Sometimes They Get Elected

NO.

Don’t.

Just do not.

Do not bring a politician onto your comedy show to do comedy with you.

It’s not about Jimmy Fallon — who I like — playing nice with Donald Trump.

It’s not about Zach Galifanikis — who I think is a genius — getting Hillary Clinton on Between Two Ferns — which is a brilliant show.

It’s not about when Saturday Night Live — a great show — brought Sarah Palin on to stand next to Tina Fey doing her Sarah Palin.

It’s about all of them. All of the comedians, good and bad and geniuses and idiots, letting themselves be employed as PR representatives for political candidates.

Do we think Fallon was starting a terrible new trend by ruffling Donald Trump’s hair? In the 1970s, Laugh-In had Richard Nixon on, saying “Sock it to me?”

RICHARD NIXON.

Laugh-In dedicated a good chunk of its time to making fun of Nixon, but when Tricky Dick called up and asked if he could come on the show and soften his image and appeal more to the younger generation and basically portray himself as a cool guy, they were quite happy to oblige.

Why shouldn’t Fallon have Trump on? He’s not a political comedian, right? He doesn’t take sides. He could demonstrate his non-political nature by not having politicians on, but instead he demonstrates it by having politicians from both sides on. He let Obama come on and slow jam the news — only fair that he get Trump on and ruffle the ol’ rug.

But no. Fallon should’ve said no to Trump. And he should’ve said no to Obama. Galifinakis should’ve said no to Clinton, and so should Broad City. SNL should’ve said no to Trump too — and to Palin, Giuliani, Gore, Koch, McGovern, McCain, Nader…well yeah, SNL’s made a tradition out of it. But they shouldn’t have. Any more than Laugh-In should’ve had Nixon on.

This isn’t because any of these politicians are particularly good or bad — although none of them are all that good and some of them are very bad. It’s because when you have a politician on your comedy show — that is, to do comedy, to get laughs, not to answer real questions about their political activities — you’re not acting as a comedian anymore, you’re acting as a minion of the political campaign.

Make no mistake: politicians don’t do these shows because they think it’ll be a bit of fun. They don’t do these shows because they have a yearning to fulfil their lifelong dream of performing. They don’t do these shows because they have a lot of awesome jokes they’d like to try out.

They do these shows so that they can get viewers to say, “awww, they’re not so bad, really”.

Not so bad, really. They seem pretty cool. They’re…ew…GOOD SPORTS.

That is the aim of every politician on a comedy show. To be seen as a “good sport”. “Hey, they don’t mind being made fun of! They must be OK people!” That’s what they’re going for. Doing comedy is just a more sophisticated form of baby-kissing — make ’em seem nice, make ’em seem fun, make ’em seem relatable, and push all the nasty vicious bullshit they actually DO into the background.

Which is fine. You’re a politician, you do what you gotta do. But comedians don’t have to be complicit in it. When someone is looking to apply the Vaseline filter to their public image, comedians don’t have to line up to help slather it on.

Make fun of politicians. Insult politicians. Humiliate politicians. Or ignore politicians altogether. But don’t offer your comedy up as a tool for their marketing strategy. If you want to work for a politician, go volunteer. Hand out pamphlets. Door-knock. Hell, appear on a commercial where you stand up and say, “I’m With Her” and a voice at the end clearly states who’s paying.

But don’t bring them onto your show to mug at the camera and pretend they’re the coolest teacher in the school. Every time you do, you diminish your comedy that little bit and make yourself look like a real sap, to have let the carpetbaggers play you like that.