ABSTRACT
In a contested political climate, there might be apprehensions about democracy as well as doubt on the scope of media to become playful about politics. But, the “television public” can activate their playful pleasure and foster heterogeneity, multiplicity and divergence in power. This chapter pieces together the jokes people crack in relation to the television news culture and politics in Bangladesh. It examines the role of humour in making a localised public sphere in the wake of people’s interaction with television media. As a consequence of TV media’s failure to accommodate humour, alternative platforms such as various YouTube channels and app-based TikTok videos are trending online. Thus, in examining the humour within and beyond the screen, trajectories of mediated humour and natures of the humorous public are discussed with analytic standpoints of media culture and politics. It is not only to understand the potential of humour as a means of political discourses and communication, but also to investigate public humour as a tool for empowerment. In the ultimate analysis, the chapter will shed light on the interactive dynamic between media, politics and humour, to retrieve the concept of public.
