Satire returns to the box

LAST week Channel 4 launched 10 O’Clock Live, the new British satire programme that mixes politics and comedy.
The hosts are the witty and very funny combination of David Mitchell of That Mitchell and Webb Look and Peep Show, columnist and writer Charlie Brooker, quick-witted shock comedian and not unlike a grown-up version of the baby from The Addams Family, Jimmy Carr and the token girl, who really is not token at all and can more than stand on her own in both comedic and presenting terms, Lauren Laverne.
This is the same team that presented Channel 4’s Alternative Election Night last year and to say they are likable is an understatement. These guys are red hot comedic property and in my opinion, the box in the corner has been calling out for political satire of this calibre for quite some time.
All kinds of comparisons are going to be made between it and American satirical news programme The Daily Show with Jon Stewart but the fact remains that this is a very different kind of show dealing with very different political characters and systems. Also, the broadcasting standards are different and try as Sky News might to be like Fox, it is still a far cry from that particular tabloid haven.
Does the satire work? There is a debate raging among TV critics at the moment that satire only really works in recessionary times. Surely if this were so, we would be churning out some of the best satire ever known in the English speaking world this side of the water. Alas this is not the case and despite the Aprés Match boys trying to keep the satirist flag flying, they can be more miss than hit.
Gift Grub is good on the radio but the media of television and radio cannot be compared in the area of satire. Often satire is more effective when supported by the visual as well. Of course gems such as Scrap Saturday did not need to rely on this but that was of a different calibre and dealing with a different era in the country. Haughey’s voice lended itself wonderfully to radio dramatisation and many of the other ministers at the time also had dulcet tones that caressed the radio waves.
We have a fine tradition in this country of satire. Hall’s Pictorial Weekly is still raved about by my parents and my parents’ generation. I can remember Bull Island from a number of years ago but it was more ham than attack. Currently, however, despite a completely laughable state of political affairs, we are not producing anything of the calibre of the past, which leads me to the conclusion that it is less about the country’s finances and more about interest and talent.
There is no denying that given to lesser comedians, broadcasters and writers 10 O’Clock Live would fail miserably but the talent at the helm is pulling it through. Even Irish people with only a passing interest in British politics, or politics in general, can see the punch, enjoy the kick and jibe that the four presenters are making at the political establishment, the media and its agenda.
It is very like Newsnight but while Jeremy Paxman is all grump and vowels the boys and girl of 10 O’Clock Live are all pause and swagger. It is being lapped up across the water and why shouldn’t it be? It follows in a noble tradition of British satire. Who doesn’t know Spitting Image born out of the misery of the Thatcher and Major era and not to forget the more modern Brasseye and In The Thick of It which poked fun at the media obsessed Blair era.
Satire is necessary for political debate. From the earliest dawns of democracy there has been satire. France was littered with it during the revolution. Pamphlets with black and white monographs were produced in abundance and distributed around the country. Paintings of political figures in compromising and amusing positions have been in circulation in this country for years and so it should be. We should parody, mock and tease those in command. It is us who put them there and if the rest of the world is laughing at us, as it currently is, we certainly need to laugh at ourselves. So bring on the satire on RTÉ but in the meantime, tune in to some good examples at work in Britain on 10 O’Clock Live on Channel 4.
Mrs Brown’s Boys is attracting huge audience figures at the moment. From the pen of Brendan O’Carroll, this sitcom centres around a Dublin-mammy figure and her children as they all co-exist in a small community. Based on a charcter of O’Carroll’s that has been around for many years, it has been a favourite on the comedy circuit for some time. It is basically like Fair City, if Fair City had a few smiles, cracked a few jokes and applied a liberal amount of slapstick. To be honest, it is not my thing but judging from the merry peals of laughter that were coming from the sitting room one night, the older generation see something that I don’t. It is a gentile kind of programme with a healthy dollop of innuendo. There is nothing in it that will set the world alight but it is certainly a ray of sunshine these dark evenings. Worth a look and depending on your form, it may well raise a smile or even a chuckle from your lips. Check it out Sunday evenings on RTÉ One.
I tuned into Fade Street the other night, simply because I felt it was time to revisit it. OMG…I want those five minutes of my life back! Complete rubbish. Forget what people are saying about it being so bad it’s funny, it’s not. It’s just cringe. I find it hard to believe that we have created people like that in this country. Forget the national debt, the Celtic Tiger era has given us much worse…a person named Vogue!