It’s impossible to run a late night talk show these days without making jokes about Donald Trump, the current President of the United States. We went through this before during his first term, and he remained a popular topic of humor during Joe Biden’s sole term in office. As a news satire program, however, The Daily Show arguably focuses more on Trump than any of these other shows, particularly over the course of the 2025 TV schedule. But Dan Amira, the head writer of the long-running Comedy Central series, shared a theory with CinemaBlend about why it’s harder to come up with a good Trump joke than one might think.
Amira has been working on The Daily Show since 2014, one year before Donald Trump announced he was running for President the first time around, and he was promoted to head writer in 2018, one year into Trump’s first presidency. During my interview with Amira, he acknowledged that ]the 45th and 47th president “certainly gives you more material than anyone else could possibly give you.” But that doesn’t always make it easy to craft jokes about Trump, with Amira telling me:
Trump has a way of making things crazier, and that gives us fodder for material. But the downside, which I think is what comedians talk about with the difficulty, is that it’s hard to sometimes heighten from the crazy things that Trump is doing already. When you think like, ‘Wow, what’s next? Is he gonna try and nuke a hurricane? Yeah, he is actually thinking about nuking a hurricane.’ So he already beats you to the comedic end point, and then you’re like, ‘Well, I don’t know, not sure what else to say then. He’s already sort of done the joke in real life.’ That’s the times where it’s a little… you wish it was a little more normal.
the businessman cameoed in Home Alone 2.
Stewart returned to host on a part-time basis and executive produce. So not only does Amira get to work more closely with Stewart this time around, he no doubt welcomes collaborating with the man on Donald Trump jokes week after week.
The Daily Show airs Monday through Thursday at 11 p.m. ET on Comedy Central, with Jon Stewart hosting on Mondays and a rotating lineup of the show’s correspondents handling the rest of the week. Use your Paramount+ subscription to stream full episodes after their linear premiere.