RADIO AND TELEVISION HUMOR

In the 1950s, many people purchased TV sets just so as not to be left out of the fun of the sit-coms on television. Water pressure in New York City was influenced by when the advertising breaks came on I Love Lucy because that’s when everyone got up to the bathroom. Several of today’s sitcoms get more viewers than did the early “classics,” but they aren’t as influential because there are now so many more choices.

Sitcoms were developed first for radio and then moved to television. They replaced the old jokes that were part of vaudeville and travelling shows because: Old jokes could become funny when tied to individuals that viewers already “knew” and “liked.” New situations supplied the element of surprise that is necessary for jokes to succeed. Stories could move faster because script writers did not have to set the scene or introduce characters for each episode. Also, they served as zeitgeists, i.e. they reflected the spirit of the times by focusing attention on whatever issues viewers were most interested in.

Late-night talk shows are also very influential. More than one person has said, “I get my comedy from Fox News, and my news from The Daily Show. Greg Beato wrote in an article, “Amusing Us to Depth,” that multiple surveys by the Pew Research Center and the Annenberg Public Policy Center have found that viewers of The Daily Show and The Colbert Report are among America’s most informed citizens.