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Last Week Tonight as Philosophy: The Importance of Jokalism

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The Palgrave Handbook of Popular Culture as Philosophy

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Abstract

This chapter will explore the concept of jokalism, a word that first appeared in The Daily Show with Jon Stewart without a real definition and that could, as of now, be used to explain and understand a new way to tackle social and political issues on television. Exploring HBO’s Last Week Tonight with John Oliver as a typical case of jokalism, this chapter will demonstrate how satire and information, supported by journalistic techniques, can build an argument about sensitive social and political issues. If Last Week Tonight is understood as a vehicle for critical thinking, one can consequently ask how it can be categorized as philosophy and comedy and still remain a serious, trusted, and entertaining media outlet.

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Links to the Last Week Tonight with John Oliver videos explored in Table 2

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Communication, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, ON, Canada

    Christelle Paré

  2. École nationale de l’humour, Montréal, Québec, Canada

    Christelle Paré

Authors
  1. Christelle Paré
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Correspondence to Christelle Paré .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. University School of Milwaukee, Waukesha, WI, USA

    Dean A. Kowalski

  2. Young Harris College, Young Harris, GA, USA

    Chris Lay

  3. Molloy University, Rockville Centre, NewYork, NY, USA

    Kimberly S. Engels

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© 2024 The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Switzerland AG

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Paré, C. (2024). Last Week Tonight as Philosophy: The Importance of Jokalism. In: Kowalski, D.A., Lay, C., S. Engels, K. (eds) The Palgrave Handbook of Popular Culture as Philosophy. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-24685-2_39

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