Study: Late Night Jokes Targeted Republicans Over Democrats 3 To 1 In 2011, President Obama The Most

A recent study of political comedy targets in 2011 found that Republicans were the subject of jokes almost three times as often as Democrats on late night TV talk shows, with Tuesday's top three Iowa Caucus winners getting the least number of digs.

According to the study by the Center for Media and Public Affairs (CMPA) Republican presidential hopefuls accounted for five of the top 10 public figures who were the targets of jokes by network late night talk show hosts -- not entirely surprising when you consider the large crop of GOP candidates.

However, President Barack Obama took the most hits in 2011, with 342 jokes made at his expense. The study also notes that "Tonight Show" host Jay Leno targeted the President the most: 156 times, over twice as often as David Letterman.

Out of the most mocked public figures, the only other Democrat making the top 10 was Rep. Anthony Weiner, whose racy Twitpic scored him 220 jokes. GOP presidential candidates making the list included Herman Cain (191 jokes), Rick Perry (186), Michelle Bachmann (128), off-and-on candidate Donald Trump (122) and Newt Gingrich (110).

Most notably, the study showed that the top Iowa caucus winners, Mitt Romney, Ron Paul and Rick Santorum were mocked significantly less in 2011 (79, 17, and 16 jokes, respectively) and did not make the top 10.

CMPA President Dr. Robert Lichter commented on the disparity: "This shows that it's hard to vote for somebody while you're laughing at them."

Non-presidential candidates who did make the top 10 include Osama bin Laden with 172 jokes, Arnold Schwarzenegger with 142 jokes and Donald Trump with 122 jokes. Comedy's most-loved late night target of the 2008 election, former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, came in at number 11 with 109 jokes.

The CMPA study analyzed targets and topics of jokes about public figures in the opening monologues of Letterman's "The Late Show, Leno's "Tonight Show," and "Late Night" with Jimmy Fallon over the span of 2011. It did not specify whether or not pre-recorded or live comedy sketches were also taken into consideration.

RELATED: The Funniest Late Night Moments Of 2011

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Comments

[rebelrebel]

04:19 PM on 01/18/2012

They couldn't think of more Ron Paul jokes? I should send in some suggestions...

[Maikeru48]

04:35 PM on 01/14/2012

I wouldn't take this "study" from the right-wing funded Center for Media and Public Affairs seriously. Samuel Robert Lichter, the director of the CMPA, has ties to the American Enterprise Institute and has written a number of books pushing corporate denialism and the tired trope about liberals controlling the media. This "study" is just more factually challenged agitprop for teabaggers.

[Dan Slander]

02:15 PM on 01/13/2012

It's that low? Pubs and tv comedians are like race with black comics, it's a mainstay.

[Billy Weeder]

06:20 PM on 01/10/2012

If they didn't make such asinine statement, maybe we wouldn't be able to make fun of them so easily.

[mowprincess]

06:32 AM on 01/09/2012

They are the butt of jokes more often because they are spending millions to be in the public eye... Why is this news?

You have to admit the current crew is pretty entertaining as well. Especially when they are pandering to the extreme right... and it doesn't help when they manufacture "facts" and are easily discredited. e.g. repealing the health care act will save "95 billion".. when in fact if it is repealed it will add to the deficit... or they call the current commander-in-chief a "socialist". They are begging to be talked about. http://www.politifact.com/

[MayberryClark]

05:12 PM on 01/07/2012

They're always making fun of us because they think we're stupid and we watch FOX and Friends.

[sc29403]

02:28 PM on 01/07/2012

The jokes are created by the candidates and simply repeated by others. This current group of noms makes the work of comedy writers a piece of cake.

[cincinnati]

03:11 AM on 01/08/2012

comedy channel's Colbert, etc. were hurting until the GOP got back
on it's feet, with the phony tea party, but they've had plenty
of easy material for over a year now...
2012 should be one funny year....hope it's not
really the end of the world [ depending on the election,
middle east, Iran, Israel, etc. etc..]

[BlueCat]

12:49 PM on 01/07/2012

This is just so silly. The year has just begun! Of course there's a 3:1 ratio the GOP are caucusing. If the Dems were caucusing right now we'd be hearing jokes about them. There are enough REAL issues to be concerned about WHY make stuff up?

[Sojourne]

06:51 PM on 01/07/2012

That is exactly correct. This comment should be right on top.... heck, it should be in the article but the writer wasn't smart enough to figure that out. They should do a study when the dems were chasing the white house.

[Bobjfs]

12:14 PM on 01/07/2012

Well, of course there's a 3:1 ratio of jokes about Republican candidates than Democrats. It's easier to make jokes about people who are walking, talking, living jokes, like the Republican candidates! This is the price of seeking the lowest common denominator in candidates for the last 30 years.

Perhaps the criticism should be that the comedians are going for easy jokes rather than sweating buckets to find jokeworthy Democrats. Now, THAT would be a challenge and a half!

[TaxpayingVoter]

11:33 PM on 01/06/2012

If Republicans want to stop being the butt of the jokes, they need to stop being so funny.

Stop it, you guys! Just stop!

[alumcreek]

06:28 PM on 01/06/2012

False equivalence demands that Democrats become every bit as ludicrous as Republicans

[TaxpayingVoter]

11:32 PM on 01/06/2012

I'm not sure if that's even possible....lol

It takes a pretty wacky liberal to even get noticed much less attract the attention of late night television comedians...lol

[cincinnati]

03:13 AM on 01/08/2012

they poked fun at Dennis Kucinich.....turns out maybe
more of us should have listened to him...[ or
even Ron Paul to much lesser degree ]

[Will737]

03:47 PM on 01/06/2012

Let's face it, Jay Leno is worried about making sure his tax rate doesn't go up. If it does he might have to cut back on buying vintage cars that he can't use. That would be such a tragedy. After all as of 2006, he only had 84 cars and 73 motorcycles in three warehouses at about 7,000 square feet. It would be such a shame if he had to cut back.

[alumcreek]

06:31 PM on 01/06/2012

Leno's purchasing activities are determined by the market and not by any taxes he may have to pay. The kinds of vehicles he seeks are not as readily available as the the 20 year old Honda you are currently living in ;).

[sigmund5]

01:40 PM on 01/08/2012

Since Leno is the least funny guy on TV he might want to start making more jokes about the idiot republicans...but that would alienate the idiot fox news demographic that watch his show.

[namora]

12:51 PM on 01/06/2012

Yeah, those Republicans are allways gettin free air play.

[neighsayer]

12:47 PM on 01/06/2012

this could be one of the dumbest articles I've seen in a while. If you are in the news, comedians can/will/should be looking at how to make a joke out of it...particularly if you have a daily monologue to perform about current events. There is no Democratic party race for the nomination, so there is nothing interesting to talk about every single day on that side. There is one on the Republican side, so there is invariably someone in the race who opened their mouths and said something that can be made fun of. And the president, Democrat or Republican, is front and center every day.

Dr. Robert Lichter's comment is, to say the least, asinine.

[oldgeek1]

07:59 AM on 01/06/2012

The campaign jokes affected the Iowa outcome, not those on late night.