This Is the Best Joke About Trump and 'Bubba' from Late Night

The release of some of Jeffrey Epstein’s emails last week led to a number of revelations about the convicted sex trafficker’s movements and relationships in time leading up to his 2019 arrest. For the world of late night, the cache of emails is an endless treasure trove. On Monday night, one particular detail from Epstein’s correspondence drew the attention of hosts. An email between Epstein and his brother, where the brother, Mark Epstein, asked Epstein if Russian President Vladimir Putin was in possession of photos showing President Donald Trump pleasuring someone named “Bubba.”

“Bubba,” of course, is one of the many nicknames that former President Bill Clinton accumulated through his long career. 

It didn’t take the internet long to erupt in memes, songs, and videos about this alleged photo of the two presidents locked in a passionate coital embrace. No matter that Epstein’s brother, Mark, said that the “Bubba” referred to in the emails was not Bill Clinton, people used their imagination and photoshop to litter the internet in president-on-president fan fiction. 

The late night show hosts then took a turn with this—highly unsubstantiated—rumor. 

Over on The Late Show, Stephen Colbert predictably took the choir boy approach. “I don't want to talk about this. I mean, I try to be a good person,” Colbert introduced the subject. “You know, I taught Sunday school. We have standards at the Late Show, but we also have a self-imposed mandate to talk a lot about what a lot of people are talking about. And for the past few days, a lot of people have been talking about this email.”

Then, an image of the email flashed on the screen. 

“First of all, who is this lucky Bubba? Well, lots of folks pointed out that Bubba is a nickname for former President Bill Clinton,” Colbert said, to an audience going wild. The late night host cut all of the fun short though, by giving us all of that context about Mark Epstein’s clarification. 

“This Bubba thing got so crazy that Epstein's brother, Mark Epstein, who wrote that email, came forward to clarify that the Bubba he was referring to was not Bill Clinton,” Jimmy Kimmel similarly clarified on Jimmy Kimmel Live! He made one dirtier joke. “But who is Bubba then? Maybe Gump. Maybe he was deep-throating shrimp. We don't know.”

On both shows, who have already been the subject of repeated attacks by President Trump, you could feel the deft and careful hands of their respective networks’ legal team reigning in the material. This cautiousness made it light work for The Daily Show with Jon Stewart to sweep in and make the best jokes on the subject matter. 

Unlike Colbert, Stewart clearly doesn’t regret to inform the audience about the latest email scandal. 

“On the premiere of season eight of the Epstein files, old emails continue to resurface, sparking renewed interest, because of exchanges like this one, which really encapsulates the absolutely astonishing nature of this entire affair,” Stewart introduced the topic. “ I give you-- this is an email exchange between Jeffrey Epstein and his brother, Mark.”

Cut to a reporter’s voice saying, “In one email, Epstein's brother, Mark, told him to ask Steve Bannon if, quote, ‘Putin has the photos of Trump blowing Bubba?’”

There’s a spark of both joy and disgust in Stewart’s eyes rarely seen together in one person as he pauses for the audience’s laughter. “This sentence, maybe 18 words long, seven of those words are Steve Bannon, Putin, photos, Trump blowing Bubba,” Steart continued. “It's a rich text. Literary scholars will secure tenure of the analysis of this text. Steve Bannon, Putin, photos, Trump blowing Bubba. And I know what you're probably thinking. Jeffrey Epstein had a brother?”

Then, there’s usual clarification about Mark Epstein saying it wasn’t Bill Clinton, and almost the exact Bubba Gump Shrimp joke. But Stewart didn’t stop there; after playing a clip of Trump insisting the Epstein files are “not that interesting,” Stewart disagreed. 

“The little taste of that—no pun intended—did arouse—again, no pun intended— some curiosity about the rest of— if I may—the load,” Stewart said. “But pressure is building—is there any way to talk about this story that doesn't sound ejaculate adjacent?”

Stewart then ran through a few more turns of phrases: “People are begging on their knees. No, this is not. Demanding release? No, this is—,” he said, before giving up. 

With the benefit of time and being on Comedy Central, not CBS or ABC, Stewart was able to get the filthiest, which is exactly the approach this bizarre news cycle requires.