The Opposition with Jordan Klepper

The Ask: Following the departures of Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert from The Daily Show and The Colbert Report respectively, Comedy Central was eager to reestablish a new somewhat dueling duo of late night political satire. The late night “desk comedy” format/space was becoming more and more crowded, and Comedy didn’t want to lose their dominance in the political satire lane.

The plan was to rebrand Daily Show correspondent Jordan Klepper as a kind of Colbert 2.0, taking inspiration from and satirizing the more current and even more unhinged rantings of alt-right “icon” Alex Jones and Infowars, vs Colbert’s Bill O’Reilly impression. To that end, we crafted a launch campaign for the show leaning into a DIY wheat pasted screed aesthetic, writing multiple taglines of non-sensical, self-defeating (and aggrandizing) conspiracy one-liners, while freeing up plenty of room for Klepper to mug to camera. We also kept on-air and social promos deliberately lo-fi, with minimal sets and consciously-amateurish videography to keep up the idea that it might be broadcasting from a suburban basement.

Role: Art Director, Writer, Designer, Animator

The Outcome: The Opposition debuted to enthusiastic initial press and reviews, with ratings initially significantly higher than CC’s previous 11:30PM Colbert replacement. The campaign was also well received on social media and in industry trades. Hype for the show’s initial run was optimistic and high. Unfortunately, the conceit of the show worked better as a launch campaign and media stunt than it did an enduring comedy ratings juggernaut, and The Opposition was gone from the airwaves within a year.*

*To be fair, maintaining a faux-Alex Jones schtick 5 days a week must be a grueling proposition that I don’t know how anyone could possibly keep up.