Why comedy's a serious business

Comedy is becoming vitally important because politicians and the media are failing to treat anything seriously, Armando Iannucci has said.

Giving the Tate Britain Lecture last night, the satirist said that as politicians strive to be seen as enjoying a joke, it was being left to comedians to tackle the important issues.

Citing the influence of the likes of Have I Got News For You and Jon Stewart's The Daily Show on how young people receive news, he said: ‘Why is comedy taking up so much space in our culture? There are things that should matter more - but at the moment they just aren't there.’

‘Look at politics. So much of it today is conducted in the form of a joke - not necessarily an amusing joke - that it's practically impossible for a professional jokesmith to go one better. After Sion Simon's "satirical" send-up of Cameron on YouTube, is there really any room for a comedian's more professional parody?

‘When the only way a Prime Minister can get round his wife publicly calling his Chancellor a liar is with a joke, then what's left for a joke-writer to do? Comedy is so prevalent now, it's cool by association. So politicians speak and act according to the rhythms of comedy. Labour trying to portray Cameron as a chameleon - it's an attempted sketch.’

He said that as politicians stop speaking to us properly and the media stop properly examining their actions, people are becoming more inclined to turn to entertainment for information.

He cited Tony Blair quote from Labour's 2004 Conference, defending his actions: ‘Judgments aren't the same as facts. Instinct is not science. I only know what I believe’, which Iannucci called ‘one of the most chilling statements uttered by a seemingly rational politician’.

Iannucci added: ‘The media didn't stop to comb Blair's speeches to point out deficiencies in logic. Instead it was left for some of them to apologise much later for having trusted the PM, for having assumed that what he told the Commons about WMD was true. It's a shameful failure. The media didn't work. And it left a gap.

‘That's why I find myself stepping into that gap. Not just me, but many other humorists, satirists, comics, artists, people who make a virtue of the fact they distort logic for comic effect, but who still feel compelled to analyse that logic because no one else will.

He added: ‘I think we sometimes see comedy as an inferior art form. This irks me. Comedy allows the imagination to be at its most revolutionary. Because, when you treat something comically, you can do anything. You can distort or exaggerate, you can Break Out of the form, you can be as real or as unrealistic as you like.

‘In return, though, you make a devastating pact with your audience. Because, though you can pour all your energy into doing any of these things, if they're not funny (worse still, if they're not instantly funny) then you're a failure. No court of appeal.

‘I want comedy to tackle big subjects. The idea that we are making someone laugh about something does not mean we don't take it seriously.’

Published: 18 Oct 2006