Conan O'Brien tells 'f-Trump' comics 'you've put down your best weapon' and 'exchanged it for anger'
- - Conan O'Brien tells 'f-Trump' comics 'you've put down your best weapon' and 'exchanged it for anger'
Raechal ShewfeltJanuary 9, 2026 at 5:46 AM
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Conan O'Brien talks President Trump's chilling effect on comedy
President Donald Trump has not been a good thing for comedy, according to comedian Conan O'Brien.
"Comedy needs a straight line to go off of. And we don't have a straight line right now," O'Brien said this week at the Oxford Union. "We have a very bendy, rubbery line. We have a Slinky. We have a fire hose that's whipping around, spewing water at 100 miles an hour or something else. So, comedically, it's been very challenging."
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The result of that, the former late-night host said, is that some people aren't focused on making people laugh.
"I think some comics go the route of 'I'm going to just say f Trump all the time,' or that's their comedy. And I think, well, now a little bit you're being co-opted because you're so angry," the five-time Emmy winner said. "You've been lulled. It's like a siren leading you into the rocks. You've been lulled into just saying, 'F Trump. F Trump. F Trump. Screw this guy.' And I think you've now put down your best weapon, which is being funny, and you've exchanged it for anger."
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President Donald Trump speaks at a news conference
He doesn't accept it when he hears that now is not the time to be amused.
"And that person or any person like that would say, 'Well, things are too serious now. I don't need to be funny,'" O'Brien said. "And I think, well, if you're a comedian, you always need to be funny. You just have to find a way. And you you just have to find a way to channel that anger. Because good art will always be a great weapon, will always be a perfect weapon against power, but if you're just screaming and you're just angry, you've lost your best tool in the toolbox."
The Conan O'Brien Must Go host gave an example from his days on The Harvard Lampoon of exactly how comedy is more difficult these days.
"There was one magazine we could never do a parody of, which is the National Enquirer," he said. He described the magazine as "the one that says 'Elvis found in Titanic lifeboat 105 years after sinking. He is now a woman, and he's married a giant peanut butter sandwich.' How do you parody that? You can't."
Parodies don't have the same effect in 2026.
"With Trump, we have a similar situation in comedy," O'Brien said, "which is people saying, 'We've got a great Trump sketch for you. In this one, he's kind of talking crazy...and he tears down half the White House to build a giant ballroom, and he says it's going to be the new Mar-a-Lago.' 'Yeah, no, that happened yesterday.'"
But O'Brien still believes comedians should speak out.
He did so in September, writing on social media that "The suspension of @jimmykimmel and the promise to silence other Late Night hosts for criticizing the administration should disturb everyone on the Right, Left, and Center. It’s wrong and anyone with a conscience knows it’s wrong."
on Entertainment Weekly
Source: “AOL Entertainment”
