A Conservative Walks Into a Bar: The Politics of Political Humor
by Alison Dagnes
Overview
Conservative critics argue that modern political satire, in the age of The Daily Show, has a liberal bias. A quick review of the humor landscape shows that there are very few conservative political satirists, and using personal interviews with political humorists this book explains why. The book explores the history of satire, the comedy profession, and the nature of satire itself to examine why there is an ideological imbalance in political humor and it explores the consequences of this disparity. This book will appeal to Daily Show and Colbert fans, political junkies, and anyone interested in the intersection of politics and media.
Editorial Reviews
Publishers Weekly
Shippensburg University political scientist Dagnes (Politics on Demand) interviewed a range of jokesters, from stand-up-comedian Lewis Black to writers for Saturday Night Live and The Daily Show, for this examination of the politics of political humor. Driven by claims of a liberal bias in the types of jokes on late night TV as well as the party affiliation of popular comics, these dialogues discuss the nature of antiestablishment humor, as well as entertainment television. Dagnes fares best when explaining how satire works, whether the satirist is Jonathan Swift or Jon Stewart, and reinforces the notion that the goal of late night TV and mock news is to entertain. Clinton, Bush, and Obama were well-represented as the butts of jokes during their tenure, and the comics concur that their material stems from popular stories and not political proselytizing. However, in explaining the dearth of conservative comedians, the book comes up short. While the targets of the jokes are declared to be equal opportunity, the examples provided illustrate a disparity between the quality of joke levied at the right versus the left, a point that is mentioned but not developed. (Sept.)
Kirkus Reviews
Dagnes (Political Science/Shippensburg Univ.; Politics On Demand: The Effects of 24-Hour News on American Politics, 2010, etc.) investigates the relation among politics, bias and satire. In this well-documented study, the author seeks to defend contemporary liberal satirists and promoters of satire in the entertainment business from conservative charges of bias. Dagnes examines such programs as The Daily Show, The Colbert Report and Saturday Night Live, which contain jokes and sketches that have often been featured in the national political discussion. Perfect examples include SNL's treatment of Sarah Palin and Stephen Colbert's recent presidential campaign. Dagnes also discusses particular comedians, their writers and raw material, and she provides a wealth of helpful references, including personal interviews, literary sources, and TV performances. The author employs the evenhandedness of an academic sociological analysis, and she focuses mainly on the well-accepted, and –studied, divisions between liberals and conservatives. She considers the difficulties that conservatives have faced in the world of comedy and satire, citing as one piece of evidence the failure of Fox News' The 1/2 Hour News Hour. Rather that outright bias, the author finds differences that can be attributed to outlook, culture, education and audience. She doesn't examine the comedy of specific politicians--e.g., Ronald Reagan, whose jokes were funny and sharp--and she considers the history of satire but not the social safety-valve function of the genre. The author achieves her objective, but the price of her success is a book that will have greater appeal to specialists than to general readers.
From the Publisher
"Alison Dagnes' new book A Conservative Walks into a Bar is an engaging and thoughtful analysis of political satire in America. Its unique focus on why there is so little satire on the political right raises broader questions about the connection between humor and American politics. Combining experiments with rich historical descriptions, Dagnes shows that while satire is largely a liberal phenomena, it is not necessarily prejudicial. Instead, satire should be viewed as a vitally important tool of political criticism and debate. This book does a wonderful job of contextualizing and assessing the current state of American political humor. Its a "must read" for anyone interested in American satire and political ideology." - Michael Parkin, associate professor of Politics, Oberlin College
"Impeccably researched, effectively argued, and overflowing with insight from practitioners of political humor, Dagnes digs deep, asserting that to truly understand why liberal satire dominates requires an understanding of the nature and purpose of satire; the financial imperatives of the entertainment industry; the liberal tradition; and an appreciation of how liberals and conservatives conceive, consume, and communicate humor. Dagnes has done it again: This brilliant, witty, necessary, evidence-based examination of our political humor and times is essential reading, and the perfect antidote to the instant-analysis impulses of our polarized era." - Kevan M.Yenerall, professor of Political Science, Clarion University, and co-author, Seeing the Bigger Picture: American and International Politics in Film and Popular Culture
"An engaging, enlightening, and entertaining read; this book is the most authoritative work on the nature of satire. It is also well balanced, and remarkably unbiased, considering it was written by a Liberal." - Tim Slagle, comedian
"In this well-documented study, the author seeks to defend contemporary liberal satirists and promoters of satire in the entertainment business from conservative charges of bias. Dagnes examines such programs as The Daily Show, The Colbert Report and Saturday Night Live, which contain jokes and sketches that have often been featured in the national political discussion. Perfect examples include SNL's treatment of Sarah Palin and Stephen Colbert's recent presidential campaign. Dagnes also discusses particular comedians, their writers and raw material, and she provides a wealth of helpful references, including personal interviews, literary sources, and TV performances. The author employs the evenhandedness of an academic sociological analysis, and she focuses mainly on the well-accepted, and –studied, divisions between liberals and conservatives..." - Kirkus
Product Details
ISBN-13: 9781137262844
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
Publication date: 9/18/2012
Pages: 256
Sales rank: 1,068,629
Product dimensions: 5.90 (w) x 9.20 (h) x 0.60 (d)
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