David Shoemaker

Professor in Ethics and Public Life

David Shoemaker, a professor of philosophy at Cornell University who studies the moral psychology of humor, says that political satire—long a staple of late-night TV—plays a critical role in democracy, cutting through partisanship and exposing hypocrisies that traditional news often can’t.

Shoemaker says:

“Mockery can make the mocked person feel smaller, as it effectively pokes holes in gassy ego balloons by revealing something ridiculous about them. This is a very familiar form of humor between friends and family: When one of our own starts acting too big for their britches, pointed mockery shines a spotlight on some failure of theirs, and the joined-in laughter about it brings them back down to size.

“This is why political humor is such a powerful tool against the powerful: making fun of some puffed-up politician for some bit of ridiculosity unites their constituents into one big howl of a laugh that pokes a hole in their ego balloons, revealing them to be small, pinched, and downright silly — just like the rest of us.

“Politicians typically despise such humor: it brings them back down to our size. And for grandiosely narcissistic politicians, such laughter is sometimes the only thing that can find a way through their supporters’ ideological armor.”