Editor’s note: The views expressed by guest columnists are not necessarily those of The Costa Rica Star, its advertisers, or its staff. 

Today’s late-night TV comedians are no longer funny – none of them.

If you laugh along with the likes of Bill Maher, Jimmy Kimmel, Jimmy Fallon, Chelsea Handler, Seth Myers, Jon Stewart, Kathy Griffin or Stephen Colbert you are not one of us.

Every weekday night they follow the same format of the late, great king of late night Johnny Carson, who began every Tonight Show broadcast with a 10 – 15-minute stand-up comedy monologue poking fun at the nation’s politicians no matter who they were. But those days are gone.

For 30 years, Carson was a class act, unlike the current batch of amateur late-night comedians that go on and on with their unfunny political rants that fit right in with the rest of establishment Hollywood élites. Carson never once advocated the overthrow of the American president, nor did his successor Jay Leno. For 50 years the Tonight Show was the standard bearer of funny jokes aimed at guest politicians who often laughed at themselves right along with Carson and Leno.

Now the late-night, not-so-funny jokesters are pushing the far-left Democratic liberal agenda to the point of their own extinction with less and less TV viewers wanting to end their day with their brand of funny. Just last week Fallon and Colbert had former presidential candidate Hillary Clinton as a guest. When she was introduced the audience broke out cheering with a standing ovation for one of the most allegedly corrupt and controversial, long-time career politicians in the history of the United States of America. Clinton is in the midst of a nationwide tour promoting her latest book entitled “What Happened,” as if to assign blame for her loss to fellow candidate New York real estate mogul Donald Trump and improve her historical standing. Clinton keeps on pushing the far-left agenda that includes the removal of President Trump from office by any means possible. Today’s late-night comedians are right in there with Clinton — bashing the president every chance they get right along with mainstream media who rebroadcast the political ranting and raving as if that were real news.

For those on the conservative far-right, the liberal far-left seems to have developed some form of denial disorder that includes believing President Trump illegally won the presidency and is “illegitimate.” These late-night TV comedians blame everything on Trump, from the recent mass shooting in Las Vegas to the troubles with North Korea and even the removal of historical Confederate monuments – to listen to them, it’s all Trump’s fault.

There really are no far-right late-night comedians except perhaps Dennis Miller from Saturday Night Live fame, but instead the right depends on professional political commentators to make sense of politics such as long-time radio talk-show host Rush Limbaugh, long-time Fox News commentator Bill O’Reilly — now off the air, Sean Hannity and newcomer, bright star Tomi Lahren – from rural South Dakota.

From 1962 to 1992, Carson graced the TV screen with his presence on the Tonight Show to deliver classic political commentary like this:

“Democracy is buying a big house you can’t afford with money you don’t have to impress people you wish were dead. And, unlike communism, Democracy does not mean having just one ineffective political party; it means having two ineffective political parties … Democracy is welcoming people from other lands and giving them something to hold onto — usually a mop or a leaf blower. It means that with proper timing and scrupulous bookkeeping, anyone can die owing the government a huge amount of money … Democracy means free television, not good television, but free … And finally, Democracy is the eagle on the back of a dollar bill, with 13 arrows in one claw, 13 leaves on a branch, 13 tail feathers, and 13 stars over its head — this signifies that when the white man came to this country, it was bad luck for the Indians, bad luck for the trees, bad luck for the wildlife, and lights out for the American eagle.”

Only one generation ago lived the brilliant stand-up comedian and social critic George Carlin, who frequently was a guest on the Tonight Show hosted by Carson and Leno. Books have been written about his aggressive and funny commentaries that took no left or right prisoners — for Carlin slayed them all, from Nixon to Bush. Every politician and social issue of his day were fair game. He died in 2008 at the age of 71. Here’s a sample of Carlin’s sharp political wit, especially relevant to today’s political mood swings.

“Political correctness is America’s newest form of intolerance, and it is especially pernicious because it comes disguised as tolerance. It presents itself as fairness, yet attempts to restrict and control people’s language with strict codes and rigid rules. I’m not sure that’s the way to fight discrimination. I’m not sure silencing people or forcing them to alter their speech is the best method for solving problems that go much deeper than speech,” said Carlin.

Contrast Carlin with this zinger from Kimmel, “Donald Trump criticizing fake news is like Huge Hefner criticizing fake breasts.” Zero class. Not funny Mr. Kimmel.

Here’s another opinion on this subject from local expat Dan Gibson — who is well-known around Jaco Beach, Costa Rica. The outspoken commentator Capt. Gibson, who operates a tourist-charter fishing boat in Esterillos, and who also is famous for having been thrown off Facebook and then mysteriously reinstated, had the following to say on the subject:

“These late-night comedians are paid millions and millions of dollars to repeat what someone else has written for them. Not one of them has had an original idea their entire career!! Back in the day, Johnny Carson, would have anyone and everyone on his Tonight Show. That made no difference to Carson, neither did both sides of the argument – he made fun of everybody. But today, if one of these so-called ‘late-night entertainers’ so much as uttered one positive comment about President Trump or a Republican, they would be fired that very day!! We used to watch the likes of Carlin and Richard Pryor both ‘real comedians’ destroy both sides of the aisle with their wry humor, but that was back when us Americans were free to think on our own!”

Now those are some wise words.

 

About the Author

Britt Nelson relocated to Costa Rica in 2011 from Florida, where he served as news editor for the Palatka Daily News, a newspaper owned by the New York Times Regional Newspaper Group (NYT-RNG) for 20 years.

Nelson served the NYT-RNG for 18 years in Tennessee, Kentucky, Virginia, North Carolina and Florida as a correspondent, reporter, staff writer, senior staff writer training new reporters, copy editor, page designer, editorial writer, editorial page editor and editorial board member.