President Donald Trump is on his way to surpassing a record set by President Bill Clinton — that of favorite late-night target.
According to the Center for Media and Public Affairs at George Mason University, Trump was the subject of 1,060 jokes in his first 100 days in office. That puts him on course to exceed the number of jokes told by late-night hosts about Clinton in 1998, the year of the Monica Lewinsky scandal. That year, Clinton was the target of 1,717 quips, the most of any individual during the years tracked by the center (from 1992 to 2012).
Trump’s total since taking office rises to 1,530 when combined with the number of digs about his family members and members of his administration.
According to the director of the center, Robert Lichter, the 1,060 jokes about Trump in his first 100 days are more than recent presidents drew in their entire first year. Barack Obama was the target of 936 jokes during that time frame; George W. Bush was the subject of 546 quips, and Bill Clinton was the topic of 440 jabs.
Late-night TV has gotten more political, and in some cases more partisan, since Trump took office. Stephen Colbert’s ratings have risen since the inauguration, eclipsing those of his chief rival Jimmy Fallon.
The study showed that Colbert told the most jokes about Trump, 337, followed by Trevor Noah, 315, Fallon, 231, and Jimmy Kimmel, 177.
The investigation covered a total of 2,094 political jokes from the opening monologues of “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert,” “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon,” “The Daily Show With Trevor Noah,” and “Jimmy Kimmel Live!”
Trump jokes were nearly triple the number told about Democrats, 95, and Republicans, 290, combined.
