Is late-night comedy bad for U.S. democracy?

Stephen Colbert gives two thumbs up to truthiness

The Associated Press

If Comedy Central host and would-be presidential candidate Stephen Colbert isn't part of the solution, does that mean he's part of the problem?

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Is late-night comedy bad for U.S. democracy?

Making fun of politicians is as American as singing "The Star-Spangled Banner" at the start of a baseball game. But does the relentless ribbing have a serious underside? If the late-night talk shows make fun of every politician, night after night and election cycle after election cycle, is the butt of the joke no longer the politician but the American democratic system?

Russell Peterson thinks so. Peterson, a University of Iowa professor who once worked as a political cartoonist and stand-up comedian, contends that the cumulative effect of nightly monologues by Jay Leno, David Letterman and Conan O'Brien is corrosive. If all politicians are corrupt, laughable, puffed-up egomaniacs, what difference does it make who gets your vote, or whether you vote at all?

"I really do think that this sort of belief, that it doesn't matter, is one of the most damaging beliefs that a democracy can harbor," said Peterson, author of the recently published "Strange Bedfellows: How Late-Night Comedy Turns Democracy into a Joke." "I don't think comedy invented that belief, but it's one of the most important avenues through which it is expressed."

Is Peterson right? Has comedy eroded American confidence in their political system? Or is the question much older?

Ben likes: America, the lampooned

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As Rush Limbaugh frequently points out, it is difficult to satirize a political group that consistently lives up to, and frequently surpasses, any exaggeration of their behavior. Example: A conservative host discussing the utter disingenuousness of literary awards might say, "Next thing you know, the New York Times will be nominating some political comedy book for the Pulitzer in history..." Oops, too late, already happened. See how hard it is to parody the self-parodying?

Another reason conservatives make better targets is that we don't put up much of a rhetorical fight. If a conservative writing team ever penned a joke about a Democratic black leader like the one made by Stewart's team about Clarence Thomas (a mocking classroom activity in the book instructs children, "Using felt and yarn, make a hand puppet of Clarence Thomas. Ta-da! You're Antonin Scalia!"), there would be p.r. hell to pay. Republicans, however, are not a whiny bunch by disposition. They can usually be counted on to take a joke, even if it is in incredibly bad taste.

Joel likes: How political satire got so flabby

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The impossible dream, of course, is that Barack Obama might someday appear opposite Stephen Colbert, who, via his know-it-all know-nothing character, engages in true, niche-market satire -- an act so irresistible that the debut of Not Just Another Cable News Show ultimately threw its hands up and just played clips from The Colbert Report's "Better Know a District." Obama has already engaged Colbert on his own terms, publicly sending the host a letter on the eve of his delivering a commencement address at Illinois' Knox College. "Don't forget to bring the Truth," Obama wrote. "I'd recommend putting it in your carry-on bag rather than in your checked luggage. O'Hare Airport is notoriously unreliable." The letter is droll, the tone poker-faced. At one point, Obama refers to his constituents as germy ("a few words of advice ... use hand sanitizer") in a way that subtly acknowledges the disgust that all politicians must feel, at some level, for the public. It's very funny, and you can't do that on television.