In Wes Craven’s hit slasher 1997 “Scream 2”, a film-obsessed character loses the three rules for horror followers: The body bill is always greater; 2. The death scenes are always much more detailed; and 3. Never assume under any circumstances that the killer is dead.
The same rules may apply to late evening’s approach to managing Trump 2.0. Just over Seven Months in, Trump’s Threats have Already Spurred A Flurry of Corporate Parents to Ante Up Large Sums of Money To Settle Lawsuits Mig Experts DeeMed by vololous (Higher Body Count President (More Elaborate Death Scene) and a Scandal Involving Jeffrey Epstein’s Client List That would have ended any Other President’s Tenure continues to be carefully brushed aside by Trump -allied in power (don’t assume the killer is dead).
When Trump was originally elected in 2016, comedy wasted late night no time to find humor throughout his first term.
But how do you make him funny again? And what happens when the efforts of these jokes now include losing your job?
The questions hang over this year’s talk show and script variation Emmy nominated: Colbert, Jimmy Kimmel and “The Daily Show” are host and correspondents in the former category, John Oliver and “Saturday Night Live” writer and artists in the latter.
Late evening comedian like Colbert, Kimmel, Jon Stewart, Seth Meyers and “The Daily Show’s” Desi Lydic and Jordan Klepper (the last three of them nominated in short form or host nonfiction categories) mixed standard Zingers with more pointed critics during the first months of Trump’s second term, but the heat turned when, in mid-July, the late “it would” the late “it would end”
The announcement came just two days after the show had been nominated for its eighth consecutive speech-show Emmy. While the network said the decision was “purely financially”, the time raised more than a few eyebrows: Axlingen came shortly after Paramount decided its “60 minutes” process with the president of $ 16 million and thus paved the way for Trump-friendly FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr to finally approve the Skydance’s acquisition of the company’s acquisition.
Stewart went burning the earth on the “The Daily Show” on Monday after the decision was made, but – as he often makes – well -linked this isolated event to a major problem across the country.
“If you are trying to find out why Stephen’s show ends, I don’t think the answer is in any email or phone call from Trump to CBS to CBS or in CBS’s Quickbooks spreadsheet on the financial health of the late night,” said Stewart. “I think the answer is in fear and preparation that addresses all the US institutions right now, institutions that have chosen not to fight the vengeful and waving documents from our pubic hard -working commander in Chief.”
The same night, Colbert told Trump, “Go fuck yourself” and is once again called Paramount’s settlement a bribe. Later in the episode, each New York-based host on late evenings made a Komo look on the “The Late Show” in a moving proof of solidarity.
So late in the evening has chosen to strike back, but it comes at a dangerous time for the medium as the decline of linear viewing has hit these show particularly hard. Six years ago, the average audience for Colbert’s show was 3.81 million, according to Nielsen. By the second quarter of 2025 it was 2.4 million. During the same period, the average viewers have dropped 13% for “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” and 51% for “The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon.” Advertisements have also experienced a decline.
The declining figures come despite robust social and Youtube performances for many of these brands, but that range does not compensate for the traditional advertising dollars that have been lost. Intangibles with brand ambassadorship and viral moments have kept the show fluid and continue to give value to its business owners. Still, when big companies bend the knee to Trump after he buzzes out on someone who dares to make fun, late evening comedian is literally stinging his neck out.
Evidence of the format’s decline can also be seen in the Emmy nominations themselves. Television Academy bases the number of nominees in most categories on the number of programs that have qualified in that category, with 20 justified programs that are the baseline that guarantees a full slate of five nominees.
This year, however, Outstanding Talk Series had only 13 programs that qualified, which reduced the category’s number nominated to three, the lowest ever. In the meantime, Outstanding Scripted Variety Series had only eight entries, giving the two nominees for the fourth time over the past five years. Emmy rules indicate that one category with so few items should be dropped or combined with another, but a decision from 2021 to merge the conversation and the sketch categories fulfilled extensive criticism. The separate categories were restored before that year’s vote even began.
Now that the late evening’s uncertain position at Emmys has been combined by increasing political pressure, the hosts are aware that they are on shaky ground.
“We are very clear about the world we live in. We also see these canye birds in the coal mine,” told Meyers, nominated for his “Late night with seth meyer” corrections on Correction by Colbert before Seth Meyers “.” I do not feel like “late night” is a quieter than ten years ago. In the end, I believe in challenges to make it as valuable property. But we don’t do our show and think we just scream into a void. We feel very heard, and I would prefer it to something. ”
That voice has changed a bit in Trump’s second term, and Meyer’s admitted that his show-which found its step and got his first talk show Emmy nomination when it leaned to politics during Trump’s first mandate-Har had to swing.
“We had to switch from a kind of fist,” this is not who we are! “To find comedy in the fact that this is Who we are, and we have to find out how we should be something else, he said.
In fact, Colbert, Stewart, Meyers, Kimmel and even Fallon have to some extent developed a slightly sharper edge when it comes to their Trump joke this time, and they have stopped tangled in the course in the wake of Colberts Axling.
Stewart, again, put it best in the “Daily Show” monologue after the suspension when he made a direct address for the companies that own late evening shows.
“Shows to say something, shows that it takes a stand, shows that is not afraid …” is what made the companies money, he said. “If you believe – as a company or as a network – you can make yourself so innocent that you can serve a cruel so tasteless that you will never be on the boy king’s radar again … Why will anyone look at you? And you are wrong.”
