ECU Professors Share Expert Opinions On Politics And Humor | Eastern North Carolina Now

    Publisher's note: The author of this post, Jonathan S. Morris, is a contributor to ECU News Services.

    With the November elections just around the corner, late night television comedians are cranking up the political jokes. How far public opinion might swayed by the humor targeting politicians is the subject of a new book by East Carolina University political science professors Jody Baumgartner and Jonathan Morris.

    The professors' latest book, "Politics is a Joke! How TV Comedians are Remaking Political Life," examines the effect of television humor on political success. Published July 22, the book focuses primarily on late night talk shows with Jay Leno, David Letterman, Stephen Colbert and Jon Stewart, who are the "major players," said Baumgartner.

    The two are holding a discussion on politics and humor, along with a book signing 7 p.m. Oct. 29 at Barnes & Noble in Greenville.

    In researching the book, Baumgartner and Morris examined more than 100,000 jokes from late night comedy programs, collected since 1988 from the Center for Media Public Affairs. They selected approximately 200 jokes to include in their book.

    Baumgartner's previous books include "Conventional Wisdom and American Elections" and "Laughing Matters: Humor and American Politics in the Media Age," which he co-edited with Morris.

    Whereas "Laughing Matters" was academically oriented, Baumgartner said "Politics is a Joke!" could be enjoyed by anyone with an interest in political humor.

    "We're hoping to reach a more general audience with this book, but also have it accessible to our colleagues who study political humor to use it as reference," said Morris. "People who have read the book keep saying that they skip through our analysis and go straight to the jokes."