NEW YORK (AP) 鈥 Stephen Colbert took a slug from his drink glass before his first monologue after President Joe Biden's disastrous performance during his debate with Donald Trump. This was going to be hard.
But then the CBS 鈥淟ate Show鈥 host dove right into jokes that were impossible for any political satirist to resist.
鈥淚 think that Biden debates as well as Abraham Lincoln 鈥 if you dug him up right now,鈥 Colbert said this week.
He had company. Jon Stewart, Seth Meyers and Jimmy Fallon have all found fodder in Biden's stumbling, slack-jawed performance and in the Democrats' over whether the president should drop his campaign for a second term.
Late-night comics have Biden's Republican opponent, Donald Trump, for years. Some have made no secret that their feelings were not just professional: Colbert moderated a panel discussion between Biden and former presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton at a Manhattan fundraiser in March, and ABC's Jimmy Kimmel held court at a Biden Hollywood event last month.
Yet to think they would have ignored Biden's troubles was naive, says Robert Thompson, a scholar of TV and its history.
鈥淭he idea that late-night comedy has been another mouthpiece for the Democratic party is simply not true, because comedy cannot afford to do that,鈥 said Thompson, director of Syracuse University鈥檚 Bleier Center for Television and Popular Culture. 鈥淭he job is that you've got to make fun of the people in power.鈥
A week of pointed comedy
Although Stewart hosted a live version of 鈥淭he Daily Show鈥 on Comedy Central immediately following the June 27 debate, most of the comedic response has come this week because of vacation schedules.
In his first monologue back on Monday, Colbert made it clear that he believed Biden has been a great president. He referenced his appearance at the fundraiser, saying Biden seemed 鈥渁ncient but cogent鈥 that night. When Colbert showed a news report saying Biden had told fellow Democrats that he was fine, it was 鈥渏ust my brain,鈥 the camera cut to a shot of the comic lying prone on the floor.
鈥淲ho am I to recommend鈥 what Biden should do? Colbert asked rhetorically. 鈥淚 don鈥檛 know what鈥檚 going on in Joe Biden鈥檚 brain 鈥 something I apparently have in common with Joe Biden.鈥
He dismissed the early explanation that Biden had a 鈥渂ad episode鈥 during the debate. 鈥淲hen 鈥楪rey鈥檚 Anatomy' did a musical, that was a bad episode,鈥 he said. 'This took a year off my life."
While Colbert hasn't pulled punches, 鈥渋t looked to me like he was in some pain having to do it,鈥 said Bill Carter, author of 鈥淭he Late Shift鈥 and a writer for .
The closest Colbert came to offering advice was when he said that Biden seemed caught between two virtues 鈥 perseverance and self-sacrifice.
鈥淪elf-sacrifice takes a particular kind of courage,鈥 he said. 鈥淭hat is a courage that I believe Joe Biden is capable of. I believe he's a good enough man. He's a good enough president to put the needs of the country ahead of the needs of his ego. And however painful that might be, it is possible that handing leadership to a younger generation is the right thing for the greater goodest.鈥
A heartfelt statement 鈥 with a zinger at the end. The last word is a reference to a with George Stephanopoulos.
A change that probably buoys Donald Trump
Kimmel, who has been the subject of from Trump and has given them right back, is off this summer. He has not weighed in on Biden on his X account.
鈥淚 imagine he's happy to be on vacation,鈥 Carter said.
No doubt the change in tone is being relished by Trump, who has faced a 鈥渄rumbeat of mockery鈥 on late-night television, Carter said. His tiff with Kimmel and about 鈥淪aturday Night Live鈥 are evidence of a thin skin. 鈥淪NL,鈥 like Kimmel, is off for the summer.
Stewart has taken exception to the way some Biden supporters have groused that more attention should have been focused on things Trump said during the debate. He pointed out on 鈥淭he Daily Show鈥 that Trump has been criticized by comics 鈥渆very night for 10 years."
鈥淲e expected him to be f鈥斺- crazy,鈥 Stewart said. 鈥淏ut Biden's performance and inability to articulate at times was stunning. I couldn't believe what I was watching.鈥
He said on his podcast, 鈥淭he Weekly Show,鈥 on Thursday that Biden's team has been dishonest about the president's condition. Earlier on 鈥淭he Daily Show,鈥 he called for a more open conversation.
鈥淒o you understand the opportunity here?鈥 Stewart said. 鈥淒o you have any idea how thirsty Americans are for any kind of inspiration or leadership and a release from this choice of a megalomaniac and a suffocating gerontocracy?鈥
On his NBC show, Meyers said that when he watched the debate, 鈥淚 tried turning on the captions, but that just made it worse.鈥 He also mocked Biden's promise to get more rest.
鈥淵our plan to calm fears about his age is an earlier bedtime?鈥 Meyers said. 鈥淎re you hoping we'll forget he's 81 if you treat him like he's 5 1/2?鈥
Late-night comics may not have the television audience that they used to, but they arguably still have a disproportionate influence in the public discourse, Syracuse's Thompson says. In the case of the Biden jokes, he says, they鈥檙e 鈥渋nfluential because it鈥檚 the last place you might have expected to see them."
Particularly for a younger generation, what the hosts say is often more likely to be experienced through video clips found online or shared on socials the next day. That was the case this week on 鈥淢orning Joe,鈥 which replayed a routine by Jimmy Fallon on the 鈥淭onight鈥 show that referenced an interview with former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on 鈥淢orning Joe鈥 the day before.
Fallon has kept his jokes mostly light, as he did Thursday night: 鈥淏iden," he said, 鈥渉asn't seen so many people jump ship since he vacationed on the Titanic.鈥
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David Bauder writes about media for the AP. Follow him at .
