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| Margaret Thatcher, heroine of British comedy | Margaret Thatcher, heroine of British comedy |
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| Debate continues on whether Margaret Thatcher saved or destroyed British industry, but there is one industry that she practically created. In the 80s, she was the primary force behind what was known then as alternative comedy and is now simply called "comedy". | Debate continues on whether Margaret Thatcher saved or destroyed British industry, but there is one industry that she practically created. In the 80s, she was the primary force behind what was known then as alternative comedy and is now simply called "comedy". |
| What was it about Thatcher that inspired a generation of comics to rage at her? Well, everything really, even her name. "Fatcha" was an instant punchline back then: simply saying it was enough to get a laugh. Maybe it was the sound of the estuary pronunciation robbing her of her aspirational airs, a prototype of the Bouquet/Bucket joke. Or maybe audiences just really, really hated her and wanted to blow off some steam. Thatcher jokes were big business, from Rik Mayall's student rants in The Young Ones, to Harry Enfield's satire of Thatcher's children with his Loadsamoney character. | What was it about Thatcher that inspired a generation of comics to rage at her? Well, everything really, even her name. "Fatcha" was an instant punchline back then: simply saying it was enough to get a laugh. Maybe it was the sound of the estuary pronunciation robbing her of her aspirational airs, a prototype of the Bouquet/Bucket joke. Or maybe audiences just really, really hated her and wanted to blow off some steam. Thatcher jokes were big business, from Rik Mayall's student rants in The Young Ones, to Harry Enfield's satire of Thatcher's children with his Loadsamoney character. |
| The main names associated with Fatcha-bashing – Ben Elton and Alexei Sayle – deny that they relied so heavily on her for material. Elton has previously said that he did two minutes about Thatcher and two hours about his knob, and all anyone ever remembered was the Thatcher material. Sayle recorded the song Get Me Mrs Thatcher, but says that in general he felt Thatcher jokes were a bit too easy, although he still shudders at the memory of a "wicked, incompetent mindset that was the spirit of the 80s". | The main names associated with Fatcha-bashing – Ben Elton and Alexei Sayle – deny that they relied so heavily on her for material. Elton has previously said that he did two minutes about Thatcher and two hours about his knob, and all anyone ever remembered was the Thatcher material. Sayle recorded the song Get Me Mrs Thatcher, but says that in general he felt Thatcher jokes were a bit too easy, although he still shudders at the memory of a "wicked, incompetent mindset that was the spirit of the 80s". |
| The real comic nemeses of Thatcher were the puppets of Spitting Image. Thatcher's Spitting Image puppet was different from the others; while other characters, such as Ronald Reagan and the pope, were exaggerated into fantasy versions of themselves, the rubber Maggie was just like the one who appeared on the news – a stern, cold, matronly figure who had a slightly oedipal relationship with her cabinet. Maggie was a fully formed comedy character before comedians had even gotten to her. Her bouffant and handbag and nasal voice were comedy gold, but she was also earnest, principled and said exactly what she meant. You knew exactly what Maggie stood for. And that made it easy to mock her. | The real comic nemeses of Thatcher were the puppets of Spitting Image. Thatcher's Spitting Image puppet was different from the others; while other characters, such as Ronald Reagan and the pope, were exaggerated into fantasy versions of themselves, the rubber Maggie was just like the one who appeared on the news – a stern, cold, matronly figure who had a slightly oedipal relationship with her cabinet. Maggie was a fully formed comedy character before comedians had even gotten to her. Her bouffant and handbag and nasal voice were comedy gold, but she was also earnest, principled and said exactly what she meant. You knew exactly what Maggie stood for. And that made it easy to mock her. |
| Thatcher's reign helped to inspire alternative comedy by creating a generation so bereft of hope that they started putting on gigs just for the sake of something to do. But she also provided great material. Her vision for Britain made a lot of people feel like outsiders, which made them the ideal audience for comedy. Which raises the question: why isn't this happening now? There's still the rage, still the unfairness, so where is the comedy? | Thatcher's reign helped to inspire alternative comedy by creating a generation so bereft of hope that they started putting on gigs just for the sake of something to do. But she also provided great material. Her vision for Britain made a lot of people feel like outsiders, which made them the ideal audience for comedy. Which raises the question: why isn't this happening now? There's still the rage, still the unfairness, so where is the comedy? |
| Alexei Sayle blames Twitter and the "multiplicity of voices" in the modern world. It's true that whenever there's a major news story, millions of people immediately begin strip-mining it for puns and bon mots, making it harder for professional comics to develop focused, funny material that nobody's heard before. | Alexei Sayle blames Twitter and the "multiplicity of voices" in the modern world. It's true that whenever there's a major news story, millions of people immediately begin strip-mining it for puns and bon mots, making it harder for professional comics to develop focused, funny material that nobody's heard before. |
| There are still some great comics doing political material, with Mark Steel and Mark Thomas flying the flag of alternative comedy, while people such as Josie Long and Chris Coltrane find the funny in activism. It's interesting, though, that even when comedians try to be political, they can never really land a punch on David Cameron, Nick Clegg or George Osborne. The current crop of leaders are so dull, so ill-defined, so lacking in personality that it's almost impossible for comedians to rage against them. Modern comedians complain that they don't have personalities, they don't really stand for anything. One of the few direct hits scored in the modern era was when Alex Ross and James Herring remixed Nick Clegg's bizarre "I'm sorry" speech and turned it into a hilarious R&B tune. That speech was a rare instance of a politician saying something tangible. For the most part, there's no material there. They're not Thatcher. | There are still some great comics doing political material, with Mark Steel and Mark Thomas flying the flag of alternative comedy, while people such as Josie Long and Chris Coltrane find the funny in activism. It's interesting, though, that even when comedians try to be political, they can never really land a punch on David Cameron, Nick Clegg or George Osborne. The current crop of leaders are so dull, so ill-defined, so lacking in personality that it's almost impossible for comedians to rage against them. Modern comedians complain that they don't have personalities, they don't really stand for anything. One of the few direct hits scored in the modern era was when Alex Ross and James Herring remixed Nick Clegg's bizarre "I'm sorry" speech and turned it into a hilarious R&B tune. That speech was a rare instance of a politician saying something tangible. For the most part, there's no material there. They're not Thatcher. |
| Plus there's the fact that comedy is now a big business, and there's less money in sharp satire than gentle observation. Bob Slayer, one of the genuine alternative comedians on the scene, likes to note the irony of what's become of comedy. "The original alternative comics just did it because they had to," he says. "They did their thing with no chance of making any money, so they stood up in crappy pubs and said, 'I hate Maggie'. Then they discovered that they could make money, so they dropped all that. In a way, they are all Thatcher's children." | Plus there's the fact that comedy is now a big business, and there's less money in sharp satire than gentle observation. Bob Slayer, one of the genuine alternative comedians on the scene, likes to note the irony of what's become of comedy. "The original alternative comics just did it because they had to," he says. "They did their thing with no chance of making any money, so they stood up in crappy pubs and said, 'I hate Maggie'. Then they discovered that they could make money, so they dropped all that. In a way, they are all Thatcher's children." |
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