Late Night Doesn’t Need Trauma to Thrive

If everything goes well, the next few years should be going “relatively smooth.” By “smooth” I mean, it’s like a refreshing lemon zest in the most bitter stew you ever tasted. Recognizably bitter, but now with a cleaner palette. I know these last few years has felt disruptive to say the least. Every day a brand-new headline. It almost feels like we’re being fed trauma through a generator. Late night tv hosts took it upon themselves to provide political commentary as the fire burned. People questioned if hosts will be able to handle the switch back into “ease.” It is ironic to assume that the disappearance of one white supremacist will all of a sudden return the peace. Comedy continues whether there is a white supremacist to satirize or not. It is important to understand that late night tv did not always involve political arguments and breakdowns. Though, this has become my favorite part of late night, there is so much work to be done beyond traumatizing headlines about the same thing but a different day. Shows in the past like Patriot Act with Hasan Minhaj and The Rundown with Robin Thede spoke on subjects that didn’t necessarily connect to current headlines but still affect us today. The Rundown spoke about Afro-futurism and the racist backgrounds of sensors: i.e. the reason why the automatic hand sink in the bathroom took even longer to detect you if you were white vs. if you were Black or a POC. These issues still exist, and it doesn’t magically disappear with a new admini…