Late-night TV hosts are struggling with how to deal with the impending presidency of Donald J. Trump. One major problem they face is that the filter-averse president-elect is formidably competitive as a master of comedy, drama and improvisation in his own right. And if there's one thing a satirist hates, it's the assignment of satirizing another satirist. This helps explain why Trump's tweets are the best show in town.
Making jokes about Trump in the present moment is not unlike a critic trying to assess the legacy of David Bowie -- it is almost impossible to know what was or was not, on some level, an intentionally theatrical act of performance, since the artist's identity was so blended with the character, or what was widely assumed to be the character. And you can't tell if the character, if there is a character, was intended by the creator, or merely has come to be as a result of the hall of mirrors of massive analytical attention.
This makes comedians nervous. They fear being made to look foolish. They can't find the truth.
For example, was Trump's already-famous nocturnal tweet suggesting jail time, or the stripping of American citizenship, for flag burners a serious declaration of political intent? Or was it merely a self-aware jibe at such "offenders," given that Trump presumably knew that the Supreme Court had found such an act to represent protected speech? Or did he in fact know that? And would it have mattered if he did? Would the tweet have gone out anyway?
Was this Trump being Trump, and did he therefore know that he was Trump being Trump, and does that mean he was, in fact, portraying a character other than his clearly serious self, as he sat there, presumably with fingers poised on some keyboard? You can't know, and thus you can't precisely determine the heart of the matter. Neither can the satirist.
Plus, there is a history.
Trump is not new to this game, nor to its players. He has huge experience in the green room.
Take, for example, Trump's history with Seth Meyers, the self-reflective host of "Late Night With Seth Meyers" and generally the smartest guy in any room.
Until Trump walks through the door.
It was Meyers who offered up some choice barbs about Trump at the 2011 White House Correspondents dinner, including the line "Donald Trump has been saying he will run for president as a Republican, which is surprising since I just assumed he was running as a joke."
Never lacking for a retort, Trump at the time called Meyers "a third-rate comedian with marbles in his mouth," an insult that, when unpacked, is very shrewd.
Meyers has not forgotten, which is not to say Meyers does not appreciate that the joke now is very much on him.
Meyers and the president-elect have met over the years; the old nemeses "sized each other up" in 2015 at the 40th anniversary special of "Saturday Night Live," he said. (Yes, Trump was there, too.)
Entertainment on 12/09/2016