Late-night Comedy Research Articles

The Implicit Cultural Policies of US Late-night Comedy Shows

This paper argues how comedy is used as an implicit tool by US late-night shows to create an informed citizenry. It explores how late-night shows have transcended its original format to emerge as an alternative form of journalism and realized its potential to disseminate political knowledge and debunk political lies through the framework of a cultural entity. These shows successfully package humor as information shortcuts, making it easier to remember facts and leaving a greater lasting impact on both media-savvy and informationally-ignorant audiences. The effectiveness of these shows is strengthened as the use of comedy provides instant gratification, compared to a delayed gratification provided by other hard news sources. This paper further discusses weaknesses of such shows by exploring whether the political allegiance and self-selective set of knowledge of its audience influences the outcome of the viewing. It also argues that US late-night shows create a political/cultural laicity through the use of laughter.

A Multimedia Analysis of Persuasion in the 2016 Presidential Election: Comparing the Unique and Complementary Effects of Political Comedy and Political Advertising

In this study, we test the indirect and conditional persuasive effects of a broadcast media echo chamber by combining political campaign attack ads with mockery and criticism on a late-night comedy program. A randomized experiment was conducted in which participants (N = 559) were assigned to view one of four reconstructed episodes of Late Night with Seth Meyers: (a) anti-Trump comedy with anti-Trump campaign ads, (b) anti-Trump comedy with nonpolitical ads, (c) nonpolitical comedy with anti-Trump ads, and (d) nonpolitical comedy with nonpolitical ads. Results suggested that both comedy and ads exert persuasive effects on image perceptions of the candidates that subsequently influence vote intention. Furthermore, effects were largely confined to those who were high in need for cognition. There was no additive benefit to pairing ads with political comedy. The results are discussed regarding their contribution to theories of persuasion and information processing when applied to political comedy and political ads.

Do Foreigners Count? Internationalization of Presidential Campaigns

The U.S. presidential elections always attract the attention of foreign audiences—who, despite not being able to vote, choose to follow the campaigns closely. For a post that is colloquially dubbed as the “Leader of the Free World,” it is not unexpected to see such an interest coming from nonvoters. Mimicking almost hosting a megaevent, the elections increase the media coverage on the United States, thus making the elections a platform to communicate with the rest of the world and to influence the reputation of the country, or its nation brand. This study postulates that the increasing adoption of social media by campaigns as well as ordinary users, increase the symbolic importance of presidential elections for foreign audiences in two ways. First, foreign audiences no longer passively follow the campaign but rather present their input to sway the American public opinion through social media campaigns. Second, foreign audiences are exposed to a variety of messages ranging from official campaigns to late-night comedy shows to local grassroots movements. The audiences both enjoy a more in-depth understanding of the elections campaigns and are exposed to alternative political views. In this study, the 2016 U.S. presidential elections are positioned as a megaevent that can influence the American nation brand. Through a comparative content and network analyses of messages disseminated over social media in the United Kingdom, Turkey, Canada, and Venezuela, the nation branding–related impacts of election campaigns are investigated.

Politics Is a Joke! How TV Comedians Are Remaking Political Life

Politics Is a Joke! How TV Comedians Are Remaking Political Life

The View from Below: Rob Ford and Perceptions of Canada on U.S. Late Night Comedy

This analysis aims to review the means by which an imagined Canadianness is described through the responses of American comedians to late Toronto mayor Rob Ford on comedy shows which aired between May 2013 and May 2014. The Rob Ford story, as taken up in late night U.S. comedy, both maintains and transgresses stereotypes about Canada and Canadians. Likewise, an examination of the constructed Ford (and the constructed Canada which simultaneously emerges) in late night comedy focuses on appropriate behaviours and expectations, especially with respect to the governance of body and mind.

Live from DC: Saturday Night Live political parody references in presidential rhetoric

ABSTRACTFrom content analyses to effects studies to rhetorical and critical analyses, we have a growing body of scholarship exploring political humor on United States late night television. The growing body of political humor scholarship reveals how late night comedy characterizes politics and politicians. What has not yet been explored, however, is how United States' politicians characterize late night television humor. Recognizing Saturday Night Live (SNL) as a unique type of late night television political humor in the USA, this essay turns to SNL mentions in United States' presidential remarks, including mentions by Presidents George Bush, George W. Bush, Gerald Ford, and Bill Clinton. Directions for future scholarship in this area are also proposed.

Book Review: Politics Is a Joke! How TV Comedians Are Remaking Political Life, by S. Robert Lichter, Jody C. Baumgartner, and Jonathan S. Morris

Politics Is a Joke! How TV Comedians Are Remaking Political Life. S. Robert Lichter, Jody C. Baumgartner, and Jonathan S. Morris. Boulder, Colorado: Westview Press, 2015. 253 pp. $32 pbk. $22.99 ebk.In Politics Is a Joke! scholars S. Robert Lichter, Jody C. Baumgartner, and Jonathan S. Morris offer a comprehensive analysis of political humor over time. Their research analyzes the volume of political jokes, the targets of these jokes, and their content across multiple entertainment programs. The culmination of this work is a text that is not only accessible to undergraduate students but one that is suitable for a general audience. The authors offer strong support for the increasing relevancy of political humor; their vivid examples underscore the influence of humor in a modern democracy. Given the dearth of research exploring entertainment media in our polity, this text is a welcome addition to the literature.The text begins with a brief outline in Chapter 1, followed by an overview of the evolution of political humor in Chapter 2, noting its prolific nature in our changing media environment. Chapter 3 succinctly examines the individual and institutional targets of political jokes. Chapter 4 explores the event-driven nature of humor- the scandals and missteps fueling the punchlines; Chapter 5 explores the personal nature of these jokes (e.g., character and traits of targets). In Chapter 6, the authors nicely situate political humor in the context of the news media, exploring how patterns in humor influence public opinion. In Chapter 7, the authors discuss strategic implications of their work and strategies for candidate engagement with late-night comedy. In Chapter 8, the data are discussed in a broader context.A key strength of the text lies in its unique dataset gathered at George Mason University's Center for Media and Public Affairs, a dataset totaling more than 100,000 jokes. The authors identify correlations between political humor and public opinion of certain candidates. The implications of Chapter 6 are particularly compelling: In exploring the relationship between news and political humor, they find that jokes not only draw from negative news coverage, but further amplify negative news narratives. Another strength of the text comes from the accessibility of the literature review and its balance. The authors synthesize a highly measured review of the literature that balances the civic benefits of humor with the studies suggestive of cynicism and disengagement effects.The researchers acknowledge that the audience for late night talk shows is limited; however, by overlooking the role of social media, the authors somewhat undersell the significance of their work. Today jokes are swiftly disseminated online, and the longer shelf life afforded through social media may accidentally expose non-viewers to punchlines. Future research should also incorporate satirical programs such as Saturday Night Live, which one could argue is as or more influential than late night talk programs. …

Politics is a joke!: how TV comedians are remaking political life

Does late night political humor matter? Are late-night comedians merely entertaining, or do they have the power to influence the way we think about politics and politicians? Politics Is a Joke! situates late night comedy in the historical context of political humor and demonstrates how the public turn to this venue for political information, and are in turn affected by it. Using exclusive data collected by the Center for Media and Public Affairs, the authors conduct a detailed and exhaustive analysis of political jokes on late night TV shows dating back to 1992 in order to pinpoint the main targets and themes of late-night comedy. Politics Is a Joke! uses a wide range of examples, from jokes about politicians' physical appearance and sex scandals to jokes about Congress and even the news media, to assess and understand the impact of political humor on political institutions, politicians and their policies and behavior. Engagingly written with analysis of jokes from comedians like Jay Leno, Conan O'Brien, Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert, Politics is a Joke! is essential reading for anyone who wants to understand the crucial role late night comedy plays in our political universe - and anyone who enjoys a good laugh.

“Fat Letters” in Public Schools: Public Health Versus Pride

Recently, BMI screening in public schools has stirred sharp controversy with the emergence of letters sent home to parents indicating their child’s BMI percentile and weight category. In Massachusetts, these letters have been deemed, “fat letters,” and have appeared on late night comedy shows, newspapers, and televised news reports. Not only has screening come under harsh criticism, but the increasing prevalence of obesity in our nation’s children has been challenged based on misinformed assumptions that BMI is an inaccurate measure of a child’s body fat. Massachusetts representatives have submitted House Bill H.2024, which would ban that state’s department of public health from collecting any data on height, weight, or calculating BMI in public school children. Currently, 21 states have enacted policies or made recommendations regarding the collection of height and weight data or assessment of body composition in public schools (Alabama, Arkansas, California, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Kentucky, Maine, Massachusetts, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, Nevada, New York, New Jersey, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, West Virginia). In Massachusetts, BMI screening has been mandated in all public school districts since 2009, with the measurement of height and weight performed by school nurses and the child’s BMI then calculated. A subsequent confidential letter (Supplemental Information) is mailed directly to parents indicating their child’s weight status and encouraging discussion with his or her health care provider. Arkansas was the first state to pass such a law requiring BMI measurement in its public school … Address correspondence to Michael Flaherty, DO, Department of Pediatrics, Baystate Medical Center, 759 Chestnut St, Springfield, MA 01199. E-mail: michael.flaherty{at}baystatehealth.org

Learning about Politics From The Daily Show: The Role of Viewer Orientation and Processing Motivations

Although late-night comedy and satirical news programs like The Daily Show have been recognized as important sources of political information, prior research suggests that viewers gain only a limited amount of political knowledge from watching these programs. Drawing from uses and gratification theory and extant research on political information processing, this study examines whether learning from The Daily Show depends on whether viewers orient to the message as news or as entertainment. Results from an online experiment suggest that viewers who orient to a segment from The Daily Show as news or as a mix of news and entertainment invest more mental effort and subsequently learn more than viewers who have a purely entertainment orientation. Further, among viewers with a purely entertainment orientation, providing them with an explicit informational-processing goal increases the amount of mental effort and learning relative to viewers who are given no explicit viewing objective.

Appropriation of Mainstream News: How Saturday Night Live Changed the Political Discussion

This study analyzes the sourcing role alternative news outlets can play for mainstream news by focusing on one particular late-night comedy program. Quantitative and qualitative content analyses were conducted on the how journalists framed Sarah Palin's 2008 interview with Katie Couric prior to and following a Saturday Night Live (SNL) skit that parodied the exchange. Findings suggest that before the skit aired journalists tended to overlook the interview or attribute blame to those in the McCain campaign. After the skit was aired, however, journalists overwhelmingly attributed the fault to Palin herself and raised questions about her qualifications for office, especially when the SNL skit was included or referenced in the news story. Furthermore, a qualitative reading analyzed the context of including the skit by journalists and found that when the skit was used as a lead-in or reference, journalists tended to attribute the blame to Palin, yet gave agency of the critiques to others. This incident demonstrates the way that alternative news sources such as commentary, parody, and online content are increasingly being incorporated into the mainstream information environment.

Communication Mediation Model of Late-Night Comedy: The Mediating Role of Structural Features of Interpersonal Talk Between Comedy Viewing and Political Participation

This study advances a communication mediation model of late-night comedy in an effort to understand the process wherein consuming satirical humor indirectly spurs political participation via the conduit of interpersonal talk about politics. The theoretical model was tested utilizing two different research designs. The findings from the experiment and the survey provide considerable support for the model, demonstrating that various structural features of interpersonal talk (e.g., discussion frequency, online interaction, and network size) positively mediate the association between late-night comedy viewing and political participation. Meanwhile, the assessments concerning the mediating role of heterogeneous discussion illustrate that late-night comedy can draw a higher level of political involvement from those who are highly educated. The present study urges the field to extend the scope of the communication mediation model by incorporating a greater number of media channels and more diverse aspects of interpersonal talk.

Image repair in late night comedy: Letterman and the Palin joke controversy

David Letterman, host of The Late Show, told a joke about Sarah Palin's daughter during one of his nightly monologues. During the ensuing controversy, Letterman offered two extended statements about the joke. Approaching Letterman's responses from the perspective of Benoit's image repair typology reveals three primary strategies: denial, mortification, and corrective action. While Letterman's first attempt to resolve the controversy failed, his second attempt was largely successful. Implications for public relations image repair strategies are offered.

Perceptions of Bias in Political Content in Late Night Comedy Programs

Politicians, scholars, and young viewers have been paying increased attention to political content in late night comedy over the past decade. Because young viewers seem to treat the content as a source of news, a survey examined perceptions of bias in comedy content as compared to those for mainstream, broadcast news. Political content in comedy programs was rated by respondents as more biased than such content in traditional news programs. Further, a hostile media effect was found for political content about three topics across five comedy shows, with republicans, democrats, and independents reporting significantly different perceptions of the extent of bias in the content.

Satire, Punch Lines, and the Nightly News: Untangling Media Effects on Political Participation

Research often collapses programming like The Daily Show, The Colbert Report, The Late Show, and The Tonight Show into one category of programming. However, recent research suggests that both the content and effects of viewing these programs differ. This study separates satire or parody and traditional late-night comedy to examine effects of viewing on political participation. Results suggest that viewing satire or parody has positive and significant effects on political participation through the mediator of political efficacy, as does viewing traditional TV news. However, this relationship is not borne out for viewers of traditional late-night comedy. Implications and directions for future research are discussed.

Late-Night Iraq: Monologue Joke Content and Tone From 2003 to 2007

The current study examines late-night comedy about the war in Iraq. Specifically, a content analysis was conducted to examine late-night comedy jokes from March 2003 to March 2007. Results indicate jokes told (N = 986) about Iraq were anti-war, had a negative tone, and depicted the U.S. government negatively. The most common type of comedy employed to discuss Iraq was informative. The topics discussed in the jokes varied. The study also found differences in comedian ideology (anti-war), tone, and depiction of the U.S. government over time.

Don’t Expect Too Much! Learning From Late-Night Comedy and Knowledge Item Difficulty

The debate on late night comedy has been inconclusive, with some scholars arguing that this genre increases political knowledge, and others seeing late night comedy as harmful to effective citizenry. We add to the debate and to the research on media effects more generally, by proposing a model that measures political knowledge. The model utilizes item response theory (IRT) to account for individual characteristics, knowledge item difficulty, and response format that influences the likelihood of providing a correct response. Drawing on the 2004 National Annenberg Election Study, we employ this model to test knowledge gain from late night comedy. Using a meta-analysis across 35 political knowledge items, we show that late night comedy increases knowledge, but primarily on easy political items that have fewer correct response options, and mainly among the inattentive citizens. We discuss theoretical implications and provide practical suggestions for scholarship on media effects.

The Irony of Satire

This study investigated biased message processing of political satire in The Colbert Report and the influence of political ideology on perceptions of Stephen Colbert. Results indicate that political ideology influences biased processing of ambiguous political messages and source in late-night comedy. Using data from an experiment ( N = 332), we found that individual-level political ideology significantly predicted perceptions of Colbert's political ideology. Additionally, there was no significant difference between the groups in thinking Colbert was funny, but conservatives were more likely to report that Colbert only pretends to be joking and genuinely meant what he said while liberals were more likely to report that Colbert used satire and was not serious when offering political statements. Conservatism also significantly predicted perceptions that Colbert disliked liberalism. Finally, a post hoc analysis revealed that perceptions of Colbert's political opinions fully mediated the relationship between political ideology and individual-level opinion.

Taking Late Night Comedy Seriously

Candidate appearances on entertainment television have become a staple of recent presidential campaigns, yet little is known about their effect on voters. Many assume that they leave viewers uninformed and focused on the candidate’s personal image. In this article, the author investigates this idea with an experiment using John Kerry’s 2004 appearance on the Late Show with David Letterman. He finds that—contrary to popular expectations—late night interviews have particular features that can, at times, engage otherwise politically disinterested viewers, causing them to process and recall substantive policy information.

Late-Night Comedy as a Gateway to Traditional News: An Analysis of Time Trends in News Attention Among Late-Night Comedy Viewers During the 2004 Presidential Primaries

Recent reports published by the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press (2000, 2004) propose that young audiences are abandoning traditional news as a source of election information in favor of late-night comedy programs. However, additional evidence (Young & Tisinger, 2006) suggests that exposure to late-night comedy programming is positively correlated with traditional news exposure. This study extends this body of research by offering evidence that exposure to late-night comedy is associated with increases in attention paid to the presidential campaign in national network and cable news. The analysis uses data collected via the National Annenberg Election Survey during the 2004 presidential primary season, between October 30, 2003, and June 4, 2004. Cross-sectional results demonstrate that viewers of late-night comedy programs—specifically viewers of The Tonight Show with Jay Leno and The Late Show with David Letterman, as well as Comedy Central's The Daily Show with Jon Stewart—pay more attention to the campaign in national network and cable news than nonviewers, controlling for a variety of factors. An analysis of time trends also reveals that the rate of increase in news attention over the course of the primary season is greater for viewers of Leno or Letterman than for those who do not watch any late-night comedy.