How comics took their eye off the political ball

Comedians haven’t kept up with changes in politics, leaving them ill-equipped to satirise modern Parliament.

That was one consensus of a discussion of the role of comedy in politics held at Dave’s Leicester Comedy Festival today.

Political comic Matt Forde said: ‘We haven’t had the satire we’ve deserved over the past five years’ – although he acknowledged that the tide was turning.

Forde said that in the years of Labour rule comedians didn’t pay too much attention to politics – and now found themselves in difficulty as ‘they hadn't really been taking much notice of what's going on’.

De Montfort University politics lecturer Alistair Jones agreed that satire had fallen into a slump in the Nineties, and hadn’t really recovered.

Forde said ‘Margaret Thatcher gave birth to alternative comedy’ with policies that polarised Britain, making it easy for comedians to challenge her.

‘Now politics is more nuanced. Parties are harder to distinguish –  which isn’t necessarily a bad thing for politics, but it makes it harder for comedy. There are some things Tories have done well, and that makes it more difficult for people.’

He said it was also sometimes hard to get to the big issues, because they were complex. ‘Things are far more opaque and bogged down in economics that people don't really understand,’ he said. ‘And if you do things that are intricate, it can become boring.’

However, he acknowledged that more comedians were getting involved in politics, citing Josie Long and Sara Pascoe, as well as Andy Zaltzman, who has long been satirising the issues.

Jones agreed that satire was lacking on TV, saying: ‘Have I Got News For You is brilliant, but it hasn’t changed for so long, so it becomes institutionalised, almost a parody of itself. ‘

He added that British doesn’t have a regular vehicle for satire, unlike America – and blamed the broadcasters. ‘The BBC have a real problem, he said. ‘They are terrified of upsetting senior politicians. Those at the very top are terrified. And Channel 4 are part of the mainstream now, too.’

He also said the discourse in political comedy was often just down to abuse. ‘There’s a disinterest in politics so for stand-ups it just becomes about throwing abuse at everybody,’ he said.

Both panellists agreed that the politicians fear of being pilloried by the media made them cautious to show much personality, but praised the likes of Boris Johnson and Nigel Farage for showing voters liked politicians with big personalities, even if flawed.

‘There are loads of politicians who do fantastic jobs who don't get the publicity,’ Jone said. And Forde added: ‘There are big characters around in politics, but they are scared of being mocked.’

However he praised Nick Clegg for appearing on The Last Leg with Adam Hills – a show he writes on – saying that even though the Deputy Prime Minister got a rough ride, the experience humanised him.

And he said he hoped it would open the door for more politicians to do the same. He said: ‘It should be a real lesson to politicians that, yes, you’re going to get the piss taken out of you but there's a sense of “fair play for doing it”. ‘

Forde said that the peak of satire in Britain was the Brass Eye Paedophile special as TV should be ‘making stuff that people want to ban, as it gets people excited about the issues.’

But of Russell Brand’s engagement with politics he said: ‘I think he’s one of the best comedians this country has ever produced. But I think he's gone mad. He’s hit upon the fact people are disillusioned but doesn’t go as far as actually doing something about it. What he says masquerades as hope, but it's not. It’s a real negative thing telling people not to vote.’

Published: 8 Feb 2015