July 31, 2025

By Jim Towey

Some of my favorite childhood memories trace back to sneaking out of bed to watch Johnny Carson’s “Tonight Show” monologues or his occasional “Carnac the Magnificent” bits. My brother Ed and I would tape-record these and listen to them so often that even today we can recite their best lines. Carson’s guests, like Rodney Dangerfield, Don Rickles and Joan Rivers, were also worth staying up for. They made funny fun.

The headlines this week about the cancellation of “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” and demise of late-night comedy came as no surprise to any of us who long ago tuned out and turned off those programs. It has nothing to do with politics and whether you are blue state or red state, woke or MAGA, progressive or conservative. Something is either funny or not funny, and Colbert and the other late-night network stars long ago ceased to be funny.

Their monologues became seeped in bitterness and political bias. There was nothing light-hearted about them. That is why the intended laugh lines became increasingly profane, with Colbert’s recent “F-you” a fitting epitaph for his show. The profane and vulgar are always the refuge for comedians who aren’t creative, funny or dedicated to making people laugh. Conan O’Brien could make people laugh without tearing others down.

A mean-spirited rant

I once thought Colbert was funny. But I flipped on him at the 2006 White House Correspondent’s dinner in Washington. I was on the senior staff of George W. Bush at the time, and we were invited to this annual affair. A number of us were with the President and First Lady at the Hilton that night. None of us expected that Colbert would turn an evening traditionally known for its friendly jabs into a forum for a mean-spirited rant.

It wasn’t what he said, it was how he said it. His words were meant to insult. They dripped with sarcasm. One example: “I stand by this man. I stand by this man because he stands for things. Not only for things, he stands on things. Things like aircraft carriers, and rubble, and recently flooded city squares. And that sends a strong message: that no matter what happens to America, she will always rebound—with the most powerfully staged photo ops in the world.”

The crowd didn’t laugh. Whether you agreed with his take or not (like me) isn’t my point; Colbert the comedian didn’t come to make others laugh. He wanted to score political points. If he wants to understand why he just got canned, he ought to go back and listen to the crickets after his jokes that night at the Hilton. Holding the butt of your jokes in contempt while you vent anger and grievance may make you feel better or even superior to the president of the United States, but it won’t make you funny.

Laughing with others

It wasn’t that President Bush couldn’t laugh at himself. In fact, just before Colbert’s insults from point-blank range, he had arranged for an impersonator look-alike, Steve Bridges (who had hours of prosthetic and make-up work done to mold his face into a replica of our 43^rd president’s), to join him at the mic to deliver parallel remarks. I was standing off stage within 15 feet of them before they were announced. It was surreal, as if I had double vision. They were waiting like two boxers, silent, about to enter the ring.

Then they came out and stood at presidential podiums, side by side, taking turns giving remarks. Their act was hilarious. Bridges didn’t exactly pull punches. Imitating Bush perfectly, he asked, “How come I can’t have dinner with the thirty-six percent of the people who like me?”  The real Bush fought to keep from laughing during the entire self-deprecating bit. That’s because Bush could laugh at himself and laugh with others. He still can.

Some critics noted the ice-cold reception Colbert received. But the delight of Bush’s hard-core haters marked an inflection point for bitter political satire, sending it into the dark regions of not-funny-land from which it hasn’t reemerged.  It is ironic that Colbert became a casualty of the humorless comedy he helped create.

Humor is essential

A good sense of humor is essential. You can’t take yourself too seriously. Life’s road is full of potholes, isn’t it? A sense of humor serves as shock-absorbers to help you get through some bumpy patches and stay on the road without having your axle crack.

And if you have been given a gift to make other people laugh, you can go by the same rule we teach our children about teasing: if the other person isn’t laughing, it isn’t funny, it’s mean, so stop. Well-done satire and even biting sarcasm can be funny if it is done without malice. But mean-spirited ridicule isn’t comedy.

Johnny Carson knew that. Stephen Colbert should have learned a thing or two from the master of late night.

(The views expressed herein are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Aging with Dignity and/or its Board of Directors)