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There was a time when late night TV talk show comedy was a place for, well, comedy, and civility. Going after all politicians in a talented, witty, smart, well thought out manner is, well, funny. As the great Jerry Seinfeld has pointed out, funny is hard work. But now the degenerates who host the late night “comedy” shows, force their audience to watch them make spectacles of themselves crying (about President Trump), attacking (President Trump), and spouting disgusting vulgarity (at President Trump). But the problem with this has nothing to do with Trump per se, it has to do with, uh…comedy. Is there some hidden “comedy” in those wimps’ routines? Is there humor in their personal attacks? Is it hilarious to see grown men act like hormonal teenagers? And the real question, is it “funny” when they only direct their attacks at Republicans? Answer, no it’s not. How many Trump-type supporters would have found it “hilarious” to direct the exact same kind of “humor” towards President Obama? Answer – not many.
Yes there was a time when humor and civility went hand in hand on late night talk shows. And making fun of, and creating humor, was across the board. For instance both President Carter and President Reagan were the butts of jokes. There were also very friendly appearances by politicians on late night, where they were allowed to discuss their philosophies. (Not yet President) Reagan was on with Johnny Carson in 1975, and it was masterful, showing his natural wittiness. Unfortunately, as President his optimism and his great ideas were considerably watered down. During the interview Mr. Reagan had some great lines about how to balance the budget, how government is the problem not the solution, and how taxing business is just a hidden tax on consumers. Forty years ago he was already warning about the unelected bureaucrats taking control over policies, and how we need to drastically simplify taxes. He also had an idealistic proposal to put a % limit on how much of our (you know, the citizens) earnings could be taken/snatched by the government, thus going above that limit would require our “approval”.
Isn’t it interesting that then Governor Reagan and Johnny were joking about the CIA, since it would be 5 years later when a certain former CIA Director would become his Vice-President. Was this decision forced upon Reagan? Did it play a role in future events? Also in the interview, foreshadowing modern times, he had no problem with the government shutting down for a while, “we’d never miss them”.