Late-Night in Washington

Stephen J. Farnsworth is Professor of Political Science at the University of Mary Washington, where he directs the university’s Center for Leadership and Media Studies.S. Robert Lichter is Professor of Communication at George Mason University, where he directs the Center for Media and Public Affairs.Farah Latif is a fellow at the Center for Media and Public Affairs (CMPA) and an instructor at George Mason University whose research has included political gaslighting and developing a personal reputation scale.

Praise for Late-Night in Washington: Political Humor and the American PresidencyFarnsworth, Lichter, and Latif provide a first-rate assessment of the influence that late-night television hosts and their political jokes have on the portrayal of American presidents, especially during the Donald Trump and Joe Biden administrations. Scholars of the American presidency and the media, along with anyone who cares about the state of American politics in contemporary times, will find this book a pleasure to read and that it will greatly enhance their knowledge about the role of the media on our chief executives. Adam Warber, Clemson UniversityFarnsworth, Lichter, and Latif have given us the definitive volume on political humor and the American presidency. Arguing that humor is an important societal coping mechanism, they document historical inflection points providing rich examples along the way. The book is a lively read that offers an alternative frame for examining political discourse. The detailed analyses of the Trump and Biden presidential eras provide compelling empirical verification of the pervasiveness and significance of political humor. Scholars will appreciate the volume’s academic rigor and students will be drawn in by the richness of the illustrative evidence.Diana Owen, Georgetown UniversityAs the 2024 presidential campaign gears up, longtime coauthors Farnsworth and Lichter (joined here by Latif) continue their groundbreaking work on presidential humor with Late-Night in Washington. Their latest book, a lively and compelling successor to 2020’s Late Night with Trump, updates their findings through the post-Trump presidency. Late-Night in Washington is a must-read for anyone interested in the intersection between presidential politics and popular culture. Jeffrey Crouch, American University

• Chapter 1: The Importance of Political HumorChapter 2: Political Humor and the Rise of Donald Trump the PoliticianChapter 3: Political Humor and the 2020 Presidential CampaignChapter 4: Late-Night Political Humor and the Two Presidents of Early 2021Chapter 5: The Challenge of Creating Conservative ComedyChapter 6: Political Consequences of Late-Night Humor: Learning about Politics Via Political ComedyChapter 7: The (Near) Future of Political HumorReferences