Seth Meyers ’Netflix Special Will Have a“ Skip Politics ”Button – Slate, Slate.com

          Donald Trump. You have probably heard a lot lately about this man, as he has been the President of the United States for almost three years — during which his approval ratings have beenquite low, while his every utterance and antic has been well covered by the media. If your ability to enjoy late night talk shows, especially Seth Meyers’Late Nighton NBC, has been inhibited by this ceaseless onslaught of Trump-related topical humor, you might be pleased to hear that Meyers’ upcoming Netflix specialLobby Babywill feature a “Skip Politics” button allowing viewers to opt out of his political jokes.         

          Meyerstold CNN Businessthat the button ( a riff on Netflix’s “Skip Intro” buttons) was his idea.         

          “It dawned on me that because it was on Netflix, there would be this opportunity to put in technology that would allow people to skip it,” he said. “It was a way to build in the response to anyone who would say,‘ Oh, let me guess there’s going to be jokes about the President. ’”         

          It’s a bit, in other words— ”another joke in the special,” as he told CNN. It’s basically a user interface-dependent version of the old “Carson Maneuver, ”whereby late night hosts attempt to goose a laugh out of mediocre or unpopular material by winkingly acknowledging to the audience that the joke was lame. (Probably the best innovation that Meyer’s has actually brought to this — a sort of unavoidable crutch needed to churn out a nightly talk show — is “One of My Writers Explains a Joke,” in which hisLate Nightwriters are trotted out to defendhorrible broccoli puns,dated music references,etc.)         

          Lobby Babydebuts on Netflix Nov. 5., along with Stand-Up Seth, an action figure that — despite being advertised inthe special’s trailer– is widely believed to be a prop devised with the intent to amuse.