Comedy as Dissonant Rhetoric

• In Event: Comedy and Political Theory

Abstract

This paper considers the normative and critical value of popular comedic rhetoric. I argue that popular comedy can be conducive to both critical and transformative democratic effects, but that these effects are contingent on the way comedic performances are received by audiences. I provide a case study of a comedic climate change “debate” from the television show, Last Week Tonight. Drawing from recent scholarship on deliberation, judgment and rhetoric, I highlight both critical and transformative dimensions of the performance. I attribute these to the vignette’s likely reception, which I describe as “dissonant” – unresolved, affectively turbulent and aesthetically attuned. I argue that comedy is uniquely positioned to spur such “dissonant” modes of engagement and, in so doing, to promote acknowledgment and reflective judgment in audiences.

Author

• Simon Lambek, University of British Columbia