Comedians and podcast hosts were among the many commentators shaping the news cycle in 2025, offering their takes on the Trump administration and other major events this year.
Joe Rogan
The Joe Rogan Experience podcast host discusses a wide range of topics on his show, oftentimes discussing current events. One point of discussion he often returned to is Trump’s feud with the media, including a misleading edit the BBC created of Trump’s speech on Jan. 6, 2021. Rogan said media outlets aren’t meant to be “the propaganda arm,” and called the BBC’s edit “f***ing nuts!”
Another major story this year that drew commentary was the assassination of Kirk on Sept. 10, an act of political violence that some celebrated online. Rogan predicted two possible aftermaths from Kirk’s death: people either “have a conversation about being able to have conversations, or it’s going to get a lot worse.”
Rogan also addressed former Vice President Kamala Harris’s career post-White House, and pushed back against Harris’s claim she had the “closest” presidential election of the 21st century. He also pushed back against claims he wouldn’t cooperate in interviewing her ahead of the 2024 election.
Theo Von
Comedian and podcast host Theo Von guest-hosted Vice President JD Vance on his show, This Past Weekend with Theo Von, where they discussed the public breakup between Musk and Trump in June. Von noted that Musk retweeted a post calling for Trump’s impeachment and Vance to take Trump’s place, prompting Von to joke, “Dude, that’s one vote!” in reference to Vance possibly running for president in 2028.
Vance downplayed this, however.
Von also requested that the Department of Homeland Security not include him in the department’s “banger” social media edits in September. The video featured him saying to a phone camera, “Heard you got deported, dude … Bye!” Von said DHS pulled the clip “out of context,” and the edit made him “paranoid.”
Trevor Noah
Comedian Trevor Noah also addressed Kirk’s assassination, saying that comedians are being pressured not to discuss Kirk’s murder since “there’s nothing funny” about it. Noah pushed back on this, saying Kirk was shot while defending guns, and one has to admit “that is an incongruous, funny thing that happens.”
Noah contended the purpose of comedy is to “find the moment of solace,” and being told not to joke about certain topics only makes him “find the funny” in them. He added that the United States’ response to Kirk’s murder “was to limit speech,” instead of limiting “the thing that ended his life.”
Jimmy Kimmel
Jimmy Kimmel became one of the most Googled people in the U.S. this year, due to his show briefly being pulled for comments he made about Kirk’s suspected assassin, Tyler Robinson, and the “MAGA gang’s” attempt to score political points from Kirk to distance itself from Robinson. The show returned roughly a week later.
When Jimmy Kimmel Live! returned to the airwaves, Kimmel commended Kirk’s widow, Erika Kirk, for forgiving her husband’s suspected assassin. The late-night host said her words moved him and that she is someone “we should follow.”
Jon Stewart
Former The Daily Show host Jon Stewart is known for his comedy on politics, and 2025 proved to be no exception.
One major story he commented on this year was the release of the book Original Sin: President Biden’s Decline, Its Cover-up, and His Disastrous Choice to Run Again by CNN’s Jake Tapper and Axios’s Alex Thompson, which explored former President Joe Biden’s cognitive decline while in office. Stewart is among the many critics of Tapper’s involvement, as the CNN host previously defended Biden’s fitness while criticizing concerns that the former president was faltering.
“I understand the excitement over an insidious Democratic cover-up about Joe Biden’s mental decline. The thing is, though, it was a terrible cover-up, because we all f***ing knew,” Stewart said.
Stewart also criticized Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer’s (D-NY) handling of the government shutdown, calling the senator a “human flat tire.” He later said the Democratic Party “caved on the shutdown” in early November, less than a week after the party’s massive wins in the 2025 election cycle.
Rob Schneider
Comedian Rob Schneider was one of many to partake in Turning Point USA’s “This is the Turning Point” tour after Kirk’s death, delivering a speech at the University of California, Berkeley, in November. The former Saturday Night Live actor recalled an encounter he once had with actor Robert De Niro, who questioned how he could support a “schmuck” like Trump.
Schneider said he was surprised in the moment, saying all he could think of at the time was that De Niro knew who he was and proceeded to tell the actor, “I love you.” Schneider added that this type of interaction is the “only way to handle” hostility in an era of growing political polarization, encouraging attendees to pursue kindness over cancel culture.
Stephen Colbert
CBS canceled The Late Show with Stephan Colbert this year, ending his show that began in 2015. Colbert, a vocal critic of the president, said “the gloves are off” now that his show is coming to an end when addressing the cancellation and Trump’s celebration of it.
STEPHEN COLBERT CHALLENGES KARINE JEAN-PIERRE ON BIDEN’S MENTAL ACUITY
Colbert also pressed former White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre on Biden’s cognitive acuity, as Jean-Pierre was promoting her new book in October. The former press secretary said the president she saw “nearly every day” was engaged in his job, prompting Colbert to disagree.
“In a moment of great pressure onstage, we saw someone shock us and worry us. And nothing could assuage that worry,” Colbert said.
