Comedy Shows Joked About U.S. and Our Allies 94% of the Time in War's First Week

The late night comedians reacted to the start of the Iran War with not only a week of disapproval, but also a lopsided joke count. According to a new Media Research Center study, the hosts told 94 percent of their war-related jokes about the United States and our allies.

Analysts examined 20 episodes of ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel Live, CBS’s The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, Comedy Central’s The Daily Show, and NBC’s Late Night with Seth Meyers and The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon from Monday March 2 through Thursday March 5. They found that 235 out of 250 were about our side, and just 15 about Iran.

For the purposes of this study, an ally is defined as any country that has joined the U.S. in military action. That obviously includes Israel but also includes any Arab country that has been forced to take defensive actions against Iranian attacks. A war-related joke was defined as anything related to military operations, comments from supportive commentators or politicians, past statements from administration officials criticizing previous wars, or jokes about Iran’s future, such as the Trump kids replacing the ayatollah.

The U.S. was by far the most joked about belligerent at 229. President Trump was the most joked-about individual at 152. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth was the second most joked about at 23. Senator and future Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin (14), Congressional Republicans (7), and Senator Lindsey Graham (6) rounded out the top five.

Here are some of the entries. Jimmy Kimmel was typical: “And just after midnight, the Pentagon launched what they are calling Operation Epic Fury, which is different from its original title, which was Operation Epsteino Distracto.”

He also compared Trump to Iran’s ruling clerics: “In an interview with the New York Post today, the paper of record, Trump said, “You cannot let Iran, who's a nation that's been run by crazy people, have a nuclear weapon.” Which may be true, but it's exactly the same thing every other country is saying about us.”

Stephen Colbert made a lame anagram joke: “This military mission has been dubbed Operation Epic Fury... Fun fact, Epic Fury is an anagram for Forget Epstein.”

Colbert also mocked Trump for saying the attacks would grow stronger: “When you say "Big," how big? Large big? Buy-a-bunker big? Invest in sheep and potable water big? Run to Times Square and have sex with the first person you see big? I'm asking for a friend who has kind of a weird thing for Spider-man.

Jon Stewart summarized the feeling of multiple hosts when he denounced the name “Epic Fury”: “Epic Fury? Is this a war or did the Paul brothers launch another energy drink? Stop letting the millennials name shit!”

Michael Kosta showed his lack of military knowledge when commenting on a Pete Hegseth press conference: “Come on, dude, not a fair fight? That’s not usually something you hear the good guys say, which, remember, that's us, right? Let's try again and this time avoid sounding so much like a bully.”

On the F-15 friendly fire accident over Kuwait, Kosta said: “Okay, I know it's not great that our allies shot our planes down. But the good news is they were probably using the missiles we sold them, so at least we know they work!”

Seth Meyers on Trump announcing the start of operations, “I'm sorry, but if you're gonna announce an illegal war that violates the constitution from your private club at 3:00 A.M., can you at least take the hat off first?”

Jimmy Fallon conducted a fake interview, asking Trump: “So far you've hit nuclear facilities, missile defenses, what do you want to destroy the most?” They inserted a clip of Trump saying “The Epstein files.”

Fallon also mocked Trump's call to have a say in who Iran's next supreme leader should have been: “Trump was like, 'We're gonna do a talent portion, then a a swimsuit portion, then an evening gown portion.' Trump wants to help pick the new leader. Iran heard and was like, "I think it's time for another trip to the MRImachine.”

Meyers not only told the most jokes about the United States at 52 but was also the only host to tell 100 percent of his jokes about the U.S. Fallon told 36 of 37 (97 percent) about the American side. Not far behind, Kimmel told 51 of 53 (96 percent) about the U.S.

Colbert told 43 of 48 (90 percent) about the allied side, while The Daily Show’s Jon Stewart and Michael Kosta combined to tell 53 of 60 (88 percent) about the U.S. and our allies.

When it comes to allies, The Daily Show told two about Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and one about Defense Minister Israel Katz. Colbert’s one Israel joke was about Katz.

Kosta also told two jokes about Kuwait after the friendly fire accident involving three American F-15s.

As for the Iranians, former Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was joked about nine times, while there were four generic jokes about Iran and two about Khamenei’s son, Mojtaba Khamenei, who has since been selected as his successor. The jokes about Mojtabe include Kosta quipping, "C'mon dude, you're not supposed to follow in your dad's footsteps. Where's your rebellious spirit? 'I don't want to be the supreme leader, dad. I want to dance,'" while Colbert called him a "nepo-tollah."

It is not a surprise that the late night comedians oppose this war, but their unwillingness to consistently make fun of Iran is telling, and it is not for lack of material. There were some jokes about the death of an 86-year old murderous dictator on day one. Stewart told one joke about how Iran’s response of bombing its neighbors would not endear itself it to them, and Colbert’s Thursday cold open joked that Iran’s ruling clerics would nominate their troublesome neighbors for supreme leader to subject them to Khamenei’s fate, but that has been it.