Skip to main content
Comedian Tiff Stevenson appearing on stage in Oslo
Back to Magazine

Think Aloud podcast: Comedy – why we need to laugh at politics

Is the UK’s current political uncertainty actually a golden age for political humour? Why do we choose to laugh at politics, and do we need to?

Podcast
Reading time 1 minute read
Originally posted Fri 1 Apr 2022

Back in the spring of 2019, for the eleventh episode of our podcast series, Think Aloud, Harriet Fitch Little asked these questions of guests Tom Jamieson, joke writer for the satirical magazine Private Eye, and comedians Tiff Stevenson and Kieran Hodgson.

The trio discussed the effect current affairs have had on their comedy, and the challenges of trying to deliver satire when the political reality is outlandish enough.

‘Satire sits bleary eyed and unshaven in a cheap motel room, surrounded by empty vodka bottles, quietly sobbing as it watches the news.’

Tom Jamieson