Over the past week, I've had at least one conversation per day about whether the news satire industry (The Onion, The Daily Show, Colbert Report, Weekend Update, etc.) is going to stay relevant in an Obama administration. Vulture runs through the options of what we might see out of The Daily Show, which I suspect will return to heavy media criticism.
those with short term memories forget that to varying extents all of these were funny before Bush; they can be funny after.
posted by josh at 8:14 PM on November 6, 2008 
I predict Dave Chappelle will become more relevant in this administration. If he can't do parody of this president well, no one can.
posted by taulpaul at 8:19 PM on November 6, 2008
Biden is Vice President-elect, the satirical-industrial complex be fine.
posted by Alex at 9:07 PM on November 6, 2008
TDS and The Onion are ultimately not about political satire, but rather about parodying the news media and how they cover news. As long as there is CNN, Fox News, network news, newspapers (online and dead tree), then there will always be a place for it.
posted by JLobster at 10:36 AM on November 7, 2008
I've strangely been thinking a lot about this even though I'm not a religious viewer of TDS - maybe it's because I'm wondering how much politics will play in the general comedy landscape of an Obama presidency.
I do think TDS is going to have a hard time of it. Stewart started in 1999 which is where Bush was in full on election mode and Fox News was at it's peak.
It's gonna be tough already but I think the most interesting part of that article is about the staffers and the railing against the man kind of thing. If all goes well (and of course odds are still that it won't) there may not be a lot to rail against.
Maybe they way they win is to get smaller - more local. Start finding stories they can exploit for comedy and bring those to a national level? I dunno. It's gonna be tough.
posted by Gavin at 11:51 AM on November 7, 2008
i don't have any worries at all for the daily show. obama's administration could be kicking ass, but i don't doubt that the senate (both sides of the aisle) will continue to give TDS lots to work with. it's a big country, some politician somewhere is always doing something stupid. it'll be a nice change to have the focus not always be on the president, let's give the small town mayors, etc. a chance to look like an ass.
also, there's plenty to mock about other people's governments, which the daily show hasn't needed to do because the bush administration made an abundance of material for them to use that was closer to home. hey europe, consider this a warning! it's your turn!
posted by kittyholmes at 3:32 PM on November 7, 2008
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