In my first blog post, I mention my experience and knowledge of satirical news comedy:

“I have always been a fan of satirical news comedy especially on shows like Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, The Daily Show with Trevor Noah and with John Stewart before him, The Jim Jefferies Show, Patriot Act with Hasan Minhaj, The Colbert Report, Andrew Schulz and many others I could name (especially considering nearly all late night shows are now becoming more satirical in these interesting political and cultural times)”

Although what I said back in week one still remains true, I now have an even broader understanding and knowledge of political news satire. I now know even more comedians and satirists than before like Samantha Bee, Bassam Youssef, Robin Thede, Get Krackin’ and more. Additionally, I know have a greater understanding of the theories that make up this genre of comedy and entertainment.

I also mention in the week one blog post that:

“The purpose of comedy news is, first and foremost, to be funny. If it isn’t funny it doesn’t make the news any easier to palate and digest. Which also happens to be another purpose of the genre”

Although I still believe the main purpose of satirical news is to be funny, it doesn’t always need to be. I have realized during my studies of this course that there are times when the civic duty of providing the public with news and information becomes more important than trying to get a laugh. For instance when Stephen Colbert gave an improvised speech about Trump winning the 2016 election and what the next four years will look like, on a show that was written a head of time with the presumption of Hilary Clinton winning. However, political comedy is still most effective when it is funny. It makes news and politics accessible to more and helps to show an audience a new view or angle on an issue to help them form new opinions about those issues.