Comedy, the Civic Subject, and Generic Mediation

Abstract

This article explores the contribution of comedy to the mediation of politics in a number of genres outside the core forms of journalism. Using material collected during an extensive study of diverse media treatments of British politics, it raises questions about the functions that comedy performs within civic culture and civic subjectivity, giving emphasis to broadcasting. Selected accounts from respondent groups are used to investigate further the ways in which comedy contributes to the placing of politics within the everyday and to the naturalization, or questioning, of the power relations at work. The article concludes by suggesting that further work on comic treatments, alongside studies of other sources of political information and commentary, will be a valuable aspect of research on political culture.