What About Those Interviews? The Impact of Exposure to Political Comedy and Cable News on Factual Recall and Anticipated Political Expression

The current study uses experimental data (N = 265) to assess the impact of exposure to interviews from political comedy and cable news programs on information recall and anticipated political expression. The results highlight higher recall rates for political comedy as opposed to cable news exposure. The study then considers the differential impact of exposure to two different types of comedy interviews, comparing how viewers evaluate the more straightforward satire of The Daily Show's Jon Stewart with the parody-driven presentation of The Colbert Report's Stephen Colbert. The study then considers the relationship between interview exposure and anticipated political expression. The results suggest that viewing political comedy interviews from The Daily Show is positively related to anticipated political expression.