The Tonight Show With Jimmy Fallon Head Writer Exits Series, Hints at Issues Over Donald Trump Jokes

A little over six months after it was announced that Rebecca Drysdale had been named the head writer on The Tonight Show With Jimmy Fallon, she’s now revealed that she’s exiting the series. Deadline brings word that Drysdale made a post on Facebook that departing the show was a mutual decision between herself and the show, reportedly writing: “They made it clear that I was not a good fit for the show, and I did not disagree. I wish it had gone differently and I had been able to be what they needed but that is not how it shook out.” Another reason has seemingly come out though.

In a separate post, Drysdale noted that the extensive amount of jokes made at the expensive of President Donald Trump was a sticking point for her, not because of an underlying support for the president but how she sees comedy aimed at him potentially helping his image to the world at large. She wrote: “I believe that comedy is a powerful tool. I believe that it can handle anything, no matter how unfunny. I don’t believe that making fun of this man, doing impressions of him, or making him silly, is a good use of that power. It only adds to his.”

She continued, “I am making the decision for myself to never work on, write, or be involved with, another Trump sketch ever again. I have landed in several jobs and situations over the last few years, not just The Tonight Show, where the project of making fun of Trump, or doing material about Trump, has led to divided creative teams, anxiety, tears and pain. I can’t decide the outcome of this election, but I can make the choice for myself, to vote him out of my creative life.”

As viewers of Fallon’s show will recall, the host famously had Trump on his series ahead of the 2016 election, even tussling his hair, a move that has routinely been criticized in the years since. NBCUniversal however remains firmly in the camp of Jimmy Fallon, having extended his contract to keep him on The Tonight Show through the end of 2021. The series had previously been billed as “The Tonight Show: Home Edition” for a few months as the host held the whole thing together from his house. Production has since shifted back to Studio 6B though most guests continue to appear via Zoom.

(H/T TV Line)