How did Knights attack the Athenian politician Cleon?

In the play Knights (424 BCE), Aristophanes launches a fierce satirical attack on the Athenian politician Cleon.

The play depicts Cleon as the favorite slave of "Demos"—a character representing the Athenian people—who is portrayed as stupid and irascible. The attack culminates when Cleon is ousted from his position of influence by a new character, Agoracritus, a sausage seller. Aristophanes characterizes this challenger as even more scoundrelly and impudent than Cleon himself, using this rivalry to mock the nature of contemporary political leadership.1

While this portrayal was highly influential, it is important to note that it is a work of comedy and literary fiction. Historians recognize that Aristophanes, like the historian Thucydides, held a strong bias against Cleon and that their accounts should not be considered unprejudiced records of his political career.23