Introduction

British comedy took an essentially ambiguous turn through the 1990s and into the early 21st century. The complex layers of ironic meaning, critical distance, and reflexivity in relation to ‘our’ situation within global power relations served distinct functions. In the hands of satirists like Chris Morris, there was a subversive and potentially radical message: the mediatized form of global politics had prioritized spectacle, personality and soundbite. Yet, the popularity of ironic resistance, especially as it was developed by Sacha Baron Cohen and Ricky Gervais, created a moral dilemma: how far could – or should – irony go with questions of identity? A relentless focus on race, gender, disability and so on, might perform as reactionary when circulated for applause. As Stewart Lee (in Kovesi, 2012) reflected:

This is a clear ethical limit for irony. While Gervais may be capable of articulating the distinction between the ‘subject of social violence’ and ‘the joke he is making about that violence’, it is unclear whether this nuance is always operative with the audience. As such, Chapter 4 made a qualified argument that the liminality of ironic resistance worked to foreground questions of responsibility. Although some jokes may be subversive, for example Gervais’ satire of global charity campaigns, similarly ironic jokes can perform a moment of exclusion – Little Britain for example. Indeed, the next chapter will question how the (re-)emergence of right-wing and reactionary comedy has begun to explore ironic themes, albeit from a libertarian position on free speech. However, for now, this chapter will explore a more radical turn in British comedy associated with the work of comedians like Charlie Brooker, Russell Brand and Stewart Lee.

While aspects of the radical turn can be understood as a ‘push back’ against the exclusionary possibilities of irony, not least Stewart Lee's (2009) defence of political correctness, it is also important to recognize and situate radical comedy within the everyday experience of global crisis.