Xiaoxia Cao and Paul R. Brewer

... the ascension of [Jon] Stewart and The Daily Show into the public eye is no laughing matter... Stewart’s daily dose of political parody characterized by asinine alliteration leads to a ‘holier than thou’attitude toward our national leaders. People who possess the wit, intelligence, and self-awareness of viewers of The Daily Show would never choose to enter the political fray full of ‘buffoons and idiots.’(Kalin,, p. A)

A growing body of scholarly literature examines the implications of entertainmentoriented ‘soft news’ television programs for democratic politics. Much of this research suggests that exposure to such programs can, under certain conditions, influence public attention to politics (Baum,), public knowledge about politics (Baum,; Prior,), public opinion (Baum,; Young, b; Moy, Xenos, & Hess,), and political participation (Moy, Xenos, & Hess,). Drawing on this literature, several recent studies (Young a; Hollander,) have considered the potential effects of exposure to television comedy programs that focus on political humor (eg, Saturday Night Live and The Daily Show with Jon Stewart). Most importantly for our purposes, Baumgartner and Morris () have argued that exposure to political comedy programs such as The Daily Show ‘may dampen participation... by contributing to a sense of political alienation from the political process’(pp.–). In this study, we challenge the notion that political comedy programs undermine political participation by showing that exposure to such programs is positively associated with some forms of political participation. We define a political comedy show as a television program that emphasizes humorous coverage of current issues and parodies of political figures. Judging by Nielsen ratings, the number of Americans watching such shows has grown in recent years. For instance, the audience of The Daily Show doubled to. million per night between and(Willow,). Studies have shown that people consume programs such as soft news or political comedy shows primarily to be entertained rather than to be informed (Baum,; Prior,). Nor are these shows produced to inform their audiences (as Jon Stewart himself has stated on numerous occasions regarding his program). Nevertheless, such programs may exert a positive impact on public knowledge about politics. Hollander (, p.), for instance, concluded that exposure to political comedy shows