During any election year, news coverage of the presidential race goes into overdrive. CNN, Fox News, MSNBC and all the major news networks go the extra mile to make sure that America is informed about the facts of the world and every minute of information about our next president, whoever that may be.
But beyond the news, most Americans watch other programs that tackle current issues. Shows like “Saturday Night Live,” “The Daily Show” and “Last Week Tonight with John Oliver” keep modern viewers up to date with the week’s issues and news. They just so happen to make jokes about those issues.
Comedy can very often be written off as nothing more than a cheap joke. However, what few realize is how timely comedy can be. Even shows like “Modern Family” take on issues of gay couples and the average American family. They just put a comedic spin on those issues.
But these shows can start a conversation around the issues that are raised in these jokes.
If “The Simpsons” makes a joke about Donald Trump, viewers will not only laugh, they will think about the joke and want to know more.
In the case of political parody shows like “The Daily Show,” they catch people up to real world news events in the midst of comedy. Trevor Noah can crack about Trump and his antics, but also keep the public informed about said antics through his comedy.
For example, this past Halloween, Noah took his comedy routine to a bold extreme. His episode was set in an imagined world where Trump wins the presidency and steers America into the apocalypse. According to Noah’s vision of Trump’s presidency, comedy is illegal, African-Americans are outlawed and President Trump has a Secretary of Offense.
While some may argue that Noah’s joke was a little too edgy, he nonetheless made a point about the danger of Trump’s potential election. That episode will most definitely get a conversation happening about not just Noah and the lengths he went through to make a joke, but the implications of the world that Noah imagined.
When The Boston Globe ran a false front page of their paper imagining a similar scenario of Trump as President, they were ridiculed and called out. Noah, however, uses parody as opposed to a false statement on the front page of a respected news source. The Globe failed for trying to do something they don’t regularly do. Their job is to report the truth.
Noah, on the other hand, is not a newsman. He is a comedian and as such, can make a statement like this based on current events instead of repeating them exactly. As a result, he is essentially the common man, reacting to the current goings on.
Everyone has an opinion about something and comedians are no exception. Opinions can be true or false, but they can also start the conversation and feed more opinions. And comedy is certainly one form of that.
Bradley Burgess can be reached at [email protected]