American Late-Night Shows in Times of Crisis

Addressing Tragedy

Bibliographic Data

ID6414647
AuthorsC Gehrke (0000-0002-2878-4527, Nord University, corresponding author)
Year2024
Volume50
Issue1
Pages18-32
Publication date2024-07-19
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueAlternatives Global Local Political (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0304-3754 • E-ISSN: 2163-3150
PublisherSAGE Publishing (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1177/03043754241264335
OpenAlexW4400856556
LanguageEN
Citations received2
References cited12

From 9/11 to the Boston Marathon, from Charlottesville to the Capitol Riots, from Sandy Hook to Parkland, from Eric Garner to George Floyd, from Hurricane Katrina to widespread wildfires. In the span of just two and a half decades, the United States has been plagued by numerous tragic events. During the same period, the number of late-night shows, a simple though controversial measurement of popular demand for comedic material dealing with or distracting from these crises, proliferated from four shows in 2000 to 17 in 2020. Looking at these shows over the course of two decades (2001–2021), the paper examines if and how late-night hosts addressed tragic events, a topic thus far largely relegated to grey literature. The empirical study draws on theories of comedy and tragedy to inform its content analysis of late-night monologues. The article finds that late-night hosts did address a wide range of tragic events, from mass shootings to environmental catastrophes. However, the ways in which they did so differed, exhibiting shifts over time and comedic genre. Overall, late-night comedians’ replies to tragic events became more instantaneous, serious, and civically minded. The article argues that this subversion of genre expectations through the absence of humor and increasing incorporation of political accountability and advocacy frames in comedians’ responses to tragedies became particularly pronounced in the late 2010s. The paper suggests potential explanations for these results and concludes that these findings provide valuable insights and implications for the American public and policy discourse

Art · Literature · Political science · Tragedy (event · Cinema and Media Studies · History · Media Studies and Communication · Media, Gender, and Advertising

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