Debatable Humor

Laughing Matters on the 2008 Presidential Primary Campaign

By (author) Patrick A. Stewart

Publication date:

15 March 2012

Length of book:

148 pages

Publisher

Lexington Books

ISBN-13: 9780739166970

Debatable Humor represents the first systematic foray into understanding the use of humor by politicians on the campaign trail. Using content analysis of primary debates for both Republican and Democratic parties during the 2008 presidential election, Patrick A. Stewart considers not just how humor was used, who used it, and how successful these attempts at humor were, but he also gives readers insight regarding why humor and the laughter that results is an important part of politics. Not only can humor reveal a candidate’s intelligence, values, personality, and his/her connection with the audience, it also reveals the underlying values of egalitarian political systems.

Chapter 1: Laughing matters on the campaign trail: Humor and laughter in
the 2008 presidential primary debates
Chapter 2: Laugh codes: Serious thoughts about humorous comments and the
politicians who make them
Chapter 3: Laughing all the way to the bank: Audience laughter, media, and
money
Chapter 4: Punchline politics: Laughter and humor during primary
debates
Chapter 5: Funny faces: Presidential candidate display behavior
Chapter 6: “Likeable enough”: Hillary Clinton, Mike Huckabee, John McCain,
and Barack Obama
Chapter 7: Playful politicians: Why laughter and humor matters in the rough-and-tumble world of politics
Appendix: Inter-coder reliability
Bibliography
Index

This analysis of a unique and rich data set sheds light on how citizens come to judgment and moves the frontier of empirical political humor research forward. Stewart has written a book that is both timely, given the increased amount of political humor available to individuals in this cable TV and Internet age, and provocative.