Dutch late-night show host Arjen Lubach’s brutal takedown of Disney following the suspension of Jimmy Kimmel’s show racked up hundreds of thousands of views this week.David Cenzer/Supplied
When Jimmy Kimmel was suspended from ABC last week after threats from Donald Trump’s Federal Communications Commission chair, his fellow American late-night talk-show hosts were quick to respond by roasting that network and its parent company, Disney, for caving to political pressure.
But only Dutch late-night show host Arjen Lubach went as far as to roast Bambi’s mother on the air, too – literally – in a darkly satirical sketch featuring many of Disney’s most beloved cartoon characters.
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The comedian, who currently hosts Lubach on RTL 4 nightly in the Netherlands (clips of which appear with English subtitles on YouTube), went viral around the world with his brutal takedown of Disney – parodying its capitulation by imagining characters from Frozen’s Anna to Beauty and the Beast’s Belle in new MAGA versions of the company’s most popular animated movies.
The Globe and Mail spoke to the 45-year-old satirist by e-mail ahead of the news that ABC would be putting Kimmel back on the air Tuesday night.
Watch the viral clip from Lubach’s nightly show. (Offensive language)
Your show’s segment from Lubach about Disney has gone viral here in Canada as well as the United States. Were you surprised at how far it travelled?
I’m always amazed when things cross national borders. Here, I’ve already had plenty of time to build a name and a platform, but if I want something to succeed abroad, it has to be funny without the context of my show. That’s always exciting and really fun when it happens.
The occasion was of course less cheerful, so I hope that despite the jokes, people also take away a message.
This isn’t your first time going viral internationally with a Trump-related segment, correct?
That’s right! In 2017, when Trump became President for the first time – and when we still perhaps hoped that it would all turn out fine (oh, naive people of the 2010s) – we introduced our little country to him in a way he might appreciate, using his tone and way of speaking. In the video we said: Fine, if America is “first,” can the Netherlands be “second”? That video has now been viewed more than a hundred million times.
The Lubach segment sees Belle’s father telling her: “Oh, Belle, you’re so hot. If you weren’t my daughter I’d probably be dating you.” Aladdin and Jasmine get arrested by ICE. And I don’t think I can quote from The Little Mermaid bit.
Yeah, I get it – better leave that kind of statement to cartoon characters, like Prince Eric and Donald Trump.
Has RTL Nederland gotten any blowback from Disney about repurposing clips from these well-known movies?
No. Not that I know of.
Did you see Stephen Colbert, on his soon-to-be-cancelled show on CBS in the U.S., did an animated parody of Beauty and the Beast’s Be Our Guest sequence, which was instead called Shut Your Trap? It was good but yours was better in my opinion – my favourite part being the Encanto cast singing, “We don’t talk about Jeffrey, no, no, no.”
It was a bit of a “great minds think alike” situation, if I may say so without sounding too immodest. I did e-mail their co-executive producer the next day, whom I know a little, and we both had a good laugh about it. I told her that when they get taken off the air, they can come work for me, although I’m afraid I can’t offer the same salary.
You’ve been a staple of satire on television in the Netherlands since 2014 – first with Zondag met Lubach and then De Avondshow Met Arjen Lubach and now Lubach. Did you take any inspiration from American shows or hosts?
Absolutely! For years here in the Netherlands, I worked behind the scenes as a joke writer for others. I always dreamed of having my own late-night show in the American style.
When I finally had the opportunity to make a pilot, I very deliberately looked to the United States for inspiration. I even went to New York to watch shows and talk to people there. That’s why I find it especially sad how things are going now. The fact that my role models are no longer allowed to say what they want is a frightening development.
What is it like to be a satirist in the Netherlands these days? Have you ever experienced pressure to censor your comedy in any way?
Just like the rest of Western civilization, the Netherlands also seems to be subject to ever-growing polarization. I blame it on the online world, which serves everyone their own version of the truth.
Whenever I discuss politically sensitive topics, I can already predict the insults and threats that will show up the next day. Still, I don’t want to let that guide me. We always make sure to tell the reasonable story (everybody says that, of course, but I really do, haha). More than my American role models, we also try to comment on all sides of the political spectrum. The far left thinks I’m right-wing, and the far right thinks I’m left-wing. As long as I’m getting criticism from both sides, I figure I’m in the right place.
What about the Jimmy Kimmel story concerns you from your perspective as a satirist in the Netherlands?
In many ways, America is a model country for Western Europe. For years, we’ve looked up to its culture, media, music, television and film. I’m afraid we’re also importing its extreme polarization. If the Kimmel story has taught me anything, it’s that things can move faster than you think.
This interview has been edited and condensed
