An Exploration of Post-Postmodern Political Irony in Contemporary American Late-Night Television Shows

Abstract

Philosopher and writer David Foster Wallace introduced the world to the post-postmodernist literature movement, a movement centered around the assertion that political satire, following the beginnings of the 21st century, shifted towards the utilization of more “authentic” tactics to satirically undermine authority. Following the movement’s introduction, numerous scholars have followed suit, conducting similar studies consistent with Wallace’s initial findings. However, as further noted throughout this paper, these scholars utilize a relatively “unmodernized” definition of irony. By employing a more “complex” interpretation of irony, I seek to measure the accuracy of the current conclusions surrounding 21st-century political satire, specifically through the medium of late-night television. I examined multiple late-night television shows prior to and during the 21st century to determine if this medium of political satire has truly shifted towards the utilization of more “sincere” tactics to undermine authority. This paper was written with the initial assumption that the current conclusions surrounding political satire would fall short with the integration of this more complex outlook of irony, and through the research process, this phenomenon was proven to be accurate. The study concludes that the medium of political satire utilizes more complex ironic devices that were not initially identified in current research surrounding post-post-postmodernism. This research indicates that late-night television satire possesses the ability to heavily muddle the audiences’ interpretation of satirical statements. Therefore, the analysis and conclusions provided by this paper can be used to introduce audiences to these emerging forms of irony and illustrate the frequency of such rhetorical strategies.