From Fallon to 'SNL' to Oliver, how late-night TV is moving on (or not) from Trump

For the past six years, late-night comedy had one prevailing theme: Donald Trump.

From the beginning of his run for president in 2015 until his second impeachment trial in February, the former president was a mainstay on the late-night scene. Hosts like Jimmy Kimmel, Seth Meyers and Stephen Colbert built their shows and humor around outraged reactions to Trump's actions, policies and – especially – his tweets. Jimmy Fallon tousled candidate Trump's hair on "The Tonight Show," and much later offered up his own criticisms. Samantha Bee and John Oliver shouted their outrage in long-form segments. "Saturday Night Live" saw ratings explode when Alec Baldwin was cast as Trump.

But three months into President Joe Biden's first term, Trump no longer looms as large in the daily news or public consciousness. So with Trump largely off the public stage, now what for late-night comedy?

The answer depends on the late-night show. The major hosts – Kimmel, Colbert, Meyers, James Corden and Fallon, and Fox News' new conservative-leaning Greg Gutfeld – aren't giving up the ghost of Trump anytime soon.

Trump vs. Biden

Casual viewing of the major late-night shows in recent weeks guarantees a Trump joke or two.

Sometimes he comes up because he's (briefly) in the news. Trevor Noah sent "Daily Show" correspondent Jordan Klepper into the "MAGAverse" for a special. On CBS' "Late Late Show," Corden – reacting to a report that Republican allies might want to install Trump as the speaker of the House – cracked, "Yeah, because that's what Trump's good at: speaking." Kimmel finds seemingly any excuse to mention Trump on ABC's "Jimmy Kimmel Live," from his ongoing feud with Trump backer and MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell (a surreal war of words between Kimmel's monologues and Lindell on his fledgling social media platform, Frank) to mocking Trump's appearances on conservative networks like Newsmax.

But hosts less inclined to bring up Trump on his own still find a way to compare his term in office to what Biden is (or isn't) doing. NBC's "Late Night" host Meyers, joking about CNN losing viewers after Biden took office, said their biggest competitor is "a good night's sleep," just as the Weather Channel sees ratings tumble "after hurricane season is over." Colbert compared Biden's success increasing vaccine eligibility for every American over 16 to Trump's infamous suggestion that ingesting bleach would fight the coronavirus. "It's a huge contrast from his predecessor, Voldemoron," Colbert joked, without mentioning Trump by name. "Even under that guy's most optimistic projections, at this point, only one-third of U.S. adults would have received their government jug of bleach."

Part of the reason that comedians are leaning on the crutch of a Trump vs. Biden joke is the lack of an overarching theme for portraying Biden. Well, other than calling him old (at 78, Biden was the oldest president in history to be sworn into office). Fallon called Biden's plan to make vaccinations available to all American adults by this week "Operation Early Bird Special," while Meyers joked that 120 years ago, Biden was "still in college." And nearly every host had a field day with footage of the president tripping three times on his way up the stairs to Air Force One.

It's true: Biden is old. But there's not necessarily enough meat on that joke to sustain the comics' monologues five nights a week for 3½ years (or longer). Falling back on comparing Biden to Trump is familiar and easy. When Kimmel discussed Biden reaching his goal of 100 million vaccinations in his first 100 days in office, he said having a president who did what he promised was like being hustled at basketball. Later, when mentioning Biden's first presidential golf outing, Kimmel compared it to Trump's 19th at this point in his presidency. "He was essentially a senior player on the PGA tour who occasionally violated the Constitution." He then went on to predict how Trump, if he wasn't banned from Twitter, might tweet about Biden's golf game.

Even Fallon, who has never been particularly comfortable with political humor, seems to be holding onto Trump jokes as his "Tonight Show" inches back toward normalcy (and the ratings lead among young adults). He's the first to welcome a (reduced) studio audience since the onset of the pandemic over a year ago.

Fallon jumped on Trump calling his supporters to boycott Coca-Cola because of the company's condemnation of Georgia's restrictive voting law, despite always having a bottle of Diet Coke on his desk. "But don't worry, Trump fixed it by taking out a Sharpie and writing Pepsi," Fallon said. It's a far cry from the comedian who often seemed like he only mentioned Trump because he had to, going through the motions of a passable Trump impression for four years after he had Trump as a guest during the 2016 campaign, a segment that drew wide rancor with that infamous playful hair tousling.

Who is filling the Trump void?

There are clearly figures in absurd 2021 politics filling the void left in many comedians' monologues.

"SNL" has relied on Cecily Strong's impression of Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia. While there is humor to be found in Greene's outlandish views, every time Strong shows up in her blonde wig, you can feel the show falling back into old patterns: elevating the profile of fringe political figures because they seem more funny than serious.

The hosts who spent much of their time expressing anger and disgust at Trump have found new targets among other politicians that remain in power. Besides Greene, there's embattled New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo; Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida, tarnished by a sex scandal; and swing-vote Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia.

The names have changed, but the tone of the humor and outrage remains the same.

The best jokes might be outside politics

For those looking to remove Trump from their collective memories, some shows have chosen to find their humor elsewhere.

HBO's "Last Week Tonight with John Oliver" and TBS' "Full Frontal with Samantha Bee," both weekly, only mentioned Trump as much as he was a part of to their hand-picked segment topics of the week. If Trump wasn't a part of Oliver's dissection of the Brazilian elections or Bee's examination of immigrants in the military, he didn't come up. Oliver has been open about avoiding the former president unless he really had to bring him up.

Without skipping a beat, both shows have moved on to focusing their main segments on whatever they find most relevant and interesting. Bee, one of the few female voices in late night, did an excellent segment comparing the men's and women's NCAA basketball tournaments in March. She also spent part of a recent show talking about the dangers of the space junk circling the planet, a surprisingly compelling take on a topic no one else was discussing. Oliver has even longer segments that dig into topics, and his recent targets have been everything from the national debt to bankruptcy to meatpacking. Neither comedian is any better or worse without Trump jokes. They can make any topic work for them.

And when the rest of the comedians follow Bee and Oliver's tactics, there is some great humor to be found.

When it forgoes political comedy, as it does more frequently these days, "SNL" is positively liberated. Recent episodes are relying less on stunt-casted guest stars and lines taken verbatim from political debates, and more on original (and usually funnier) content. The series has had a surge of renewed energy in its 2021 episodes. Helped by a superb run of hosts – including a breakout episode with "Bridgerton" star Regé-Jean Page, and a sillier, freer approach to its comedy – "SNL" is simply less of a chore since Baldwin's Trump wig was seemingly retired.

A post-Trump world is also a time when the sillier, less political comedians can thrive. Corden gets more mileage calling Oprah and joking about the pandemic than he ever did with Trump wisecracks.

"The sooner everyone gets vaccinated, the sooner we can all stop having this conversation," Corden opined on a recent episode. "'Which one did you get?' 'Pfizer.' 'Cool.' 'You?' 'Moderna.' 'Cool.' Why do people do that? ... Like you give a (expletive)!"

And that's the thing – there is a lot more going on in the world that has nothing to do with Trump that's worth talking and joking about. We're perilously close to getting out of a global pandemic, a historic trial has just concluded, a helicopter has flown on Mars and a thousand other tragedies and joys happen every day.

When Trump was in office he was a black hole, sucking nearly every story and cultural development into his orbit, forcing his way into the news of the day. But now there is time and space to look at the wider world. Going back to Trump jokes isn't just lazy, it's a bit irresponsible. While late-night comedians may no longer be universally beloved stewards of culture the way Johnny Carson once was, they're still (mostly) men with big platforms and the ability to affect their audiences. And 2021 has a lot more for them than just Trump.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Late-night TV: How Fallon, 'SNL' are moving on (or not) from Trump