Conan O’Brien: Hard For Comics in Trump Era to Find Jokes ‘More Absurd’ Than What’s Happening

What’s the biggest challenge being a comedian during the age of Trump? @ConanOBrien: It’s hard to find a joke that’s more absurd than what’s actually happening pic.twitter.com/6qhFTotEKo

— The Lead CNN (@TheLeadCNN) January 26, 2018

Comedian Conan O’Brien recently traveled down to Haiti to film a special that will air on TBS this weekend. To help promote the special, which O’Brien decided to make following President Donald Trump description of Haiti as a “shithole” country, the TBS host showed up on CNN’ The Lead. And at the end of that segment, anchor Jake Tapper had a question for him.

“People ask me all the time what’s the biggest challenge being a journalist in the Age of Trump — what’s the biggest challenge being a comedian in the Age of Trump?” Tapper asked.

“Comedians, usually in a normal era, are supposed to take these serious situations and find the comedy in them and stretch them a little bit,” O’Brien responded. “In the Trump era, we’re essentially dealing with — I mean, every day there is such a mother lode of, I don’t know how else to say it, surreal news.”

He continued, “It’s very hard to find a joke that’s more absurd than what’s actually happening. It’s really hard to take what’s happening right now and make it somehow more absurd than it really is. So it’s a challenge for comics. people think it’s easy but it’s actually a little more difficult I think right now.”

Tapper deadpanned that the president does a “lot of broad work,” leading O’Brien to state that Trump also “works blue.”

“The s-hole comment would have resonated for a couple of weeks,” the comic concluded. “He’s on a two-day cycle. It’s very hard to keep up with him. It’s exhausting.”

Watch the clip above, via CNN.

[image via screengrab]

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Follow Justin Baragona on Twitter: @justinbaragona

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