Dunno about good faith - I just find someone with his own history of racism (Jason Lee sketches) and inventing evidence of antisemitism (poll finds "25% of labour members believe in worldwide Jewish conspiracy ") to be eminently ignorable on the subject.
It became a big thing with the launch of That Was The Week That Was in 1962. It was wildly popular perhaps because it was the first time people had seen comedy used to critique the establishment.
It did but then died away again, with only a few exceptions eg Private Eye etc. You had the forerunner of alternative comedy with Python, Goodies etc but it wasn't really political. And by the 70s just about the only political comedy was Yarwood impersonating Wilson, "I think I said this at the Brighton conference".
We probably need to agree to disagree.
Two distinct waves of satire on British TV? The second informed very much by the first? Perhaps you’re both right.
(Jason Lee sketches)
Racist at the time (and scarily popular with football fans), and the lack of a modern day acknowledgment and apology shows that Baddiel also has a horrific blind spot, his is as regards comedy and racism. His points about the blind spot as regards antisemitism, that is sadly a feature of many people who are otherwise very attuned to how minorities are let down by wider society, doesn’t make him a “fake victim” though.
Was he ever on the Mash Report? How on earth did we get here?
It's not a left vs right thing, it is more a not being a **** thing. Problem is that the more extreme your politics the more chance you are an insecure little person. Generally these people don't make good comedians.
. His points about the blind spot as regards antisemitism, that is sadly a feature of many people who are otherwise very attuned to how minorities are let down by wider society, doesn’t make him a “fake victim” though.
I'd say his invention of "facts" suggests he is, but I doubt we'll agree.
Two distinct waves of satire on British TV? The second informed very much by the first?
Absolutely. 80s satire was a revival rather than something new. I think it's difficult for us to appreciate how shocking it was for comedians to lampoon the government nearly 60 years ago. Notably, the show disappeared before the 1964 general election: plus ca change...
Hopefully channel 4 will pick it up. V funny show.
Hopefully channel 4 will pick it up.
Arguably it's more natural home maybe?
yeah, tbh if you'd asked me I would have said it was on C4.
Curious to what was right wing comedy I youtubed Leo Kearse. Quite funny in bits but still very tame. Is he not playing at being a “right wing comedian” ?
His bit on the modern SNP was actually pretty accurate.
And was Jerry Sadowitz a right wing comedian??
I think there's quite a lot of comedians who would class as libertarian which can overlap with right wing, as in the 4 way political compass rather than a left-right spectrum.
https://www.politicalcompass.org
Eg George Carlin
The thing is, political satire is always mostly aimed at the current government. (though of course, the last Labour leader was a major source of material too). The reason this government's getting it worse than most is that they're really really bad, not because the BBC's full of communists. You can't have the PM literally hide in a fridge and complain when people take the piss, it's a price of your own behaviour.
Except of course you can.
I think the phrase "Political Satire is Dead" was coined after Henry Kissinger won the Nobel Peace prize.
Looking at who is running the country now, if Henry Kissinger killed political satire then this lot have killed it, dug the corpse up, shot it, cut it and half and buried it again in an unmarked grave.
I'm not going to mourn the loss of the Mash Report because it was amazing and I really miss it. I'll mourn its loss if it's the start of the BBC removing stuff from broadcast because it embarrasses the government.
Eagerly watched most of the first series but it was just terrible
This.
Hopefully channel 4 will pick it up. V funny show.
Looks like Dave have picked it up. New series in September.
It was on last night (although as its Dave it'll be repeated). Good show, more of the same, a few digs about the move to Dave, a bit more sweary and they went after the government a bit harder. Maybe suits the channel better, just a shame they were forced out from a mainstream channel.
