--- title: TIME Magazine Cover: We Joke. You Decide. description: The seriously partisan politics of late-night comedy canonical: https://time.com/4494821/in-the-latest-issue-84/ author: TIME Staff article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-09-15T10:00:36.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-26T20:06:54.805Z article:section: Entertainment og:title: TIME Magazine Cover: We Joke. You Decide. og:description: The seriously partisan politics of late-night comedy og:url: https://time.com/4494821/in-the-latest-issue-84/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9e74011534278dab/6988a6168e0601f25f467754/comedy-final.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Late Night Comedy Time Magazine Cover 160926 og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: TIME Magazine Cover: We Joke. You Decide. twitter:description: The seriously partisan politics of late-night comedy twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9e74011534278dab/6988a6168e0601f25f467754/comedy-final.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # In the Latest Issue (15 Sep 2016) by [TIME Staff](https://time.com/author/time-staff/) ## TIME Staff Sep 15, 2016 10:00 AM UTC  Photo-illustration by Lon Tweeten for TIME by [TIME Staff](https://time.com/author/time-staff/) ## TIME Staff Sep 15, 2016 10:00 AM UTC [The New Politics of Late Night](http://time.com/4494764/the-new-politics-of-late-night/?iid=toc%5F091516) [Kim Jong Un Gets the Last Laugh in North Korea](http://time.com/4494763/north-korea-nuclear-weapon/?iid=toc%5F091516) An unyielding North Korea launches its biggest nuclear test yet–and there’s little the U.S. alone can do to stop it [A Coming Reckoning With North Korea](http://time.com/4494768/a-coming-reckoning-with-north-korea/?iid=toc%5F091516) [How Latinos Drive America’s Economic Growth](http://time.com/4494780/how-latinos-drive-americas-economic-growth/?iid=toc%5F091516) [My Day on Mars](http://time.com/4494753/my-day-on-mars/?iid=toc%5F091516) TIME’S space writer spends 24 hours inside NASA’s Simulated Mars Base in Hawaii [Meet the Pastor Who Prays With Donald Trump](http://time.com/4493530/donald-trump-prayer/?iid=toc%5F091516) [What Comes After for-Profit Colleges’ ‘Lehman Moment’? Possibly an Education Crash](http://time.com/4494767/education-crash/?iid=toc%5F091516) [Hillary Clinton’s Biggest Stumbles Have Nothing to Do With Her Health](http://time.com/4494778/hillary-clintons-biggest-stumbles-have-nothing-to-do-with-her-health/?iid=toc%5F091516) [10 Questions With Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden](http://time.com/4494775/carla-hayden/?iid=toc%5F091516) The Librarian of Congress, who oversees a collection of 162 million pieces, talks about Abraham Lincoln, overdue books and what she’s reading right now [My Life As a ‘None’ and Other Tales from the Ranks of the Unaffiliated and the Agnostic](http://time.com/4494751/my-life-as-a-none/?iid=toc%5F091516) [A Death In the Family Inspires Two Works of Art](http://time.com/4494761/commonwealth-ann-patchett/?iid=toc%5F091516) [The New Curse of _Blair Witch_: It’s Barely Scary](http://time.com/4494773/blair-witch-review/?iid=toc%5F091516) [Bridget Jones Hasn’t Lost Her Charm](http://time.com/4494760/bridget-jones-hasnt-lost-her-charm/?iid=toc%5F091516) [The Upside of Talking to Strangers](http://time.com/4494785/the-upside-of-talking-to-strangers/?iid=toc%5F091516) [Bons Mots In a New Language](http://time.com/4494752/bons-mots-in-a-new-language/?iid=toc%5F091516) [Phyllis Schlafly](http://time.com/4494754/phyllis-schlafly/?iid=toc%5F091516) Conservative icon [Rachel Weisz](http://time.com/4494755/rachel-weisz/?iid=toc%5F091516) In Denial, out Sept. 30, the actor, 46, plays historian Deborah Lipstadt, who was sued for libel in 1996 for calling author David Irving a Holocaust denier; in the British legal system, the burden fell on her defense team to essentially prove that the Holocaust happened. [Negative Rates Get a Second Look](http://time.com/4494756/negative-rates-get-a-second-look/?iid=toc%5F091516) [Barriers at the Borders](http://time.com/4494757/barriers-at-the-borders/?iid=toc%5F091516) It’s not just Donald Trump who’s seeking to build a “big, beautiful wall.” The U.K. said Sept. 6 that it would fund a wall in the French port of Calais to keep out migrants, one of many in the works around the world. [Furniture You Can Grow](http://time.com/4494759/furniture-you-can-grow/?iid=toc%5F091516) [Milestones](http://time.com/4494749/milestones/?iid=toc%5F091516) [This Just In](http://time.com/4494750/this-just-in/?iid=toc%5F091516) [In the 2016 Election, Distrust Cuts Both Ways](http://time.com/4494766/in-the-2016-election-distrust-cuts-both-ways/?iid=toc%5F091516) [Oliver Stone’s Snowden Lacks a Pulse](http://time.com/4494769/oliver-stones-snowden-lacks-a-pulse/?iid=toc%5F091516) [For the Record](http://time.com/4494770/for-the-record/?iid=toc%5F091516) [What You Said About …](http://time.com/4494771/what-you-said-about/?iid=toc%5F091516) [Can the World Agree on a Plan to Help Refugees?](http://time.com/4494772/can-the-world-agree-on-a-plan-to-help-refugees/?iid=toc%5F091516) [Pop Chart](http://time.com/4494774/pop-chart/?iid=toc%5F091516) [5 Simple Ways to Cut Down on Food Waste](http://time.com/4494776/5-simple-ways-to-cut-down-on-food-waste/?iid=toc%5F091516) [Lady Gaga Returns to a Changed Mainstream That’s Moved On](http://time.com/4494777/lady-gaga-returns/?iid=toc%5F091516) [How Outlook and Social Ties Affect the Way You Age](http://time.com/4494779/how-outlook-and-social-ties-affect-the-way-you-age/?iid=toc%5F091516) [How Sports Can Move Beyond Lip-Service Patriotism](http://time.com/4494782/how-sports-can-move-beyond-lip-service-patriotism/?iid=toc%5F091516) [The Emmys Struggle for Relevance In the Era of the Stream](http://time.com/4494784/the-emmys-struggle-for-relevance-in-the-era-of-the-stream/?iid=toc%5F091516) [Putin’s Liberal Opponents](http://time.com/4494786/putins-liberal-opponents/?iid=toc%5F091516) Russia votes on Sept. 18 to elect members of its State Duma, or lower house of parliament. Experts predict the vote will deliver a firmly pro-Kremlin Duma, as liberal opposition parties have been systematically repressed since disputed elections in 2011 sparked protests against President Vladimir Putin. Even so, some liberal candidates are trying to make their mark. [Why We Should Watch Our Internal Clocks](http://time.com/4494787/why-we-should-watch-our-internal-clocks/?iid=toc%5F091516) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4494821/in-the-latest-issue-84/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4494821/in-the-latest-issue-84/"},"headline":"In the Latest Issue (15 Sep 2016)","datePublished":"2016-09-15T10:00:36.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-26T20:06:54.805Z","description":"The seriously partisan politics of late-night comedy","url":"https://time.com/4494821/in-the-latest-issue-84/","keywords":[],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9e74011534278dab/6988a6168e0601f25f467754/comedy-final.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"TIME Staff","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/time-staff/"}],"articleSection":"Entertainment","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9e74011534278dab/6988a6168e0601f25f467754/comedy-final.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Late Night Comedy Time Magazine Cover 160926","caption":"Late Night Comedy Time Magazine Cover","creditText":"Photo-illustration by Lon Tweeten for TIME","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/entertainment/","name":"Entertainment"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4494821/in-the-latest-issue-84/","name":"In the Latest Issue (15 Sep 2016)"}}]}] ```