David Porter » Entries tagged with "satire"
Impressionists Have Had Their Day in the Spotlight of UK Stand-Up
Satirising politicians has lost its appeal as they are so bland and because political reality parodies itself. You can no longer make it up. Long-time stalwart of the British comedy impressionist circuits, Rory Bremner, confessed to the Daily Telegraph (October 2011) that he was experiencing difficulty finding work. Channel 4 (who had employed him for 20 years) had no need of his particular services because ‘people no longer recognise the voices’ of top political players. He told Bryony Gordon in her interview that a brilliant impression now ‘would be like showing a dog a card trick’. In the next day‘s edition of the Telegraph, Matthew Norman wrote a personal opinion on Bremner being forced to do a turn on Strictly Come Dancing to earn a crust, believing it was because public interest … Read entire article »
Filed under: Articles at Suite 101
Making Fun of Parliament & Politicians: A Fine British Tradition
Britain has long enjoyed a liberty to deflate political pomposity and bring egos to earth with art, print & performance that is envied in other democracies In July 2007, Press Gazette reported that New Zealand’s Parliament voted ‘far-reaching powers to control satire and ridicule of MPs in Parliament, attracting a storm of media and academic criticism’. The new standing orders dealt with use of images of Parliamentary debates, and made it a contempt of Parliament for anyone to use footage of the chamber for “satire, ridicule or denigration”.’ No such prohibition yet exists in the UK. Indeed, there is a tradition of criticising policies and politicians through comedy, satire, ridicule, lampooning and caricature. The UK Parliamentary website argues that political satire ‘represents a distinctive and innovative tradition in British art and is … Read entire article »
Filed under: Articles at Suite 101