What a joke

Though I would describe myself as of the centre-left, the left-liberalism of much BBC contemporary comedy, especially on radio, can raise my hackles. I’ve had cause to switch off the radio midway through The News Quiz because it becomes an unintentional parody of its bias and an offensive one at that.


On Feedback, Roger Bolton’s suggested remedy was, by contrast, hilarious – tackling Caroline Raphael, Head of Radio Comedy, he said that just as the BBC is going out of its way to promote female comics to ensure that all-male panels are a thing of the past, could they not do the same things for right-wing jokesters? Affirmative action for the right-wing? That is comedy gold in itself.

Raphael dismissed the idea, saying comedy is less political and more observational these days and she wouldn’t want a show that was one-note, saying that Jeremy Hardy’s output had subtle shades. The implicit subtext is that right-wingers are incapable of that. So business as usual at the BBC.