Late-night hosts Jon Stewart and Seth Meyers took aim at Donald Trump's much-criticized comedy routine at the White House correspondents' dinner, labeling it awkward and unfunny. Stewart noted a "hydration break" in US-Iran tensions, saying Trump shifted from bombing the Strait of Hormuz to bombing the dinner stage.
Stewart: Trump the 'Ultimate Snowflake'
Stewart played clips of Trump's failed jokes, including one about a UFC fight where he "set up the premise and then just walked off into the street." He criticized Trump for interrupting a roast by saying he hated Adam Schiff, noting: "Traditionally roasts work because at the heart of it all you only roast the ones you love. Saying you hate someone in the middle of the joke really takes a lot of the pleasure." Stewart quipped that Schiff had a "big fat ugly head," but added: "You might not be the perfect messenger to deliver a roast about someone's big fat ugly head." He said the only funny part was the crowd's reactions, with people "clearly rethinking the choices that led them to that night." Stewart called Trump an "ultimate snowflake" living in a "magical world of his own creation curated for his comfort and positive reinforcement." He also slammed the event as a "perverse bargain" and "act of submission," given Trump's attacks on the press: "He just gets to shake hands with the leaders of a profession whose members he has subpoenaed, arrested, sued, cut their funding, threatened their licences, barred their access and even had them fucking deported."
Meyers: Trump a 'Cool-Down Comic'
Seth Meyers on Late Night joked the routine was "so great that everyone was stunned into silence." He noted the irony of a "press-hating president speaking at an event honouring the press." Trump started by rambling about his "stupid ballroom," "icing his own crowd" and becoming the "first cool-down comic in history." Meyers said Trump "bombed so bad he kept shitting on his own speech," playing clips of him criticizing his own jokes. When asked if Trump is good for comedy, Meyers replied: "He's better for it than he is at it." He compared the audience's reactions to "Matt Damon at the end of The Odyssey." Fox pundits defended Trump, saying the crowd was bad sports, but Meyers countered: "In order for you to take a joke, you have to make a joke." He concluded: "This is what happens when Trump steps outside the comfort of his Maga bubble," surrounded by people nurturing his "fragile ego."
