Last night, Jimmy Kimmel returned to late-night television, and so Donald Trump has reacquired one of his most persistent and most effective critics.
Why are comedians so much better than politicians at criticising Donald Trump? The answer is simple. It has always been thus. Comedy cuts through the nonsense and speaks to the gut in the way senators and governors cannot. Donald Trump understands this, and so for him, it is intolerable.
Trump reacts more furiously to comedy monologues than to Senate speeches. He spends more time complaining about Saturday Night Live than about editorials in The New York Times. Kimmel and others have got under his skin. Senators can oppose Trump’s policies, but a comedian can rob him of his aura of authority, and that is the greater threat. When the weapon of choice is wit, Trump and his ilk are unarmed.
It is always the same with leaders who rely on dominance. Court jesters in medieval Europe were often the only ones allowed to mock the king, precisely because humour punctured pomposity and reminded rulers of their humanity. But when power grows insecure, jesters are no longer tolerated. In the modern world, comedians who go too far in mocking authoritarian leaders often pay dearly. That they are feared more than rival politicians tells us something important about power: it cannot endure being laughed at.
Politicians do not deal in originality; they are confined to speaking in the measured language of policy, to negotiate, to keep voters on side. Comedians are the thorns in their side. They thrive on disruption. Comedians will look for the cracks in the facade and pounce.
Kimmel has long understood this dynamic. During Trump’s presidency, he turned late-night TV into a running commentary on the surreal nature of American politics. He mocked Trump’s obsession with crowd sizes, needled his endless grievances, and revelled in the pettiness of a man who complained more about losing an Emmy than losing an election. When Trump attacked Kimmel during the Oscars earlier this year, calling him “the worst host in Academy Awards history”, Kimmel didn’t defend himself like a politician would. He simply read Trump’s late-night rants aloud, letting the words expose the smallness behind the bluster.
This is precisely why Trump cannot bear comedians. Sparring with politicians, where he can dominate and bully, makes him feel important, but a sharp punchline makes him look absurd. And for a man who relies entirely on bullish dominance, nothing is more dangerous than ridicule.
Authoritarian leaders across history have known this. Stalin imprisoned humorists who poked fun at Soviet bureaucracy. Hitler shut down Berlin cabarets that mocked him. German comedian Werner Finck mocked the Nazis in a show and, on the orders of Joseph Goebbels, was sent to a concentration camp. In Egypt, the satirist Bassem Youssef criticised presidents and was forced off air. In Russia, comedians who mock Vladimir Putin are banned from broadcast. Despots know what Trump knows, that political opposition is easier to suppress than laughter; a well-aimed joke hits harder and lasts longer than a speech.
The power of comedians and satirists lies in their ability to speak to everyone. Kimmel doesn’t sound like a senator delivering a floor speech; he speaks a language ordinary people understand. His humour is accessible, repeatable. When Trump’s fury is reduced to a punchline, he doesn’t just feel criticised, he feels diminished. He is stripped of his bullishly acquired power, Trump’s only tool.
Throughout history, comedians have been the first to be silenced by insecure rulers because, as we have seen in Kimmel’s case, the people will side with the comedian. Jimmy Kimmel’s return is not just about entertainment – it is once again proof that, however hard they try, despots cannot fool the people.
Shaparak Khorsandi is on tour until March 2026 with her show ‘Scatterbrain’
