U.S. Capitol takeover highlighted how difficult it is to joke about President Trump, especially for late-night hosts

Vulture

Hours after Trump supporters took over the Capitol building on Wednesday, Jimmy Kimmel compared the rioters to “a psychotic Price Is Right audience forcibly taking control of the Plinko wheel." Meanwhile, his late-night peers opted not to tell jokes. "Over and over again, Trump has revealed the futility of speaking truth to power when the person in power, and his supporters, literally cannot hear and process truth," says Jesse David Fox. "David Letterman didn’t come back until September 17, 2001. Jon Stewart waited until the 20th. Saturday Night Live returned on September 29. The same night as and a few blocks away from SNL, Comedy Central taped the Friars Club Roast of Hugh Hefner, during which Gilbert Gottfried told a 9/11 joke that resulted in someone in the audience screaming 'too soon' for possibly the first time in the history of comedy. The processing of traumatic events isn’t easy. It takes time. People have compared the election of Donald Trump to 9/11 in this regard, but arguably his entire administration is a closer comparison. Often the jokes felt too soon. And yet, he was the most joked-about president in history." ALSO: Turns out Donald Trump's presidency wasn't great for art.