Actually, it IS funny.

Contests...elections, for instance, are merely wars scaled to some level of disaster which makes them more or less acceptable for observers to watch. 

Football or elections...anything, actually, to get people excited enough to scream and spend money. Elections are great because they generate huge amounts of emotion and money. 

The conclusion of a battle is determined on the battlefield - but the

 battle itself has been fought months or years beforehand. The purpose of the formal battle is merely to divide the spoils and bury the dead. And the final results of the battle may not be known for hundreds of years. 

So an election is a contest between many groups of greedy, unscrupulous criminals who form temporary alliances and choose their best Goliath to stand on the battlefield - and the tactics of the battle are to try and convince everyone that this monster is the epitome of a fair and benevolent leader and his opponent is Satan personified. 

Since it must be the goal of BOTH teams of liars to present the same message, they do so in the time-honored way of threats, bribery, skullduggery, and inculcating fear into the masses that the end of the world will immediately ensue if the OTHER contestant, who plans to boil all their children in hot oil, is elected. It has become farcical.