Jon Stewart walked away. Colbert started delivering his monologues with barely-suppressed tears. SNL could only replicate what was happening. Who laughed at
Baldwin's Trump or Damon's Kavanaugh when they were pale imitations of the living absurdities. What was funny about George Floyd's murder, about tearing children from their mothers' arms, about millions dying of Covid? Who could find humor in The Big Lie or the storming of the Capitol, in voter suppression or the
Texas abortion law? The
Post-Truth Era begat the Post-Humor Era and America could only hope to wait it out.