'Scene from The Handmaid’s Tale': Comedians under fire in 'chaos' of Trump’s America

Michelle Wolf at Leicester Square Theatre in London on March 6, 2024

Historically, U.S. presidents who were mercilessly lampooned by comedians were able to laugh at the joke.

On "Saturday Night Live" during the 1970s, Chevy Chase famously portrayed GOP President Gerald R. Ford as a total klutz — and Ford went on the show to embrace that caricature of him even though, truth be told, he was an accomplished athlete before he got into politics. And former "SNL" comedian Dana Carvey actually became friends with the Bush family because of his popular parody of President George H.W. Bush.

But President Donald Trump and his allies become engaged when comedians make fun of him. After "South Park" — a show known for brutally mocking both the left and the right — turned its attention to Trump in July, White House spokesperson Taylor Rogers angrily told Rolling Stone, "This show hasn't been relevant for over 20 years and is hanging on by a thread with uninspired ideas in a desperate attempt for attention. President Trump has delivered on more promises in just six months than any other president in our country's history — and no fourth-rate show can derail President Trump's hot streak."

In an article published by The Guardian on August 12, reporter Rachel Healy takes a look at comedians who fear possible retaliation during Trump's second presidency.

Sam Jay, a former "SNL" writer, told The Guardian, "The mood in America.… chaos. There's no way to keep up. People are also very desensitized. S—— just keeps happening in more extreme ways that people are losing a metric for it."

Jena Friedman recalled a troubling encounter with a U.S. border control agent when she was traveling.

The agent, finding out she was a comedian, asked Friedman, "What do you joke about?"

Friedman told The Guardian, "I just froze because I am a political comedian, and I didn't know what to say. Then, he said, 'Do you joke about politicians?'…. It was such a quick, on its face benign, interaction. But it did feel like a scene out of 'The Handmaid's Tale.' I'm a blonde, white woman who looks like a Republican's wife, and I have an American passport. But what if I had said, 'Yes?' Don't we want to live in a country where we can joke about politicians, where we can joke about anything?"

Comedian Michelle Wolf, who now lives in Barcelona but often returns to the U.S. for work, told The Guardian that so far, she hasn't had any problems traveling yet — but is concerned about things that are happening during Trump's second presidency.

Wolf told The Guardian, "I feel like I have to address the whole America and Trump thing.… people expect me to say something about it….. I don't like making it a large part of my set, because it bores me. There's always something crazy happening, but it's hard to come up with creative angles other than: can you believe this?"

Read Rachael Healy's full article for The Guardian at this link.