Humor connects us to a person. Jokes are often made to "break the ice" in a conversation. And, as we become submerged in the politics of 2004's presidential election, it is more than clear that candidates and political activists have figured this out as well.
Everything from political cartoons, to Web sites, to quick one-liners slipped into a speech. Humor is a part of being a human. And as this election season hits its height, our candidates are looking more human than ever.
Saturday Night Live is fairly well known for its political skits. Bill Clinton and George W. Bush are often the stars of a short mocking skit. But what's new is they also have a small guest appearance of these people. John Kerry has been a guest on three different talk shows, including "The Late Show with David Letterman." Getting to know this potential president was a barrel of laughs, but it was still campaigning. And although President Bush hasn't guest starred on any shows this campaign, in 2000 he and Al Gore were featured on "The Late Show."
We get to see our candidates minus the ever-moving pens of the political critics. We get to see them being who they really are. Or arguably, who we think they should be. But the bottom line is jokes and special appearances make them seem ultimately more human, more touchable and more like the average Joe.
Next on the comedy tour of today's politics, we have the average person and their comments. Political cartoons have been around forever. In fact, the first cartoon in America was featured in Benjamin Franklin's The Pennsylvania Gazette on May 9, 1752.
Peter Dunlap-Shohl, a political cartoonist for the Anchorage Daily News says that humor definitely persuades the voting populous.
"Sometimes a candidate will use humor to humanize himself. Other times, humor can go awry and cause problems. Humor, on the national level is very influential, I think. People, especially younger people, are spending more time getting their news from Comedy Central instead of CNN. How stuff plays on Saturday Night Live is seized on by especially television shows. It can determine how people perceive a candidate or politician," he said.
Dunlap-Shohl has been drawing political cartoons since grade school. He says he always liked drawing. When Watergate came about, he knew how he could make a living in his adult life. And although he finds his job important, he also says that a single cartoon frame is not very important when there are so many other ideas from so many different people.
"One thing I do is I concentrate on local issues for the most part. I'm the only cartoonist working full time as an Alaska editorial cartoonist, so that gives me a leg up. I mean if I was doing national topics most of the time, it'd just go out in a sea of national conversation and it'd just be a pretty small little raft on a great big wave," Dunlap-Shohl said.
One outlet that is pure 21st century is political Web sites. While surfing the net, you just may run into JibJab.com, one of many mocking political cartoon sights. A rousing rendition of "This Land" is sung by an animated Sen. John Kerry and President Bush. It mocks both candidates by pointing out where they're coming from, be it bombing Iraq or winning three purple hearts.
However, on a more local level, there are people who are relying on good old-fashioned personality to get them into office. Brittany Young, junior class president at Chugiak High School says she wanted people to know she was good for the job.
"I think you can really just go and get in, one on one, with people who are going to vote for you. And you go and ask them what they want changed - what they want you to do as their president or vice president or who you're going to be and taking those and turning them into action."
Brittany also thinks that humor is important.
"No one's going to listen to you if you're just like the person in Charlie Brown. If you use humor, it catches their attention, and they actually start listening to you," she said.
James Murphy, a freshman at Chugiak high School sums it up nicely.
"If they're funny but I don't like the way they think, then I won't vote for them. But if it's between two people that both think the same, but one's funnier, then I'll vote for him...or her, or her," Murphy said.
So whether you're trying to get into student council, you're trying to get people to vote one way or another or you're running for president of the United States, it seems that humor is winning votes.
The funny bone of politics
