Earlier today, Arnold Schwarzenegger criticized the California school system, calling it disastrous. Arnold says California’s schools are so bad that its graduates are willing to vote for me.

The joke hinges on a quick reversal: Schwarzenegger’s critique of California schools is reframed as evidence of their failure because, Conan implies, an undereducated electorate would support him. It’s a self-deprecating insult that simultaneously flatters the audience’s intelligence (they’re in on the irony) and satirizes political discourse, where complex policy issues get reduced to punchlines and partisan jabs. By invoking Schwarzenegger—an action star turned California governor—Conan also plays with celebrity politics and the idea that public figures can credibly pronounce on education while being targets of late-night ridicule. The line exemplifies monologue humor that converts a news item into a personal, comic “gotcha.”