Twitter has become superior to late-night TV when it comes to hilarious political comedy

Slate

Unlike late-night TV, Twitter isn’t dominated by white male comedians trying to appeal to the masses. “The Twittersphere can provide humor and commentary from all walks of life, provided you follow a diverse enough set of users,” says Inkoo Kang. “Twitter’s comic advantages over late night are myriad, insuperable, and perhaps obvious,” adds Kang. “If you’re the kind of person who needs to laugh about politics to stay sane, especially during the past two years, the social network can supply funny takes densely, immediately, and practically speaking, ad infinitum. Without the standards of middlebrow taste enforced by a mass viewership or corporate sponsors, Twitter’s political jesters are free to be arcane, absurd, nihilistic, or (sigh) cruel. They also enjoy freedom from the monologist’s setup-punchline, setup-punchline structure; many of the platform’s most iconic joke structures hinge purely on images, fake dialogue, text that’s better read than spoken aloud, or any number of variations on how people make one another laugh through the internet.”

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