Comedy Central’s The Daily Show and HBO’s Last Week Tonight with John Oliver came away with Emmy Awards on Sunday for most outstanding talk series and scripted variety show, respectively, for the year spanning June 1, 2023, through May 31, 2024. However, Hollywood’s definition of what makes “outstanding” comedy appears to be different than most people's, as evidenced by the two shows track record over that span.
Hollywood really loves The Daily Show. This year marks the show’s 13th award in the category, but this win came without a permanent host. One of those hosts, Michael Kosta, was in the anchor chair for the season premiere on October 16, and he and guest Ian Bremmer proceeded to blame everybody but Hamas for the October 7 attacks.
On October 25, Desus Nice showed his lack of comedic cleverness by calling new House Speaker Mike Johnson “a dick,” while Kosta and Charlamagne tha God accused Johnson of religious hypocrisy on the 30thfor not wanting to ban seafood.
On November 13, Leslie Jones ranted that Sen. Tim Scott is a “[bleep]-ed ass anti-abortion, anti-gay, Milk Dud-looking mother[bleep]!"
On February 22, Desi Lydic labeled it “unmoderated” to claim that the integrity of women’s sports is a women’s issue. A week later, Kosta commented on Sen. Mitch McConnell’s decision to stand down as GOP Senate leader by blaming him for school shootings.
For Easter, Lydic showed her theological illiteracy by claiming Jesus would approve of Transgender Visibility Day. This was after Grace Kuhlenschmidt declared Christmas to be “the queerest holiday of all.”
After Iran attacked Israel in April, Jon Stewart knew who to blame for the world’s foreign policy crises: The United States and capitalism. Speaking of April and Israel, Jordan Klepper blamed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for the anti-Semitic demonstrations on college campuses.
If one theory of laughter is that it is a coping mechanism or a relief valve, The Daily Show’s favorite way to vent about Donald Trump is to torture a piñata while cursing in Spanish.
Meanwhile, Last Week Tonight’s victory was its second consecutive in the scripted variety show category. Before that, it had won outstanding variety talk series for seven straight years. Oliver fancies himself as a thinking man’s comedian, someone who spends his show only discussing one or two topics but who uses humor to highlight the topic’s absurdities, hypocrisies, or moral failings.
However, on November 7, he took the side of the Satanic Temple against Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito, “But when it comes to responding to such wide-spreading devastation [pro-life laws], you could do a lot worse than the single best ‘Your mom’ joke of all time. Especially when you add in that one of that group's co-founders even said, in 1950, Samuel Alito's mother did not have options, and look what happened.’”
On February 18, Oliver bought a motorhome and tried to bribe Justice Clarence Thomas off the Court, “It's worth $2.4 million, and it's got a full bedroom—yes, that's a king bed—one and a half baths, a fucking fireplace, four TVs, a washer-dryer, and I quote, ‘Residential-sized fridge.’ … So that's the offer. A million dollars a year, Clarence, and a brand new condo on wheels, and all you have to do in return is sign the contract and get the fuck off the Supreme Court.”
This is what passes for “outstanding” for Hollywood; no wonder people are going elsewhere to get their comedic entertainment.
