Armando Iannucci shared the time he did a set entirely of Tory MPs’ jokes and it’s excruciatingly funny

You may have seen by now the Daily Telegraph report that said new BBC director general Tim Davie is targeting ‘left wing comedy bias’ on its airwaves.

It’s very possibly a load of old nonsense but it set in train a debate about left wing comedy and right wing comedy and you can read our 9 favourite responses here.

But possibly the best thing to come out of it is this Armando Iannucci tweet, in which he remembered when he tried out Tory MPs’ jokes on an unsuspecting audience, pretending it was new material.

For a TV stunt, I once went on stage at a live London comedy club to ‘try out’ some of my new material. In fact the set consisted of jokes and one-liners from recent speeches made by Conservative MPs and ministers. It was the most appalling three minutes of my life. And filmed. https://t.co/q29fgymiys

— Armando Iannucci (@Aiannucci) September 1, 2020

It was for the Armistice Party Bucket in 1998, also featuring David Schneider (doing Labour jokes) and Peter Baynham (Lib Dems) and here it is.

Excruciatingly funny.

READ MORE

Favourite 9 things people said about the BBC ‘targeting left-wing comedy’

Source @Aiannucci Video @Aiannucci YouTube