Tony Rock has shared his thoughts on Donald Trump’s second term as president, stating that while the 78-year-old will provide loads of headlines for comedians to work around, it’s not the “gold mine” some might expect.
Speaking to TMZ at Los Angeles International Airport on Wednesday, Rock talked about Trump’s return to office and what it might mean for comedy.
He began by recounting a personal experience with a drug-sniffing dog upon arriving at LAX and claimed it had been a while since he noticed the handler allegedly focusing the dog’s attention on Black travelers.
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“Automatically, we back on that bulls***,” Rock said in his immediate reaction to the situation.
When asked if Trump’s presidency would offer a good amount of comedic material, Rock agreed that there would be opportunities to joke about the headlines Trump generates but said it would be far from a ‘gold mine’.
“We as well are reporters, we are reporters who put a funny spin on the news,” Rock said. “I wouldn’t use the term ‘gold mine,’ because I’m not feeling a lot of good fortune.”
Rock went on to emphasize that comedians will need to work hard if they aim to find humor in the challenges Trump’s presidency could bring. “It’s the job of comedians like me to try to find humor in ‘all the f***ed up stuff’ Trump plans to do,” he said.
On Monday, Trump was inaugurated as the country’s 47th president and wasted no time issuing executive orders, including pulling the U.S. out of the World Health Organization and proposing to rename the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America.
Although Tony Rock acknowledged the abundance of headlines to work with under Trump’s presidency, he added that comedians will not be able to solely rely on his antics to create humor. “Comedians will have to come up with ideas and not solely rely on that,” he said.
Rock further advised his fellow comedians, stating that having an open mind is key in this current era of content creation. “Comedians need to look for jokes in the silver lining — but four more years ain’t a gold mine!”
