Peer says comedy isn't offensive enough

A Labour peer has said there should be more death threats against comedians.

Lord Desai, pictured, called on comics to be more controversial, to the extent of offending relgious fanatics, as Salman Rushdie did with his novels.

The peer - who opposed moved to introduce a law making incitement to religious hatred a crime - added that modern comedy was too safe.

He said: "The first duty of the comedian is to cause offence.

"Where are the jokes about Muslims? Why can we make jokes about Jesus but not about the prophet Mohammed? Why are there no jokes about disability?

"There is a lot of self-censorship, and this is where comedy will die. We need to break the taboo about race. If we want a multicultural, multiracial society, we must make jokes about these things."

His comments came during a debate about the future of satire, which kicked off a week of events about the genre at South London's Greenwich Theatre last night.

Other speakers included former Spitting Image director Sean Hardie and comedian Stewart Lee.

Hardie argued: "Satire is difficult because people don't give a damn about politics - all people care about now are things that inconvenience their lifestyle."

Lee agreed: "Satire is bound up in personality politics, rather than values."

He added: "They asked me 'What do you hope Satire Week will achieve?' I said: 'The end of satire'."

Click here for more opinions from the debate.

Published: 22 Jan 2002