Comedy Centralized: Viral Videos and Laughter

As tricksters, fools and clowns from the royal court onward, comedians have served a political role, though often from the sidelines. In the new millennium, the role of comedians shifted in pop culture, due in part to the pass-it-on power of YouTube culture, which has expanded viewership of comedy clips to the tune of millions through Facebook, blogs and email embeds.  In the past decade, American comedians have "centralized" in the political arena, taking on censorship, network news, freedom of speech, race, gender and gay rights.

For many, comedians such as Jon Stewart, Tina Fey and Stephen Colbert played a key role during the 2008 elections. Yet the seeds for comedic involvement in politics began in the 2004 election, with Jon Stewart controversial appearance on "Crossfire":


The video clip was viewed and re-viewed by millions as a pivotal shift, when the "Fool" (Jon Stewart/comedian) took on the role of mouthpiece for viewers fatigued by bi-polar politics. Ratings for popular "Daily Show" soared after this episode, and throughout the interval from 2004-2008 both Stewart's show and "The Colbert Report" provided much scathing and hilarious commentary on all things Washington and political.

With the announcement that Sarah Palin, then governor of Alaska, would serve as John McCain's Republican running mate for Vice President, Saturday Night Live's former head writer Tina Fey sprung into parody mode. Her impersonation garnered an Emmy and over 9 million YouTube views. NBC has since disabled YouTube embed codes for these clips, but here is one extant URL: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BE2gE-VVjBI (ah, the Golden Age of YouTube is over!)

Here is Tina Fey's take on her own performance during a 2008 interview on "The David Letterman Show":



While Fey downplays her role in "swaying" the elections in this interview, many commentators credited her with exposing weaknesses in the Palin/McCain ticket.

The viral activity of sharing comedy clips continues, with Comedy Central well aware of the boost in ratings provided by the shareware concept. The major networks, as evidenced by NBC's dismantling of embed codes and the like, are not convinced that freely shared clips fits with their advertising/profit model. It remains to be seen which model works best for longevity in a changing media landscape.