Is Satire Saving Our Nation?: Mockery and American Politics

254 Pages·2014·9.081 MB·English

by  Sophia A. McClennen, Remy M. Maisel (auth.)

Is Satire Saving Our Nation?

Is Satire Saving Our Nation?
Mockery and American Politics
Sophia A. McClennen and Remy M. Maisel
is satire saving our nation?
Copyright © Sophia A. McClennen and Remy M. Maisel, 2014.
Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2014 978-1-137-42797-7
All rights reserved.
First published in 2014 by PALGRAVE MACMILLAN® in the United States—
a division of St. Martin’s Press LLC, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010.
Where this book is distributed in the UK, Europe and the rest of the world, this
is by Palgrave Macmillan, a division of Macmillan Publishers Limited, registered
in England, company number 785998, of Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire
RG21 6XS.
Palgrave Macmillan is the global academic imprint of the above companies and
has companies and representatives throughout the world.
Palgrave® and Macmillan® are registered trademarks in the United States, the
United Kingdom, Europe and other countries.
ISBN 978-1-137-42796-0 ISBN 978-1-137-40521-0 (eBook)
DOI 10.1057/9781137405210
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
McClennen, Sophia A.
Is satire saving our nation? : mockery and American politics / Sophia A. McClennen
and Remy M. Maisel.
pages cm
Includes bibliographical references and index.
1 . Mass media—Political aspects—United States.
2. Political satire, American. 3. Political culture—United States. 4. United
States—Politics and government—Humor. 5. American wit and humor—
History and criticism. I. Maisel, Remy M., 1993– II. Title.
P95.82.U6M383 2014
302.23’0973—dc23 2014019336
A catalogue record of the book is available from the British Library.
Design by SPi Global.
First edition: October 2014
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
For my brother, my first accomplice in comedy.
–SM
To Russia, with love.
–RM

Contents
List of Figures ix
List of Tables xi
Preface and Acknowledgments xiii
A Note on Citations xxi
1 The Politics of Seriously Joking 1
2 Comedy U: Lessons Learned Where You Least Expect It 21
3 Some of the News That’s Fit to Print: Satire and the Changing
News Cycle 47
4 The Dynamic Duo: Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert Redefine
Political Satire 79
5 When I Mock You, I Make You Better: How Satire Works 105
6 Mesmerized Millennials and BYTE-ing Satire: Or How Today’s
Young Generation Thinks 129
7 Savin’ Franklin: Satire Defends Our National Values 155
8 Laughing So Hard I Could Cry: Analyzing the Satire Scare 175
9 I’m Not Laughing at You, I’m Laughing With You: How to Stop
Worrying and Love the Laughter 189
Notes 203
Works Cited 225
Index 233

List of Figures
1.1 Judd Legum tweet is read on the House floor 3
1.2 Colbert plays the “NOT a Game” game 5
2.1 Jon Stewart talks with 9/11 First Responders about
the health care bill 32
2.2 Colbert announces his first run for president 35
2.3 Colbert warns Stewart they can’t coordinate, but they can
exploit the small loop-chasm 37
2.4 Colbert Super PAC urges people to vote for Rick Parry 39
2.5 Colbert’s ad calls Mitt Romney a serial killer 40
2.6 Is this tweet ironic or just true? 45
3.1 Jon Stewart expresses shock that Chris Wallace would admit
to Fox News’s ideological slant 49
3.2 Bill O’Reilly suggests that the “liberal media”
has turned news into propaganda 57
3.3 T he parody of TheNew York Times hits the streets 71

3.4 Fox News mistakes Tina Fey for Sarah Palin 76
4.1 Stewart celebrates Colbert’s win by pointing out that
as Executive Producer he really gets the credit 80
4.2 Stewart and O’Reilly go head-to-head at their debate 92
4.3 Colbert announces the launch of @RealHumanPraise on Twitter 92
4.4 Colbert tells Stewart he will have to do the toss by himself
since he has a headache 93
4.5 Huge crowds attend the rally on the National Mall 98
4.6 Stewart has the benefit of a great supporting cast of comedians 100
5.1 Stephen Colbert lectures Mika Brzezinski on how to cover Palin 113
5.2 Cenac and Oliver play out evil versus stupid 115