Rick Rosner: I showed my wife clips from The Daily Show for the first time.

Scott Douglas Jacobsen: And what did she think?

Rosner: She’s not much of a fan of late-night monologue jokes, which sucks for me because my job was writing those. But she liked The Daily Show because it doesn’t just tell straight-up jokes. Jon Stewart reacts to the news and provides emotional context for its absurdity, and he’s good at it.

I credit Jon Stewart and Jimmy Kimmel for originating and refining the clip montage—the damning clip montage, where a series of juxtaposed clips demonstrates something ridiculous or contemptible. The clip I showed her from The Daily Show highlighted that Trump used the same words to attack Kamala Harris as he did to attack Biden. The montage showed eight of those clips, proving his accusations’ ridiculous and baselessness. Stewart’s monologue contained probably four clip montages, which was impressive. She was impressed.

The Trump years and the aftermath have made Carole a bit Woke. She’s more politically aware than I ever wanted to be. Of course, I’m even more political now, and she’s impressively attentive and knowledgeable, which is not something I’d wish on anyone. Living in times where you feel compelled to learn about this stuff because it seems so horrible isn’t ideal. I never wanted to be politically tuned in. I remember all the years until the 21st century when we paid some attention during three Republican presidencies.

Two of Reagan and then George H. W. Bush, and those seemed plenty bad. But we didn’t have to pay that much attention to them because, compared to now, they were all right. But I was glad to show Carole some political humour that she also enjoyed. She doesn’t like many monologue jokes because her expectations for jokes are set too high. She wants every joke to be super hilarious and super clever.

A joke is a collaboration between the events that prompted the joke and the writer. Only some jokes are going to be amazing. But she wants every joke to be amazing, which compliments Jon Stewart because enough of his material made it over her unreasonably high bar.

Rick Rosner, American Comedy Writer, www.rickrosner.org

Scott Douglas Jacobsen, Independent Journalist, www.in-sightpublishing.com

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