Trevor Noah tests whether Trump's 'treason' 'joke' is funnier as stand-up

President Trump, stand-up comedian — (Image credit: Screenshot/YouTube/The Daily Show)

"For some reason, people with a hard-on for Democracy didn't like the president casually accusing his political opponents of treason," Trevor Noah said on Tuesday's Daily Show, referring to comments President Trump made about congressional Democrats on Monday. "Which is why the queen of comedy, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, came out to explain a thing or two."

Noah paraphrased Sanders, with a Valley Girl lilt: "Yeah, guys, lighten up, the president was just joking about treason — just like when he was joking about Obama helping ISIS, or when he joked about how the Russians should hack Hillary's emails, or my favorite joke, when he said police should rough-up people in custody." Look, Noah said, "those may not seem that funny, but maybe we just have to see Trump's jokes in the right setting."

Stand-up Trump with a laugh track is mildly more palatable than Authoritarian Autocrat Trump, but Seth Meyers had some more questions for Sanders on Tuesday's Late Show — and through the magic of television (or cutting and pasting), he and the Late Night press corps got their (mostly) unkind answers. Watch below. Peter Weber

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Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.