When political comedy turns personal: humor types, audience evaluations, and attitudes

Abstract

This study examines the impact of diverse comedy types on relevant political attitudes and what happens when the comedy content moves beyond the political to focus on personal attributes that are beyond a politician’s control. Using a real political case study of David Paterson, New York’s first blind and African American gov- ernor, the research measured the differential impact of exposure to self-directed and other-directed hostile humor on evaluations of comedy content, favorability ratings, perceptions of media portray- als of disability, and attitudes toward blindness. The results suggest that differential exposure to the comedy clips had an impact on attitudes toward blindness with those exposed to Paterson’s humor exhibiting more positive attitudes toward blindness than those who were exposed to Saturday Night Live’s other-directed hostile humor.