The speech set had shades of politics, humor, and public address, crossing realms of entertainment, news, and word-of-mouth communication.

Josh Compton & Brett Miller

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0363811111000932?via%3Dihub

David Letterman, host of The Late Show, told a joke about Sarah Palin’s daughter during one of his nightly monologues. During the ensuing controversy, Letterman offered two extended statements about the joke. Approaching Letterman’s responses from the perspective of Benoit’s image repair typology reveals three primary strategies: denial, mortification, and corrective action. While Letterman’s first attempt to resolve the controversy failed, his second attempt was largely successful. Implications for public relations image repair strategies are offered.

Compton, J., & Miller, B. (2011). Image repair in late night comedy: Letterman and the Palin joke controversy. Public Relations Review, 37, 415-421. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.pubrev.2011.08.002