There are now 26 days left until the election and one side clearly has the upper hand: the Democrats. The differences between running a political race that is within two or three points and one that is a five or six point contest are vast. Experience has become far less of an issue than the economy and some may argue is working against McCain. People are now noticing the economy’s plummet and this election, satirists have been far larger game changers than ever before.
The New York Times published a piece the other day about how humor is so popular in this contest. SNL’s ratings have gone up 50 PERCENT. That kind of figure change doesn’t come along every day. Lorne Michaels is thankful of Sarah Palin’s sheer existence.
“I think the gods smiled on us with the Palin thing,” Mr. Michaels said. “Like if he’d chosen Romney, I think it would be completely different. As exciting as a Romney-Biden debate would have been, it just would have been politics as usual.”
So is this really not politics as usual? Granted, Palin brings something different to the campaign but maybe all credit for satirists current success should go to the Internet. Granted, this has been a ridiculous election with a Hillary Clinton battle, lipstick on pigs, and the rise of “Joe Six-Pack,” but the reason so many people are laughing at Tina Fey is that everyone sees her forwarded to their Inbox on Sunday.
Maybe this is not a year that’s revolutionary for political humor because of its quality, but rather because of its legs. People are now seeing these skits while going out on Saturday nights and this creates more water cooler fodder. This election has made many stars including Sarah Palin and Tina Fey but the real winner is the Internet. We are not really getting any funnier, but when there is an audience for a good joke it always seems funnier
I’d like to end by pointing you over to this very interesting article on humor site, cracked.com.
