Funny Evidence: Female Comics are the New Policy Entrepreneurs

Abstract

The last decade has seen on-going issues of gender inequity as well as arguably the golden age of female comics. From Tina Fey and Amy Poehler's renditions of Sarah Palin and Hillary Clinton in 2008, to Amy Schumer's critique of US college rape culture, this is an extraordinary time to consider the role of female comics in policy making. This article will examine this period by locating these comedic skills within the policy entrepreneur literature. First, it will review policy entrepreneurship elements; secondly it will propose a framework for policy entrepreneurship that builds on intersectional feminist principles. Lastly, it will apply the framework to female comic's influence on political issues. In all, we argue that female comics can serve as policy entrepreneurs in public administration by using their identity to locate themselves as relevant actors, attaching solutions to problems, biasing political outcomes, benefiting from their engagement, and introducing narratives that change the emotional habitus of an audience and influence the broader public.