I’m old enough to remember when comedy, especially late-night comedy, used to be funny and mostly devoid of the screeching leftwing neopuritanism we endure today. John Leguizamo’s recent opinion segment on The Daily Show, with its attendant rant on the kerfuffle surrounding Televisa’s interview of former President Donald Trump, was an even more painful reminder of when comedy used to be funny.
Here’s how the segment wound down, and just be grateful I didn’t clip the whole thing:
JOHN LEGUIZAMO: Look, I don't know. I'm just asking the tough questions, unlike Univision's interviewer. The point is, though, Univision has got to come back to its core values. I am not saying that they shouldn't have Trump on the air. I'm just saying it, if you do decide to sit down with a lying insurrectionist who wants to bring down internment camps like it's freaking 1942, you might want to point it out in the interview. [Cheers and applause] Okay? Because there needs to be honest journalism and parity. The Latino community needs you to step up because the stakes for us in 2024 are too damn high. You need to expose the truth.
As I’ve often said, the Professional Political Latinx and Latino Grievance Industrial Complex are up in arms over the interview, which more than anything, pierced the left’s sense of air supremacy over what news content the Hispanic community gets to consume within the United States. Univision, as a cornerstone component of the Latino Grievance Industrial Complex is an Approved Provider of news. So to have Univision preempt its prime-time telenovela was perceived as an affront.
Leguizamo, who last made news by race-whining over actor John Franco’s casting as Fidel Castro, saw fit to post a video somewhere and call for a boycott of Univision over its deviation from its normal editorial standards, which is to be a reliable Democrat talking point regurgitator. And now, we suffer this obnoxious rant which aired on the desiccated husk of The Daily Show.
The media ran with Leguizamo’s initial video, oohing and aahing at these calls to counter an editorial shift THAT NEVER HAPPENED. There is no shift at Univision. There may be the perception of a shift, but there is no actual shift. And the fact that the media continue to amplify denunciations of a nonexistent shift means that none of these people that supposedly care so much about Univision ever even watch Univision. In fact, the Venn diagram of people who saw Leguizamo’s dopey rant and watch Univision regularly is two circles, a thousand miles apart. The woke anglos in the studio whooped and hollered, but no one who might actually be affected by an editorial shift at Univision actually saw any of this nonsense.
In the end, this is just a tantrum meant to create the illusion of an editorial shift. Don’t believe the hype of a shift unless Jorge Ramos and President of News Daniel Coronell either tender their resignations or are the subjects of a press release wishing them all the luck in their future endeavors.
Leguizamo’s rant was the type of boring tripe you’d expect from the guy who bullied legends Fat Joe and Tony Touch into saying “Latinx”. No substance, but plenty of race essentialism that at times bordered on minstrelsy. Notwithstanding, I give Leguizamo partial credit for shelving his old “roaches for Raid” trope against Hispanic conservatives, going instead for “crazy uncle who’s not getting invited to Thanksgiving dinner”. That this is to be considered an improvement upon comedic material is an insult to comedic material everywhere.
Leguizamo’s greatest insult here wasn’t to be a woke race essentialist, but that he forsook being funny in pursuit of this performative leftwing neopuritanism. And in so doing, it was also an insult to those of us who remember what comedy used to be.
Click "Expand" to view the transcript of the aforementioned segment as aired on Comedy Central’s The Daily Show on Wednesday, November 22nd, 2023:
JOHN LEGUIZAMO: Hey! What's up, what's up, everybody! I am John Leguizamo! [Cheers and applause] And Yo, it's great to be back at "The Daily Show" for two reasons. One, you guys got the best snacks. And yeah, I could buy my own snacks, but they taste way better when they're free. Except for that dried seaweed that always tastes like a flounder's butthole? You know what I mean? But more importantly, I came back because something is pissing me off.
KATIE PHANG: Univision facing growing backlash after giving Donald Trump the royal treatment. Last week, the network hosted a very friendly hour-long exclusive interview with Trump that his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, helped arrange.
LEGUIZAMO: Ay, dios [bleep] Mio! [Cheers and applause] I don't know what is more shocking, that Univision gave Trump a softball interview or that Trump let a Latin guy into his house? How did that happen? What did he think, he was there to mow the lawn? But yeah, journalist Enrique Acevedo interviewed Donald Trump for Univision. Now, for decades, Univision has been the channel that Latinos have trusted for news, whether it's news about the world, or news about a sexy lady miner willing to go up against the most powerful woman in town, for amorrrrrrrr. And don't get me wrong. There is nothing wrong with Univision interviewing Trump. In fact, I thought it would be a dope opportunity to confront him on his hard-line anti-Latino policies. But instead of an interview worthy of univision, we saw this caca mierda.
ENRIQUE ACEVEDO: The "New York Times"/ Siena poll came out this week. It has you with 42% of Latino voters' support. That's unprecedented for a Republican candidate. What do you think the message voters are sending with these numbers?
It's at 42%, like I was saying, unprecedented for a Republican candidate. Why do you think voters are responding to your message?
You think the border is now more secure because of that relationship and the partnership you've been able to build with Mexico?
More and more Latinos are identifying themselves as conservatives. Why do you think that is?
LEGUIZAMO: Wait, wait. I'm sorry. I'm sorry, but those are your questions to the guy who might be the next president? "Mr. Trunk, why are you so beloved by the Latino community?" I was expecting this guy's follow-up question to be... "Is it true that to look upon your penis it would be like, I don't know, gazing into the very face of god? I mean, no seriously, how big is it? I mean- tell me when to stop. Tell me when to stop.”
And yo. Just to be clear, we Latinos are not a monolith. There are some of us that do support Trump. In my family we refer to him as "The crazy uncle who doesn't get invited to Thanksgiving." But that's just my house. But as a news organization for the Latino community, Univision has a responsibility to fully report what a second Trump presidency could mean for them. And the truth is that that shit is mad scary.
REPORTER: We have learned so much more about Trump's proposal for a 2025 agenda, particularly when it comes to immigration. The plan would essentially call for building detention camps for migrants who are rounded up around the country to be held at until they are deported. This is an extreme escalation from what we saw in 2016.
REPORTER: Among his promises, mass deportations, ending birthright citizenship, and denying entry to legal immigrants based on their ideological beliefs.
DONALD TRUMP: We will begin the largest domestic deportation operation in American history.
Nobody has any idea where these people are coming from, and we know they come from prisons. We know they come from mental institutions and insane asylums. We know they're terrorists. It's poisoning the blood of our country.
[Boos]
LEGUIZAMO: Wait, wait, what. Latino immigrants are poisoning the blood of our country? [Bleep], what are you talking about? Your blood is 99% Big Mac. Also, also, did he really say immigrants are coming from insane asylums? That's not what getting granted asylum means! Moron! [Applause] And by the way, birthright citizenship is in the Constitution, just so you know. And I know most Republicans stop reading after the Second Amendment, but stick around because that 14th, mmmmm. That shit gets good! [Applause] So the question is, why would Univision avoid asking Trump about the radical 2025 agenda? And more disturbingly, why did the network cancel ads for the Biden campaign that were sent to run during the interview?
[Boos] Oh, yeah. And why did it cancel a separate interview it had planned with Biden's hispanic media director? [Boos] I mean, canceling opposing views is bad enough, but canceling ad revenue? That is downright un-Amurrrican. And I don't know all the answers. But maybe it has something to do with Univision's new co-ceo Bernardo Gomez being close friends with Jared Kushner, Trump's son-in-law? And the only man with the skin of a flour tortilla. Look, I don't know. I'm just asking the tough questions, unlike Univision's interviewer. The point is, though, Univision has got to come back to its core values. I am not saying that they shouldn't have Trump on the air. I'm just saying it, if you do decide to sit down with a lying insurrectionist who wants to bring down internment camps like it's freaking 1942, you might want to point it out in the interview. [Cheers and applause] Okay? Because there needs to be honest journalism and parity. The Latino community needs you to step up because the stakes for us in 2024 are too damn high. You need to expose the truth. And not just about Trump. But also about how Leonardo's evil madre is sabotaging his forbidden love with Emilia, "Arrrrrrrrastrate por el suelo mi amorrrrrrrrr!"
