The Internet was Up In Arms this week after The Telegraph reported that the new Director General of the BBC, Tim Davie, a man whose surname doesnât even sound finished, is set to drastically reduce the amount of left-wing comedy on the Beeb. As a stand-up comedian, I was thrilled, finally, this might be the thing that swings this country to vote left again.
Because the only thing that might make middle England stop and think, ‘Actually, you know what? Leaning towards another wave of fascism could be badâ, is watching right-wing comedians bang on about how much money they have and how the poor should all die.
There arenât many right-wing comedians (and if they are, theyâre people like Jim Davidson. Donât get me wrong, I enjoyed Big Break, but is there a better poster-boy for Your Dad Has Built A Man Cave After The Divorce?). This is because comedy is there to take authority down, not climb up its arse and thank it for prolonging austerity for another 10 years. If it makes you feel better, my beloved BBC (a constant irritation for The Right because they have to pay for it and they might not use it, a bit like, whatâs that thing again? Oh, yeah â the NHS) has also been accused of right-wing bias by regularly allowing Nigel Farage to appear despite the fact he isnât an MP any more, and did the sensible thing and voted himself out of a job in the EU.
Comedians Nish Kumar and Frankie Boyle were trending on Twitter as figureheads to prove that the BBC was biased towards left-wing comedy. Shows such as The Mash Report, which Nish presents, and Frankie Boyleâs New World Order continuously mock the Government and the Tory farce we live in, and rightly so. Theyâre a mess. You couldnât write it. To be honest, theyâre actually a challenge to make fun of; they create their own satire.
Dominic Raab saying heâd only take the knee for “The Queen and the Mrs” is better than a sketch. These people are beyond parody. It really gives us extra work to send them up. If we start saying you canât rip the piss out of the bunch of Eton wombles running the country (and I use the word “running” very loosely here) it takes us down the fun route of a society where you canât challenge authority â and donât quote me on this, but I think thatâs called a dictatorship. If thereâs one thing we donât want, itâs being told we all have to have the same haircut as Boris (a style he achieves by, presumably, walking into the nearest butchers and saying “Take your anger out on my barnet”).
As Frankie Boyle once said on Mock The Week, posh peopleâs idea of fun is throwing a bun across a room. Have you ever met a Tory with a good sense of humour? Have you ever walked into a pub full of rugby union fans, tanked up on ale for eight hours, roaring songs from the 18th Century about the British Empire, throwing coins on the bar for the staff to pick up and thought, âThese lot seem like a right fucking laughâ? If you have, let me know, Iâd like to tell you why youâre wrong.
Rugby boys think comedy is making your mate Burger (so nicknamed because he once ate a burger) walk into Vodka Revs with no pants on and see if the staff notice, then play a drinking game where the loser has to give Burger a hand job. You know, for a laugh. Theyâre not gay, though. You might think Iâm aligning rugby players with The Right unfairly, but next time you encounter a group of them, be nice, because theyâll be running the country in about five-to-seven years from now. Theyâre all called Tim and theyâll be CEOs by the time theyâre 45. Or Director General of the BBC.
When I was despairing about the state of things recently, I was comforted by the analogy that you canât stop the flow of a river. You canât make a river run backwards. Itâs the same with the left. The left are progressive; theyâre there to challenge the status quo. Liberals fought for us to have weekends and workers’ rights and a living wage and unions. You know: all the good stuff.
Make fun of us all you like as your rent rises and your wages donât, but letâs not leave the right out of it. Theyâre ripe for the picking â thatâs why left-wing comedy is so funny. Plus, if we donât laugh, weâll cry. Donât let the bastards grind you down.
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