ABSTRACT
This chapter examines late-night comedy jokes of four nightly shows from January 18, 2021 to April 30, 2021, a period that included Joe Biden’s Inauguration and his first months as president, as well as former President Donald Trump’s departure from Washington and his second impeachment trial. The only Democratic targets that joined Biden in the monthly joke rankings were scandal-plagued New York Governor Cuomo, who ranked third in March, and independent-minded Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia, who ranked fifth in April. Few incidents in the recent decades of US politics can compare with the developments of January 6, 2021, which continue to be the subject of investigations and prosecutions years after the violent, failed attempts to keep Trump in office. Even so, the late-night comics sometimes have focused intensely on major political developments involving presidents in the past. Saturday Night Live mocked Biden’s mannerisms in the “Weekend Update” segment but did so in the context of his policy decisions.
