Taking a Stand: Michael Che and Jena Friedman

It may seem a curious thing, but despite landing two of the most prestigious satirical jobs on American television – as a Weekend Update anchor and Daily Show correspondent – Michael Che has confessed to have a lack of political knowledge: "Most people that watch comedy shows are laymen," Che explains, "so as a layman I can kinda talk about a subject at its face value and people can kind of understand. I think people like to listen to people who don’t know what they’re talking about."

Not that this ever stops Che from broaching serious matters. When he's spoken about racial tensions it has sometimes been met with a sharp intake of breath from the audience: "You’re not going to get raucous laughter out of them when you’re talking about police brutality," he says.

Having freedom on stage to talk about raw subjects is crucial: "People are afraid to take risks and be held accountable for their choices, so creatively they do everything they think will make them successful."

But Che doesn't worry about making such restrictive choices on-stage and lets the audience make up their own mind: "I don't overthink it. If they don't like it it's ok."

Daily Show producer Jena Friedman also highlights the difficulties current news comedy brings: "It is hard to stay fresh with topical comedy," she says. However, the headlines ready for satire and discussion "become more thematic," building material from longstanding issues featured in the stories – such as, say, gender inequality.

Friedman's natural curiosity propelled her into comedy. While majoring in cultural anthropology she took classes in improv to understand the famous scene there – after all, Steve Carrell, Stephen Colbert and Tina Fey were all taught improv at heralded comedy institution Second City. Soon her academic interest had 'gone native' as Friedman found herself inspired: "In Chicago people do it because they love it."

With space to "experiment and fail, to take risks" she was learning how to become an artist rather than an anthropologist.

And as curious as it seems for a self-confessed layman and a cultural anthropologist major to be leading voices in American political comedy, it is perhaps their willingness to take risks – whatever the audience reaction – that yields their success in the field.