Telling Jokes to Power: The (A)Political Work of Humour

Abstract

Building on the previous theoretical discussion, this chapter challenges the celebratory accounts of humour as a form of liberatory political practice through formal analysis of several comic texts that directly address the political sphere: The Daily Show, The Thick of It, Veep, and The Onion. In doing so, I argue that the political valence attributed to the humour of these texts is misplaced and that the majority of the humour of these texts relies upon mockery of individual failings and the policing of middle-class social mores, rather than the subversion or critique of political institutions and processes, let alone structures of power. Consequently, I suggest that the political work of humour is frequently over-stated or misunderstood and that, even in texts that explicitly address questions of governance, the use of humour often remains clearly distinct from political questions and concerns.