America’s stockpile of subversive comedy is about to be severely depleted, with the departure of Stephen Colbert from network TV in May. It is essential that he finds a way to stay in front of large TV audiences. We need to deny the Trump Regime a victory over this indispensable form of dissent and free speech.
We need to prepare to draw from our strategic reserves of Kimmel, Colbert, Stewart, Oliver, Fallon and Myers.
We have seen, from the reinstatement of Jimmy Kimmel by Disney and the botched censorship of Colbert’s James Talarico interview, just how important these comedians are, both for our sanity and our democracy.
Speaking at the National Democratic Institute’s conference in 2019, NDI President Derek Mitchell said, “The core of humor and laughter is a freedom of spirit, certainly of speech, an irreverence, an assertion of individualism that are essential to a democratic culture.” At a time when democratic values are under attack by humorless stooges and bullies, satire plays an even more urgent role.
Ben Franklin, who understood the need to speak truth - with wit - to power, even suggested that the motto of the Great Seal of the United States be “Rebellion to tyrants is obedience to God.” Oooh. I know a certain megalomaniac who, if he saw this challenge to his absolute authority, might consider taking Franklin out of the national statuary he’s planning.
I only wish Big Ben were available at 11:30 on weeknights.
So this past weekend, as Israeli and American planes bombarded Iran and Iranian missiles pierced the skies of the Middle East (and beyond), I settled back for a couple of moments of elusive sanity, seasoned with hilarity.
Once again, satire is showing us the way to speak truth courageously, by exposing hypocrisy and revealing what lies beneath the propaganda and the lies.
In America, there’s SNL. And in Israel, there’s Eretz Nehederet (Wonderful Country). Last weekend, they both came through.
SNL’s cold open featured that tough-guy frat boy, Pete Hegseth.
“What’s happening? I’ll tell you what’s happening. We don’t know! And that’s the whole point. If we don’t know what we’re doing, then Iran definitely doesn’t know what we’re doing!”
Amusing, but it’s in Israel where the satire never pulls punches, even during a war. Eretz Nehederet closed its program last week with a special message direct from the recently killed Ayatollah - and no, that apocalyptic scene behind him is not the Iranian refineries bombed by the US and Israel, it’s the inferno of Hell.
His words to Israelis (click here to see video on Facebook) are translated in the article below, from Ha’aretz, which also details the controversy surrounding them.
Khameini says:
You know, Iran was like you too once. Yes, yes. Wealthy, developed, with a splendid culture. And then we did a revolution! We put an end to that Western silliness. We started to invest only in what’s really important: religious education with morals, with modesty, without all of this nonsense about science and knowledge. And when all the bitter liberals left Iran, we told them to go to hell - who even needs you! We’ll do just fine without you!
And we got rid of those gross women in the army, too… And most importantly, we taught our nation to stop grumbling and stop saying “We have it so hard” day in and day out. We taught them that you need to give respect to the supreme leader, because he’s always right and no judge or journalist can tell him what’s good and what’s bad, and he’s strong like a lion - but you know, a real lion in nature, not one of those drugged out ones that sleep all day in the safari that kids take pictures with.”
Eretz Nehederet should broadcast with subtitles all the time, but since October 7 they have shared some viral videos aimed specifically at English speakers, such as this parody of antisemitism at Columbia University.
Stephen Colbert, Jon Stewart, John Oliver and all of TikTok are about to become part of one giant mega-media monopoly, owned and controlled by a single family of Trump allies - unless state attorneys general can somehow gum up this merger in court. Colbert has already become a martyr in this war for control of the media.
Jews understand the importance of humor in tough times; it even played a key role before, during and after the Holocaust. From Charlie Chaplin’s Great Dictator to the late Robert Clary, who went straight from Buchenwald to Hogan’s Heroes, to Mel Brooks’ Springtime for You-Know-Who, Jews literally got the first and last laugh on Hitler.
For the all-time Jewish humorist Shalom Aleichem at the turn of the 20th century, it was about “laughter through tears.” For Eretz Nehederet, it’s a much more empowering, self righteous mockery, that puts into words how so many felt about, say, the BBC, during the weeks after October 7. For edgy comics like Lenny Bruce, Shalom Auslander, Sacha Baron Cohen and Larry David, comedy is a necessary moral compass, even if at times a messy one.1
Though Kimmel and Colbert are not Jewish, many of their writers are. And their humor fits right into the classic genre of Jewish satire. Of late they have been particularly merciless, especially since Colbert’s canning and Kimmel’s digital resurrection - and subsequent ratings boosts for both. Like Trump himself, neither is constrained by ordinary checks and balances for the TV business. Kimmel has proven himself to be invulnerable to a direct threat by the chair of the FCC (“we can do it the easy way or the hard way”) and Colbert’s a goner anyway. Plus, Trump and his minions are so clueless and cartoonishly malicious that they virtually write the jokes themselves.
But what happens when Colbert leaves CBS in May.
There’s been speculation about a presidential run in 2028, which he has not completely ruled out, but I think that would be a waste of his talents. What makes him special is that he can stand above the BS. Sure he’s not “fair and balanced” in his political leanings, but he’s very open about his political leanings and in any campaign candor is the first thing to be sacrificed.
I’d love to see him join forces with one or more of the others, possibly giving a weekly monologue on Kimmel’s or Fallon’s stage or a weekly guest hosting stint on The Daily Show. Sure he could do a podcast or send out YouTube clips. It worked with the Talarico interview, but I want him on normal, old people’s TV, the kind that they watch at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave or in the Ellison lair.
Colbert needs to stay on the air and stick it to those who tried to shut him up.
And he needs to be there often, especially in the lead-up to the midterms.
We also need to plan for what lies ahead. It seems to me that The Daily Show is on a very short leash and once the Ellisons own Warner Bros. and its subsidiaries, John Oliver could well be deported - from HBO.
Which brings me back to Colbert. He’s the only one right now who is a “free agent.” I hope he is making plans to transition immediately to something high-profile and buzzy. We don’t have the luxury of his taking a long vacation to think things over. In normal times, that would be expected. But not now.
Scott Dworkin’s Substack reports today that on Sunday night, Colbert accepted the prestigious Writers Guild’s Walter Bernstein Award, named for a writer who was blacklisted during the McCarthy era.
“As we know, the revolution will not be televised,” Colbert said. “It was going to be televised, but then Paramount bought it.”
Colbert added that he heard the revolution was thinking about starting a Substack. Hey Stephen, you don’t need to start one. I’d be happy to host your new show!
Just, please, don’t take your foot off the gas. Not now. Not ever.
For some great examples of Jewish humor: MyJewishLearning's Jewish Humor Bank features these all time classic videos and jokes:
Mel Brooks
You Don't Look Jewish
Jerry Seinfeld
Rain in Chelm
Woody Allen
The Riddle
Sarah Silverman
Our Luck
Jackie Mason
Hoodlums
Marx Brothers
The Terryifying Rumor
Adam Sandler
The Census
Sacha Baron Cohen
The Converts
Jon Stewart
Manure
Jewish Movie Scenes
Lightbulbs
Jewish Internet Sensations
Teaching English
Richest Man in Town
Jewish and Goyish
Showing Up Late
Haikus for Jews
Public Toilets
Jewish Word Play
Charity
Lenny Bruce Was Jewish...
Divorce
Schlemiels and Schlemazels
34 Years
Marriage Brokers
Cheating
Schnorrers
Comfortable
Sages of Chelm
Million Dollar Question for God
The Top Hat
And these additional links:
Jewlarious
Bang It Out
Frum Satire
Joel Chasnoff--Jewish Stand Up Comic
Old Jews Telling Jokes
Israeli-Palestinian Comedy Tour
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