Could humor be the key to making politics digestible? Following the boom of political comedians taking to the screen, politics has wiggled its way into the regular media, opening up new avenues for people to learn about the game that’s played on Capitol Hill.

Story by Anna Ranabijuli

Economic policy? Gross. Interviews with foreign diplomats? No, thanks. Democratic debate? Sounds boring.

Discounting political buffs, spending hours staring at an increasingly depressing news cycle probably isn’t anyone’s ideal night in. With the rise of political comedy segments led by celebrities like Hasan Minhaj, Stephen Colbert, John Oliver, and Samantha Bee, politics are becoming pervasive in people’s minds.

Political comedy isn’t new. In fact, the first recorded piece of political humor (and coincidentally, the first joke recorded in human history) can be traced all the way back to ancient Egypt, where a magician took a sly stab at the upcoming dynasty. Past that, political humor continued to flutter amongst casual chatter until around the 18th century, when editorial cartoons began making an appearance in print. From then onwards, the popularity of political humor continued to steadily rise until its transformation to the form it is today. With each new year comes a new set of harsh, clever remarks targeting law makers. Though these remarks sometimes raise questions about whether political comedy has gone too far, it is undeniable that the snide form that political humor has taken has made politics far more interesting and accessible to the average person.

People love humor because it helps them connect with others through discussion of a common medium. Furthermore, humor that requires higher level understanding is appealing and frankly, more nuanced and funny than layman comedy. Political comedy creates an experience while, also informing everyone who’s “in on the joke” about what’s going on in the status quo. By embedding politics into something familiar and non-daunting like comedy, politics are able to break through the confusing and jargoned barrier it hides behind. Political comedy encourages anybody who wants to understand the humor to take a few of minutes to read up on the daily news. Because everyone wants to be literate in political comedy, people are starting to make the effort to understand politics for their own benefit, on their own time.

However, it’s not just the connective value of political comedy that contributed to its rise in popularity. Like most things in this day and age, social media and the internet play a large role in elevating the status of political comedy. The online prominence of politics expanded so much over the past few decades, there are now entire shows dedicated to poking fun of it, like Saturday Night Live and Netflix special Patriot Act. With the online presence of political comedy comes the expectation that the younger generations will be exposed to politics in various forms. Meme culture has been on the rise for the past two decades, and political memes contribute to this trend. Young people seeing politics on their social media feeds allows them to be well-versed and invested in the issues that they see. Additionally, it helps them understand that these are problems they should care and bother to learn about. Furthermore, with the recent debates surrounding topics like gun control and climate change, both being subjects that have a large impact on the younger generation, politics are more relevant than ever to teens and young adults, whether they keep up with politics from a technical or comedic standpoint.

Politics was once seen as a conversation saved for older people, or an academic essay topic for school. Political comedy has changed that by giving politics a platform to stand on that people can understand, enjoy and connect with others on. With the aid of the internet, social media and online pop culture trends, political comedy became an access point through which people are able to learn more about current events and political decisions being made. Enabling Americans to be more informed, political comedy is an integral part of society. While the true impact of comedy on the political landscape is yet to be determined, it is undeniable that the influence of this constantly evolving genre of media spreads far beyond the eyes of the direct viewers.