The Role of Humor in Political Argument: How “Strategery” and “Lockboxes” Changed a Political Campaign

This Burkean rhetorical analysis examines the role of humor in framing political argument. In analyzing the persuasive relationship of humor in the political sphere with political humor in the entertainment sphere, this study concludes that comic framing of political discourse played an important argumentation role in the 2000 Presidential election. Specifically, the first Presidential debate is compared, contrasted, and analyzed with Saturday Night Live's parodies of the first debate. This analysis suggests that Bush utilized more effective roles as the ‘comic clown’ while Gore employed relatively less effective traditional and ‘tragic’ modes of performance.