Late night US comics wonder about being funny under Trump

As with so many American institutions, comedy has entered a different realm given Donald Trump’s presidency.

Top comedians are processing the possibilities of a new president who provides a daily stream of potential material. Liberal comics, such as Bill Maher, are feeling disappointment, too.

Maher, a fierce Trump critic, says he was ready to get back to HBO’s Real Time With Bill Maher, which returned after a two-month break on inauguration night, as both a citizen and a comedian.

“I was in a very dark place, I’ll admit, right after the election. I really thought maybe this country is not for me anymore. I thought, ‘I’ve had a good run. Vancouver is looking awfully nice,’ “ he says. “But I started to get all the emails” — from fans who wanted to hear his biting take on the new president. “And it’s nice to feel needed.”

Maher, who was sued by Trump in 2013 after offering to donate $5 million to charity if the businessman could prove he wasn’t the child of an orangutan (the suit was withdrawn), is concerned about the new president’s hostility toward critics, but “I can’t be me and do my job and satisfy my audience without speaking openly and freely. … But we don’t know what this man is capable of, because he seems to only live for vengeance and adulation,“ he says.