Godfather of late night satire, Jon Stewart. — Photos: Agencies
LATE-NIGHT talk shows weren’t always the tip of the spear.
For most of its history, this distinctly American genre introduced audiences to polite Midwestern men in suits who lulled viewers to sleep with apolitical punchlines and celebrity chat. But the joke tellers who have emerged as the highest-profile critics of US President Donald Trump’s second administration – and the ones most under attack – are that supposedly endangered species: the network late-night hosts. How did these establishment figures become so political?
