Comedy Central's Anti-Trump TV Show Fails in Spectacular Fashion
In the final years of the Bush administration, Comedy Central introduced two shows. One, “The Colbert Report,” starred Stephen Colbert as an exaggerated version of a conservative pundit (mostly Bill O’Reilly). The other was called “Lil’ Bush,” a cartoon that ham-fistedly mocked the Bush administration by presenting miniature versions of the administration members.
You can probably guess which one was more successful.
Last year, comedian Jordan Klepper started what Comedy Central thought would be Colbert 2.0 — a show called “The Opposition” in which Klepper satirized new media sources in much the same way Colbert did with Fox News. Unfortunately, it was a lot more “Lil’ Bush” than “Colbert Report,” at least as far as the ratings were concerned.
“Klepper’s show has been described as a spoof of Alex Jones and InfoWars, in much same way former timeslot occupant Stephen Colbert’s conservative gasbag character on ‘The Colbert Report,’ mocked FNC star Bill O’Reilly,” Deadline reported last year.
“Klepper praised as a ‘full glistening slab of Texas Truth’ the alt-right star who delivered programming manna gold to Klepper for his lauch, telling InfoWars troops that Comedy Central hates him, and has modeled Klepper’s new show so as to ‘create a branding for the type of mentally retarded people’ who follow Comedy Central and ‘have been induced into these comas,'” it said.
Klepper described how he crafted his persona: “I was on the road a lot at these Trump rallies (for ‘The Daily Show’) and as I would talk to these people, the things I’d hear out there were coming from places like InfoWars, Breitbart and nontraditional media sources.”
That worked about as swimmingly as you might have expected, given that Comedy Central said Friday that Klepper’s Alex Jones-like character was going away and announced a half-hour show starring Klepper as, well, not his persona.
“We are excited to announce ‘Klepper,’ a new, primetime weekly series created by and starring Jordan Klepper. The new series will premiere in early 2019 with production beginning in July,” a statement from the network read, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
“Accordingly, production on ‘The Opposition’ will cease after its June 28 episode,” it said. “We thank the cast and crew of ‘The Opposition’ for their incredible efforts in creating such a bold, provocative show and look forward to the launch of Jordan’s new primetime series next year.”
I’d never seen this guy before he got canceled, which is a shame because laughing at him trying to laugh at conservatives sounds like it might have been fun. Kind of like “Mystery Political Science Theater 3000,” to invoke an infinitely more successful property that started on Comedy Central.
Oh, and as for Klepper, he was typically gracious and/or stupid in announcing the end of the show.
“I couldn’t be more proud of the hard-working, creative staff of ‘The Opposition’ who tirelessly filtered the world through the chaos of America’s fringe,” Klepper said in a statement.
“This staff is remarkable. Moving forward, I will be leaving ‘The Opposition’s’ paranoid Jordan Klepper character behind. I figured maybe, right now, the world could use one less a–hole.
“This new Jordan Klepper guy I know intimately ’cause I’ve been him for the better part of my life. He’s eager to get into the field, talk to real America and make a kicka– television show.”
As for his new show, The Hollywood Reporter notes that “Klepper will get out of the studio and into the real world, where he will interview real people about issues that are both important to him and to the country.”
So, in other words, there’s one less you-know-what in the studio and one more out in the real world. Keep those “Lil’ Bush” sequels coming, guys.
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