Bill Clinton’s sax set on Arsenio made him Mr. Cool before one little letter changed his sax appeal to something more impeachable.
Today, more than ever, comedy venues are important destinations for the candidates and though, other than O’Reilly, there’s no TV comedy that leans Right, comedy/variety shows have been kind to both Democrats and Republicans.
Stephen Colbert created Huckabee, though Bill Maher has also been charmed more than once by the big Huck. And though it didn’t help get him elected, how many times were you able to catch Mitt Romney and Fall Out Boy on the same stage as we did on Leno?
Leno’s a good call for most every candidate, especially if they want to announce their candidacy. Though Letterman’s been a cushy Democratic habitat, McCain first announced his candidacy with David, though to be scrupulously news-like, McCain actually only announced that he would be announcing: "This is the announcement preceding the formal announcement. You know you drag this out as long as you can. You don't just have one rendition. You’ve got to do it over and over."
Probably the only comedy campaign stop where you might get unexpected hard questions, that by now should be expected, is Jon Stewart’s Daily Show. Ask McCain. But to be fair, McCain, who has visited with Stewart more than any other guest, politico or not, has been given a plethora of occasions to show off his own humor. Of course, that doesn’t mean that just because you have the opportunity to tell a joke, you should. Ask John Kerry.
So, as the candidacies wind down to a precious two (or three if Nader has nothing else to do), you can look for The Daily Show vying with Meet The Press for the next leaseholders at 1600 Pennsylvania.
The only problem of course, is that we’d have to trust the comics to allow the best to come out from our presidential–wannabes, and not cheerlead for the one who will end up being the best opportunity for four years of punchlines.
Award-winning TV writer, Steve Young has written jokes for the Tonight Show and is author of "Great Failures of the Extremely Successful" www.greatfailure.com and his "All The News That's Fit To Spoof" appears in L.A. Daily News opeds every Sunday(www.dailynews.com/columnists), right next to Bill O'Reilly's...really.
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