Comedians roast US presidential candidates

World Today

In the past week there have been more jokes about the 2016 U.S. presidential candidates than President Obama inspired in nearly eight years in office. Comedy of all kinds are shaping voter perceptions of the candidates.

CCTV America’s Patrice Howard reports from Los Angeles.

From impersonations on late night TV to viral web videos, comedic commentary is a big X-factor this election season.

“I remember a cab driver said to me, he said, I love comedians, because you guys see stuff that we don’t see. I was like no, we all see the same stuff, we just comment on it in a funny way,” Owen Burke, Editor and Chief of comedy website FunnyOrDie, said.

One of the site’s biggest hits this political season was a fake Donald Trump biopic, starring Johnny Depp in a wig and lots of makeup.

The video takes plenty of cheap shots at the candidate, but Burke says Americans are turning to satire as a primary source of political information this election season, because comedy is simply truth with a punch line.

Lately, the candidates themselves have been balancing national debates with late night comedy cameos, hoping to attract a wide voter base with some light-hearted self-deprecation.

Some political cartoonists have earned the same kind of credibility. From spotlighting Hillary Clinton’s struggle to reach Millennials to profiling the fringe elements in Donald Trump’s voter base, Pulitzer Prize-winning editorial cartoonist David Horsey says humor may be the best way to connect with a media-savvy generation.