Date of Award
6-5-2009
Degree Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Arts (MA)
Department
Communication
First Advisor
M. Lane Bruner - Chair
Second Advisor
Alessandra Raengo
Third Advisor
Jeffrey Bennett
Abstract
I analyze comedian Stephen Colbert's performances as the bloviating "fake" pundit, "Stephen Colbert." Colbert's work reflects the progression of personality-driven media and performance-driven society. His frequent shifts and blending of characters – from actor and entertainer to pundit and politician – call attention to the similarly character-driven nature of "real" figures in politics and media. Using Kenneth Burke's theory of tragic and comic frames of acceptance, I analyze three sets of Colbert's performances – hosting The Colbert Report, speaking at the White House Correspondents' Association dinner, and running for president – as well as the conventional situations and discourses he complicates. I argue that Colbert's comic critique provides perspective by incongruity about the processes of production, mediation, and persuasion in the business of news punditry – and the literal staging of politics performed as entertainment.
DOI
https://doi.org/10.57709/1061317
Recommended Citation
Holcomb, Justine Schuchard, "In the Culture of Truthiness: Comic Criticism and the Performative Politics of Stephen Colbert." Thesis, Georgia State University, 2009.
doi: https://doi.org/10.57709/1061317