Playful politicians and serious satirists: comedic and earnest interplay in Australian political discourse

Abstract

Recent scholarship has recognised that political satirists are important players in contemporary political discourse. Research on this phenomenon has been largely restricted to the work of US satirists Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert. This article examines the under-researched Australian context, arguing that the interplay between satirist and politician has contributed to a complex slippage between play and earnestness in contemporary Australian political media. It provides many examples, but focuses on the Australian satire team The Chaser and their work over the last decade. The paper argues that Australian politicians have increasingly sought to engage with satirists like The Chaser in a playful manner, even willingly satirising themselves, while satirists have been granted more of a licence to speak both humorously and seriously on political issues. It concludes that the advantages of this discursive confluence between serious politics and comic satire distribute asymmetrically – the satirical truth-teller is more successful at playing the hybrid role of joker/serious commentator than the politician who attempts to be both king and joker – but that the political co-option of satire is a distinct and real danger that should be more closely studied.