Power fears ridicule

Opinion piece from Steve Vizard in the Australian Financial Review on the critical role of comedy in keeping power in its proper place.

While dealing with the recent suspension of Jimmy Kimmel’s tonight show in the US, Steve Vizard has pinpointed the critical role of comedy in keeping power in its proper place within a democracy.

Vizard writes, "Laughter has always been the first audit, the oldest check and balance."

“Kimmel is no Aristophanes. He is not Stewart, nor even Colbert. What matters is the idea of Kimmel – of a culture that can laugh at power, of the nightly national ritual of puncturing pomposity. Democracies are not upheld by marble facades or parchment texts alone; they endure by the constant grassroots cutting-down-to-size of overstepping entitlement. Every sketch that exposes a lie, every monologue that renders the mighty ridiculous, every audience that guffaws in recognition – these are how we help keep power in its proper place.”

Follow the link to read the full article in the Australian Financial Review – "Jimmy Kimmel’s demise exposes how power fears ridicule."

Steve Vizard is a Chief Investigator on the Australian Research Council project Comedy Country: Australian Performance Comedy as an Agent of Change.

Contact: Steve Vizard

Email: Steve.Vizard@monash.edu