Rhetoric, Humor, and the Public Sphere: From Socrates to Stephen Colbert investigates classical and contemporary understandings of satire, parody, and irony, and how these genres function within a deliberative democracy. Elizabeth Benacka examines the rhetorical history, theorization, and practice of humor spanning from ancient Greece and Rome to the contemporary United States. In particular, this book focuses on the contemporary work of Stephen Colbert and his parody of a conservative media pundit, analyzing how his humor took place in front of an uninitiated audience and ridiculed a variety of problems and controversies threatening American democracy. Ultimately, Benacka emphasizes the importance of humor as a discourse capable of calling forth a group of engaged citizens and a source of civic education in contemporary society.

"In this analysis, Benacka (Lake Forest College) offers a broad view of the rhetoric of humor. In six chapters, the author broadly covers the history of humor and the history and practice of humor in the US, and specifically offers a case study of the public rhetoric of satirist Stephen Colbert. Colbert's uses of parody, irony, and satire in such contexts as his performance at a 2006 White House Correspondents' Dinner, his testimony in 2010 to the Judiciary Committee's Subcommittee on Immigration, Refugees, and Border Security, and his 2012 Super PAC "Americans for a Better Tomorrow, Tomorrow" are examined. A concluding chapter establishes how Colbert's humor advances national conversations by calling attention to the dysfunction of politicians and the media. Several books about Colbert's influence have been written, such as Chad Summers's Stephen Colbert: From Fake News To Real Comedy (Rounders, 2015), but none has examined Colbert's influence from an academic perspective that explores the history of humor. This book would serve as a fine supplemental text in courses about persuasion, political communication, and pop culture. Summing Up: Recommended. Upper-division undergraduates through faculty." - CHOICE