The Politics of Humor

THE POLITICS OF COMEDY Is this thing on? In efforts to promote voter education, laughter is perhaps the best strategery. Comedy and tragedy prove one in the same, as the saying goes. The variability of the twosome, however, substantiates rather inconsistently in politics, an arena overflowing with participants who take themselves too seriously. And where a potential candidate attempts to utilize comic relief, one often discovers the result to be rather tragic. In lieu of the consequences politicians may endure with the mere utterance of a poor joke, most tend to stray from the possibility of Meet the Press turned comedy hour. Especially when their reputations are at stake; politicians are well aware, according to Mark Katz, humorist and speechwriter for Bill Clinton, that "a good joke will last about a week", whereas a "bad joke will be reprinted in you obituary." Perhaps responsibility lies within the confines of a narrow-minded media, exhibited as a threat to be avoided rather than a tool to be implemented. But certainly with just cause; "the news media are poorly suited to their role as the principal intermediary between candidates and voters," rooted in the conception of politics as "game" and a "business" rather than a "struggle" over national policy. The aforementioned incidents occur frequently, but not absolutely, should candidates appropriately utilize humor. The war on terror provides unavoidable roadblocks on an already-tumultuous campaign trail, and even primitive technology such as television suffices in establishing the general 9/11 ‘fear climate '. The presumption of a candidate 's entrepreneurial priorities over his public relationship undermines the use of humor as the candidate 's ultimate weapon. The primarily noticeable aspect of political campaign humor pertains to its absence. Undoubtedly humor "is used more sparingly than songs in political commercials" ; the commodity appears even more so in the early campaign efforts of

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