Carlos Mencia uses laughter to deal with political divide

The recent election of Donald Trump as president of the United States has been great for comedian Carlos Mencia, and not because of what you might think, he says.

He does not spend his time onstage making fun of Trump. He's more interested in making fun of the folks on both sides of the political spectrum who have become "hysterical," he says.

"It's been great because my comedy has always been a safe place for America to come and laugh at anything and everything, but the partisan nature of this has gotten beyond what I would have ever thought," he said.

Carlos Mencia

"It's disgusting."

That's not to say he won't point out a few things he finds funny about our political leaders, including Trump, who he describes, and not in a good way, as "The funniest president we've ever had.

"How can he say the leaks are real, but the leaks are fake in the same sentence? That's just funny, but I am not going into the weeds with people."

Mencia, who appears this weekend at the Comedy Catch, said "It's the ridiculousness of people that is so hysterical. The hysteria is hysterical, as if one person could be so bad that the whole country will fall apart.

"Tricky Dicky [Nixon] didn't make America go bad, and Ronald Reagan didn't make it as great as some people think."

Mencia said his comedy is never about being mean or rude, except when it comes to stupid people. He especially likes to point out to people that they need to understand how TV news and news shows work.

He says they are interested in getting viewers, and they often do that with over-the-top storylines.

For example, he says, if an anchor or reporter teases a story about a new toy that could potentially, at-this-very-minute, be life-threatening to your child, and then says, "We'll have the details after this commercial, it probably isn't all that dangerous.

"They do breaking news like it's the end of the world, and people are starting to believe that America is broken. It's not broken. I love this country and I'm an immigrant.

"I make fun of common sense, or lack thereof," he said.

He said it is especially troubling to him to see friendships and families broken up over the "hysteria."

"It is unacceptable to me. I want to bring America together through the lens of comedy."

In addition to returning to Tennessee to make people laugh, Mencia said he also is looking forward to sampling a particular product he was introduced to while here years ago.

"Real apple moonshine made in a real moonshine still. I love coming to Tennessee. I always stop in Gatlinburg, and I want to go there to see how they've recovered since the horrible fire. But I'm looking forward to Chattanooga as well and making people laugh."

Contact Barry Courter at bcourter@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6354.