ABSTRACT
The Trump presidency so far has been marked by a massive expansion of the attention paid to the White House by late night comics, which is far greater than the amount of humor that targeted Barack Obama and George W. Bush during their times in office. The unprecedented nature of the Trump presidency has also generated an expanded policy role for the late night comics. This is shown by the substantive issue-oriented conversations offered by Jimmy Kimmel and others regarding health care reform and other high-profile policy topics, as well as the increased volume of president-focused humor with a policy dimension. Using a content analysis of nightly host monologues and a qualitative study of the once-a-week humorists, this chapter examines how the late night humorists have responded to the Trump presidency and examines how their treatment of Trump differs from that afforded previous presidents during their first years in office.
