Humor in Politics

Political humor is communication intended to evoke amusement about the governance of society. Humor need not be primarily geared to deliver a political message in order to be classified as political.

Political humor may take a variety of forms. The simplest form is the political joke, pun, or riddle, which typically employs a question-answer format but can use any number of devices to deliver the punch line, including surprise endings, double meanings, or even simple letter inversions. An example would be:

Q: A child, an honest politician, and Santa Claus all spot a $20 bill on the ground. Who picks it up?

A: The child. The other two are figments of his imagination.

Perhaps the most common type of political jokes target prominent politicians, although in repressive states (Hitler's ...