S.L. Clemens (Mark Twain). Wikimedia/Library of Congress. Public domain.In a short satirical essay ‘A Presidential Candidate’ published in 1879, Mark Twain concludes his litany of transgressions in a pitch for votes by stating, “but I recommend myself as a safe man — a man who starts from the basis of total depravity and proposes to be fiendish to the last.”
Reading Twain’s essay while immersed in the current political climate in the US, two things leap out. First, the national obsession with personal scandal makes Twain’s essay all the more comic from start to finish. Second, it practically yanks the reader into nostalgic reflection for a time when satire was, well, satire.
The bright side of the modern political circumstance is the funny part – for the past two decades the cultural landscape has experienced a comedic infusion into public discourse on a scale quite possibly unmatched in US history. We may in fact be living in a golden age of American humour. Like it or not the engagement of contemporary humourists in political and social dialogue has become central to the national conversation on essentially every policy matter of import.
Like it or not the engagement of contemporary humourists in political and social dialogue has become central to the national conversation on essentially every policy matter of import.
The group of humourists includes, though is certainly not limited to: Stephen Colbert, Bill Maher, Chris Rock, Conan O’Brien, Larry Wilmore, Sarah Silverman, Samantha Bee, John Oliver, Trevor Noah, Seth Meyers, Jon Stewart, Lena Dunham, Tina Fey, Amy Poehler, Michael Moore, Louis C.K., Amy Schumer, David Sedaris, Sarah Vowell, Dave Barry, Chuck Klosterman, Woody Allen, Seth Rogan, Sarah Jones, the creators and casts of Saturday Night Live, South Park, Broad City, Veep, and The Simpsons.
