Anybody who watches “Late Night With Seth Meyers” knows that Meyers regularly makes barbed jokes about President Donald Trump. But this week, the host of the NBC show threw in a sarcastic observation about Oregon -- while making jokes about Trump, and the campaign to re-elect the president in 2020.
In his monologue, Meyers said, “According to CNN, the Trump campaign is attempting to find ways of winning the historically Democratic state of Oregon in 2020. Well, the first step will be convincing them that it’s 2020.”
Here’s the visual: as Meyers mentions convincing Oregonians that it’s 2020, viewers see a photo of a young guy with an old-timey beard, wearing a white shirt, and black shorts with suspenders, as he stands with a bicycle.
See that guy with the beard, the shorts and the bike? He's a typical Oregon resident, according to a joke in a recent Seth Meyers monologue. (Image: Screenshot from "Late Night With Seth Meyers" YouTube channel)
It’s an image that may remind you of the “Portlandia” sketch, featuring self-consciously nineteenth-century types singing “The dream of the 1890s is alive in Portland,” in a nod both to the show’s famous “Dream of the ’90s" song, and the Portland trend for quaint, ye-olden-timey ways of doing things.
In what may not be a coincidence, “Portlandia” veteran Fred Armisen, who appears in the “Dream of the 1890s” sketch, is bandleader and drummer -- when not away doing other projects -- for the “Late Night With Seth Meyers” band.
You can see the entire “Late Night With Seth Meyers” monologue here:
For more perspective on Trump and his standing in Oregon -- including areas beyond Portland, or “Portlandia” -- read The Oregonian/OregonLive article.
-- Kristi Turnquist
kturnquist@oregonian.com 503-221-8227 @Kristiturnquist
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