And they laughed: TV, satire, and social change in 1968 America

This is a historical study of political satire in comedy variety shows on American television in the year 1968. It analyzes the dialogic content of episodes of non-narrative television shows that aired that year, with a primary focus on The Carol Burnett Show, Rowan & Martins Laugh-In, and The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour. The year 1968 was a particularly tumultuous one in American cultural history, and therefore provided a cross sectional representation of cultural change. While analyzing the dialogic properties of these media texts through a Bakhtinian theoretical lens, three interconnected themes emerged. They were issues of race, gender, and sexuality; issues of war and politics; and issues of cultural changes in youth. These themes emerged in humorous sketches and jokes, which were utterances that reflected cultural shifts in the broad American viewership at that time.