serious now. I don’t need to be funny.’ And I think, well, if you’re a comedian, you always need to be funny,” he said. “You just have to find a way. And you just have to find a way to channel that anger into a way…because good art will always be a great weapon, will always be a perfect weapon against power. But if you’re just screaming and you’re just angry, you’ve lost your best tool in the toolbox.”
O’Brien found himself in the center of a Trump controversy last year when he attended the Kennedy Center‘s event to accept the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor. The event was held after Donald Trump‘s election to the Kennedy Center board and his takeover of the center. Trump has since added his name to the building in a controversial move.
“Obviously for the last couple of months with the new administration, there’s been some controversial stuff going on with the Kennedy Center,” O’Brien said during an August eepisode of his “Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend” podcast months after his ceremony. “There was a question of, ‘Should I go? Should I not go?’ And I felt like it was important to show up.”
>O’Brien explained that he was awarded by the “old regime” and that he “thought we should honour their decision.” The event marked the first national event at the Kennedy Center since chairman David Rubenstein and president Deborah Rutter were replaced by Trump last February.
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O’Brien is currently the host of the popular “Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend” podcast and is set to return as Oscars host in March. Watch his full discussion with Oxford Union in the video below.
From Variety US