Heard any good Hillary jokes lately? Only 'SNL' has come the closest

The 'Weekend Update' team interrupted its summer break to bring you a very special -- and much needed -- report from the DNC.

July 29, 2016 at 12:32PM
(The Minnesota Star Tribune)
(The Minnesota Star Tribune)

Colin Jost and Michael Che

Late-night hosts should mark their past two weeks of convention coverage by pooling their resources and buying Donald Trump a huuuuuuge bouquet of flowers. No political figure in recent history has generated more comedy material, especially during last week's Republican shindig in Cleveland.

In all fairness, Hillary Clinton should have gotten just as many jabs these past four days in Philadelphia. But comedy isn't fair. Jokes, much like cable news coverage in general, always found a way back to the easier target.

Most attempts to poke fun at the Philadelphia proceedings were aimed at VP nominee Tim Kaine and his self-professed blandness.

"He's like a real-life version of black people's impersonations of white people," said "The Daily Show"'s Trevor Noah .While stopping by "The Late Show," John Oliver feigned mock terror over the unspoken threat that Kaine might break out his harmonica at any moment.

Pretty mild stuff, especially when you consider that Bill Maher was over on HBO repeatedly comparing Trump to Adolf Hitler.

So did anyone successfully mine truly clever, biting humor out of the Democratic proceedings? Not really, but "Saturday Night Live" came the closest.

The "Weekend Update" team of Colin Jost and Michael Che did a short live broadcast on MSNBC Wednesday from Philadelphia and, for the most part, trotted out more solid material aimed at liberals in those 15 minutes than most other shows did all week.

I particularly liked the bit in which Che looked bewildered by the tears being shed by Bernie Sanders white, female fans during their hero's speech.

"They look like Dave Matthews just played 'Crash Into Me,'" he said.

Jost had a good line about how Clinton's over-the-top video following her husband's speech made her look like a Bond villain.

Sure, Trump continued to take his lumps, but the 'SNL' boys seemed most detemined to be naughty from both sides of the political spectrum.

Judge for yourself:


about the writer

Neal Justin

Critic / Reporter

Neal Justin is the pop-culture critic, covering how Minnesotans spend their entertainment time. He also reviews stand-up comedy. Justin previously served as TV and music critic for the paper. He is the co-founder of JCamp, a non-profit program for high-school journalists, and works on many fronts to further diversity in newsrooms.

See More