Is this a joke? TIME reports that comedians are 'ditching balance and taking sides' in the election

OK, this is pretty funny. The next issue of TIME to turn up in your doctor’s waiting room with the address label torn off will feature on the cover “The New Politics of Late Night,” a 500 million-word piece profiling TV comics and their approach to the 2016 election — a “flowering of political satire” that “could be a unique moment in American comedy.”

Fortunately, the punchline is right up front: “In a wild election with a ripe orange target, comics are ditching balance and taking sides.”

TIME’s new cover: The seriously partisan politics of late-night comedyhttps://t.co/UM4w71vP4V pic.twitter.com/ikkRVyS41A

— TIME (@TIME) September 15, 2016

So, how far back does Richard Zoglin reach to find the point when late-night political comedy was balanced? Not far enough. Though both Johnny Carson and Jay Leno are name-checked, he quotes Samantha Bee, former “Daily Show” correspondent, as noting that former host Jon Stewart “worked really hard to try to be nonpartisan.”

What makes this moment in comedy so unique? Donald Trump, obviously. Zoglin writes, “It’s hard to imagine similar passion being directed at a President Hillary Clinton or a stonewalling Republican Congress.”

Nope, it boggles the mind to find anything about Clinton to ridicule. Note, of course, that Bee, who is quoted extensively in the piece, on Thursday offered up a Donald Trump “Operation Game,” itself a stale rehash of a New York Post cover lampooning Hillary Clinton. Apparently an original joke is hard to imagine, too.

Also found in TIME’s Twitter feed Thursday:

10 times Seth Meyers has taken on Donald Trump on 'Late Night' https://t.co/IXJUGdeETj

— TIME (@TIME) September 15, 2016

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Trevor Noah feels like Harry Potter in the fight against Donald Trump's Voldemort https://t.co/YX7gXX1DcS

— TIME (@TIME) September 15, 2016

If you are trapped in an airport or dentist’s office and your iPhone battery dies, don’t reach for a copy of TIME in desperation; the cover story is summed up below at no cost to you.

Left-wing comedians scream at Trump every night, aren't funny, have no effect. @TIME reports https://t.co/IlPMhzaRmw

— David Rutz (@DavidRutz) September 15, 2016

Breaking news from 1960.

— Wodeshed, Peep Derple (@Wodeshed) September 15, 2016

I made it as far as "Jon worked really hard to try to be nonpartisan…"

— ?It's?Almost ⛄️Christmas? (@jtLOL) September 15, 2016

https://twitter.com/conservaterry/status/776408026660110336

Trump is orange? Now that’s funny. Hillary Clinton has her traveling press pool rolling questions to her scrawled on an orange in Sharpie? No humor value there.

https://twitter.com/1GuyzOpinion/status/776406015830953984

Here’s a big spoiler from the article: David Letterman wasn’t actually as apolitical as he seemed, and even “allowed his left-of-center leanings to peek through toward the end of his run.” Mind blown, right?

#10LeastFunnyComedians
Bee
Wilmore
Noah
Meyers
Dennis Miller
Maher
Schumer
Sandler
Poehler
Today's Seinfeld

— Rogue Microwave (@21TrumpStrt) September 15, 2016

@allahpundit …the reason they're all hacks compared to @jayleno. Jay was all about the laughs & hit both sides

— Rightwing_Vet (@Rightwing_Vet) September 15, 2016

Hot Take: Jon Stewart Clones are neither funny or original. They preach to the choir.

— ClassicalLibMOT (@CygnusA81) September 15, 2016

.@DavidRutz @TIME So preaching to the choir is not a very effective method for bringing about change? Someone tell the media! #Election2016

— EmBee (@EmBeesWeb) September 15, 2016

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Expected laugh riot turns to bomb threat as Al Franken, Sarah Silverman attempt to stall at DNC https://t.co/snW0NflG5f

— Twitchy Team (@TwitchyTeam) July 26, 2016