Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Why is comedy so left wing? This is hardly a new query, but has been raised once again in our report on Andrew Lawrence, the only right-wing joke teller at the Edinburgh fringe, and one of a very few anywhere.
Controllers of comedy at BBC Radio 4, in particular, have found this more vexing than most. Most of their panel shows and sketch programmes are unrelentingly “progressive” in their humour, not through some conscious or unconscious liberal bias on the part of the producers, but merely because the wit of Mark Steel, for example, far outshines that of most people who vote Conservative. The nearest we have to a funny reactionary is, of course, Jeremy Clarkson. Which rather proves the point.
Some right-wing comedy is impossible to perform today – if you count primitive attitudes towards different races, women and LGBT people as amusing and right wing, that is. What were once popular mainstream shows, such as It Ain’t Half Hot Mum and Mind your Language, featured such openly racist stereotypes and ridicule that any broadcaster that attempted to repeat them now would be prosecuted, and rightly so. Other seams of humour easily mined in the past – grotesque mothers-in-law, “dolly birds” and ugly wives – are similarly unacceptable today.
Leftist humourists of every kind sometimes imagine that they are working to change society by subtly changing mindsets and exposing the wickedness of those in power, whether they happen to be Conservative, Liberal Democrat or, especially, New Labour. This may be why the SNP and the ubiquitous Jeremy Corbyn seem to escape most of their jibes.
The pretensions and hypocrisies of the left, though, are many and varied, yet seemingly, literally, beyond parody. Which leaves us with one last thought: Michael Gove once wanted to be a right-wing comedian. Did he succeed?
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments