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You might have heard that we're in a pretty critical election year and in times like these a lot of us are turning to political comedy to help make sense of and fun of the bizarre

ongoing news cycle

But so much about the landscape has changed over the years, even if late night hosts like Stephen Colbert and John Oliver are still monologueing, and viewers keep clamoring for S&L's impressions of the presidential candidates.

How are these shows speaking to the moment?

I'm Aisha Harris and today we're talking about late night comedy

this election year on NPR's pop culture happy hour. Pop Culture Happy Hour.

Joining me today is NPR's TV Critic Eric Deggins. Welcome back, Eric.

Hey, thanks for having me.

Yeah, it's great to have you here.

I can't think of a better person to have on to discuss this topic.

Because I'm such a late night nerd.

I feel like such a nerd about all this stuff and we love it we love you for it.

Well okay look obviously there's pointed political comedy all over the place

online stand-up, satirical shows, all comedies political,

yada yada yada, but for this conversation we're focusing primarily on the traditional TV

landscape of late-night comedy, which I think still leaves us with plenty to discuss.

Like earlier this year, for instance, John Stewart returned to the Daily Show as a weekly guest

host to help cover the 2024 elections.

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