Vince Vaughn Erika Goldring/Getty Images for 20th Century Studios Vince Vaughn isn’t a big fan of the direction of late night talk shows in recent years when it comes to politics.
The actor and producer made an appearance on a new episode of Theo Von’s This Past Weekend podcast, where he criticized the programs for becoming “the same show” that are “really agenda-based.”
While Vaughn didn’t name any shows or comedians specifically, Jimmy Kimmel, Stephen Colbert, Seth Meyers and Jimmy Fallon are some of the current late night hosts who are known to get quite political and criticize President Donald Trump on their respective shows.
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“A lot of the late shows have struggled,” Von initially pointed out. “Because the only person they could make fun of at a certain point was just like white redneck kind of people. And it fucking tanked [ratings].”
The Wedding Crashers star agreed with the podcaster, adding, “See, they never get it right. The podcasts have gotten so much more popular with less production, less writers [and] less staff, because people want authenticity. And I think that the talk shows, to a large part, became really agenda-based.”
“They were gonna evangelize people to what they thought,” he continued, “And so people just rejected it because it didn’t feel authentic. It felt like they had an agenda. It stopped being funny, and it started feeling like I was in a fucking class I didn’t want to take.”
Vaughn attributed late night show’s declining ratings to them “all [becoming] the same show.” However, changing viewing habits and competition from digital platforms have also contributed to the significant drops in viewership.
“They all became so about their politics and who’s good and who’s bad,” the Couples Retreat actor added. “Imagine sitting next to someone like that on a fcking plane. You’d be like, how do I get out of this fcking seat?”
Vaughn isn’t the first person in Hollywood to call out comedians for focusing too much on politics. Earlier this year, Conan O’Brien, a late night veteran, criticized comedians who have centered their jokes on being anti-Trump and leading with anger rather than comedy.
“I think some comics go the route of, ‘I’m going to just say, “F Trump” all the time,’ or that’s their comedy,” he said at an Oxford Union event. “Well, now a little bit you’re being co-opted because you’re so angry. You’ve been lulled into just saying ‘F Trump. F Trump. F Trump. Screw this guy.’ And I think you’ve now put down your best weapon, which is being funny, and you’ve exchanged it for anger.”
“Any person like that would say, ‘Well, things are too serious now. I don’t need to be funny.’ And I think, well, if you’re a comedian, you always need to be funny,” O’Brien added at the time. “You just have to find a way to channel that anger, because good art will always be a perfect weapon against power, but if you’re just screaming and you’re just angry, you’ve lost your best tool in the toolbox.”
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