I am going to do a couple of things that are out of character here, firstly I am going to be mostly serious and secondly I am going to defend satire shows like Spitting Image and HIGNFY.

Sort of.

The video above has been doing the rounds on social media and getting condemned by everyone even tangentially involved in comedy as being pretty poor. It is. The problem is not the writing I can guarantee you that, there are still as many people out there wiling to write and make funny stuff with an acerbic edge. I should know, I am one of them.

The issue here is more complicated than that, it is a risk averse media, it is corporate lawyers, it is dim witted viewers who do not understand what satire is actually supposed to do. If you doubt this, just have a look at any post that ‘Have I Got News For You’ posts on Twitter. Threads and threads of people complaining that isn’t as funny as it used to be, not realising that they have got older and are generally more right wing. 

Satire is meant to mock those in power.

‘But Trev, they are always mocking the right wing…”

Do you not know why? Those fuckers have been in power for ten years plus. If Labour had been in power that long that is who they would be satirising. That is literally what satire is meant to do.

This brings us onto another issue, partisan opinions, which boils down to “I like it when you mock the people I don’t like, but not when you mock the people that I do.” (The Corbyn fans were particularly vicious proponents of this.)

If you cannot laugh at yourself, and your opinions on occasion, you have already signed out of the debate. Everyone can, and should be allowed to be wrong sometimes.

We have to allow ourselves, and each other to make mistakes, or no one is ever going to be able to make anything of consequence again. People should be told when something is unacceptable yes, but then should be given the space to learn from it and improve. This is why I stopped making Wobbly Bob Fake News, I was tired of trying to make jokes that were topical and yet not too offensive. I have decided to make something completely different instead now, which is a shame to me as I cut my writing teeth on one liners, I like them. Done well they are amongst the best forms of comedy, literally the gag brought down to just it’s basic elements. 

Brevity is indeed the soul of this sort of wit. 

The other problem is that satire became too clever for itself. It became the preserve of people from illustrious universities, and privileged backgrounds. They were a safe pair of hands for TV and radio media to trust. Smugness was prevalent in the late 80’s and early 90’s, the telling of a ‘clever’ joke and then obviously patting themselves on the back for how impressive it was. 

This turned a lot of viewers off, particularly people who felt that they did not understand the humour, and felt left out. I am not saying that satire has to be broad, but a mix of approaches from different writers and performers is the way forward. Look at me, a middle aged white man arguing for more representation and diversity in TV and radio. More voices mean more opinions, and more opinions challenge the status quo.* 

This is what satire is supposed to do, and until TV and radio satire realises that, and sharpens it’s teeth again it will never be able to hold it’s own against Twitter and YouTube.

My honest opinion is that in the current climate these shows should stop for a breather, consolidate and see where the land lies after the Tory government has finished it’s attempted assassination of the BBC. 

If you don’t agree with me, you know what? That’s good, that is the point of all of this. We are allowed to have different opinions. 

 *Please leave Status Quo alone though, they have suffered enough. (I did say mostly serious)