Political Satire in Danish Television: Reinventing a Tradition

Abstract

This article highlights political satire as part of a long tradition of satirical sketch comedy in Danish public service television. Since the late 1990s, however, there have been major changes to this entertainment tradition. Taking these developments as a point of departure, this article argues that political satire has been trying to reinvent itself under these new conditions. By focusing more and more on the media themselves as the target for satirical ridicule, political satire is reshaping the ideological ambiguity typical of this entertainment tradition. In spite of these current efforts, political satire is presently a struggling branch of the satirical sketch comedy tradition in Danish public service television.

Notes

¹Interview with author, April 23, 2009.

²Segments from the series and the interviews can be seen on DR's homepage: http://www.dr.dk/satire/uaktuelle/.

³Translation by author.

⁴Available, in Danish, at http://www.dr.dk/satire/uaktuelle/?i=4111.

⁵The stand-up comedy scene in Denmark has existed for less than 20 years.

⁶Examples can been seen in Danish on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MRXWqmLk_vE.