Comics Cash In On Calif. Recall

When it comes to the California recall election, who needs a punch line?

With the Terminator, actor Gary Coleman, magician Gallagher and pornographer Larry Flynt as opponents, the governor's race is a midsummer night's dream for late-night TV comics.

Aside from the process itself, add in jokes about bodybuilders (Arnold Schwarzenegger), short people (Coleman) and unintelligible accents (Schwarzenegger and Arianna Huffington) and you've got a mother lode of humor.

"Arnold Schwarzenegger is being criticized by the press," NBC's Conan O'Brien said, "because instead of discussing issues, he keeps reciting catch phrases like, 'Hasta la vista, baby.'

"When reached for comment, Arnold said, 'Hasta la vista, baby!'"

CBS' David Letterman presented a list of "Top 10 Arnold Schwarzenegger campaign promises." Among them:

No. 1: "Speak directly to the voters in clear, honest, broken English."

No. 2: "Raise the minimum age for dating Demi Moore"

No. 6: "Seek advice from elder political statesmen like Jesse Ventura."

Comedy Central's Colin Quinn — who has riffed about Schwarzenegger acting as governor in a steroid rage — said in an interview that the whole situation is actually too easy for comics. And that can be a problem.

"Schwarzenegger was already such a big joke in comedy for 15 years," said Quinn, whose late-night roundtable, "Tough Crowd with Colin Quinn," was just renewed through the end of 2004. "It's almost like a trick. This is so easy that anybody can make the same jokes that we are trying.

"You really have to start getting ugly and personal," he added.

Quinn's Comedy Central comic teammate, Jon Stewart, has already made the topic a regular feature of his mock newscast, "The Daily Show."

"Critics have noted Schwarzenegger's only previous government experience was serving under President Bush senior as chairman of the Council of Physical Fitness — a largely symbolic office where his primary responsibility was doing hundreds of jumping jacks he was going to do anyway," Stewart said.

Comedy Central, like CBSNews.com, is part of the Viacom family.

Schwarzenegger barely made his announcement, CBS's Craig Kilborn said, "and already people are chanting, 'Four more vowels. Four more vowels.'"

But the story has been owned by late-night's ratings king, NBC's Jay Leno.

It was on Leno's California-based "Tonight" show that Schwarzenegger announced his intention to run, drawing the show's second-biggest rating of the year (behind Katie Couric's guest host turn).

Leno has invited each candidate for governor to appear in his audience on Sept. 22 — the 135 certified contenders will take up nearly half of the 300 available seats.

He told Gary Coleman not to worry: "We will have a booster seat."

The NBC comic joked in one monologue this week of going through McDonald's drive-through lane, "and the woman in the speaker says for 39 cents more I can run for governor."

Leno's role has even made him a target of jokes, some perhaps tinged with jealousy.

Letterman, who has a legendarily prickly relationship with his late-night rival, said he missed Schwarzenegger's announcement. "The one night that I forget to watch Leno and this happens," he said.

Said Stewart: "I don't think Leno's gotten that kind of reaction since that marmoset crawled up Nathan Lane's pant leg."

The other candidates, as well as the sheer circus-like atmosphere of the recall, haven't escaped comic notice. Stewart said Huffington has pledged "to make 'curiously unidentifiable' the official accent of California."

With Coleman, Flynt, Gallagher and billboard star Angelyne running, Leno said, "I don't know if it's an election or a bad episode of 'Hollywood Squares.'"

Quinn believes, however, that most comics are secretly groaning at this story. Any self-respecting comedian has had a Schwarzenegger impression in his repertoire for years, he said.

"It's a punch line already," he said. "You need serious things to make jokes about."