KEY POINTS:
Wondering where the laughs are this election?
Voters might feel the need for some comic relief, but the Weekend Herald found humour was hard to come by.
Our informal search found Tui billboards poking fun at airbrushed politicians providing more than their share of satire in what is shaping up to be a serious run-up to voting day.
Of the major broadcasters, TV3 said it had not planned any election satire. TVNZ had commissioned an election special of the satirical show Eating Media Lunch - but it seems it will be screened after the election.
Prime said it did not have any local satire in the pipeline. But from next week it will screen United States satire in the form of Lil' Bush, a cartoon mocking President George W. Bush.
NZ On Air chief executive Jane Wrightson said political comedy The Pretender had received state funding this election. Broadcasters had not applied for funding for sketch shows poking fun at real politicians this year - unlike last year, when TV One screened the caricature show Facelift.
Ms Wrightson said The Pretender - a fictional series following a bumbling defector from the National Party whose tiny, populist party ends up holding the balance of power - was a "sharp" political commentary. It was merely a different variety of satire from last year's Facelift.
TV3's John Campbell put a light-hearted spin on party billboards last month in a Campbell Live episode, saying National was clearly trying to bypass the Electoral Finance Act by disguising its billboards as Air NZ ads.
He joked that Labour had removed "or else" from its billboard's plea for party votes "at the last minute".
Online, manipulating billboards seemed to be a favourite for grassroots election humour, with both major parties and Rodney Hide's Epsom hoardings coming in for some cheeky cutting and pasting.
This week, the British Telegraph website reported television comedienne Tina Fey could change the outcome of the US election with her lampooning of Republican vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin.
Governor Palin's approval ratings plunged after Fey impersonated her on NBC's late-night satirical show Saturday Night Live.
But while satirical shows such as The Daily Show with Jon Stewart reportedly enjoy record ratings and a spreading influence in the US, New Zealanders may be getting a case of election fatigue.
Total Media chief executive Martin Gilman predicted people would get "electionitis" unless something happened to capture their attention.
Our politicians were competing with both a comparatively more exciting US election and a global financial crisis - making it "probably the most distracted election in history".
Mr Gilman said the United States had "fantastic media fodder" in Sarah Palin, John McCain and Barack Obama, while "here we've got competition between the shades of grey".
