What has happened to late night talk shows?

Look at the image above.

I miss the days of Bob Hope walking out with his golf club and Dean Martin stopping by as a surprise.

There was a time when nighttime talkies were simply intended as entertainment for a general audience. As such, they were funny and fun.

Now it’s just blocks of airtime devoted to the Democratic National Committee.

As such, on Monday night, Late Show host Stephen Colbert asserted President Trump “only has himself to blame” for the two-year investigation into Russia collusion.

Over the weekend, CNN’s Brian Stelter — host of the ironically-named Reliable Sources (here) claimed the same, referencing the “trail that Trump created” (here).

After years of media hysteria, one might expect late night monologues to be relentlessly lampooning the mainstream press. Instead, there’s this:

“So, there it is. [Special counsel Robert Mueller] is an honorable man, and he has said Donald Trump is not a foreign asset, which is good news. But even if Trump was falsely accused, he only has himself to blame because he lies so much, you just don’t know what to believe. He even lies about things he doesn’t even need to lie about. For instance, we now know that Trump wrote the memo for Don Jr. – wrote it on Air Force One – saying that the Trump Tower meeting with the Russians where they were offering Hillary’s emails was actually about adoption. That lie is an obstruction about collusion. … [Attorney General William Barr] says that Mueller says that he is not sure that that’s a crime, but we do know that that is a lie.”

Decades ago, major network nighttime entertainment served up plate spinners — acts meant to enthrall the whole family. Contemporarily, I think the plates might feature political slogans.

Here’s what they’re serving up these days:

-Alex

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