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Conan O’Brien says that Trump “hurting comedy” is his biggest crime

"Doesn't he suck? I hate that guy. He's an a**hole . . . those aren't jokes," O'Brien said during a podcast taping

Senior Culture Editor

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Conan O'Brien attends Amazon Prime Video's "Upload" Season 2 premiere on March 08, 2022 in West Hollywood, California. (Rodin Eckenroth/FilmMagic/Getty)
Conan O'Brien attends Amazon Prime Video's "Upload" Season 2 premiere on March 08, 2022 in West Hollywood, California. (Rodin Eckenroth/FilmMagic/Getty)

During a recent appearance on New York Magazine journalist Kara Swisher’s podcast, Conan O’Brien made a joke out of Trump by saying that Trump jokes just aren’t funny.

Explaining why he never really went in hard on Trump material like many of his fellow comedians have, O’Brien broke it down with, “So I always thought when Trump came along, what a lot of people have to revert to is: ‘Doesn’t he suck? I hate that guy. He’s an a**hole . . . And those aren’t jokes.”

Trying it out for himself a bit, he made mention of Trump’s legal woes, quipping, “I think the January 6 thing is a blip compared to how much he’s hurt comedy.”

Comparing making jokes about Trump to parodying The National Enquirer, he further explained why Trump material doesn’t bring the LOLs, saying, “If you go and buy a real National Enquirer, it says, ‘Elvis sighted in UFO; he has tentacles for arms. Ghost baby turns into vampire and attacks Michael Jackson’s ghost. There’s no way to parody that. You can’t parody something that already has that crazy irregular shape. It’s not possible.”

By Kelly McClure

Kelly McClure is Salon's Senior Culture Editor, where she helps further coverage of TV, film, music, books and culture trends from a unique and thoughtful angle. Her work has also appeared in Vulture, Vanity Fair, Vice and many other outlets that don't start with the letter V. She is the author of one sad book called "Something Is Always Happening Somewhere." Follow her on Bluesky: @WolfieVibes

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