I kind of like Jimmy Fallon's routine "Slow Jam the News" with Barack Obama, though I'm still trying to figure out what's going on here. It works like this: he starts off reading a news story then interrupts himself when he's about to crack a joke. He decides to "slow jam" it instead, which is when he introduces the president. Bringing out Obama as a special guest brings ratings and support for the both of them. It keeps the audience's attention while discussing politics. It is a dry topic, but one that is completely relevant to the audience, who are mostly young and middle-aged adults who likely have students loans, and children who will soon go to college.
R&B as is traditionally, but not exclusively, a black genre. Obama is not a musician, but his blackness lends him to be read by the audience as someone who is "entitled to slow jam," even though it is Fallon and the band that do the singing and joking. He did not participate by actually singing slow-jam style, but provided a contrast to it that makes the whole thing funny. His seriousness and earnestness is alternated with R&B style smooth speaking over music, filled with innuendo. He wins "realness" points, yet saves face. We see a relaxed humorous side of him, like when he sang only the first line of Let's Stay Together, stopping short of embarrassing himself.
There are comedy skits based on real news all over YouTube. It is now a category in its own right. One of the most poplar and outlandish is a series called Auto-Tune The News:
I don't know if I can explain all the reasons for political apathy in this country, but one of them is surely the quality of news broadcasting on TV. TV news is a big-budget operation just as concerned with making money and keeping ratings as any other show. In addition, a channel's politics and values often come into conflict with the content of what they are (or are not) reporting. The people that realize this have a few response options: they could change their news-source to something a little more public and democratic, they could protest and become activists in one way or another, or they could use the news as a platform on which to build comedy. The news is often "boring" because people feel like they have no say in politics, leaders are out of touch with the real concerns of their constituents, and the system is generally dysfunctional and biased. When people feel like they have no control, they act out. And play with Auto-Tune.
