structural:scholar_edition, structural:reformatting
Contemporary satire

Contemporary popular usage of the term "satire" is often very imprecise. While satire often uses caricature and parody, by no means are all uses of these or other humorous devices satiric. Refer to the careful definition of satire that heads this article. The Cambridge Companion to Roman Satire also warns of the ambiguous nature of satire:

hile "satire," or perhaps rather "satiric(al)," are words we run up against constantly in analyses of contemporary culture, the search for any defining formal charcteristic (sic) that will link past to present may turn out to be more frustrating than enlightening.

Satire is used on many UK television programmes, particularly popular panel shows and quiz shows such as Mock the Week (2005–2022) and Have I Got News for You (1990–ongoing). It is found on radio quiz shows such as The News Quiz (1977–ongoing) and The Now Show (1998–2024). One of the most watched UK television shows of the 1980s and early 1990s, the puppet show Spitting Image was a satire of the royal family, politics, entertainment, sport and British culture of the era. Court Flunkey from Spitting Image is a caricature of James Gillray, intended as a homage to the father of political cartooning.

Created by DMA Design in 1997, satire features prominently in the British video game series Grand Theft Auto. Another example is the Fallout series, namely Interplay -developed Fallout: A Post Nuclear Role Playing Game (1995). Other games utilizing satire include Postal (1997), State of Emergency (2002), Phone Story (2011), and 7 Billion Humans (2018).

Trey Parker and Matt Stone 's South Park (1997–ongoing) relies almost exclusively on satire to address issues in American culture, with episodes addressing racism, anti-Semitism, militant atheism, homophobia, sexism, environmentalism, corporate culture, political correctness and anti-Catholicism, among many other issues.

Satirical web series and sites include Emmy-nominated Honest Trailers (2012–), Internet phenomena-themed Encyclopedia Dramatica (2004–), Uncyclopedia (2005–), self-proclaimed "America's Finest News Source" The Onion (1988–). and The Onion's Christian conservative counterpart The Babylon Bee (2016–).

In the United States, Stephen Colbert 's television program, The Colbert Report (2005–14) is instructive in the methods of contemporary American satire; sketch comedy television show Saturday Night Live is also known for its satirical impressions and parodies of prominent persons and politicians, among some of the most notable, their parodies of U.S. political figures Hillary Clinton and of Sarah Palin. Colbert's character is an opinionated and self-righteous commentator who, in his TV interviews, interrupts people, points and wags his finger at them, and "unwittingly" uses a number of logical fallacies. In doing so, he demonstrates the principle of modern American political satire: the ridicule of the actions of politicians and other public figures by taking all their statements and purported beliefs to their furthest (supposedly) logical conclusion, thus revealing their perceived hypocrisy or absurdity.

In the United Kingdom, a popular modern satirist was the late Sir Terry Pratchett, author of the internationally best-selling Discworld book series. One of the most well-known and controversial British satirists is Chris Morris, co-writer and director of Four Lions.

In Canada, satire has become an important part of the comedy scene. Stephen Leacock was one of the best known early Canadian satirists, and in the early 20th century, he achieved fame by targeting the attitudes of small-town life. In more recent years, Canada has had several prominent satirical television series and radio shows. Some, including CODCO, The Royal Canadian Air Farce, This Is That, and This Hour Has 22 Minutes deal directly with current news stories and political figures, while others, like History Bites present contemporary social satire in the context of events and figures in history. The Beaverton is a Canadian news satire site similar to The Onion. Canadian songwriter Nancy White uses music as the vehicle for her satire, and her comic folk songs are regularly played on CBC Radio.

In Hong Kong, there was a well-known Australian Kim Jong-un impersonator Howard X whom often utilised satire to show his support for Hong Kong city's pro-democracy movements and liberation of North Korea. He believed that humour is a very powerful weapon and he often made it clear that he imitates the dictator to satirize him, not to glorify him. Throughout his career as a professional impersonator, he had also worked with multiple organisations and celebrities to create parodies and to stir up conversations of politics and human rights.

Cartoonists often use satire as well as straight humour. Al Capp 's satirical comic strip Li'l Abner was censored in September 1947. The controversy, as reported in Time, centred on Capp's portrayal of the US Senate. Said Edward Leech of Scripps-Howard, "We don't think it is good editing or sound citizenship to picture the Senate as an assemblage of freaks and crooks... boobs and undesirables." Walt Kelly 's Pogo was likewise censored in 1952 over his overt satire of Senator Joe McCarthy, caricatured in his comic strip as "Simple J. Malarky". Garry Trudeau, whose comic strip Doonesbury focuses on satire of the political system, and provides a trademark cynical view on national events. Trudeau exemplifies humour mixed with criticism. For example, the character Mark Slackmeyer lamented that because he was not legally married to his partner, he was deprived of the "exquisite agony" of experiencing a nasty and painful divorce like heterosexuals. This, of course, satirized the claim that gay unions would denigrate the sanctity of heterosexual marriage.

Like some literary predecessors, many recent television satires contain strong elements of parody and caricature; for instance, the popular animated series The Simpsons and South Park both parody modern family and social life by taking their assumptions to the extreme; both have led to the creation of similar series. As well as the purely humorous effect of this sort of thing, they often strongly criticise various phenomena in politics, economic life, religion and many other aspects of society, and thus qualify as satirical. Due to their animated nature, these shows can easily use images of public figures and generally have greater freedom to do so than conventional shows using live actors.

News satire is also a very popular form of contemporary satire, appearing in as wide an array of formats as the news media itself: print (e.g. The Onion, Waterford Whispers News, Private Eye), radio (e.g. On the Hour), television (e.g. The Day Today, The Daily Show, Brass Eye) and the web (e.g. Faking News, El Koshary Today, Babylon Bee, The Beaverton, The Daily Bonnet and The Onion). Other satires are on the list of satirists and satires.

In an interview with Wikinews, Sean Mills, President of The Onion, said angry letters about their news parody always carried the same message. "It's whatever affects that person", said Mills. "So it's like, 'I love it when you make a joke about murder or rape, but if you talk about cancer, well my brother has cancer and that's not funny to me.' Or someone else can say, 'Cancer's hilarious, but don't talk about rape because my cousin got raped.' Those are rather extreme examples, but if it affects somebody personally, they tend to be more sensitive about it."

Satire is also gaining recognition for its value in social science research, particularly when authors are seeking to unpack complex social issues like gendered racism.