THE LAST DITCH

Truth in comedy

YouTube – Steve Hughes on Michael McIntyre’s Comedy Roadshow.

Michael McIntyre is funny and his Comedy Roadshow is a good programme. Of course, most of his guests are right-on, politically-correct comedians, but not this guy. I cheered as well as laughed at his set. Dick Puddlecote (to whom, a tip of the hat for the link to the YouTube excerpt) asks if it’s more social commentary than comedy. I think that misses the point. Observational humour works because it is true. The audience, reassuringly, seemed far from shocked by it.

I am glad I have found a way to watch the BBC’s iPlayer from Moscow. It’s worth the subscription just to hear someone tell it like it is, wittily, on national TV. I fear we may not see much more of Steve Hughes. The aparatchiki of the BBC will have marked his card. But for a few minutes, watching him, it was like being from a free country again. Do watch it all, you will enjoy it.

3 responses to “Truth in comedy”

  1. Moggsy Avatar

    Have you noticed that whatever town he is in is always Michael McIntyre’s “Favourite City” ^_^ and he always manages to get local humour into his act? Bespoke comedy.

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  2. Tom Paine Avatar

    The “favourite city” thing is, technically, a running gag. Apparently McIntyre spends a couple of days chatting with people in each city to work up local material for his intro. His stuff is pretty anodyne and he’s clearly on track to “national treasure” Eurovision-hosting status in middle age, but he’s a solid professional and I enjoy his work immensely. Steve Hughes is something else entirely.

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Tom is a retired international lawyer. He was a partner in a City of London law firm and spent almost twenty years abroad serving clients from all over the world.

Returning to London on retirement in 2011, he was dismayed to discover how much liberty had been lost in the UK while he was away.

He’s a classical liberal (libertarian, if you must) who, like his illustrious namesake, considers that

“…government even in its best state is but a necessary evil; in its worst state an intolerable one.”

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