From Evita Bezuidenhout and Nando's, to Screaming Lord Sutch and Count Binface, political satire has spent generations doing what power fears most: making itself look ridiculous.
The likes of Farage and Trump who, as you say, demand to be taken seriously find the use of humour against them as a personal insult and they can’t bear it. We need to point and laugh much more. I believe that’s one of the reasons Trump hasn’t attended any of the World Cup games - he’s already heard the crowds chanting and it hurts his fragile ego.
Immediately thought of Riotous Assembly and Indecent Exposure by Tom Sharpe. Magnificent piss takes if the white apartheid regime - who of course had no sense of humour.
Hi Bear. This is an excellent piece and I found your memories of the days of apartheid and of Tannie Evita Bezuidenhout fascinating. I had no idea of your age so have often wondered whether you saw apartheid when the National Party held sway or whether that was all before your time so thank you for that perspective. I've always thought that the best way of diminishing extremists and bigots is to laugh at them, they really really hate that. I'm just not very good at it.
As an aside, IMO the best portrayal of Mandela, Madiba as he was known by his clan and also by all who loved him, was that given by Idris Elba in 'Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom'. I don't know how accurate the portrayal is for sure but Elba plays Mandela as I love to imagine him to be as a young man - witty, intelligent and utterly fearless. As it happens shortly before the film was released I met its producer, Anant Singh. We both happened to be at the V&A for the exhibition of David Bowie's stage clothing and other personal memorabilia and a mutual friend introduced me to him. I had an riveting conversation with him (he was riveting, I was just open mouthed) for half an hour or so about making the film and the work he and the director had done researching Mandela's life. Heartbreakingly, Mandela died just a couple of months after the film was released - I hope he saw it before he left us. I do remember Anant being extraordinarily nervous about how the film would be received. I wished him all the best and said I'm sure it would be a great success (or some such banality - what else could one say knowing bugger all about the film industry). Anant needn't have worried, the film is, in my view, quite brilliant! Andy
Great piece, as usual. Ridicule is such an important weapon against authoritarians, because they tend to be so vain & pompous.
I think you've slightly misunderstood the Count's 99 policy BTW. Not surprising as you didn't grow up here. A 99 is an ice cream cone with a flake (usually about half the length of one you might buy separately) stuck in the ice cream. Usually purchased from an ice cream van. So a '99 flake' is a short flake. It costs more than one without, but I honestly can't remember the price difference. Just that 99s were a treat I couldn't always afford. (And if offered an ice cream by a grown up it was a bit rude to ask for a 99 till they offered).
So the policy is 'make a 99 flake cost 99p' - no p on the first 99. And tbh, that might well represent a price *increase*. A box of 4 full size flakes is currently £2.40 at Tesco. Making them only 60p each. Lord knows how much a 99 costs these days though. But whatever it is, it includes a cone and scoop of ice cream as well as the flake. It's just one of the Count's little jokes.
We definitely need more piss taking in the current political landscape. And who better to do this than Count Binface.
The likes of Farage and Trump who, as you say, demand to be taken seriously find the use of humour against them as a personal insult and they can’t bear it. We need to point and laugh much more. I believe that’s one of the reasons Trump hasn’t attended any of the World Cup games - he’s already heard the crowds chanting and it hurts his fragile ego.
Thank you, Bear 🐻
Immediately thought of Riotous Assembly and Indecent Exposure by Tom Sharpe. Magnificent piss takes if the white apartheid regime - who of course had no sense of humour.
Taking the piss should be an Olympic event!!!
I had the pleasure of listening to PDU at the Franschhoek book festival last year, he was absolute perfection.
Obviously inspired by Dame Edna.
The only way to get to the bottom of 'WHO FUNDS COUNT BINFACE?' is to find some well-placed, willing sources on Sigma IX. OBVS.
Hi Bear. This is an excellent piece and I found your memories of the days of apartheid and of Tannie Evita Bezuidenhout fascinating. I had no idea of your age so have often wondered whether you saw apartheid when the National Party held sway or whether that was all before your time so thank you for that perspective. I've always thought that the best way of diminishing extremists and bigots is to laugh at them, they really really hate that. I'm just not very good at it.
As an aside, IMO the best portrayal of Mandela, Madiba as he was known by his clan and also by all who loved him, was that given by Idris Elba in 'Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom'. I don't know how accurate the portrayal is for sure but Elba plays Mandela as I love to imagine him to be as a young man - witty, intelligent and utterly fearless. As it happens shortly before the film was released I met its producer, Anant Singh. We both happened to be at the V&A for the exhibition of David Bowie's stage clothing and other personal memorabilia and a mutual friend introduced me to him. I had an riveting conversation with him (he was riveting, I was just open mouthed) for half an hour or so about making the film and the work he and the director had done researching Mandela's life. Heartbreakingly, Mandela died just a couple of months after the film was released - I hope he saw it before he left us. I do remember Anant being extraordinarily nervous about how the film would be received. I wished him all the best and said I'm sure it would be a great success (or some such banality - what else could one say knowing bugger all about the film industry). Anant needn't have worried, the film is, in my view, quite brilliant! Andy
There is a good academic book on the subject of "Gelopolitics"
Laughter As Politics: Critical Theory in an Age of Hilarity
Patrick Giamario
https://doi.org/10.3366/edinburgh/9781474491549.001.0001
Great piece, as usual. Ridicule is such an important weapon against authoritarians, because they tend to be so vain & pompous.
I think you've slightly misunderstood the Count's 99 policy BTW. Not surprising as you didn't grow up here. A 99 is an ice cream cone with a flake (usually about half the length of one you might buy separately) stuck in the ice cream. Usually purchased from an ice cream van. So a '99 flake' is a short flake. It costs more than one without, but I honestly can't remember the price difference. Just that 99s were a treat I couldn't always afford. (And if offered an ice cream by a grown up it was a bit rude to ask for a 99 till they offered).
So the policy is 'make a 99 flake cost 99p' - no p on the first 99. And tbh, that might well represent a price *increase*. A box of 4 full size flakes is currently £2.40 at Tesco. Making them only 60p each. Lord knows how much a 99 costs these days though. But whatever it is, it includes a cone and scoop of ice cream as well as the flake. It's just one of the Count's little jokes.