Says Rory Bremner

Rory Bremner says the ‘chilling’ rise of Islamic extremism is becoming a serious threat to comedians.

He said that satirists were censoring themselves for fear of retribution by fundamentalists, especially in the wake of Danish cartoonist Kurt Westergaard being threatened for drawing the prophet Mohammed.

In a BBC documentary, he told Sir David Frost: ‘One of the toughest issues of our time is religion.

‘When [I'm] writing a sketch about Islam, I’m writing a line and I think, “If this goes down badly, I’m writing my own death warrant there.” Because there are people who will say, “Not only do I not think that’s funny but I’m going to kill you” – and that’s chilling.

‘Suddenly you’re confronted by a group of people who are fundamentalist and extreme and they say, “We're going to kill you because of what you have said or drawn.”

‘Where does satire go from there, because we like to be brave but not foolish.’

Meanwhile, Frost says British satire has lost its dominance.

He said: ‘Right now, in the worldwide competition for satire, it is America that's leading the way.’

The That Was The Week That Was veteran said the plethora of cable channels in the States gave comedians the same freedom he enjoyed in the Britain in the Sixties, as opposed to the more cautious approach in the UK nowadays.

Frost On Satire will be broadcast on BBC Four at 9pm on Thursday.

Published: 15 Jun 2010