Sam and Gus were successful both because of satire, and because of straight talk. They tweeted, it’s “Impt to avoid empty promises.” And Sam and Gus are not an anomaly: in making sense of their success, we can turn to the popular approval and captivation by two major political comedians who both have significant clout: Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert.
The idea that Gus will actually make a capable student leader is reinforced by the prowess of two other modern political satirists: Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert, whose shows are broadcasted back to back on Comedy Central. Even though Colbert and Stewart make fun of the news, a 2004 poll by the Pew Research Center for the People and The Press revealed, 21 percent of people aged 18-29 used The Daily Show as a primary news source, with only 23% of this group relying on ABC, CBS, or NBC’s nightly news broadcasts for news. Later that year, during a two week span that included caucuses, primaries, and State of the Unions, Jon Stewart attracted more male viewers aged 18-34 than any network evening news show.
So why do these comedies attract such a dedicated viewership? As 24 year-old Nicole Vernon told CBS News, comedians like Jon Stewart keep “it very truthful and straightforward,” whereas network news shows tend to come across as “silly.” The article also attributed The Daily Show’s popularity to its ability to connect with young people, a connection that has been near-severed in the world of network news television. There thus emerges a distinct parallel between Stewart’s popularity and the success of the Clark-Mayopoulos campaign, both of which can be attributed to a targeted approach towards reaching their respective audiences with brutal honesty veiled with an attractive humor.
It turns out that the satirist-turned-UC-President and Stephen Colbert also share a common thread – just as Mayopoulos ran for Harvard student government, The Colbert Report host ventured into the political world with his 2007 Presidential campaign. Though the campaign may not have ever been a serious one – Colbert once announced that he would be “as good for the country as Doritos are for your body” – a poll conducted by Public Opinion Strategies revealed that, were he to run as an independent, the late-night comedian would garner 28% of the vote among voters aged 18-29 in a race against serious candidates Hillary Clinton and Rudy Giuliani, and nearly a third of the vote from this same demographic in a match-up with Fred Thompson and Clinton. Although the “Hail To The Cheese Stephen Colbert’s Nacho Cheese Doritos 2008 Presidential Campaign (Coverage)” campaign was eventually vetoed by the South Carolina Democratic Party executive council, he attracted significant national attention with his surprisingly successful bid.
And Jon Stewart enacted serious change when he took on the cause of the 9/11 first-responders. Following 9/11, Stewart exposed the horrible health care treatment firefighters and other first responders received. The spotlight provided by The Daily Show forced action and a bill’s passage.
So maybe there’s no legitimate real-life examples of political-satirist-turned-politician. But the relevance of these political comedians is evidenced by the popularity of shows such as “The Daily Show,” Colbert’s sustained political venture, and, on our own campus, with the success of the Clark-Mayopoulos campaign. Comedy allows for a certain honesty that is otherwise unattainable, an honesty that many feel has disappeared from both the real political word and even politics on Harvard campus. So don’t dismiss Gus as a less-than serious leader because of his less-than serious campaign – there might just be some power behind all that election-winning satire.