Late-night in Washington: political humor and the American presidency

Cover -- Endorsement -- Half Title -- Title Page -- Copyright Page -- Table of Contents -- About the Authors -- List of Contributors -- Acknowledgments -- 1 The Importance of Political Humor -- Humor as Catharsis (And Coping With Politics) -- Three Forms of Humor -- Political Humor in a Contentious America -- The Pivotal Politics of the 1980s and 1990s -- The Evolving Norms and Changing Hosts of Political Humor -- The Carson Era -- The Leno-Letterman Years -- The Daily Show Rises -- Political Humor's Public Roles -- The New Late-Night Landscape -- Amounts and Targets of Political Humor -- Donald Trump, the Multimedia Phenomenon -- Trump's Media Instincts: Converting Crisis Into Opportunity -- Conan O'Brien Remembers Trump the Celebrity Guest -- What Comes Next? -- 2 Political Humor and the Rise of Donald Trump the Politician -- Trump Expands His Political Profile -- Trump, Obama, and the Birther Rumor -- Obama Gets Even: The 2011 White House Correspondents Dinner -- Trump Gets Even: Public Anger and Trump's Populist Challenge of 2016 -- Late-Night Humor and Presidential Campaign Comedy -- Political Humor and the 2016 Campaign -- The Weekly Humor Programs and the 2016 Presidential Campaign -- Saturday Night Live -- Full Frontal With Samantha Bee -- Last Week Tonight With John Oliver -- How POTUS Played On Late Night, 2017 -- The Nightly Humor Programs, 2017 -- The Weekly Humor Programs -- Saturday Night Live -- Full Frontal -- Last Week Tonight -- Conclusion -- 3 Political Humor and the 2020 Presidential Campaign -- The Symbiotic Nature of Late-Night Comedy and U.S. Politics -- Nightly Late-Night Comedy and the 2020 Nomination Campaign -- The Weekly Humor Programs and the 2020 Nomination Campaign -- Saturday Night Live -- Full Frontal With Samantha Bee -- Last Week Tonight With John Oliver.

This book traces the trajectory of late-night political humor, which has long been a staple of entertainment television and is now a prominent part of social media political discourse, especially when it comes to the presidency. From Richard Nixon on Laugh-In to Donald Trump's avatar on Saturday Night Live, this book takes the next step and considers how late-night comedy treats Joe Biden, the new American president who strives to restore a civil public tone but offers far less comedy fodder than his predecessor. Employing content analysis, public opinion surveys, and a variety of other quantitative and qualitative research, the authors look beyond the day-to-day memes and mimes of late-night comics and show how political humor may evolve. For students and scholars of politics and the media, this book will appeal to the general public and political pundits as well.