Over-Satire-ation: Laughter As a Symptom
Like stand up comedian and SNL star Michael Che, let’s address what he describes as “the elephant in the room.”
News surrounding the President of these United States of America has infected every outlet of mass media. As darkness falls across the land, during these witching hours, phones lay on bedside tables buzzing with push notifications recanting Donald Trump’s latest tweets and ricochet policy changes. CNN and Fox News blast from wall mounted televisions drilling through the ear canals of unknowing couples. Mad prophets preach destruction and damnation creeping over the radio waves.
Where can one find solace?
Where have those who came before us gone to seek shelter?
Eureka! Of course!
You run upstairs, slam the guest room door behind you, shut the bolt, latch the chain, break the key off into the lock, and turn on the TV…but it’s too late. Networks are promoting not one, but two Donald Trump Parody Shows. Saturday Night Live chronicles, weekly ,the happenings within the White House. Your favorite stand up comedian groans, apologizing stating that he will flush out all of his Trump material within the first fifteen minutes. It’s inescapable, like it or not, the era of Trump comedy has only just begun.
Okay, I’m dropping the bit. I know it’s been over a year, but the barrage never stops. I enjoy comedy as an escape from the grind. It’s a breath of fresh air from whatever evil in the world may have fouled up the day, but so long as Trump remains such an outlandish figure in the public sphere comedic outlets and personalities will be covering it. Now I understand that comedic political commentary isn’t new, not by a long shot, but in comparison everything seems amplified. The President’s presence within the world of comedy seems that much more oppressive and comedians have been noticing too.
I remember a Dave Chappelle interview I had watched, just over a year ago now, where I first heard this sentiment verbalized.
“I think Trump is kind of bad for comedy. In a way most comics in the States are starting to do the same jokes just because Trump is so on everybody’s minds. So it will be nice when we don’t have to talk about it as much.” He says comics have to talk about Trump. So what kind of obligation is that? Is the labor behind humor on Trump coerced by viewers who want it or is there passion? Is Trump really bad for comedy? Elahe Izadi from The Washington Post published an article exploring this topic, interviewing several figures in the comedy sphere, asking their opinions.
Abbi Jacobson, co-creator of Broad City, says “I’d rather not have to deal with it. The episode we’re showing deals with Trump and in a big way that we don’t really in any other episode as much. And I love what we did and love the choices we made in talking about what’s going on with him. I guess anything this big and like, world-changing in the political climate sadly is always really good for art in general.”
Michael Che, stand up comedian and SNL star, echoes Chappelle stating, “It’s terrible for comedy. Now you gotta dedicate 10 minutes about Trump. He’s the elephant in the room and it makes for the same types of jokes all the time. When you talk about him, you’re pretty much saying the same things about him.”
Trump comedy has spread like wildfire because of great demand, but why are people laughing? What is the intention in Trump parody and through which lens is it provoking laughter? And why have these jokes become a burden?
When exploring why we laugh at Trump, three basic theories of humor can be applied relating to superiority, incongruity, and relief. Superiority theory states that a person laughs in relation to their superiority over someone or something, incongruity theory states that laughter appears as a reaction to something illogical, unexpected, or inappropriate, and relief theory states that laughter is an expression of nervous energy.
With Saturday Night Live’s relevance in the common discourse on Trump humor, we can use this recent clip as a frame to focus our theories of humor upon, but this clip serves as a baseline. The torturous paths by which theory applies to the endless parodies of Trump, at their heart, apply to the continuing misadventures of the man himself. When laughing at Trump, the line of distinction blurs between the parody and the man.
We often laugh at relationships between people or things where one is superior over the other and we can view this piece through a lens of superiority. The segment asks us to laugh at our own standing over Alec Baldwin’s portrayal of Trump and other caricatures of White House staff. At the same time one might find themselves laughing in superiority to the real White House caricatures. Through the lens of superiority theorists, this skit could serve as a corrective measure against wrongdoing by Trump. This idea of superiority theory as correction supports the references to obligation by comedians to use their voice as an outlet for action. With the President having responded to Saturday Night Live before, in the eyes of the actors and of a viewership it may provide an impact upon an executive seat which through other means they may not affect.
For many Trump already exists as an incongruous figure, with seemingly chaotic whims and tendencies within the White House, and Baldwin’s portrayal amplifies that further.
When referencing Trump, humor stemming from built up hostility would ring true for many viewers. Baldwin’s references to many actual faux pas on Trump’s part may serve as a release for the comedians’ writing the skits and the viewers. As tension grows within and surrounding a Trump White House, the support behind a relief theory becomes stronger as more Americans see need for release. Relief theory builds on nervous energy, stemming from one’s conscious or unconscious. Perhaps the obligation for Trump Humor as a need makes sense on the part of comedians around the country witnessing a growing tension. Stand up presents an environment of fear, though often positive, that allows comedians to gauge the energy of a large audience. To see a growing nervous energy within a collective unconscious may spurn those with the ability to, to act. If Trump humor can serve as a release from growing tensions for many Americans, then it holds its place, for as long as it must.
So if Trump humor naturally finds its place through theory in this American unconsciousness, where does it become a burden? When does this expression of relief become a tormentor all its own?
The answer lies somewhere in between mad saturation and a viewer’s choice on how they interact with Trump comedy. Bombardment of Trump content is a strange vehicle. It’s hard to fault those producing Trump humor for creating this state of over-saturation, the needs of the individual misalign with the needs of the whole. The demand for presidential parody exists now on a seemingly infinite scope, but we could compare the method of its growth to a virus. Trump comedy as an institution requires the state of saturation we find ourselves in, but has no regard for the state of the individual. One by one those who first embraced the parody with deep belly laughs now find themselves at best disenfranchised, at worst desensitized; a viewpoint that may prove to be the most dangerous aspect of humor on Trump.
If Trump humor is the virus, our laughter is the symptom. While it can prove entertaining momentarily, the action is fleeting. Trump humor is reactionary, we aren’t choosing to laugh. Laughter is a coping mechanism to uncertainty. It will always serve as a reminder to the state of being which dredges up negativity for many. The saturation of Trump humor is the Trumpification of yet another American institution, a history of American humor. There’s a danger to parody a man who lives in parody. We found ourselves caught in a catch-22. To parody Trump is to alleviate a stress caused by his leadership, but to a man who craves this attention, it spurs him forward. Many would criticize comedians for defanging Trump and allowing for the normalization of his presidency, but would refusing to address his actions also lead to normalization?
I see the cure to the era of Trump humor as time. Many forget an era not so far gone of George W. Bush flash games, and of live and cartoon parody seemingly never ending within the time it existed. Though comparing parody of W. to Trump seems quaint in retrospect, only time will tell of the legacy of the era of Trump humor.
So as the Trump era passes by and the United States shines under a new dawn, we must remain vigilant and remember that, like elephants, we must never forget.
