‘Daily Show,’ Colbert ‘Late Show’ teams must be funny in a hurry during DNC episodes in Chicago

For weeks, the teams at Stephen Colbert’s show and his former employer, “The Daily Show,” have been prepping comedy for the coming week’s Chicago episodes during the Democratic National Convention.

Some of the bits will offer commentary on the state of Democratic Party politics. Some will make fun of the host city and its traditions.

And some of them will go right in the garbage.

That’s the hazard of working at these platforms for highly topical humor: A change in the news cycle can turn a promising joke into a pointless anachronism.

“The Daily Show” was reminded of that when Donald Trump was wounded in a shooting last month, two days before the start of the Republican convention. The Comedy Central show had to scrap its transplant to Milwaukee (because of tightened security) and a lot of material that became abruptly inappropriate.

“I don’t know what’s going to happen between now and Day 1 of the DNC,” said “Daily Show” supervising producer Ian Berger. “Like, aliens might land, and we’ll have to [react to] that.”

For Colbert, this is the first time his CBS show and its entire team have relocated anywhere. But it’s a long-standing custom for “The Daily Show,” which has been visiting convention cities since 2000.

Jordan Klepper, a “Daily Show” correspondent who started there in 2014, said, “You’re writing shows faster than you normally do” during a convention, with its ever-changing narratives.

He’s also bracing for Chicago crowds far bigger than the audiences in the show’s modest New York studio. It will be “a more raucous, larger auditorium vibe,” he said, at the 950-seat Athenaeum Center for Thought and Culture in Lake View.

Both shows plan to broadcast from Chicago Monday through Thursday. Colbert’s “Late Show” will be live from the South Loop’s Auditorium Theatre. (Ticket distribution is closed.)

“The Daily Show” will do one live episode, on Thursday, after (or during) Kamala Harris’ acceptance speech. Jon Stewart will anchor that one. Other correspondents will front the three earlier episodes, which will be taped in late afternoon. (For tickets, go to https://1iota.com.)

“I’m looking forward to being behind the desk one of those days,” Klepper said.

As the only current “Daily Show” personality with an extensive Chicago history — he spent a decade performing in such weekly fixtures as the headline-driven “Whirled News Tonight” and the onstage chatfest “Late Night Late Show,” both at iO — Klepper has been advising his New York colleagues on the city’s ways.

“I can bring these coastal elites to a Midwestern city,” he said, “so they can understand what real America looks like.”

In addition to reacting to the convention news of the day, “The Daily Show” intends to poke fun at Chicago, as previous host Trevor Noah did during his four Athenaeum episodes in 2017.

“With a little bit of luck, you’ll see us visiting some of my old haunts and my favorite spots and trying to make that a part of the show as well,” Klepper said.

Part of the correspondent’s job on “The Daily Show” is going out and finding people willing to take time to share their thoughts on the news. Some are reluctant. At conventions, that’s not a problem.

“If a person is wearing a giant sash, a flag and 72 buttons,” Klepper said, “there’s a decent chance they’ll have some opinions about politics they’d like to share.”

If anything, the challenge at a convention is getting OUT of conversations with chatty politicians and delegates.

“A big part of my job at the DNC,” Berger said, “is, ‘Thank you so much, we have to go. I have to get [this correspondent] back to the studio,’ pointing to a watch that isn’t on my wrist.”

The guy on the other show, Colbert, has his own Chicago cred, having graduated from Northwestern and starred in Second City shows. He also worked political conventions during his “Daily Show” tenure.

“The good news is there’s plenty of comedy and chaos for both shows to cover that week,” Klepper said.

The competition is likely to be cordial. After all, Stewart is an executive producer on both shows. But if conflict does arise, Klepper has a way the two teams can duke it out.

“We’re going to have a classic Malört-off,” he proposed, with victory going to “whoever can drink the most Malört without throwing up a little in their mouth.”