Honors Week: Do Comedy and Political Rhetoric Mix?
Is it the role of entertainers to take on serious issues and use their celebrity status to sway opinion? Johnny Carson, host of The Tonight Show for nearly 30 years and one of the most famous comedians of the 20th century, once argued that comedians should not use their fame for influence. Rather, their job is to entertain.
Suzanne Leaptrot ’25, an English major with a concentration in rhetoric and writing at Virginia Military Institute, asked, “Where do we situate comedy in our understanding of political rhetoric?” in her honors thesis presentation, “Conventional Comedy: Analyzing Stephen Colbert’s Live Monologues from Democratic and Republican National Conventions.”
According to Leaptrot, comedy is not exempt from providing news. In fact, people are increasingly getting their news from comedy shows like Saturday Night Live, Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, and The Daily Show. “Comedians don’t have the same journalistic obligations that reporters do. Journalists can be called out when they provide false information and are expected to redact their statements and admit when they are wrong. When a comedian provides false information, he can say, ‘Oh, it was just a joke.’ Yet these comedy shows still frame opinions, so I sought to evaluate comedy with the analytic framework of demagoguery,” she said.
Leaptrot referenced the Oxford English Dictionary when defining a demagogue as, “someone who seeks support by appealing to the desires and prejudices of ordinary people instead of using rational argument.” She studied two theories of demagoguery and settled on her own theory, and applied those principles to comedian Stephen Colbert’s live monologues from each side of the Democratic National Conventions (DNC) and Republican National Conventions (RNC) in 2016, 2020, and 2024.
The first theory Leaptrot studied was that of Patricia Roberts-Miller, author of “Demagoguery and Democracy,” who stated that demagoguery is always bad, and the main indicator of demagoguery is when arguments are reduced to an “us versus them” problem. The prime example is Adolf Hitler. The second theory Leaptrot researched is that of Charles Zug, author of “Demagogues in American Politics.” “Zug argues that Americans live in a society that thrives on populism and demagoguery. It paradoxically claims to hate demagoguery, but there is a time and place for political leaders—and political leaders only—to engage in demagogic rhetoric that is beneficial to democracy. He says in a civic emergency when there’s no time for politicians to explain the rationale behind their decisions, they are obligated to engage in demagoguery,” reported Leaptrot.
After comparing the two theorists, Leaptrot concluded that a good demagogue does not exist because a good demagogue isn’t a demagogue at all. “There’s a type of good demagoguery that is only valid in a rhetorical emergency. Someone may use demagoguery as a rhetorical device one time, but demagoguery is not a part of his character. This is where Stephen Colbert comes in.”
Leaptrot, who is a fan of Colbert’s comedy, viewed five hours of his monologues from both the DNC and RNC in 2016, 2020, and 2024. “In theory, they are identical events, but from opposite sides of the political aisle. What better place to look for a disparity in how he talks about each side?” She found that Colbert consistently belittled and criticized republicans, but praised and was favorable of the democrats. She concluded that her parameters of demagoguery apply to Colbert’s monologues in 2020, but not for 2016 nor 2024.
Maj. Adam Cody, assistant professor in the Department of English, Rhetoric, and Humanistic Studies, served as Leaptrot’s advisor on the project. Cody stated that she reflects some of the noblest aspirations of the liberal arts educational program. “It is in Suzanne’s nature, when confronted with a challenge, to advance toward it, not to retreat from it. She has a fondness for learning and takes joy in discovering new answers to old questions,” he said.
Leaptrot is from McLean, Virginia, where she attended Langley High School. She is the daughter of Jeanne Peck. After graduation, Leaptrot hopes to teach English in Lithuania through the Fulbright Program. She also wants to pursue a master’s degree in intelligence and security studies.
