NEW YORK 鈥� Someone once famously said that 鈥淓veryone is entitled to his own opinion, but not his own facts.鈥�
That was then, before objective truth lost its power to persuade; before facts were swept aside like pesky tumbleweeds. Now, it鈥檚 not just evidence that鈥檚 putty in the hands of every partisan. Entire cosmologies are now do-it-yourself projects, made to order for each person鈥檚 mind-set.
So say hello to The Opposition w/Jordan Klepper, whose host aims to rally a rash of rabid world views. The show airs Mondays following Comedy Central鈥檚 nightly fake newscast, The Daily Show.
A promo for The Opposition with Klepper wearing a know-it-all sneer, helps explain: 鈥淭HEY say, 鈥業nvestigate Trump.鈥� I say, 鈥業mpeach Hillary.鈥� 鈥� They say, 鈥極ur children should learn Chinese.鈥� I say, 鈥楥hina isn鈥檛 real.鈥� 鈥�
TV-Klepper is opposed to mainstream media. Opposed to Oprah鈥檚 Book Club. Opposed to that Vietnamese soup with the name that sounds vaguely like the movement known as 鈥渁ntifa.鈥�
Klepper, 38, was a correspondent on The Daily Show for three years and before that performed with the Upright Citizens Brigade and Second City improv troupes.
Now giving a tour through the rambling, recently occupied quarters of The Opposition in a building across from New York鈥檚 Penn Station, the off-screen Klepper is a rangy six-foot-four with an affable manner and a hearty laugh. Not the sort of chap for whom mad-dog fulminating would seem to come naturally.
Do the times make the man? Adapting to the current media ethos, with its even harsher, even more absurdist pitch, Klepper will in effect host a supercharged version of The Colbert Report, which from 2005 through 2014 occupied the same time slot, with Stephen Colbert posing as a priggish conservative blowhard.
鈥淲e鈥檙e not ideologically based,鈥� Klepper cautions. 鈥淲e鈥檙e AGAINST it. What鈥檚 鈥榠t鈥�? We鈥檒l get back to you on that. But whatever 鈥榠t鈥� is, we know we鈥檙e taking a strong stance against it.鈥�
On The Opposition, Klepper will preside over a team of zealous correspondents who, like camcorder-packing conservative activist James O鈥橩eefe, will produce field reports that advance his or her own version of the opposition cause.
鈥淲e鈥檒l have correspondents who live in their own 鈥榓lt-media鈥� silos: a conspiracy of paranoid dunces,鈥� says Klepper. 鈥淚t used to be a matter of choosing your own truths. Now it鈥檚 more a matter of concocting a reality you live inside, complete with its own echo chamber.鈥�
Klepper notes that, increasingly, people take refuge with a chosen media outlet 鈥� whether somewhat mainstream or out on the fringe 鈥� that reinforces what they want to think.
His guiding principle for The Opposition: 鈥淲e promise not to challenge you with anything that will challenge you. We are here to make you feel good about yourself, or to feel more afraid so you can feel good about being afraid. But whatever we do, we won鈥檛 try to change your mind!鈥�
While The Opposition will embrace the chaos of the current day in its search for laughs, there will be an underlying method to its madness: The conspiracies it lampoons will be mined from real-life theorists.
鈥淓very argument that we make will start with an argument from Breitbart or Milo Yiannopoulos or [Fox News Channel host Sean] Hannity, and, from that, we will concoct an even bigger 鈥榬eality,鈥� 鈥� Klepper explains. 鈥淚t鈥檚 OUR job to heighten it. That way, you can see how the little nugget of [crap] we started from can be very dangerous, because it can get so big so quick.鈥�
Yes, the times are dizzying and people are enraged. It makes Klepper and his Opposition鈥漜olleagues feel fortunate to be part of a de facto support group.
鈥淲e get to go into a room and bitch and laugh and find a way to contextualize what鈥檚 going on 鈥� and find humour or humanity in it.
鈥淭here is a world out THERE,鈥� says Klepper, stepping to his window to gaze down on 33rd Street. 鈥淏ut MY world is in this building.鈥�
Lucky indeed: 鈥淎ll I can see out there,鈥� he reports, 鈥渋s Old Navy and Hooters.鈥�
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