Ask A Genius 1496: Rick Rosner on Trump, Polarized Comedy, and the Golden Age of TV

Rick Rosner reflects on how Donald Trump reshaped American comedy, exhausting writers with endless scandals while deepening cultural divides. Unlike past celebrity meltdowns, Trump’s daily chaos fueled constant material but eroded shared humor, splitting audiences along political lines. Biden, by contrast, proved difficult to parody due to his low visibility. Rosner compares Trump to Hitler in comedy’s limits, yet notes historical satire thrived abroad. He critiques sitcom polarization—urban-liberal versus rural-traditional—and praises joke-dense shows like 30 Rock. Finally, he analyzes Netflix’s failed “moat” strategy, where overspending produced a golden age of streaming content without creating lasting competitive dominance.