What's So Funny?: An Examination of Late-Night Satire
Datum
2019
Autor:innen
Bower, Chris Huntley
Zeitschriftentitel
ISSN der Zeitschrift
Bandtitel
Verlag
University of Oregon
Zusammenfassung
In this era of “Peak TV," our discussions of television are often focused on the next hit show, which writer crafted the tightest script or which actor most fully inhabited a particular character. While these types of discussions were and are the norm, there was a brief, but noticeable, shift in the conversation around the time of the 2016 presidential election. During and following the 2016 election, the genre of late-night comedy and its subcategory of satire underwent what felt like a tremendous boom. People like Seth Myers and John Oliver were suddenly at the center of the national dialogue, with their words bearing almost as much weight as those of established pundits. It’s this shift that sparked the idea for what would eventually become this thesis. Many people noted the shift, and clips from the shows were often water-cooler talking points, but it was often left at that. Academics have long recognized that satire has effects on its viewers different from those of traditional media, but I wanted to ask a more specific, pointed question. I wanted to know why these specific shows, airing that these specific times, were resonating with audiences as much as they were. The way that question will be answered will be via a thorough content analysis of the primary sources– contemporaneous satirical clips from late-night shows. I will break down the satirical styles and tendencies of two popular modern satirists, Seth Meyers and John Oliver. I chose these men in particular for a variety of reasons. On a practical level, I chose these hosts since I am familiar with and watch both of their shows. But more broadly, I picked them because they serve as excellent foils for each other. Their respective approaches to the genre are wildly different, and the contrast between the two allows me to explore two distinct types of satire/audience interactions.
Beschreibung
51 pages
Schlagwörter
Journalism, Satire, Late-Night Television, John Oliver, Seth Meyers, Media Studies