One month before the elections, is late-night comedy ready to laugh despite the storm?

The biggest election of our lives is almost here.

Well, at least that’s what you’ll hear if you follow the race between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump through the lens of traditional media coverage. It’s also what you’ll hear if you follow elections through the prism of late-night television, where lately it’s also almost all the time politics.

Turn on “The Tonight Show” on NBC and Jimmy Fallon reveals his (bad) Donald Trump impersonation to talk about eating cats and dogs. On HBO, John Oliver cries with barely contained fury over Project 2025 and the federal justice system. And on NBC’s “Saturday Night Live,” a parade of comics joined the show during last week’s premiere to portray the main players in the political circus: Maya Rudolph is back as Harris, Jim Gaffigan as Democratic candidate Tim Walz and Dana Carvey as the lame man. -duck President Joe Biden.

Yes, even in our escapist entertainment, it’s impossible to get away from politics, especially now that it’s October of an election year. And while these shows have always preyed on current events and political sentiment, from Chevy Chase playing Gerald Ford on “SNL” in the 1970s to Jay Leno’s constant jabs at Bill Clinton and Monica Lewinsky in the 1990s, the moods have been different since oh, say, 2016. A little more desperation, a little less lightness of jokes since a certain candidate entered the national political scene. Trump casts a long shadow and has a way of making the absurd banal. In addition to trying to make us laugh, most of these comedians also try to make sense of a far-fetched political reality.

This cycle’s debates are (apparently) over, but Trump and Harris are in a final sprint to woo voters. They are full of media appearances and speeches that provide fresh material that can be mocked, praised, or simply replayed by comedians after dark as they try to find the funny in an extremely consequential and serious national event. Is it really so funny in the end? Or do these comedians swing at windmills every four years?

This year, late-night shows have been galvanized by the unpredictable nature of the race, from Biden’s exit to Trump’s continually absurd speeches. ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel and NBC’s Seth Meyers look practically giddy as they catalog Trump’s near-daily gaffes and make fat jokes about him. Stephen Colbert of CBS enthusiastically praised Harris and Walz. On Comedy Central’s “Daily Show,” Jon Stewart takes John Oliver’s approach, with deeper, riskier dives into nuanced topics like the Israeli attacks in Lebanon. Fallon remains on the surface, much more comfortable mocking Gen Z than attacking Trump and tariffs.

The return of “SNL” for its 50th season was eagerly awaited by its fans. The show has devoted a lot of time and effort over the past two decades to cold opens on politics during election years, often featuring big A-list stars as candidates. In 2020, it was Alec Baldwin and Jim Carrey as Trump and Biden, with the sketch’s current cast showing only a simple post-intro reflection. “SNL” still taps a lot of guest stars to play big-name political figures, but producer Lorne Michaels smartly opts for better-crafted impressions rather than settling for “famous celebrity plays famous politician” stunt casting “. So it’s the mid-fame group of Gaffigan, Carvey and Andy Samberg (as Harris’ husband and second gentleman Doug Emhoff) who joined on Saturday, alongside reliable actors James Austin Johnson and Bowen Yang as of Trump and his running mate, JD. Vance.

More: As SNL celebrates its 50th anniversary, we look back at the best political sketches and impressions

The new ensemble worked well Saturday in a Harris-focused sketch (the first new episode of “SNL” since Biden dropped out of the race). Carvey memorably played President George HW Bush in the 1990s and brought his talent for turning slogans against their owners to his sleazy Biden. Rudolph delivered all the “Mamala” jokes fans have been craving since Harris became the nominee. It was the usually reliable Yang who scored the only disappointment: Her version of Vance didn’t seem to say anything about the candidate, other than calling him “weird,” as all the other pranksters did.

As for the guys on late night talk shows, they can mostly make you laugh (except for Fallon). Stewart and Oliver influence and educate their viewers. The monologues cover the news of the day. The jokes are funny but uninspired. This all seems almost typical now, with so many “unprecedented” election cycles. We are shedding light on the life and death issues at stake, but we have been doing so since at least 2016. This is par for the course for the new American Political Discourse.

There are plenty of shows left before November 5, so prepare to hear lots of unenthusiastic Trump voices and Rudolph making a wide range of perplexed expressions. (“SNL” has four more episodes before Election Day.) If everyone stays in their lane, it will probably be funny but also very predictable. Meyers will scream during “A Closer Look.” Another “SNL” alum will run as a headline-making Democrat or Republican. Stewart will make someone angry.

But in an election cycle as irregular as 2024, there might be opportunities for a little deeper comedy. That is, if any of these guys can take on the challenge.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: ‘SNL,’ Late-Night Comedy: Ready for the Trump/Harris Election Storm?