Tim Young Is Transforming Conservative Comedy

Conservatism and comedy don’t usually go together. Tim Young is challenging that notion.

Baltimore’s Tim Young has made a name for himself with his right-leaning take on comedy. He gained considerable notice for his amusing on-the-street interviews during the Women’s March on Washington this January. He has appeared on CNN and Fox News, provided branding consulting to political candidates and, this week, he began a new comedy program on The Daily Caller. Yesterday, he spoke with Merion West to discuss the role of comedy in the conservative movement.

Tim, thank you for being with us. We’ve seen some of your jokes on Twitter recently. Your post about the United Airlines passenger dragging incident said it all: “If the treatment of your passengers evokes imagery from Benghazi, you’re probably doing it wrong.” Getting started, could you talk a little bit about how your comedic approach differs from the more academic approach of Ben Shapiro, who has been enormously successful in exposing countless young people to conservative ideas?

Ben Shapiro is very academic and intelligent. Nobody would argue that. It’s a completely different delivery system from the one I have. Rather than explain it at the complex level many of these ideas are at, I can break it down with a couple of jokes. I think people are more likely not only listen, but actually to remember it.