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OverviewIt is no coincidence that presidential candidates have been making it a point to add the late-night comedy circuit to the campaign trail in recent years. In 2004, when John Kerry decided it was time to do his first national television interview, he did not choose CBS’s 60 Minutes, ABC’s Nightline, or NBC Nightly News. Kerry picked Comedy Central’s The Daily Show. When George W. Bush was lagging in the polls, his appearance on the David Letterman Show gave him a measurable boost. Candidates for the 2008 presidential election began their late-night bookings almost as soon as they launched their campaigns. How can this be? The reason is that polls have been consistently finding that a significant number of Americans—and an even larger proportion of those under the age of thirty—get at least some of their “news” about politics and national affairs from comedy shows. While this trend toward what some have called “infotainment” seems to herald the descent of our national discourse—the triumph of entertainment over substance—the reality, according to Russell L. Peterson, is more complex. He explains that this programming is more than a mere replacement for traditional news outlets; it plays its own role in shaping public perception of government and the political process. From Johnny Carson to Jon Stewart, from Chevy Chase’s spoofing of President Ford on Saturday Night Live to Stephen Colbert’s roasting of President Bush at the White House Correspondents Dinner, Strange Bedfellows explores what Americans have found so funny about our political institutions and the people who inhabit them, and asks what this says about the health of our democracy. Comparing the mainstream network hosts—Jay, Dave, Conan, and Johnny before them—who have always strived to be “equal opportunity offenders” to the newer, edgier crop of comedians on cable networks, Peterson shows how each brand of satire plays off a different level of Americans’ frustrations with politics. Full Product DetailsAuthor: Russell PetersonPublisher: Rutgers University Press Imprint: Rutgers University Press Dimensions: Width: 15.90cm , Height: 2.50cm , Length: 23.50cm Weight: 0.510kg ISBN: 9780813542843ISBN 10: 0813542847 Pages: 280 Publication Date: 05 March 2008 Audience: General/trade , College/higher education , General , Tertiary & Higher Education Format: Hardback Publisher's Status: Active Availability: In Print  This item will be ordered in for you from one of our suppliers. Upon receipt, we will promptly dispatch it out to you. For in store availability, please contact us. Table of Contents"Introduction 1. Losing Our Religion 2. ""Showmen is Devoid of Politics"": The Roots of Pseudo-Satire and the Rise of the Comedy-Industrial Complex 3. Film at 11:00, Jokes at 11:30: Topical Comedy and the News 4. The Personal and the Political 5. Pay No Attention to That Man in Front of the Curtain 6. Truth versus Truthiness; or, Looking for Mr. Smith 7. For Whom the Bell Dings 8. Laughing All the Way to the White House 9. Irony is Dead...Long Live Satire? Acknowledgments Notes Index"ReviewsAuthor InformationRUSSELL L. PETERSON teaches American studies at the University of Iowa. Tab Content 6Author Website:Countries AvailableAll regions |
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