Sometimes a writer and the show they’re heading up just aren’t the best fit possible, and this appears to be why Rebecca Drysdale is leaving The Tonight Show, since she’s grown tired of writing Trump sketches apparently and is under the impression that it continues to build the power base of Trump. It feels as though she might not have been keeping up on recent events since every Trump sketch to date hasn’t exactly bolstered the president’s, former president’s, position since for the last four years many upon many people have been doing whatever is possible to ensure that the POTUS was seen as a very small and mean-spirited individual. It’s hard to dissuade anyone from such an impression unfortunately since the POTUS tended to make it known quite often that he wasn’t willing to put a filter on his words, meaning that any sketch that came to one show or another was bound to be free game since there was no honest way to claim that the shows were being unfairly biased. But Drysdale agreed that it was time for her to move on and as a result she’s making her way forward, but where she’ll end up landing is hard to say since it sounds as though she would rather stay away from political sketches at this time, which could be difficult since it does feel as though the next four years will be seen as target practice and the former POTUS will still be in the crosshairs of many that would claim that they’d love to forget about him.
Politics are almost always going to enter every facet of entertainment, even when some folks would rather they didn’t. There are certainly areas in which they don’t necessarily belong as much, but the fact is that that some politicians unfortunately put themselves front and center for ridicule and leave such wide openings that many writers and comedians can’t help but pick them apart as a result. Some would say the ‘lame duck’ offerings that are so easy to pick up and ridicule are a cheap way to dig into various political figures, but others would say that they brought in on themselves and that writers such as Drysdale would be foolish to not take the opportunity that was given. In any case it’s kind of a ‘to each their own’ situation since from a writer’s standpoint I can easily state that sometimes the target is just a little too tempting, while at other times it’s best to leave them alone since no good can come of it. Some folks don’t have that kind of filter, but others like Drysdale can obviously see that it’s not always necessary or wise to continue mocking a person, even if her reasoning has skidded off the tracks a bit. It’s enough to hope that she’ll find another position somewhere that will allow her to continue her work, and in a manner that will be more pleasing to her sensibilities.
For four years now many writers have been taking the easy targets, the potshots, and doing so with a great amount of zeal that speaks to those that are entirely biased against one political side or the other, but no matter which way a person leans it needs to be understood that comedy is comedy, entertainment is entertainment, and allowing the more venomous aspects of politics into the mix is usually a bad idea. Making fun of others is easy to see as little more than a chance to make people laugh, and many people would gladly laugh at themselves if they learned to take such things in stride. Looking at the Comedy Central roasts of various celebrities, those shows are absolutely brutal, and yet people laugh at some of the most outrageous and potentially harmful things that are being said. Drysdale might think that mocking Trump would give him power, but many would gladly tell her that mocking the former POTUS was, for all intents and purposes meant to be pure mockery without any irony, but they might also tell her that it didn’t do him any favors. Looking at the election results, which finally end the debacle thank goodness, it’s kind of obvious that not a single bit of writing that mocked the POTUS made him any stronger, meaning that it’s likely that Trump didn’t take such insults or jokes in stride and was more offended than he should have been. Those that can’t take humor don’t derive any power from it, which makes Drysdale’s belief a little less valid.
But at the end of the day she did resign and it was, in her estimation, a positive move for both her and the show, as she’ll be making her way forward to find something else at this time. All we can really say is best of luck to her and hopefully things will work out.
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