Trump era inspires new avenues for laughs
Comedian Sarah Silverman, others roll out fresh shows, approaches
BEVERLY HILLS » Listen up, America. Sarah Silverman wants you to know that she’s a uniter, not a divider.
The comedian stopped by the Television Critics Association Press Tour last week to chat up her new Hulu series, “I Love You, America,” and made it clear that she doesn’t want to stoke the flames of political tension. Instead, she hopes to get to the heart of what we all share as a nation.
“What we have in common is that we want to be loved,” Silverman said. “The theme of this show is everybody wants to be loved.”
How does she intend to demonstrate that? By reaching out to, and conversing with, people of different backgrounds. In one segment, she’ll go to Louisiana to have dinner with a family “that never met a Jew.”
“We may be getting our facts from different places,” she said, “( but) the mission statement of this show is to expose the fact that we’re all just the same. I want to get to the root of humanity.”
It’s one example of how television producers and performers are grasping for fresh approaches in the current political climate. The airwaves are filled with late-night shows and cable news programs that essentially preach to the choir, as they veer either to the left or the right. Silverman wants to do something different.
So does Jordan Klepper. This fall, the former correspondent for “The Daily Show” will unveil his new Comedy Central series, “The Opposition With Jordan Klepper.” He promises that it will gleefully mock both the left and the right. In doing so, he’ll follow Stephen Colbert’s path and take on a character
that, in his words, will be a “a knownothing provocateur.”
“We’re inspired by the points of view of these alternative media sources, but I think I’m going to pull my character from a handful of different points of view,” Klepper told reporters. “I’m a Midwesterner, and I have a different tone and a different sensibility. So I like to see myself as Alex Jones meets Garrison Keillor.”
A Comedy Central news release for the show claims it will “satirize the hyperbolic, conspiracy-laden noise machine that is the alternative-media landscape.”
“There has been a great normalization of (B.S.) in America,” Klepper said. “In November, we elected the most famous conspiracy theorist in the world to the highest office in the land, and — boom — normalization happened.”
“The Opposition” will be a studio show, with Klepper spending most of his time behind a desk. He will be supplemented by what he calls “foot soldiers” — correspondents posing as citizen journalists and filing on-location reports. The show will premiere Sept. 25 on Comedy Central in the post- “Daily Show” time slot.
Meanwhile, Showtime has a completely different response to the current political climate. The cable network has green-lit a satirical animated series pegged to the Trump White House. The show is being executive-produced by Colbert, the CBS late-night host and aggressive Trump critic, whose ratings have soared since November’s election.
Scheduled for a fall debut, the yet-tobe-titled series is described by Showtime as a “character study in search of character, as seen through the eyes of an imaginary documentary crew.”
As for Silverman’s Hulu project, it will feature a monologue and studio segments, along with plenty of in-thefield stories. Silverman says the show, which debuts Oct. 2, won’t be specifically political, but admitted that these days, “everything is political.”
She said, “But what’s really important is that it’s funny, that it’s silly, that it’s aggressively dumb. … That’s how I like my comedy, and I don’t like to be told what to think.” Contact Chuck Barney at cbarney@ bayareanewsgroup.com or 925-9522685.