>Only 3 people have successfully managed to be left wing and funny: Matt Groening, Bill Hicks and Jello Biafra, and I'm pretty sure one of them's dead.

Hicks left wing? I'm not sure about that, certainly not right wing but I don't really think he could be placed.

>Anyone got any suggestions for a Brit who is left wing AND funny?

Francis Wheen? Possibly the left wing answer to Auberon Waugh.
Stephen Fry, definitely.

>Anyone got any suggestions for a Brit who is left wing AND funny?
>

John O'Farrell? His excellent 'Things Can Only Get Better' tells of the heartache of being a Labour supporter under Thatcher and attacks the po-facedness of the left in way that's pretty amusing

Bill Hicks talked about redistributing the wealth of rich nations to poorer nations (e.g. smart missiles delivering food to hungry people). Sounds pretty left wing to me. He did talk of Britain being a 'socialist nightmare'(!) but that I still hold to my view becase one of his major concerns was sorting out the 'food - air deal' and ensuring there was enough for all.

Stephen Fry's a good candidate.

Ben Elton? Was he EVER funny while espousing leftery?A

Whoops. A rogue 'A' attached itself to my last message. Maybe it's the anarchy symbol.

>Jeremy Hardy is pleasant enough but hardly going to bring the establishment to its knees with his be-cardiganned Cosbyesque fatherhood routines and Guardian pieces that preach to the converted.

So are you complaining because he isn't funny or because he isn't going to change the world?

>John O'Farrell? His excellent 'Things Can Only Get Better' tells of the heartache of being a Labour supporter under Thatcher and attacks the po-facedness of the left in way that's pretty amusing

Yup, not a bad book, but isn't he now nicely ensconsed in New Labour, and thus by no means "left wing?".

Well Jo Brand is distinctly left-wing.

What's that you say? Funny *as well*? Ah. Well being a leftie's good enough for me...

>>John O'Farrell? His excellent 'Things Can Only Get Better' tells of the heartache of being a Labour supporter under Thatcher and attacks the po-facedness of the left in way that's pretty amusing
>
>Yup, not a bad book, but isn't he now nicely ensconsed in New Labour, and thus by no means "left wing?".
>
Erm...I'm only halfway through the book.

Funny and right wing?
Jim Davidson, Bernard Manning . . .
Kenny Everett, I suppose (although he later knocked the Tories)
Someone help me out.

Right-wing and very funny - P.J. O'Rourke

Fair enough.
OK middle-of-the-road, wishy-washy liberal and funny?

re: above.

That would actually be Stephen Fry, who isn't particularly left-wing at all (more sort of one-nation tory, really).

P.J O'Rourke was always crap. And I'm not left-wing myself, really.

>>Jeremy Hardy is pleasant enough but hardly going to bring the establishment to its knees with his be-cardiganned Cosbyesque fatherhood routines and Guardian pieces that preach to the converted.
>
>So are you complaining because he isn't funny or because he isn't going to change the world?
>
When he's funny, he's funny. When he's left wing, he's left wing. I just don't think he's mastered the art of combining the two things. The Americans I mentioned earlier are also funny, left-wing and COOL, an impossible trio of attributes for any Brit to live up to, I'm willing to bet.

>>>Jeremy Hardy is pleasant enough but hardly going to bring the establishment to its knees with his be-cardiganned Cosbyesque fatherhood routines and Guardian pieces that preach to the converted.
>>
>>So are you complaining because he isn't funny or because he isn't going to change the world?
>>
>When he's funny, he's funny. When he's left wing, he's left wing. I just don't think he's mastered the art of combining the two things. The Americans I mentioned earlier are also funny, left-wing and COOL, an impossible trio of attributes for any Brit to live up to, I'm willing to bet.

Well, how are they supposed to live up to it, with the NHS in the state it's in after 18 years of Tory cuts? Ha ha! Thank you, thank you. I'm Peter Ohwhateveritwas, goodnight.

>Erm...I'm only halfway through the book.

S'okay, that's not a spoiler. I'm more talking about recent stuff, I've read
(I think in P. Eye, but I may be wrong) that he's very cosy with Tony now,
and I think he's been parachuted into a safe seat for next time.

Apologies if I'm mixing him up with someone.

Whatever your politics, I'd definitely recommend (and I never thought I'd catch myself writing THIS) Gyles Brandreth's Westminster Diaries. Tired of just being known as "that twat in the jumper off the telly", he fulfilled his lifelong dream of becoming an MP (Tory) in the early 90s, and gradually toadied his way up through the ranks to become a Whip during the very shaky latter part of the Major administration. He's self-deprecating, incredibly indiscreet about everyone around him, and reveals a lot about the way our shoddy "Mother of Parliaments" operates. Can't strictly be filed under "comedy" but bloody funny nonetheless - it does more harm to the Tories than 18 years of left-wing ranting ever did.

Incidentally, I see the title of this thread has mysteriously become "The near-impossibility of being left-wing". Is this a subliminal New Labour plot?

>Ben Elton? Was he EVER funny while espousing leftery?

In the dreaded 80's, when it seemed the whole country was on the side of Thatcher and the rotten tabloids, I remember seeing Ben Elton on TV, while at home in Leeds, and thinking, "Here is the British Lenny Bruce."

Oh dear.

>
>>Ben Elton? Was he EVER funny while espousing leftery?
>
>In the dreaded 80's, when it seemed the whole country was on the side of Thatcher and the rotten tabloids, I remember seeing Ben Elton on TV, while at home in Leeds, and thinking, "Here is the British Lenny Bruce."
>
>Oh dear.
>
Quite so. Lenny Bruce was never funny. Outragous, mould-breaking - yes. Humorous - no.

In many ways he was the Lenny Bruce of his day.

We've been through this before...

The 'Motormouth' album(1986) is OK, as good as most 90s comics, not a classic by any means though. But then came a million profiles of Ben Elton The Controversial Comedian, leading to 'Motorvation'(1987) laden with tedious routines about the Royals, Norman Tebbit, et fucking cetera. It's quite true he didn't mention Thatcher a lot, but you get a load of non-specific, non-challenging, non-funny leftiness all over all the other routines.

The main problem is that he obviously doesn't mean it. Look at the VERY early clips of his stand-up that "Hist Of Alt Com" dug up and you can see him playing up the hardline hard-left line because that's what the audiences he could get wanted. Then we get "Saturday Live", "Man From Auntie" and "The Ben Elton Show", each time the politics getting softer (finally getting dumped altogether) to suit the latest attempt at being relevant and holding the crowd.

But what do you expect from someone who, by his own admission, isn't interested in stand-up much and only went into it to get talent-spotted by TV producers?