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Based on the reviews of Stephen Colbert, Trevor Noah, and Samantha Bee’s
political comedy shows, this paper examines the impact of comedians’ race and gender on
the way they are received. The coverage, critical reception, content-based expectations
and freedom of self-definition for political comedians with minority social locations
are considerably different from those of white, male political ... read morecomedians. This research
finds that the expectations placed on hosts with minority social locations prove to be
contradictory and complex, leaving obstacles in their path to success that non-minority
hosts do not face. Critics’ hyper-focus on hosts’ race or gender make their minority
identity their Master Status, the most significant part of a hosts’ on-screen persona.
In doing so, it paints them as a novelty, and creates an expectation that they will
cover issues relating to their minority status with originality and wit. These
expectations are contrasted by the relative freedom of white, male hosts to craft their
own personas. For Bee and Noah, the focus on race and gender and the responsibilities
which come with it, is further complicated by the fact Jon Stewart’s influential legacy
remains the metric for political comedy success.read less
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