Tennessee Political Humor

Almost 175 years ago, Congressman Davy Crockett encountered a Massachusetts colleague in Washington. The New Englander, pointing to a farmer driving some mules along Pennsylvania Avenue, quipped: "Hello, there, Crockett, here's a lot of your constituents on parade. Where are they going?" The Tennessee frontiersman shot back, "They are going to Massachusetts to teach school." Ever since Crockett's day, Volunteer State politicians have used humor to deflate their rivals, garner votes, and keep the public amused. Often the public has laughed at them--sometimes even when they were not telling jokes. This book, the first of its kind for Tennessee, offers a broad sampling of that wonderful comic lore, enriched over the years by Democrats and Republicans alike. The stories range from extended anecdotes and tall tales to one-line "zingers." Local politics, statewide races, judicial decisions, and Capitol Hill maneuverings are all covered. Occasionally, names have been changed to protect the guilty, but more times than not, real names are used: Howard Baker, Al Gore (Senior and Junior), Estes Kefauver, and Lamar Alexander are just a few of the pols who cross these pages. There are many books about politics, but few books reveal, much less revel in, what makes politics and public service lively and fun. Tennessee Political Humor is a delightful exception--a book that invites us not just to read the stories but to tell them out loud. The Authors: Roy Herron, an attorney from Dresden, Tennessee, serves in the Tennessee Senate. He is the author of Things Held Dear: Soul Stories for My Sons. L. H. "Cotton" Ivy, who lives in Decaturville, Tennessee, has served in the Tennessee House of Representatives and was commissioner of agriculture under Gov. Ned McWherter.

This book explores the effect late night political humor has on politicians, agenda-setting, policies, and our political behavior.

This two-volume set surveys the profound impact of political humor and satire on American culture and politics over the years, paying special attention to the explosion of political humor in today's wide-ranging and turbulent media environment. Historically, there has been a tendency to regard political satire and humor as a sideshow to the wider world of American politics—entertaining and sometimes insightful, but ultimately only of modest interest to students and others surveying the trajectory of American politics and culture. This set documents just how mistaken that assumption is. By examining political humor and satire throughout US history, these volumes not only illustrate how expressions of political satire and humor reflect changes in American attitudes about presidents, parties, and issues but also how satirists, comedians, cartoonists, and filmmakers have helped to shape popular attitudes about landmark historical events, major American institutions and movements, and the nation's political leaders and cultural giants. Finally, this work examines how today's brand of political humor may be more influential than ever before in shaping American attitudes about the nation in which we live.

"In these times of hyper-partisanship and divisive media it is easy to forget that the faces shouting at us on the screen belong to human beings just like us. With both humor and an understanding born of his years of experience in Tennessee state and local politics, Bob Patton's book reminds us of the human side of politics and government. It comes to us just in time." P. Joe Corso, Ph.D., East Tennessee State University Political Science Department

This book is an in-depth analysis of the phenomenon of the takeover of politics by entertainment. The author looks for answers in the parallel evolution of satire, the media, and politics, and how each has influenced the other and the implications of this interconnectedness for political discourse.

Presents and seeks to explain the variety of humor in democratic politics. The humor ranges from the bawdy political comedies of Aristophanes in ancient Athens to the journalistic satires of our daily newspapers, and includes the jokes and comic invective of the people and their politicians.

"The Liberal Rednecks--a three-man stand-up comedy group doing scathing political satire--celebrate all that's good about the South while leading the Redneck Revolution and standing proudly blue in a sea of red. Smart, hilarious, and incisive, the Liberal Rednecks confront outdated traditions and intolerant attitudes, tackling everything people think they know about the South--the good, the bad, the glorious, and the shameful--in a laugh-out-loud funny and lively manifesto for the rise of a New South. Home to some of the best music, athletes, soldiers, whiskey, waffles, and weather the country has to offer, the South has also been bathing in backward bathroom bills and other bigoted legislation that Trae Crowder has targeted in his Liberal Redneck videos, which have gone viral with over 50 million views. Perfect for fans of Stuff White People Like and I Am America (And So Can You), The Liberal Redneck Manifesto skewers political and religious hypocrisies in witty stories and hilarious graphics--such as the Ten Commandments of the New South--and much more! While celebrating the South as one of the richest sources of American culture, this entertaining book issues a wake-up call and a reminder that the South's problems and dreams aren't that far off from the rest of America's"--

The latter third of the twentieth century was a time of fundamental political transition across the South as increasing numbers of voters began to choose Republican candidates over Democrats. Yet in the 1980s and '90s, reform-focused policymaking—from better schools to improved highways and health care—flourished in Tennessee. This was the work of moderate leaders from both parties who had a capacity to work together "across the aisle." The Tennessee story, as the Pulitzer Prize–winning author Jon Meacham observes in his foreword to this book, offers striking examples of bipartisan cooperation on many policy fronts—and a mode of governing that provides lessons for America in this frustrating era of partisan stalemate. For more on Crossing the Aisle and author Keel Hunt, visit KeelHunt.com.