Writers create effective satire by choosing a serious topic that's approached in a complex manner through the opposite treatment: using humor. When choosing that topic, they need to weigh both the potential sensitivity and apathy of an intended audience. There might be a struggle to laugh at satire on subjects like abortion or the death penalty, while lighter or pedestrian matters might bore them. To strike a balance, successful writers center on areas that are taken lightly and seriously as the moments fluctuate during presentation of the material.
Experts in satire blend the believable with unbelievable to make people think critically and laugh aloud during a single work. In the Broadway musical "Urinetown," audiences are presented the concept that its capitalist bureaucracy exists by charging each time people use the bathroom. This combines the imaginable and unimaginable into entertainment, balancing the serious and silly elements that define satire.
Satirists frequently embrace stereotypes, then tweak them with significant changes. "Animal Farm," by George Orwell, created animal characters that superficially represent those in children's books. This book, however, chronicles events leading up to the Stalinist period before WWII. The storybook format effectively makes serious political subject comical as well.
Satirists only should delve into topics audiences know. Unfamiliarity with a political issue being so critiqued prevents the message and humor from being conveyed. Some satirists first educate an audience before critiquing it. Television comedian Stephen Colbert, host of "The Colbert Report," introduces facts surrounding current events prior to delivering humor about them, providing both education and comic relief.