One important contribution of this analysis is that it reminds us that popular culture, humor, and politics have been interacting long before more recent iterations such as The Daily Show or The Colbert Report.

Josh Compton

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/19376529.2015.1083158

During her fictional 1940 presidential campaign, popular radio star Gracie Allen was the target of criticism after her colleague told a joke referencing First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt. Allen responded to the criticisms with a public letter. In this analysis, Benoit’s image repair typology is used to study Allen’s letter. A total of 5 implications are drawn, including issues of celebrity roles, the effectiveness of mortification during image repair efforts, and challenges and benefits of humor in an image repair situation, to better understand historical political radio humor—an under-explored focus of image repair scholarship.

Josh Compton’s research on political humor (and image repair) is definitely timely, and quite unique…

Phylis Johnson, Editor, Journal of Radio and Audio Media

Compton, J. (2015). Political humor on the radio, image repair, and Gracie Allen’s 1940 presidential campaign. Journal of Radio and Audio Media, 22(2), 255-264. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/19376529.2015.1083158